Nel ASA Wins USD 12 Million US Electrolyser Order as Revenue Slumps 63%
Published on 10/25/2026 at 14:01 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Nel ASA has booked a USD 12 million order for containerised PEM electrolysers from an unnamed US-based global technology group, but the delivery is not expected until 2027 — a timeline that underscores how much execution sits between Nel's order intake and its income statement.
The contract, announced on 13 October and awarded to subsidiary Nel Hydrogen US, covers several containerised PEM electrolysers plus associated services. The company described the 2027 delivery window as an estimate rather than a confirmed shipment, and the announcement gave no figure for the order's eventual contribution to earnings.
That distinction matters. The order is evidence of genuine demand for Nel's PEM technology; it does not yet answer when that demand turns into revenue.
A tale of two business lines
Nel's third-quarter 2026 results, published on 15 October, lay out the gap between its segments in stark terms. PEM revenue climbed 65% to NOK 89 million. Alkaline revenue collapsed 91%. Revenue from customer contracts fell 63% year on year to NOK 112 million.
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The PEM advance was nowhere near enough to offset the Alkaline decline, which means the quarter cannot be read as either uniform weakness or a broad-based recovery. Progress in PEM would be a positive signal on its own, but it would not establish that the wider company has stabilised.
Profitability tells the same story. EBITDA came in at minus NOK 93 million, and the net loss reached NOK 141 million. Cash and cash equivalents stood at NOK 1,078 million at the end of the quarter — a buffer, certainly, but not a substitute for a recovering top line. Liquidity alone says nothing about an operational turnaround; that would require revenue to steady first.
Rheinmetall talks remain non-binding
A further avenue opened roughly two weeks ago, when Nel and Rheinmetall agreed to explore decentralised plants for producing synthetic fuels. The plan would combine Nel's electrolyser technology with Rheinmetall's Giga-PtX concept.
Investors should weigh that agreement carefully. It is a non-binding letter of intent. Any pilot project or further step depends on a feasibility study and mutual agreement, so it is not equivalent to a confirmed plant order and provides no proof of an operational turning point already achieved.
Leadership handover overlaps with delivery window
The operational work falls in the middle of a transition at the top. Nel has named Morten Holum to succeed Håkon Volldal as CEO, with a start date no later than 1 May 2027.
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An interim arrangement will cover the gap. CFO Kjell Christian Bjørnsen takes over as interim CEO from 1 November 2026, while Torbjørn Berg, previously VP Finance, steps in temporarily as CFO.
The overlap is hard to miss: the expected deliveries and the personnel handover land in the same period. Judging Nel therefore requires more than counting new customer wins. What matters is whether the company works through its orders and converts stronger PEM demand into better operating performance.
The pieces are in place — liquidity, a growing PEM business and new project options. The decisive evidence, though, has to come from the numbers themselves, and so far a steep revenue decline and heavy losses dominate the picture.
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