Aker Asa A Shs (AKAAF) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning, and welcome to the presentation of Aker's second quarter and half year results 2026. My name is Frederic Bergen, and I am head of investor relations. I'm joined by Aker's president and CEO, Evan Edrickson, who will take you through the key highlights and recent developments in the portfolio. Our CFO, Sainoska Stocknes, will then take you through the financial results in more detail. After the presentation, we will have a q and a session. And with that, I hand it over to Evan Eddrickson. Good morning, and thank you for attending this presentation in the middle of the summer. Today, we're summing up the second quarter and half year twenty twenty six, which has been nothing less than consequential for Aker. A portfolio of investments with core assets at the intersection of energy and artificial intelligence has served our shareholders well. Aker's total shareholder return was 10% in the quarter and more than 53% in the first half of the year, outperforming the the Oslo Stock Exchange benchmark index by a mile. Aker's net asset value made a step change too, up almost 40,000,000,000 kronor in the first half to 106,000,000,000 in total after payment of 2,200,000,000 in cash dividends. The performance was driven primarily by continued extraordinary growth at EnScale, a landmark divestment of Cognite, and great results reported by Aker BP. The Cognite transaction is expected to generate NOK14.7 billion in cash proceeds to Aker. This will bring Aker's total liquidity to more than 20,000,000,000. This significantly increases our investment capacity to pursue new and attractive industrial opportunities. This morning, we announced another portfolio adjustment by taking Aker BioMarine private. I will revisit EnScale, Cognite, Aker BP and Aker BioMarine in a moment. ...