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– It has been a very special year. We probably had no idea what we were getting into, and we probably didn’t think it would last that long and have the consequences that it has had. We probably haven’t seen the end.
Cannon year
Oslo Børs speaks with billionaire Stein Erik Hagen the day a year after Norway was closed for the first time as a result of the coronavirus.
The news that Norway was closing on March 12, 2020 came very abruptly to the vast majority. Stock markets crashed, people rushed to stores to stock up, schools closed, and those who could were put to work from their home offices.
Since the dramatic day, in Norway we have had to live with infection control measures to varying degrees. In some parts of the country it is more intrusive than in others.
This has naturally affected the business community, especially the parties that depend on gathering people, be they concert organizers, nightlife, the restaurant industry, or the tourism industry.
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For Hagen, the year has been very profitable. Grocery giant Orkla, of which Hagen is the largest owner, increased operating income by 8.1 percent last year, to NOK 47.1 billion.
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Operating profit was 5.5 billion, an increase of 7.9 percent.
When Kapital released its list of Norway’s 400 richest people this fall, Hagen was in seventh place. The 64-year-old man’s net worth had increased by NOK 5 billion in one year and, according to the newspaper, NOK 33 billion.
Critical for dividends
But others have suffered more. To support “healthy companies” – to quote the government itself – during the crisis, various crisis measures have been proposed. Instead, believe Hagen.
– I think it’s okay with support schemes, he says, before setting a somewhat stricter tone:
– I can understand those who criticize those who receive support and then distribute dividends.
There are several examples of companies that paid dividends while receiving large sums from government support schemes.
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Corona support and dividends
The class struggle revealed in January that Dyreparken in Kristiansand received NOK 11.8 million in support of the crown last year, at the same time they earned a historically high dividend of NOK 10 million.
The same newspaper has also revealed that five organizers from the cultural sector received a total of NOK 48.7 million from the state, while paying a dividend of more than NOK 20 million.
The Palmesus festival also took out 2.4 million crowns in dividends just weeks before they asked the state for 35 million in support of the crown. They finally got 28 million.
There was also some backlash when it emerged that oil company Lundin increased the dividend by 80 percent a year after receiving a lucrative tax advantage from the state, as part of the so-called oil package that took effect last spring.
Left-wing parties have argued that companies that receive state support should be prohibited from paying dividends. They have failed to get the government to agree to this, even though Finance Minister Jan Tore Sanner has stated that it is “unacceptable if the cash support goes to dividends.”
And so it is the practice of paying dividends after receiving state support that criticizes Hagen.
Support refunded
To emphasize the point, Hagen notes that the company he owns, Kremmerhuset, received NOK 1.6 million in support for the first time, support that has since been repaid.
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– The year was good anyway, so it is fair and reasonable that we pay, says Hagen.
– And do you agree with those who criticize the companies that received the support of the crown by paying dividends?
– Yes, I think they should have saved for that.
– Why?
– No, you cannot receive child support and pay dividends. It can’t be that bad when you pay dividends, says Hagen, who believes that shareholders are last in line in the situation we’re in.
In the interests of order, Kremmerhuset is not alone in returning the support they have received from the state. By January, 190 companies had voluntarily repaid NOK 30 million.
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As for the coronavirus, Hagen himself has felt it in his body. He was infected last spring but was never bedridden and has described the course of the disease as relatively undramatic.
Through the Canica Foundation, it also supported a study at the University of Oslo, where a connection was found between blood type and the probability of serious lung diseases in covid-19.
On a purely personal level, Hagen says that, in many ways, he has come to terms with the crown’s plight and the limitations it places on the life he lived before the virus began to spread.
– You get used to it. Last year it was hard not to travel and things like that, but now it’s nice to be home. You’ve calmed it down a bit. I think it’s healthy, says Hagen.
He emphasizes that he is still working hard, but that reducing travel activity has probably not been detrimental to him or others.
– I don’t think it’s good that we always have to travel and do this and that. Now we can enjoy the day to a greater extent, enjoy the weekend and what we have around us. So that has been the positive. We’ve calmed down a bit and found ourselves, Hagen says.
