Good morning and welcome to the presentation of Aker's first quarter results for 2025. My name is Christina Schartum and I am Head of Communications at Aker. We will begin today's presentation with Aker's President and CEO, Øyvind Eriksen, who will take you through the quarterly highlights and recent developments in the portfolio. Our Chief Financial Officer, Svein Oskar Stoknes, will then cover the quarterly financials in more detail. After the presentation, we will host a Q&A session. With that, I hand it over to Øyvind Eriksen.
Thank you, Christina, and good morning, everyone. Before we dive into the first quarter results, I want to address this morning's announcement regarding Aker Horizons and Aker Carbon Capture. To summarize, the transaction includes the following steps. First, Aker Horizons. Aker Horizons will merge with Aker Against Consideration, whereby Aker Horizons shareholders will receive shares in Aker ASA and cash for each Aker Horizons share. Aker ASA will use treasury shares or issue new shares to settle this. Using existing cash, Aker Horizons' NOK 2.5 billion Green Bond will be redeemed before its maturity date in August, which will reduce future interest costs. Bondholders in the convertible loan will be offered a buyout option at 93% of the par value before maturity. Aker Capital will retain NOK 1.3 billion of the NOK 1.6 billion loan.
The second transaction is with Aker Carbon Capture, whereby Aker acquires Aker Carbon Capture's 20% ownership interest in the joint venture with SLB, SLB Capturi, for a cash consideration. A counter guarantee will be offered by Aker to cover the ACC parent company's guarantees and liabilities toward SLB. This will increase distributable reserves in the ACC and its subsidiary, ensuring a significant liquidity event. The company will retain a small amount of cash to cover costs until liquidation. At Aker, we have explored numerous options to achieve a comprehensive refinancing and restructuring of Aker Horizons and its subsidiaries. Today's announcement reflects independent assessment by Aker, Aker Horizons, and Aker Carbon Capture, supported by our respective advisors, and we believe this serves the best interests of all stakeholders. It's worth noting that the situation facing the two companies is markedly different.
Aker Horizons has over time faced mounting operational, financial, and market challenges, including delays, rising input costs, and inconsistent policy support across key markets. A significant part of these challenges stems from Mainstream , whose performance has weighed heavily on the company. In turn, these issues ultimately led to sustained underperformance and material losses for the company. Aker Carbon Capture, on the other hand, is a bright spot. ACC's transaction with SLB unlocked NOK 4.1 billion in value and a 20% stake in the joint venture SLB Capturi. However, as ACC has communicated, no future earnout is expected from the transaction. Given this and the fact that SLB holds an option to acquire ACC's minority share in SLB Capturi in two years, both ACC and Aker have concluded that the most value-accretive path forward is to return capital to shareholders.
This decision removes the rationale for maintaining a public listing or continuing standalone operation. Aker will remain a 20% shareholder in SLB Capturi and continue the collaboration and strategic partnership with SLB, including through SLB OneSubsea and the ongoing partnership with Cognite. Since Aker Horizons raised NOK 4.6 billion in January 2021 at NOK 35 per share, its share price has declined by 96%. At the time of listing, Aker's ownership stake was valued at NOK 16.3 billion. Today, our 67% interest in Aker Horizons is valued at approximately NOK 600 million, equivalent to just NOK 8 per Aker share. Our total cash investment in Aker Horizons has been NOK 2.9 billion. Despite significant losses for Aker related to Aker Horizons, our perspective remains long-term. Aker will continue to develop the existing assets and take steps to protect and rebuild shareholder value through more focused capital deployment.
In Mainstream, activities have been scaled down, and the company is focusing on managing the opportunities and risks in a few key areas, including South Africa, Australia, and Chile. In Northern Norway, Aker will continue to pursue long-term industrial opportunities centered around Narvik, where Aker Horizons holds a number of powered land sites, including a fully permitted construction-ready site at Kvandal with access to 230 MW of grid capacity. With abundant clean hydropower and a supportive industrial environment, the region is well-suited for large-scale AI infrastructure requiring high energy efficiency and secure, scalable power. Realizing projects of this magnitude demands financial strength, industrial capability, and strategic foresight, qualities Aker is especially well-positioned to bring to bear. Now, moving on to the first quarter and the current market landscape.
In my nearly 17 years of presenting quarterly results for Aker, I have rarely experienced such fluctuations in market sentiment and the news cycle between quarter end and publishing of results. Since the beginning of April, we've seen the start of a trade war, extreme market volatility, a weakening US dollar, increasingly complex U.S.-China relations, and the contours of a new world order. The result is unpredictability that reverberated through global markets. Our task is to understand complexities and opportunities relevant to our industrial portfolio and capabilities, combining a view of trends and markets with a broader role in creating long-term value for shareholders and societies. The first quarter contributed positively despite volatilities and uncertainties. Aker reported a net asset value of NOK 61.9 billion, compared to NOK 58.2 billion at the close of 2024.
The share price closed at NOK 622, up 13% during the quarter, compared to a 6% increase in the Oslo Stock Exchange Benchmark Index and a flat Brent oil price. Despite lower oil and gas prices following President Trump's Liberation Day on April 2nd, Aker BP has been near flat year-to-date, and Aker's share price has increased, still outperforming a turbulent Oslo Stock Exchange and global indices. Our strategic priorities and portfolio design criteria remain focused on net asset value development, attractive and predictable dividends to Aker shareholders, as well as increased upstream cash flow from our portfolio companies, fewer and larger investments, and companies in growth segments through cycles. A few examples from the quarter include Philly Shipyard, which, following the sale to Hanwha, announced that most of the transaction proceeds will be distributed to shareholders. Consequently, the natural next step for Philly is a liquidation of the company.
Second, Solstad Maritime, which next week plans to list the company on the Oslo Stock Exchange, and as a part of this, American Shipping Company will distribute all its Solstad Maritime shares and excess cash to shareholders in connection with the IPO. There will be no operational business or activities left in American Shipping Company, and the intention is to liquidate the company following the IPO. Moreover, Aker's long-term steadfast investment in low-cost, low-emission oil and gas projects, even as others anticipated a decline, demonstrates our commitment to strategic foresight and resilience in an ever-evolving world. With a clear pathway to sustain production above 500,000 bbl per day beyond 2030, ambitions for further growth and top-quality organization and assets, Aker BP continues to be an important operator on the Norwegian continental shelf and a significant source of upstream dividends to Aker.
This is especially driven by the Johan Sverdrup field, which underscores the importance of world-class quality assets with its continued outperformance of expectations. The company also has an unwavering focus on quality, including the use of technology and AI, and practices that drive down costs and emissions to record-low levels. Further, the company uses a range of hedging instruments to manage its economic exposure and mitigate risks associated with fluctuations in commodity prices, interest rates, and foreign exchange rates. No other listed share correlates tighter with the oil price than the Aker BP share price, making planning and foresight all the more important in today's market environment. Lastly, in Aker Solutions, the main task today is to deliver on the record-large oil and gas project portfolio. However, I'm also pleased to see positive development in other segments.
OneSubsea, in which Aker Solutions holds a 20% ownership, is already seeing strong financial results and has an attractive dividend policy with ambitions to distribute more than $250 million during 2025. With market-based trading multiples, the ownership stake in OneSubsea constitutes a significant portion of Aker Solutions' market cap at present. For us and other shareholders, this serves as a valuable safeguard against varying activities and results in other segments. Going forward, Aker's ownership focus for Aker Solutions is on a strong balance sheet to maintain predictable and robust project delivery, predictable dividends, and a gradual positioning for growth in new segments. The current geopolitical and market climate underscores the timeliness of our focus on fewer, larger cash-generative holdings, which helps us maintain financial strength and flexibility.
Predictability of upstream cash flow to Aker is important, and shareholders can rest assured that Aker will uphold the dividend policy of 4%-6% of net asset value per year. The board has approved a dividend of NOK 26.5 per share for the first half of 2025, and in line with previous years, a second tranche will be considered by the board in the second half of the year. If the additional dividend equals the proposed ordinary dividend, the total dividend paid in 2025 will be NOK 53 per share. With few exceptions, Aker's portfolio has limited direct exposure to the current proposed tariffs. However, in the absence of economic stability, investors and policymakers alike are eyeing a potential shift in the global financial order.
While our portfolio companies are less exposed to the direct impact of the trade war, there are potentially enormous indirect impacts, including on currencies, inflation, and deflation, as well as effects on global supply chains. Investment decisions are being reconsidered, and activity levels may be reduced due to the prevailing uncertainty. It's difficult to understand the direct consequences of the current policy changes, but even more challenging to grasp the indirect ones. That's why ensuring balanced scenario-based planning, prudent risk assessment, and strong financial position is paramount to ensure that both Aker, as well as the boards and leadership of our portfolio companies, are equipped to strategically navigate uncertainties ahead.
A healthy balance sheet, including over 70% of our gross asset value in listed assets and cash, a low loan-to-value ratio, investment-grade rating, as well as a portfolio of companies which operate as independent entities, are all measures in line with Aker's strategy to remain both resilient and ready to seize emerging opportunities. Now, taking a closer look at our portfolio composition as of March 31st this year, our portfolio of listed companies, as seen on the left-hand side, ended the year with a gross asset value of NOK 641 per share, while our unlisted investments had a gross asset value of NOK 191 per share. Subtracting the debt and comparing this to our current share price, we believe there is a good potential for continued shareholder value creation moving forward. Our unlisted portfolio has several potential catalysts for crystallizing value moving forward.
Like our investments in industrial companies, we are likely to turn to AI as a partial solution to mitigate the effects and accelerate the digitalization initiatives to increase productivity, efficiency, and cost savings. Aker's industrial software companies, Cognite and Aize, can capitalize on this situation, much like during COVID-19, when supply chain disruptions elevated supply chain management to a board-level priority. Cognite Data Fusion, or CDF, continues to be a key enabler for industry, driving digital transformation and operational efficiency. By integrating data from various sources, CDF provides actionable insights that help industrial companies optimize their operations, reduce costs, improve productivity, and leverage AI to stay competitive and navigate the complexities of the current market environment. Cognite continues to perform well and expand its commercial global presence.
It's ramping up its organization in the U.S. around the new headquarter in Phoenix, Arizona, and recently inaugurated its India Center of Excellence, further solidifying its commitment to leveraging AI for industrial growth. Cognite's annual recurring revenue, ARR for short, had a strong start to the year, surpassing the $100 million milestone in the quarter, and is now showing a promising outlook for the full year. Being invested in several sectors of strategic and geopolitical importance, Aker approaches the new reality with a balanced perspective. Our strategic priorities and portfolio design criteria remain focused on net asset value development, attractive and predictable dividends to Aker shareholders, as well as increased upstream cash flow from our portfolio companies. We build on our industrial and financial expertise, practice active ownership, and most importantly, create added value through transactions.
Aker BP and OneSubsea illustrate this approach, while our software companies demonstrate how we innovate based on our existing capabilities. All of this is underpinned by consistent strategy and decisive ownership and leadership through shifting market cycles. Active ownership also means making adjustments when needed. Over the past year, we have sharpened our focus, concentrating the portfolio around fewer larger companies where we see the greatest potential for long-term value creation. We have prioritized investments aligned with long-term megatrends like the energy transition and digitalization, while also setting clear expectations for improved capital efficiency and stronger cash flow over time. These are not passive bets on the future, but areas where we bring industrial insights and a hands-on approach to unlock value. In some cases, protecting long-term value has required more decisive action, as exemplified by the current situation in Aker Horizons.
The transactions announced today are steps to clean up a financially complex situation and position companies for more focused development and private ownership. Growth is not linear, and when setbacks occur, they should be viewed in the context of the overall portfolio and our long-term strategy and performance. Looking across the portfolio, important investments like Aker BP, Aker Solutions, and Cognite continue to develop positively, and in sum, more than compensates for Aker Horizons and a few other underperforming businesses. That's why we today are reporting yet another quarter with good progress for Aker. In short, Aker remains committed to building value through active ownership, strategic clarity, and discipline to act when needed, always with a long-term perspective. That's it. I now hand it over to Svein Oskar Stoknes, who will take you through the first quarter financial in more details.
Thank you, Øyvind, and good morning.
I will start off spending a few minutes on Aker's financial investments before I go through the first quarter results in some more detail. The financial investments portfolio accounted for 18% of Aker's total assets, or NOK 12.7 billion, up NOK 1 billion from the previous quarter. As before, the main components on the financial investments are cash, listed financial investments, other equity investments, real estate, interest-bearing receivables, and non-interest-bearing assets, all of which I will now go through in some more detail. Then, as usual, starting with cash. Our cash holdings represented 1% of Aker's gross asset value, or NOK 1 billion, up NOK 381 million from the previous quarter. The cash inflows were dividends received of NOK 1.6 billion, of which NOK 936 million from Aker BP, NOK 496 million from Philly Shipyard , NOK 98 million from Solstad Maritime, and NOK 97 million from AMSC.
The main cash outflows in the quarter were primarily debt repayment of NOK 500 million and interest-bearing loans to portfolio companies of NOK 387 million, of which NOK 223 million to Cognite and NOK 100 million to Aker Property Group. Cash outflow for operating expenses and net interest were NOK 214 million in the quarter. Listed investments included in our financial portfolio represented about 3% of Aker's total assets at the end of the quarter, or NOK 2.3 billion. This was up NOK 66 million from the previous quarter, mainly driven by the inclusion under listed financial investments of our ownership stake in SalMar, following the sale of Aker's 15% ownership stake in SalMar Aker Ocean. The settlement consisted of 1 million shares in SalMar, in addition to a cash consideration of NOK 76 million. This was partly offset by a value decrease of our investment in Philly Shipyard of NOK 460 million.
This came as a consequence of the extraordinary dividend paid by the company following the successful completion of the transaction with Hanwha. Next, other financial investments that combined represented 14% of Aker's gross asset value, or NOK 9.4 billion in total. Aker's real estate holding, Aker Property Group, stood at a book value of NOK 1.9 billion at the end of the quarter, up from NOK 1.8 billion in the previous quarter. The increase was driven by a new interest-bearing loan issued of NOK 100 million. Interest-bearing receivables totaled NOK 4.5 billion, up from NOK 4.3 billion in the previous quarter, primarily due to a loan issued to Cognite of $20 million. The main part of interest-bearing receivables consists of a NOK 2 billion loan and a NOK 1.3 billion convertible loan to Aker Horizons.
Non-interest-bearing assets ended at NOK 0.8 billion, slightly up from NOK 0.7 billion in the previous quarter, driven by prepaid expenses and value increases of our total return swaps of NOK 47 million. Other equity investments ended the quarter at NOK 1.7 billion, slightly up from NOK 1.6 billion in the previous quarter. Let's move to the first quarter financial highlights for Aker ASA and holding companies. I will start with the balance sheet. As a reminder, in our accounts, we use the lowest of historic cost and market values. At quarter end, the book value of our investments amounted to NOK 27.5 billion, a decrease of NOK 623 million during the quarter. This decrease is primarily explained by negative value adjustments in Aker Horizons of NOK 463 million and Solstad Offshore of NOK 101 million.
The book value of our equity was NOK 25.7 billion at quarter end, up NOK 743 million, explained by profit before tax in the quarter. The fair value adjusted assets, or gross asset value, totaled NOK 68.7 billion. Subtracting for debt and the ordinary dividend allocation, the net asset value was NOK 60 billion at the end of the quarter. This equaled NOK 807 per share, and the value adjusted equity ratio was 87% after allocation for dividend. Aker had liabilities of NOK 8.7 billion at the end of the quarter, of which bond debt and bank loans totaled NOK 6.5 billion. The liabilities at year end also included the NOK 2 billion dividend allocation for 2024, representing NOK 26.5 per share, and this dividend will be distributed now in May. Aker's financial position remains robust, with a total liquidity buffer of NOK 9.3 billion, including undrawn credit facilities and liquid funds.
The net interest-bearing debt was NOK 0.8 billion at the end of the quarter, down from NOK 2 billion at the previous quarter. Our loan to value was 8%, and about 70% of our gross asset value is in listed assets and cash. In terms of our debt maturity profile, the weighted average debt maturity was 3.7 years at the end of the quarter. In the quarter, bank loans totaling NOK 500 million were repaid, and the maturity of the remaining bank facilities was extended by one year to 2028. Taking available credit lines and the extension options on the bank loans into consideration, the implicit maturity of the total loan portfolio would be approximately 4.9 years. To the income statement. The operating expenses in the first quarter were NOK 100 million.
During the quarter, Aker booked a total dividend income from Aker BP, Philly Shipyard, Solstad Maritime, and AMSC of NOK 1.7 billion. The net value change in the quarter was negative NOK 628 million, mainly explained by a value decrease in Aker Horizons of NOK 463 million and Solstad Offshore of NOK 101 million. Our net other financial items were negative NOK 189 million. This was mainly explained by a net foreign exchange loss of NOK 167 million in the quarter. The profit before tax was then NOK 741 million in the quarter. Thank you. That was the end of today's presentation, and we can then move on to Q&A.
Thank you, Svein Oskar. We will now go to the first questions. First question is from Øyvind Fagerø. Good morning and congratulations on the swift spring cleaning of the portfolio. I have three questions.
Given Aker's strong leadership, track record, and talented team, would you agree that the company has underperformed for some time? Can we expect Aker to capitalize on the current macroeconomic environment? Do you have the right strategy in place to once again become the leading star and benchmark for the industry?
First, about performance. Our task is to develop Aker's portfolio of investments longer term and to deliver a longer term return to our shareholders, both measured by net asset value and dividend. The numbers are speaking for themselves. We today report first quarter 2025, during which we have outperformed the market. Our longer term return to shareholders has also been very, very strong, both measured by NAV and also by increasing dividend to shareholders.
I don't agree that we have underperformed, but a company like Aker, investing in cyclical businesses like energy, will have a changing return quarter by quarter. The next question about taking advantage of this very different capital market. The answer is obviously yes. It's Aker's DNA to turn market environments like this into investment opportunities for Aker. At the same time, the uncertainties are significant and real, so we will approach investment opportunities with discipline and apply consistently our investment criteria, both measured by value potential as well as cash flow. The last question was about Aker as a benchmark for different industries.
The point of departure is our current portfolio investments with Aker BP in oil and gas as the most efficient producer offshore globally, measured both by emissions and cost, with Cognite as one of the fastest growing industrial software companies in the world, with an opportunity to build a champion in the data center AI factory space in the northern part of Norway, and the other assets in the portfolio. I think combined with our track record for creating additional shareholder value through M&A, the short answer is definitely yes. I think we are a benchmark in our existing industries, and we are committed to continue to build our existing portfolio and consider investments in new segments.
Great, thank you. As there are no other questions, that concludes today's presentation. Thank you for tuning in.