Vow Asa

Good morning everyone and welcome to this second quarter presentation for WOW. 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. So over the past year, the company has seen quite a bit of change and improvements. So obviously, new management was put in place. We put in place a new organizational structure with three distinct business units, new management for the business units, and also we've seen over the past three quarters record high activity in terms of deliveries and commissioning. All through this period, we have been working constantly with improvements. And 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. And also in our employee engagement service, we see improvements. All of this While we also have very good growth in after sales. And I must say that all of this is really driven by our employees. So I'm very excited and I'm very pleased to see and privileged, I feel, to have so many smart, dedicated, and hardworking people in our organization. It is the hard work of these people every day that generate the results and that take us forward. So, 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 two drivers. One is improved organizational efficiency. And 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. And maritime and the after sales business are delivering solidly. On the industrial side, we have a pickup in the heat, 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. And so we have now in place very good predictions in terms of liquidity, and we are able to see situations ahead. So for example, this summer we saw that there was going to be a shortage. And 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. And after we close the quarter, we have signed about 150 million kroner in new contracts. So by that, I will leave you to Cecilie for the financial update.

Thank you, Gunnar. Good morning. I will start with an overview of OVAV'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 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 after-sales 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 32 million for the quarter, compared with negative 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 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 253 million is an increase of 25 million year on year, as illustrated on the chart on the right-hand side. Revenue in the maritime solutions segment increased by 34 million to 131 million in the quarter. However, it is worth noting that 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 9 million organic growth, supported by a 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 midlife upgrades. Revenue reached 63 million in the quarter, up 6% compared with the same period last year. Revenues in the industrial solutions segment amounted to 59 million in the quarter, a decrease of 13 million from a year earlier, while remaining relatively stable from Q1. The decline mainly reflects the progression of the two 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 over 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 88 million, with gross margin of 35%, up 55 million from one year earlier. The total catch-up effect on gross profit one year earlier amounted to 35 million. The profit improvement program initiated last year remains a key driver of our financial performance. The initiatives 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 non-recurring items, these were primarily related to the downsizing measures initiated earlier this year, while the non-recurring items in the prior year mainly were related to changes in executive management. Adjusted EBITDA improved by 65 million year-on-year to 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 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 stricter 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 6 million in the quarter has improved by 10 million year over year. Financial items in the quarter benefited from favourable foreign exchange movements at the quarter end from Q1. In addition, interest expenses of 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 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 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 a liquidity trend 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 and at quarter end 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 29 million in installments during the first half year. We ended the first half year with 118 million in available liquidity. As you can see, cash at hand has decreased in the period. Cash at the Hand stems only from the smaller companies in the group. The larger companies are covered by the Overdrought Facility. And from June, our company CH Evansen also is included in the D&B 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 one 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 having 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 one 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 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 walkthrough 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, 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. And if you notice, it is 250 million higher than at the end of Q2 in 2025. Subsequent to the quarter, we have signed two new contracts valued at 13.6 million euros for the maritime solutions business. The cruise industry is performing very well, so they continue building new vessels. And 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. So within the maritime business, we consider ourselves a trusted technology partner and also a supplier to all the leading cruise operators. And 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. Three of them we have delivered to in the second quarter. And in terms of commissioning, it is a total of 11 vessels that will be completed and handed over this year. And in the quarter, we've completed six of those. One was completed in the first quarter, meaning there is four 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 the arts building the large cruise vessels and they're all our customers. I also mentioned that we had signed new contracts after the quarter. So those were two specific contracts that you can see on the right hand side here covering a total of three vessels. Deliveries to these three vessels will start in 2027, 2028 and 2029 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. So not included in the left-hand graphics to start off with that. That is the 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. And 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 on the 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 number 11 is the total number of vessels, also including the seven delivered. Just there for reference. Moving on then to our second business unit, after sales, and starting off again on the left hand side, 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. So after sales here is all about the maritime business. and 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 midlife 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 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 two. So for heat treatment we have seen a positive development in the market following a period of a very soft market. So 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. And of course, we expect to meet issues in these projects. They are first of a kind and it's new technology. So 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. So to give you some more insight on the business and project development within the industrial area, we made this slide. So starting off on the left-hand side with biocarbon for the advanced metal industry. So we have a very close collaboration with Arbion. Of course, we are delivering phase one and phase two of the FOLLUM 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. And this is enabling a very strong potential for this area going forward. And I think this is a good opportunity also to congratulate Arben with first biocarbon delivery from the facility at Forlund. We have also been looking into large scale production of biocarbon for green metal production. And 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. So this quarter we had management level meetings with the owner of Merfits Industries. We have negotiated a contract for a commercial scale demonstration plant and we are awaiting the final investment decision of the customers. 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. So 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 energizes that organization. There will be also for our traditional heat treatment business additional opportunities related to the biocarbon. And this has already materialized as we have delivered a hardening furnace to Albion at Forum as a system that was not in the original scope, suggesting a good potential for that in the future. So 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 three 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. And also we see an uptick in technical services in the form of midlife upgrades. We have an improving market for our heat treatment solutions portfolio. and 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 we are talking about. It's about 100 million. So 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. And, you know, it's a cooperation and it's recurring business. And 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 so 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. There's a very specific question related to the food segment and the grant that was received. Can you quantify that?

No, it's not. It's not something that they actually have published, but we are not talking about large amounts here.

Then a question on currency exposure and how does the NOC-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 NOC was stronger. and then the customer paid in July when the NOC had weakened a bit. So 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 indicate 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. And again, we have a very good relationship with D&B, which we are expecting to conclude with. I do not actually expect a very different covenant, but of course, we go through and see what will fit our expectations and also what's possible. 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 to comment on, nothing going on there.

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 arts, both on ongoing projects and deliveries, but also in relation to new contracts. And of course, I cannot comment on 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. So we are operating for now in what we think is the sweet spot for our kind of systems.

And following up on that, what explains 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 six vessels in Q2, and then just after the second quarter we signed contracts for three new vessels. I think the yachts are very busy handing over at that time. And we see that also in negotiations and in our work with the bids.

And 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?

So 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. So 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. The focus now is on phase one with the four reactors, the biogreen reactors. For phase two, installation activities are currently ongoing with the 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?

So if I can start answering that and Cecilie can come back on the 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. And 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. So that is the main focus. And we do have regular meetings also on management level with a number of customers.

To add on that, to strengthen the balance sheet is obviously important. Since we took office in May last year, several steps have been initiated to improve the financial position, including a strong focus on cash flow generation. which will strengthen the balance sheet so 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 debt and have closed our eyes on profit improvement and how we can continue to develop the company. So we've come a long way, but we still have a lot of work to do. Absolutely. 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 400 million kroner. The July contracts have delivery starting in October 27 and later, and 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 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.