Good morning, and thanks for joining us for the Q2 update for Arendals Fossekompani. My name is Benjamin Golding, and I am the CEO of Arendals Fossekompani. Together with me here today is CFO Lars Peder Fensli. Arendals Fossekompani is a long-term industrial investment company. We invest in B2B growth companies operating within the energy and/or technology space. We drive sustainable value creation in our portfolio companies through active ownership. Today, Arendals Fossekompani holds six main investments. Our companies have presence across the globe. Over time, AFK has built a diversified portfolio of B2B companies focused on industrial technology and energy. Volue is a software company operating in the intersection of technology and energy. ENRX and Tekna are world leaders in cutting-edge industrial technologies related to advanced materials, additive manufacturing, and induction heating solutions. NSSLGlobal delivers secure satellite communication services.
Hydropower is our oldest business, producing a yearly output of around 500 GWh . In addition to this, AFK also owns a real estate portfolio consisting of properties related to our businesses, as well as local real estate development projects. Our portfolio is well-positioned vis-à-vis megatrends shaping global markets. The energy transition is driving growth in Volue, ENRX, and our hydropower business. Digitization and AI are accelerating growth in Volue and NSSLGlobal, while de-globalization and rising defense spending is supporting demand for both NSSLGlobal's secure communications and Tekna's advanced materials. We have controlling interests in all our companies except Volue, where we hold 36% and co-own the company together with Advent International, TA Associates, and Generation Investment Management. Our current portfolio spans the entire life cycle, from startup through growth equity to mature companies. In the middle, we find our growth companies.
These are material in size, have mature business models, and access to a wide range of financing options to fuel growth. Our priorities for these companies is to develop value using a typical private equity toolbox, while at the same time maintaining the unique benefit that comes with our long-term ownership horizon, our deep industrial roots, and our flexibility in terms of partnership models. The mature businesses on the right-hand side generate cash to be used for dividends, acquisitions, and driving organic and inorganic growth in the rest of the portfolio. Our business model is to create value through forward-looking investment, disciplined capital allocation, and active ownership. On the left-hand side, we find our startup companies. Our strategy is to reduce our exposure to such early-phase businesses over time.
We divest when we assess that we are no longer the best owner, and we continuously work to optimize our portfolio composition to ensure sustainable balance between cash generation on one hand and attractive capital allocation options on the other. Now, let's take a look at highlights from the quarter. Q2 was marked by strong operating results across our core portfolio companies. Group revenue ended at NOK 884 million for the quarter. The 2% decline year-on-year was primarily driven by softer markets for ENRX, partly offset by a strong quarter for hydropower. Operating profit, on the other hand, came in at NOK 123 million , up from NOK 32 million in the same quarter last year and corresponding to a 14% profit margin. The strong result was driven by hydropower, ENRX, and Tekna.
Volue delivered 17% growth in recurring revenue at an adjusted pro forma cash EBITDA margin of 16%, while continuing to deliver on its M&A agenda. In July, we closed the previously announced transaction with TA Associates. The transaction resulted in net cash proceeds of EUR 36 million for Arendals Fossekompani. Our ownership share in Volue is now 36%. ENRX's operational focus continued paying off in the quarter with pickup in order intake and significant profitability increases despite a somewhat lower top line. Tekna reported 18% revenue growth and delivered its fourth consecutive quarter with positive adjusted EBITDA. NSSLGlobal reported a softer quarter, primarily due to delayed project invoicing. The hydropower business delivered an operating profit of NOK 104 million, corresponding to an operating margin of 80%. Now, let's take a closer look at our main portfolio companies.
Volue is one of Norway's largest software companies and the leading provider of software solutions for energy and grid in Europe. The company aims to become the number one technology provider for the European energy system before 2030. Volue recorded another strong quarter with revenue up 15% year-on-year to EUR 37.6 million and recurring revenue growing at 17%, reflecting continued SaaS expansion across Europe and Japan. Growth in the quarter was broad-based across all three business units. Operations Intelligence grew recurring revenue by 21%, Commercial Operations 25%, and Technical Operations 11%. Volue entered 2026 with a strengthened commercial and leadership platform following significant investment in 2025 to support the company's next growth phase. These investments are increasingly translating into commercial momentum, with Q2 bookings up 45% year-on-year on an organic basis, and a strong and growing backlog entering into the second half of 2026.
Volue continues executing its M&A strategy, and in Q2, FlexPowerHub, a provider of ancillary bidding intelligence, was acquired. The company will enhance Volue's optimization and trading business. After the close of the quarter, Volue also announced an indicative, non-binding offer for Energy One, an energy software company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. This is in line with Volue's active M&A agenda. Looking ahead, Volue expects organic growth in line with the current rate, margin uplift year-on-year, and an active M&A agenda. With the investments in the commercial and organizational platform now largely in place and the cost base expected to remain broadly stable, we expect to see increasing operating leverage in the second half of this year, translating into year-on-year margin expansion. ENRX is a leading manufacturer of industrial heating solutions based on induction technology. Revenue came in at EUR 33 million, down from EUR 37 million last year.
The decline was primarily driven by East Asia. Despite lower revenues, operating profit improved significantly to EUR 3.1 million, up from EUR 1.2 million. This corresponds to a 9% operating margin, up from 3% year-on-year. The strong profitability improvement was driven by the cost reduction initiatives executed in the fourth quarter flowing through, together with the elimination of charges operating losses. Although market conditions remain challenging, order intake for the quarter was EUR 42 million, up from EUR 34 million last year. The 22% increase year-on-year indicates the market is gradually recovering, particularly in North America and West Asia. The order backlog stands at EUR 67 million, up from EUR 62 million, reflecting the pickup in the order intake.
Looking ahead, we expect heating markets to remain challenging for the coming 12 months, while ENRX's cost base has been aligned to the current activity level. Cost and capital discipline remain a key priority for the company.
Further actions will be taken should conditions deteriorate. ENRX is well-positioned to navigate this environment and deliver on profitability and cash generation. NSSLGlobal provides secure satellite communication solutions for defense, government, and the maritime sector. Revenue came in at GBP 23 million, flat compared to Q2 last year. Operating profit for the quarter ended at GBP 3.3 million, down from GBP 4.6 million. The decline was largely due to delayed project invoicing in the quarter. NSSLGlobal secured GBP 4 million in contracts across corporate, government, and maritime sectors, including GBP 3.2 million in new business. The pipeline remains strong, with 12 multimillion-pound opportunities lined up for 2026 onwards. Looking at the broader industry, the introduction of the LEO constellations is putting sustained pressure on airtime margins. In response, NSSLGlobal is shifting its mix toward higher value-added services.
These are structurally lower margin, but they strengthen our long-term relevance for military, government, and maritime customers. Geopolitical dynamics continue to drive elevated government activity, which we expect to persist in the near term. Tekna is a leading manufacturer of plasma systems and metal powders used for 3D printing for defense, aerospace, medical, and automotive industries. The company delivered 18% top-line growth in the quarter, driven by sustained aerospace and defense demand in materials and order and project execution in systems. Tekna posted its fourth consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA at $1.4 million. This corresponds to a 12.8% margin and a year-on-year improvement of $3.4 million. The profitability improvement was driven by higher revenue, better contribution margins, and the sustained effects from the company's cost reduction program.
Order intake more than doubled year-over-year to $19 million, anchored by an $11.5 million system order from a new U.S. critical minerals customer, resulting in a book-to-bill ratio of 1.8. Total backlog reached a record $28.5 million, up 36% year-on-year, extending revenue visibility into 2027 and underpinning production planning for the year ahead. Looking ahead, reshoring trends, additive manufacturing adoption, and rising defense spending continue to support our long-term ambition of double-digit annual revenue growth toward 2030. Q2 hydropower production was 124 GWh , more than double Q2 last year. The average power price was EUR 96.5 per GWh , up 65% year-on-year. As a result, revenue ended at NOK 129 million and operating profit ended at NOK 104 million, corresponding to an operating margin of 80%. I will now hand over to CFO Lars Peder Fensli, who will provide additional comments on the financials.
As Benjamin has already commented, we are very pleased to present a solid quarter across all our portfolio companies. Total revenue for the group amounted to NOK 884 million, whilst consolidated operating profit ended at NOK 123 million, corresponding to an operating margin of 14%. The increase reflects high revenue levels in AFK Vannkraft, as well as improved profitability in ENRX and Tekna. Impairments of NOK 34 million, largely related to restructuring processes in Veyt, had an adverse effect on operating profit in the quarter. Recognized share of loss from Faraday Topco was NOK 16 million, resulting in earnings before tax coming in at NOK 63 million, whilst consolidated earnings after tax landed at NOK -23 million. As a reminder, the negative earnings after tax reflects the high effective tax rate, including the resource rent tax applicable to Norwegian hydropower. Arendals Fossekompani parent company's financial position remains solid.
Available cash end of quarter amounted to NOK 491 million. In addition, the parent company has undrawn credit facilities of NOK 2.1 billion, securing available liquidity of NOK 2.6 billion. Net debt, which excludes shareholder loans, was at the end of the quarter NOK 246 million. Looking into the year, total revenue for 2026 is expected to be in line with last year, whilst operating profit is expected to be significantly higher, driven by expected margin recovery in ENRX and improved operating profits in Tekna and AFK Vannkraft. Looking into the portfolio, NSSLGlobal expects operating profit in 2026 to be lower than last year, whilst the rest of the core portfolio companies expects operating profit to improved compared to 2025. With that, I will have Benjamin join me.
Thank you, Lars Peder. Finally, let's recap our priorities. Our overarching goal is to deliver an attractive total shareholder return through actively building net asset value over time. We do this by working on three key priorities. We develop value in our existing portfolio companies through active ownership. We work to optimize the overall portfolio, both to ensure a composition that provides the best possible risk-adjusted return, but also to ensure balance between cash generation on the one hand and attractive capital allocation options on the other. We identify and execute value-creating transactions and structural opportunities, both at the portfolio level and at the parent company level. An underlying prerequisite for this is a strong balance sheet that gives us financial flexibility to support our existing portfolio, but also to capture opportunities as they become actionable. Now we move on to the Q&A session.
We'll take a couple of minutes to review the questions before we begin.
Welcome back. We have received three questions, so we'll go through them one by one. Benjamin, we'll start with the first one. It's about ENRX. ENRX, 9% operating margin was a positive surprise. Should we think of this as a structural turning point or a one-off? Is the improvement mainly cost-driven?
ENRX did indeed deliver an increased result despite a lower revenue. I think there are two main drivers of that. One is the cost initiatives that were implemented in Q4 last year and that are flowing through both last quarter and this quarter, but also the elimination of the charge operating losses after that divestment of that business. These are both structural and lasting changes to the cost base, which is now dimensioned for the current activity level. Obviously, cost discipline will continue to be a key priority for ENRX. Yes, the improvements this quarter on the bottom line are clearly cost-driven. Revenue was down year-on-year. On the other hand, we see that order intake was up 22%, which indicates a pickup in commercial momentum, although this will still take some time to convert into revenue.
I think, as we say, we still expect the heating market to be challenging for the coming 12 months.
Yeah. Then we'll move to Volue. Volue's growth was more or less in line with expectations, but cash EBITDA margins of 16% was a little disappointing compared to quarter two last year. How are you thinking about this?
Well, I think the margin this quarter reflects deliberate investments that we've made into the commercial and the organizational platform, and these are front-loaded costs that we've done in order to drive continued growth. Those investments are now largely in place, and we expect the cost base to remain broadly at the same level from here. At the same time, we see that bookings year-on-year are 45% up, which I think is a good proof point that the investments are indeed working. Based on this, we do expect increasing operating leverage throughout the second part of this year. We do still guide that Volue remains on track to delivering a rule of 40 performance in 2026.
Yep. Last one about Tekna. Tekna delivered 13% adjusted EBITDA margin in the quarter. What makes you confident this is a sustainable profitability level and not the effect of one large systems order?
Well, first of all, the revenue in the quarter only contained a small part due to the systems order, which will be taken as revenue for many quarters forward. The larger picture, however, is that Tekna is indeed on track to delivering double-digit revenue growth toward 2030 as the company also guides itself. This is supported by both the order intake and the order backlog, but also the fact that we see that orders are steadily increasing in size. It is reshoring, a localization of manufacturing, and increased defense spending that is the underlying drivers for Tekna's growth in Tekna's markets. This quarter, we also have a record backlog, which creates good visibility both through this year and well into 2027.
At the same time, Tekna has over the past two or three years, developed a very strong cost culture focus, and the headcount is in fact reduced by 30% over the last two years. By maintaining indirect personnel costs at current levels, we also here expect increasing operating leverage to expand margins as the revenue continues to grow. We believe that is both achievable and sustainable. Tekna's stated targets for adjusted EBITDA margin is 15%-20%, which we uphold.
Good. By that, we conclude the Q&A session. Thank you all for participating.
Thank you.