HAV Group ASA ($HAV)

Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the presentation of HAV Group's first quarter financial results. Presenting together with me today is CFO, Pal Aurvag. Today, we will give you the insights into the highlights of Q1. We will present HAV Group in brief. I will give you an update on the business segments. Pal will give you more insight into the financials and we sum up and give you our perspective of the outlook for HAV Group. And as we usually do at the end of the session, after the presentation we have a Q&A session where you have already sent in questions that we will try to answer to the best of our knowledge. Let me start with the overall picture for Q1 2026. We are delivering a solid improvement in both revenue and profitability compared to the same quarter last year. Revenue increased by 57% versus Q1 2025. And at the same time, we're seeing strong operational leverage with EBITDA nearly 29x higher than in the same period last year. The EBITDA margin improved to 5.5%, up from 0.3%. Our Energy design and smart control systems segment continued to be the main driver of performance, both in terms of results and order intake. After the quarter, we have initiated a review to explore various strategic opportunities for HAV Group, where the objective is to ensure that we are optimally positioned to drive value creation going forward. The order intake in Q1 was NOK 148 million. in line with Q4, mainly reflecting timing of contract awards. Importantly, we are seeing a strong and active sales pipeline across segments, and we expect this to translate into solid order intake in the coming quarters. The backlog ended at NOK 1.058 billion, providing a good level of visibility and supporting ongoing activity. Around NOK 723 million is planned for execution in 2026 and NOK 335 million, extending into 2027 and beyond. Overall, we see good momentum in commercial platform and expect healthy backlog replenishment going forward. Also note that service and aftermarket revenues are not included in these figures. And then I will give you a brief introduction to HAV Group. Our vision is a sustainable future at sea and we are enabling customers' vessel performance, safety and operating costs. We are a maritime solutions provider with 4, sorry, 3 technology segments, ship design, energy design and smart control and water treatment systems. They are operating in these main industry segments, where HAV design's main activity today is within offshore wind, ferries and ropax, and aquaculture. In Norwegian Electric Systems, they are operating in most of these segments. But we see a growing interest for their products in short sea cargo as electrification is a key driver for reducing energy consumption and emissions in that segment. For Norwegian Greentech, we see a continuous increasing demand for their water treatment systems in land-based aquaculture based on stronger requirements for cleaning of water. Then I will go more into detail of each segment. Energy design and smart control systems continue to be the key driver in HAV Group. Revenue grew 35% year-on-year with EBITDA up 66% with a margin of 14%. This reflects both higher activity and improved execution. You are seeing clear effects from previous investments in people and project delivery. On the commercial side, we secured new contracts including ferry charging infrastructure and integrated navigation and dynamic positioning systems for a live fish carrier. While backlog has come down somewhat, it remains healthy. And we have several ongoing discussions of new projects, although some decisions have been pushed to the right. The margin improvement we are seeing is particularly driven by improved execution and utilization but also reflects a structurally stronger platform following the investments we have made. Going forward, we expect to sustain margins at a high level. Moving to ship design. Revenue is stable and broadly in line with recent quarters, driven mainly by design and engineering activities. However, profitability is impacted by client side delays and low capacity utilization, resulting in negative EBITDA. On the positive side, we see good strategic positioning with new upgrade work and growing exposure to conversion projects. We are also strengthening the commercial platform, including a new VP sales to drive order intake forward. Overall, priority is clear, improving utilization and converting pipeline into contracts. Then to water treatment systems. We see improved revenue and EBITDA compared to last year, but volumes are still not at a level that supports stable profitability. Operationally, deliveries are progressing as planned, including deliveries to Eyvi, Arctic Seafarm and Nordic Halibut. On the commercial side, we have secured multiple contracts for ballast water systems and continue to build pipeline within offshore and land-based aquaculture. Backlog remains stable, but timing on new awards is still somewhat uncertain. The key focus going forward is to build pipeline, scale volume and improve profitability. Now to some global trends and external operating conditions. Let me start with a broader industry backdrop. We are seeing strong megatrends reshaping maritime markets, driven by regulation, electrification and increasing system complexity. Decarbonization is moving from ambition to execution with compliance now directly impacting vessel economics. At the same time, electrification, hybrid systems and fuel flexibility are increasing demand for advanced energy and control solutions. In short, the market is structurally moving in our direction. Building on that, regulation is now a key commercial driver. Shipping accounts for around 80% of global trade, but also a meaningful share of global emissions. This is triggering strong regulatory push from IMO targets to EU Green Deal and emission pricing through ETS. The consequence is clear, a rapidly growing market for electric and hybrid vessels. And importantly for us, this increased the needs for integrated energy systems, power management and smart control. Bringing this into a more tangible and near-term perspective, Norway. Proposed regulations could require up to 90% zero-emission energy use for aquaculture vessels below 24 meters. This could impact to around -- up to around 1,000 vessels, representing a significant retrofit and new build opportunity. At the same time, Norwegian government also introduced a proposal requiring offshore operators to reduce greenhouse gas intensity from offshore support vessels operating on the Norwegian continental shelf and offshore operators are moving toward lower emissions, prioritizing hybrid solutions, batteries and energy efficiency. So this is not just a long-term positioning. We are seeing concrete demand drivers emerging into our core markets. And with that, I give the floor to Pal, who will give you a more insight into the financials.

Morning. I will guide you through the financial performance for the first quarter. If you look at the key financials, the operating income in the quarter was NOK 233 million with an EBITDA of NOK 11.8 million, EBIT of NOK 6.0 million, net finance, NOK 1.6 million and then sum up a net profit of NOK 4.4 million. And the NOK 11.8 million EBITDA gives a margin of 5.1 percentage. And as we see, considerable improved turnover and EBITDA compared to first quarter last year. If you look at the balance sheet, the main changes in the balance sheet are driven by operational activities. And if we look at the asset side, the current assets increased by approx NOK 22 million, and that's caused by an increase in receivables by NOK 89 million and a decrease in cash of NOK 65 million. And the cash balance then is NOK 135 million at the end of the period. And we can update that the cash balance per today is NOK 220 million. So it's more heading back to normal if you compare it to the previous quarters. On the liability side, we see that the current liabilities increased by NOK 18 million, and that is due to driving increase in advanced payments from customers and a reduction in account payables. If you look at the cash, the cash flow is in total negative in the period, driven by a reduction in -- or the negative cash flow from operating activities at NOK 58.3 million, and that is caused by increase in receivables and reduction in account payables. That's the main drivers on the negative side. The negative cash flow from the investing activities is investments in R&D. And the small figures in the financial activities is related to a smaller car loan. And as we said last quarter, there is no noncurrent debt to the banks. Then back to Gunnar to sum up the quarter.

Thank you, Pal. Then I will sum up the presentation so far. We delivered yet another strong quarter with clear improvement in revenue, EBITDA and margins compared to Q1 2025, which is supporting our 2026 outlook. Energy and smart control systems continue to perform well and are driving the overall development. At the same time, we are maintaining a solid backlog of around NOK 1.1 billion, providing good visibility in 2026. When we're looking ahead, the priorities are clear: continuing building order book and performance in energy and smart control systems and winning new contracts in ship design and water treatment while continuing to strengthen our commercial efforts in all segments. So let me close with our outlook. The key megatrend remains unchanged. The green transition and stricter regulations continue to reshape the industry in our favor. Electrification and energy efficiency are becoming core to vessel economics, driving demand for the type of vessel solutions that we provide. While we do see some short-term uncertainty from geopolitics and market timing, the underlying market outlook remains stable and attractive. For HAV Group, this translates into continued growth opportunities across both new builds and retrofits. Based on the positive development we have seen in 2025 and so far in 2026, we expect revenue growth and improved margins in 2026 compared to 2025. Overall, we believe we are well positioned to capture the opportunities ahead. So with that, we have finalized our presentation. Now myself and Pal, we are available to answer the questions that you have put forward. So Pal, what have we been asked today?

Yes. Let's see it. The majority of the questions has been, let's say, we got this morning. So let's jump in it. Regarding the strategic review, can you specify which alternatives are being considered, such as sales of subsidiaries, partnerships, merger or sale of the group?

Yes. As we have communicated already in the stock exchange notice, we are considering all opportunities. We have no specific time line for a strategic process, and there is no specific outcome either, but all alternatives will be considered. We are now starting -- have started the process, and we are working very well with SpareBank 1 Markets. And we see that already a lot of opportunities is coming forward, and we are excited to explore this further and to see what will come out of the process. And as we have said before, we will inform the market when we have relevant information with regards to the process.

Yes. Is the 14% EBITDA margin in energy design and smart control a sustainable level? Or was the first quarter helped by project mix, service revenue or high utilization?

Yes. If I should answer that, Pal, you have very good insights and giving me that insights also. We see that the order book for 2026 and what we have also in 2027 is sustaining very good activity and also very good margins for the rest of the year. So it's not a short-term fluctuation in the margin, but it's becoming sustainable in that segment.

Yes. What revenue or utilization level is needed in ship design to break even? And how long will you carry the current cost base if awards are even further delayed?

Exact level, I will not comment, but we don't need very many new orders in order to become profitable in that segment. As you may remember, we have invested in people, in processes and in activities in the energy design and control systems segment, resulting in very good results now. We are doing the same now in HAV Design, and we have very good hopes that the pipeline that we have on new projects will result in new orders. So there is a new management and the group has laid a very good strategy for how to approach the new markets, and we are quite confident that, that will show results in the near future.

Operating cash flow was negative of NOK 58 million due to receivables. Do you expect this to reverse in the second quarter? Or is working capital structurally higher? And as I said during my presentation, the cash level is back on more or less normal standard at NOK 220 million as per today. Yes. Service and aftermarket revenue is excluded from backlog. Can you indicate its annual run rate, growth trend and typical margin level as we can say is that there's a general increase in the activity for service market -- aftermarket, and that's a strategic focus. And we see also we have, of course, an increased installed base. And we also have, let's say, it's an aging fleet. So we expect that segment to increase in the coming years, and it's especially in Norwegian Electric Systems and in Norwegian Greentech. Service and aftermarket for design is -- could be related to rebuild or smaller or bigger. So there is also an aftermarket business in design. And the margins, yes, of course, they are on a higher -- stable, higher level than new sales. Norwegian Greentech has remained around breakeven for a long time. What concrete changes are required to achieve sustainable positive EBITDA margins?

It's mainly activity level in that segment also. We are entering into new markets, especially aquaculture and especially land-based aquaculture. We also have the water -- freshwater production with the Reverse Osmosis plants. And with higher activity with more orders, that will result also in good and sound margins. Especially for the land-based aquaculture segment, we have seen that investment decisions has been a little bit postponed. That can be have several reasons, of course. But we are working with a lot of projects there also, and we expect that the order book and the revenue will increase as we enter into this market and get a higher success rate in our new sales initiatives.

What has new ship design leadership changed to improve sales and broaden the customer base beyond traditional customers?

Broaden is a keyword, I think. We are going into the markets that we are already in, but approaching more customers than we have done. We are looking into new markets also, but we are also focusing our market approach and also our strategic positioning. We feel that we have been a little bit hidden, and we are now taking the good products, the good competence, the good technology from HAV Design into the market. And with a good targeted marketing of a new strategic position, I'm quite sure that, that will give good results onwards.

Next page. Can you point to concrete customer interest or sales opportunities arising from the autonomous ferry references? Or is this still a technology showcase? Are other companies interested?

To the last question first, our project has got a lot of interest. A lot of shipowners and other competitors and the business in general is looking towards our project because it's a far step ahead from other projects that has been before. When fully autonomous vessels will be applicable in different ship segments, it's not so easy to predict, but we see that there will be spin-offs from the development that we have done in this project with part -- semi-autonomous functionality with new products. So I think it will be a step process where we will start to sell more spin-off products of this development first. And then after that, there will be more projects with full autonomy in vessels.

Yes. There is a HAV Design question. Which vessel segments do you see the strongest demand from right now or it could be a general question?

Yes, for Norwegian Electric Systems and also for Norwegian Greentech in shipping, they cover a quite broad type of segments. They can deliver to very many ship types. As I said earlier, the short sea segment is very interesting now for Norwegian Electric Systems in addition to the other more traditional segments. For HAV Design, we have a very good pipeline and high activity within aquaculture, both with the traditional live fish carriers that we have already delivered a lot of and also entering into new segments such as stone-dumping vessels and also larger service vessels. So that is maybe a short answer to that question.

Your 2026 guidance points to revenue growth and improved margins. What are the main assumptions behind this? And what will you make -- and what make you upgrade or downgrade outlook?

We will say, Pal, that 2026, we are quite confident of our outlook because a great part of the capacity of especially the energy and control systems segment is already covered. So we are quite confident that, that will uphold. We have good control of our prognosis, good control of our calculations. But of course, in this world that we are living, something can happen that we have no control over, especially things happening to our customers. But we are quite confident that the prognosis for 2026 and our outlook will be upheld.

You have no interest-bearing debt. How will that benefit shareholders? Yes. Long term, we want to become -- be able to have some dividends payout. So -- but of course, we are an asset-light company, and let's say, we don't need -- of course, the benefit for the shareholders, the benefit for us, that should be the same. But of course, we will also -- if the financial position strengthened, we are also able to could do, let's say, M&A activities, et cetera. So yes. You announced a strategic review after the end of the quarter. What is the reason for initiating this process at this time?

The main reason is that we feel that underlying market trends and opportunities for the companies are very good at the moment. So that means that it's a good timing for us also to do a broader strategic review on what will generate most value, how we can generate most value. So that is the main reason for that.

How scalable is the NES platform with requiring significant additional investments -- without requiring significant investments?

I would say it's quite scalable, Pal. It's all about people in most of our companies, including NES. And also the capacity of the existing organization, maybe not in 2026, but onwards, we'll be able to extend also. And we have maybe unexploited potential also in the service and aftermarket system, but it will be a question of hiring also the right people onwards. But we have a good platform, a very good platform. And of course, also in addition to growing organically, it is a possibility to add on capacity by cooperating or buying companies and those kind of measurements also.

Yes. Do you see signs of recovery in the market for new vessel designs after a weaker period?

Yes. If we're talking about HAV Design, we certainly do. Again, we have very good confidence in the measurements that the new management and the team has put on. We see that it will take time to enter into new markets. We have been working already very strongly in some of the markets. So we are positive to the development, and we expect that we will see new orders, as I said, not in the very far future on HAV Design.

Yes. You say most of the order backlog will be delivered in 2026. How big is the risk for a gap in activity level in 2027?

Yes. Of course, there is a risk that the activity level might be lower. It's different from the different segments. If you look at Norwegian Greentech, they can have a lot of short-term orders. They can easily fill up 2027 compared -- combined with also more long-term orders. HAV Design will very rapidly build up their activity when they get new orders. For Norwegian Electric Systems, it's a combination. Some orders are quite long term, but there's also -- we see a lot of conversion projects in our pipeline, which has shorter delivery times. And also, if activity level on new sales and deliveries goes down in Norwegian Electric Systems, we can actually utilize more of the potential in aftersales market (sic) [ aftermarket ] again also. So there might always be a risk for a stabilization or a small drop, but the potential to have a good solid activity level also in 2027 is still very, very good.

And then there is some of HAV Design questions. Yes, I can take that one. HAV Design has struggled with profitability for several years. Why should the market believe that next year will be different this time?

If you look a little bit further back, that is one reason at least. HAV Design has, over the years, been one of the largest and one of the most profitable ship design companies in Norway. And ship design has also traditionally been a very good margin industry. Unfortunately, we have not been good enough with regards to staying in the market for a while. We have strengthened that market attention. We are strengthening our and targeting our strategic position better now. And that is what will bring us back to the old heights with good sound activity level, capacity utilization and then the margins also will follow.

Then there is a question. How are you doing with the LNGameChanger projects? Can you tell us a little about it?

Yes. We are working. It's a feasibility study, as you know. We are trying to prove that the technology that has been developed can be implemented cost-efficiently and competitive on board vessels. So there is a lot of studies, research and development going on. And we are following the plan that we have initiated initially. And we hope that more concrete results can be presented maybe early next year. Then we can -- it will not be presented, but then we see more concrete results, and we can tell more about also the probability that this will be a technology that can be commercialized.

Yes. And that was the last question for this quarter.

Yes. Very good. Thank you very much, everybody, for following the presentation. Thank you for good questions. We hope that we have answered them, giving you better insights in what is going on and also onwards in HAV Group. And we are looking forward that you will continue following us and also to meet you at the next time in the Q2 presentation in August.

Yes.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.