New offshore installation vessels provide Jan De Nul with record figures

The maritime construction group Jan De Nul achieved a net profit of 296 million euros last year on a record turnover of 2.9 billion euros. With an order book of 8.9 billion euros, growth is still in the pipeline for years to come.

The dredging company Jan De Nul has ended 2023 with record figures. Turnover peaked at 2.9 billion euros, further growth after the 2.5 billion euros in 2022. The family business carried out a lot of dredging work, from coastal protection in Knokke to deepening works in Bangladesh.

In addition, the commissioning of new installation vessels for offshore wind turbines and cables, Les Alizés and Voltaire, gave the offshore division a boost. They carried out work for large wind farms in Germany and the United Kingdom. With the order for a new cable installation vessel, the group is preparing for further growth in that sector.

While Jan De Nul is still somewhat behind its listed competitor DEME in terms of turnover, it scores better when looking at the profit margins. Gross profit (EBITDA) rose by 39 percent to 610 million euros. This amounts to 21 percent of turnover, a percentage that is much higher than in recent years.

A net profit of 296 million euros remains at the bottom of the annual accounts. That is almost a threefold increase from the 108 million euros of the previous year.

Jan De Nul can also count on a particularly rich order book, which amounts to 8.9 billion euros, an increase of 38 percent. The new contracts include a long-term deal with the German energy giant RWE and an installation order for large turbines in the United Kingdom. But the group notes that future orders are spread across dredging activities and offshore as well as the smaller construction, environment (Envisan) and brownfield development (PSR) divisions.

In our country, Jan De Nul is working with DEME on the construction of the Princess Elisabeth Island, an artificial island that is being constructed 45 kilometers off the Belgian coast. The high-voltage grid operator Elia will use it for new electrical installations linked to additional Belgian offshore wind farms and power cables to other European countries.

On land, Jan De Nul employees are active in the Oosterweel project, the construction of a new prison in Antwerp and the construction of new infrastructure for the F-35 fighter planes at the military airports of Kleine-Brogel and Florennes.

The company notes in a press release that it has an important competitive advantage thanks to a “rock-solid financial structure.” Last year the group ended with a net cash position of 520 million euros and was net debt-free for the tenth year in a row.