Nel ASA's Order Book Swells While the Top Line Shrinks — and a New CEO Inherits the Gap
Published on 10/24/2026 at 11:11 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Nel ASA has a demand problem in reverse: plenty of incoming business, not enough of it landing on the revenue line. That paradox sits at the heart of the Norwegian hydrogen group's third-quarter 2026 report — and it frames the task handed to incoming chief executive Morten Holum, whose appointment was announced on Wednesday.
Order intake for the quarter surged 339% to NOK 253 million, while the order backlog climbed 34% year on year to reach NOK 1,314 million. Revenue from customer contracts, by contrast, collapsed 63% to NOK 112 million. The company posted an EBITDA loss of NOK 93 million and a net loss of NOK 141 million.
The two figures are not contradictory. Order intake tracks new bookings; revenue reflects work already delivered. A fatter order book is a demand signal, not proof of a turnaround — and the gap between the two is precisely what investors now have to weigh.
A split performance beneath the headline
The quarter's weakness was not uniform. PEM revenue advanced, but the alkaline segment suffered a sharp decline that more than offset the gain. Growth in one part of the business could not compensate for the retreat in the other, leaving the group's top line deep in negative territory.
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Firm contracts versus open-ended ambitions
Two announcements in recent weeks illustrate why the quality of Nel's pipeline matters as much as its size. Nel Hydrogen US secured an order worth roughly USD 12 million from an unnamed US-based global technology company. The contract covers multiple containerised PEM electrolysers from the MC series, along with associated services, with delivery slated for 2027. That is booked business with a defined delivery window.
The second item carries far less certainty. Nel and Rheinmetall signed a non-binding letter of intent to explore decentralised production of renewable synthetic fuels, targeting defence and critical infrastructure applications. A feasibility study will assess the use case. No order has been confirmed and no investment committed — potential pilot projects depend on mutual agreement and further technical review. Treating the two announcements as equally solid would be a mistake.
A handover with a transition layer
Holum will succeed Håkon Volldal as group CEO no later than 1 May 2027, according to media reports. Until then, the reins pass to finance chief Kjell Christian Bjørnsen, who becomes interim CEO from 1 November 2026, with Torbjørn Berg stepping in as interim finance chief.
The reshuffle neither alters the binding nature of the project pipeline nor the reported earnings picture. What it does is put a clear operational mandate at the centre of the company's agenda: converting bookings into revenue. For the Rheinmetall tie-up, further agreements must follow before it can be counted as secured business. For the US electrolyser order, the test comes when delivery begins in 2027. Until then, Nel's swelling backlog remains a promise rather than a result.
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