Good morning, everybody, and welcome to HAV Group's presentation of the Q4 and Interim 2024 results. We have the same agenda as we have had the last presentations. We start with some highlights from Q4 and some information about the HAV Group in general. We give you a business update on each of the technology segments. Our CFO, Pål Aurvåg, will present the financials, and then we sum up and tell you about how we look for the prospects for the future. Q4 highlights: key developments. We still have a very solid order backlog, NOK 1.2 billion at the end of last year, and that is up 103% from the same quarter in 2023. That is reflecting the very strong order intake in the recent quarters.
We got NOK 200 million of new orders in Q4, and we will see the effect of the new orders coming more strongly into 2025, as the new orders normally have a little bit of lead time. Both for turnover and for profit, you will see more effects during this year. The Q4 revenue was also quite high, NOK 310 million, compared to NOK 113 million in Q4 in 2023. The EBITDA was positive, NOK 7.9 million, which is a strong upturn from last year to minus NOK 26.1 million, and also very strong compared to the last quarters that we have reported. That is especially driven by a significantly improved financial performance in the energy design and smart control technical segment. Also, after the quarter, we have had some good results.
We have got contracts in a new market for the energy design and smart control segment, eight tankers, bulk carriers for Wilson. We have a breakthrough contract in aquaculture, land-based, and we have got total orders up to now for more than NOK 100 million after the quarter. As you see, we also have a very strong cash balance, NOK 250 million at the end of the year. Here is the order book per quarter, order intake per quarter, and also the accumulated order book at the end of Q4. As you see, there is a small drop from Q3. That is mainly that we are still waiting for the big orders for the ship design segment, but both in the energy design and smart control segment, and also in the water treatment systems segment, the order book has grown in the quarter.
We promise our customers to improve their performance, to improve their competitiveness through helping them with advice and optimized solutions throughout the lifecycle of the vessel. We want to be very in close contact with our ship owners and customers. We want to know what their pain points are, and we want to offer our competence and knowledge in order to improve also their competitiveness and bottom line. We are approximately 172 people in the company, mainly in Norway, and some people also in Poland abroad, which is on the ship design department. We are four technology segments: ship design, energy design and smart control systems, hydrogen-based energy systems, and water treatment systems.
We can also deliver total packages where we combine the resources, competence, and technology from all of these segments, also giving us a competitive edge compared to those who do not have this broad spectrum of technology and knowledge. These are the main segments that we are operating in. Offshore wind, we are very strong, especially within SOVs, offshore wind support vessels. We have traditionally been very strong in oil and gas, and we also now see that we can contribute to making the oil and gas support vessel industry greener by offering our solutions. Ferries and RoPax, both smaller cruise vessels and also totally electrified car ferries, are a strong field in our portfolio. We are also within aquaculture, fishery, and short sea cargo. For the ship design business, we are still waiting for the new big orders.
We have a very positive pipeline, sales pipeline, but we see that the projects that we are working on have been postponed. Hopefully, we can give you some good news there in the near future. The result in the quarter is not what we want it to be. The turnover is quite high, but that is due to a large extent of trading of equipment in the period. We also, the result was negatively impacted by loss provisions in one particular project that we are working on. We see when we have a lifecycle attitude towards our customers that they also come back and buy conversion assistance from HAV Design. As I said, we have a very positive sales pipeline, both within offshore wind, aquaculture, and also towards the oil and gas industry.
The energy and design and smart control segment is what we have said for quite a long time is maybe the segment with the strongest growth potential. That has been now evidenced also in the very good order book that they have achieved. We are now more than NOK 1 billion in order book in that segment. We got a lot of very nice contracts in the period. At Green Yard Kleven, we got this wind assisting vessel, new build support vessel. We have now got orders also for the onshore charging stations for the Lavik-Oppedal , the autonomous crossing on the Sognefjord. We have some conversions also in the quarter. After the quarter, we got these Wilson bulk carriers in addition. This is still the segment that we see have now starting to produce good results.
We have also a very strong financial result in the period in Q4, where we also see the strongest growth potential for HAV Group onwards. Also very positive for the water treatment segment. We have built this company, and they have a passion for clean water. The main product up till now has been ballast water treatment systems, which was based on that most vessels needed to have a ballast water treatment system according to IMO regulations. There was a large retrofit boom, which we also had good results from. That retrofit boom has slowed off. We are now focusing the ballast water system for new builds, but we see that we need to add on more markets and more products.
It is very positive to see that the aquaculture market, both for live fish carriers and on land-based installations, as you see here, has finally paid off the investments that we have made in the market and in products there. We are now starting to get very good contracts. Also, these contracts are significantly higher per contract than when you sell one ballast water treatment system. They got one contract, large contract for live fish carrier in Q3. They got also a contract for a land-based system and also for subsequent events. This year, we are signing more contracts both for live fish carriers and also for land-based aquaculture. The hydrogen-based energy systems, we are still working on the technology. As you know, we have got funding for developing a prototype.
We are still in the process towards Maris Fiducia regarding the five bulk carriers that they have got a Enova funding for installing hydrogen. We are still depending and waiting on the final contract between Maris Fiducia, the owner, and the shipyard, where we will then enter into contract negotiations with the shipyard. Here is the order backlog breakdown. As you see, ship design has lower order backlog than Q4 in 2023. You see energy design and smart control system has significantly increased from NOK 250 million to more than NOK 1 billion in order backlog. Water treatment system has approximately the same backlog as last year. The last contracts that we have got this year are not included, of course, in the backlog. This is per Q4. The backlog also for the water treatment system is higher now than it's shown here.
The total development in order backlog and what we are going to make money on in the future is very positive. With that, Pål Aurvåg, our CFO, will give you more details about the financials. Afterwards, we will make a summary and outlook and take questions that are coming. Pål?
Hi. Yeah, it's quite a pleasure today to present the figures. I will go a bit more into the details that Gunnar has shown. If we look at the revenue and the EBITDA in the quarter, it's quite good, especially if we compare with the previous quarters. We see that we have NOK 310 million in revenue. That is quite high if you compare to the previous ones. Also, it's good now to deliver a positive EBITDA in the quarter.
If you look at the details, NOK 310 million with an EBITDA of NOK 7.9 million and an EBIT of NOK 3.6 million, net finance of NOK 6.9 million with a net provision profit, sorry, NOK 10.4 million, and an EBITDA margin of 1.2%. The revenue increase in Q4 last year is mainly driven by higher level of trading, higher service activity, and sales income. As Gunnar said, the recent contract wins are not in the books yet and will be both turnover-wise and profit-wise shown in 2025. Yeah, I think if we compare, especially with the last quarters, but also if we look at the whole year, we see now quite an improvement in your figures. If we look at the details on the different segments, we can start with ship design, quite a high turnover in the period, NOK 180 million and an EBIT of NOK 2.8 million, and quite low margins in total.
This is reflected in very high trading with quite low margins, lost provisions on one specific project, and low capacity utilization. If we look at the water treatment systems, turnover of NOK 17 million with an EBITDA of NOK 1.4 million minus, quite low activity in the quarter, and it is related to transition from sales from the retrofit in the ballast water treatment systems into more service income and also into aquaculture. If we look at the energy design and smart control systems, they are the motor in the Q4, quite high operating income of NOK 122 million, EBITDA of NOK 14.2 million, and a profit before tax of NOK 17.2 million. This is the result of high activity, healthy product portfolio, and high activity in general in the quarter.
As we know, the order book on a billion for the coming years is a very good foundation for having good figures in 2025. If we look at the hydrogen-based systems, the figures indicate, as we said, it's more an R&D and a product development company, still not running on normal sales activity. If we look at the balance sheet, the major changes are on the current asset side, both on receivables and cash, and especially the cash level to NOK 250 million at the end of the year. It's quite good. Also, total receivables have increased quite a lot during the year. This is the result of high activity on the new sale with a lot of new orders and payment from our customers.
If we look at the equity, the changes during the year are not that high, but from Q3 to Q4, we have increased from NOK 40 million to NOK 80 million. This is related to sales of our own shares, approximately NOK 30 million in Q4. Yeah, the covenant, we still have a waiver on the covenant for both for Q4 until Q1. We are working together with the bank to get a new covenant structure. Yeah, we see also on the liability side, it's quite an increase, and the total current liabilities are related to prepayments from our customers. It is normal, higher level when you have higher activity in the business. If we look at the cash flow, we see that we have a positive cash flow from operations, NOK 96.5 million. If we compare to the same period in last year, it was minus NOK 78 million.
Net cash from investment is NOK 4.1 million in the period. This is related to investments in R&D mainly. We have a cash flow from financing activity, positive, NOK 9.3 million. This is related to sales of our own shares in the fourth quarter and also a repayment of the non-current debt to the bank, related to NOK 20 million. In sum, we have a positive cash flow of NOK 101 million, NOK 0.6 million in the quarter. We can also see, if you see on the full year, it is more or less the same as the Q4. It is a very strong quarter cash-wise. I will give back to Gunnar.
Thank you very much, Pål.
To sum up what me and Pål have told you, in Q3, we said that we were going to have a quite much higher turnover top line in 2024 than in 2023 that we have delivered on. We are very happy that we can show you positive EBITDA. It is a significant improvement both from last year and also from the latest quarters. We have got new orders for more than NOK 200 million signed in Q4. That results in a very strong order book for NOK 1.2 billion. What do we think about the future? If you have been following us, you will see that we still say that the global megatrends support our business. You need to reduce emissions. You need to have more efficient vessels. You need to reduce energy consumptions.
We have the technology that supports the owner in their business model to achieve this. Analysis also tells us that the global shipping market is still positive. We think it will remain stable also for the coming years. Predicting is difficult in these times, but that is at least what we think. With regards to the international turmoil that we have had since the election in the U.S., we see that our main business and the majority of what we deliver is either to Norwegian customers or to European customers. That means that we will not, at least not in the foreseeable future, be that much affected by this transcontinental tariff regime, for instance. As we said at the last quarter, we expect significant revenue growth also in 2025 compared to 2024.
That is on the back of a solid order book with margin improvements compared to what we have seen previously. As Pål said, it is quite good for us also to finally present more positive results. We have presented very strong order books so far. Now it is the time to deliver also on the order books and continue to build more order books in order to achieve the growth expectations and growth targets that we have. We go to the Q&A. We have, as usual, got a lot of questions. We will try to answer as many as possible of them. Pål, you have noted what has come in.
Yes. We can start with a question here. Four years on the stock exchange, how will HAV Group reverse the negative trend?
Yes, it has been up and down since we came on the stock market in 2021 for different reasons that I've been addressing also in previous presentations. We see now, at least, that we have turned this in Q4. As what we have said, strong order book with sound margins for the future will be what we will have as a foundation for continuing to deliver more positive results that we have had at least the last year. We see also the market still, even though things are uncertain, looks very positive for us. Our ambitions are still high, and we hope to also deliver more in accordance with what you expect onwards.
Yes. There is a question about HAV Hydrogen. HAV Hydrogen's integrated system was world-leading. What is the timeline for getting it installed on one ship?
That is, of course, depending on what project that will be the first. The most closest that we have now been working on for a while is, of course, this Maris Fiducia 5 container vessel project. To build a vessel takes quite a long time. We will maybe see that installation when it comes to a contract onboard a vessel in 2026, 2027. In general, we see that there is a lead time always when you're putting this type of systems onboard a vessel. The orders can come before, of course, earlier, but the first installations will not, I think, be until 2026, 2027.
Can you tell anything about the R&D project, LNGameChanger ?
Yes, as some of you have noticed, the Forskningsrådet in Norway have awarded a group of companies with us in lead funding to have a pre-development of a new technology, which we find quite interesting and promising. We will be telling more about that not in the far future. If you follow us, you will see that we will come up with what this means for HAV Group and also what it can be as a potential for our customers. I urge you to follow that presentation when we come out with that, hopefully this month.
Yes. Gunnar, there is a question about why has the company chosen not to communicate financial guidance or specific targets? Will HAV Group consider introducing guidance to give investors better sight into expected performance?
We have done what we call soft guiding with some long-term goals.
As you noticed, we stopped doing that the last quarter. The reason is that as for what you see from our turnover, from our cash balance and everything, we are in a quite fluctuating business because we have quite large projects. That also makes it difficult to give very detailed prognosis on the future. We have given you quite good indications now on what we expect for 2025. That will be also followed up through the coming presentations.
Yes. There is a question about is India and Asia exciting markets?
You know, India and China, Vietnam, they are large shipbuilding nations. Our main philosophy is to follow our customers, follow our shipowners. Some of our shipowners, they will be building in these countries. For instance, the Wilson project is built in India.
We are also looking for business opportunities if they present themselves with customers, other customers in those markets. As we said, the main customer base that we have today is in Norway and in Europe. Our main philosophy is to follow our customers wherever they want to go around the world.
What is the feedback from customers and how does it affect HAV's future strategies?
Yeah, that's a quite generic question, but we strive to get and we also try to be in dialogue with the customers to get as much feedback as possible. Of course, one feedback that we are getting a lot and we are using continuously is feedback on our solutions when they are in operation onboard a vessel. That is extremely valuable feedback with regards to developing our technology further to deliver even better solutions to our customers.
Of course, we are also in close contact with our customers to see how their business model is developing, how their market is developing. That is also what we are using in order to plan our strategies. We have a strategy onwards. We have a good strategy based on this market information and the customer information. Of course, we are also now following very closely what will be the effects of the new political situation that we have with tariffs and everything. We are a very agile company also, light-footed, so we can also turn around very quickly as we are also very asset-light. We are adapting our strategy to whatever needs we see and whatever development that we see in the global and in the local framework. Yeah.
With today's international trade conflicts in mind, what risk do you see as the most significant for the company?
As I said, it's difficult to say what risk. We are analyzing the risk. We are talking about experts that can know more about this than us. Everybody, I think now they are a little bit waiting also to see what happens the next day and also what the effects are. We are not so affected in the foreseeable future, but we'll have to continue to monitor this situation also. Also with regards to our plans to go into other markets that may be more affected by the world situation as we see today.
Yes. There are some more financial questions. What is the current status of the refinancing process with DNB? Yeah, it's not a refinancing process. It's changing of the covenants requirements. As we said, we have a waiver and we are working together with DNB with a new covenant structure.
What does the new covenant structure entail and how will it impact HAV Group's financial flexibility for 2025? Yes, as I said, we are in good dialogue with DNB and we are setting a covenant structure that is supporting our growth strategy. We have the flexibility in 2025 to have new orders. Why did you have to sell your shares? Was it gambling with shareholders' values? The sale of the shares was a part of strengthening the equity and a foundation for discussions with the bank for a new covenant structure. Why does HAV Design only deliver 3% margins on NOK 330 million revenue? What costs so much money?
The majority of the turnover to HAV Design is related to trading of equipment with low margins. With that in combination with low capacity utilization in 2024 and also lost provision related to one specific project, we see the result of it. Yes, we agree it should be higher and we are working to have more work. As Gunnar said, hopefully we will be signing up new contracts that will result in better performance for 2024. Sorry, 2025. I am looking into the PC, there are coming in new questions or that. Let me see. Most recent. Yeah, it is margins. We are not guiding on specifics. There is a question about specific project margins next year. Is there anything we have not covered? Asia, margins. There was a question here. It was, why should we believe you now with the history?
Why should the investors believe that 2025 will be better?
I think you have to follow us. We have strong beliefs in ourselves. I think I've said previously also, we can only convince you by evidence providing when you see our results, that is of course the belief, the evidence. We have delivered on order book. We have now started delivering also on turnover and on margins. We have an order book that gives us quite good visibility into 2025 and also in the beginning of 2026. The only thing that we can promise or we can do is work hard, smart, and then show you by delivering. Hopefully we can gain back your confidence when we report our results for the coming quarters.
Yeah. I think that was the, I think the new question here we have covered. It's related to margins and yeah.
Good.
I thank you very much for following us again. I thank you very much for sending us good questions. I hope that we have answered most of your questions. I also hope you will continue following us. After the presentation, of course, Pål, we will go back, work hard, work smart, and developing the company and developing your values as shareholders in our group. Thank you very much.