$12 Million Of Losses From Trading Bunker Fuel Derivatives

• In 2018 Vistin Pharma set up energy trading unit.
• Head of energy trading stepped down on Thursday, 8th January 2019.
• Vistin shares dropped as much as 18 pct to record low.

Norway’s Vistin Pharma has racked up 101.3 million Norwegian crowns ($12 million) of losses from trading bunker fuel derivatives following a disastrous expansion into energy trading, sending its shares plunging to a record low, reports Reuters.

Birth of New Ventures

After selling off its opioid and tablet businesses in 2017, Vistin said in March 2018 that it would set up an energy trading arm to complement its remaining drug-making operations, which it said offered “solid growth prospects” but lacked scale.

Re-evaluating Strategies

Having hired a team of oil market veterans, it bought derivatives betting on a widening price difference between high-sulfur and low-sulfur bunker fuel ahead of regulations on shipping fuel emissions that come into effect in 2020. Announcing the losses on Friday, the company said it would now evaluate the strategy of the energy trading unit.

“There’s a board meeting next week. For the time being, we’re still holding the contracts and have not yet decided what we will do with them”, Chief Executive Gunnar Manum told Reuters. The initial value of the investment amounted to around 400 million crowns, he added. In 2017, Vistin made a profit from continuing operations of 5.6 million crowns.

Head Resigns; Shares Drop

On Thursday, Vistin announced the abrupt resignation of its head of energy trading, Torbjoern Kjus, but did not at that point reveal the extent of its losses. Vistin said the counterparty for the derivatives contracts was a Norwegian commercial bank but declined to name it. At 1345 GMT, Vistin’s shares were down 8.1 percent at 6.8 crowns, having traded as low as 6.1 crowns.

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Source: Reuters

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