Nel ASA: Orders Surge 224% as CEO Departure and Legal Costs Cloud the Horizon
Published on 07/26/2026 at 15:34 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
Nel ASA finds itself in an unusual position: its pipeline is swelling with new business, yet the company’s share price continues to drift lower amid a leadership vacuum and mounting red ink. The Norwegian hydrogen specialist closed Friday at €0.1968, down 2.09% on the session and a staggering 46.16% below its 52-week high of €0.3655.
The stock’s 14-day relative strength index now sits at 36.5, inching toward the oversold threshold of 30 — a level that historically has preceded short-term consolidation or technical bounces. Yet with the shares trading roughly 20% below their 50-day moving average of €0.2463 and 8.34% beneath the 200-day average of €0.2147, the prevailing trend remains firmly bearish.
A Tale of Two Halves
The company’s half-year report, released July 15, laid bare a widening gap between current performance and future potential. Second-quarter revenue came in at 182 million Norwegian kroner, a 15.3% decline from the 215 million kroner recorded in the same period last year. Order intake, however, painted a dramatically different picture: new orders surged 224% year-on-year to 230 million kroner, with roughly 96% of that volume tied to PEM electrolysers.
That divergence — shrinking revenue alongside an exploding order book — captures the transitional phase Nel is navigating. The company is converting fewer projects into recognized sales today even as it fills its pipeline for tomorrow.
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Legal Settlement Deepens the Loss
The bottom line took an additional hit from a one-time charge. Nel posted a net loss of 189 million kroner for the quarter, widening from 131 million kroner a year earlier. A 70 million kroner settlement with Iwatani Corporation of America accounted for much of the deterioration. Strip out that legal cost, and EBITDA remained broadly flat versus the prior-year period.
The settlement closes the chapter on a dispute with the Japanese gas conglomerate, but its timing — landing in a quarter already under pressure from weaker revenue — amplified the damage to reported earnings.
A CEO Exit at a Critical Juncture
Adding to the uncertainty, CEO Håkon Volldal announced in June that he would leave Nel to join packaging group Elopak. He remains in place during a six-month notice period while the board searches for a successor. That transition comes at a delicate moment: the stock’s 30-day annualized volatility of nearly 42% reflects the market’s skittishness, and the shares are trading well below key technical levels.
Nel is simultaneously pushing ahead with a planned 4-gigawatt manufacturing facility in Michigan, for which it has secured roughly $125 million in US government support. The project represents a major strategic bet on North American demand, but execution risks remain high given the leadership gap.
Brussels Provides a Tailwind — but Slowly
On the regulatory front, the European Commission published a new call for interest under the EU Hydrogen Mechanism on July 22, targeting transmission system operators and hydrogen network operators. The initiative aims to gauge market appetite for infrastructure projects such as pipelines and storage facilities, and forms part of a broader revision of the EU Hydrogen Strategy planned for 2026.
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For pure-play electrolyser manufacturers like Nel, infrastructure development is the missing link. Without pipelines and storage, large-scale green hydrogen projects — precisely the kind that fill Nel’s order book — struggle to reach financial close. A separate industry report from July 24 described the sector’s transition as moving “from blueprints to reality,” noting that while support schemes like the European Hydrogen Bank and Germany’s climate protection contracts provide a cushion, the path remains long and uncertain.
Analyst Caution Prevails
Nel ended the half-year with a cash position of roughly 1.3 billion kroner, which has helped ease some near-term financing concerns. Analysts at Berenberg and Citi responded by reaffirming their “Hold” and “Neutral” ratings, respectively, with price targets of 2.30 to 2.40 kroner — equivalent to about €0.20, barely above the current trading level.
The stock’s 52-week low of €0.1731 offers the nearest support, while the 200-day moving average at €0.2147 stands as the next resistance. Nel is scheduled to report third-quarter results on October 21, giving the market roughly three months to gauge how much of that 224% order surge will translate into tangible revenue — and whether a new CEO will be in place to steer the ship.
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