(Oslo, 8 May 2018) Nel ASA (“Nel”) reported revenues in the first quarter of 2018 of NOK 112.5 million, up from NOK 35.7 million in the first quarter of 2017, and an adjusted EBITDA of NOK -5.5 million. Nel has an exclusive partnership with Nikola Motor Company (“Nikola”) and was recently awarded an additional purchase order of USD 5.5 million, as part of previously announced hydrogen station agreement.
“The first quarter of 2018 was a solid quarter for Nel, where we announced the world’s first factory certified hydrogen fueling stations with UL certification for the U.S. market. We were also pleased to announce the additional purchase order of USD 5.5 million from our partner Nikola after the closing of the quarter. We continue to deliver state-of-the-art quality on our current project backlog and experience a solid pipeline of new order opportunities across the world,” says Jon André Løkke, Chief Executive Officer of Nel.
In the first quarter of 2018, Nel reported revenues of NOK 112.5 million, compared to NOK 35.7 million in the same quarter of 2017, representing a more than a tripling in revenues. The underlying organic revenue growth was around 58 percent, excluding the acquisition of Proton Onsite, and 47 percent on a like-for-like basis.
The high activity level within business development, investments and preparations for production ramp-up continued as planned. The EBITDA was negatively affected by certain costs and ended at NOK -5.5 million, when adjusting for ramp-up costs and non-recurring items of NOK 7.1 million and non-cash share option costs of NOK 3.2 million. The cash balance at the end of the first quarter ended at NOK 250.8 million, and the equity ratio was 81.5 percent.
After the closing of the quarter, the H2Station® successfully achieved the world’s first the world’s first factory certified hydrogen fueling stations with UL certification for the U.S. market . The certification sets the new industrial norm and benchmark for safety level and legal compliance for hydrogen fueling stations and enables a faster and more streamlined installation and permitting process. Nel also received a USD 5.5 million purchase order from Nikola, as part of the previously announced hydrogen stations partnership.
“The Nikola order marks a strengthening of our partnership and is a recognition of the level of competence our team and hydrogen solutions can offer. In addition, we are excited by Nikola’s recent developments, having announced an order of up to 800 hydrogen trucks with Anheuser-Busch and the ambition of deploying 700 hydrogen stations over the next years,” says Løkke, and refers to the exclusive Nikola partnership and the purchase order for the demo hydrogen refueling stations for Nikola's fleet of prototype hydrogen trucks.
Nel’s order backlog ended at approximately NOK 410 million at the end of the quarter.
“Nel has a strong position within the hydrogen industry as a pure play company positioned to play an important role in a fast-growing market. Nel offers the complete range of electrolyzers, as well as state- of-the-art fueling stations for all types of fuel cell electric vehicles, and targets to maintain this unique position within the industry. During 2018, we aim to capitalize on the emerging opportunities within power-to-X and hydrogen fueling, targeting continued technology leadership, global presence, cost leadership, and preferred-partner status for industry participants,” Løkke concludes.
Nel will host a presentation at 08:00 CET at Hotel Continental in Oslo on May 8, 2018. A live webcast of the call will also be available on the company’s website, www.nelhydrogen.com/webcast, and on http://webtv.hegnar.no/presentation.php?webcastId=83481169
The first quarter 2018 report and presentation are enclosed and available through www.newsweb.no (Ticker: NEL) and www.nelhydrogen.com
