Nel ASA's Q2: Legal Settlement Weighs on Earnings as Orders Surge 224% and CEO Announces Exit
Published on 07/21/2026 at 19:31 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
Nel ASA has delivered a second quarter that defies easy summary. The Norwegian hydrogen specialist posted a dramatic jump in order intake — up 224% year-on-year to 230 million kroner — while simultaneously absorbing a 70-million-kroner legal settlement that deepened its net loss to 189 million kroner. Adding to the complexity, Chief Executive Håkon Volldal announced his resignation in mid-June, leaving the company to navigate a leadership transition just as operational momentum appears to be building.
Total revenue for the April-to-June period came in at 182 million kroner, down from 215 million kroner a year earlier, though revenue from customer contracts specifically fell 12% to 153 million kroner — matching the figure Nel reported for the first quarter. The operating loss widened to 205 million kroner, largely due to the settlement with Iwatani Corporation of America, a Japanese industrial gas group that had sued Nel over agreements related to hydrogen fueling equipment. Without that one-off charge, the underlying loss would have been less severe, though still elevated.
The order book tells a far more encouraging story. New orders in Q2 surged 171% compared with the preceding quarter, driven overwhelmingly by the PEM electrolyser segment, which accounted for 96% of the intake. Sales of smaller hydrogen electrolysers were the primary engine. The order backlog stood at 1.213 billion kroner at the end of June, giving Nel a substantial pipeline of future work — provided it can convert those contracts into delivered projects efficiently.
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Nel is also betting on technology to sharpen its competitive edge. In May, the company launched a new generation of alkaline electrolysers built around a pressurised process platform, the fruit of eight years of development and successful prototype testing at its Herøya facility in Norway. The system targets turnkey costs below $1,450 per kilowatt. Separately, Nel has been awarded a grant of up to 135 million euros from the EU Innovation Fund, aimed at improving its cost position in the race for large-scale electrolyser projects.
Yet the CEO departure casts a shadow over these operational bright spots. Volldal’s exit comes at a time when investors were already looking for clear signs of a turnaround after a string of disappointing quarters — including a 5% revenue decline and negative EBITDA of 100 million kroner in Q1. The company has not detailed how the leadership change will affect strategic direction, and the resulting uncertainty has weighed on the stock.
The shares have felt the pressure. Nel’s stock recently traded at 0.2000 euro, up 1.01% on the day but still 45.28% below its 52-week high of 0.3655 euro reached in late May. The relative strength index sits at 35.8, a level often considered oversold and suggesting that selling pressure may be easing. Since the start of the year, however, the stock remains 5.93% in positive territory, indicating that the recent downturn is a relatively fresh development.
Nel’s balance sheet offers some insulation. The company held 1.328 billion kroner in cash at the end of Q2, which management argues is sufficient — combined with ongoing cost reductions and adjusted capacity utilisation — to fund operations and technology development through the current phase. The critical near-term test will be how quickly Nel can translate its swollen order backlog into recognised revenue and whether the next CEO can restore investor confidence in the group’s path to profitability.
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