VOW ASA Stock price
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Key metrics
📘 Market Capitalization
📈 What is it?
Market capitalization shows how much a company is currently worth on the stock market.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps classify companies by size (Large, Mid, Small Cap) and indicates their market presence and relative stability.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Large-cap companies tend to be more stable, often pay dividends, but may grow more slowly.
- Smaller firms may offer higher growth potential but come with more volatility.
- Market capitalization is a useful indicator of company size — but not a measure of whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued.
📘 Enterprise Value (EV)
📈 What is it?
Enterprise Value represents the total cost to acquire a company — including its debt and excluding its cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(= Market Cap + Net Debt)
🏛️ Why is it important?
EV gives a more complete picture of a company's value than market cap alone and is used in key valuation ratios like EV/FCF or EV/Sales.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Enterprise Value shows the true cost of buying a company, including all financial obligations.
- It is more accurate than just looking at market cap, especially when comparing companies with different levels of debt or cash.
- Professional investors prefer EV-based multiples because they better reflect the company’s full financial footprint.
📘 Net Debt
📈 What is it?
Net Debt shows how much debt remains after subtracting a company’s available cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It indicates how dependent a company is on borrowed money and how easily it can service its debt in the short term.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low or negative net debt signals financial strength and flexibility.
- Companies with strong cash positions are better positioned in crises.
- High net debt increases financial risk — especially in environments with rising interest rates or economic downturns.
📘 Cash
📈 What is it?
Cash represents all liquid assets a company can access immediately — including cash, bank deposits, and short-term investments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It reflects a company’s financial flexibility and resilience — enabling investments, buybacks, or buffer in downturns.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A strong cash position means greater room for maneuver and crisis resistance.
- Cash-rich companies can invest, pay down debt, or repurchase shares.
- But excess idle cash might indicate a lack of growth opportunities.
📘 Shares Outstanding
📈 What is it?
Shares outstanding represent the total number of a company’s shares currently held by investors — excluding treasury stock.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s the basis for key metrics like Earnings Per Share (EPS), Market Capitalization, or the Price/Earnings ratio (P/E).
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Fewer shares in circulation typically increase earnings per share — making each share more valuable.
- Share buybacks reduce the number of shares and boost per-share metrics.
- Issuing new shares does the opposite — diluting shareholder value and lowering per-share figures.
📘 Price-to-Earnings Ratio (P/E)
📈 What is it?
The P/E ratio shows how many times a company's earnings per share are reflected in its current share price — in other words, how "expensive" the stock appears relative to its profits.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The P/E ratio is one of the most widely used valuation metrics. It helps investors assess whether a stock appears cheap or expensive compared to its earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
📊 P/E (TTM) = Based on earnings from the last 12 months (Trailing Twelve Months):🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/E may indicate undervaluation — or signal underlying issues.
- A high P/E may reflect strong growth expectations — or an overvalued stock.
📘 Price-to-Sales Ratio (P/S)
📈 What is it?
The P/S ratio shows how much investors are paying for $1 of the company’s revenue – regardless of profitability.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/S is especially useful for evaluating growth companies or businesses not yet profitable. It reflects how the market values the company’s sales.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/S may indicate undervaluation — or low profitability.
- A high P/S can reflect strong growth expectations — or excessive optimism.
- Especially helpful when evaluating companies where profits are low, volatile, or negative.
📘 Enterprise Value to Sales (EV/Sales)
📈 What is it?
EV/Sales shows how much investors are paying for $1 of revenue — considering not just equity, but also debt and cash. It’s the capital structure–adjusted version of the P/S ratio.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s ideal for comparing companies with different levels of debt. It reflects a company's true cost relative to its revenue.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EV/Sales allows for capital structure–neutral company comparisons.
- A lower ratio may indicate undervaluation; a higher one may signal strong growth expectations or overvaluation.
- Especially helpful when evaluating high-growth companies with low or negative earnings.
📘 Enterprise Value to Free Cash Flow (EV/FCF)
📈 What is it?
EV/FCF shows how many years it would take for a company to "pay back" its enterprise value using its free cash flow.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It focuses on real cash generation, ignoring accounting noise — ideal for assessing profitability and value based on liquidity, not earnings.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low EV/FCF may signal undervaluation and strong cash generation.
- A high EV/FCF might reflect weak recent cash flow or aggressive growth expectations.
- Best suited for stable, mature businesses with predictable free cash flows.
📘 Price-to-Book Ratio (P/B)
📈 What is it?
The P/B ratio compares a company’s market value to its book value — showing how much investors are paying for each dollar of net assets.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/B is commonly used for asset-heavy industries like banks or industrials. It helps assess whether a stock is trading above or below its net asset value.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A P/B below 1 may signal undervaluation — or weak profitability.
- A P/B above 1 implies the market expects future value creation (e.g., brand, IP, growth).
- Best used for companies with tangible assets and strong balance sheets.
📘 Dividend per Share (DPS)
📈 What is it?
Dividend per Share shows how much cash a company pays out to shareholders for each share they own – usually on an annual or quarterly basis.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
DPS is the absolute value of the payout per share – crucial for income-focused investors and dividend strategies.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable or growing DPS often signals a strong, shareholder-friendly business.
- DPS alone doesn’t tell you how attractive the payout is – the stock price also matters (→ see Dividend Yield).
- Long-term dividend growth is often a hallmark of high-quality companies – like the dividend aristocrats.
📘 Dividend Yield
📈 What is it?
Dividend yield shows how large a company’s dividend is in relation to its current share price.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It allows investors to compare dividend payouts across stocks, regardless of price or payout size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable yield can reflect reliable distributions.
- Comparing 1Y and 5Y yield shows whether dividend growth keeps pace with stock price appreciation.
- A low yield isn’t always negative – it can signal strong past performance or growth focus.
📘 Dividend Growth
📈 What is it?
Dividend growth shows how much a company has increased its dividend per share over time.
🧮 How is it calculated?
5Y: Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
🏛️ Why is it important?
Consistently rising dividends are often a sign of financial strength and shareholder orientation – especially relevant for long-term investors.
🧮 Calculation
5Y Dividend Growth (CAGR)🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stable dividend growth is a sign of sustainable earning power.
- High dividend growth can significantly boost your total return:
- If a company pays $1 in dividends and increases it by 15% annually over 5 years, you’ll receive $2 per share in year 5 – twice as much as at the start!
📘 Payout Ratio
📈 What is it?
The payout ratio shows what percentage of a company’s earnings (per share) is distributed to shareholders as dividends.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess whether the dividend is sustainable – especially in relation to the company’s profitability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low payout ratio means the company retains more earnings for reinvestment – typical for growth companies.
- A moderate payout (e.g. 25–50%) indicates a healthy balance between returns and reinvestment.
- High payout ratios may seem attractive but can carry risk if earnings decline.
📘 Consecutive Dividend Increases
📈 What is it?
This metric shows how many consecutive years a company has raised its dividend per share – without any cuts or pauses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(Special dividends are not considered.)
🏛️ Why is it important?
A long track record of increases reflects financial strength, consistency, and shareholder commitment.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A long dividend increase streak builds confidence – especially in volatile markets.
- Such companies are seen as reliable and income-friendly investments.
- The longer the streak, the stronger the company’s dividend discipline.
📘 Revenue
📈 What is it?
Revenue shows how much a company earns in total from selling its products and services – the gross income before any costs are deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Revenue is one of the key figures to assess a company’s size, market position, and growth potential.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing revenue indicates rising demand and can be an early signal of future earnings growth.
- Comparing actual and expected revenue reveals trends in the market environment and analyst sentiment.
- Note: Strong revenue alone isn’t enough – margins and profitability matter just as much.
📘 EBITDA
📈 What is it?
EBITDA stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.” It reflects a company’s operating profit before the effects of financing, taxes, and accounting depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBITDA is widely used to evaluate a company’s operating performance – especially across capital-intensive sectors or international comparisons.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high or growing EBITDA indicates strong operational profitability – independent of taxes, interest, or accounting methods.
- It’s especially useful for comparing companies across sectors or geographies.
- Important: EBITDA is not a net income figure – it excludes key costs like depreciation and interest.
📘 EBIT
📈 What is it?
EBIT stands for “Earnings Before Interest and Taxes.” It reflects a company’s operating profit after depreciation, but before interest and tax expenses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT is a core profitability metric that shows how well the company performs in its main business operations – independent of capital structure and tax environment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT indicates strong profitability from the company’s core business – before financial and tax effects.
- It allows better comparison between companies with different debt levels or tax structures.
- Compared to EBITDA, EBIT already accounts for depreciation and reflects capital intensity more clearly.
📘 Net Income
📈 What is it?
Net income is the company’s total profit – the amount left after all expenses, taxes, interest, and depreciation have been deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the most comprehensive measure of a company’s profitability – showing how much actual profit remains after all business and financing costs.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing net income indicates that the company is managing all of its costs efficiently.
- It directly influences valuation metrics like P/E ratio and the company’s dividend capacity.
- Over time, net income trends reveal how resilient and profitable the business model really is.
📘 Free Cash Flow (FCF)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow shows how much actual cash remains after a company covers its operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF reflects a company’s real financial strength – regardless of accounting profits. It shows how much flexibility a company has for dividends, share buybacks, or debt reduction.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High free cash flow means the company generates real, usable cash – independent of reported net income.
- It’s often the most reliable base for sustainable dividends and buybacks.
- Declining FCF can be an early warning sign – even when profits appear stable.
📘 Revenue Growth
📈 What is it?
Revenue growth shows how much a company’s sales have changed compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on forward projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected revenue ÷ Revenue in prior year − 1) × 100
Forward growth is based on analyst estimates for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Rising revenue signals growing demand, business expansion, and market share gains – especially important for growth-oriented companies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growth is the engine of long-term value creation – especially in tech and growth sectors.
- What matters is not just current growth, but its sustainability.
- Forward projections reflect whether analysts expect continued momentum – or a slowdown.
📘 EBITDA Growth
📈 What is it?
EBITDA growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) has increased or decreased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBITDA ÷ EBITDA from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Growing EBITDA indicates improving operational profitability – regardless of financing or accounting effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Strong EBITDA growth signals operational efficiency and scalability – especially during growth phases.
- EBITDA growth can be an early indicator of margin and earnings expansion – but should be assessed alongside revenue and EBIT.
📘 EBIT Growth
📈 What is it?
EBIT growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (after depreciation, but before interest and taxes) has increased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBIT ÷ EBIT from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT growth is a direct indicator of a company’s business performance – taking into account capital intensity through depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Rising EBIT signals improving operating profitability – even after accounting for depreciation.
- It’s especially important for evaluating companies with significant capital expenditures.
- Combined with revenue and EBITDA growth, EBIT growth provides a well-rounded view of operational progress.
📘 Net Income Growth
📈 What is it?
Net income growth shows how much a company’s bottom-line profit has increased or decreased compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on analyst projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected net income ÷ Net income from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate reflects analysts’ expectations for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the ultimate measure of profitability. Growing net income signals stronger efficiency, cost control, and sustainable earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stronger net income boosts valuation, dividend potential, and investor confidence.
- If profits stall while revenue grows, it may signal margin pressure.
📘 Free Cash Flow Growth
📈 What is it?
Free cash flow (FCF) growth shows how a company’s available cash – after covering operating expenses and capital expenditures – has changed compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Free cash flow reflects real financial strength. Growing FCF indicates more flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, and reinvestment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Declining FCF may point to rising investments, increasing costs, or weaker operating performance.
- Especially for dividend investors, FCF growth is critical – since dividends are paid from actual available cash.
- A negative trend isn't always bad, but it deserves closer attention.
📘 Gross Margin
📈 What is it?
Gross margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains after deducting the direct costs of goods sold (like materials and production). It represents the company’s “raw profit” before fixed costs, taxes, and interest.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Or simply: Gross Margin = Gross Profit ÷ Revenue × 100
🏛️ Why is it important?
Gross margin indicates how efficiently a company can produce or procure what it sells. It is a key measure of product-level profitability and pricing power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high gross margin suggests strong pricing power and efficient production.
- Falling margins may signal rising input costs or competitive pressure.
- Compared to peers, gross margin offers insights into the quality of a business model.
📘 EBITDA Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBITDA margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.It reflects operating efficiency without being distorted by financing or accounting factors.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBITDA margin reveals how much operating income a company generates per dollar of revenue – independent of capital structure and tax effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBITDA margin reflects strong core profitability – before accounting distortions.
- It allows for effective comparisons across companies and sectors.
- A stable or growing margin signals efficient cost control and business scalability.
📘 EBIT Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBIT margin shows what percentage of revenue remains as operating profit after depreciation but before interest and taxes.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBIT margin reflects a company’s core profitability while accounting for capital intensity (e.g. machinery, infrastructure). It’s especially useful for comparing businesses with different levels of depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT margin shows that the company remains efficient even after factoring in depreciation.
- It’s especially relevant for capital-intensive industries.
- Stable or rising EBIT margins over time are a strong indicator of pricing power and business quality.
📘 Net margin
📈 What is it?
Net margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as bottom-line profit after deducting all costs, interest, taxes, and depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net margin reflects a company’s overall efficiency – across operations, financing, and taxation. It shows how much actual profit is generated from each dollar of revenue.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high net margin means the company is not only strong operationally but also manages financing and taxes efficiently.
- Peer comparisons reveal business quality and competitiveness.
- Declining margins despite revenue growth can be a red flag for rising costs or inefficiencies.
📘 Free cash flow margin
📈 What is it?
The free cash flow (FCF) margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as actual free cash after covering all operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This margin reflects the true liquidity generated by the business – independent of accounting rules or depreciation. It’s especially relevant for dividends, buybacks, and reinvestment decisions.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high FCF margin means a company consistently generates strong cash flow.
- It’s a positive signal for financial stability and shareholder returns.
- The long-term trend is key – a declining margin may indicate rising investments or weakening operating efficiency.
📘 Equity Ratio
📈 What is it?
The equity ratio indicates what portion of a company’s total assets is financed by shareholders’ equity – in other words, how much it relies on its own capital.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
A high equity ratio reflects financial strength and stability, especially during downturns. It’s a key indicator of a company’s solvency and long-term risk profile.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Companies with high equity ratios are generally more resilient and less dependent on external debt.
- Low equity ratios can signal higher risk or aggressive financial strategies.
- Important: Always assess the equity ratio in combination with the return on equity (ROE). This shows not just how stable the company is – but also how efficiently it uses shareholder capital.
📘 Return on Equity (ROE)
📈 What is it?
Return on equity (ROE) shows how efficiently a company uses its shareholders’ equity to generate profit. In other words: how much net income is earned per dollar of equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROE is a core profitability metric. It helps investors understand whether a company delivers attractive returns on the capital provided by its shareholders.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROE indicates that the company is using its capital efficiently and profitably.
- It’s especially meaningful for capital-intensive businesses or firms with high equity bases.
- Important: A very high ROE can also result from high debt levels – always interpret it alongside the equity ratio to assess financial health.
📘 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
📈 What is it?
ROCE measures how efficiently a company generates profits from its total capital – including both equity and interest-bearing debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It evaluates the return on all capital employed, regardless of how it’s financed.
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROCE is ideal for comparing companies with different financing structures. It shows how well management uses capital to create value for both shareholders and creditors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROCE means the company uses its capital efficiently – regardless of whether it's funded by debt or equity.
- The higher the ROCE compared to peers, the more value the company creates with its invested capital.
- Especially relevant for capital-intensive sectors like industrials, energy, or infrastructure.
📘 Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)
📈 What is it?
ROIC measures how efficiently a company generates returns from the capital invested in its core operations – regardless of whether the capital comes from equity or debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
- NOPAT = Net Operating Profit After Taxes
- Invested Capital = Operating assets minus non-interest-bearing liabilities
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROIC is one of the most accurate indicators of capital efficiency. Unlike return on equity, it is not distorted by leverage and shows how much value is created for all capital providers.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROIC shows how effectively a company uses the capital that is truly invested in its core operations.
- Unlike ROCE, ROIC focuses only on the capital that is actively used to run the business – and that requires a return (i.e. interest-bearing).
- Especially useful when comparing companies with large amounts of excess cash or non-interest-bearing liabilities – giving a more realistic picture of capital efficiency.
📘 Leverage Ratio (Debt-to-Equity)
📈 What is it?
The leverage ratio indicates how much a company relies on interest-bearing debt (such as loans and bonds) relative to its shareholders’ equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This ratio helps assess a company’s financial structure and risk profile. High leverage can enhance returns – but also increases exposure to interest rate changes and financial stress.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low leverage ratio signals financial strength and independence.
- A higher ratio can improve returns in good times but increases risk during downturns or rising interest rate periods.
- 👉 Always interpret in the context of industry, capital intensity, and interest rate environment.
📘 Earnings per share (EPS)
📈 What is it?
Earnings per Share (EPS) shows how much profit is attributable to a single share – and is one of the most important metrics for evaluating a company's performance.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The diluted share count reflects potential new shares that could be issued through options, convertible bonds, or other rights.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EPS is the basis for many key valuation metrics like P/E ratio, PEG ratio, or payout ratio. It enables comparisons of profitability across companies, regardless of their size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EPS captures per-share profitability and is especially useful for comparisons over time or with analyst estimates.
- Rising EPS may signal consistent growth or share buybacks.
- Important: Always use diluted EPS for more realistic valuations – especially in companies with stock-based compensation.
📘 Free cash flow per share (FCF per share)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow per Share shows how much free cash flow a company generates per outstanding share – after investments, but before dividends or debt repayments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures (CapEx).
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF per Share reveals how much real cash is available per share – useful for dividends, buybacks, or reducing debt. Unlike net income, free cash flow is harder to manipulate and often seen as a more reliable metric.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High FCF per share signals strong financial flexibility.
- It shows how much capital the company can effectively reinvest or return to shareholders.
- Particularly relevant for dividend payers and capital-efficient businesses.
📘 Short interest
📈 What is it?
Short interest indicates how many shares of a company are currently sold short – that is, borrowed and sold by investors who expect the price to decline.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It reflects the percentage of a company’s shares that are being shorted relative to the total shares available.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Short interest serves as a sentiment indicator: A high value may signal skepticism or bearish expectations – but also increases the potential for a short squeeze if prices rise unexpectedly.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low short interest usually indicates market confidence in the company.
- High short interest can be a warning sign – or an opportunity if sentiment shifts.
- Especially relevant in volatile markets or ahead of key earnings releases.
📘 Employees
📈 What is it?
The employee count shows how many people a company employs worldwide – offering insights into its size, structure, and business model.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess operational scale, labor intensity, and cost structure. Combined with revenue and profit, it enables key metrics like revenue per employee or productivity.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high headcount can signal operational complexity – but also significant growth capacity.
- Revenue per employee is a key indicator of efficiency.
- Especially useful for comparing tech, industrial, or service-heavy companies.
📘 Turnover per employee
📈 What is it?
Revenue per employee indicates how much revenue a company generates on average per employee – a key measure of efficiency and productivity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The employee count is typically taken from the most recent annual report.
🏛️ Why is it important?
This metric helps compare business models – especially between labor-intensive and technology-driven companies. A high value suggests automation, operational efficiency, or strong value creation per head.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high revenue per employee indicates a scalable and margin-strong business model.
- A low figure may reflect labor-intensive operations or lower value-add.
- Especially helpful when comparing tech companies to industrial or service sectors.
VOW ASA Stock Analysis
Analyst Opinions
5 Analysts have issued a VOW ASA forecast:
Analyst Opinions
5 Analysts have issued a VOW ASA forecast:
VOW ASA Events
Past Events
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AUG
19
Q2 2026 Earnings Call
about one month ago
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MAY
20
Q1 2026 Earnings Call
4 months ago
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FEB
25
Q4 2025 Earnings Call
7 months ago
|
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NOV
19
Q3 2025 Earnings Call
10 months ago
|
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AUG
28
Q2 2025 Earnings Call
about one year ago
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StocksGuide Free
VOW ASA — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this second quarter presentation for Vow. As always, I have our CFO, Cecilie Hekneby, with me here today to take us through the financials. My name is Gunnar Pedersen. I'm the CEO of the company.
On the agenda for today, I will start off with a summary. Cecilie will take you through the financial details, and then I'll be back with a market and business update before we open up for questions. But before we start, a few words. Over the past year, the company has seen quite a bit of change and improvements. Obviously, new management was put in place. We put in place a new organizational structure with 3 distinct business units, new management for the business units. Also, we've seen over the past 3 quarters, record high activity in terms of deliveries and commissioning.
All through this period, we have been working constantly with improvements. I'm very pleased to see that we are able to see clear improvements. We have improved customer satisfaction rating. We have significantly improved our delivery precision to the customers, which, of course, is important to them. Also in our employee engagement surveys, we see improvements. All of this, while we also have very good growth in Aftersales. I must say that all of this is really driven by our employees. I'm very excited and I'm very pleased to see and privileged I feel to have so many smart, dedicated and hard-working people in our organization.
It is the hard work of these people every day that generate the results and that take us forward. Let's start off with the summary. First of all, second quarter was marked by very high activity levels. This is in terms of equipment deliveries, but also commissioning activities across the company. Our profit has improved quite a bit. That is mainly due to 2 drivers. One is improved organizational efficiency. The other is, of course, the reduced share of legacy projects generating revenue. I'm very happy to see that we have finally reached black numbers also on the bottom line, quite an important milestone.
Our order intake for the quarter is soft. However, we have a very strong backlog, especially on the maritime side. Maritime and the Aftersales business are delivering solidly. On the industrial side, we have a pickup in the classical heat treatment market and also very good contracts that we've signed in that market. The Circular Solution projects related to pyrolysis are progressing, but I'll get back to both of these later on.
Liquidity has been on the top of our agenda for quite some time. So we have now in place very good predictions in terms of liquidity, and we are able to see situations ahead. For example, this summer, we saw that there was going to be a shortage. We were able to work closely with our bank to put in place mechanisms to solve this. Issues are mainly driven by customers and their payment habits, probably the needs to optimize around the quarter. Order intake, as I said, is soft with a very strong backlog. After we closed the quarter, we have signed about NOK 150 million in new contracts.
By that, I will leave you to Cecilie for the financial update.
Thank you, Gunnar. Good morning. I will start with an overview of Vow's financial results for the second quarter and first half of 2026, focusing on the most important financial metrics. The reporting currency is Norwegian kroner.
Let's begin with the trends in the key financials. Revenue for the second quarter reached NOK 253 million, representing an 11% increase compared with the same period last year, as illustrated on the chart on the left. You can see that the Maritime Solutions segment has been through several quarters with very high activity. The Maritime Solutions segment was also the primary growth driver in this quarter, delivering higher revenue than a year ago, although below the record high levels achieved in the previous quarters.
The Aftersales segment continued to generate stable revenue with a healthy uplift compared with the same period last year. While the Industrial Solutions segment reported lower revenue than in Q2 last year, but remained relatively stable compared with Q1.
Moving to the chart in the middle, we can see that the operating performance continued to improve. Adjusted EBITDA reached NOK 32 million for the quarter compared with negative NOK 33 million in the same period last year. The improvement in adjusted EBITDA over the last quarters significantly outpaced revenue growth, demonstrating increased operational leverage and improved profitability. Finally, the chart on the right shows the order backlog development. At quarter end, the backlog was NOK 1.6 billion, providing good visibility and suggesting continued growth on the periods ahead.
Let's take a closer look at the revenue development. Total revenue in Q2 of NOK 253 million is an increase of NOK 25 million year-on-year, as illustrated on the chart on the right-hand side. Revenue in the Maritime Solutions segment increased by NOK 34 million to NOK 131 million in the quarter. However, it is worth noting that NOK 25 million of the increase reflects the impact of a negative catch-up adjustment in the comparable quarter last year. Adjusting for this effect, the segment delivered NOK 9 million organic growth, supported by higher delivery volume, product mix and improved project execution.
The Aftersales segment continued to benefit from growth in the installed base and provided a stable source of revenue from services, chemicals and mid-life upgrades. Revenue reached NOK 63 million in the quarter, up 6% compared with the same period last year. Revenues in the Industrial Solutions segment amounted to NOK 59 million in the quarter, a decrease of NOK 13 million from a year earlier, while remaining relatively stable from Q1. The decline mainly reflects the progression of the 2 large circular solution projects into their final commissioning stages, where activity levels and equipment deliveries are lower, leading to reduced revenue recognition, while revenue from the remainder of the segment is quite stable year-on-year.
Moving on to the operational key figures. You can see that the headline is improved operational performance. Strong operational performance in the quarter drove significant improvement in both gross margin and adjusted EBITDA margin. While the year-on-year comparison benefits from negative catch-up effects in the prior year period, the underlying development remains positive with profitability continuing to improve also after adjusting for those items. Gross profit ended at NOK 88 million with gross margin of 35%, up NOK 55 million from 1 year earlier. The total catch-up effect on gross profit 1 year earlier amounted to NOK 35 million.
The profit improvement program initiated last year remains a key driver of our financial performance. The initiative implemented so far have strengthened margins, improved operational efficiency and created a leaner and more resilient organization, resulting in lower employee expenses and other operating expenses in the quarter. Regarding nonrecurring items, these were primarily related to the downsizing measures initiated earlier this year, while the nonrecurring items in the prior year mainly were related to changes in executive management.
Adjusted EBITDA improved by NOK 65 million year-on-year to NOK 32 million, demonstrating significant improved operational performance as a result of stronger gross profit and disciplined cost management. I'm pleased to report that we delivered a positive bottom line this quarter. Result before tax ended at NOK 12 million, supported by significant improvements in profitability across the business segments. Depreciation and amortization in the second quarter were broadly unchanged from the same period last year. The level reflects the high investment activity of previous years.
A structured policy for capitalization was implemented at the end of last year. Although we expected amortization to increase, this has so far been offset by lower lease depreciation as the profit program progresses and the use of leased assets has declined. Net finance of negative NOK 6 million in the quarter has improved by NOK 10 million year-over-year. Financial items in the quarter benefited from favorable foreign exchange movements at the quarter end from Q1. In addition, interest expenses of NOK 13 million in the quarter is slightly down from Q2 last year. While there still is work ahead of us, I'm pleased to see that the turnaround is yielding positive results.
Moving over to the cash flow. The chart on the left-hand side illustrates the development since year-end. I will comment on some of the larger movements. We started the year with NOK 136 million in available liquidity following large milestone payments from customers in December and less use of overdraft facilities. Following high project activity and milestone invoicing, trade receivables increased by NOK 86 million from end of December to end of June. We see increased inflow from operating activities driven by milestone invoicing following progress on projects.
As you probably recall from the Q1 presentation, we expected our liquidity strain related to a large maritime project with deliveries and payments to our suppliers in May and milestone payments from the customer 30 and 60 days after delivery. This was mitigated with a temporary increase in the overdraft facility. At quarter end, NOK 62 million more of the overdraft was drawn compared to at year-end. We continue to pay down the loans at a high rate with NOK 29 million in installments during the first half year.
We ended the first half year with NOK 118 million in available liquidity. As you can see, cash at hand has decreased in the period. Cash at hand stems only from the smaller companies in the group. The larger companies are covered by the overdraft facility. From June, our company, C.H. Evensen, also is included in the DNB facilities. We monitor the development closely and have worked diligently the last year, improving our tools and processes for forecasting liquidity and assessing working capital needs. The liquidity strain was resolved in July following payments and the temporary increase in the overdraft facility was terminated earlier in August.
Let's move over to the balance sheet. Instead of going through the details, I would like to give some overall comments. The balance sheet is a key concern for me as CFO. Liquidity has been a challenge ever since I started 1 year ago or a bit more than a year ago, and I'm very impressed with the way the organization now proactively works to secure timely collection of debt. Unfortunately, some customers delayed their payments until after quarter end. While this had a negative impact on our quarter end position, payments have been received after the close of the quarter.
EBITDA came in as expected for the first half. However, the delayed customer payments increased trade receivables and required higher overdraft utilization. This impacted on the balance sheet metrics behind our covenants, resulting in a breach of certain financial covenants linked to the group's borrowings. We have an ongoing and constructive dialogue with DNB and received a waiver after the reporting period. Nevertheless, accounting requirements dictate that the portion of interest-bearing debt maturing after 1 year must then be classified as current.
The term loan with DNB matures in August next year and the refinancing of the facilities is in progress. While our balance sheet remains a key concern -- a key area of focus, I am confident that the initiative we have put in place will improve our financial flexibility and strengthen our overall position going forward. This was a walk-through of the financial development of the quarter and first half year.
Now Gunnar will give you an update of the business.
Thank you, Cecilie. Now for a business and market update. We will start off with the business unit, Maritime Solutions. As you can see on the left-hand side, NOK 131 million in revenue this year, accounting for about 52% of the group revenue. I think what is particularly important to notice is the strong growth in profitability driven by improved efficiency, but also the reduced share of legacy projects in the portfolio.
The order intake is, as you can see in the center graphics, soft for the period. However, the backlog is very strong. If you notice, it is NOK 250 million higher than at Q2 -- end of Q2 in 2025. Subsequent to the quarter, we have signed 2 new contracts valued at EUR 13.6 million for the Maritime Solutions business. The cruise industry is performing very well. They continue building new vessels. On the right-hand side, you can see a picture of Legend of the Seas, which is currently the largest cruise ship in the world that was handed over in June this year. You can actually buy tickets and take a trip on that vessel in the Mediterranean.
Within the Maritime business, we consider ourselves a trusted technology partner and also a supplier to all the leading cruise operators. On the left-hand side of the graphics, you can see what cruise lines we are delivering to this year, both in terms of main system deliveries, but also commissioning activities and the number of vessels. In total for the year, there is 13 vessels that we have main system deliveries to. 3 of them we have delivered to in the second quarter.
In terms of commissioning, it is a total of 11 vessels that will be completed and handed over this year. In the quarter, we've completed 6 of those. One was completed in the first quarter, meaning there is 4 vessels remaining. In the center of the graphics, you can see the shipyards that we are under contract with. These are all the main shipyards building large cruise vessels. There is some activity in Asia as well in which we are active, but these are building the large cruise vessels, and they're all our customers.
I also mentioned that we had signed new contracts after the quarter. Those were 2 specific contracts that you can see on the right-hand side here covering a total of 3 vessels. Deliveries to these 3 vessels will start in 2027, 2028 and '29, respectively. The numbers for these deliveries are not included in what you will see on the next slide here, which is the maritime order backlog composition and the current pipeline. Not included in the left-hand graphics to start off with that. That is the NOK 1.5 billion in revenue and how it is expected to distribute over time. It's now updated in line with the yards current plans. Yards change plans from time to time and then we update, of course.
The center graphics shows you the distribution between what we call new contracts and legacy contracts. You will notice that in the second quarter this year, we've had 29% of our revenue in Maritime coming from legacy contracts versus 78% second quarter '25. Going ahead, you can see that we expect to hover around 30% throughout the year in legacy contracts before a step down again in 2027. On the right-hand graphics, you can see the number of vessels that we have under contract as options or that we are bidding for. This provides us great visibility quite far out in time.
You can notice that planned delivery date goes all the way into 2024 for the last vessel that we are actively bidding on now. I should also note that for '26, the #11 is the total number of vessels, also including the 7 delivered, just there for reference.
Moving on then to our second business unit, Aftersales. Starting off again on the left-hand side, NOK 63 million of revenue this year, making up about 25% of the group revenue, which means it's about 50% of new sales in the Maritime segment. Aftersales here is all about the Maritime business. It's made up of consumables such as chemicals and filters, spare parts and also technical services. On the right-hand graph, you can see that we have a 7% year-on-year growth. This growth comes from an increasing fleet, so it's structural growth, but also from an uptick in mid-life upgrade activities in the second quarter.
The margin is improving year-on-year and is now at what I would call a healthy level. We have currently more than 70 vessels under preventive maintenance agreements, and the number is growing. These represent repetitive business and help us deliver healthy margins.
Looking into the third business unit, Industrial Solutions, starting off on the left-hand side again, you can see that we have about NOK 58.6 million in revenue, which is about 23% of the group. About half of the revenue in Industrial is our traditional heat treatment business. The remainder is for the Circular Solution projects and food safety, with Circular being the larger of those 2. For heat treatment, we have seen a positive development in the market following a period of a very soft market.
We signed good contracts in the second quarter, also signed after the second quarter, and the sales pipeline is developing very positively. The Circular Solution projects are progressing. We do identify issues along the way. We resolve the issues and we move on. Of course, we expect to meet issues in these projects. They are first of a kind and it's new technology. All of this is what we should expect. However, we see some delay in relation to what we would have liked and what we have been trying to progress in collaboration with our customers. We are, however, confident that we will solve the issues along the way and enter into handover after we have completed commissioning.
Of course, we monitor the financial exposure from these projects closely. We've done that, and we continue doing that forward. In future projects, we do expect to see quite a bit of improvement in terms of margins and also lower risks. In terms of the backlog, we expect it to reduce slightly before it starts picking up again.
To give you some more insight on the business and project development within the industrial area, we made this slide. Starting off on the left-hand side with biocarbon for the advanced metal industry. We have a very close collaboration with Arbion. Of course, we are delivering Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the following project, but also working very closely with them, sharing our knowledge that we have built up in the industry in the form of consultancy services. This is enabling a very strong potential for this area going forward.
I think this is a good opportunity also to congratulate Arbion with first biocarbon delivery from the facility at Follum. We have also been looking into large-scale production of biocarbon for green metal production. We have signed a cooperation agreement with a large international corporation in this area, suggesting a potential for large-scale application of our pyrolysis technology.
Within food safety, we have some unique technology that is well recognized in specific segments. For the food industry part as a whole, we are now performing a strategic review to see how we can best develop that business going forward. End-of-life tires, I know you've heard about that for quite some time. This quarter, we had management level meetings with the owner of Murfitts Industries. We have negotiated a contract for a commercial scale demonstration plant, and we are awaiting the final investment decision of the customer.
In terms of heat treatment, we see the market picking up. I mentioned we signed contracts at the end of Q2 and also after Q2. We see some of this related to the aluminum market, but also the traditional galvanizing markets where we had a very strong position. They're both picking up, and it's interesting to see how that energize that organization.
There will be also for our traditional heat treatment business, additional opportunities related to the biocarbon. This has already materialized as we have delivered a hardening furnace to Arbion at Follum as a system that was not in the original scope, suggesting a good potential for that in the future.
Moving on to a summary. The cruise market is very strong. We see a good and positive development in our operational efficiency. As I said, activity was very high over the last 3 quarters. You saw the graphics, and we expect that it will vary over the quarters going forward. Aftersales is experiencing structural growth from an increasing number of cruise vessels in operation. Also, we see an uptick in technical services in the form of mid-life upgrades.
We have an improving market for our heat treatment solutions portfolio. Also, we are working towards completion for the circular solution projects, which will serve as a foundation for future opportunities. I must say we are excited to harvest the first fruits now of the revised strategy and our profit improvement program. We will continue executing on that, and we expect that this will drive profitability and reduce risk going forward.
And by this, I thank you for your attention, and we open up for questions.
Thank you. And we are now ready for Q&A and welcome our online audience to post questions on the screen in front of you. We've already received some questions, and we'll start from the top.
First, there are some questions related to the payment that came in, in July. Can you say a little bit more about the size of this? And also more generally, why are customers late on payment? And which customers are we talking about?
Yes, I can elaborate a bit. It was a substantial payment that we are talking about. It's above NOK 100 million. That obviously impacted quite a lot to receive that in July instead of end of June as expected. We have some -- not that many customers, but they are very important for us. It's a cooperation and it's recurring business. There are a lot of deliveries. I believe it was a bit more than 500 separate deliveries to one customer for a very short period, and I'm very impressed by how the organization managed to deliver on that and did everything they could actually to make sure that the payment should arrive in time.
But this is a cooperation and recurring business. I guess this could also happen in the future. I'm glad, of course, that we received payment and that we also have very close cooperation and discussions with our bank. Not the least, I'm happy that we actually saw this in advance, so we could have mitigating actions on it.
Thank you. Then there is a very specific questions related to the Food segment and the grant that was received. Can you quantify that?
No, it's not something that we actually have published, but we are not talking about large amounts here.
Then a question on currency exposure. And how does the NOK-euro relationship affect margins and your ability to win contracts?
The currency exposure is something that we focus a lot on. It's actually quite detailed to go through how it impacts the different part of the P&L and balance sheet. But I can have one example. For instance, we invoiced the customers. We had a large invoicing in May when the currency -- the NOK was stronger. Then the customer paid in July when the NOK had weakened a bit. That impacts then the revenues with recognition will be a bit lower and then the finance will benefit from that. That's one example. We look a lot into how we can, for one, really understand how it impacts us on the different levels and also how we at best can mitigate and reduce risk.
About refinancing, you indicated that you're working on that and you're looking to conclude that in the not-too-distant future. What covenant structure do you then expect? And do you expect it will require additional equity?
Yes, we are progressing on that. Again, we have a very good relationship with DNB, which we are expecting to conclude with. I do not actually expect very different covenant. But of course, we go through and see what will fit our expectations and also what's -- how the bank would use this. I do not expect -- our focus is on completing the refinancing without additional equity. We focus on to develop the company and to increase profitability, to drive margins, to generate cash.
You have said that you are in a strategic process with your food safety business. But are there any talks or interest from other companies to buy, merge or cooperate with Scanships?
We are not in any active process on that. So it's nothing -- not to comment on, nothing going on there.
Then a couple of questions on the cruise segment and the cruise market. Are there any talks now with Meyer Werft in relation to the new contract they are working on with MSC?
We are continuously in contact with the yards, both on ongoing projects and deliveries, but also in relation to new contracts. Of course, I cannot comment on the contracts that we are actively bidding for. But I can assure you that we are actively bidding for any interesting contracts in our market segments.
And to follow up on that, what about smaller ships, for example, 200-person ships?
There is a limit in terms of size as to what is a good fit for our equipment, but also in terms of the operational patterns of these vessels, how often they visit harbor and so on. We are operating for now in what we think is the sweet spot for our kind of systems.
And following up on that, what explain the soft order income in the Maritime business in the quarter? Is it due to a loss of market share?
I think if you look at the number of vessels that were handed over, so 6 vessels in Q2. And then we -- just after the second quarter, we signed contracts for 3 new vessels. I think the yards are very busy handing over at that time. We see that also in negotiations and in our work with the bids.
Then to Industrial Solutions. You already commented on Arbion just announcing shipment to the customers, and they seem very positive. Is the reactor now working?
In the commissioning activity, we go systematically through the whole process of the plant. The reactors are producing. But for now, we cannot run all of them all the time. Some limitations due to surrounding equipment that still needs to come in place. We are confident that our technology is going to work as expected and deliver very good quality biocarbon also coming out of the following factory. In terms of -- so the focus now is on Phase 1 with the 4 reactors, the biogreen reactors. For Phase 2, installation activities are currently ongoing with a large reactor, and that will enter into commissioning later on.
Okay. We're now nearing the end of the Q&A session. There is one more question lined up in the queue. We will keep the lines open. But after that, we will need to close this session. So the final question we have in queue now is related to your priorities over the next 12 months. Are you concentrating on refinancing, margin improvement, growth, portfolio optimization or other?
If I can start answering that and Cecilie can come back on more the financials and that part of it. Our main focus now is, of course, with the customers, understanding the customers' needs and also to work on our competitiveness. For that, it's a constant effort which is needed. You have to work really hard on this every day, both to be competitive, to have good solutions, to understand the customers' needs and what it is that they are looking for going forward. That is the main focus. We do have regular meetings also on management level with a number of customers.
Yes. To add on that, to strengthen the balance sheet is obviously important. Since we took office in May last year, we have several steps have been initiated to improve the financial position, including a strong focus on cash flow generation, which will strengthen the balance sheet. Obviously, also refinancing, which we already are progressing. We apply a strict capital allocation and prioritize projects that we believe will be profitable for the group. But we pay down on the debts and have close -- our eyes on profit improvement and how we can continue to develop the company. We have come a long way, but we still have a lot of work to do. Yes.
Okay. Before we round off, there was one more question that was posted right now, and that concerns the backlog distribution, showing 27% in '27, roughly about NOK 400 million. The July contracts have delivery starting in October '27 and later. How much of the '27 maritime revenue is actually covered today?
I don't have the exact percentage of that, but we have good coverage, and we do expect to see deliveries also taking place in -- on new contracts in '27.
Thank you. Now there are no further questions in our queue. With that, our quarterly presentation has come to an end, and we hand back to the presenters if you have any final remarks.
Thank you for watching our presentation. Have a good day.
VOW ASA — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
VOW ASA — Q1 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this Q1 presentation for Vow. As always, I have our CFO, Cecilie Hekneby, with me here today. She will take us through the numbers. My name is Gunnar Pedersen. I'm the CEO of the company. So we will take you through some highlights. Cecilie will go through the numbers with you, and I will be back for a market and business update before we open up for questions. Now before we start, I would like to share some reflections with you. This quarter marks the 1-year anniversary for both Cecilie and myself here at Vow. And we've had the pleasure of working with a highly competent team and very dedicated also, I would say, for a full year now. And as you can see in the report, our collective efforts have paid off. We have improved project follow-up procedures. We have improved the financial discipline, improved transparency. And all of this leads to more predictable operational performance and also the improvements that you can see in the report. Our core operation continue to deliver solidly.
This is driven by Maritime Solutions and aftersales. And they are again fueled by the very strong activity in the cruise market on new build as well as an increasing fleet of vessels in operation. We are, as we speak, entering a very intensive period in terms of delivery and commissioning on new vessels. So execution discipline remains a key priority for us. Within Industrial Solutions, the first quarter has been dominated by commissioning activities. The 2 large projects within Circular Solutions have faced some technical challenges, and these challenges are pushing the time lines. Of course, taking the necessary corrective actions. We do see a lot of interest in our technology within the connected circular solution applications being Biochar and end-of-life tires. As an example, a revised Phase 2 agreement for the Follum project has been signed after Q1.
The timing of further final investment decisions remains somewhat uncertain. Now let me turn to today's presentation and take you through some more details. First, the old disclaimer, feel free to read it at your own. And then I'm going to start off with an executive summary. So we have been implementing a new operating model. It's streamlined, where we have the 3 business units. This has resulted in very clear accountability and also better control. For the group, we see year-on-year revenue growth. Also, we see strong improvement in profit, and this is mainly driven by the cruise activities.
Maritime Solutions is our main growth engine. They deliver higher volume. And also, we see an uplift in the margins, partly caused by the reduced share of legacy projects. Aftersales revenues are again record high. This comes from a growing installed base and also the profit remains strong. For our Industrial Solutions, they delivered, I would say, largely in line with the revised assumptions. Overall, for the group, we see strong order intake and our order backlog supports good visibility. Vow obtained a waiver for the covenant breach in Q1 and new covenant structure has been agreed from Q2.
Now Cecilie will take us through some of the numbers in more detail. Thank you.
Good morning. I will give you an update on the financial numbers for the first quarter, starting with the key financials for the group, and the reporting currency is Norwegian kroner. The high activity level from Q4 continued into the first quarter. Reported revenue ended at NOK 284 million, as you can see on the graph on the left-hand side. Revenue in the Maritime Solutions segment was the main growth engine, although negatively impacted by foreign exchange rate effects following the strengthening of NOK, while Aftersales segment delivered yet another quarter of all-time high revenue.
Revenue in the Industrial Solutions segment declined in the quarter, primarily explained by the 2 large circular solution projects now progressing into the final commissioning intensive phases, which also is the main driver of total Q1 revenue to end at a lower level than Q4, but up 16% from Q1 '25. Moving on to the graph in the middle, we see that operating performance continued to improve with adjusted EBITDA for the quarter of NOK 23 million, up from negative NOK 3 million 1 year earlier and showing a positive trend from Q4. There were no nonrecurring items in the first quarter this year. The graph on the right-hand side shows the development of the order backlog. At the end of the quarter, the order backlog amounted to NOK 1.8 billion, providing good visibility. Let's look into the details of revenue development.
Total revenue in Q1 of NOK 284 million was up NOK 39 million from Q1 '25. The 16% increase was driven by strong performance in Maritime Solutions and after sales. Revenue in the Maritime Solutions segment of NOK 162 million was NOK 59 million up from 1 year earlier, following increased delivery volumes to shipyards and progress on large newbuilding contracts, although negatively impacted by the strengthening of NOK in the period. The currency impact was mainly related to legacy contracts without contingency for currency fluctuation. The share of revenue from new contracts with revised terms and conditions is increasing and amounted to 74% in the quarter.
Aftersales continued its positive development and reached again record highs with revenues of NOK 66 million in the quarter, up NOK 7 million from first quarter last year. The 12% increase in revenue reflects steady growth from an increasing number of vessels in operation with Scanship equipment and continued growth in sales of chemicals and spares. Revenue in the Industrial Solutions segment of NOK 57 million was down NOK 27 million from 1 year earlier. The periodic decline in revenue is primarily explained by the 2 large circular solution projects now progressing into the final stages.
As these projects approach completion, the revenue mix shifts towards commissioning and testing activities, which typically carry lower revenue intensity than earlier execution phases. Moving on to the operational key figures. We can see that the positive revenue development translate into gross profit of NOK 83 million in the quarter, up NOK 23 million from 1 year earlier and higher margins. Employee expenses adjusted for nonrecurring items are down NOK 1.4 million from Q1 last year, reflecting a leaner cost base despite higher activity. The Q1 '25 numbers included a NOK 3.8 million in one-off management change cost. There were no such items this quarter.
Other operating expenses were down NOK 1.5 million, supported by ongoing cost-saving initiatives. The profit improvement program continues to deliver results. Following the adjusted organization and streamlining of administration and support processes, a downsizing process impacted 9 FTEs and this was initiated in the quarter and implemented in Q2. There will be some nonrecurring items related to the downsizing process in the Q2 report. The annual financial effect of the downsizing process is approximately NOK 12 million. To secure our future growth, we will, however, strengthen the organization with some operational and project execution roles going forward.
Adjusted EBITDA improved to NOK 23 million in the quarter, up from negative NOK 3 million 1 year earlier, driven by the solid growth in gross profit and cost discipline. Let's review this table showing the financial performance. Revenue has increased with NOK 39 million from Q1 last year. EBITDA has increased with NOK 29 million and result before tax is up NOK 30 million. The bottom line is, however, negative, and we will still -- and we still have work to do, but I'm pleased to see that the turnaround is in progress. Depreciation and amortization in the first quarter are broadly in line with the same period last year. The CapEx intensity reflects the high investment levels from prior years. Reduced interest expense contributes positively, but other financial items are negatively impacted by foreign exchange movements, weighing down the financial result.
The majority of the FX movements are unrealized effects, meaning that they reflect accounting adjustments rather than actual cash impact. Vow reports in Norwegian kroner, but most of the contracts are in euro. A significant share of the project costs are in the contract currency and is a natural hedge. But large fluctuation in foreign exchange rate as we see this quarter, have had an impact on the financial result, and we are looking into how to reduce and mitigate this risk. Let's move over to the balance sheet. As you can see in the table, cash has decreased. Available liquidity consists of cash balance of NOK 13 million plus undrawn credit lines amounting to NOK 67 million at the end of the quarter, down from NOK 136 million at year-end '25.
The decrease reflects timing effects between outgoing and incoming payments in a period of very high project activity. In the first quarter, we have had high delivery volumes to shipyard with milestone invoicing towards quarter end and collection subsequent to the quarter, leading to increased trade receivables, although lower than 1 year earlier following improved debt collection processes. Liabilities to trade creditors have been normalized with previously outstanding balances now significantly reduced. Interest-bearing debt has increased from year-end due to higher use of overdraft facilities to support the project deliveries, but is significantly lower year-on-year, driven by term loan repayment and stronger working capital management. Debt is now reclassified to long term following the waiver for Q1 in the quarter and the new covenant structure from Q2, which was agreed before quarter end.
The term loan matures in August '27, and we have subsequent to the quarter, initiated a refinancing process. Liquidity improved significantly towards the end of '25 following large milestone payments, and we started the year with NOK 136 million in available liquidity and ended the quarter with NOK 67 million. As I informed about at the Q4 presentation, we did expect to see fluctuations in liquidity during the quarter, driven by high project activity with payments to supplier and milestone invoicing in the quarter and collections subsequent to the quarter. The high activity and timing differences tie up working capital in receivables and payables, but supports stronger future operating cash flow. Working capital requirement was managed through increased use of overdraft facilities alongside continued focus on improving working capital efficiency.
We monitor our working capital closely and have worked diligently the last year, improving our tools and processes for forecasting liquidity and assessing working capital needs. Now in May, we have all-time high delivery volumes to a maritime project, causing a peak in working capital requirements for the next 2 months. To mitigate the situation, we have agreed with our bank to increase the overdraft facility temporarily during the summer. Liquidity is expected to normalize from when payments will be received and through the remainder of '26 as profit improvement measures continue to materialize.
So this was a walk-through of the key financial development in the quarter. But before I leave the floor to Gunnar, I would like to share some reflections on the financial development in the last year. When I presented the Q1 results in May last year, I was just 2 weeks into my new job. It became clear quite soon that managing liquidity, covenants and secure consistent and precise reporting emerged as my top priorities. And I am pleased to see its positive development and how we now manage working capital, the improved processes for collection and how this now is embedded in the way we work across the group. We have had close and constructive dialogue with our bank and the new covenant structure that we have agreed on in the quarter is a positive step forward.
I am very proud of the finance team that have worked diligently on improving the quality of the financial reporting to get control and provide insight. The profit improvement program has started to deliver tangible results with a leaner cost base and ongoing restructuring. At the same time, we are rebalancing capacity, strengthening project execution to support future growth. We are transitioning from restructuring to a more stable, profitable operation, but we have still work to do. It is great to see everyone in Vow pulling in the same direction, building a healthy and profitable company step by step. The turnaround is in progress.
Now I will give the word to Gunnar.
I was going to fix my mic. I almost pull it off here. Now for a business and market update, and I'm going to start off with Maritime Solutions and just follow on what Cecilie said, impressive work by the team. So in Q1, as you can see on the lower left-hand side, the pie chart for Maritime Solutions, there was a revenue of about NOK 161 million, which means that it accounts for about 57% of the group revenue. In the center matrix, you can see both strong growth in revenue from Maritime Solutions. You can also see a strong growth in profit, as I said, following a sharp decline in the legacy share of revenue. And you can also see there is a solid order intake and a very robust backlog. So the cruise industry is continuing to perform well. I think it's fair to say that we are performing well also with very high volumes, but also at the same time, increased delivery precision from our team.
Cruise business is still growing. They are continuing to build new vessels. And on the right-hand side, you can see an example of that, that is the Norwegian Luna that left the yard, so taken over by the cruise line in Q1 this year. So looking at the contract development for Maritime Solutions. In Q1, we signed a contract valued at EUR 27 million. It's a contract for 4 vessels. The deliveries will start in 2027 and go through 2029, I believe, for these vessels. The total backlog for us is now about [ NOK 1.6 billion ] for Maritime Solutions. And if you look at the graphics on the top right-hand side, you can see the expected distribution of that revenue from the backlog. On the bottom right-hand side, you can see the expected future development in share of new versus legacy contracts as of Q1.
So in Q1, about 74% of the revenues came from new contracts. And for the remainder of the year, it's going to hover around 30-some percent until fourth quarter where it takes a step further down. We are a trusted technology provider to all the major cruise lines and the big yards -- if you look at the left-hand graphics, you can see that we have delivered so far main systems to 7 vessels in Q1. There's in total 13 vessels planned for 2026. They will -- most of them enter operation sometime in '28, '29 with the exception of Hurtigruten at the very bottom, which is a retrofit that will come earlier. Commissioning activities are really high, and they are peaking as we speak. One vessel was handed over in Q1, you will remember the Norwegian Luna.
In total, there is 10 vessels to be handed over through the year and many of them now before summer. In the center graphics, you can see the main European [ yards ]. These are our contract partners. And they are really busy both building vessels and also preparing, finding suppliers and so on for future vessels, and we'll get back to that. On the right-hand side, yes, I forgot to mention there is a little bit of activity in Asia as well in terms of cruise, but not a big activity yet. On the right-hand graphics, you can see that we have now 34 vessels under contract. I believe that is the same number as last quarter. There are 7 options also, I believe, the same number. And there's 53 being actively bid for, slightly up from last quarter. And as you can see, estimated delivery of the last of those is in 2044 believe it or not.
So by that, I think we will shift into aftersales. Aftersales had about NOK 65 million in revenue in Q1, makes up about 23% of total revenue, as shown on the pie chart on the lower left. So this means that aftersales is now around 50% or close to 50% of new sales in cruise. And aftersales, the number you see here, they are all related to maritime, and they are made up of consumables such as chemicals and filters and so on, spare parts and services. As you can see on the right-hand graph, we had record sales in Q1 with 14% year-on-year growth. The margin has improved also year-on-year, slightly below in Q4, partly due to the mix of activities, but also some extra costs related to trade shows that occur in the Q1 numbers. As new vessels enter the operating fleet, this will continue to provide structural growth in this segment.
And this is repeat business and typically has healthy margins. Now for Industrial Solutions. As I said, largely performing in line with expectations. As you can see on the lower left, it's NOK 56 million in revenue in Q1, which is about 20% of the group revenue. Food safety and heat treatment of the traditional industrial parts make up about half of this, whereas the 2 big circular solution projects represent the other half. The improved margin in Q1 is mainly driven by our heat treatment activities. As I said, both, the circular solution projects have faced some technical issues, and these are causing delay. For Follum, all the mechanical and programming adjustments required are expected to be completed in Q2.
And I certainly hope that as we speak here today, they are just about to start production again. The Rhode Island project for that, we have work -- close work now with a customer and supplier of some downstream technology that has caused some issues. Both these projects are first-of-a-kind configurations. And obviously, then you do have close collaboration both with your customers and with the suppliers. Issues are to be expected, but I feel confident that we will solve them and move on. Of course, the financial exposure from incidents like this is closely monitored. We do expect to conclude the 2 circular solution projects in 2026, in line with our expectations. And for new projects in the future, we do expect to see improved margins and also lower risk.
Contract development for Industrial Solutions. Well, the heat treatment market is still a bit soft, especially if you compare to the boom in '22, '23, there was an electrification boom in the European industry following the very high gas prices at that time. For Circular Solutions, the activities we see, they really confirm our revised focus on Biochar and end-of-life tires as the first applications. Arbion has reviewed their following Phase 2 project and signed a revised contract. Now this means that they have reconfirmed their intentions. The revised Phase 2 agreement is also well aligned with our revised strategy, focusing, as we have said earlier, on our core equipment and our process expertise. Murfitts Industries. For those, the positive development continues.
They have performed small-scale trials with end-of-life tires, and they are now preparing a final investment decision for what they call a single-line commercial scale demonstration plant, the timing being still a bit uncertain. Looking forward, completion of the 2 circular solution projects will provide a platform for future opportunities. The very close collaboration with Arbion Industries continues, and we believe this in itself poses a very strong opportunity for us. For heat treatment and food safety, the cycle times are shorter and also contracts smaller. So new orders don't really add a lot to the backlog. So in total, we expect to see some reduction in our backlog before picking up again. So for a summary, when we have had conversations with all the big yards, the big cruise lines, they all confirm the very strong market development within Cruise.
Based on this high activity level and of course, our very strong market position, we do expect to see the positive development for Maritime Solutions to continue. The share of legacy projects will be fairly stable through 2026. And for aftersales, the structural growth will continue as we feed new vessels into operation. The completion of the 2 circular solution projects will demonstrate technology at industry scale. This will give us a lot of opportunities in the future. In short, executing our revised strategy in a disciplined way is driving profitability and reducing risk.
And by that, we end our presentation, and I thank you for your attention. And I do believe we are open for questions.
Thank you. We have received quite a few questions. Some of them have actually come in before the presentation, so they might already have been answered or at least commented about. But let's start from the top. There is a question about the cruise industry and the contracts there. What is the average contract value per ship for the vessels that are currently being bid? And historically, what has been the average win rate on those tenders?
That's a big question. The size of the contracts varies depending on the size of the vessels, whether it's like some vessels that we have contracts for 1,500 people on board to the large one, which is in total, close to 10,000 people on board, 9,970 to be precise. So it's a large span somewhere from NOK 100 million to NOK 140 million would be just from the top of my head on that. And the second part of the question, would you repeat that, please?
That was your success rate typically.
The success rate. Well, from what we -- when we do the math based on some public information at the end of the year, it seems like we are somewhere between the 66% and 70% market share. So we have a really good hit rate on the projects. I should mention though that for the very small vessels below 200, 300 passengers, we do not really operate in that market. So that's not in the numbers.
There are several questions about Follum, the Phase 2 with Arbion. Some very specific. One is concerning the contract value. The question goes, should we expect the contract value contribution to broadly similar to Phase 1 for Phase 2, i.e., around NOK 335 million.
For the Phase 2. I believe earlier, there has been some made public the value of the contract. It was originally a change order for the Phase 1 that has been renegotiated now. And so the scope is slightly lower than what we have in the initial contract following our new and more focused strategy.
In the event that no major Industrial Solutions contracts are awarded over the next couple of years, would engineers from the Industrial Solutions segment be reallocated to Maritime Solutions projects then?
Obviously, we put the resources where we need them the most and where we have the best effect of them. Right now, they are busy and they will be busy at least through the year with the ongoing contracts. And we do expect to see more contracts. So yes, we will move the resources wherever it makes sense for us.
Another question on industrials. They report a negative EBITDA this quarter. When do you expect a positive EBITDA in this segment?
The circular solution contracts were agreed on several years ago. So -- and our focus now is on completing them. So we will, of course, put the resources to make sure that we do that. So our target is, of course, that we will also hit green numbers in Industrial Solutions, and we are looking into also down also how we can do cost downs in that segment. But our main focus is actually to complete the obligation that we have with the best possible outcome and that, that will be a good foundation for new projects and new revenue from that.
And if I may add to that, as these are the first deliveries of these systems. It is quite obvious that we also will sort of go down the learning curve, make improvements to the projects, work with the supply chain and so on to achieve exactly what, as Cecilie said, the cost down of this. So for future projects, we do expect both lower prices in the market, but also improved profitability.
A couple of questions regarding the corporate strategy. You mentioned last time that you started the strategic review of the food safety business. You didn't mention that today. What is the status on that?
The status is that it is ongoing.
And then there's a reference to, I believe, rumors or speculations that have popped up maybe in chat forums about the potential spin-off of Scanship. Do you see any increased interest from, for instance, Kongsberg Maritime in that regard?
I still haven't had any conversations with Kongsberg Maritime on the topic. So no, but we did mention that we are following our new operating model and the new organizational structure, we are splitting this a little bit. This will make it easier for us in terms of reporting financial numbers and following up the results.
Then there are quite a few questions about liquidity and cash position. You state liquidity should normalize from July as milestone payments are received. Which milestones are the key drivers? And what happens if they slip? And what would you consider the normalized level?
Yes. We have a large number of deliveries to [ yards ] this quarter, and it's peaking now in May. I believe we have like 500 items to be delivered and payments follow 30 or 60 days after delivery. And of course, we pay the suppliers before delivery. So that leaves this peak in working capital requirement. It is about NOK 100 million that we then need to pay upfront before we actually can collect the cash. So we will collect in June and July. The progress is going as planned. And due to that, we now really can forecast quite detailed how liquidity will progress for the period ahead. We could start discussions with the bank to see how can we solve this you see that we have a working capital issue. So that's why we then had this increase in the overdraft.
And it is very positive to have such high activity. But for the way we are right now, we didn't have the capacity in the working capital. But we are with the cost improvements that we are doing and to follow our strategy, it is important that the working capital allows for such fluctuations. So working -- so the liquidity will fluctuate with a normalized level, I mean that the working capital allows for these fluctuations in project deliveries and that it has a comfortable headroom to the covenants.
Somewhat related question, starting with the fact that equity has declined from more than NOK 500 million to around NOK 200 million within a relatively short period. Equity ratio now is below 20%. What specific covenant levels or lender requirements must the company maintain to avoid renegotiations or the need to -- for additional equity?
Yes. We had an impairment at the end of '25. So that is, of course, the main driver in the decline in equity. The covenant level is 15%, which is also stated in the annual report. Yes.
So you don't see any immediate need to raise any more equity?
We are working to improve the performance and to avoid the need for that. So that's the priority.
The company has now returned to a positive EBIT, yet still report losses after financial items. What is management's concrete plan to reduce the net interest-bearing debt? And how sensitive is the current capital structure to continued high interest rates?
Well, obviously, the net interest-bearing debt is impacted that we had to use the overdraft facility in this and with the payment and with the debt collection after the quarter. So net interest-bearing debt was obviously impacted by that. We are paying quite heavily down on the term loan. So that will increase quarter-over-quarter. And by managing the liquidity, that will also impact very positively on that.
We have a couple of more questions. So we encourage the audience online to -- if there are any final questions, please post them now while we do the last 2. Do you think it's possible to achieve an EBITDA margin of around 20% in new maritime contracts? Or are those levels competitors take away or at those levels, would competitor take the contracts away?
I don't think it is possible in today's market with a 20% EBITDA in the contracts. I think if they read our annual report, they will be really mad.
Okay. And there's one final question, which you might already have commented on, but just to be safe. Are you working on further improved working capital management to avoid similar liquidity squeezes in the future, for instance, through higher prepayments? Or do you see further...
It's also a tool that we actually has had dialogue with suppliers for this situation now this summer that -- so we are working all the tools we can to improve the working capital, reduced prepayment and also delayed payment towards an interest, for instance, to make sure that we can manage through in a good way.
And then there is one final question that just came in. Total noncurrent assets remain high relative to the company's current market value and equity base, particularly within intangible assets and goodwill. Does management see any risk of further impairments or write-downs if profitability cash flow or order intake do not improve as expected?
Well, we had a very thorough process at the end of 2025 that also then led to an impairment. We have taken a much more prudent approach to how we expect the order intake and margin development for the 10-year period going into that model. So yes, it's hard to comment on that question, but we did take a very prudent approach in the impairment that we did. And -- but of course, as a listed company, we have to review each quarter, and there are no indications of that now.
Okay. And I think that concludes the questions from the audience online. So back to the presenters for any final words.
I think this is all from us. So thank you, everyone, for watching. Our report is available for you to download and read. Thank you, and have a good day.
VOW ASA — Q1 2026 Earnings Call
VOW ASA — Q4 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this fourth quarter presentation for Vow. I will start with some highlights. Then Cecilie Hekneby, with me here today, will take you through the numbers. I will come back and give you a market update before we spend a bit more time than normal on the strategy, as we have completed our strategy work, and we'll go through the update with you on that. My name is Gunnar Pedersen. I'm the CEO of the company.
So, the fourth quarter delivered all-time high revenues. This is driven particularly by strong performance in Maritime and also in Aftersales. Our operation has improved across the board with better project deliveries, higher activity levels, and strengthening margins in the key segments. Our Industrial Solutions is progressing and delivering in line with our expectations, but the results are still impacted by the previously announced noncash impairment. Now this reflects updated assumptions, also on a more cautious outlook following the strategic review.
Our liquidity position has strengthened significantly. The covenants for the fourth quarter were waived, and the covenants for the first quarter of 2026 have been waived. And also, we have come to a new structure for the covenants for Q2 and onwards for 2026. I should mention that in terms of liquidity, we do expect fluctuations resulting from milestone payments and the delivery activities into the projects.
Our order intake remains strong with NOK 545 million in the quarter and a backlog of NOK 1.7 billion. There's another NOK 400 million worth of options, which is giving us a very solid visibility going forward. Also, subsequent to this quarter, we have signed a contract for 4 new cruise vessels valued at NOK 27 million. Aftersales continues to grow, supported, of course, by the expanding installed base and also improved operational performance. Now Cecilie will take you through the numbers, the details on the numbers, and I'll be back to talk about the market afterwards.
So, good morning. I will give you an update on the financial numbers for the fourth quarter, starting with the key financials for the group. The reporting currency is in the Norwegian kroner. In the fourth quarter, we had high activity and saw an uplift in revenue. Reported revenue for the quarter was NOK 347 million compared to NOK 265 million 1 year earlier, as you can see on the graph on the left-hand side, positively impacted by all-time high revenue in the Maritime Solutions and Aftersales segments. Revenue from the 2 Circular Solution projects developed according to the updated assumptions from Q3, while revenue from Heat Treatment strengthened the Industrial Solutions segment in the quarter.
Moving on to the graph in the middle, we see positive numbers again with adjusted EBITDA for the quarter of NOK 16 million, although negatively impacted by warehouse write-downs of NOK 10 million. The graph on the right-hand side shows the development in the order backlog. At the end of the quarter, the backlog amounted to NOK 1.7 million. It is steadily increasing and gives good visibility.
Total revenue in Q4 was NOK 347 million, up NOK 82 million from Q4 '24. Revenue in the Maritime Solutions segment of NOK 171 million is an all-time high following progress on large newbuilding contracts and up NOK 53 million from Q4 '24. Aftersales has revenue of NOK 64 million in the quarter, which is also an all-time high and up NOK 12 million from 1 year earlier. The 23% increase from Q4 '24 is related to high activity and an increasing volume of vessels in operation that gives scale advantages.
Revenue in the Industrial Solutions segment is up NOK 16 million from Q4 last year. Revenue development for the 2 Circular Solutions segment is developing in line with updated assumptions from Q3, and positive development in Heat Treatment adds to the segment. The full-year numbers for the Maritime Solutions segment are impacted by the catch-up effect in Q2 but are still up 25% year-on-year. Aftersales is up 14% year-on-year, while the Industrial Solutions segment is down NOK 119 million year-over-year, heavily impacted by the updated assumptions for the 2 Circular Solution projects that led to the reversal of revenue in Q3.
So, let's move on to the operational key figures for the fourth quarter. Gross profit of NOK 79 million in the quarter is up NOK 3 million from Q4 '24. Gross profit in the Maritime Solutions segment is up NOK 11 million, with gross margins up from 19% to 20%. Gross profit in the Aftersales segment is up NOK 7 million, with gross margin increasing from 33% to 38%. In the Industrial Solutions segment, gross profit is down NOK 15 million from 1 year earlier. In Q4 '24, the gross margin was 37% compared to 18% this quarter.
COGS in the quarter is impacted by write-downs of inventory in both the Maritime Solutions and Industrial Solutions segments in connection with the annual close and detailed review of inventory, amounting to NOK 10 million, and increased allocation of recovery hours in projects. Recovery hours are up NOK 6 million, following improved time tracking and hourly rate position, as explained in the Q3 presentation, while reported employee expenses are in line with reported numbers 1 year earlier.
Gross employee expenses, including recovery hours, adjusted for the nonrecurring items, amounted to NOK 79 million in the quarter and is up NOK 7 million from 1 year earlier. Other operating expenses adjusted for nonrecurring items amounted to NOK 25 million, up NOK 3 million from Q4 '24. Included in this increase is a NOK 2 million lower government grant in ETIA this year compared to 1 year earlier. The nonrecurring cost of NOK 1 million in the quarter is related to the closing of one test facility in France.
Adjusted EBITDA in the quarter of NOK 16 million is at the same level as 1 year earlier, including the noncash warehouse write-off of NOK 10 million. And I'm pleased to see that the underlying performance is improving.
The financial performance in the quarter is heavily impacted by the announced noncash impairment. All companies must perform an annual impairment test to assess whether assets carrying value exceeds their recoverable amount. We have had a thorough process resulting in recognition of a total impairment of NOK 119 million. In the Maritime segment, an impairment of NOK 23 million was recognized related to intangible assets associated with MAP technology, that is, microwave-assisted paralysis. As this technology has been discontinued and replaced by the new EAP platform, electrical-assisted paralysis.
In the Industrial Solutions segment, the impairment amounted to NOK 96 million, comprising impairments of intangible assets of NOK 38 million and goodwill of NOK 58 million. The impairments reflect updated assessments of recoverable amounts following revised expectations for future economic benefits across projects and operations, driven by changes in underlying market assumptions and updated financial projections. We continue to see significant long-term potential in the Industrial Solution market. However, as with early-stage and emerging markets, visibility on the pace of technology adoption remain limited, and we have taken a more cautious approach.
Depreciation in the quarter of NOK 12 million is NOK 1 million higher than in Q4 '24. Over the last years, the group has invested substantial amounts in terms of acquisition and R&D, and a significant share of projects will commence amortization from 2026. We expect an increase of approximately NOK 4 million in increased amortization during 2026, increasing by another NOK 7 million during 2027. We have now implemented a revised capitalization policy under which only expenditures deemed strictly necessary will be capitalized, supporting a more prudent and disciplined balance sheet approach.
Financial items in the quarter of negative NOK 10 million are NOK 6 million lower than in Q4 '24. Interest costs on bank loans amounted to NOK 11 million, down NOK 4 million from Q4 last year. There was a foreign exchange loss of NOK 1 million in the quarter. We report in Norwegian kroner, but most of the contracts are in euro and about 60% of the project costs are in the contract currency as a natural hedge.
Fluctuation in foreign exchange rates may however, have an impact on key financial figures and we are looking into alternatives to mitigate the risk. Following the sale of Vow's shares in Vow Green Metal in June last year, the share of net loss of NOK 3 million and a gain of NOK 1 million is recognized in the full year numbers. Result before tax ended at negative NOK 127 million. Adjusted for the noncash impairment of NOK 119 million and the noncash warehouse write-down of NOK 10 million result before tax is NOK 2.5 million, showing improved operational performance.
Sorry, it's a bit difficult to get this one to work. Well, subsequent to the reporting period, we obtained a waiver for the first quarter of '26. And yesterday, we agreed on a new covenant structure for the second quarter '26 and the following periods. We have close and constructive dialogue with DNB, and I'm particularly pleased that the peak interest that has been added to the loans now is being terminated. So, we will, in a short moment, move over to the cash flow, yes.
And looking at the cash flow development, we started 2025 with NOK 229 million in available liquidity following the private placement in December '24. This was reduced to NOK 49 million in available liquidity at the end of Q3. Cash collected in Q3 was used to resolve overdue payables, improving the overall financial position. During the fourth quarter, liquidity improved significantly following large milestone payments, and we ended 2025 with NOK 136 million in available liquidity. I will continue to closely monitor working capital, and we will see fluctuations over the next quarters, driven by project execution and timing of milestone invoicing and collections.
So, this was a walk-through of the key financial development in the quarter. And now Gunnar will give you a business and strategy update.
Thank you, Cecilie. So, I will start by having a look at Maritime Solutions. Now the cruise market continues to strengthen with improved profitability and high occupancy levels on board cruise vessels, which also then drives demand for new builds. Fourth quarter showed all-time high revenue in Maritime Solutions, driven by higher delivery volumes and progress on new building projects. Our order intake is very strong, and backlog provides long visibility with deliveries now stretching well into the 30s.
The shift from legacy contracts to new contracts with more updated terms is improving margins and stability as well. We expect to see continued good performance [indiscernible] Demonstrating continued strong demand from European shipyards as well as our strong position in that market. The backlog is strong for maritime around NOK 1.6 billion, giving us long visibility. On the upper right-hand graph, you can see how the backlog is expected to turn [indiscernible].
So, we will do Maritime Solutions market update once again. So, the cruise market continues to strengthen with improved profitability and high occupancy levels on board the cruise vessels, supporting a sustained demand for new builds. Fourth quarter showed all-time high revenue for Maritime Solutions, driven by higher delivery volumes and progress on the new building contracts. Our order intake is very strong, and the backlog provides long visibility with deliveries stretching well into the 30s. The shift from legacy contracts to new contracts with updated terms is improving margins and stability. We expect good performance also into the first quarter of 2026.
On the contract development for Maritime, so in the fourth quarter, we signed 3 major contracts which demonstrates continued strong demand from the European shipyards but also our strong position in the newbuild market. The backlog for Maritime is around NOK 1.6 billion, which gives us long visibility, as I said, well into the 30s.
On the upper right-hand graph, you can see how this backlog is expected to turn into revenue in the coming years. So, the percentage being the percentage of the backlog that we expect to become revenue. I should also add that sometimes you see a little bit change in this if the yards needs to delay a project or move deliveries. The legacy contracts are declining steadily. You can see that on the bottom right-hand graph. And already by 2026, the majority of revenue will come from new contracts that are less vulnerable to inflation and with better margins. To help you read the numbers correctly, the share of legacy contracts if you look at Q4, so 56% of the 2025 total revenue came from legacy contracts, whereas 44% came from new contracts. And into 2026, you can see that we are in the 30s somewhat range when it comes to revenue from legacy contracts.
This slide illustrates our position in the global cruise market, both in terms of deliveries and also the long-term pipeline. On the left on this chart, you can see the number of vessels that we have delivered equipment to and also what cruise line we deliver to. And you can also see how many vessels we've had commissioning activities on. So we delivered main systems for 18 vessels and we commissioned.
Scanship, our Scanship subsidiary is a trusted technology provider to not only the leading cruise operators but also to the yards. We are working closely with all the major European shipyards that you can see on the center map. And this is basically where the cruise vessels are built. To the right, you can see the number of vessels that are under contract. That will be the dark blue ones. How many are under option, kind of green color on those. And then the gray which is the number of contracts that we have actively placed bids for. And it's lined up in time with the year that the vessels are expected to be handed over from the yard to the cruise owner, to the cruise line to go into operation.
Typically, we deliver equipment 18 to 24 months before. It can be earlier. It can even be in the same year depending on what type of equipment. And that is, of course, what also makes it a bit tricky to read this as how the revenue is going to play out.
Subsequent to the quarter, we signed a contract for 4 vessels to be delivered from 2029, so handover date from 2029 to 2031. Those are not shown on this graph. The growing installed base is also an important driver for Aftersales, supporting revenues going forward. And by that, we'll switch to Aftersales. So, our Aftersales activities delivered record sales in fourth quarter with strong performance across all its segments. Margins improved further, driven by scaling effects and improved operational efficiency. So, to put it simple, we delivered more with the same organization. We entered 2026 with high activity, including mid-life upgrades and preventive maintenance agreements. The growing global fleet equipped with our systems continues to drive demand forward. Overall, Aftersales demonstrates healthy margins and a solid outlook going into first quarter.
Industrial Solutions. And I haven't said this, but on the lower right-hand side, you can see the percentage it makes up of the revenue for 2025. So, for Maritime, that was 52%. It's 23%, I think, for Aftersales and 25% then for Industry. So Industrial Solutions. After the major adjustments that we made in Q3, both revenue and margin trends are now developing in line with our expectations. The 2 circular projects are developing as expected. Commissioning is ongoing. We successfully produced first biocarbon in the fourth quarter, which is an important milestone. And we expect the 2 ongoing projects to be concluding sometime in 2026, which will reduce our risk exposure and support improved margins going forward.
The large pyrolysis reactor from C.H. Evensen that you can see on the photo on your right-hand side was delivered in the fourth quarter and is expected to go into operation sometime in 2026. Within Heat Treatment, we have seen a slight pickup after a soft third quarter. Still, the galvanization market is soft, but the aluminum industry is promising and picking up.
On the contract side for Industrial Solutions, the order backlog now stands at NOK 112 million, and the composition reflects our more selective and controlled approach going forward. We continue to see positive momentum with our key customers, particularly, I would say, with Arbion Industries, where cooperation continues to mature. And of course, this supports also our long-term potential. We're also seeing encouraging developments in our collaboration with Murfitts Industries within the end-of-life-tires processing segment. FEED study has been completed and also the permitting process is progressing with some clear milestones passed over the last couple of weeks.
Again, within Heat Treatment, the market softened in Q3, but the pipeline has strengthened again. Across all these subsegments, our focus remains on prioritizing the right opportunities and securing that projects fit our new and more disciplined profile.
We have touched on strategy and strategy revisit in earlier presentations, and we will spend a little more time on that this time as we have come to conclusions. Not all the action plans have been completed, but the direction and so on has been concluded. So, to summarize our starting point, I think we can say that the cruise market remains strong, supporting continued growth in our core Maritime segment. Our order backlog provides visibility well into the 30s, giving a solid foundation for long-term planning. Our pyrolysis technology is moving into a commercial demonstration phase. Passing some important milestones for Industrial Solutions. The Circular Solutions part of Industry develop at different speeds, and we are aligning resources and capital accordingly.
We see a significant long-term potential, both within Maritime and also within selected industrial applications. Simply put, we believe that the starting point and the path forward can be defined by clear focus, strong position and disciplined execution.
At the start of the year, we implemented a new organizational structure to support our updated strategy. We now operate 3 business units: Maritime Solutions, Industrial Solutions and Aftersales, each with crystal clear profit and loss responsibility. This creates clearer accountability and faster decision-making. We have strengthened and streamlined the management team, and we have introduced a new operating model focused on delivery excellence and project control. The finance function has been reinforced to improve cost control, margin focus and cash discipline.
And finally, we're gradually separating Industry from Maritime to position Scanship as a pure-play Maritime Solutions company over time. Overall, these changes sharpen execution, and they give us a stronger foundation for profitable growth. So, for Maritime Solutions, this is the backbone of our business, and we continue to hold 70%-ish market share in the global cruise newbuild segment. The market remains robust. Cruise operators report strong profitability and high occupancy, which fuels continued investment in new vessels. Our strategic intent is straightforward, defend our leadership position, improve margins and also expand value creation throughout the vessel life cycle.
We continue to innovate and are now refining our onboard pyrolysis solutions, which strengthen the environmental performance of our cruise customers and support their decarbonization ambitions. With a strong installed base and a solid order backlog stretching well into the 30s, we have excellent visibility and a clear runway for continued growth. Going forward, our focus is operational excellence, predictable deliveries and ensuring that every new contract contributes positively to the profitability.
Aftersales. Aftersales is becoming an increasingly important part of our business model. It strengthens customer relationships, and it provides high-quality recurring revenues. We now serve around 200 cruise vessels worldwide. And as the installed base grows, the addressable Aftersales market grows with it. This business unit consolidates all global Aftersales activities under one leadership team with full profit and loss responsibility. The offering includes spares, consumables, services and upgrades as well as new digital solutions being developed in close collaboration with our customers.
The cruise fleet continues to expand and environmental regulations remain tight. These are both drivers for steady long-term growth in this segment. So, our strategic intent is to increase recurring revenue, improve margin stability and enhance customer lifetime value.
Industrial Solutions. Well, in Industrial Solutions, the priority is disciplined commercialization. We will focus on applications with clear commercial traction and strong strategic relevance. We are applying very strict capital discipline, emphasizing an asset-light model, partnerships and also milestone-based commitments. The immediate commercial focus is on 3 areas. One is turning biomass into biocarbon. The other one is turning end-of-life tires to recycled carbon black and pyrolysis oil. And the third one is growth within heat treatment. The markets for these applications are growing but maturing at different speeds.
We are, therefore, prioritizing where we deploy capital and engineering capacity. As an example, pyrolysis of sludge for PFAS treatment remains a relevant future opportunity. As the market matures, this could become the next focused application. But this remains to be seen. Our strategic intent to become a leading supplier of systems, our core pyrolysis technology supported by engineering services. Given the revised strategy, we have decided to initiate a strategic review of our subsidiary, ETIA's food safety activities.
Some concluding remarks. The strategy is now sharpened, and the organizational foundation is in place. The path forward focuses on value creation through disciplined execution. We have set clear priorities to strengthen and defend our Maritime leadership, to commercialize pyrolysis technology using milestone-based capital allocation. Scaling recurring revenues in Aftersales, improved execution, margins, and cash generation, and allocating capital selectively with strict return requirements. These priorities will guide how we think about projects. It will guide our investment decisions and also our organizational focus for the coming years.
So, to conclude, we are building a stronger, more focused company with clear accountability, disciplined capital allocation, and a firm commitment to profitable growth. So, that concludes our presentation, and I believe we are now ready for questions.
Thank you, Gunnar and Cecilie. You are absolutely right. We have quite a few questions from our online audience. And we'll start from the top. There's a question asking for a further elaboration of the opportunities in the land-based industries part. You commented on some of the projects that we heard about before, but there are a number of other projects that we have or opportunities that have been heard about before. How do you see the future for those?
I think our core technology within pyrolysis and our systems has a great potential. But we see that these markets are developing at different speeds. So, it is about adapting to the maturing of the markets and don't go in way too early or in prospects that will never become profitable for our customers. So, it's trying to understand the market.
And on that topic, within Industrial Solutions, are the projects you're pursuing now directly profitable for your customers? Or are they reliant on carbon credits or subsidies from governments to be profitable?
It's a very good question. And we try to focus going after projects that do not rely on carbon credits and such, and the regulatory part. So, we are through our early studies, FEED studies. We know a lot about how much investment is needed. We know the value of the products coming out of it and what the business case looks like for our customers. And that gives us a solid background to determine where we want to focus our efforts.
The 2 projects in Industrials will be finalized in 2026, you say. Can you be a little bit more specific? And are there still uncertainties related to the completion of these?
No, there are plans. They are following plans, and they are in the commissioning phase. It's not all just up to us as a supplier of some parts of the system, but also the other remaining systems for each of these plans. Also, of course, these are new systems at industrial scale. So, we do expect to learn along the way, find issues, resolve issues, and so on. But there is a plan. The plan is being followed. And we know when the schedule is for those to complete, yes.
Then there is a very specific question related to margins for Maritime. Why is the Maritime margin for Q4 down compared to Q3, even if the amount of legacy contracts is significantly down?
For the Maritime Solutions segment, the write-down that we had to make in the quarter impacts the COGS and the margins. So, if you adjust for the write-down, the gross margin would have been 23% instead of 20%, which is up from 19%. And EBITDA margin, excluding the write-off, would have been 16%, up then from 11%. So, that's a major impact for the margin development in the quarter. This was a noncash effect that had to be made in connection with the annual close, and a thorough review of everything in the inventory.
Now turning to Scanship. You mentioned that it's tricky to draw the relationship between the revenue and number of ships going into service for a particular year. But how then should we expect Scanship's revenue to trend in '27 and '28?
We are not guiding very much on the revenue, but there is another graph showing how the backlog is turning into revenue. And you can see that about 24%, I think it was for 1 year. So, we're not completely sold out. There is still room to fill up with some more orders. Some new orders have been signed and are not in those numbers. So, it's filling up.
There's a question related to this. Given the updated strategy, what can you say about the financial targets for the business, for instance, with regards to growth and margin, EBITDA margin going forward?
Well, we are not ready to guide on that yet, at least. But we are building this company step-by-step and improving the financial status, and yes, are starting to see effects of all the measures that have been implemented since this summer.
And why is it important to separate Scanship as a pure Maritime player?
I think following the new structure we have put in place, it's kind of natural that Scanship becomes a pure-play Maritime company. If you go on board a cruise vessel, if you go to a yard, if you go to a cruise line, Scanship is the brand that they recognize. It's what they expect to see on anything from the bid, your invoice, everything. So, maintaining that brand and building on that for that part of the industry, and then also separating the industrial activities into a separate company makes it easier. Follows the organizational structure, decision lines are shorter, and it's really easy to see the impact of the different decisions made in the business.
Then there are 2 more questions, and greetings from Voppatol. The questions from Voppatol is, what will be the connection to Kongsberg Maritime? And what are the plans for connections to China going forward?
So, in terms of Kongsberg Maritime, no specific connections for the time being. I know from my history in Kongsberg Maritime that the cruise industry is a segment that is of interest to them. However, I'm not up to date on what their strategies are for that segment. That will be for Kongsberg Maritime to communicate. And the final part was related to the Chinese market. So yes, we work with the Chinese market. We have had deliveries to a couple of cruise vessels being built at Waigaoqiao, Shanghai. And that relation is still there, and we are following the development in that market.
Thank you. There are no further questions from the audience. So, we hand it back to you to round up.
Well, thank you. Thank you for watching this. I think what we can say now as a kind of a summary is that we think we have a very strong position with the new strategy. We have very clear focus. So, now we really look forward to some disciplined execution of the new strategy. So, by that, thank you, everyone. Have a wonderful day.
Thank you.
VOW ASA — Q4 2025 Earnings Call
VOW ASA — Q3 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this third quarter presentation for Vow. For technical issues with the network in the auditorium, we had to do our last minute move into this conference room. So it's a bit packed in here, but we certainly hope everything is working out to your satisfaction and that everyone is receiving this webcast.
So today, I have Cecilie Hekneby, with me our CFO, to do the presentation of the financials. My name is Gunnar Pedersen. I'm the CEO of Vow.
So I'm going to share with you some highlights first. Cecilie then will take you through the financials. I'll come back with the market and business update before we go into summary and outlook and finally, open up for questions.
So starting off with Q3. So Q3 was a very busy quarter across the whole company, especially in Maritime Solutions, where we had record high revenues. We also continued our structured assessment of the company. And in Q3, specifically, we did some deep dive into the big industrial projects. What we found was that there was 2 big projects that had underestimated cost to completion, which has impacted the margins and also leading to a reversal of revenue. Cecilie will take you through the details of that. And also it's been published in a notice earlier in October.
So in the Maritime Solutions segment, we've had record high revenue and also a very positive development on the margins, perhaps a bit on the very high side compared to what you normally should expect. This is due to a reduced share of legacy contracts, but also the project mix. So a lot of equipment deliveries, different types of equipment have different margins, and this quarter has been very fortunate in -- or favorable in terms of the mix.
The Aftersales segment continues its positive development, improving margins, whereas the volumes is about the same as the third quarter last year. Year-to-date, however, is a good growth on Aftersales. Our Industrial segment has been facing challenges in terms of underestimated cost of completion, as mentioned.
On a high note, what we've formally talked about as the large reactor from Evensen that was finally delivered to follow last week. So very pleased with that. Some questions have come across on this. It doesn't have a big impact on the revenue, but it does have a very positive effect on the cash flow, as it triggers some payment milestones.
Liquidity has improved significantly with very good inflows. And also, we've been able to settle outstanding payments to our vendors. And also it's worth noticing that the covenants were waived for Q3.
Our total order backlog stands at NOK 1,449 million with another NOK 134 million in options. So this provides us with a very good visibility into the future. Order intake as of end third quarter is NOK 1,082 million. I should perhaps mention that the delivery of the reactor was subsequent to the quarter.
And by that, I think I can leave you with Cecilie to do the financials, and I'll come back for the market update. Cecilie?
Good morning. I will give you an update on the financial numbers. This is just an executive summary that actually summarized what Gunnar just said. So before I start with the walk through of the financial numbers, I would like to address the notification published in October, and there are specific events that led to the announcement.
As explained in the stock market announcement, a review of the 2 major circular solution projects reveal that total cost to completion next year has been underestimated. The reduced project margins and technical reporting of progress on costs led to a reversal of revenue in the quarter. The 2 projects constitute a major part of -- in the Industrial Solutions segment and the preliminary consolidated numbers for the group, indicated a lower-than-expected EBITDA for the quarter. This was still at an early stage in our preparation for the third quarter reporting, but we consider this as inside information that could not be delayed and issued a trading update.
Phase 1 of Follum and Rhode Island represent significant milestones for our paralysis technology, and an SVP Program Director was appointed at the end of September to strengthen coordination, execution and financial control for the projects, reporting directly to Gunnar. He and his team then performed a total review of the remaining scope, risks and handler requirements and found that total cost of completion was underestimated. And as a result of this reassessment, a onetime cost increase was recognized in the Q3.
So how does this impact revenue? Revenue from projects is recognized based on estimated total gross margin for the project according to technical reporting of progress. The contracts for these 2 projects are predominantly fixed price with limited flexibility for price adjustments. The updated cost estimates, therefore, led to a reduction in total gross margin and hence a reversal of previously recognized revenues but with no cash effect.
Circular Solutions is a key area within the Industrial Solutions segment, delivering to the industrial scale pyrolysis market, which is still maturing. With these 2 projects now entering the final stage, we expect increased cost visibility and tighter cost management going forward. We aim to be transparent in our reporting, but I understand that it may be challenging to follow the financial development for the last quarters.
Vow has been in a challenging financial position. And since I started in May, my team and I have worked diligently to secure consistent and precise reporting to get control and provide insight.
So this slide sums up what I just have explained, and I will now go through the numbers for the quarter, starting with the key financial for the group. The reporting currencies in Norwegian kroner. So reported revenue for the quarter was NOK 214 million compared to NOK 267 million 1 year earlier. And on the graph on the left-hand side, you can see minus NOK 6 million in revenue for the Industrial Solutions segment, following the reversal of revenue and softer performance in the remainder of the segment, with higher revenues in the Maritime Solutions segment and steady numbers in Aftersales.
Moving on to the graph in the middle, we have adjusted EBITDA of negative NOK 29 million, heavily impacted by the financial performance in the Industrial Solutions segment. The order backlog of NOK 1.4 billion remains strong and gives good visibility. Total revenue was NOK 214 million, down NOK 53 million from Q3 '24 heavily impacted by the Industrial Solutions segment. But revenue in the Maritime Solutions segment of NOK 166 million is all-time high following progress on large newbuilding contracts and up NOK 73 million from last year. The year-to-date numbers for Maritime Solutions are impacted by the catch-up effect in Q2.
Aftersales made a solid contribution with NOK 54 million in the quarter. This is up 3% from third quarter last year, but up 11% year-to-date. Revenue in the Industrial Solutions segment is down NOK 128 million from Q3 last year and NOK 136 million from year-to-date following the cost of its and reduced margins for the 2 projects, in addition to the soft performance in the remainder of the segment.
Moving over to the operational key figures for the quarter. Revenue is, as explained, heavily impacted by the updated cost of completion estimates that overshadowed the strong performance in the Maritime Solutions and Aftersales segments.
I would like to highlight the development of gross profit and employee expenses. Being a project organization, employee hours linked to specific projects are attributed to the cost of goods sold. The group has during the year improved its time tracking and hourly rate position. With a more accurate attributional hours to specific projects, a larger share of personnel cost is now currently classified under COGS as recovery hours. This, in turn, improves the alignment between project costs and actual resource usage, which provide better insight and basis for pricing of projects.
Reported employee expenses, hence vary with project activity and hours allocated to projects and are down NOK 17 million from Q3 last year. Gross employee expenses, including the recovery hours amounted to NOK 58 million in the quarter compared to NOK 64 million last year. Employee expenses are also impacted by a change in the allocation of holiday payment compared to last year, with a higher cost in the second quarter this year and lower this quarter following when employee actually were on holiday, impacting production.
NOK 2.5 million of nonrecurring items in the quarter are related to employee expenses. Other operating expenses amounted to NOK 21 million, up NOK 3 million from last year. EBITDA for the group was negative NOK 31 million, which is slightly higher than the preliminary EBITDA from the trading update in October. EBITDA adjusted for nonrecurring expenses, minus NOK 29 million.
Let's look into the development of the segments. Vow has 3 business segments, Maritime Solutions, Aftersales and Industrial Solutions, in addition to administrative which consist of expenses not allocated to the business events. There were no nonrecurring items in the business segments. The nonrecurring expense of NOK 2.8 million in the quarter is related to the Admin segment.
Adjusted EBITDA for the Maritime Solutions segment was NOK 29 million in Q3, up from NOK 7 million 1 year earlier, following strong revenue development stemming from high delivery volumes in addition to increasing margins as the share of legacy contracts are decreasing and replaced with new contracts with revised terms and conditions.
The backlog of NOK 1.2 billion is firm and provide long visibility. Gunnar will share some details on this in his part. Aftersales continue to grow with an increasing number of vessels in operation equipped with Vow systems. Adjusted EBITDA amounted to NOK 10 million in the quarter, up from NOK 7 million last year, indicating an adjusted EBITDA margin of 17%, up from 13% 1 year earlier. The Industrial Solutions segment was impacted by the cost updates and reduced margins in addition to soft performance in the quarter in the remaining parts of the segment, leading to a negative EBITDA of NOK 65 million in the quarter. Focused forward in this segment is on selected opportunities with reduced risk and exposure profiling.
Moving over to the financial performance in the quarter. We see that financial costs have been reduced. Financial items in quarter of negative NOK 13 million or NOK 1 million lower than last year. Interest costs amounted to NOK 12 million, which is down NOK 5 million from Q3 last year. There was a net foreign exchange loss of NOK 1 million in the quarter, while there was a gain of NOK 3 million last year.
Vow reports in Norwegian kroner, but most of the contracts are in euro. About 60% of the project costs are in the contract currency and is a natural hedge. Fluctuation in currency exchange rest may, however, have an impact on key financial figures, and we have started to look into alternatives to mitigate the risk.
Depreciation in the quarter of NOK 12 million is down NOK 2 million from third quarter last year. And I also would like to highlight that following the sale of Vow's shares in Vow Green Metals in June, the share of net loss of NOK 3 million and again, NOK 1 million is recognized in the year-to-date numbers.
Looking at the balance sheet. I would like to highlight the development of trade receivables and trade creditors. Since I started in May, managing working capital with improved processes for collection of debt and payment vendors has been a key priority. Trade receivable bills have been reduced by NOK 75 million year-to-date, the cash collected has been used for settlement of overdue supply debt and other liabilities. And trade creditors are reduced by NOK 102 million year-to-date. Prepayments to vendors also significantly reduced.
Having managed now to settle overdue debt, our working capital is steadily improving and net working capital has been reduced by NOK 32 million year-to-date. Interest-bearing debt of NOK 557 million using leasing has increased by NOK 87 million year-to-date due to the increased utilization of the credit facilities, partly offset by reduction in borrowings.
The DnB term loan amounted to NOK 195 million at the end of September, down from NOK 262 million at year-end '24. The group obtained waiver for the 12 months rolling EBITDA ratio covenant, and we are in close and constructive dialogue with DnB.
Looking at the cash flow development, we started 2025 with NOK 46 million in cash and at NOK 34 million in cash at the end of June. At end of September, cash amounted to NOK 23 million, with an additional NOK 26 million in available liquidity. There has been high activity in the quarter, and the illustration highlights the main development in the quarter. During the quarter, there has been an inflow from trade receivables of NOK 80 million. In addition to milestone payments, we have succeeded in collecting overdue receivables. The cash has been used to repay overdue trade payables and other current debt in line with management's focus in addition to repayment of loans and interest.
Having resolved overdue payables, the overall financial position has improved. Liquidity is significantly improving in the fourth quarter, following a large milestone payments, both from the maritime side and industrial side, and I am satisfied to see that measures taking are starting to show results.
At the Q2 presentation in August, we informed that we had initiated a profit improvement program. The target of the program is to strengthen cost control, improve profitability and increase operational efficiency. And we have identified concrete measures and defined several hypothesis. Example of this are related to cost down, operational efficiency, service cost and indirect spending.
Program is under implementation and is part of the budget process next year. It is implemented based on feasibility and expected effect and several actions are already taken. This was a rather detailed walk-through of the financial developments in the quarter, and now Gunnar will give you a market and business update.
Thank you, Cecilie. So we're going to start this market and business update with Maritime Solutions. And as you can see in the bottom left-hand graphics, Maritime makes up about 53% of the revenue so far this year with NOK 265 million. The main contract entered into in this period is EUR 11.5 million for advanced environmental systems. Additionally, there's several more contracts amounting to a total of EUR 2.9 million for various other deliveries.
Order backlog stands at a very strong NOK 1.2 billion, which is 49%, up from the third quarter last year. And also margins, as I mentioned, in the quarter at 17.7% EBITDA are very positive. And as I said, it's due to very high delivery volumes of equipment also with a favorable mix of the deliveries.
So looking into the Maritime contract development and a little bit more about the backlog. We have been talking about legacy projects in earlier presentations, and we have received questions about these legacy contracts. So how much of the revenue is made from legacy contracts, and at what time are you going to be completed with those deliveries. And on the lower right-hand graph, you can see how this plays out. The top dark blue one from the left, is from new contracts, whereas the lower part is from legacy contract.
So looking at Q3, there is 35% of the revenue coming from new contracts whereas the remaining 65% is coming from legacy contracts. And you can also see, and this is based on estimates of when deliveries are taking place and so on, we have made an estimate how this is going to play out through 2026 and into 2027. So you can see that, for example, in fourth quarter, new contracts will be about 43% and so on. It can vary a bit up and down. That depends on the contract and the delivery time of these contracts. That's why you see a bit fluctuation on the split between new and legacy contracts.
It is also a fact that we may even enter into new contracts that are legacy contracts, so that would be options, options that are binding to us in terms of price, but options that are valued from quite some years back. Currently, there is one remaining option that we will classify as a legacy contract.
Yes, I think that's about as good explanation as I can give here now on the legacy contracts and that part. So looking at the backlog and the pipeline, this graph on the right-hand side shows when the vessels are scheduled for delivery from the yard to the cruise line. And typically, we deliver equipment 18, 24 months before, sometimes it can be as little as a year or even less than that, depending on the type of project. But this is typical.
So this year, there's 10 vessels next year in '26, another 10. '27, the 7 vessels to be delivered that are under contract. There's 2 that we're bidding for. And you can see going out in time how this grows. So '28, bidding for 7, another 3 -- no, 7 under contract and another 3 that we are bidding for. And '29, 1 under contract, 1 option and 13 that we are bidding for. So currently, the backlog is 37 confirmed orders of ships on option. The tendering activity country activity tenders, 59 new bids and 4 retrofits. So it is a very active market, and it has a very good visibility.
So we hold a leading position, and we are maintaining our market shares. Looking at where we have delivered equipment this year, in total, we are going to deliver to 18 vessels, 13 have been delivered, another 5 systems remain to be delivered in Q4. So Q4 is also going to be very active for us.
And on the lower left-hand side, you can see what cruise lines we have delivered to you or are delivering to this year. So it's all the major ones basically. So on your right-hand side, you can see Norwegian Aqua. It's commissioned in February this year. So I hand it over to the customer in February this year. It can hold about 5,200 people, passengers and crew all in all. It was bid at Fincantieri at the Marghera, and we have delivered a full scope of traditional systems, both for advanced waste water processing but also for waste disposal on this vessel. This is number 3 in a series of 6 vessels that we built for NCL.
So this year, we have commissioned 9 vessels. There is 1 more to go for the fourth quarter. And you can also see here on the bottom, which cruise lines, they are being commissioned for or delivered to them. So all the major ones on this as well. And of course, that's another 10 vessels entering into after sales.
I've had the opportunity to meet with the several of the big cruise lines in the third quarter. And it's been, of course, very interesting meetings and conversations. It is very obvious that well-functioning systems is critical to their operation. In some cases if these systems don't work, they cannot operate the vessels. Actually, that's in quite many of the cases.
Our customers generally express that they are very satisfied with our systems as well as with our after sales support. But as always, there is room for improvement, and thus, we see this as opportunities, and we are working on these opportunities to make sure that our customers are even more satisfied in the future.
As you can see, bottom left-hand side, after sales accounted for 25% of our revenue so far in 2025. We see a strong development over time on the right-hand side,Q3 54 versus 53 in Q3 last year. That's not a big jump. But if you see the year so far, it's quite good growth on that as well. It varies a bit all time when they order spare parts, when they order services and in terms of chemicals for distance.
So strong development over time. Also in the graph, the metrics, you can have very healthy margins now, and we're very satisfied with that. Part of it comes from high volume over the year, giving an effect. So -- but this is a healthy level, I believe.
So for the Industrial Solutions. The Industrial Solutions segment again, as you can see on the bottom left, it accounts for about 22% of our revenue as per third quarter, so NOK 150 million. It consists of the main subsegments Circular Solutions and Thermal Heat Treatment. With 2 major projects within Circular Solutions that make up the majority of the revenues.
We already touched on the deep dive and the effects on the margins on that. It is, of course, very unfortunate when we find such issues in the projects. And of course, we have taken a few steps to ensure that we learn from these. These are first of a kind projects both of them. So this is really important that we spend our time wisely and learn as much as possible from them.
The effects I think we have talked about earlier in the presentation. Just to touch on thermal heat treatment, still see a soft market in Q3 not so much due to energy prices anymore, but other uncertainties. But we do see positive indications related to both defense industry and aluminum, and we'll probably get back to that on the next slide.
So industrial contract development, again, circular and thermal heat treatment, order backlog stands at NOK 212 million, of which NOK 152 million is circular and NOK 60 million shared among the other subsegments. So we've been asked sometimes about some of these projects that have been talked about in earlier presentations such as end-of-life tires. I chose that example just to give you an update on that specifically. So we have completed FEED studies, and we are waiting for final investment decisions from one of the major customers. And they are in turn now waiting for the final piece of the puzzle, which is the permitting. And the permitting for that is expected to be due by the end of the quarter.
What we see in thermal heat treatment, the VGM improving pipeline with opportunities and some of these opportunities have resulted in RFQs and some of the RFQs have also resulted now in active bids in thermal heat treatment. So the volume of active bids is actually quite high, and we are pleased to see that development.
VGM, Vow Green Metals have been mentioned earlier today. And I must say they are gaining momentum now, commissioning is ongoing at Follum for Phase 1. Engineering activities are ongoing with ourselves and VGM and others for Phase 2. The large reactor, which is actually part of Phase 2 was delivered last Thursday. That's what you see on the picture. The big is white plastic that is wrapped in, so it's 60 tonne of equipment being lifted into the production facility.
So it is looking good. It is also worth mentioning, I think, that VGM was awarded EUR 26.2 million from EU Innovation Fund to build a new large-scale biocarbon production facility in Norway. So of course, this is very interesting for us. It is strengthening the positive development for the metallurgic market segment for biocarbon. And I think we are well positioned to continue playing in that development.
We also mentioned that we were revisiting our strategies in the second half of the year, even though they are not concluded yet. I think I can share a few glimpses of where we're headed, we do here today. It will come as no surprise that within the Maritime segment, we really want to strengthen our competitiveness. We also continue to introduce new technology, new and sustainable technology also into the waste disposal part of that market.
We will continue developing our aftersales services. Within industry, then supported by a more defined strategic direction, I would say. We will exercise a more selective approach with regards to the type of prospects we go after and also the contract formats within the industry segment. And then with a solid operational foundation, I think we are prepared for moving from analysis and into execution, delivering improvements, capturing opportunities and also then creating long-term values.
Also, we believe that it is important for us as well as for our investors that we can also deliver on an improved overview and predictability for development and for the values that we are creating. It is very helpful internally. I can tell you to understand the cost of the deliveries, allocating the cost to the right place and so on. So that work will continue. And I certainly hope that you will see the results of that as well as we move along. The strategy work is scheduled to be concluded by the end of Q4. So we'll get back with more info on that.
So finally, summary and outlook. Our customers confirmed a very strong market development in cruise and yards are actually still expecting to conclude on several contracts that we are actively bidding for during the fourth quarter. We have maintained our strong market position. And also, we see a positive development of the margins. And we will see that continue as the share of legacy contracts is going down as we saw on the earlier slide.
We have healthy margins in aftersales and a growing active will continue to bring growth to that segment. The revisit of our strategy will be concluded in the fourth quarter. And I think with a much better oversight and control of the financial situation, I'm confident we will also see a very positive development continue on our liquidity. And of course, we do this in a very close collaboration with our bank.
So that concludes the presentation, and now we open up for questions.
Thank you. There are quite a few questions already from the online audience. I just remind you that if you are watching this online, you can add your -- or send in your questions by typing it on your screen. But first, let me see, are there any questions from the audience here in Oslo. Seems not, while you're thinking about that, let's turn to the online audience.
First question is regarding the backlog and pipeline in Maritime Solutions. One observant viewers says, he has compared the Q2 presentation. And with the current presentation, it seems that some of the bidding, some of the contracts that you're bidding for '26 and '27 has been removed from the chart this time. Is that correct?
I'm not sure about the details, but if I understand the question correctly, if we -- for contracts that we do not win, I expect they will disappear from the charts, not ending up as contracts. External analysts tell us that within advanced wastewater processing, we have had indications anything from 60% to 80% market share. So there are the contracts we do not win. And within waste disposal, it's slightly lower.
Then there's a question about liquidity. You -- so you have NOK 22.7 million in cash at the end of the quarter. Will you need to raise more money?
We see an improving situation regarding liquidity and -- and we -- I am very satisfied with the development in the quarter that we have now settled overdue payments to vendors and that we have managed to collect receivables. That also was overdue. And now with significant milestone payments coming in in the fourth quarter, we see a very positive development on liquidity.
And will there be more surprises in industrials? Or do you now have a better understanding of the underlying problems?
It will be quite stupid on me to guarantee anything. These are first of the current projects. But what we've done with a sort of deep dive on them, I'm quite confident that we know what the remaining work is and we know the cost of the remaining work. So not what we have seen here. And then I think everyone who deals with new technologies and new markets understand that there may be smaller hiccups along the way. We're well prepared for that. We're actually planning for some of these and to find them as early as possible. And in most cases, I think I can say we have also alternative solutions to that ready. So I don't expect any big ones.
You also talked about a large customer in industrials waiting for permitting. Do you have any signals that they will move forward with you if that permit is given?
Yes.
Then there are -- you have mentioned in the past quite a few studies going 4 or 5 years back studies with names like Unipetrol, Repsol, what can you say about these studies and early projects? What is the status?
Yes. They are very interesting. All these studies because its studies based on different types of feedstock and how you process and what you want to come out of the process. And I think certainly, our customers learn from those. In some cases, we actually do test runs for them, and we take tests of whatever comes out to certify quality, to look at types of emissions and so on, and that is used as part of the permitting process.
So I would say that we've learned a lot about different types of applications of the technology. And it is also very clear to me that our customers are learning along the way, learning what is going to be a business case for them or not.
And I think if you look across the industry and different store that I made, it's kind of coming together what everyone thinking is going to be a very profitable one at least to begin with and what could potentially become very profitable later on.
There are 2 more questions from the online audience. So we're, I guess, nearing the end of the Q&A session, but let's take the next one. What is the installed base of Maritime Solutions in terms of number of vessels as well as number of systems?
I've heard a number, but I cannot remember it, but it is quite a significant number of systems. So in the hundreds.
And there is a follow-up on the cash and liquidity situation. Can you be more specific in terms of what you expect in terms of cash inflow in Q4?
We do not guide on the cash position at year-end. But as I already presented. We are -- I'm satisfied with the development. It has been quite challenging for the company over time. But we see a significant improvement. So I'm looking forward to report in the fourth quarter.
Then there is actually one more. You have previously talked about return to 15% EBITDA. Now you report 17% to 18% for both cruise projects and aftersales. What do you expect in terms of margin expansion going forward?
I don't think we guide on that either. But we are seeing healthy margins in some areas. And we are definitely working to continuously improve. I think it is also important to say that when we are able to, for example, reduce cost on producing and delivering equipment, some of those improvements, we need to use those to improve our competitiveness to ensure that we are still competitive with high market shares. There is only one thing you can be really sure of, and it's that your competitors are hungry and they will do everything they can. So you need to be forward leaning and work on the cost and you need to be prepared to share some of your improvements.
And there is one more. With covenants based on 12-month rolling net interest-bearing debt over EBITDA, you're likely to be in breach several quarters ahead. How will you address this problem?
Well, we are in close and constructive dialogue with DnB. We are working on -- we see an improved liquidity. We are working on to build a more profitable company, and I'm sure that we together find a good path.
Thank you. There are no further questions. Back to you.
Thank you .
Okay. Thank you, everyone, for watching.
VOW ASA — Q3 2025 Earnings Call
VOW ASA — Q2 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
So welcome, everyone, to this first -- second quarter, first half year presentation for Vow. Today, I have Cecilie Hekneby, our CFO, with me, to help present on the numbers. My name is Gunnar Pedersen, I'm the CEO of the company.
Let me start with the headlines. So like we indicated in our first quarter presentation, we have started a structured assessment of the business. During this analysis of the Q2 numbers, we did find a couple of issues, and we will get back to the details of those in the presentation.
Now the underlying operation in the Maritime business is showing good progress. We have a solid backlog. We have a 9% growth on the top line. And also, we have improved margins. Also the Aftersales segment has continued its positive development, delivering top line growth and also improved margins. Our Industrial segment is facing challenges in its financial performance, and the backlog is getting thinner, and we will get back to that.
For the company overall, we see that improvements in the financial performance are needed, and we have launched a program addressing this. The profit improvement program will strengthen cost control. And also, we will be addressing things like our products, how we deliver them, how we transport them, but also other costs like in-house consultants and so on in this program.
So we'll go -- disclaimer for you. You can read that on your own.
So some highlights. Continued high activity in Maritime Solutions. There's 10 vessels to be commissioned this year, while we deliver equipment to 18. Solid growth and margin improvements has continued in Aftersales. And on the Industrial Solutions side, we have now started the commissioning phase at Follum. In heat treatment, we see a temporary slowdown in the investment activities due to tariffs. The long-term potential, however, remains positive. We have a strong order backlog, NOK 1.4 billion. There is NOK 259 million in options. And specifically in the Maritime segment, we do have very good visibility into the future.
At the end of June, the 30th of June, we received the payments for the VGM shares and the net proceeds of NOK 35 million was used as an additional installment on debt. Now since Q2 -- so not in the report, but since Q2, we have also seen better effect in our debt collection. So overdue receivables have been worked on, and that has helped us improve our liquidity.
We will take you through the numbers now, and Cecilie, please.
Good morning. I will give you an update on the financial figures for the period. But first, I would like to address the issues in the notification published in July regarding the error in the Q1 reporting and expected one-offs for the second quarter, leading to a breach in covenants.
My team and I have, since I started in May, worked to increase the quality of our reporting and to improve internal processes. As part of this work, we identified 2 separate issues in connection with the closing process for the second quarter.
The Q1 error relates to elimination of internal margins for projects. Internal margins in projects between group companies are eliminated until the project completion. And upon completion, the margins are reversed. These eliminations have a timing effect to avoid internal margins, contributing to project progress recognition. So for full year '24, the elimination was correct, but for the first quarter, a technical accounting error made in the consolidation file was done. The impact of this error was NOK 16 million, mainly impacting the Industrial Solutions segment. The error has been corrected and Q1 restated in the results presented today.
At the same time, we had a thorough review of all our projects, about 50, 60 projects. Since revenue in projects is recognized in the P&L according to the percentage of completion method. Cost updates and technical progress in the project impact on the booked revenue. In the review, we found several items that were considered necessary to adjust. The catch-up effect in the second quarter impact gross profit in the Maritime segment with NOK 32 million, and in the Industrial segment, NOK 3 million, a total of NOK 35 million. The restatement of EBITDA in the first quarter and the expected one-off charge in Q2 was considered to be information that must be disclosed immediately.
In a [ notification ], it was also published that Vow, as a consequence, was in breach of its financial covenants. But had a close and constructive dialogue with DNB to secure a covenant waiver. During the summer, we worked closely with DNB. And on the 20th of August, the waiver was obtained and published. There is still a risk that we will be in breach of covenant for the third quarter and fourth quarter due to the impact first quarter and second quarter has on rolling 12 months EBITDA. But we are in constructive dialogue with DNB, and we meet regularly. Internal processes and controls have been reinforced to ensure consistency and compliance with policies and procedures, and we have started planning for consolidation in a system instead of Excel as today.
So let's look at the development on key financial financials in the period. The reporting currency is NOK. On the graph to the left, you can see that the reported revenue of NOK 228 million in the quarter is down NOK 25 million from Q2 last year. The catch-up effect impacts the Maritime Solutions segment negatively with NOK 25 million. Hence, the underlying revenue development for the group, excluding the catch-up effect, is flat, with positive development in the Maritime Solutions and Aftersales segment, offset by revenue development in the Industrial Solutions segment.
Moving on to the graph in the middle. You see that EBITDA adjusted for nonrecurring costs of NOK 3 million in the quarter related to change of management is negative NOK 33 million. Excluding the catch-up effect of NOK 35 million, adjusted EBITDA is NOK 2 million. Positive underlying development in the Maritime Solution and Aftersales segments are offset by lower profitability within Industrial and some increased operational costs. The order backlog on the right-hand side of NOK 1.4 billion remains strong and gives good visibility.
The catch-up effect impacts this presentation quite a lot. We have tried to show the underlying development in the group as well. The catch-up effect impacts revenue by NOK 25 million in the quarter and COGS with NOK 10 million, total NOK 35 million. Excluding the catch-up effect, we see positive development in the Maritime Solutions segment and Aftersales, both in gross profit and gross margin. So we can see that the Maritime Solutions segment is up 8% -- 9%, and Aftersales up 9% in the quarter, while Industrial Solutions is down 5%. And underlying growth is 3% for the first half year with the same development.
We see the same pattern in gross profit, with positive development in Maritime Solutions, Aftersales, offset by the development in Industrial Solutions. The reason or the negative development in Industrial Solutions is increased commissioning costs and changes needed late in some projects. And you can also see the margin development on the bottom of the left-hand side, that the margins for the Industrial Solutions segment was higher in the second quarter last year. The total margin for the quarter is 27%.
The operational key figures are heavily impacted by the catch-up effect on gross profit and performance in the Industrial Solutions segment. But we also see that employee expenses are up NOK 10 million compared to second quarter last year, following increased number of employees and in-house consultants, annual salary adjustments and changes in allocation of holiday payment, with full salary in June and lower in July when personnel is on vacation. Nonrecurring costs in the period are related to costs mainly associated with changes in executive management.
Adjusted EBITDA, negative NOK 33 million, is NOK 54 million lower than in second quarter last year, NOK 35 million attributed to the catch-up adjustment while NOK 20 million is related to increased COGS and operating costs compared with last period. We have, as Gunnar said, started a profit improvement program to strengthen cost control, improve profitability and increase operational efficiency. The program will cover areas such as product [ cost down ], reduced use of in-house consultants, more efficient use of transportation and so on. And the whole organization will be involved in this work.
Let's look into the development of the segments. We have 3 segments. Reported revenue in the Maritime Solutions segment was NOK 97 million, as you can see in the column to the left. Excluding the catch-up effect, revenue is NOK 122 million, as you can see in the next column, which is up 9% for the quarter, and with improved profitability as the share of legacy contracts is decreasing. Underlying adjusted EBITDA in the quarter was NOK 17 million, up from NOK 11 million with 14% margin, up from 10% 1 year earlier. The growth is primarily driven by increased delivery volumes to shipyards and progress on new large newbuilding contracts. The backlog is firm, with long visibility and revised terms and conditions in the new contracts.
Aftersales continue to grow with increasing number of ships in operation, equipped with Vow systems. Revenue of NOK 59 million in the quarter is up 8% from NOK 55 million last year. Measures taken to improve profitability are starting to show results. The adjusted EBITDA margin of 17% is up from 8% in second quarter last year, giving an adjusted EBITDA of NOK 10 million in the quarter, up from NOK 5 million in second quarter '24.
The Industrial Solutions segment continued to deliver on large ongoing contracts during the quarter. The decline in profitability is mainly due to increased cost at the end of some larger projects. There is good progress on FEED studies, but it takes time to convert into firm orders.
Administration consists of expenses not allocated to the business segments. These are costs related to general administration, owner costs and costs associated with being a listed company. In the second quarter, administration costs totaled NOK 12 million, of which NOK 3 million were nonrecurring and related to changes in management.
Let's move on to the financial performance in the quarter. As already presented, EBITDA is heavily impacted by the catch-up effects as well as higher COGS and personnel expenses than in last period, but financial costs are reduced. Depreciation and amortization are on the same level as in second quarter last year. Following the sale of Vow shares in Vow Green Metals in June, the share of loss is 0 compared to a loss of NOK 3 million 1 year earlier, and a gain of NOK 1.4 million is recognized in the period.
Interest costs are down NOK 2.5 million, and financial items of negative NOK 17 million is NOK 3 million lower than 1 year earlier. There is a net foreign exchange loss of NOK 5 million in the quarter. Vow reports in Norwegian kroner, but a majority of the contracts are in euro. About 60% of the project costs are in the contract currency, and it's a natural hedge. But fluctuations in foreign exchange rates will impact key financial figures, and we are looking into alternatives to mitigate and control the risk.
So over to the balance sheet. Since I started in May, improving processes for collection of debt and payment to vendor have been a priority, and there has been significant improvement. Other assets have been reduced following reduced prepayments to vendors and trade creditors reduced due to payment of vendor debt. Net working capital was reduced by NOK 2.5 million at the end of the quarter. But subsequent to the quarter, improved processes for debt collection have reduced overdue by more than 50% since I started, improving liquidity. Interest-bearing debt increased from December to March, but is down NOK 60 million in the quarter.
Let's turn to the cash flow. Looking at the cash flow development, we started 2025 with NOK 47 million in cash and had NOK 34 million in cash, plus NOK 56 million in undrawn credit lines at the end of June. The main reason for the low operational cash flow in that period is related to significant lower cash inflow from ongoing project in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in '24. There has been significant outflow to repay trade payables in the period. However, this cash outflow has largely been compensated for by significant reductions in prepayment to vendors. In general, the business working capital is heavily influenced by the timing of milestone payments and contract terms on ongoing projects, especially in the Industrial segment.
Cash flow from the sale of the shares in Vow Green Metals in June was NOK 35 million. This was used for an additional repayment on the term loan. The shares were pledged, so that was part of the agreement with the bank. Subsequent to the quarter initiatives to improve processes, debt collection has shown results, impacting the cash balance positively.
Which lead me to my financial priorities. Managing working capital to optimize cash flow remains a key priority to enhance our financial position. The improved processes for debt collection is starting to show effect, and I see a change in how my colleagues across different teams now address this. Secondly, I will follow up closely the profit improvement program, and look forward to work together with my colleagues to increase the operational performance and our competitiveness. Thirdly, I will continue to evaluate, improve and standardize accounting policies and processes across the group to secure consistent and precise reporting. During the second half of 2025, we will revisit the strategy, and we may consider impairment testing of certain balance sheet items. Lastly, I will continue to work on capital structure improvement.
Now, Gunnar will give you a market and business update.
Thank you, Cecilie. So a market and business update, and we're going to start with Maritime Solutions. Now the cruise market continues its positive development. It's high occupancy on border vessels. The cruise lines have improved profitability, and this results in new orders for newbuilds of vessels. The order books at the yards are filling up. So if you order a cruise vessel today, you will probably have the delivery of the vessel in '33, '34. This means, of course, a lot of good opportunities for us.
There's 2 contracts mentioned here that was closed in second quarter. So looking at the numbers, and I will refer to the column with the Q2 2025 ex catch up. So that's the underlying operation, which I believe represents how we truly perform. So looking at that, we had a second quarter order intake in the Maritime Solutions segment of NOK 77 million. The first half of the year, NOK 802 million. And we have, as you will see later on, a lot of bids active in the market. We expect a lot of these contracts to be closed -- or the yards to close contracts for these vessels through the second half of the year. And of course, we are very eager to close some of those contracts ourselves. Underlying operation, as I said, improving, top line growing by 9% and also strong improvement on the margins. And also, this is partly a result of legacy projects fading, but also effects of other activities that have been initiated.
The backlog for the Maritime segment is strong. It's NOK 1.25 billion. And I think we will take a closer look at the backlog and the pipeline in the next slide. And I forgot to mention, but you can see it on the slide, it's 42% of our revenue, which is in this segment. So the backlog and the pipeline in cruise. On the right-hand side and on the graphics, you can see the color indicating if it's in the backlog, if it is an option or if it is currently being bid. So currently, we have 35 vessels under contract and there are options for 2 more. It's a strong pipeline where we are currently tendering 49 newbuilds and 3 retrofits. This gives us very good visibility into the market several years ahead. Typically, our equipment deliveries happen about 18 to 24 months before the vessels are delivered. And what you see on the graphics here is when the vessels are being delivered.
And talking about equipment deliveries. So this year, we have, to date, delivered equipment to 12 vessels. There's many deliveries to every vessel. So it's like a continuous ongoing delivery, if you wish. Total deliveries this year is for 18 newbuilds. And we believe we hold a leading position within newbuild vessels, specifically in our core market, which is cruise vessels from 1,000 passengers and up. A cruise vessel of about 1,000 passengers is -- when you're on board, it feels like a quite big vessel anyway. So it's not a small one. The biggest one are close to 10,000 people on board.
We have contracts with all the major yards that build cruise vessels. And most of the cruise vessels are built in Europe. There is activity in Asia as well. So we have delivered equipment for 2 vessels being built in China, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipyard. One is in operation. Second one is delivered, but entering commissioning early next year. And there are activities for newbuilds going forward as well, which we, of course, follow closely. What they build in China is typically vessels ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 passengers.
So that takes us into commissioning. Commissioning, that's all the activities we do just before the vessels are handed over. So it's testing, the installation, testing the equipment, starting up the equipment, verifying that it actually works the way it's supposed to. So it's a short period of time. It's quite labor intensive. So a lot of hours go into that part of the project.
In 2025, we're commissioning 10 vessels. And I know I said 12 in the Q1 presentation, and that was correct at the time. Two of the vessels have been shifted into 2026, and that is the yard who has shifted them and controls that. But 10 vessels this year, very high activity level for us. Five have been completed by Q2. I believe, by today, about 8 have been completed, and there are 2 more to go.
The picture you see on the right-hand side is, far right, Icon of the Seas, and the second one, Star of the Seas, closest to us. These are vessels built at Turku. Star of the Seas left Turku in July, this summer, and is about to enter operation these days in the Caribbean. So feel free to book tickets. These vessels have close to 10,000 people on board. So these are really, really large vessels. And these are, of course, vessels entering -- when they leave the yard, they enter into our aftersales activity, which leads us to Aftersales.
Positive development in Aftersales. Aftersales is about 25% of our revenues. Increasing number of vessels means increasing number of systems in operation. These systems need to work. It is important for the operation of the vessels. So it means spare parts, various consumables, chemicals and things that you use to clean water, et cetera, services and so on. So it's a good business for us. Looking at the numbers at the bottom, you can see that there is growth both on the top line and also on the margins. This is a good trend that has continued since Q1. We still think that we can do more to develop the aftermarket, and we are working on that.
So Industrial Solutions. About 33% of the revenue first half of this year. The backlog is getting thinner, and specifically in a part of this segment, Circular Solutions, where you find -- for example, the Follum project, the Rhode Island project, end-of-life tires, all of these projects and the studies that have been presented here earlier. That part is a new market. It's a market which is under development. Clearly, developing this market takes a lot more time than anyone has expected. So we will revisit our strategies to see how we can focus our efforts and reduce the risk exposure.
There are some very exciting opportunities as more professional industrial players with very high ambitions enter this market. A good example, I think, is HitecVision acquiring the shares in Vow Green Metals. This segment represents a strong potential for growth in the, I would say, mid to long term. And several of the opportunities are being or have been addressed through FEED studies.
Equipment deliveries are mainly completed for the big projects of Follum Phase 1, Rhode Island. And also there for these projects, the profit margins are impacted by increased costs. The project model that we're now applying for this type of project has changed. So we're no longer doing projects in the same way. Today, we do FEED studies or pre-FEED studies, which enable us to get more accurate estimates of the cost in the projects. So we expect to see good results of that going forward and less surprises.
Within heat treatment, the customer investment activity has slowed temporarily down due to tariff uncertainties. An example would be heat treatment for the auto industry -- the automotive industry. They are still uncertain how the tariffs are going to impact the export of cars to the U.S. So they hold back on their investments. The long-term potential, however, remains very attractive. What we do see on a positive note is, of course, an uptick in the defense industry, and their investments are growing, and that brings us new opportunities in the heat treatment segment.
We have been working quite some time together with very forward-leaning cruise lines to establish pyrolysis solutions suitable for the maritime market. It's good for the space it takes on board. It's good for the financial performance of the cruise line. It's good for the environment. So a lot of good things about it. The first solutions have been installed, and there is a lot of interest around this in the market.
Now to support the introduction of this new system, we have established a full-scale certification lab, and it's about to go operational in September. We will use it for characterization of various feedstock to support certification as well as for training our own personnel operators and for demonstrations. We will, of course, capture and analyze data from this test site and analyze them in terms of validating reliability, demonstrate performance and also drive continuous improvements of the technology and the surrounding products.
So HitecVision successfully acquired the shares in VGM in June. Commissioning of the Follum project has been initiated, and we are working closely with VGM, preparing for Phase 2. We have built a large reactor which is suitable for Follum Phase 2, and delivery time line for this reactor is part of the ongoing discussions with VGM. I think that in HitecVision, VGM now has an owner with financial strength to complete the Follum project. It also has an owner with very high ambitions. And we are truly excited about the opportunities that these ambitions bring us going forward.
So summary and outlook. The underlying operation in the Maritime Solutions segment is good. There's a solid backlog. There is improvement. There's growth in the top line and improvement in the margins. The Aftersales has continued its positive development, both in top line and margins, and we believe we can develop the Aftersales market further. Our Industry segment is facing challenges. We are addressing those in the coming period.
For the company overall, improvements in financial performance are still needed, and we have shared with you something about the performance -- the profitability improvement program. And of course, we will continue our structured assessment of the business, and we will be revisiting the strategies to align to changes in the market.
The picture you see on the right-hand side is -- actually, that's the hands of [ Hamid ], our sales guy in cruise. And it's from a visit we had 2 weeks ago on board [ Viking Vela ] here in Oslo, where we were taking all through the lower decks where we have a lot of equipment. It's fascinating to see all the equipment that works and talk to the crew about how it works, how it is to operate, what improvements they see we could do to the equipment, very interesting tour. And what you see here is actually from the advanced water processing plant. This is the water that is ready to be sort of offloaded into the ocean from the ship. I also put my hands under it. It is crystal clear, and there is no smell to it. And we are monitoring the PPM content of stuff in it. And it is way, way, way below any limits. It's impressive. It's a very strong technology. And I think this is kind of the product that gives us the really, really strong position in the cruise market.
Thank you, everyone. We're open for questions.
Thank you, Gunnar and Cecilie. We are now opening for questions. We have a few questions already from the online audience, but we want to hear from the auditorium first. Any questions?
Thank you for all the clarity given in today's presentation. In terms of land base, kind of you mentioned HitecVision, the Follum, you say there are -- maybe some possibilities within defense. But still, I mean, the cost base today versus the current backlog versus the balance sheet is kind of a bit mismatched. Could you take us from how you think you're going to move from today until kind of more aligned strategy in that segment? As I guess, suppose the Maritime business and the Aftersales is kind of, with the catch-up effects taken today, moving into profitable territory here on out.
So as I said, we are revisiting the strategies towards the end of the year now. And we have a close dialogue with our customers, taking input, looking at different scenarios, their ambitions and potential time lines for their ambitions, looking at how can we support that, what is needed to be able to do that. That's part of the analysis that we do. So it is a lot depending on the market and what we end up believing is the right sort of speed in the market. What is the right development in the market, how we are going to do this.
We still have a lot of activities going in the ongoing big projects. So we mentioned the 2 largest ones, which is Follum and Rhode Island. And for that, the coming period is quite labor-intensive. It is a lot of activity related to commissioning. So labor will be busy in projects in existing contracts for a long time.
In terms of the projects now or the contract discussions within Maritime Solutions, I mean, obviously, we had a very large market share recently. But when you see it now from the outside, it's -- did you have that market share because you were writing very, very kind contracts with very beneficial terms for the buyers of your product? And is that impacting potentially the market share going forward?
Well, I've been in meetings, negotiations with, I can't say which yard, but with yards, this summer. And meeting with the sales organization, of course -- no, the purchasing organization, of course, they tell you that you are too expensive, your competition is lower in price. Still, they are ready to sign a contract with you. But what we do is we enter into a dialogue to try to both find out what is the right price level. And as I said, we -- if you hear it over time and if you start losing contracts, you're not competitive, and you lose contracts, then you need to do something. Because every time you win a contract, your competitor, they go home. You go open the champagne, but your competitor, they go home to the office to figure out how can we beat Scanship the next time.
So you need to continuous work on your products, improve your products, look at how you build it, how you -- the engineering, can we be more efficient in how we do that? Can we be more efficient in how we transport and so on? And so we started early June, actually campaign, looking into that. And yes, we do have a list of activities that we are kicking off or have kicked off that will help improve us on this. It would improve our profitability. It will improve our competitiveness.
The balance is difficult to understand, how much do you need to give of your improvement to win the contract? But I'm very confident that we will be very competitive in the future as well. We are today. Obviously, we are winning contracts. So I think this is looking really good going forward. We have a lot of potential for improvement in our operation and so on. So there is -- to me, the cruise is on the right path for us.
The reactor that you have, that's sitting on your balance sheet, right? So if you were prepaid for that reactor Phase 2 for Follum, that would be liquidity quite fast.
Yes. That's right. The cost of the reactor is in the balance sheet. So it will give us additional liquidity when we ship it off to Follum.
There seems to be no further questions from the audience here. There are a few from our online audience. A couple of questions concerning cash flow, cash burn and liquidity going forward. Question: How do you assess the company's current cash flow and cash burn? And what are you doing to ensure sufficient liquidity going forward?
Yes. As I already also presented, the management of working capital has been my priority since I started in May. Vow has, as you all know, been in a challenging position for quite some time. We have a good overview and have, during the last months, improved our internal reports and forecasts to get control. So I feel quite comfortable with the balance sheet as it is today, with also the ongoing initiatives that we have.
The improvement of debt collection, we had quite significant overdue debt to collect, which has really improved, especially since the last -- since after actually the 30th of June. And we also have the cost improvement program. But of course, we monitor it very closely. It's been an important part of my workday so far, but we do see that initiatives that we that we have implemented are really starting to show effect, so we can also work on other matters.
You mentioned also briefly in your presentation the covenants and loan agreements. Is there a risk that Vow may be in breach of existing agreements going forward? And what can you do to manage this?
As I said, there is a risk that we are in beach also for the third quarter and perhaps also the fourth quarter since the results of the first quarter and second quarter impacts the rolling 12, that is part of the covenant structure. We are in close dialogue with DNB. We have been working closely with them all summer. And we are meeting regularly to discuss this. And we have also, in this period, as I said, gone through our reports, our forecasting, to really have a good insight in what we expect over the next months. But of course, the covenants are measured at quarter end. So -- but we are working closely on this.
Then there's a very direct question when it comes to Industrials. Are you trying to sell Industrials?
No. There is no ongoing activity like that. As I said, we are entering into a strategic review. Any company probably does this every year. You run a strategy process. For us, it is natural to do this at this time of the year. Maybe typically, you do it in the first half of the year. But given the timing when we started, it's a natural for us to do it now. And we'll just have to look what will be the outcome of that strategy. I'm quite sure what the strategy will show is a result of both where we are, but also what's going on in the market, and what we believe is that sort of the right speed in the market, the right tempo. And it's interesting. We'll see when we get there.
And there's one final question. You mentioned that you're launching a profit improvement program. When do you expect these cost effects to materialize into the P&L? And what will be the annual run rate of net savings, you think?
Yes, we have already started to cut some costs. We have identified quite a few areas where we see that there is a potential. We will now involve the whole organization in this profit improvement plan. And we all -- and so it's too early to say a number. We will come back to that. But it definitely is a potential. Some of it could be seen in the P&L this year. Some of it will take longer. That's depending on agreements and yes, but definitely a potential.
If I may add, I think this is something that any business really need to be doing continuously. You need to continuously work at all these things. And when you do that, you build a culture for it and it will just go on and go on and go on. And that's how you -- that's how we stay competitive and that's how we stay profitable.
There are no further questions, I think, from either the audience here in the room or online. So then we hand back to the presenters to round off.
So thank you, everyone, for being here or watching online. And I think by this, we can end this second quarter, first half year presentation. Thank you. Have a good day.
VOW ASA — Q2 2025 Earnings Call
Financial data from VOW ASA
Revenue
Revenue is the sum of all sales generated by a company, e.g. for its products or services.
Revenue (TTM) metric explainedDirect Costs
Direct costs are the costs incurred directly in connection with the manufacture of the product or service.
Gross Profit
Gross Profit indicates how much of the revenue remains in the company after deducting direct production costs. If the percentage share of sales is calculated, this is referred to as the gross margin.
Gross Profit metric explainedSelling and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) include all expenses for marketing and sales as well as the general administration of the company.
Research and Development Expense
Research and development costs (R&D) provide information on how much the company invests in the research and development of its products. The costs are particularly interesting as a percentage of revenue and in comparison to direct competitors.
EBITDA
EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) is the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The EBITDA margin is calculated as a percentage of sales.
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation represents reductions in the value of the company's assets (e.g. due to wear and tear on machinery).
EBIT (Operating Income)
EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) is the company's profit before interest and taxes, also known as the operating income. The EBIT Margin is calculated as a percentage of sales at
.
Net Profit
Net Profit represents the profit or loss after deduction of all costs.
Net Profit metric explainedStocksGuide Premium
| Jun '26 |
+/-
%
|
||
| Revenue | 1,098 1,098 |
8%
8%
100%
|
|
| - Direct Costs | 835 835 |
9%
9%
76%
|
|
| Gross Profit | 264 264 |
3%
3%
24%
|
|
| - Selling and Administrative Expenses | 139 139 |
18%
18%
13%
|
|
| - Research and Development Expense | - - |
-
-
|
|
| EBITDA | -86 -86 |
1,516%
1,516%
-8%
|
|
| - Depreciation and Amortization | 48 48 |
20%
20%
4%
|
|
| EBIT (Operating Income) EBIT | -134 -134 |
150%
150%
-12%
|
|
| Net Profit | -188 -188 |
1%
1%
-17%
|
|
In millions NOK.
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VOW ASA Stock News
Company Profile
Vow ASA engages in the manufacture and supply of advanced systems for processing and cleaning drainage water, food waste, residual waste and biological mud to the maritime industry. It operates through the following segments: Projects and Aftersales. The company was founded by Tore Enger, Jonny Hansen, Henrik Badin, Asgeir Wien and Bettina Nowak in 1993 and is headquartered in Lysaker, Norway.
StocksGuide Premium
| Head office | Norway |
| CEO | Mr. Pedersen |
| Employees | 238 |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Website | www.vowasa.com |


