Nel ASA Hands Two Top Jobs to Interim Chiefs as Orders Triple and Revenue Falls 63%

Nel ASA has put both its chief executive and finance posts under temporary leadership, buying itself time to prove that a surge in new business can eventually translate into revenue. The hydrogen specialist said Kjell Christian Bjørnsen, currently its finance chief, will take over as interim CEO on 1 November 2026. Torbjørn Berg, until now Vice President Finance, steps up as interim finance chief at the same time.

The handover fills the gap until Morten Holum, named to the top job on 21 October, takes over from Håkon Volldal. Nel has set 1 May 2027 as the latest date for Holum to start, meaning the interim arrangement could run for as long as six months.

A quarter that pulls in two directions

The leadership shuffle lands in the middle of a sharply divided operating picture. Revenue from customer contracts fell 63% year on year to NOK 112 million in the third quarter of 2026, a decline Nel attributed to lower activity in its alkaline segment.

Order intake told the opposite story. Bookings jumped 339% to NOK 253 million, lifting the order backlog by 34% to NOK 1.314 million. The gap between those two figures is now the central question for anyone holding the stock: whether the stronger pipeline converts into billings, or remains a promise on paper.

Profitability offers little comfort in the meantime. EBITDA came in at NOK -93 million and the net loss at NOK -141 million, showing that the higher order intake did nothing to offset the charges booked in the reported quarter.

Contracts signed, revenue not yet booked

Two announcements in recent weeks add context to the backlog. Nel Hydrogen US won a contract worth about USD 12 million covering containerised PEM electrolysers and related services, with delivery expected in 2027. Separately, Nel and Rheinmetall signed a letter of intent to examine decentralised production of renewable synthetic fuels, pairing Nel's electrolyser technology with Rheinmetall's Giga-PtX concept.

The distinction matters. The US order is confirmed business with a delivery date; the Rheinmetall agreement is exploratory and carries no binding volume. Treating the two as equivalent would overstate what the backlog actually contains.

What the interim team inherits

For Bjørnsen and Berg, the task is less about strategy than execution. A larger order book gives Nel a base from which revenue could recover, but it does not demonstrate that a recovery has begun. Investors looking for a genuine turn would want to see the order pipeline stop moving in the opposite direction to realised sales, and then evidence that higher volumes strengthen margins rather than merely filling the top line.

Until then, the risk is straightforward: shareholders keep waiting for orders to be delivered while losses persist. A new CEO arriving by 1 May 2027 cannot supply that operational proof through appointment alone. The dates mark an organisational transition, not an economic one — and the test remains whether stronger demand eventually shows up in revenue and, after that, in earnings.