Nel ASA's Leadership Handover Takes Centre Stage as Order Book Outpaces Revenue

Nel ASA launches formal CEO search amid Q2 order surge but revenue decline, betting on PA-Series to cut costs and boost growth.

The search for Håkon Volldal's successor is officially underway. Norway's Nel ASA confirmed on Monday that its board has engaged a prominent executive search firm to identify candidates, formalising a transition that has hovered over the hydrogen company since June, when Volldal announced his departure to join packaging group Elopak ASA. He will remain at the helm until year-end, with the move to his new role slated for no later than 1 January 2027.

For shareholders, the structured timeline offers a measure of reassurance — this is a managed succession rather than a rushed exit. Yet the leadership question is only one of two narratives shaping the stock's near-term trajectory. The other is operational, and it is considerably more complicated.

A Widening Gap Between Orders and Revenue

Nel's second-quarter figures paint a picture of a business in transition. Order intake surged 224 percent to 230 million Norwegian kroner, while revenue slipped 12 percent to 153.4 million kroner over the same period. The total backlog stood at 1.21 billion kroner at the end of Q2, with the PEM segment — based on proton exchange membrane technology — accounting for 990 million kroner of that total.

That divergence between incoming orders and recognised revenue is the central operational challenge facing whoever takes the corner office. New business is landing, but converting it into top-line growth is proving slower than hoped. The EBITDA loss widened to 155 million kroner, hit by a 70 million kroner settlement payment to Iwatani Corporation of America related to a legal dispute resolved roughly two weeks ago.

The PA-Series Bet

Management is pinning its hopes on the PA-Series, a pressurised alkaline electrolysis platform introduced in May. The company claims the technology can push turnkey capital costs for a 25-megawatt facility below 1,450 US dollars per kilowatt — a substantial discount to the 3,000 US dollars per kilowatt that industry projects often exceed. The secondary article frames the cost reduction at 40 to 60 percent versus conventional solutions.

If the PA-Series delivers on those promises in practice, it could prove decisive in winning over customers who have shelved hydrogen projects amid a difficult market environment. Several energy majors have recently postponed initiatives in the space, making cost competitiveness a critical selling point.

Cash Position and Analyst Sentiment

The balance sheet remains under pressure. Liquid assets fell to 1.33 billion kroner at quarter-end, down from 1.93 billion kroner a year earlier. Despite the strain, analysts have nudged their estimates slightly higher: the consensus loss per share for 2026 improved from minus 0.24 to minus 0.23 kroner, while the 2025 figure moved from minus 0.29 to minus 0.27 kroner.

Market Response: Muted but Stable

The stock has shown little directional conviction in recent sessions. Shares were trading around 0.1948 to 0.1956 euros, roughly flat day-on-day, with a weekly decline of about 3.3 percent. The price sits approximately 46 to 47 percent below its May 52-week high of 0.3655 euros, yet remains 13 percent above the February trough. The relative strength index of 40.7 points to neither overbought nor oversold conditions — suggesting the market has largely digested the leadership news.

Year-to-date, the shares are still up 3.6 percent, indicating that the recent softness is concentrated in the past few weeks rather than reflecting a sustained downtrend. The distance to the 200-day moving average stands at roughly 8.6 percent below.

What to Watch Next

Nel is simultaneously advancing its manufacturing footprint in Herøya, where production capacity is slated to reach 500 megawatts by the end of 2026, with plans to double that again in 2027. That expansion, combined with the PA-Series cost reductions, forms the backbone of the company's strategy to win business in a cautious market.

An automated valuation model issued a "Hold/Accumulate" rating on Monday, unchanged from the prior week — a signal of limited conviction either way. The more meaningful test arrives with the third-quarter report, scheduled for 21 October. By then, investors will want clarity on two fronts: who will lead Nel through its next phase, and whether the order backlog can finally start translating into revenue.