First signs of recovery after pandemic shock

The global situation makes the year 2020 one of the toughest years for everyone in the industry. We felt it particularly strongly because the end of 2019 was in many ways the record year for us. SEC achieved increases in all aspects of our business from many new orders, the introduction of new services and disciplines to our Clients and in result in highest employment levels in the company's history. Unfortunately, 1Q of 2020 hit us hard with spreading the Covid-19 pandemic. Which resulted in the temporary shutdown or suspension of production in most of our client's facilities.
Fortunately, thanks to the titanic work done by the SEC's administration team, and cooperation with Norwegian institutions, we have managed to avoid mass layoffs and successfully moved our Norwegian personnel on permittering. And then, together with our clients, to whom we are grateful for the close cooperation. We have started developing safe and effective methods of cooperation under new strict sanitary and travelling restrictions. In consultation with clients, trade unions and our production employees, we managed to develop solutions that, were far from perfect but allowed us to safely resume production and by the end of 2020 restore 1/3 of our staff to active work.
Now in mid-2021, we are still struggling fighting with pandemic, but currently, we see the first signs of recovery after the initial shock. Thanks to the involvement of administrative staff in the improvement of personnel logistics processes, knowledge of the rules of quarantine and travel restrictions, and the introduction of a digital system of employment contracts, we can think about new projects. After 2Q the statistics of employment and restoration of production personnel to active work allow us to think about the future with moderate optimism.
We would like to greatly thank our production and administrative staff, as well as our Clients for supporting and building together a stable future. Even in these challenging times.