Scatec ASA

Scatec ASA

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Q2 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptAugust 21, 2026

Terje Pilskog

Good morning, and welcome to our second quarter presentation for 2026. The second quarter has been a good quarter with several important milestones that we have been achieving.

We continue to deliver on our strategy to drive value-creating growth at a high pace across our geographies. During the quarter, we have continued to move projects into operation, we have started construction of new projects, and we have also moved new projects into backlog.

We continue to see demand for renewable energy continuing to grow. Scatec is operating in countries with strong and increasing underlying demand for clean, reliable, and affordable renewable energy.

Renewable energy is the most competitive source of energy in the markets where we are operating. This is based on continued cost reductions and technology innovations across all the technologies: solar, wind, and batteries.

Based on this, we can deliver not only intermittent energy, but also flexible energy and baseload energy at competitive prices in the markets where we are operating. Further, with the ongoing challenging situation in global energy markets, long-term predictability and energy security is increasing in importance.

This will also continue to drive the demand for renewables in our markets. As a result, we see the intention now to accelerate the energy transition for economic reasons.

The case for renewables is becoming very strong and evident for key stakeholders and government officials and decision-makers in the markets where we are operating, and we continue to see the clear intention to accelerate the transition towards renewable energy in these markets. I will take you through the highlights of the quarter, Hans Jakob will take you through the financials, and then we will come back and take questions at the end.

Our growth momentum continues, and during the quarter, we reached commercial operation for three projects, totaling 705 megawatts of solar and 16 megawatt-hours of battery storage. A major milestone for us was reaching COD on the full Obelisk project, the Phase 2 of the Obelisk project.

This was done ahead of schedule and well within budget. I will come back to this shortly.

On financials, we delivered proportionate revenues of 2.3 billion and EBITDA of 1 billion. In our D&C segment, we recognized revenues of 1.2 billion with an EBITDA of 234 million, based on a gross margin of 24%.

This strong result is again a demonstration of the strength of the integrated model, and the strength of our execution capabilities. We also have a record-high backlog and near-term growth.

With the current backlog that we have, we are in a position to double our generation capacity over the next two to three years. It is encouraging to see progress across all main technologies: solar, wind, and battery storage, also across multiple countries and multiple geographies.

All of these technologies, as I said, will form an increasing part of the future energy systems. It's great to see that we continue to build experience, capabilities, and track record across all of these technologies.

This morning, we also announced the intention to refinance our most expensive corporate financing. This is in line with our strategy to continue to take down debt on corporate level and continue to reduce our financing costs.

Reaching COD for the Obelisk project is a major milestone for us, and obviously a very proud moment for us. Obelisk is the largest renewable energy project in Africa.

We expect it to produce more than 3 terawatt-hours of energy annually, and we also expect it to contribute by reducing CO2 emissions in the range of 1.3 million tonnes annually. Again, this project is evidence of the strength of the integrated business model.

With the integrated business model, we are able to move swiftly from development and into construction, we're able to control the quality and the pace of construction during the execution phase, and we are able to extract value creation in a capital-efficient manner through the projects. Obelisk reached COD ahead of schedule and below the construction budget.

From our signing the PPA in September 2024, we took around nine months to get to financial close and notice to proceed, 17 months to reach Phase 1 COD, including 100% of the battery storage capacity, and 23 months to reach COD for the full plant. This is a remarkable achievement of our team and also of our partners, and it's also evidence of the speed of deployment possible when it comes to renewables, which is a strong benefit of renewables.

You will also see, based on our communicated numbers, the D&C margin that was communicated when we started the project was sufficient to cover the 40% equity stake that we currently have sold down to in the project, we're also, from that point of view, capital-neutral. This is obviously before the additional value capture that we have achieved through strong and disciplined execution and the ability to also release contingency and reduce costs in the project.

Looking forward, our intention is to apply the same model and the same approach to the next three projects that we have secured in Egypt. These projects are, first of all, what we call the Damietta project, the project with Egypt Aluminium, which is in principle a copy of the Obelisk project, 1.1 gigawatts and 200 megawatt-hours of batteries, where we will deliver energy to Egypt Aluminium, which is the largest aluminium producer in Egypt and the largest energy consumer in Egypt.

This is the first project, and it's the first private PPA in Egypt that also has the sovereign guarantee backing. Then we have Energy Valley, where we signed the PPA in January this year, about 2 gigawatts of solar and 4 gigawatt-hours of battery storage.

This is a project where we will install battery storage at specific points in the grid where there is scarcity of grid capacity. On top of this, this project will also be able to deliver part of the energy on a 24/7 basis.

Finally, we also have the 900-megawatt Shadwan wind project. All of these projects, the three projects, we have an intention to reach financial close and start of construction over the next six months.

This obviously represents a substantial pipeline that builds directly on the capabilities, the experiences, and the partnerships that we have been building in Egypt over the last couple of years. Power production came in at 1.1 terawatt-hours in the quarter.

This is up 21% from 940 gigawatt-hours in the same quarter last year. The growth is primarily driven by new projects entering operations, which contributed to 278 gigawatt-hours in the quarter.

Over the last 12 months, a number of projects have reached COD: we have Grootfontein in South Africa, we have the Mmamabula solar complex in Botswana, we have two projects in Tunisia, Sidi Bouzid and Tozeur, and obviously we also have the Obelisk project in Egypt. On the other side, we did see lower production from existing power plants in the Philippines, Ukraine, and South Africa, which partly offset the contribution from those new projects.

Turning to revenues, power production revenues came in slightly above 1 billion, and this represents a 4% reduction relative to the same quarter last year, after adjusting for the one-off effect that we had in the Philippines related to the tariff adjustment last year. New projects contributed then to 83 million in revenues, and this was offset by a few specific non-recurring effects, especially in Ukraine and South Africa.

In summary, the growth portfolio is now starting to contribute in a meaningful way. As more projects reach COD over the coming quarters, the new project contribution will continue to build, and we expect a growing and increasingly resilient generation base going forward.

Let me now also make a couple of comments on our position in the Philippines through SNAP, our JV with the Aboitiz Group. In the Philippines, we delivered a good quarter, and here we continue to prove the robustness of our hydropower and battery storage portfolio that we are having here.

On volumes, the generation was lower due to hydrology and the early effects of the El Niño, with power produced only at 64 gigawatt-hours relative to the 106 gigawatt-hours that we had in Q2 last year. Despite significant lower water inflow and generation volumes, we're still able to generate 244 million in revenues in the quarter relative to the 262 million in revenues that we had last year in the same quarter, and we also had an EBITDA of 201 million in the quarter.

This speaks to the value of our flexible, diversified generation portfolio, the ancillary services position, and the merchant operations capabilities and the trading capabilities that we are having in SNAP. Ancillary services contributed 199 million in terms of revenues, while contract and spot energy revenues represented 45 million.

Also, spot prices in the quarter were significantly higher than what we had same quarter last year, with 9.6 pesos per kilowatt-hour relative to 6 pesos per kilowatt-hour last year. We also see that prices in the ancillary services market continue to be strong during the quarter.

Obviously, we will come back to the outlook, but the probability of a strong El Niño going into Q4 and also into 2027 is still quite high. On the other side, we also expect that prices will continue to stay elevated across both energy and ancillary services, and also by the end of the year, we are targeting to add more battery storage capacity to the portfolio.

Then turning to D&C, we have had very strong performance in the D&C segment in the quarter. In terms of the construction portfolio, we currently have 792 megawatts of solar, 77 megawatts of wind, based on the announcement that we did yesterday evening, and 571 megawatt-hours of battery storage under construction across six markets.

This is a high-quality and well-diversified portfolio. On financial performance, we delivered a D&C gross margin of 24%, including the contingency release in Obelisk, and with the underlying margin still at a solid 11%.

On project milestones, Obelisk Phase 2, Rio Urucuia, and also Magat BESS 2 all reached commercial operation during the quarter, while Sidi Bouzid 2 in Tunisia and Urleasca in Romania have started construction, adding 120 megawatts of solar and 77 megawatts of wind to our construction portfolio. Now the remaining contract portfolio has a value of 3.8 billion, we still have significant secured revenue outlook in the D&C segment, and we continue to expect 10% to 12% at least gross margins across the portfolio.

Looking ahead now, we expect Mogobe BESS and Briger BESS, the two BESS projects in South Africa and in the Philippines, to reach commercial operation by the end of this year, with four additional projects to follow in the first half of 2027 across the Philippines, Colombia, and also South Africa. I'm very pleased by the construction progress of the projects across our portfolio, and I think our team is doing a tremendous job in keeping control and pushing these projects forward in a disciplined way.

Let me also now walk you through our gross portfolio. We now have reached 5.7 gigawatts of generation capacity in operation.

This is following the completion of Obelisk and Rio Urucuia, and this is up from 5 gigawatts just one quarter ago. We now have 0.9 gigawatts under construction and a backlog of 5.8 gigawatts, and together this gives us a near-term portfolio of 12.3 gigawatts, representing a more than 100% growth that we target to realize over the next two to three years in terms of generation portfolio.

Then on battery storage, the growth is even more striking. We have 1.4 gigawatt-hours in operation and 0.6 gigawatt-hours in construction.

On top of this, we have a backlog of 4.8 gigawatt-hours. This brings the near-term portfolio in terms of battery storage to 6.8 gigawatt-hours, and this is almost five times what we have in operation today.

This reflects the strategic importance and competitiveness of battery storage in the power systems, and it will represent an important value creation tool and area for us going forward. Behind this near-term portfolio, we also have a pipeline of 5.9 gigawatts of generation capacity, and we also have a pipeline of 2.4 gigawatt-hours of additional storage.

This provides further growth potential and visibility beyond our backlog. Obviously behind this again, we continue to work actively on new project opportunities across our markets.

As I said, we target to realize the projects under construction and in backlog over the next two to three years. They are all meeting our hurdles, and they have attractive returns and margins and can be realized in a capital-efficient manner based on the integrated model that I have already talked about.

Now let's take a look at what we are doing in Romania. Romania is emerging as a very promising growth market for renewables, and I want to take you through some of the rationale behind our investments there.

Firstly, Romania represents a market with attractive renewables growth potential. The market currently has strong tailwinds and significant renewable energy targets in the range of 8 gigawatts.

The drivers for renewable energy growth in the market is obviously increasing electrification, the fact that they are phasing down and have a target to phase down on coal, they have a dedicated CfD scheme, contract for differences scheme, for renewables, and this is a scheme which is being backed by the EU and funded by the EU, and on top of this, there are also incentives for storage. Secondly, the market offers contracted and predictable long-term revenues.

The CfD scheme enable long-term cash flows in hard currency, and this obviously enables us to use our traditional model and secure non-recourse project finance backing these projects. We are also able to implement our traditional integrated model so that we can also over time capture value through D&C and other services.

Then finally, Romania also offers opportunities for additional value creation beyond the contracted cash flows. In Romania, there is a merchant energy market with attractive prices, and in addition, price volatility across both the energy sales and also across ancillary services.

We can capture value from this based on a flexible and diversified portfolio of solar, wind, and battery storage, and battery here is an essential element to the total portfolio. Obviously our experience also with operating in merchant markets that we have, for instance, from the Philippines, is also something that we can transfer into upcoming growth markets like this one in Romania.

Now we have three projects in Romania. We have Dobrun and Sadova, 190 megawatts of solar, and Urleasca wind of 77 megawatts of wind that we already have in construction.

Today we are also announcing that we have included Buciumeni, a BESS project of 178 gigawatt-hours, into our backlog, which we will also target to move into construction relatively soon. This comprises a portfolio of projects with attractive contracted long-term revenues, at the same time as we have the flexibility in the portfolio to protect ourselves from downside and to capture upsides in the energy market based on volatility of prices.

This forms a strong initial platform for further growth in a market where we see significant opportunities for further value creation going forward. With that, I will hand over to Hans Jakob to take us through the financials.

Hans Jakob Hegge

Thank you, Terje. We delivered strong results across the group, with high D&C activity in a good quarter, also in the Philippines.

I'll walk you through the group financials and the performance of our operating segments, and I will also cover the improvements in our capital structure. Looking at the quarter on group level, we continue to generate solid revenues from our D&C activity, with positive effect on proportionate financials.

Consolidated revenue was 1.37 billion compared to 1.3 billion in the same quarter last year. This includes 255 million in construction revenues related to our Lyra JV in South Africa, which has a lower EBITDA margin than our power-producing assets.

EBITDA reached 824 million compared to 1 billion. The change is mainly driven by a one-off effect in the Philippines in the same quarter last year.

Our proportionate revenues was 2.3 billion, in line with the same quarter last year, and the proportionate EBITDA was 1 billion compared to 1.1 billion year-on-year. Let me take you through the segments, starting with power production.

We delivered revenues of 1 billion compared to 1.3 billion in the same quarter last year. This was mainly explained by the one-off in the Philippines of 231 million last year related to the new ancillary services tariff.

The EBITDA was 805 million. For the last 12 months, we have delivered 4.2 billion in revenues and 3.2 billion in EBITDA.

The difference is mainly explained by the reduced revenues from divested assets and the one-off in the Philippines. Overall, we are very pleased with the value generated from our operating assets.

Moving to development and construction, we have high activity, and the proportionate revenue was 1.2 billion compared to 976 million last year. EBITDA was 234 million compared to 49 million.

This was driven by a 160 million contingency release from Obelisk Phase 2. The contingency release is a result of timely and cost-efficient execution of the project.

The trend from the last 12 months confirmed the long-term strength and scalability of our D&C business. D&C revenues the last 12 months was 6 billion, with a steady increase over the last five quarters.

Rolling EBITDA ended at 720 million, with a contribution from high-margin projects, contingencies, and what I call disciplined cost control. Looking at free cash on group level, the free cash position ended at 1.6 billion in the quarter due to the following movements: we received 334 million in distributions from power plants, generated 211 million EBITDA from D&C and corporate, had 873 million of reversal of working capital, mainly related to Obelisk, and paid 215 million of interest.

At the end of the quarter, we have invested approximately 800 million of equity in our growth projects. We have also increased our RCF from $230 million to $350 million at improved terms.

The increase limit provides a solid liquidity buffer and will support the execution of our record-high near-term growth portfolio across geographies. Following the new RCF, we have a total available liquidity of 5.1 billion, which provides a solid buffer and to deliver on these strategic targets.

I would like to add a thanks to the banks for the cooperation. Looking at proportionate net debt, first starting with the gross corporate debt, that was reduced to 6.4 billion, while the net interest-bearing debt increased due to the reduction of cash, mainly driven by changes in working capital and investments.

Over time, we have significantly reduced the debt on corporate level to increase financial flexibility and reduce interest costs. On project level, gross debt increased by 100 million to 19.6 billion due to new growth projects.

Net debt for projects under operation was reduced by 200 million, and net debt for projects under construction increased by 200 million. The cash held at SPV increased by 200 million to 3 billion.

Let me now take you through the bond refinancing activity, which is an important part of our strategy to strengthen the balance sheet and reduce financing costs over time. As you can see from the chart, we currently have four outstanding corporate bonds.

SCATC04 matures in '27 and carries out the most expensive margin at 660 basis points over three months NIBOR. We are planning to refinance this bond with a new expected 1 billion NOK bond issue, which will extend our maturity profile to 2031 and at improved margins.

This is a rather straightforward and value-creating transaction, as we are replacing our most costly debt with longer-dated financing and at better terms. The broader picture is encouraging.

Looking across our bond stack, you can see a clear downward trend in financing costs as we have grown and strengthened our credit profile. SCATC05 carries 425 basis points margin, SCATC06 315 basis points, and SCATC07 285 basis points.

You get my point. This trend is progress that we have made by reducing also the risk and improved financial discipline.

The overarching strategy is clear: Scatec is committed to reduce corporate debt and interest expenses over time, and the refinancing is a concrete step in this direction. Now let me take you through the outlook.

We are maintaining our full-year EBITDA guidance. In our power production segment, we estimate a full-year power production between 5.05 and 5.35 terawatt-hours, which is 50 gigawatt-hours lower than the previous estimate due to lower expected hydrology in the Philippines.

Our estimated full-year EBITDA is kept at a midpoint of 3.75 billion, as the lower production is expected to be offset by higher reserve market prices. We have not made any adjustments to FX this quarter, as the quarterly FX effects are limited.

For the third quarter, we expect a total power production between 1,500 and 1,600 gigawatt-hours and EBITDA in the Philippines between 320 and 420 million NOK. In our D&C segment, the remaining contract value, as Terje said, is 3.8 billion, primarily related to Taskdu in South Africa, Barcelosa in Colombia, and Sidi Bouzid 2 in Tunisia.

The estimated gross margin is unchanged at 10% to 12% on average across the portfolio of projects under construction. For corporate, the expected full-year EBITDA is unchanged at NOK 125, 135 negative.

These estimates reflect a strong base of operating assets, high construction activity, and a healthy cost control. Then I leave it to you, Terje, to take us through the summary.

Terje Pilskog

Thank you, Hans Jakob. In summary, we are continuing to have an all-time high gross portfolio that we will continue to to drive towards financial close and into construction.

This is going to be, as we have said, make us put us in a position to double our capacity over the next two to three years in terms of generation, and increase our capacity in terms of battery storage by five times over the next two to three years. We have now, I believe, proven our execution capabilities in Egypt and across all the countries where we are operating, and we are from an execution point of view also ready to target this portfolio and and move into construction across these different projects.

Finally, we have also the financial flexibility. We are continuing to strengthen our financial position and increase our financial flexibility in terms of moving forward and managing this portfolio.

I believe that we are in a very good position to drive now this growth going forward. Thank you.

Then I think we will open for Q&A.

Thank you, Terje, Hans Jakob. Yes, we will then open up for Q&A.

We will start with questions in the room here, and then we have a number of questions also from our online listeners. If you would like to ask a question, just raise your hand.

Yes. Andreas.

Andreas Nibe Nygård

Andreas Nygård, Nordea. One question on the FIDs you're expecting to reach in the second half of '26.

You're now having a 3.8 billion contract backlog for D&C. If you reach FID, what are you expecting to add to this contract backlog in the second half of this year?

Hans Jakob Hegge

We haven't provided any guiding beyond the contract value, we will have to come back to more specifics. That's a short answer to that.

Andreas Nibe Nygård

Then a second question for me: data centers, is that something that is currently in your pipeline?

Terje Pilskog

Data centers is not in the pipeline specifically, and obviously it always depends on what is included when you ask data centers, is it in our pipelines. Clearly, data centers is always also being planned and developed in the countries where we are operating, and will contribute to the demand for renewable energy also in the markets where we are.

We do absolutely see benefits also for us from the current growth in data centers on a global basis.

Andreas Nibe Nygård

Given that you're on the ground, for instance in Egypt and South Africa, how have the discussions surrounding data centers evolved over the last 6 to 12 months, and what is the potential scale for potential clients of yours with that regard?

Terje Pilskog

I think we are not going to sort of provide any speculation on that now. We obviously, as I said, we do see that data center activity is moving also in our region and in our countries.

Then we will rather come back to that more specifically when there are something concrete on that.

Andreas Nibe Nygård

Thank you.

Anyone else would like to ask a question in the room? No.

Then we go over to our questions from our online listeners. We have one question about Egypt Green Hydrogen.

What is the latest on Egypt Green Hydrogen? When is an FID expected, and are you on schedule for the delivery is planned under the H2Global mechanism?

Terje Pilskog

Yes, on the EGH project, together with our partner Fertiglobe, we have everything prepared for that project, and we are now awaiting certain clarifications in terms of regulations from the EU, and subject to getting those, we will be able to move forward, and we will also be able to meet the contract obligations that Fertiglobe has towards H2Global.

A question about El Niño in the Philippines. Can you talk about the expected impact of El Niño and potentially super El Niño on the Philippines business and other geographies, such as Brazil?

Thank you.

Terje Pilskog

I think all our current perspectives on El Niño and weather in general are included in our outlook and our guidance in terms of what we are seeing going forward. As we've said in the presentation today, the probability of a strong El Niño towards the end of this year and beginning of next year is still high, but also, as we have been presented, when it comes to the Philippines, we have a technology portfolio, and there is flexibility in terms of how we operate in that market, there are other ways of managing that portfolio.

Thank you, Terje. One from, two questions from Jørgen Lande.

Good morning. With the Obelisk project delivered well into Q3, should we expect further contingency releases also in Q3?

Terje Pilskog

Obviously this is our Q2 report, and we release quite a lot of contingencies now at the end of Q2, but we were still not finished with the project at the end of Q2. Whether or not there will be any additional, that's subject to completing the project and having no surprises now towards the end.

Another one about Egypt. Good morning.

With the Obelisk project now delivered, your construction team in Egypt is idle. What are the remaining factors to reach before you can start construction on Energy Valley and/or Egypt Aluminium?

Terje Pilskog

From a permitting point of view and from securing everything that we need to move forward on those projects, everything is in place. What we are currently obviously working on now is preparing the EPC part, the execution part, as well as completing the processes with the lending banks to make sure that we get through and finalize all agreements with the lenders, that we finalize due diligence with the lenders, and that is a certain process we need to get through.

Also, some of the lenders also have disclosure periods that we have to wait for. Once all of these things, which I consider more of administrative activities given that we've been through them many times before, we will be ready to reach financial close.

As I've said, we expect that to happen for all these three projects over the next six months.

Two questions from Anees Seyed. Given the increasing consolidated net interest-bearing debt and the declining total liquidity on a consolidated basis, can you provide more detail on the expected trajectory of net debt and liquidity over the second half of 2026, including contribution from project distributions, working capital, and potential asset rotations?

Hans Jakob Hegge

I think I will repeat what I said in the first quarter, that this will vary over time as our activity is high, overall, we have a strong liquidity position, and we also have the increased RCF, so. The trend is the debt has been reduced over time, but NIBD will vary also with cash and working capital, as happened in this quarter.

Could you walk us through the accounting of the Taskdu construction contract? We included 255 million of revenues in the consolidated accounts.

Just explain a little bit of the effects there.

Hans Jakob Hegge

Yeah. Lyra is not a consolidated entity, when it's not a consolidated entity, the revenues and the EPC contract is then recognized in the consolidated accounts.

Unfortunately, according to IFRS, we are not able to include 100% of the margin in the consolidated accounts, we can only recognize 50% of the margin in the consolidated accounts according to IFRS. This is something for the ones that are deep into accounting.

Yeah.

One question on Colombia. What is your take on the new administration in Colombia?

Do you anticipate any change in energy policy?

Terje Pilskog

I'm not going to comment on sort of policy changes in Colombia now. I think it's too early, but so far, we have not seen any indications of change there.

It's another one also connected to this Taskdu project. I can just confirm that the cost of sales that we have in the console is related to the Taskdu project.

That was the question. With that, we've been through all the questions.

I think then we end the presentation and thank everyone for listening. Thank you.

Terje Pilskog

Thank you.

Hans Jakob Hegge

Thank you.