Soiltech ASA (STECH) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to Soiltech's Second Quarter 2026 Conference Call. There will be a Q&A session at the end of the presentation. [Operator Instructions] Before we begin, I would like to remind all parties that some of the statements we will be making today are forward-looking. These matters involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our results to differ materially from those projected in these statements. Our comments today also include non-IFRS financial measures. Additional details and reconciliations to the most directly comparable IFRS financial measures can be found in our second quarter press release, which is on our website. With that, I will hand the word over to you, Jan Erik.

Thank you, Tove. First, I would like to say that we are doing this a little differently this time. It's the first time we are in Oslo. We used to be sitting in our offices, but now we're here. So this is very exciting for us. So I will take you through the headlines of Soiltech this quarter. Let's go over the main points for the quarter, and Tove will review the numbers in more detail later on. Overall, I would say that we are quite satisfied with this quarter. It was a record for Soiltech with high activity across all the business lines. We had strong financial results. We were able to continue the growth story and maintaining the margins or improving them. We have done some investments during the quarter, which is boding well for the future, and we have also secured increased financing. I will go through these things in more detail. If we start with the numbers, we had record numbers across all the main lines in the P&L. The second quarter revenue was NOK 132 million, which is a strong improvement. The second quarter EBITDA adjusted reached NOK 36 million, while the profit before tax was NOK 18 million in the quarter. When it comes to the margin, this is something which is very important for us. We've seen the margin in this quarter improving sequentially from last quarter, but also with a strong improvement year-on-year. In addition to this, I would like to headline that when it comes to our contract portfolio, we have been able to grow that portfolio. We have seen some good new clients coming in, which is very important for us. And still, we are getting very good reception from our existing clients, in particular, related to the Soiltech SmartTransfer solutions that we have introduced to clients. So I'll come back to that in more details. During the first quarter, we ordered equipment for about NOK 100 million. We continue investing throughout the second quarter. So in total, we have invested NOK 200 million in equipment. In the first half year. And all of that will be then contributing to -- we expect to contribute to the continued growth during 2027. So nothing of the impact of these investments are not included in the current numbers. We talked about in our last presentation or quarterly meeting that there was a strong market visibility. It's still very strong, which is good in our core markets. And we've seen that we're getting possibilities both within solid waste management and within the fluids business. When it comes to the solid waste management, I'd like to underline that this will vary more naturally from quarter-to-quarter because when we are doing the solid waste, it's mostly related to the volume of cuttings, which is being generated during a well. So we are depending on the well program. So you should expect that there could be variations from quarter-to-quarter and not be too nervous about that really. So this is just something that will go on as we continue to grow our business. We've seen that we've done a lot of investments. The investments that we have done now will be covered by the existing facilities. At the same time, we've seen that there could be further opportunities beyond that. So we have agreed with our bank to increase the bank facility with NOK 150 million at the same terms as we have for the existing facility. So obviously, this will enhance our flexibility, consider additional investments in Soiltech. So if we go over to the operational highlights, we've had very solid operations. We have a very solid operating team, and we continuously getting good feedback from our clients. This is, of course -- look, when we're talking about the competitive edge of Soiltech, I would say operations and excellent operation is something that we prioritize a lot -- we got some good contracts during the quarter. Just highlighting a couple of them, the Transocean Norge contract with OMV for solid waste management. The main part of the scope is cuttings transfer to shore using our SmartTransfer concept. That one is online. It's expected to start in the first quarter of '27 based on the current drilling plans. We're looking really forward to that one. And then we did announce two new fluid contracts in Norway and in U.K. With operations are then expected to commence in the third quarter of '26, like we say here, that's what we said in the press release, and these two contracts have already started. So we see that we're able to grow the contract portfolio. At the moment, we have about 30 ongoing contracts. And this, of course, puts us in a good position to continue to grow our services, our scope by getting new clients in, but also increasing the scope of work on existing contracts. So we're feeling now that we are getting more on critical mass, which will be a good basis for expanding our activities. So coming back again to the investment in new equipment. This is, of course, key for us. As we talked about before, we need to invest ahead of the curve, so to speak. So we need to be ready with equipment when our clients need equipment. We cannot go to the client and say we will get the equipment in 6 months. So this is what we always do in Soiltech. We try to stay ahead of that curve. So since we now are investing, this is a clear sign that we are very optimistic on the outlook for our services, and we see that there are opportunities that we would like to take both in Norway and also international. We see this -- we do this on the basis of a very strong outlook for the market, the way we see it. The market continues to strengthen. We see that there are new rigs coming into, for example, the Norwegian market. There are several semisubmersibles that have come in and that are on its way. We have the Noble GreatWhite will come in, and we have Transocean Barents, which will come back from Romania. And we also have Transocean Endurance, which is coming in. So just showing that the market in Norway seems to grow a lot. So we are continuing to follow these. There are many discussions between ourselves and the clients on potential opportunities, the way we see this. So let's move on and have a look at the contract status to see if there are any changes there. What we're doing here is that we -- there are changes, it's in green really. So you can see that we've added two contracts to our portfolio in Norway. It's Snorre A for Equinor that has a duration until mid-'28. And then we added at the bottom line there, Transocean Norge, which is the one we just talked about with OMV. That's one that is supposed to start in the second quarter. We haven't had any rigs or any contracts being stopped since last time. The only change is the I said Deepsea Atlantic moved from Norway to U.K. for the Rosebank program there. We had some extensions mainly on Deepsea Stavanger being extended as you see until end '29. We had Deepsea Aberdeen extending also in the mid-'29. And we have the Transocean Enabler, which has been extended. And also, we have -- we are working on FPSO for Vår Energi. We did -- we had an extension there. So originally, this was intended to be about 6 months. Now we have an extension with an additional PO until end of this year. So all in all, we continue to strengthen our position in Norway. If we then look at the international picture, we had some extensions there as well. So all in all, this is giving us -- what we see is that the visibility, we have good visibility into 2027, also starting to get visibility into '28, and that's quite unusual for us. So we're quite happy with that visibility. We've added two contracts here. We have added Paul B. Lloyd Jr., and we have added Shelf Drilling Winner on the U.K. side. Those are new clients for Soiltech. We were happy to work with them. The contracts have already started. We are on a good way there. Hopefully, there could be some possibilities for extensions on these contracts as well. So let me see, do we have more from my side now? Or is it Tove? Yes, I can now come to the interesting part here. I'll leave it over to you, Tove.

Thank you. Yes, I am very pleased to take you through Soiltech's financial performance this quarter. All figures I refer to are in Norwegian kroner unless otherwise stated. We delivered Soiltech's strongest quarter ever, solid margins and positive cash flow. Second quarter revenues was NOK 132 million compared to NOK 100 million in Q1 '26, which then represents a 17% year-on-year growth. Adjusted EBITDA came in at NOK 36 million. Corresponding to a margin of 27%, which is then also up from 24% in the same quarter last year. Profit before tax came in at NOK 18 million, corresponding to a margin of 13%. If we then move to the half year results, we see that the revenues was NOK 232 million, which is up from NOK 198 million in 2025, which is also a 17% increase. Adjusted EBITDA came in at NOK 60 million compared to NOK 45 million in 2025, which also equals to an increase of 35%. This corresponds to a margin and EBITDA adjusted margin of 26%, which is up from 23% last year. Profit before tax was NOK 27 million compared to NOK 19 million in '25. Profit margin improved to 13% in '26, which also increased from 10% last year. If we move over to the business segments, where we have fluid treatment and solid waste management. Both segments delivered year-on-year growth. Fluids segment increased from NOK 107 million in '25 to NOK 119 million in '26, while solid waste management increased from NOK 91 million to NOK 113 million now for the first half year. If we move over to the right on the historical trends, the chart illustrates the strong structural development in the business over the last 6 years. Revenue has increased from NOK 137 million in '21 to NOK 401 million in '25 and further to NOK 435 million for the last 12 months. This corresponds to a compound annual growth rate of 32%. Further, we also see that the revenues for the first 6 months of '26 was approximately the same as we had for the full year 2023. So there has been a phenomenal growth in Soiltech. At the same time, the adjusted EBITDA has also developed strongly, increasing from NOK 26 million in '21 to NOK 112 million for the last 12 months. It is also worth to note that Soiltech has remained profitable during this whole period. If we then turn to the next slide and look at the key figures for this period. The tables are also included in the quarterly report. As we have already covered the main income statement items, but let me briefly comment on the growth in revenue from Q1 '26 to Q1 -- Q2 '26, which is mainly due to growth in solid waste management where we have added new projects and have increased the scope of work on several existing projects, which is very much in line with our strategy to increase services to already existing clients. Overall margins improved compared to Q2 and first half year 2025. If we move to the SG&A, that represents 17% of revenue in the first half of '26. This compares to 15% in the same period last year. The reason for the increase is mainly due to strengthening of our sales team. In the first half year of '26 to capture future growth opportunities. However, we already see a reduction in Q2 '26 compared to Q1 '26, and we expect that the SG&A margin to be reduced further as we get scale effects. If we move to our balance sheet, this remains strong with an equity ratio of 45%. Total assets increased to NOK 654 million from NOK 554 million last year, which is primarily driven by investments in operating equipment to support further growth. As Jan Erik said, during the first half of '26, we have invested in equipment for approximately NOK 200 million. As of 30th of June '26, approximately NOK 50 million of those has been paid and the remaining NOK 150 million is expected to be paid and equipment delivered in the second half of 2026 and in Q1 2027. These commitments will be financed through available credit facility and equity. And again, as Jan Erik say, after the end of the quarter, Soiltech entered into an agreement for additional NOK 150 million in term loan facility, which strengthens our financial flexibility. If we move then to the earnings per share, this increased to NOK 2.49 per share for the first half of '26 from NOK 1.84 in the same period last year. We delivered a return on capital employed of 15%. This is a very important metric for us as we continue to invest in growth. If we look at the net interest-bearing debt to EBITDA, this was 2.12 at the end of Q2, which is well below our covenant threshold of 3.75. We monitor this closely in this growth phase. If we then turn to the next slide, the cash flow. If we start on the left, available liquidity at the beginning of the year was NOK 200 million, which includes cash and undrawn bank facility. During the first half year of '26, we generated an operating cash flow of NOK 19 million, which I would say is a little bit on the low side. This was mainly due to timing of invoicing due to start-up of new services/projects. This will be settled in Q3. Investing activities amounted to NOK 49 million. Financing activities, which includes repayment of loans and lease liabilities and interest payments is NOK 23 million. And also the same number, NOK 23 million in proceeds related to employee share option exercises. We ended then the quarter with NOK 52 million in cash and total available liquidity of NOK 170 million. Just to be clear, this does not include the increase in bank facility of additional NOK 150 million, which happened post quarter end. This provides a solid financial platform for continued profitable growth. Thank you for your attention. I will now hand it back to you, Jan Erik, for a discussion on how this will look for Soiltech going forward.

Thank you, Tove. Okay. What about the forecast, let's have a look on what we are saying there. We already talked about it. I would say, in general, we have a very positive outlook for Soiltech going forward. This is based on also what we see from our clients, which are very active. Obviously, in Norway, you have three companies, Equinor, Vår Energi and Aker BP, which is driving this. We also have other companies like OMV. So there's a lot of activity there, and we don't see any reason for that not continuing. As a matter of fact, as we talked about when it looks at the rig activity, it seems like this is going to increase. And obviously, for Soiltech, the financially best way, most economical way to grow is in the closest to where we have our people and our structure, which is Norway. So we think this is a good place for Soiltech to be going forward, and we will continue to build market shares really in this market, the way I see it. We have -- it's fair position that we are very well positioned for a profitable growth. We have a strong order backlog. It's stronger than ever. We have a very solid financial position, and we also have a very strong operational reputation. As we talked about, that is maybe the most important factor for Soiltech to be able to still have the trust from our clients. If we look at the markets, Middle East is currently impacted by the regional unrest. We are optimistic that, that will return to normality. And I think that we are in a very good position to build on the revenues from that portion has not been very significant so far, but we are treating every day for Aramco and Estedama. So we are there, and we have a long-term view on the market, and we have a lot of good technologies that we want to introduce to that market over time. So being more concrete, we try as good as we can when we are giving an indication on the outlook to really analyze how this will look like. Based on the projects that we have in now, the active projects, the one that are being in process of being added on, we think that the revenues in third quarter may be somewhat lower than Q2, obviously, quite much higher than the first quarter, but somewhat lower than the second quarter. That's not normal when you have a growth like that. It's due to the normal fluctuations in the activity. It's a little bit more difficult for us now to project how much volume of waste will be treated month by month and then, of course, quarter-by-quarter. But we have a good feeling that it will also be a good quarter. And's then we picture the fourth quarter and onwards, we expect it to increase again from the current levels, subject to the timing of the start-up of awarded projects. But all in all, we are very optimistic about the coming quarters, I would say, Tove. So that is so far. Then we are on the question side. Do we have any questions coming in from the audience?

Yes. I was just looking at that. They were popping up here. So that's good. If we start with the first question, of the approximately NOK 200 million of equipment ordered, how much is already allocated to awarded contracts? And how much depends on contracts that have not yet secured? Could you also indicate the expected annual EBITDA contribution and payback period once the equipment is fully deployed?

It's a good question. If I think about it, I feel that about half of the equipment that we have ordered is already -- will go into contracts that have been -- we have signed already. So that means that contracts starting up in 2027. So that is so. And we expect the payback time for the investments to be around 3 years. This is what we always use as a basis for for the pricing. So we think that these contracts are not any different than that. They are on the usual terms that we have. So I don't want to quantify exactly what -- how much EBITDA we are talking about. But if you look at the -- if you take a basis at the current margins that we have and the payback time, then it's pretty easy to figure out that it should be in line in terms of the margins and the payback time that we already have today. So that's my question -- my answer to that question.

Agree. A little bit the same. With more than 30 ongoing contracts and several new units being added, what do you see as the main constraint on growth from here?

The main constraint, what is always important, I think, because we -- when you grow the company like this, you need to make sure that you don't grow so fast that you cannot deliver quality on each project. So when we sign up a new contract, the client, of course, expects that we will have our best people there and that we will execute it in a professional way. And it's something that I think about a lot is that we need to make sure that we have all the good resources that we have the right people that we have been trained and that they are ready. Fortunately, we have some experience in increasing what can say, portfolio quite rapidly. So -- but this is something we can never sleep. We must deliver. We're not better than the last project that we started up, so to speak. So this is the main focus. I think when it comes to financing, we have that available when it comes to equipment deliveries as long as we make sure that we have a balanced view on this so that once we see that the equipment that we have in store is getting, you can say, sold out, then we need to look into this. But I feel that we have these things factors under control, but we can never relax really.

Okay. Next one. The Middle East is clearly an important region for Soiltech's growth going forward. Could you provide some more color on how you see the market development there? As we are seeing more rigs return to work, could you say -- would you say conditions are starting to stabilize in region? And are projects mainly being delayed? Or have you also seen a change in customers' willingness to move forward with new awards?

Yes. Those are also very good questions and comments. And I think, first of all, I would say that it is still -- I mean, we read and we see that rigs are coming back. We haven't seen that really yet in -- physically when it comes to the waste. We are treating waste from jack-ups. So we have a pretty good feeling on the offshore activity. So it's still not there yet. But -- we -- so there are uncertainties, I think it's fair to say when we speak to our people in Saudi. But it's coming there, but we need to have a kind of more, I can say, long-term solutions between the parties in that region before we can see -- we can say that it's all healthy again. But for Soiltech, I think we are in the biggest market there in Saudi. We have a huge opportunity. We just need to do a good job there and build it up like we have done step by step. And then we will have a lot of possibilities to deploy our technologies in that country in the region. We also know UAE very well. We have been there, and we think that's a growth opportunity. We have one contract starting up in the third quarter, which will hopefully start up. It's -- it's on a jack-up doing a swap treatment as you see on our contract portfolio. So it remains to be seen. But so far, we are moving ahead together with our client and want to do the proper testing of that. So having that on stream will also be one step at a time in building up a portfolio in that region. But so far, not significant in terms of the total revenue in sorting, but growing.

Okay. Next one. The quarterly report says the remaining equipment commitments will be financed through available credit facilities and equity. Do you foresee any need for a new equity raise? Or can the full investment program be financed through existing cash flow and committed bank facilities?

That's correct. The last part is correct. We have a full finance, as you also went through, we have a full financing available of the NOK 200 million investments that's already in our system, then we have added NOK 150 million in financing facility. So we are able to finance both the current investments and the future investments the way we see it with the debt facilities that we have.