Nel ASA's Q3 2026: A Record Order Haul That Has Yet to Reach the Income Statement

Nel ASA closed the third quarter of 2026 with a backlog that keeps getting fatter and an income statement that keeps getting thinner. The Norwegian hydrogen specialist pulled in NOK 253 million of new orders during the period — a 339% surge year over year — yet booked just NOK 112 million in revenue from customer contracts, down 63% from the same stretch of 2025. The gap between those two figures is the whole story of the quarter.

The backlog keeps building

Order intake wasn't the only metric pointing upward. Nel's order backlog finished the quarter at NOK 1,314 million, a 34% increase from a year earlier, giving the company a fuller pipeline for future deliveries. That cushion matters, but it is not the same thing as money already earned. Bookings strengthen the potential of the business; only their execution shows up in the top line. Investors weighing the stock have to hold both ideas at once — a growing order book on one side, a shrinking revenue base on the other.

Losses persist across the group

The bottom line offered little comfort. EBITDA came in at minus NOK 93 million, and the net loss for the group reached NOK 141 million. Those figures make clear that stronger demand has not yet translated into an operating recovery. A rising backlog, on its own, is no proof of a turnaround — that would require the improved order picture to actually surface in the earnings statement.

Two electrolyser businesses, two directions

Beneath the group-level numbers, Nel's two technology segments told sharply different stories. The alkaline business bore the brunt of the damage, with revenue collapsing 91% to NOK 23 million. PEM moved the opposite way: sales there climbed 65% to NOK 89 million, and order intake for the segment jumped 473%. PEM thus provided a genuine counterweight to the alkaline slump, though not nearly enough to offset the group-wide revenue decline on its own. Looking at either the total revenue drop or the order surge in isolation would give a distorted picture of where Nel actually stands.

One firm order, one open-ended option

Two announcements landed on Tuesday, and they carry very different weight. Nel Hydrogen US secured an order worth roughly USD 12 million covering several containerized PEM electrolyser units plus associated services for an unnamed US technology company, with delivery expected in 2027. That is a binding purchase order.

The second item is not. Nel and Rheinmetall signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to explore a modular, decentralized production setup for synthetic fuels, with technical and economic feasibility — and possible pilot projects — still to be assessed. Any further steps depend on that evaluation and on both sides reaching agreement. For investors, the distinction is straightforward: the US contract is a concrete order, while the Rheinmetall arrangement is a project option for now. Neither substitutes for evidence that earnings are improving.

What the market made of it

Shares in Nel fell 6.3% on the day the quarterly figures were released, as the swelling order book failed to offset the weak operating performance. The task ahead for management is unchanged and unambiguous: convert the growing stock of orders into revenue, and shrink the losses along the way.