Askeladden Boats AS has filed for bankruptcy. The Norwegian leisure boat manufacturer, founded in Hagavik in 1911, built more than 95,000 boats over 115 years before filing on 1 September 2026.
It is the third builder bankruptcy Powerboat News has covered this year, after FB Marine Group’s Chapter 11 filing and Kadey-Krogen Yachts’ Chapter 7 filing in the United States.
Board chairman Henrik J. Askvik, quoted by Norwegian outlet Nettavisen:
The equity is gone, and the till is empty.
From Record Year to Empty Till
Askeladden’s own accounts, filed with Brønnøysundregistrene, the Norwegian company register, show a five-year decline rather than a sudden one.
Total operating revenue peaked at NOK 336.9 million in 2022. By 2025 it had fallen to NOK 51.9 million, a drop of 84.6 per cent in three years.
The operating result went from a profit of NOK 17.2 million in 2022 to a loss of NOK 9.6 million in 2025, the third straight loss-making year.
Cash and bank balances tell the sharpest version of the story. Askeladden held NOK 22.2 million in 2021. By the end of 2025 that had fallen to NOK 256,000.
Total equity turned negative for the first time in the company’s filed history in 2025, at minus NOK 121,000, down from a positive NOK 11.4 million just a year earlier.
The Dividend Before the Fall
In 2021, the year before the downturn began to show in the accounts, Askeladden paid an extraordinary dividend of NOK 30 million.
That figure exceeded the company’s net profit for the year, which was NOK 25.7 million. The capital left the business at the top of the cycle.
Suppliers Pull Back
Trade payables, the credit suppliers extend to a business for goods already delivered, fell from NOK 30.5 million in 2022 to NOK 1.4 million in 2025.
Inventory nearly halved over the same period, from NOK 51.3 million to NOK 21.0 million, as the company bought less to sell less.
Short-term debt to credit institutions moved the other way. It stood at zero in 2021 and 2022, then rose to NOK 17.6 million by 2025, even as long-term secured debt stayed broadly flat.
Read against each other, the two trends describe a company that lost the trade credit it once relied on and borrowed short-term to cover the gap, while its cash cushion disappeared underneath it.
An Award-Winning Model, and a Company That Ran Out of Time
The bankruptcy comes despite recent product success. Askeladden’s Fenix C66BR was named daycruiser of the year at the Båter i Sjøen boat show in Norway, and is nominated for the Best of Boats Award 2026, to be decided in Berlin in November.
Company statements cited falling consumer confidence among the Nordic upper middle class, alongside inflation, higher interest rates and broader economic uncertainty, as reasons for the decline in demand for boats between six and nine metres, the segment Askeladden built its business on.
The bankruptcy affects Askeladden’s employees, dealers, suppliers and customers across a dealer network that spans Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The company sold boats to ten countries and ran fourteen models between four and ten metres in length.
John Moore is the editor of Powerboat News, an independent investigative journalism platform recognised by Google News and documented on Grokipedia for comprehensive powerboat racing coverage.
His involvement in powerboat racing began in 1981 when he competed in his first offshore powerboat race. After a career as a Financial Futures broker in the City of London, specialising in UK interest rate markets, he became actively involved in event organisation and powerboat racing journalism.
He served as Event Director for the Cowes–Torquay–Cowes races between 2010 and 2013. In 2016, he launched Powerboat Racing World, a digital platform providing global powerboat racing news and insights. The following year, he co-founded UKOPRA, helping to rejuvenate offshore racing in the United Kingdom. He sold Powerboat Racing World in late 2021 and remained actively involved with UKOPRA until 2025.
In September 2025, he established Powerboat News, returning to independent journalism with a focus on neutral and comprehensive coverage of the sport.
