Nel ASA's CEO Departure Casts a Long Shadow Over a Pivotal Hydrogen Transition
Published on 08/16/2026 at 08:02 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The search for a new chief executive at Nel ASA is shaping up to be the defining narrative for the Norwegian hydrogen company through the autumn, even as its technology pipeline and order book tell a more encouraging story. The board confirmed on 11 August that the hunt for a successor to Håkon Volldal is ongoing, with no name yet put forward. Volldal, who is exiting for a role in the packaging industry, remains in place under a six-month notice period until a replacement is secured.
Chairman Arvid Moss has moved to steady investor nerves, insisting in the quarterly report that strategy, business model and priorities are all unchanged. The board intends to hold the course, he said, keeping the emphasis on operational and commercial delivery rather than any strategic pivot.
A Split Screen of Financial Signals
The second-quarter numbers present two very different pictures of the company's health. Revenue and income slipped to 182 million Norwegian kroner from 215 million in the same period last year, while EBITDA fell to minus 155 million kroner, dragged down by a one-off settlement payment of 70 million kroner to Iwatani Corporation of America to close out an earlier legal dispute. The bottom line showed a net loss of 189 million kroner.
The order intake, however, tells a far more upbeat story. New orders reached 230 million kroner in the quarter, a 224 percent jump year-on-year, leaving the order backlog at 1.213 billion kroner at period-end. The balance sheet also retains meaningful firepower: cash stood at 1.328 billion kroner, with a current ratio of 3.99, meaning short-term obligations are covered several times over. That liquidity cushion gives management room to manoeuvre while the operational restructuring plays out.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Nel ASA?
The Electrolyzer Bet Takes Centre Stage
The company's hopes rest largely on its new pressurised alkaline electrolyzer platform, unveiled in May 2026. Management is targeting turnkey costs below $1,450 per kilowatt for 25-megawatt installations, a threshold widely seen in the industry as critical for making electrolyzers competitive against fossil-fuel alternatives. The European Union is backing the project with 135 million euros from its Innovation Fund, which Nel must match with its own capital. The first milestone payment has already landed in the second quarter.
Capacity plans are ambitious: Nel wants 500 megawatts installed by the end of 2026, scaling to 1 gigawatt through shorter cycle times in 2027. For Nel shareholders, the progress of Cavendish Hydrogen ASA — the hydrogen-refuelling business spun out of Nel — also bears watching. Cavendish is due to report its second-quarter numbers on 27 August, and those figures should offer an early read on demand across the wider hydrogen ecosystem from which Nel expects to draw part of its order growth.
Market Stuck in Neutral
The share price has yet to react decisively to any of this. The stock closed Friday at €0.2025, roughly 45 percent below its 52-week high of €0.3655 set in May. It sits about 3.8 percent beneath its 50-day moving average of €0.2105 — a sign of slightly soft short-term momentum without tipping into outright selling territory. Over the past week the shares have added 1.6 percent, and they are up 7.3 percent since the start of the year, though twelve-month gains are a meagre 0.4 percent. The relative strength index at 48 points to a market that is neither overbought nor oversold — in short, investors are waiting.
Automated analysis tools such as StockInvest.us upgraded the stock from "Sell" to "Buy Candidate" in early August based on short-term moving averages, though such signals carry no fundamental weight. JPMorgan has trimmed its price target, citing the settlement charge among the reasons for the weaker earnings picture.
What to Watch Next
The chart levels offer the nearest reference points. A sustained break above the €0.21 zone around the 50-day average could attract fresh buying interest; failure to do so brings the 52-week low near €0.17 into view. The next hard fundamental catalyst is the third-quarter report, scheduled for 21 October. Before that, Cavendish's late-August numbers should provide an early indication of whether the strong order momentum from the second quarter is a one-off or the start of a sustained trend. Until then, sentiment and technical markers are likely to drive the stock more than any new data.
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