Losses increase in Freyr | Finansavisen

Last autumn, the battery company Freyr announced an abrupt halt to plans to build a substantial battery factory in Mo i Rana because the Norwegian authorities cut off financial support.

Now Freyr reveals that it has received inquiries from possible buyers of the Giga Arctic factory, who are considering using the building as a data center, according to the company’s first quarter report on Wednesday.

The company further writes that it is considering what to do with the 75,000 square meter building, which is booked at 225 million dollars in the accounts, with a focus on optimizing shareholder value.

Before the decision to stop the project in Mo i Rana, Freyr had invested NOK 4 billion in the factory. The reason for putting the plans on hold was that the authorities in Norway and Europe did not support the battery industry in the same way as the USA has done with the subsidy package Inflation Reduction Act, often referred to as “IRA”. That is why Freyr has chosen to invest in battery production in the US state of Georgia.

Before the factory in Mo i Rana was put on hold, Freyr had announced big plans for the town for several years. The decision to close therefore received major reactions from the local community, which had expected an economic upswing as a result of the investments from Freyr.

Finansavisen has been in contact with communications manager Hilde Rønningsen in Freyr, who says that the company has nothing more to add beyond what is reported in the press release.

The losses are increasing

Furthermore, the report shows that Freyr lost 28.5 million dollars in the quarter, compared to 12.7 million dollars in the same period last year. Measured in Norwegian kroner, this means that losses increased from 138 to 310 million during the year.

In the press release, the company places much of the blame for the increased loss on currency effects, where in the first quarter of this year the company had a net loss on currency equivalent to 1.5 million dollars, while in the first quarter last year it had a net gain of 16 million dollars.

The cash balance in the company now stands at $258.8 million.