Kjos has lost 1.5 billion in a single year

The airline NorwegianThe airline Norwegian. Photo Norway Today Media

The downturn of the Norwegian stock market has hit CEO, Bjørn Kjos, the company’s largest shareholder, hard.

 

In 2017, the Norwegian stock is down almost 40%, and from its highpoint in April 2016, shares are down 53%, wrote Finansavisen newspaper.


‘The stock price goes up and down. However, I don’t see it from day to day, but rather over a longer period of time’, Kjos told Finansavisen earlier this month.


Kjos owns in excess of 7.4 million shares in Norwegian through the investment company HBK Invest, of which he owns 84%.

The fall in Norwegian Airline prices means a loss of NOK 900 million since the new year, and NOK 1.5 billion since April 2016. The value of Kjos’ Norwegian shares is now NOK 1.3 billion.


An analyst in the UK’s big bank, HSBC, Andrew Lobbenberg, believes the stock will continue to fall.


‘The second quarter showed that the cost level in Norwegian is completely out of control. The company has ordered more new aircraft than they need, in our opinion, and they face a number of financial challenges. We therefore believe that the stock price will continue to weaken in the coming months,’ said Lobbenberg to Finansavisen newspaper.


Analysis manager at Norne Securities, Karl-Johan Molnes, disagrees, and believes the autumn will be better than expected.


‘There are huge seasonal variations in the stock prices, and the third quarter is usually better than expected. We therefore believe there’ll be a big upturn in the stock now’, he said.

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today