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In June, the auditor believed that there were many doubts about whether Jens Ulltveit-Moe’s group would survive. Now Ulltveit-Moe says that both he and DNB, who have loaned him billions, feel much more secure.
In June, it looked dark for Jens Ulltveit-Moe’s business system. But everything looks much brighter now, believes the investor himself.
Lise Åserud, NTB
Published:
We draw attention to (…) that there is great uncertainty associated with the valuation of physical and intangible assets, and that some of the group’s subsidiaries are in a very tight liquidity situation ”.
It is indicated in the audit report of the 2019 accounts of the group’s leading company in Jens Ulltveit, Moe’s empire. It is made up of everything from well-known chains like Peppes, Burger King and Starbucks to the production of biofuels in Brazil.
The company is called JUM Holding and it is the majority owner of the Umoe Group.
When the auditor signed its report at the end of June this year, it was further said about JUM Holding that “there are significant uncertainties that could create significant doubts about the unit’s ability to continue operating.”
Burger King’s operation in Scandinavia was long a purported source of income for Ulltveit-Moe, but in recent years the chain has lost money outside of Norway.
Umoe Restaurants
– The doubt was palpable
But according to Jens Ulltveit-Moe, that was the situation then, and not now.
– At the end of June, we were still very affected by the crown. We didn’t know how things were going either with the restaurants in Norway or with the businesses in Brazil. So the question was to touch and feel. But it has been quite different from what we thought in June, Ulltveit-Moe tells Aftenposten / E24.
– For the better then, you mean?
-Yes, definitely. The surprising thing is that ethanol prices in Brazil have risen! There is an increase in the use of private cars in Brazil because people do not want to travel by public transport. Therefore, the Brazilian business is looking much better than in June. And for restaurants, takeout and fast food was actually better in July this year than it was in 2019, responds Ulltveit-Moe.
In total, the JUM Holding Group has approx. 5,800 employees, spread over more than 3,500 man-years. The vast majority of these work in the 400 or so Scandinavian restaurants that Umoe Restaurants operates. But ethanol producer Umoe Bioenergy in Brazil also has more than 1,000 employees.
The sale of Umoe’s headquarters in Fornebu is probably the second most talked about sale that Jens Ulltveit-Moe has made in the last year.
Monica Strømdahl
also read
Ulltveit-Moe cleans restaurants, also wants to get out of Starbucks at Stureplan
JUM Holding Group
– JUM Holding shows the general picture
The accounts Ulltveit-Moe released earlier this year, for Umoe Gruppen, Umoe or, more recently, UBE Gruppen have been mere company figures. This means that the accounts have not had the operating results of their respective subsidiaries.
Therefore, the complete and complete description of its business system in 2019 has not been possible until now, through the publication of the consolidated financial statements of JUM Holding.
– JUM Holding is the leader of the group and shows the general image of my group, confirms Ulltveit-Moe, who is the sole owner of JUM Holding.
JUM Holding owns 59.5 percent of the UMOE Group (see graph). The rest of the Umoe Group is owned by two companies, which in turn are owned by their daughters.
The accounts for 2019 are not looking good. Despite large company sales that generated book profits, last year the entire group posted losses of NOK 304 million. This was followed by a loss of NOK 571 million after tax in 2018.
Jens Ulltveit-Moe still relies on the goodwill of the banking leaders who live behind this glass facade in Bjørvika.
Gorm Kallestad, NTB
Operates at the mercy of DNB
Last fall, Umoe broke the conditions that DNB had set to lend money to the company. Thus, more than NOK 1 billion in loans were moved from long-term loans to short-term loans, that is, maturing all this year. In practice, this would have been impossible for Ulltveit-Moe to meet. So you’ve relied on DNB to give you time to clean up.
Therefore, the new CEO of Ulltveit-Moe, Jarle Roth, has sold companies and assets worth more than NOK 1 billion in the last year to pay off debt. It has sold, among other things, Umoe Consulting, Umoe’s headquarters in Fornebu and is involved in everything from an LNG ship to a company that operates food at airports.
– The equity is less than it was, but it is still significant. So we have a good collaboration with the bank, says Ulltveit-Moe about DNB. He adds:
– I think they are much less nervous now than they were.
Read on E24 +
Jens Ulltveit-Moe had to pay for airport food
Jarle Roth, a resident of Ålesund, has taken the cleaning job, after he returned to Ulltveit-Moe in August last year as the new CEO of Umoe Group.
Gorm Kallestad, NTB
– The level of debt will drop. But now we are significantly more confident than we were. The capital out there now roughly reflects market values, says Ulltveit-Moe on the JUM Holding group balance sheet.
Ulltveit-Moe promises more sales to DNB
JUM Holding Group’s stockholders’ equity was NOK 702 million at the end of the year. After all the doubts about the true value of the shares when the annual accounts were presented in June, Ulltveit-Moe believes that the values are now higher than the book values.
– I would say that having a wealth of between 700 million crowns and 1 billion crowns is a noble necessity.
– Have new DNB loans been established?
– We are in a process. But I think DNB is very happy. We have sold what we were told to sell. Then we will see what happens. But they agree with us that we should sell when the price is right, responds the 78-year-old investor who now wants to become an MDG politician.
Was DNB too harsh on him?
However, a highly disputed sale of Umoe’s shares in REC Silicon in December last year did not come at a time when the price was right. At that time, Umoe did not receive any more loans from DNB and Ulltveit-Moe was forced to sell at the bottom.
He received NOK 85 million for REC shares. The current owner of these shares, Kjell Inge Røkkes Aker, can be satisfied that the same shares have risen 280 percent since the purchase. They are now worth NOK 323 million.
– It may seem like DNB was too harsh on you last fall. And were you and yourself shot in the foot when they forced you to sell REC Silicon, instead of giving you additional liquidity loans?
– These are your words, but I do not disagree with you, says the always frank investor.
So both he and DNB can hope that their restaurants will remain open in the future and that ethanol prices in Brazil will not fall again.
His only really safe cash-generating business right now is betting on some LNG carriers that have 20-year contracts.
Among the many departures this year is Umoe Restaurants’ involvement in a company that operates many of the restaurants in Gardermoen.
Olav Olsen
I hope to refinance in Brazil
– Has sold a lot in the last year and a half. But the Brazilian business may not be salable?
– It is salable, but now at a lousy price. But what is happening in the world now is what I predicted ten years ago. This also applies to the growing interest in ethanol. So I think it makes sense to stick with it. In emission-free heavy transport, ethanol is an important component, answers Ulltveit-Moe.
It says that they are in process with a Latin American development bank for long-term financing from Umoe Bioenergy in Brazil.
His former other major US company, a Canadian wood products company, sold Ulltveit-Moe at a huge profit in 2018. That was just before US President Donald Trump introduced tariffs on product imports. wood from Canada.
– The sale of the timber business in Canada in 2018 was perfectly timed. So sometimes I do something right, says Ulltveit-Moe of advance sale.
