‘Challenging’ pay negotiations begin

Wage negotiations between Norway’s confederation of trade unions LO and the national employers’ organization NHO were getting underway this week, with LO leader Roar Flåthen saying that pay issues were “especially challenging” this year. Norway’s strong economy versus budget and debt crises abroad make it harder for the unions to demand big raises. On the [...]

High costs won’t halt good times

The average hourly wage costs of an industrial worker in Norway are now more than eight times that of a worker in Poland, according to a recent government report, and that’s added to fears that the country’s economic good times will soon stop rolling. Analysts at state statistics bureau SSB, however, say they’re only “a [...]

Euro crisis hits industry harder

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has been issuing more warnings about the ill effects of the European economic crisis on Norwegian industry, and many companies are facing harder times this year. Others  remain optimistic and have more faith in 2014. Stoltenberg, who’s been warning of an economic downturn since the finance crisis first hit, made some [...]

New aluminum giant wins praise

This week’s sudden birth, in Oslo, of what’s being called the world’s biggest “aluminum solutions provider” was being hailed on Tuesday as everything from “visionary” to simply “a good deal,” for both companies involved and for Norway’s industrial base. The top executives of Norsk Hydro and Orkla, already two of Norway’s biggest companies, were literally [...]

Historic industrial firm gears for stock spin-off

Borregaard, which has long played an important role in Norway’s industrial history, is about to be spun off from its parent company of the past quarter-century and get a stock exchange listing of its own. Borregaard insiders are signing up for shares at a level that suggests they have faith in the firm’s prospects. Newspaper [...]

Industrial firms celebrate support

It’s not often that Norwegian industrial firms, labour and business organizations are all in agreement but they were collectively celebrating this week after the government came through with financial support to offset the higher costs of environmental measures. The state will effectively sponsor new EU carbon emissions taxes the firms have to pay. The goal [...]

Hottest candidate won top job

Kristin Skogen Lund, already listed among the most powerful women in the world by US-based Fortune Magazine, has climbed farther up the career ladder. She’s been unanimously chosen to be the new chief of Norway’s national employers’ organization NHO, after outgoing boss John Bernander. Lund, who most recently has been a senior executive in telecoms [...]

‘No interest rate increase this year’

Norway’s central bank, Norges Bank, not only refrained from raising interest rates on Wednesday but its deputy governor said its key lending rate is likely to remain stable for the rest of the year. It currently stands at an historically low level of 1.5 percent. Jan F Qvigstad told reporters that the bank’s executive board, [...]

Industry mounts new crisis plans

More storm clouds are building over Norwegian industrial plants, like Norsk Hydro’s aluminum operations in the mountains at Årdal. Local industrial players are more worried than ever that the next phase of the global finance crisis will hit their business much harder than the first onslaught in 2008. They’re already seeing a drop in demand [...]

More cuts loom at Norsk Hydro

One of Norway’s largest industrial firms, Norsk Hydro, is feeling the pain of the euro crisis after suffering major losses in the second quarter. Management is warning that more cuts will be necessary throughout the year. Hydro’s chief executive Svein Richard Brandtzæg noted that the weak economy in Hydro’s most important markets in Europe has [...]

Another boat builder bails out

Norwegian boat builder Windy Boats has become the latest Scandinavian manufacturer of pleasure craft to move production abroad, to combat high costs. Around 50 persons will lose their jobs in the southern coastal city of Arendal when production moves to Poland and Sweden. “When it costs three times as much to produce boats in Norway [...]

Canadian fund buys Helly Hansen

The longtime Norwegian maker of stormy weather gear that later evolved into high fashion, Helly Hansen, has been sold for around NOK 1.5 billion to the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan in a move that nets handsome gains for its investors and several top executives. The Norwegian executives, though, aren’t bailing out of the business. “With [...]

Investigation confirms ‘unacceptable’ payments at Yara

Norwegian industrial firm Yara, which has been under both internal and criminal investigation for suspected bribery the past year, has been found to have made “unacceptable” payments in both India and Libya by the external lawyer hired to probe corruption suspicions by Yara itself.  Most of the alleged bribery at Yara, best known for its [...]

Former Yara CEO also faces charges

UPDATED: The former chief executive of industrial concern Yara has also been charged in an expanding corruption case against the state-controlled company. Thorleif Enger was arrested along with two other top Yara executives, who since have been demoted while an investigation continues into their role in bribery charges. All three men were released by police [...]

Jens lowers ‘moon landing’ gear

It wasn’t exactly a small step for Norway, and not yet a giant leap for Norwegian industry  either, but Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg could finally welcome visitors to the formal opening of the country’s expensive technology center at Statoil’s Mongstad power plant on Monday. The long-awaited center, part of what Stoltenberg has called the equivalent [...]

Next Page »