AKER ASA (AKER) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Good morning and welcome to the presentation of Akers second quarter and half year results 2026. My name is Fedrik Berge and I'm head of investor relations. I'm joined by Akers president and CEO Eivin Eriksen, who will take you through the key highlights and recent developments in the portfolio.

Our CFO Sveinorska Stocknes will then take you through the financial results in more detail after the presentation we will have a good night session and with that i hand it over to evin edickson good morning and thank you for attending this presentation in the middle of the summer today we're summing up the second quarter and half year 2026 which has been nothing less than consequential for akku a portfolio of investments with core assets at the intersection of energy and artificial intelligence has served over shareholders well. Aker's total shareholder return was 10% in the quarter and more than 53% in the first half of the year, outperforming the Oslo Stock Exchange benchmark index by a mile. Aker's net asset value made a step change too, at almost 40 billion kroner in the first half to 106 billion kroner in total, after payment of 2.2 billion in cash dividends. The performance was driven primarily by continued extraordinary growth at n-scale, a landmark Mark divestment of Kognite and great results reported by Akir BP. The Kognite transaction is expected to generate 14.7 billion KK in cash proceeds to Akir. This will bring Akir's total liquidity to more than 20 billion KK. This significantly increases our investment capacity to pursue new and attractive industrial opportunities. This morning we announced another portfolio adjustment by taking Aker Biomarine private. I will revisit N-Scale, Kongnite, Aker BP and Aker Biomarine in a moment, but let me first elaborate briefly on the recent value creation. Building industries is much closer to a decade-long marathon than a quarterly sprint. That's why it's so important to view the results year-to-date in a broader context. The value proposition to Aker shareholders is partly about growth in net asset value and partly about an attractive cash dividend. I have already mentioned the second quarter and half year results. Here you see the broader and more relevant context for the Aker share price, net asset value and dividend distribution. Since the relisting of Aker in 2004, Aker has delivered a total of 130 billion Norwegian Kroner in value creation. Net asset value has increased by 98 billion, and Aker has paid a total of 32 billion in cash dividends. At the same time, the share price has increased almost 19-fold. That combination of value growth and cash distribution remains at the core of the ARKID investment proposition. The results we are reporting today are part of a much longer track record of value creation. The way we build great companies is also something that makes ARKID unique. Our method of work is a fine balance between long-term industrial innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. And our toolbox consists of stone-on-stone organic growth coupled with partnerships and transactions. This slide summarizes some of our partnerships and mergers and acquisitions. As already mentioned, the combination has made great shareholder returns over time, time, and the results reported today are no exception. The story of Aki BP is still one of the clearest examples of what Aki can build through long-term industrial ownership. In June, the partnership with BP marked its 10-year anniversary. Ten years ago, we combined the Norske Oljeselskap and BP Norway to establish Aki BP. Since then, production has grown from 62,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to close to 400,000 today, with further growth expected when Yggdrasil reaches full production. Together we have built one of the most efficient offshore oil and gas companies in the world, with operating costs in 2025 of 7.3 US dollars per barrel and CO2 emissions of 2.88 kilograms per barrel. Over the same period, Aker has received 22.7 billion kroner in dividends from Aker BP and the company has delivered an average annual shareholder return of approximately 25%. This is value creation by a mile. The 10th anniversary also comes at a time when energy security has moved much higher on the agenda. Fatih Birol recently wrote that the global energy map is being redrawn in real time, and that trust has become one of the most important commodities in energy. His point is simple. After the shocks from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz, energy trade is no longer judged only by price. Predictability matters. Reliability matters. Trust matters. That's directly relevant for AKBP. In a world where customers and countries place a high value on secure supply, Norway's position becomes stronger. So does Aker BP's. The Norwegian continental shelf remains resource-rich, cost-competitive, with low emissions, and is supported by one of the strongest supplier industries in the world. For Aker, Aker BP is therefore not only a 10-year success story, It remains one of our most important industrial positions going forward. Now, on to N-Scale, our most recent rocket ship. It's one year since Arker made its first investment in the company, and two years since N-Scale was established. Since then, Arker has become N-Scale's largest shareholder with an ownership interest that is now comparable to our stake in RKBP. Even more important for shareholder value is how N-Scale has developed. The company has become one of the fastest growing we have ever seen through collaboration with giants like Microsoft, Nvidia, Dell and other AI innovators. Continued success for N-Scale depends partly on executing projects already secured, and partly on having the right strategy going forward. The best way to ensure successful project execution and operation is to build a world-class team and work with key suppliers through an alliance-based model. This is a method of work we know well from RKBP, where aligned incentives, shared expertise, and disciplined execution have been central to performance. The boxes are being ticked at N-Scale. The company's strategy is based on building an AI platform company running on N-Scale infrastructure. Compute services remain at the core of that strategy. Demand for computing continues to accelerate as AI proliferates into every enterprise and workflow code, and inference is overtaking training of models. Every application deployed, every user onboarded, and every query answered represents incremental and recurring demand for compute infrastructure. Diversification is a natural next step for N-Scale, across its customer base, geographical footprint and product offering. The ambition is to capture a larger share of customers' AI spending by expanding beyond infrastructure into higher value services and software. N-Scale aims to be the preferred platform for building and deploying AI workflows. Over time, success will be measured not only by computing capacity delivered, but by the value created for customers. The second most frequently asked question I have received over the past year concerns a potential listing of N-Scale. That question should be answered by N-Scale itself, not by ARKID. My additional reply is, however, that exposure to N-Scale is already available through investing in ARKID. The top frequently asked question I have received for years has been about a US listing of Cognite. Finally, I can answer the question clearly. Never. At least not by us. A few weeks ago, we sold Cognite to Schneider Electric. The strategic rationale for acquiring Cognite is straightforward. Schneider Electric wants to position itself itself at the center of the next phase of industrial intelligence. Cognite provides the foundation. Its cloud-native platform combines a unified industrial data model with agentic AI capabilities. This enables customers to operationalize AI directly within plant operations, asset management and engineering workflows. flows. By bringing Cognite into Schneider Electric and its industrial software subsidiary Aveva, they are uniting the world's most comprehensive energy and automation infrastructure with the AI and software capabilities required to make the system think, adapt, and act. The combination makes Cognite a part of what is regarded as the highest growth segment of industrial software. The Kognite transaction has been applauded by customers, partners and shareholders. It's nevertheless true that Ake neither planned nor preferred to sell Kognite at this stage. Our conviction regarding the company's additional potential was simply too strong to initiate a sale. The original plan was to continue building. We decided, however, to respect the fact that fellow shareholders understandably had a different investment mandate and horizon when offers from global technology giants like Schneider Electric came on the table. Strategic pragmatism is sometimes also a prerequisite for successful partnerships. Cognite was established in 2017 at a time when neither industrial AI nor data ops were established categories. What started as an effort to solve industrial data challenges became one of the world's leading industrial AI and data companies. Akur has invested approximately 750 million Norwegian kroner in Kognite. The transaction value is Kognite at 30.8 billion kroner and is expected to result in 14.7 billion kroner cash proceeds to Akur. This is equivalent to approximately 20 times invested capital in less than 10 years. The transaction represents a valuation of 24 times annual recurring revenue, making it the largest transaction of its kind in Norway and among the largest in Europe within industrial software. The financial outcome is significant. Just as important, Kongnet has given Aker a front row seat to one of the most consequential technological developments of over time. The terms reflect both the quality of the company and the position Cognite has established in industrial AI. For Accu, the transaction realizes substantial value while strengthening of a balance sheet and increasing over financial flexibility. For Cognite, the transaction provides access to global scale, broader distribution and one of the strongest industrial software platforms in the world. This morning, we announced an offer to take Akibyamarine private. We have spent considerable time evaluating alternatives for the company. Interest has been strong, but none of the alternatives we reviewed reflected what we believe the business can become over time. The market backdrop is attractive. Demand for Omega-3 continues to grow, while supply remains constrained. At the same time, Acubare Marine has built a position that is difficult to replicate. The company has around a 90% market share within global krill oil, supported by a sustainably managed supply chain. We believe the company is entering an important phase of development. The best way to support that development is through active ownership, patient capital and long-term perspective. That's a role Aker has played many times before. It's a role we know very well. Through a statutory merger, minority shareholders offer 105 Norwegian kroner per share. This represents 9.2 billion kroner in equity value, of which Akur Capital already owns 77.7%. The offer is structured as 80% in Akur shares plus 21 Norwegian kroner per share in cash, or an optional all-cash alternative. Over time, ArquibyMarine has created positive value for shareholders, with an accumulated return of approximately 30% since listing in 2020. Still, we believe the company's next phase will require a form of ownership that is less constrained by short-term market expectations and better aligned with long-term industrial development. It has been an active first half of the year in Acker. We have realized significant value through the sale of kongnite. N-Scale continues to scale at extraordinary speed. Acker BP marks 10 years of value creation and remains exceptionally well positioned. And this morning, we announced an offer to take Acker Biomarine private. Taken together, these developments leave Acker in a strong position. The balance sheet is stronger with close to zero net debt following the Cognac transaction, the portfolio is more focused and our capacity to invest has increased materially. The opportunity set looks very different today compared to just a few years ago. New industries have emerged, existing industries are being reshaped, technological developments that once felt distant have become central to capital allocation and industrial strategy. That creates opportunities. Our job is not to pursue all of them. Our job is to identify the few where ARCHE can make a real difference and commit behind them for the long term. Thank you to our employees, partners and shareholders for your continued trust and support. I wish you all and myself a restful summer. But before that I hand it over to Sven-Oskar who will take you through the numbers in a greater level of detail.

Thank you Eivind and good morning. To begin I will provide a brief overview of the key numbers for our listed and unlisted equity investments along with cash and other assets followed by a more detailed discussion of our financial results at the end of the second quarter akers listed equity investments were valued at 66 billion kroner this represented 54% of total assets, equivalent to 887 kroner per share. During the quarter, listed investments declined in value by approximately 11 billion. The main driver was Aker BP, which fell by 7.7 billion or 16% after dividend. This reflected the decline in the Brent oil price, which was down almost 29% over the period. In the second quarter, dividends from listed investments amounted to 2.8 billion kronor. The largest contribution came from Aker Solutions with 1.7 billion. This included both the ordinary dividend and an extraordinary dividend related to proceeds from the sale of its SLB shareholding. Acker BP contributed $812 million in dividends, followed by Solsta Maritime with $192 million, Acastor with $151 million and Solsta Offshore with $25 million. Next turning to Acker's unlisted equity investments. At the end of the quarter these These investments were valued at 53 billion kronor. This represented 44% of Akers total assets equivalent to 712 kronor per share. The value increased by 8 billion compared with the previous quarter. The main driver was the announced sale of Cognite to Schneider Electric. The transaction valued Acre's ownership interest in Cognite at 14.7 billion kronor, including the settlement of the 0.6 billion convertible loans. This was 7.4 billion above the previous value or equivalent to an uplift of 100 kronor per In total, Acre expects to receive approximately 14.7 billion kronor in cash proceeds from the transaction. As in the previous quarter, the reported value of Aker's ownership stake of 22.7% in N-Scale is based on the post-money Series C valuation of N-Scale of $14.6 billion US dollars. Moving now to cash and other assets. At the end of the quarter, this asset category accounted for 2% of Aker's total assets equivalent to 33 krona per share. Cash inflows during the quarter amounted to 3 billion krona. This was primarily driven by 2.9 billion in dividends received from Aker Solutions, Aker BP, Solsta Maritime, Acastor and Solsta Offshore. Cash outflows also amounted to 3 billion kronor this included dividends paid of 2.2 billion net debt repayments of 234 million and interest bearing loans to portfolio companies of 151 million in addition cash outlays related to operating expenses and net interest amounted to 321 million for the quarter as a result the The cash balance at quarter end was 0.7 billion. With that, let's turn to the second quarter financials for Aker ASA and holding companies. Starting with the balance sheet. In line with our accounting principles, investments are recognized at the lower of historical cost and market value. At the end of the quarter, the book value of Aker's investments was 55.3 billion kronor. This was an increase of 463 million compared with the previous quarter. The increase primarily reflects the assumed conversion to equity of the outstanding Cognite convertible loan amounting to 645 million kroner. This will be settled as part of the transaction related to the sale of Arca shares in Cognite. The increase was partly offset by a negative value adjustment in Acastor after dividend of 175 million kronor. The book value of equity at quarter end was 42.7 billion, up 2.3 billion from the previous This increase was driven by profit before tax in the quarter. On a fair value-adjusted basis, Aker's gross asset value was 121.3 billion. After deducting liabilities, net asset value amounted to 106.1 billion or 1429 kroner per share. The value-adjusted equity ratio was 88%. Of total liabilities, 14.8 billion kroner is related to bond debt and bank loans. Acker maintained a strong financial position at quarter end with modest leverage and ample debt capacity. The loan-to-value ratio was 12%. The total liquidity buffer amounted to 5.7 billion kroner, including undrawn credit facilities and liquid funds. and the Cognite transaction is expected to generate an additional 14.7 billion in cash bringing Aker's total liquidity buffer to more than 20 billion kroner. Net interest bearing debt increased to 13.1 billion from 12.7 billion in the previous quarter. The increase was primarily driven by a reduction in interest bearing receivables. This followed the assumed conversion to equity of the Cognite convertible loan and as part of the announced sale of Arcus shares in Cognite. Arcus weighted average debt maturity was 2.8 years at quarter end, including available options to extend credit facilities and loans. The effective maturity is approximately five years. Finally, turning to the income statement, Operating expenses for the second quarter amounted to 128 million, reflecting the high activity level during the period. Dividend income totaled close to 2.9 billion kronor. The largest contributions came from Aker Solutions with 1.7 billion and Aker BP with 0.8 billion. Additional dividend income came from Solstad companies and Akastor. The net value change for the quarter was negative 196 million. This was mainly driven by a value decrease in Akastor which amounted to 175 million after dividend. Net of the financial items were negative 250 million for the quarter. As a result, Acre's profit before tax for the quarter was 2.3 billion kroner. Thank you, that concludes today's presentation and we will then move on to Q&A.

Thank you.

So Eivind, your first question. Acre delivered an exceptional NAV increase of 40 billion kroner in the first half of the year and following the Cognite transaction you mentioned that Acre's liquidity position will exceed 20 billion kroner. That's arguably very impressive. Could you share your reflections on this strong position and the potential use of proceeds?

The result of a long-term strategy and a lot of hard work, not only for me but even more for the team. It also illustrates how Acre operates in order to grow a net asset value by building Great companies like AKBP continue now with an extraordinary growth at N-scale. In parallel, we are boosting upstream cash flow to AKU partly through predictable dividend and partly through transactions like the Cognite transaction. So everything materialized in the second quarter this year or the first half of this year but it's the result and the consequence of a long-term strategy and effort thank you so continuing on Cognite regarding the closing on the transaction it's expected in Q4 is it subject to any specific hurdles or just normal regulatory approvals it's an extraordinary clean deal and only subject to regulatory approvals required by law. So it's a matter of process, but not a transaction risk.

So the Aker share price trades at a discount to net asset value. However, the Cognite transaction might demonstrate that Aker's track record and ability to realize higher than reported NAV values for unlisted assets. What's your reflections and thoughts on this? Well, basically it's a buying opportunity.

It has varied over time and the gap between market cap and net asset value has been more narrow recently than what it has been in the past. But this quarter was somewhat extraordinary simply due to the fact that we announced the Kongonite divestment. And after the stock exchange closed on June 30th, the last trading day in the second quarter, and hence the share price reaction will be reported in the third quarter rather than in the previous one.

That's a good point. Over to N-Scale. It represents a strategic investment in AI infrastructure, a kind of new area for Aker. how does this fit into Aker's long-term portfolio strategy and what do you expect from it going forward?

I actually think N-Scale fits better into our industrial capabilities than Cognite did at least the first few years. We had never ever built a software company when we started Cognite in 2017. As far as N-Scale is concerned, we have been in energy for the generations and And we are now leveraged what we learned from KongNet while building up not only an infrastructure AI company, but an N-scale with a strategy to grow and higher up in the technology stack and also provide AI capabilities, which ultimately can provide real value to customers. So the combination of the industrial legacy of Akur in energy and the lessons learned and the network built up in the last nine years, held by Kongnite, is a very weak point of departure for serving a role as the largest shareholder in that scale.

Over to Acre BP. The company delivered a solid quarter with high realized oil prices. On the back of the conflict in the Middle East, how do you view the outlook for the oil and gas markets and Acre BP's position?

Well, the volatility in oil and gas continues to be very high and I must admit, sometimes hard to predict. But what's already clear is that the market is about to change. And as I said in my presentation, trust has become a far more important factor for countries and companies and customers. That should benefit the Norwegian continental shelf, and companies like AKBP, Ecuador, and VOR as reliable and trusted suppliers of oil and gas to Europe and to the rest of the world.

And the final question, the last year, the last 12 months has been very active at Acker, streamlining the portfolio, investing in new areas, including real estate and Nscale and creating a focused Acker. So any thoughts on the job done and the way forward?

It's a tremendous job done in the first half of this year, obviously hard work and long hours but the quality of the team and the quality of the work are extraordinary so a big thanks once again from not only me but also from the board and our main shareholder to the Aker team and to our colleagues and all across the Aker group thank you that was our final question and concludes our webcast for today if you have any further questions please don't hesitate to reach out and thank you again for joining us.