Bonheur (Oslo:BONHR) Q3 2026 Earnings Call

0:00 Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Bono 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.

0:18 Good morning, everybody, and a hearty welcome to our presentation today. As usual, Rikard Oland Aal, 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, Rikard.

0:47 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-heel auto operation for many of the quarter. and also Blue Turn have low utilization and there's still more occupancy to be had on cruise lines. So even it's a solid quarter, I would also underline that there is still further potentials in the company as it is today as introduction to this call.

1:38 But going through the numbers and the main events, these will be thoroughly elaborated by the CEOs. I will be brief. But starting with renewable energy, almost a doubling of the EBITDA to 385 million, mainly driven by higher electricity prices, but also very importantly, a contribution from our new infarm, Crystal Rig 4, 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, the project with the standard tree is progressing as planned. Still a few items left there, which Sofie will cover.

2:31 And also which Barn will cover that we closed out with Ottenfall on the Murmoor 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 Fovik and GDS. Very good execution on the contracts for Brave and Volturn in Fovik. Blue Turn, lower utilization. and GVS had a strong quarter this summer.

3:17 Cruise lines, a little bit down EBITDA in measured innovation 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 will cover 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-like way of driving cash flow. It's very good to see.

4:05 Other investments, we see EVTA for NHST on par with last year. Also, they're 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 six-year, 800 million green bond. That is the first six-year bond we have had and one of the very few six-year bonds in the Norwegian bond market. This comes on the back of our strong performance and our strong credit being able then to push tenure one year longer than we normally have done and longer than the typical market.

4:53 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, co-location on hydro dams and diesel generator replacements, which are the three 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 the last three, four years. So still revenue at the level around 13, 14 billion rolling, and then underlying 12-month rolling EVTA between 3.5 and 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 EBTA, and also EBTA from NHST, almost covering the full

6:25 overhead in the group measured on EBTA. We don't need to spend too much time on this one, but just the revenue is up 209 million. If the kroner had been stable, it had been significantly higher. So we are impacted by the stronger And then the same picture really for the EBITDA and year-on-year improvement of EBITDA of 113 million. Again, there we had some one-offs in wind service, positive in third quarter 2025, 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.

7:25 Then on the consolidated P&L, already covered improvement on EBITDA, depreciation on the same level. Important to note, net finance, we have lower net interest costs due to the cash position. and also some unrealized gains on our commodity contracts in this cork. Taxes are higher on the back of a higher result, especially in renewables. And then you have what falls to the parent versus the . Finally, from my side, the key items on the balance sheet. And again, I want to relate this to our financial policy.

8:13 to the left, the company, meaning Bonner Asa, and its financial liquidity postulation shall be strong. I think we can pick that box in the top third. Subsidiaries must optimize their own non-recourse financing. We have no bank or bond debt that is guaranteed by Bonner Asa, so we can pick that box. But I think it's very important to note the third box here, is that we are in 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.

9:00 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% all entity on wind service now. Fovik is moved out of that and is reported in less than 100% because we have a new partner for Fovik. So on the 100% entities as they stand now, we have close to 4.3 billion in cash and close to 2.4 million in debt, a net cash position of 1.9. While in the less than 100%, the main long-term debt there is related to The two joint ventures in the UK, wind farms, that are project finance, which you see the debt there are close to 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.

9:56 So, yes, ticking all the boxes on the financial policy. And by that, I'll end my part of the presentation.

10:06 Thank you, Eckart. Next is Sofie Olsen-Jepsen, CEO of Fred Olsen Renewables. Thank you.

10:16 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. Midhill, our wind farm in Scotland, reconnected in the middle of September. And we have seen that Crystal Rig 4, our new wind farm, has entered into the CFD contracts for difference agreement in the middle of October. Moving on. In Fred Olsen Renewables, we have a full cycle business model for our wind farms.

11:01 And for two We are preparing decommissioning after the rocks 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. Brocklock 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 kV turbines next to the 2 MW turbines of Brocklock Rig Wind Farm. And then you have the 4.2 and 4.4 MW machines from Windy Standard Wind. The market.

12:09 We have seen power prices rising to the highest since early 2023, mainly due to the Middle East situation. The EU storage levels are currently 71% fall ahead of winter, so we have seen power prices rising to the highest since early 2023. It's fair to say the 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 2020. This is mainly due to Crystal Rig 4 and improvements at our Swedish wind farms.

13:11 We have seen Midhill reconnected finally and at a strong availability since, which I think is a very At Lista in Norway, We have 12 turbines currently partially curtailed in strong winds due to fatigue related foundation issues.

14:05 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 We're focusing very much on repair works for this, and that will continue into 2027. My last update is on Windy Standard 3, which is under construction. We are installing two turbine sizes, at the site.

14:55 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.

15:45 So that was all for me. Thank you.

15:47 Thank you, Sofie, and Magne. Next, Håkon Mann Nore, CEO of Dredd Olsen Owing Carrier.

15:58 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 three vessels back in operation. So if we go into the details on the fleet, both turns, had yet another strong quarter performance price on the Monopi drilling campaign of France. Braveturn recommenced the operation early July and now only have 12 turbines left on what is said to be the Denmark's largest offshore wind farm. Blueturn had some idle days in the start of the period, but she commenced an O&M contract of Germany in early September.

16:54 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, we had an overall utilization in the quarter of 77%. Brave Turn recommenced its contract early July, and the account itself does not have any meaningful impact from the elision earlier this summer. Financially, third quarter came in at 53 million with an EBITDA of 32 million euros.

17:51 If we then go over to the backlog, the backlog fell marginally. I don't like it, but it fell slightly below the 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, and there is very limited availability of vessels with a bigger crane.

18:43 Then we expect some reduction in the TNI activity in 28 and further in 2029 before we then expect to see a rebound in activity next decade. This rebound, I think it It is evidence that we 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 TNI activity in the period from 31 to 33. On the ONEM side, that is a little bit more stable and we continue to see stable and healthy growth in that market.

19:39 So I think that concludes my comments.

19:43 Good, thank you. Sleire Lundby is next, CEO of Fred Olsen. Thank you. Good morning.

19:56 So the Q3 highlights for Fred Olsen Seawind include progressing the development of Miavor, now under 100% ownership of Fred Olsen Seawind. We now expect the consents to come in in Q4 for 2026 for Miavor and first half of 2027 for Kotlin. 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.

20:49 As well as site exclusivity and grid into Dublin ports. 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 Coddling includes engaging with authorities to progress that consent, as well as maturing supply chain and the business case towards FID. Miobor is a 1000 megawatt deepwater site in Scotland. It's viewed as one of the top projects in the UK for deep waters, and it has a radial grid connection secured for mid-2030s.

21:41 We have most of the regulatory approvals in place, with the offshore consent still outstanding, but it's expected to come in later this year. The key focus for Meavor 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 coddling, 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.

22:37 That was done in June this year, based on the signals from Commission Planola, 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 timelines. We are very pleased to see that the Irish government remains committed to offshore wind and coddling is still described as a key asset to reach the government's offshore wind emissions.

23:26 So we have a common objective that we're working towards. We are also working closely with the turbine suppliers and we are maturing, preparing for procurement across all major scopes to mature the business case towards financial close. In my work, as I mentioned, we have taken over 100% ownership of the project following Vapenpal'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.

24:18 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 UK CFD auction now have a hybrid foundation and floating foundations in the same budget pot in the application around eight. And as a result of that, we are now progressing supply chain engagement across both technologies, both floating and hybrid formula war. And this is to inform our business case and our bid strategy, which is still to target an early allocation round.

25:12 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 wind carrier on marine engineering and Fred Olsen renewables on regulatory and grid expertise. This is all to progress the development process, and we will continue that collaboration, obviously, as we advance toward construction and generation. So MIROR is currently a very strong example of the cross-company collaboration that can bring value to the whole Fred Olsen system.

26:10 Thank you. My focus this time will be on solar and I think

26:36 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. When 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.

27:31 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 BRISO 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 force with this commercial and industry behind the METRO applications. So for us, we see this as a good opportunity based on the setting we are in.

28:18 And I'll go into a bit on Briso when it comes to cost. And then also, as Richard mentioned, a bit of an insight to some of the business aspects. So, but cost is key. And this is where Briso comes in. It's really enabling the next step. for Floating Solar, and that is advancing from still water and into wavy water. Up to three and a half 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, giving you an impression of what three and a half meter Hs is.

29:05 The uniqueness by Briso 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 liftoff, 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 redundancy towards single point failures, and it allows movement of the individual flow filters 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.

29:55 And for Briso, I think there are two aspects that I'm highlighting here today. One is the delivery model. Now with Briso, we are leveraging an existing and 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, we are an original equipment manufacturer, an OEM, leveraging a proprietary technology with a well-defined deliverable into our customer projects, which we basically listed in the figure at the bottom.

30:46 and this also the third point there which is insurance is something that we're working very hard on. We already have a D&V 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 D&V 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 Briso is really positioned to take the next phase of that market, which is moving into water surfaces with waves.

31:38 So, that was my pitch this time.

31:40 So, stay tuned.

31:42 Exactly. Thank you.

31:45 Samantha Stimson, who are going to talk to us about Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, CEO.

31:54 Good morning. Okay, so for Cruise Lines, the update and the highlights are as follows. So we've seen revenue improvement that's come through from occupancy utilisation and ALBDs. and as Ricard 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 three performance, What we can see is that we had more shorter sailings within the quarter, which has supported our growth in passenger days.

32:44 We've seen the focus that we have on filling the ships, working, utilisation 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 programme for quarter one and quarter two of 2028 is already off to a good start. If we look in more detail, as I've mentioned in quarter three, We've seen more shorter sailings.

33:36 We have seen an increase across the board on net promoter scores for all three 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 programme. 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 are 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.

34:48 One thing that I would like to call out in advance is we do have one sailing for quarter four on Balmoral it's our fly cruise programme 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 four update in the future and if we move on to the final slide what I've done is to Ricard's point highlight the areas where we are investing into cruise lines deliberately. So we've invested in our value proposition.

35:34 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 three vessels, we now have a new entertainment program across evening entertainment and daytime with bespoke experience is exclusive to Fred Olsen Cruise Lines. We've improved our cuisine across the vessels, not just in the main restaurants, but with our speciality dining. And then we've had further inclusions, drinks included, gratuities included. And all of those actions have improved our value proposition and net promoter scores.

36:20 And all of those are driving forward sales. and improving utilization and occupancy. Thank you very much.

36:30 Good focus. Thank you. I think we have now come to questions and answers. So please go ahead. To answer the question now, please press star 1 and 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 and 1 again. There may be a short pause as we compile the Q&A roster.

37:15 As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question now, please press star one and one on your telephone keypad. There are no questions at this time. I'll now turn the call back to the room for closing comments. Very good.

37:41 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. Well, I lost a little something when I sold my heart The kindness of the evening and the thrill of the dark Oh, everyone is lying just to keep me sharp In eleven months I traveled to the furthest coast I was pouring on the highway and my shirt got soaked To celebrate the evening cause it's all I know So I stumbled around Bluebells are falling down Bacon is a-stalling down I will never be found, never

39:13 be found, never be found Anette Sofie Olsen