Inverness aquaculture group AKVA hit by lockdown cyber attack

An Inverness aquaculture technology firm recorded a pre-tax loss last year.

It came as turnover fell by more than £1 million at AKVA Group in the year ending December 31, 2020 compared to the previous 12 months.

A strategic report accompanying the firm’s latest accounts also revealed it was subject to a cyber attack in January this year, impacting several key systems.

It added: “Most of AKVA group’s internally hosted services were shut down and data, including backups, were encrypted.

“All main IT systems were recovered during quarter one of 2021 and no data was lost.”

Pre-tax profit of £96,000 in 2019 moved to a loss before tax of £43,000 last year. For the same period, turnover dropped from £14,922,000 to £13,762,000. The report attributed the reductions to the impact of the pandemic.

It added: “The company started 2020 with an optimistic outlook and strong order backlog.

“At the onset of Covid-19, we took immediate action with focus on the health and safety of our employees, customers and suppliers while maintaining our liquidity and security of supply.

“Although Covid-19 became a global pandemic and impacted the worldwide and Scottish economies, we traded throughout 2020 with minimum use of the government job retention scheme.

“We believe the situation has been managed well due to the great commitment and hard work of all our employees who have contributed throughout the challenging 2020.”

The average number of employees dipped from 71 in 2019 to 69 last year, while staff costs decreased from £2,938,000 to £2,910,000.

The ultimate parent company is Egersund Group ASA in Norway.