BNHUF (BNHUF) Q3 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Bonheur ASA Third Quarter 2026 Results Webcast and Conference Call. I'd like to hand the conference over to Anette Sofie Olsen, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everybody, and a hearty welcome to our presentation today. As usual, Richard Olav Aa, our CFO, will present the figures. And then each of the CEOs from the different segments and companies will come forward and present to you. And we will then take questions and answers at the end. So over to you, Richard.

Yes. Thank you, Anette. I think we can start by saying it's been yet another solid quarter from Bonheur. We have underlying improvements in local currency in all companies, yet there are still not full utilization of the assets in the business this quarter. We have Mid Hill out of operation for the majority of the quarter and also Blue Tern have low utilization, and there's still more occupancy to be had on Cruise Lines. So even it's a solid quarter, I will also underline that there is still further potentials in the company as it is today as an introduction to this call. But going through the numbers and the main events, these will be thoroughly elaborated by the CEOs, so I will be brief. But starting with renewable energy, almost a doubling of the EBITDA to NOK 385 million, mainly driven by higher electricity prices, but also very importantly, contribution from our new wind farm Crystal Rig IV that has come online in a very good way and also what we see now better generation and higher prices in Sweden, which has been a problematic area. And also very good to see that the large new wind farm project, Windy Standard III is progressing as planned. Still a few items left there, which Sofie will cover. And also, which Maren will cover that we closed out with Vattenfall on the Muir Mhor in this quarter. In Wind Service, we have a strong executional quarter. Underlying improvement in local currency, but also correcting for one-offs in third quarter last year, there is improvement both in FOWIC and GWS. Very good execution on the contracts for Brave Tern and Bold Tern in FOWIC, Blue Tern, lower utilization and GWS had a strong quarter this summer. Cruise lines, a little bit down EBITDA in -- measured in Norwegian kroner. That is due to a strengthening kroner towards the pound. In pound, it's a small improvement. There, it's important to note and Samantha covered that, that we take extra costs into the product now and the organization to improve the operations and the customer experience going forward. Occupancy up, and we see the booking numbers are up 17%, and that's very important because we have still room to grow on the occupancy and that we see that we can fill the ships, which is a very CapEx-light way of driving cash flow is very good to see. Other investments, we see EBITDA for NHST on par with last year. Also there an underlying improvement in local currency, and at a reasonable level now for media companies. Also important to note that in September, we had a successful placement of a 6-year NOK 800 million green bond. That is the first 6-year bond we have had and one of the very few 6-year bond in the Norwegian bond market. This comes on the back of our strong performance and our strong credit being able then to push tenure 1 year longer than we normally have done and longer than the typical market. We are on Fred. Olsen 1848, we're getting sharper and sharper on how to approach the floating solar market. And I think you should listen carefully to Per today about our positioning now for utility scale electricity, colocation of hydro dams and diesel generator replacements, which are the 3 main areas 1848 is targeting. So that is quite -- not many slides, but very interesting slides in my view, which you should listen carefully. Then the long-term picture. We have been showing this for a couple of years now, and this quarter just falls in line with the trends we have seen in the last 3, 4 years. So still revenue at a level around NOK 13 billion, NOK 14 billion rolling and an underlying 12-month rolling EBITDA between NOK 3.5 billion and NOK 4 billion. We see an uptick -- a small uptick at the end of the time series here. That's really due to that Renewables has a much stronger Q3 this year than last year, which you also see in the dark blue at the bottom. So all business areas contributing meaningfully to the group EBITDA and also EBITDA from NHST almost covering the full overhead in the group measured on EBITDA. Yes. We don't need to spend too much time on this one, been through it, but just the revenue is up NOK 209 million. If the kroner had been stable, it has been significantly higher. So we are impacted by the stronger kroner in all our segments because most of our operations are outside Norway and when you translate then revenue and costs back to krona, they will be lower with a strong Norwegian kroner. And then the same picture really for the EBITDA and year-on-year improvement of EBITDA of NOK 113 million. Again, that we had some one-offs in wind service positive in third quarter '25 and also impacted by the currency, but we really see on renewables, the carry-through of improved pricing and also that Crystal Rig is now coming in with full force. Then on the consolidated P&L, already covered the improvement on EBITDA, depreciation on the same level. Important to note, net finance, we have lower net interest cost due to the cash position and also some unrealized gains on our commodity contracts in this quarter. Taxes are higher on the back of a higher result, especially in renewables. And then we have what falls to the parent versus the [indiscernible]. Finally from my side, the key items on the balance sheet. And again, I want to relate this to our financial policy. To the left, the company, meaning Bonheur ASA and its financial liquidity position shall be strong. I think we can tick that box in the quarter. Subsidiaries must optimize their own nonrecourse financing. We have no bank or bond debt that is guaranteed by Bonheur ASA, so we can tick that box. But I think it's very important to note the third box here is that we are in a capital-intensive industry with high growth. We have strong positions, and we have to be very good in finding now right means of financing growth going forward, both with the cash position we have and with partners and debt as we have done before. So I just want to reiterate, we're checking the boxes on the financial policy and the numbers strongly support that. Important to note in the 100% owned entity on Wind Service now, FOWIC is moved out of that and is reported in less than 100% because we have a new partner for FOWIC. So on the 100% entities as they stand now, we have close to NOK 4.3 billion in cash and close to NOK 2.4 billion in debt and net cash position of NOK 1.9 billion. While in the less than 100%, the main long-term debt there is related to the 2 joint ventures in the U.K. wind farms that are project finance, which you see the debt there of close to NOK 3.4 billion. And then the main debt in Wind Service is -- or the only debt in Wind Service is really related to working capital financing in Global Wind Service. So yes, ticking all the boxes on the financial policy. And by that, I will end my part of the presentation.

Thank you, Richard. Next is Sofie Olsen Jebsen, CEO of Fred. Olsen Renewables.

Thank you. This was a strong quarter for Fred. Olsen Renewables, mainly driven by higher prices, but also generation that was higher than the same quarter last year. Mid Hill, our wind farm in Scotland, reconnected in the middle of September. And we have seen that Crystal Rig IV, our new wind farm has entered into the CfD, contracts for difference agreements in the middle of October. Moving on. In Fred. Olsen Renewables, we have a full cycle business model for our wind farms. And for 2 of the wind farms, Crystal Rig and Brockloch Rig 1, we are preparing decommissioning after their ROCs run out and the production stops at the end of March 2027. These are early sites with excellent wind and hence, good candidates for repowering with modern technology. Brockloch Rig 1 was actually our first wind farm in Fred. Olsen Renewables. It's now 30 years old. And when you go to site, you can see the development of technology in the wind industry because you see the 600 kW turbines next to the 2-megawatt turbines of Brockloch Rig Wind Farm. And then you have the 4.2 and 4.4 megawatt machines from Windy Standard III being erected. The market. We have seen power prices rising to the highest since early '23, mainly due to the Middle East situation. The EU storage levels are currently 71% full ahead of winter. So it's fair to say that prices will remain sensitive to weather and also geopolitics in the short term. We also see that hydro and nuclear output has lifted gas-fired generation. So moving on. On the production side, our generation was 15% higher this quarter than the same in '25. This is mainly due to Crystal Rig IV and improvements at our Swedish wind farms. We have seen Mid Hill reconnected finally and at a strong availability since, which I think is a very good testament to the great job that our operational team has done during the outage on keeping these turbines well maintained. There is a second outage expected for 10 weeks during the second half of '27, and we are working closely with both the grid operator and grid owner to mitigate this to the extent possible. At Lista in Norway, we have 12 turbines currently partially curtailed in strong winds due to fatigue-related foundation issues. This means that the maximum output for the wind farm is currently at 84% of full capacity. That is the maximum full capacity when it blows the most, which means that the peaks are really shaving off for production at the wind farm at the moment. We are focusing very much on repair works for this, and that will continue into '27. My last update is on Windy Standard III, which is under construction. We are installing 2 turbine sizes at the site. All the smaller turbines have been installed and the larger ones are now underway. The estimated completion is still Q1 2027. And the project is progressing according to plan. There is still residual risk in terms of the ongoing works by Scottish Power Transmission with the Dunhill substation upgrade as well as weather-related risks, both of which the project team are working very well and hard to mitigate. So that was all for me. Thank you.

Thank you, Sofie. Next, Haakon Magne Ore, CEO of Fred. Olsen Windcarrier.

Thank you, and good morning to everyone. Third quarter operation-wise was another stable quarter as also highlighted by Richard, where we also brought all 3 vessels back in operation. So if we go into the details on the fleet, Bold Tern had yet another strong quarter performance-wise on the monopile drilling campaign off France. Brave Tern recommenced operation early July and now only have 12 turbines left on what is set to be the Denmark's largest offshore wind farm. Blue Tern had some idle days in the startup period, but she commenced an O&M contract off Germany in early September. If we then go back again and looking at the consolidated figures, I said it was a stable quarter. It is highlighted by the uptime we have on our vessel of 98% on average through the quarter. With the idle days, especially linked to Blue Tern, we had an overall utilization in the quarter of 77%. Brave Tern recommenced its contract early July and the account itself does not have any meaningful impact from the addition earlier this summer. Financially, third quarter came in at EUR 53 million with an EBITDA of EUR 32 million. If we then go over to the backlog, the backlog fell marginally. I don't like it, but it fell slightly below the EUR 1 billion mark as progress on the different projects was only partly offset by some O&M additions to the backlog. On the market, I think we have been quite consistent on our view for a quite considerable time -- some quarters, where we continue to see a very tight market the next year. Again, for the summer season next year, there is very limited availability of vessels with a bigger crane. Then we expect some reduction in the T&I activity in '28 and further in 2029 before we then expect to see a rebound in activity next decade. This rebound, I think it is evidenced by when we see -- continue to see a high level of tenders for execution in '30, '31 and '32. And we also see an increasing pipeline of new governmental auction in 2027, which will drive the new T&I activity in the period from '31 to '33. On the O&M side, that is a little bit more stable, and we continue to see stable and healthy growth in that market. So I think that concludes my comments.

Good. Thank you. Maren Sleire Lundby is next, CEO of Fred. Olsen Seawind.

Thank you. Good morning. So the Q3 highlights for Fred. Olsen Seawind include progressing the development of Muir Mhor now under 100% ownership of Fred. Olsen Seawind. We now expect the consents to come in, in Q4 2026 for Muir Mhor and first half of '27 for Codling. And lastly, our diligent development strategies continues for both projects. A snapshot of our portfolio for those who are not familiar with that. We have Codling, a 50-50 joint venture with EDF in Ireland, where we have an attractive CfD for 1,300 megawatts secured as well as site exclusivity and grid into Dublin Port. We have submitted all the requested information for the consent application, and we are expecting the consent to come in next year. The key focus in Codling include engaging with authorities to progress that consent as well as maturing supply chain and the business case towards FID. Muir Mhor is a 1,000-megawatt deepwater site in Scotland. It's viewed as one of the top projects in the U.K. for deepwaters, and it has a radial grid connection secured for mid-2030s. We have most of the regulatory approvals in place with the offshore consent still outstanding, but expected to come in later this year. The key focus for Muir Mhor is securing this consent as well as a grid acceleration, meaning an earlier connection date and in parallel, preparing the supply chain and the bid strategy to be prepared for an early allocation round. Zooming in a bit on Codling and where the recent updates include submitting all the final information that was requested in this further information request that we received from the planning authorities. That was done in June this year. And based on the signals from An Coimisiun Pleanala, which is the Irish planning authorities, we now expect the consent to come in next year, first half of '27. When the consent is in, we are then working with multiple scenarios for the delivery schedule for the project, and this is to account for the uncertainty in the Irish regulatory time lines. We are very pleased to see that the Irish government remains committed to offshore wind and Codling is still described as a key asset to reach the government's offshore wind ambitions. So we have a common objective that we're working towards. We are also working closely with turbine suppliers, and we are maturing -- preparing for procurement across all major scopes to mature the business case towards financial close. In Muir Mhor, as I mentioned, we have taken over 100% ownership of the project following Vattenfall's exit that was done on 31st of July this year with great efforts from the team on both sides of that transaction, which meant we could successfully complete on time. The offshore consent determination is now expected in Q4 following some additional engagement we had with the Marine Directorate in Scotland during September. And as you may be aware, the U.K. CfD auction now have hybrid foundation and floating foundations in the same budget pot in allocation round 8. And as a result of that, we are now progressing supply chain engagement across both technologies, both floating and hybrid for Muir Mhor. And this is to inform our business case and our bid strategy, which is still to target an early allocation round. We are very happy to be working closely with our colleagues in the wider Fred. Olsen ecosystem, leveraging the expertise and the experience from both 1848 on floating engineering as well as Windcarrier on marine engineering and Fred. Olsen Renewables on regulatory and grid expertise. And this is all to progress the development process, and we will continue that collaboration, obviously, as we advance toward construction and generation. So Muir Mhor is currently a very strong example of the cross-company collaboration that can bring value to the whole Fred. Olsen system. Thank you.

Very good, Maren. Per Arvid Holth is next. I think Per Arvid already has some...

I'll try to deliver accordingly. Yes. No. Thank you, Anette. So my focus this time will be on solar. And I think there's a rapid expansion of solar ongoing. And as we see in the slide here, which is taken from the DNV Energy transition outlook, solar PV is really becoming the backbone of global electricity generation together with onshore wind. So what opportunity does that give us who have a proprietary technology for floating solar. And this absolutely -- and you can only describe it as a huge wave, which has already started in deploying solar globally. We are confident that you need alternative application methods than the conventional land-based solar. And here, floating solar has the potential of delivering large surfaces for development at a reasonably low cost. So as Richard mentioned, we are focusing for BRIZO on both diesel displacement or displacement of hydrocarbons in general for generating electricity. We are focusing on hybridization with hydro and utility scale. And then I'll add the fourth, which is commercial and industry behind the meter applications. So for us, we see this as a good opportunity based on the setting we are in. And then I'll go into a bit on BRIZO when it comes to cost and then also, as Richard mentioned, a bit an insight to some of the business aspects. So -- but cost is key, and this is where BRIZO comes in. It's really enabling the new -- next step for floating solar, and that is advancing from still water and into wavy water. Up to 3.5-meter HS is what we have targeted and what we have tested for. So just to put that in context, I have a figure there to the right, setting -- giving you an impression of what 3.5-meter HS is. The uniqueness by BRIZO is that we can deliver a sophisticated hydrodynamic response by utilizing well-known, low-cost materials with a high availability. And it's really about the system being able to absorb waves without lift off, and that's important when you add wind to the mix. It has continuous load paths from anchor to anchor. So it's really a mooring system. It has a high redundance towards single point failures and it allows movement of the individual floaters in protecting the panel. But low cost is not only a design feature, it also has something to do about how we structure the business around the technology. And for BRIZO, I think there are 2 aspects that I'm highlighting here today. One is the delivery model. Now with BRIZO, we are leveraging an existing and a widespread supply chain that can deliver at scale today. And that is very important because that means that we can scale the production side without any large investment required from us. On the business model, then we are an original equipment manufacturer, an OEM, leveraging a proprietary technology with a well-defined deliverable into our customers' projects, which we basically listed in the figure at the bottom. And this also third point there, which is insurance is something that we're working very hard on. We already have a DNV verification of our system, and then we are working to get by the end of the year, the first certified cost competitive floating solar technology according to the latest DNV standards, and that is to support our customers in getting bankable projects. So all in all, as solar is expanding rapidly, then there is a substantial and long-term potential for floating solar. And BRIZO is really positioned to take the next phase of that market, which is moving into water surfaces with waves. So that was my pitch this time.

So stay tuned.

Exactly. Thank you.

Samantha, you're going to talk to us about Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, CEO.

Good morning. Okay. So for Cruise Lines, the update and the highlights are as follows. So we've seen revenue improvement that has come through from occupancy utilization and ALBDs. And as Richard has alluded to, our continued focus on customer experience and the value proposition has seen our Net Promoter Scores increase and a continued strong forward sales position. If we look into detail at the quarter 3 performance, what we can see is that we had more shorter sailings within the quarter, which has supported our growth in passenger days. We've seen the focus that we have on filling the ships working. Utilization and occupancy have improved. And as already mentioned, and I'll cover it in a bit more detail, our focus internally on guest experience and customer value proposition has seen our NPS improve by 10 points and our forward sales position for 2027 is strong and our recently launched 2028 program for quarter 1 and quarter 2 of 2028 is already off to a good start. If we look in more detail, as I've mentioned, in quarter 3, we've seen more shorter sailings. We have seen an increase across the board on Net Promoter Scores for all 3 vessels, which I'm pleased about. The Net Promoter Score focus across this whole year has predominantly been on improvements within our food, within our itineraries and in our entertainment program. And I'll show you a little bit more shortly on the investments. But when we look at this slide for the itineraries, we've seen an increase in the shorter sailings, and we've been able to really demonstrate to newcomers into Cruise Lines, destinations that are bucket list destinations, core destinations to our product offering and destinations where we've really been able to demonstrate our ability to provide scenic cruising in a good way. And when you think about the majority of our guests traveling our twin and solo guests to be able to deliver the improvement in occupancy and utilization through the focus on itineraries is really working. So we're pleased with that. One thing that I would like to call out in advance is we do have one sailing for quarter 4 on Balmoral. It's our Fly Cruise program. And currently, she isn't performing in line with expectations. We have taken corrective action, and we don't foresee this happening again, but I did want to call that out in advance of our quarter 4 update in the future. And if we move on to the final slide, what I've done is, to Richard's point, highlight the areas where we are investing into Cruise Lines deliberately. So we've invested in our value proposition. We've invested in our entertainment programs for guest experience improvements. I've already spoken about itineraries. But when we look at the investments across all 3 vessels, we now have a new entertainment program across evening entertainment and daytime with bespoke experiences exclusive to Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines. We've improved our cuisine across the vessels, not just in the main restaurants, but with our specialty dining. And then we've had further inclusions, drinks included, gratuities included. And all of those actions have improved our value proposition, our Net Promoter Scores and all of those are driving forward sales and improving utilization and occupancy. Thank you very much.

Good focus. Thank you. I think we have now come to questions and answers. So please go ahead.

[Operator Instructions] There are no questions at this time. I'll now turn the call back to the room for closing comments.

Very good. Hopefully, everything was quite clear, and I can only wish you a very good weekend, and thank you for attending.

Thank you for participating in today's webcast and conference call. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect your lines.