The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Branching out after cuts
AtlasKnowledgenowmovingintoconstructionandaviation
The CEO of Aberdeen’s Atlas Knowledge has said he is filled with a “great sense of purpose” for the future following a tough period of restructuring.
Kevin Short said Atlas, which develops online safety training courses, is moving into new industries and geographies as it emerges from the oil downturn.
It’s after a period of restructuring in April last year, when 11 people were made redundant and two others came to the end of their contracts.
Mr Short said it was a “tough decision” and a “significant” amount of staff for the firm, which now employs 40 people.
The c o m p a ny has posted its financial results for the year ending September 2017, with their earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increasing to £400,000, but at the same time, pre-tax losses widened by more than £11million. That comes following decision last year to a “tidy up”, making Atlas Knowledge the only trading company in the group, and waiving around £10m owed by a holding company, Atlas Knowledge Group.
The remainder is accounted for by a recent revaluation of the firm’s headquarters at Offshore House in Bridge of Don which, as expected through the downturn, had reduced in value by around £900,000.
However, Atlas said neither exercise had a cash impact or affected the underlying business. North Sea oil and gas accounts for about 60% of revenues, but the company is now making moves into other safety critical industries such as construction and aviation.
Mr Short said: “We took some hard decisions in April of last year which took us to the yearly figures we recently posted.
“We’re now doing very well as the industry is picking up. We seem to be matching that with our revenues. Because we have so much experience in safety in oil and gas, we can take those learnings to other safety critical industries. We have seen ourselves move into construction and aviation and that has made it quite exciting.”