Aker Solutions issues profit warning amid North Sea troubles Aker Solutions" shares sank by more than a fifth after Norway's leading oil services company issued a profit warning just two months after disappointing on earnings. The Norwegian group, controlled by billionaire Kjell Inge Røkke, said delays and increased costs on several projects would cause first-quarter earnings to be about 20 per cent lower than consensus estimates. Aker has had a number of cost problems in the past two years in Brazil, leading to it reporting an unexpected loss in 2011 and weaker-than-expected profits this February. But its problems on Monday mostly stemmed from issues in Norway, including increased costs for the Ekofish Zulu platform project in the North Sea, as well as problems in several divisions. The slow start to 2013 is truly disappointing. As lost or postponed contract awards are part of the game, some of the quality issues are, simply speaking, unacceptable," said Øyvind Eriksen, Aker's executive chairman. Aker, which is due to report full results on May 8, said revenues in the first quarter would be NKr11.1bn ($1.9bn) and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation NKr868m. Analysts were expecting NKr11.5bn and NKr1.13bn respectively, according to Bloomberg. Aker's shares, which fell 11 per cent in February when it reported fourth-quarter earnings, dropped 23 per cent in early afternoon trading to NKr81.95. The group warned that its troubles this year reflected "both increased market uncertainty and portfolio sensitivities" and said the order intake in the coming quarters was more at risk due to recent project cancellations or postponements. Oil production is dwindling in the Norwegian North Sea. However, energy companies such as Statoil are recovering a higher proportion of oil as a result of the aid of complicated new technology from services groups such as Aker.