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Solstad Maritime Asa
5/7/2026
Good morning everyone and thank you for joining the Solsta Offshore's first quarter 2026 presentation. This presentation will be held by Kjetil Ramstad CFO and myself CEO Lars-Teder Solsta. We will take you through the financial and operational performance for the quarter and also share some thoughts about the market outlook. And if you have any questions, please send them in in the chat and we will answer them in the Q&A session after this presentation. A quick look at the disclaimer before we move on to the highlights of the quarter. We delivered a solid financial performance in the quarter. supported by strong contributions from our joint ventures and associated companies, Solstalt Maritime, Omega Sepsis and Nisa. Operational adjusted EBITDA was lower than the same quarter last year, primarily due to two vessels being between contracts. And during the quarter, we secured a 225-day contract for the Norman Tonjor. This includes the mobilization time to the Asia-Pacific region. And in total, we had an order intake of $28 million in the quarter. This morning, we announced a very important contract for the company where we have signed an LOI for the Norman Maximus for for a two-year contract, and this will add significant backlog to the company for the coming years. Solstar offshore will receive about $11 million in dividend from Solstar Maritime for the quarter. and based on the quarter's performance and the company's tax position, the board intends to distribute a dividend of $0.1 per share for the quarter to the shareholders. So, Dan Kjetil, can you take us through some of the key numbers for the quarter? Yes, thank you, Lars Bader.
If we start with the financial and operational summary, the first quarter of 2026 had a fleet utilization of 79%, lower than the same quarter last year, which had 93%. The low utilization for the quarter is mainly driven by two vessels, Normand Tapasio, that will start on a four-year contract with Petrobras in May this year, a Normantonier that started on a 225-day contract mid-February. The rest of the fleet was fully utilized. The operating income for the first quarter was 86 million versus 69 in first quarter last year. The increase is driven by four Solstam maritime vessels. on their boat to the South Shore, which all commenced their four-year contracts in February. The operational adjusted EBITDA was 12 million in the quarter, down from 16 million last year. The main reason for the lower operational adjusted EBITDA was the low utilization on the mentioned vessels to pass you and Tonya, and lower service contribution from Norma Maximus compared to last quarter. In terms of adjusted EBITDA, this is offset by higher earnings from joint ventures and associated companies of $22 million, an increase of $9 million from same quarter last year. This gives an adjusted EBITDA of $34 million in first quarter. The main driver for the increase is earnings from Solskjaer Maritime as associated companies. Net result in the quarter was $29 million versus $24 million last year. Booked equity at the end of first quarter was $448 million, up from $311 million last year, reflecting an increase of $137 million, giving equity ratio of 41%. Book equity has increased by the net result in the period offset by dividends paid to the shareholders. Cash position at year end was 77 million dollars versus 52 million dollars last year. The main reason for the higher cash position is strong operational performance and limited capex the last 12 months. The company continued to maintain a high cash position to be in a position to exercise the Maximus purchase options. The adjusted net interest rate debt was 49 million at the quarter end, down from 107 million last year. The firm backlog for the Solsta offshore owned vessels was $306 million versus $190 million last year, which is an increase of approximately 61%. And if we move over to Solstice Offshore Depth Overview, Solstice Offshore has a regular bank facility of $80 million, born in November 2024. It's a five-year amortization profile and maturity in November 2027. We also have 43 million financing of our owned Brazilian vessels with V&S. matures between 2026 and 2031. And as you can see in the graph, it's a low schedule amortization for the next coming years. The lease commitments includes the present value of the Norman Maximus Bear Boat, as you can see, of 42 million until October 2027. and the present value of the purchase option, which is the 125. And the present value will then be $110 million. The other leases of $266 million mainly consist of commitments from Solsta Maritime Vessels operating through Solsta Offshore's Brazil setup. This These leases have increased significantly from the last quarter for quarter 25 due to commencement of lease contracts for the four vessels entering into barrier contracts in Brazil. Coast Offshore has external client backlog to cover these commitments. In summary, Solskjaer has a net interest bearing debt of 467 million, and adjusted for all leases from Solskjaer Maritime, the adjusted net interest bearing debt is 49 million USD. Then if we move on to dividend, as mentioned by Lars Beder, There is an intention to increase the dividend in the first quarter to $0.1 per share, totaling $8 million. The dividend will be paid in NOC, and the NOC amount will be announced prior to the dividend payment. And if you look at the key dates, there will be a general meeting in Solstafsholm 13th of May, and then there will be board approval 15th of May, last day to receive dividend 15th of May. The exit date will be 18th of May, record date 19th of May, and then distribution date will be on or about 27th of May this year. So with this, I will back over to you, Lars.
Thank you, Kjetil. And I will say a few words about the investment that Solsta Offshore has in other companies. And these investments represent a significant and growing contribution to our earnings and to our value creation. And if we start with Solsta Maritime, where Solstice Offshore is the second largest shareholder, holding 27.3%. This is by far Solstice Offshore's largest investment. And Solstice Maritime, as presented earlier today, they deliver strong and stable results. And for first quarter, Solstice Offshore's share of Solstice Maritime's results is about US dollar 20 million. and Solstice Maritime distributes 40 million dollars to its shareholder, where Solstice Offshore's share then is about 11 million dollars. And if we look at Solstice Offshore's share of Solstice Maritime's market value, this is about 375 million dollars. On the other two companies we are invested in, if we look at NISA first, Norman Installer SA, that is a 50% joint venture between SDM Offshore and Solestar Offshore, and the company owns the specialized CSV Norman Installer. The company is debt-free and benefits from a long-term frame agreement with SDM. securing a minimum annual utilization through 2030. The vessel is presently doing the mooring installation for the Reia project in Brazil and is more or less booked for the remainder of this year. And the SOF's share of NISA's first quarter result is about 1.4 million US dollars. Omega Subsea is owned 36% by Solstahl Offshore as a specialized owner and operator of ROVs, tooling and service services where 12 ROVs currently are in operation and further deliveries are planned and during this year 8 more ROVs will be employed on Solstah vessels and on third-party vessels. And for the first quarter, Solstah Offshore's share of the first quarter result for Omega Sexy is about US dollar 1 million. Turning then briefly to the market, In general, we see that the demand for offshore energy services continues to be positive. And if we look at the various segments we are in, we see that in general, the anchor handling segment or the positivity around it is driven by a busy North Sea market a global project market and also the fact that there has been a better balance between the regions where mainly Brazil has contributed with many long term contracts for the anchor handling fleet giving a much better balance globally and thereby better commercial terms for the anchor handlers in the Solstar offshore fleet. We have three, and two of them are, during first quarter, continued on their term contracts in Brazil, while the third, Norman Tapacho, is expected to start on a four-year contract with Petrobras just within a few days from now. In the CSV segment, we see some long-term opportunities, but the demand is largely project-based. We managed to fix the Norman Tonio to a contract in Asia-Pacific during the quarter, and this contract will continue until fourth quarter this year. And when it comes to our largest vessel, the Norman Maximus, she has changed... her geographical operational area from Brazil to Guyana. The present contract expires by the end of this year, but as we have announced this morning, there is a new contract in place that will start first quarter 27. Two more years and also with options thereafter. So this will add significantly to our backlog and increase the visibility further going forward. If we look at the geography, we still see the strongest demand from South America, from West Africa, and from the North Sea. And that brings us to the backlog. and Brazil continue to be a key market for the company. All owned anchor handlers are operating in Brazil and they are on firm contract through 2028 and beyond that, providing solid earnings visibility for the coming years. Solstar Offshore also has a substantial backlog with Brazilian clients based on vessels on their boat in from Solstahl Maritime. And the available days in 2026 are very limited, especially when also we secured the contract for the Maximus that potentially could have expired in fourth quarter. and then for Norm Antonio there are a term period but also some options in the fourth quarter. Other than that, the vessels are on contract. So at the quarter end, we have a backlog of just over $300 million for the owned vessels in Solstice Offshore and $570 million more if we add on the Solstice Maritime vessels. that brings us to the guidance for the year and the guidance on operational EBITDA has been or we have kept that unchanged since last quarter and for the full year we guide an operational adjusted EBITDA excluding joint ventures and associated companies in the range of 50 to 70 million dollars the outcome as earlier also communicated will be influenced by the timing of the 10-year classing of the normal Maximus that could be in fourth quarter or it could be in first quarter 27 and this is not has not been decided yet We have a high proportion of fixed contracted base for the year and this gives us a solid earnings visibility. While we are also preserving cash for the normal Maximus purchase option that is well known by the market, we still intends to distribute dividends to shareholders and now we are increasing that to 0.1 US dollar per share and that is a total of 8 million dollars for distribution to shareholders for the quarter so to sum up first quarter solid quarter mainly driven by strong contributions from our joint ventures and associated companies we have a few vessels between contract that temporarily reduces our utilization but the market activity in general remains high and that goes for both anchor handling and for the CSV segment it was very important for the company that we that we secured the new two-year contract for the Norman Maximus. This will add significantly to our backlog, and it will increase the visibility for earnings going forward. and as mentioned we continue to distribute dividend to our shareholders and this time we increased from Norwegian kronor from around 0.45 to around 0.9 kronor per share so by that this concludes our presentation and we move over to Q&A.
Yep, we have received some questions. With the new contract on Norman Maximus, can you comment on the purchase option that Solstar offshore has and is it more likely now after the new contract than we have with the visibility that this contract gives?
I would say it given the purchase option price I would say that it has always been likely that we will exercise that option but of course to have secured more time chart earning is of course even more positive so yeah and there is a lot of interest in Maximus so next question is
is there a plan for the upcoming docking of Norman Maximus will it happen before the new contract starts?
I think I mentioned that in the presentation it can still be either end of this year or beginning of next and that is not yet decided so I guess we will have a better overview of the timing when we come to next quarterly presentation Thank you
The company is debt-free. What is the plan for this going forward? Do you plan to do a refinancing or what is the plan going forward?
I think the main plan is to... the vessel will likely continue with the high utilization going forward, which then should be a good dividend contributor to Solstat offshore going forward. So it's more likely that we will receive dividend than that we will refinance the company.
thank you and then we have a question on Norman Tonjer did Norman Tonjer contribute on the meaningful EBITDA or is mobilization for Q1 just cost coverage I can answer on that if you want to the way Norman Tonjer mobilization is reflected in the first quarter numbers is that it's not reflected at all so there is no EBITDA contribution for Tonjer in the first quarter so the way it is is that when the mobilization has been complete the mobilization fee will be distributed over the operational days of the contract. So in Q1, no EBITDA contribution. That will come later.
Even if we have in reality, we have a significant mobilization fee.
Yeah. And then can... Can you provide some more color on the normal Maximus contract? It seems it will not use its full capabilities in 27 and can you say what kind of areas it will operate within for 27 and 28?
Well, I think we can go more into the details when the final contract is signed but what I can say is that the It's a two-year contract where the earnings are higher in year two than in year one. But on average, it's a very nice contract. But we have to come back to more of the details when the final contract has been signed. Thank you.
With the new contract announcement is the plan for continued dividends for Solstaf show more likely now and will it increase going forward?
We increased significantly this quarter and of course our ambition is to continue to to have a nice quarterly dividend to shareholders. Of course, the more we do on the contracts, the better visibility we have, the more likely it is to continue to pay. quarterly dividends on a stable and increasing level. That is, of course, the ambitions.
Over that, that was the last question.
Okay, so thanks a lot for listening in and have a nice day ahead. Thank you. Thank you.