Hi everyone, welcome to the presentation of Aker's first quarter results 2023. My name is Fredrik Berge, I'm Head of Investor Relations. Please note the following change to our quarterly earnings material moving forward. For Q1, Q3, Q4, Aker will not publish a separate quarterly report. We will instead continue to provide the CEO letter and the presentation, including comprehensive financial tables. We are now also including more extensive historical data in these tables. We are publishing this data in Excel format for an improved user experience. For the half year on annual reporting, we will of course, continue to publish a separate half year and annual report as previously. For feedback or questions, please do not hesitate to get in contact.
We will start today's presentation with Aker's President and CEO, Øyvind Eriksen, who will take you through the highlights of the quarter and recent developments. Our CFO, Svein Oskar Stoknes, will then take you through the financials for the quarter in more detail. With that, I hand it over to Øyvind Eriksen.
Thank you, Fredrik, and good morning, everyone. Aker closed the first quarter of 2023 with high activity across the portfolio, both within conventional energy, renewables and other segments. Oil and gas production reached a record level coupled with industry-leading and a record low emissions intensity. Key developments include the decision to sell Aker Energy to Africa Finance Corporation or AFC, a transaction that closed shortly after the quarter end. The plan of development was subsequently submitted by AFC, a positive milestone towards achieving the project's goals and significantly contributing value to the Ghanaian economy. The sale follows an earn-out model based on potential future sales and/or production proceeds from the Pecan project. Aker and TRG will receive in total 70% of proceeds following repayment of debt and liabilities, while AFC is to retain 30%.
Aker BP, which has doubled its production and created a stronger and even more financially robust company following the merger with Lundin, is full speed ahead on its project portfolio, which is progressing well. Furthermore, the company is evaluating CO2 storage opportunities on the Norwegian continental shelf as a potential new business opportunity and a potential decarbonization lever for Aker BP in the longer term. The award of the Poseidon license represents the first milestone to assess and mature CO2 storage resources in support of the deployment of CCS within Northwest Europe. Aker BP has the necessary in-depth expertise in the reservoir management, drilling and wells, and logistics of offshore Norway.
Looking ahead, Aker's active ownership priorities in 2023 are on executing on growth projects, especially the portfolio in Aker BP with Aker Solutions as the main supplier, while simultaneously driving progress towards sustainable energy production through predictable project execution, strong partnerships and deployment of innovative digital solutions. Moving on to our financial performance in the quarter. The high activity across Aker's portfolio is not reflected in the quarterly net asset value, which declined 10.8% in the period. The result is largely due to realized liquid prices declining nearly 9% and natural gas prices being down 34%, negatively impacting Aker BP's value contribution as well as moderate decrease in Aker Horizons. The Aker share decreased 6.7% in the quarter to NOK 672 per share.
This compares to an 8.1% decrease in the Brent price and a 0.4% increase in the Oslo Stock Exchange benchmark index. Aker's value-adjusted equity ratio at the end of the period was 87%, and our liquidity reserve stood at NOK 6.6 billion, of which cash amounted to NOK 1.2 billion. Aker's gross asset value stood at NOK 68.6 billion in the first quarter. With close to 80% in listed assets and cash, the Aker portfolio remains highly liquid. Our industry and holdings portfolio accounted for 81.6% of our gross values. Aker BP remains the largest asset in our portfolio at NOK 34.3 billion. Aker's portfolio is positioned along several global mega trends.
Energy continues to be our largest industry segment, with portfolio companies positioned to provide energy security in the short and medium term with strong oil and gas production, while simultaneously playing a role in the longer term energy transition. Through Aker Solutions, we are positioned to be an important supplier in both segments based on our engineering and project execution capabilities, thus capitalizing on both near-term market growth and for longer term structural changes in energy markets. Aker Horizons is responding to the shifting market challenges through careful strategic considerations in Chile, its strategy remains unchanged with growth platforms positioned for both long-term trajectories towards a low-carbon economy. As the energy industry develops, it will also have to couple existing domain expertise with digital solutions and artificial intelligence, AI.
Aker is positioned to rapidly growing companies in the industrial software space, including Cognite, Aize, and Omny. AI is a potential game changer for these and other Aker companies, which are spending an increasing amount of time and resources to understand it. Our focus is twofold. One, determine how we can and should use AI as a powerful tool to enhance existing businesses. Two, identify new business opportunities helped by new technology. Data, software, and automation already play a significant role in our portfolio. However, AI exceeds the capabilities of the current efforts and with enormous economic value. Whether renewable power generation and demand forecasting, grid operation and optimization, management of energy demand and distributed resources, or materials discovery and innovation, AI has a role to play. Our strategy and business opportunities within this area continues to develop, but the underlying assumption is clear.
AI and digital technology will be an essential enabler for the energy transition and to meet the challenge and goal of a lower carbon future. The sustainable protein space, including offshore fish farming, is another growing segment in our portfolio. Within 2030, the world needs to produce 70% more food with less resources and with a minimal environmental footprint. Oceans cover more than 2/3 of the world's surface. However, only 2% of the food energy for human consumption comes from the sea. SalMar Aker Ocean aims to sustainably produce 150,000 tons of salmon per year at fish farms far out to sea. Achievement of its production targets in 2030 will make it one of the world's largest producers of farmed salmon.
The industry is currently evaluating the impact of changes after we launched SalMar Aker Ocean, like cost inflation and the regulatory framework, including the tax regime. Lastly, managed assets, including Industry Capital Partners, or ICP. ICP is diving headfirst into what has been deemed the biggest investment challenge in modern times. To reach net zero emissions by 2050, we face an investment challenge of $150 trillion according to BP's Statistical Review of World Energy and Rystad Energy, where fundamental energy systems need to be both recalibrated and re-established. ICP brings decades of industrial experience in Aker and Norway closer to the capital needed to meet this challenge, while simultaneously recognizing that the net zero transition is a significant energy security challenge, matching energy import and export needs in an increasingly complicated geopolitical landscape.
With Norway and Aker as its home base, the ICP asset management structure not only sits close to decades of domain expertise and natural resources, but also leverages the strong position Norway has built as an investor and a world-class model for public-private collaboration. Renewable infrastructure projects will require close collaboration between the public and the private sector, and ICP is optimally positioned to identify opportunities to maximize both economic and environmental impact, to use policy as an enabler, consider flexible partnerships, balance risk and returns, and approach data as a collaborative tool. ICP is already working closely with companies across the Aker portfolio, including Aker Solutions, Aker Horizons, and Aker Carbon Capture, as well as building relationships with key industrial partners in Norway and abroad.
The ICP structure consists of different fund companies under the parent company, ICP each targeting different opportunity areas within the net zero opportunity. Green Energy and Green Industry are two main initiatives measured by targeted assets under management. Green Energy will invest in the build-out of renewable energy infrastructure with a focus on offshore wind projects and adjacent energy infrastructure by partnering with leading renewable developers on selected projects where ICP can add value through the unique combination of financial capital and industrial expertise. Green Energy will work to leverage the competency in Aker to identify, develop, and manage project portfolios and the 40+ years of experience in delivering structures and solutions for the offshore sector. It's targeting the launch of its first farm in 2023.
Green Industry is an infrastructure and fund manager with a mission to decarbonize industry through electrification, conversion to low emission fuels, and process improvements. Aker has a demonstrated track record across Green Industry's key themes, including through Aker Solutions electrification projects offshore, the Northern Lights project, sub-sea compression deliveries, as well as Aker Carbon Capture, which is constructing the world's first full-scale carbon capture facility in Brevik, Norway. Green Industry is in the process of exploring investment opportunities along the value chain for carbon capture and storage, from capture to transportation and storage, where Norway is emerging as a storage partner for continental Europe. Atoma and Axis are fund managers focused on venture capital investment. Atoma is setting up a pure-play clean tech fund manager with a mission to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by making net zero enabling technologies for industrial use commercially available.
Atoma is focused on the scaling of early-stage industrial technology in Europe. Axis, which is still under development and scheduled to launch in 2024, will target early-stage investments in industrial software. Momentic is a fund manager primarily focused on listed equities, also in the pre-IPO and IPO segments, and is still under development. Like other companies in Aker's portfolio, ICP is exposed to current market volatilities, which may impact progress, including investment opportunities and fundraising. Overall, the company plays a key role in Aker's approach to the energy transition. This includes finding ways to collaborate across the portfolio to bring capital and industry closer together, leveraging excellent industrial partnerships, utilizing decades of leading engineering and project execution expertise, and using our network of agility to identify and seize new business opportunities. Well, that concludes my portion of today's presentation.
I now hand it over to our CFO, Svein Oskar Stoknes, who will take you through the financials for the quarter.
Thank you, Øyvind, good morning. I will start out spending a few minutes on Aker's financial investments before I go through the first quarter results in some more detail. The financial investments portfolio accounted for 18% of Aker's total assets or NOK 12.6 billion, up NOK 388 million from the previous quarter. This is mainly due to an increase in listed financial investments of NOK 102 million and other equity investments of NOK 231 million, partly offset by a decrease in our cash holdings. Aker Energy and the future potential earn-out value from the sale will be reported as part of other financial investments as of 2023, and the comparative figures have been represented correspondingly.
As before, the main components under financial investments are cash, listed financial investments, real estate, and interest-bearing receivables, all of which I will now go through in some more detail. As usual, starting with cash. Our cash holdings represented 2% of Aker's gross asset value or NOK 1.2 billion. This is down NOK 128 million from the previous quarter. The cash inflows were primarily dividends received from Aker BP and AMSC of the equivalent to NOK 790 million. The main cash outflows in the quarter were primarily debt repayment of NOK 495 million and loans to and equity investments in portfolio companies of NOK 238 million, of which, a NOK 139 million equity investment in Industry Capital Partners or ICP.
Payments for operating expenses and net interest were NOK 205 million in the quarter. Listed investments included in our financial portfolio represented about 4% of Aker's total assets at the end of the quarter or NOK 2.6 billion. The total value of this portfolio increased by NOK 102 million in the first quarter, mainly explained by value increases of our positions in Akastor of NOK 221 million, partly offset by value decrease in Solstad Offshore of NOK 80 million. During the quarter, Aker posted a total dividend income from AMSC of NOK 45 million. Real estate and other financial investments. Combined, the two represented 13% of Aker's gross asset value or NOK 8.8 billion in total. Aker's real estate holding, Aker Property Group, stood at a book value of NOK 993 million at the end of the quarter.
Interest-bearing receivables totaled NOK 4.3 billion, including a NOK 2 billion loan and a NOK 1.2 billion convertible loan to Aker Horizons. Other equity investments totaled NOK 2.6 billion, up from NOK 2.4 billion last quarter. The increase is mainly explained by the investment in ICP of NOK 139 million and positive value development in CT of NOK 81 million. Fixed and other interest-free assets totaled NOK 921 million. Let's move to the first quarter financial highlights for Aker ASA and holding companies, and let me start with the balance sheet. Please note that the Q1 figures on this slide are after a dividend allocation of NOK 15 per share. The book value of our assets totaled NOK 32.9 billion, and in our accounts, we use the lowest of historic cost and market values.
This was down NOK 1.2 billion in the quarter, mainly explained by a negative value change in Aker Horizons of NOK 1.7 billion. The book value of our equity was NOK 22.8 billion, down NOK 910 million, explained by loss before tax in the quarter. The fair value adjusted assets or gross asset value totaled NOK 68.6 billion. This was down NOK 7.5 billion in the quarter, mainly explained by the negative value development in Aker BP of net NOK 5.6 billion and in Aker Horizons, as already mentioned. Subtracting for debt, the net asset value was NOK 58.5 billion at the end of the quarter after a dividend allocation. This equaled NOK 788 per share, and the value-adjusted equity ratio was 85%.
Aker had total liabilities of NOK 10.1 billion at the end of the quarter and mainly consisted of bond debt and bank loans totaling NOK 8.7 billion. It also included a NOK 1.1 billion dividend allocation for 2022, representing NOK 15 per share. The AGM also authorized the board of directors to pay a potential additional cash dividend during 2023 based on the 2022 annual accounts in line with the practice from last year. Aker's financial position remains robust with a total liquidity buffer of NOK 6.6 billion, including undrawn credit facilities. Our net interest-bearing debt was NOK 2.9 billion at the end of the quarter, down from NOK 3.2 billion in the previous quarter due to debt repayments.
Our loan-to-value was 11%. Close to 80% of our gross asset value is in listed assets and cash. In terms of our debt maturity profile, the average debt maturity at the end of the quarter was 3.4 years. We currently have NOK 5 billion of bonds outstanding. Our bank loans of NOK 3.7 billion consists of a USD-denominated loan of NOK 1.6 billion, a Norwegian kroner-denominated loan of NOK 1 billion, and a NOK 1.1 billion EUR-denominated Schuldschein loan. Taking into account available credit lines and extension options on the bank loans, the implicit maturity of the total loan portfolio is 4.7 years. To the income statement. The operating expenses for the first quarter were NOK 105 million.
The net value change in the quarter was negative NOK 1.4 billion, mainly explained by value reductions in Aker Horizons of NOK 1.7 billion, partly offset by a value increase in Akastor of NOK 221 million and CT of NOK 81 million. During the quarter, Aker booked a total dividend income from Aker BP and AMSC of NOK 796 million. Our net other financial items were negative NOK 221 million, mainly explained by a net foreign exchange loss of NOK 103 million. The loss before tax was then NOK 914 million in the quarter.
Thank you. That was the end of today's presentation, and we can then move on to questions.
All right. We have received a few questions, and the first one is regarding offshore wind and the recent de-developments in Norway. The recent competitive application rounds that has been announced by the government for Sørlige Nordsjø II and Utsira Nord, what is Aker's take on the government's recent announcements?
Well, as we all know, Norway has been a slow mover in offshore wind so far. Hence, we're pleased by the fact that the government has clarified the level of ambition, both the 30 GW development, followed by announcement of proposed acreage to be made available for development, and even more specifically, by the auction processes for Utsira and Sørlige Nordsjø II respectively, which will happen later this year. The Aker Group is positioned together with strong partners like Statkraft, BP, and Ocean Winds to compete for the two first projects. More...
even more importantly, we sincerely hope that the longer-term opportunities on the Norwegian continental shelf will enable us to build up capacity, technology, and competency in order to compete for offshore wind projects domestically and globally for decades to come.
Thank you. The next question is, regarding Aker Energy. The POD has now been submitted to the authorities, and the question is, what are the upcoming milestones for this field development project moving forward?
Well, the most important milestone for Aker was obviously the agreement with Africa Finance Corporation, AFC, to divest our shareholding in Aker Energy. As I said in my presentation, the compensation is primarily structured as an earn-out. For us, the first milestone is obviously the fact that the plan for development and operation has been filed by AFC. The next milestone will be the feedback from the authorities in Ghana, hopefully, and then approval of the POD. Thereafter, AFC with licensed partners will make, hopefully an investment decision, do the construction, and ultimately commence operation and production.
It's a traditional field development, step-by-step process, with the milestones clearly defined, which will trigger earn-out payment to Aker and TRG when and if achieved.
Thank you. Next question is about SalMar Aker Ocean. What is the status, and have there been any developments regarding the regulatory framework in Norway, including the tax regime?
Well, the regulatory framework is still work in progress. We're engaging directly with our authorities, but also through industry organizations and to provide input and advice about what kind of regulatory framework which will trigger a new phase for Norwegian offshore salmon fish farming. As far as SalMar Aker Ocean is concerned, the first facility, Ocean Farm 1, has now been maintained and the next production cycle is planned to start in this second quarter of 2023. In parallel, SalMar Aker Ocean is in the process of redesigning the Smart Fish Farm facility.
As soon as the design has been completed and cost estimates has been established together with partners, and suppliers, we will discuss a possible investment decision. In the bigger picture, SalMar Aker Ocean is progressing according to plan. However, timing will, to a large extent, also depend upon the regulatory framework, which has not yet been complete, concluded.
Thank you. Next question is regarding Cognite. It looks like the positive development in SaaS revenue is continuing. Do you have any update on the status and plans forward for Cognite?
Sure. Cognite is progressing also according to plan, not only measured by growth in SaaS revenue, but also measured by number of customers, industry verticals and geographies. In addition to that, it's very exciting to see that the Cognite technology, CDF, is highly relevant and attractive in the ongoing artificial intelligence space, which has really taken off since we had our last quarterly presentation. It's still early stage, but the value of artificial intelligence will obviously depend on the quality of data, and that's exactly the kind of technology Cognite has developed.
es data from all different and relevant data sources in an industrial facility and makes the data available in a structured way, so that applications like AI can be deployed and provide the end user with real value
Thank you very much. That sounds very exciting indeed. That was our final question for today and concludes our presentation. We would like to thank everyone for listening and wish you a nice afternoon.