Nel ASA Overhauls Executive Pay as Market Awaits Crucial Revenue Report

Nel ties executive pay to long-term goals with new PSU plan, as investor focus turns to Q1 results after a mixed Q4 with surging orders but falling revenue.

Nel ASA's annual general meeting in Oslo this week delivered a decisive overhaul of its executive compensation plan, shifting from stock options to a performance-linked model. This governance change arrives just days before the hydrogen technology firm faces a critical test of its financial health with its first-quarter earnings report on April 22.

The new Performance Share Unit (PSU) program, approved by shareholders, ties executive rewards directly to long-term corporate goals. Under the scheme, the CEO can receive a maximum of 50 percent of his base salary in PSUs, with other board members capped at 30 percent. Approximately 14.9 million PSUs were granted on April 10, 2026, each subject to a three-year vesting period and partial forfeiture if specific performance targets are missed. As a transitional measure, existing stock options were exchanged for PSU tranches with shorter durations, resulting in grants of roughly 1.16 million units each to CEO Håkon Volldal across three tranches, 476,900 to CFO Kjell Christian Bjørnsen, and 357,143 to Chief Project Officer Birgitte Nordvik.

This move toward stricter performance alignment coincides with a period of significant operational transition for Nel. The company is advancing the industrialization of its new pressurized alkaline electrolyzer platform, a technology it claims could be up to 60 percent cheaper to manufacture than current models. This development is backed by EU innovation funding of up to EUR 135 million, with a commercial launch slated for the first half of 2026.

Investor attention, however, is intensely focused on the upcoming quarterly figures. The company's recent financial performance presents a stark contrast. While its order intake exploded by 364 percent to NOK 686 million in Q4 2025—driven by a major contract for its PEM division—revenue from customer contracts fell 20 percent to NOK 330 million. The quarter ended with an EBITDA loss of NOK 36 million and a net loss of NOK 870 million. Despite the weak top line, the order backlog surpassed NOK 1.3 billion by year-end.

This disconnect between orders and realized revenue is a primary concern for analysts. Berenberg's James Carmichael cut his price target to NOK 2.30 in March, citing the unpredictable conversion of orders into sales and the unproven market readiness of the new platform. The current analyst consensus similarly stands at a "Hold" rating with a NOK 2.30 price target.

Shareholders also re-elected Gyuyeon Kang, Executive Vice President at Samsung E&A, to the supervisory board. Kang first joined the board in May 2025, shortly after Samsung E&A acquired a 9.1 percent stake in Nel for approximately USD 33 million. His reappointment is viewed as an endorsement of the ongoing strategic partnership between the two firms.

Further financial scrutiny is expected. The company is reviewing the book values of two idled 500-MW production lines at its Herøya site, a process that could lead to additional write-downs.

The April 22 earnings release is now pivotal. It will reveal whether the company's bulging order book has begun translating into tangible revenue growth and improved margins, providing the market with much-needed evidence to support its technological transition and strategic partnerships.