Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this Q2 presentation for Nekkar. I'm Ole Falk Hansen. I'm the CEO of Nekkar, and today I will give you a short presentation of the highlights from our Q2 and our first half of twenty twenty-four. Afterwards, we will do some Q& A, and I would also like to refer you to the financial report for the first half of twenty twenty-four, which has been published today, so Nekkar, we are an industrial technology company. We focus on efficiency and sustainable solutions for ocean-based industries. We have world-class expertise within engineering, within software, and within complex project execution, and Nekkar acts as an engaged, long-term, active owner of our companies. We have a long-term view, no exit horizon, and we focus on building profitable growth in our companies.
And finally, Nekkar is also flexible in terms of ownership and operating model for our companies in order to maximize success. As an introduction, let me give you a short recap of our current business portfolio, which are now expanding. Syncrolift has always been, and will always be, the long-term global leading provider of shipyard solutions for safe and efficient ship docking. Intellilift is our industrial software company, and Techano provides intelligent load-handling solutions, such as cranes and gangways, in combination with Intellilift for both renewable, subsea, and aquaculture vessels. And now, from this Q3 this year, Globetech is also part of Nekkar, and Globetech is a maritime internet communication provider, which I will explain you more about afterwards.
Furthermore, we have FiiZK, the leading provider of closed cage solutions for the aquaculture industry, and also Skywalker, our innovation project towards a new disruptive wind turbine service machine, which we are developing. We have seen a significant expansion of Nekkar business activities over the last year. From being primarily a Syncrolift-only company in the Q1 of 2023, to today's situation, where both Techano Oceanlift, FiiZK, and now also Globetech, has been added to the portfolio. And in addition, Syncrolift continues to grow organically in the same period.
In Nekkar, we believe in a structured approach to both organic and inorganic growth, as well as portfolio optimization, and this has led to approximately a doubling of the revenue of Nekkar in the period from about 100 million NOK in the Q 1 of 2023, to now over 200 million NOK in the Q 2, if you include both FiiZK and the Globetech revenue. And on top of this, we also continue to grow the Syncrolift with double-digit figures. The Nekkar portfolio is focused on ocean-based industries, and more specifically, targeting four business segments, as you can see illustrated here.
Syncrolift, primarily a shipyard business, operator. Techano Oceanlift, both for renewables, aquaculture, and the offshore energy industry. Intellilift, delivering to all Nekkar companies, in addition to the offshore energy segment. And also now Globetech as a service provider of connectivity and software solutions for the maritime industry. FiiZK is a pure-play aquaculture player, and Skywalker targeting the offshore wind turbine service market. Let's move to the highlights for the Q2. In the Q2 of twenty twenty-four, revenue grew with about 14% year-over-year to 150 million NOK, and the EBITDA came in at 20 million NOK, which represents a 13% margin. The margin in the quarter was somewhat weaker than previous quarters due to project mix in Syncrolift, as well as higher share of revenue from Techano, with lower margins.
Our strong financial position continues, with NOK 227 million in cash, zero interest-bearing debt, and favorable loan facilities. The backlog is solid at NOK 725 million going out of the quarter. And finally, the earnings per share is slightly up from last year's Q2, mainly due to positive results from FiiZK in the Q2, which is now a profitable company. Let's move to some operational highlights. Syncrolift continues with good project execution and reports continued high tender activity, even though no major orders were signed in the quarter. Intellilift continues to finalize the installation at the super major oil and gas customer for the IntelliWell solution, and additionally, we are glad to say that we have teamed up with Salunda for safety application integrations for the drilling and offshore industry.
Techano Oceanlift is progressing well with its two cranes under production, and the commercial team is also experiencing high market and tender activity. For Skywalker, which is an innovation project, we are working on establishing a partnership to both validate and finance and commercialize Skywalker for the coming years to come. In FiiZK, we have conducted and finalized the strategic review, which has resulted in the divestment of FiiZK Digital and FiiZK Protection, which I will explain you more about later on in the presentation. In the Q2, we have seen solid sales of 150 million NOK, which is an increase of 14% year-over-year.
The EBITDA of 20 million NOK represents a 13.4% margin, which is slightly lower than the average we have seen in the recent quarters, reflecting both the project mix in Syncrolift and Intellilift, some currency effects, and also increased contribution from Techano Oceanlift, with softer margins. Looking at the first half figures for 2024, we see that revenues ended at just above 300 million NOK, an increase of 29% y ear-over-year. The EBITDA was 50 million NOK, which is up from 48 million NOK in the first half last year, which is a margin of about 17%, which is more in line with historical averages for Nekkar. The order intake in the Q2 was 15 million NOK and mainly coming from Syncrolift Services.
The order backlog is at 725 million NOK, which provides good visibility for the coming quarters. Let's move to our portfolio companies and a business update for each of them. With Syncrolift, on the market and sales side, there has been no new large contracts won in the Q2. The tender activity remains high, driven by geopolitical uncertainty. There has been one lost project in Q2 and one in Q3, and we believe strategic and political reasons is the main factor. We do not see the competitiveness of Syncrolift solutions and the price competitiveness being changed from previous quarters and years.
On the financial side, we have a 5% revenue growth versus the same quarter last year, and the EBITDA margin remains healthy but are somewhat affected by project mix and phasing of projects, which is the nature of a project-driven business and organization. On the operational side, we have good progress on all projects. In August, we have now hand over the shiplift project in Cochin, in India, and we are now finalizing the commissioning in Dubai for transfer systems, which will be completed later on this year. Going forward, we still see a good outlook for the activity level for Syncrolift.
As you can see on the backlog side, there is a total backlog of 662 million NOK for Syncrolift, and about 460 million of these are to be executed in the remaining of 2024 and in 2025. The tender activity is still very hot and still a good and strong tender pipeline. We estimate, as you can see, that there still will be contracts of 2-3 billion NOK, which are to be awarded over the coming two years, and we are confident that Syncrolift will secure a significant portion of these awards. For Techano Oceanlift, which is our offshore lifting and handling provider, we have high tendering activity, and we hope that we can, in the future, sign new contracts for the portfolio of Techano.
The financial growth in terms of revenue continues as project execution now is progressing on the two projects which are being executed in Techano. The margins are positive but somewhat soft due to market entry projects, which are needed in order to establish Techano as a trustful and competitive supplier in the business. And on the operational side, it's the two projects which are now progressing well in terms of delivery to the Sefine Shipyard and the end customers, which Agalas and Eidesvik. Moving on to Intellilift, our industrial software and automation provider. On the market and sales side, the tendering is ongoing for several driving, drilling controls and automation projects.
And in addition, we have signed a cooperation agreement with a UK-based technology company, Salunda, which will combine Intellilift's automation technology with Salunda's safety applications, which will open up new markets for both Intellilift and Salunda. The financials for Intellilift in the quarter is primarily driven by external drilling projects with decent EBITDA margins. And on the operational side, we are now close to finalizing the new rig installation, which we have reported on before on behalf of IntelliWell. And the customer has an option to purchase the system, and we hope that that will progress well in the coming months to come. Moving on to FiiZK, the turnaround is progressing well, and actually today is marking one year of Nekkar ownership in FiiZK, together with BEWI Invest as our partner.
I must say that the business case has significantly improved compared to the time of entry one year ago, based on our initiatives and execution which have been taken. We are glad to say that FiiZK had a profitable Q2 of 2024, which is in line with what we have communicated earlier on. As reported, we have now sharpened the strategy to focus on closed and semi-closed sea-based systems to tackle the key challenges facing the industry. We have launched new and improved designs for these markets, and we are tendering with high activity and are positive on the growth outlook for these products.
Also, with this refocusing, we have now divested the non-core business units to strengthen balance sheet and ensure strategic focus. And with FiiZK Digital, we sold to Blue Front Equity at the end, which was announced at the end of the Q2, and the transaction has now been completed. On the FiiZK Protection for the lice skirts, we announced in the start of August that we have sold that to the Icelandic company, Hampiðjan, and the transaction is expected to be completed now within this Q3. As these, both the completion and closing of these transactions are in the Q3, all the financial effects on these transactions are not included in the Q2, but of course, will be included in the Q3.
On top of this, we continue to build the organization, streamline the organization, in order to be a profitable and good execution company in the future with Jan Erik Vinje as the new CEO. On top of this, I would just add and share some recent media and events supporting the new FiiZK focus strategy. Some examples here only: We see Canada West banning open-cage farming in a few years to come. In Norway, we will, this year, have the presentation and the launch of the Miljøfleks ordning, which will be presented to Stortinget within 2024. We also see farmers starting to invest more heavily in new, more sustainable solutions.
And of course, this is also due to the fact that we see that the consumer and population view on the way the industry is operating today is declining, meaning there has to be changes and actions taken. All in all, these and many others are, I would say, positive examples of that the solutions in terms of more sustainable fish and fjord welfare cages, will be part of the future aquaculture industry. And as an example, on the left you see an illustration of six closed cage protector solutions being in the water. And on top of this, FiiZK is also now marketing a semi-closed solution called FlexiCage, with lower CapEx and improved operations compared to fully open cages.
Meaning you will have a variety of solutions in order of taking it more sustainable, but also with various CapEx investment levels. So let's move to Globetech. Before going into the summer holiday, we announced the acquisition of Globetech. Globetech is a full-service maritime IT solution provider that serves both vessel owners and ship management companies across the globe. And the company offers a complete solutions for onboard IT infrastructure, connectivity, communication, and system integration for satellite communication. And they're also a provider of software and security solutions to ensure efficient and secure operations on board. Like Nekkar, the company is located in Kristiansand in Norway and employs about 30 people.
I would say we are excited to include Globetech as part of the Nekkar group, and we have worked upon this for the last half year or so. Globetech has demonstrated profitable growth since it was established in 2011. Now, with more than 150 vessels under management, the company is expected to deliver around 75 million NOK in revenues, and with a 20% EBITDA margin. Also, even though the figures are not part of the Nekkar as of the first half, Globetech are on track to deliver these estimates this year. With Globetech, the team has been able to develop a niche market position with focus on maritime IT solutions and long-lasting customer relations, which translates both into recurring revenue models, solid margins, and low churns.
And all of these are positive, valuable factors that Nekkar has perceived as high value in our acquisition of Globetech. Globetech will represent a new digital platform for Nekkar and is well positioned to meet, develop, and solve the digitalization megatrends that will transform the shipping industry in the coming years. These being both satellite build-out, it will be IoT sensors and connection of equipment on board, and of course, also cybersecurity, which are now part of daily operations for a shipowner. So in sum, Globetech's both proven operational performance, the strong growth, and its current market position. It means it will be a good, valuable adder to the Nekkar portfolio.
In terms of the deal structure, as a first step, Nekkar has now acquired 67% of Globetech, and the transaction was completed last week. The company is valued at an enterprise value of 120 million NOK on a 100% basis, which translates to a multiple of 7.7 times last twelve months EBITDA. The transaction was settled with 66 million NOK in cash, funded from our balance sheet, and 15 million NOK in Nekkar shares, funded from our treasury shares, which we acquired through the buyback program over the last year or so. In 2027, Nekkar will acquire the remaining 33% of the outstanding shares based on a multiple of achieved EBITDA in 2027, meaning we have aligned incentives over the years to come with the key management team.
So let's finalize with some financial updates. Firstly, on the revenue side, as I mentioned, the revenue for the quarter ended at solid 150 million NOK, which is up 14% on the same period last year, and the first half sales is just above 300 million NOK, which is up 29% year-over-year. Syncrolift, as you can see, continues to be the main contributor, but of course with larger overall contribution from both Intellilift and Techano compared to last year. Please also note that the FiiZK figures are reported under net financial items and not included in our revenues and EBITDA figures. On the profitability side, the EBITDA closed at 20 million, which is a decrease of 5 million compared to Q 2 last year. However, the first half EBITDA is up versus last year.
As already mentioned, EBITDA margins in the quarter are affected by both project mix in Syncrolift and Intellilift, some currency effects, and also higher revenue contribution from Techano Oceanlift. The Q2 net financial items are, as I said, driven by Nekkar share of FiiZK quarterly profit and is at five million NOK. Please note that the divestment of the two companies in FiiZK will be reflected in the Q3 of Nekkar. Based on this, the net profit for the Q2 this year is also in line with last year figures. As you can see, the earnings per share is slightly up from last year's Q2. In terms of CapEx, the net capitalized development cost amounted to eight million NOK in the Q2, with an 11 million NOK for the first half.
So far, we have not received any soft funding this year. At the end of the first half, I would also like to share some key highlight figures for each of our portfolio companies, which we present on a half-year basis. As you can see, Syncrolift delivers a solid first half with two hundred and 50 million NOK in revenue, which is an 18% year-over-year growth and a strong EBITDA margin of 25%. Syncrolift continues to show good project execution and has a strong continuation in terms of aftermarket service and business growth. IntelliLift first half revenues were 19 million NOK, which is in line with the same period last year, and the EBITDA margin of 17% reflects a strong first half, but also some different projects compared to the same period last year.
Finally, Techano Oceanlift, despite being newly established, Techano generated revenues of 41 million NOK in the first half, with positive EBITDA margin of 6%. As mentioned, the lower margins reflects the position as a newcomer, and we expect that to improve and develop as delivery and track record are increasing. Moving on to the balance sheet, we see that the financial assets, about 47 million NOK, are linked to the investment in FiiZK, from about a year ago. In terms of working capital, at the end of the Q2, we had just over 100 million NOK in working capital, which is a reduction of 17 million compared with year-end 2023.
The working capital is mainly related to project in Syncrolift, and accrued in invoice production will convert it to cash over the coming months as the project with invoicing milestones, and furthermore, invoices reach payment date. The equity and the debt situation continues to remain unchanged, no interest-bearing debt, and a solid equity of 446 million NOK, representing a 69% equity ratio. Turning on to the cash flow, as you can see, the cash flow from the business side is positive at a strong 46 million NOK in the first half of 2024, driven by a solid EBITDA and also a somewhat reduced working capital. The net cash effect from the share program is negative at 13 million NOK in the first half, driven by the purchases of treasury shares of about 16 million NOK.
In summary, the total cash inflow in the first half was 33 million NOK, and our financial position remains robust. The available cash reserve of 227 million NOK, together with the credit facilities, gives good operational stability and also strategic flexibility. Finally, I will give a couple of comments on our capital allocation strategy. Of course, as we also now are showing signs of, we still see several opportunities to grow our business, both on organic investments and also M&A for new business within our defined segments. Since we launched our buyback program in late August last year, we have acquired almost 3 million shares at an average price of close to 9 NOK per share.
And the total cash spending related to the program has been 27 million NOK in the period, and now roughly half of these shares are utilized as part of the Globetech acquisition deal structure, as I mentioned to you earlier on. As you also have noticed, we continue with the buyback program, which was renewed now in Q2, and the program is managed and outsourced to Pareto, which takes independent decisions on the execution of the program within the MAR regulations. So before we round off and move to some Q&A, I will make some conclusion remarks. We see a strong revenue in the quarter, and we maintain a healthy backlog, and we also see high tendering activity in, I would say, in all our businesses and portfolio companies.
The financial position of Nekkar continues to be strong, and also finally, the investment in FiiZK is positioning Nekkar towards more sustainable solutions for the aquaculture industry. So with this, I will round off the Q2 presentation, and I will also just remind you that we have also our financial report for the first half published today. So thank you, and then we will move to some questions.
Thank you, Ole. We've received a few questions. The first one, you in your presentation, you showed a slide that showed an expansion of Nekkar's portfolio of companies, as well as revenue during the past twelve to eighteen months. Will M&A continue to be a part of Nekkar's growth plan?
I think the answer to this is yes, we are still active and I'm trying to kind of use that as an active tool. And of course, first and foremost, it's of course to develop the companies we have in our portfolio today, growing them organically, as you have seen with both SyncroLift and also Techano Oceanlift after they come in, but also to kind of expand the Nekkar portfolio and see where we can acquire new companies, which can also have synergies to the existing portfolio. Like, FiiZK acquisition was a good match with what we have started on with Starfish. And we also see for now for Globetech, that there are key synergies and opportunities by having a more...
having a stronger ownership and services to the ship owners in the daily operations, which is kind of exactly what Globetech is providing.
Thank you. A couple of questions about Syncrolift, and I think these two questions are connected. The question is: Did Syncrolift participate in the tender from Irving Shipbuilding that Bardex recently won? And as a continuation of that question, can you speak a little bit more about the political and geographical reasons you mentioned for Syncrolift losing the two tenders?
Yeah, so Syncrolift has been part of the Irving tender, and has also, that has also been a project which has previously been part of the tender portfolio, which is now updated to reflect that loss. Unfortunately, Syncrolift was not awarded the project, and we were quite surprised that Bardex, which has not had many deliveries or installations in the industry in the last years, was awarded that project.
And when we say we, kind of, we believe it's strategic political reasons, of course, we see rumors and some feedback that such a project, which is a navy project, in Canada, heavily linked, kind of with the protection of Canadian borders, is might be associated with political influences from its neighboring countries. And of course, that we believe that's been a key decision factor in this project. However, I must say that of course, we don't have any direct feedback due to that, but that's what we see based on, of course, how we believe our tender were submitted and also the feedback we have received. And I must...
As I mentioned, we are very confident that our solution, both technically, and also, price competitively, is a well received package, on the tenders we are working with.
Thank you, Ole. A couple of questions about FiiZK. Could you elaborate on FiiZK's financial position following the recent divestments?
Yeah, as these two transactions are now completed in the Q3, we plan to share some more information on that later on when we publish the Q3 figures. Of course, both these companies are sold to in kind of a competitive process, and they have resulted in both a reduced debt level in FiiZK and also cash and flexibility in terms of being able to grow the FiiZK portfolio in the coming years to come.
And all in all these effects, in addition, with kind of the focus and streamlining that we believe the FiiZK organization will benefit from, we think this is a good platform now to kind of really stay sharp and really be focused and be a kind of a solid long-term player in more sustainable farming solutions for sea-based salmon industry.
Thank you. Another question about FiiZK, and this is, I think this is clarifying an accounting question. Is the quarterly profit of NOK 5.2 million reflecting Nekkar's 39% ownership share, or is the result 5.2, the total net profit for the company?
Nekkar only includes our share of the profit, meaning our 38% ownership share is what's being included in the Nekkar financial items.
Thank you. A couple of questions about the order backlog and order intake, Ole. Are there any major reasons for the weak order intake during Q2?
Of course, the main reason being we have not signed any new contracts in Syncrolift in the Q2, and then, of course, as you have seen, we have had two relatively good quarters, which we now have put behind us in both Q1 this year and last quarter last year, so I would say, of course, we would have been very satisfied with a win on, as mentioned, the Irving project or the Darwin project, but we are still confident that we will be winning projects in the future. Also, as you know, we have a large option to the Asmar Chile project, which is now kind of moving soon into the final purchasing point of time.
And of course, that's also a project in sizes of these other two projects, which we hope to convert in six to eight months.
Thank you. A couple of questions about Techano Oceanlift. Is the Eidesvik Offshore crane contract for Techano the same new building order, which is included with an option to build four extra vessels? If so, will you deliver cranes for these vessels if the options are exercised? That's the question, and just to clarify, the contract, Techano Oceanlift contract is with Sefine Shipyard, and the owner of the two vessels is Agalas. But,
Correct. And they have Agalas have teamed up with Eidesvik with a kind of co-ownership on this vessel. And it's correct to say that there are the shipowner, Agalas/Eidesvik, has options as you are referred to towards the shipyard. And if they will be executed, of course, we believe Techano is very competitive in terms of delivering unit number two and hopefully furthermore if they will be executed.
Another question about Techano: Are you done with enterprise contracts for Techano?
I would say these two ones, which we are now in execution of, has been kind of somewhat special. It's always so that the first, and you could say the first and the second, is, has kind of, we need it to be very sharp. So of course, as we now will deliver these, and they will go into operations, we are kind of confident that we can, we can also, both in terms of execution, sourcing, of course, reducing also number of hours when we, hopefully can copy projects into the next sales.
We believe that all of these, together with kind of the strengthening of Techano as a company with both backlog, execution, and personnel, will make us gain higher margins on future contracts.
Question about Globetech, Ole. What synergies do you see with the other portfolio companies for Globetech?
So if you take it on a high level, of course, Globetech is a connectivity, communication, and maritime service provider to ships, and a lot of those ships being renewable offshore subsea vessels. And they are a kind of a day-to-day partner to the shipowner, the captain, the crew, in terms of maintaining, servicing, and operating these ships. And of course, having that knowledge and competence and involvement on a day-to-day basis, we believe is a key strength. As an example, you could say Techano will deliver cranes to shipowners. The cranes should be connected to internet and communication in terms of doing maintenance, in terms of doing remote operations, and such things.
Of course, having the domain knowledge in terms of of how the ship communicates, how it interacts, and of course, how we make that a cyber-secure solution, I will say will definitely be a advantage when we provide our solutions to shipowners. And of course, also there are some cross synergies on the sales side. Of course, meeting, you mentioned Agalas and Eidesvik, of course, they would be a perfect customer opportunity for Globetech, as they also need those type of services in the future.
Thank you. A question on the financials, on the margins. Could you elaborate on the difference between gross margin in previous periods?
On the gross margin side, I have not presented the figures today, so I would refer to the first half report in terms of the details of those developments.
We also have a couple of questions about expectations with regards to profit margins in the coming quarters. I know, Ole, you don't guide specifically on that, but maybe you can provide a sort of a big picture overview of your expectations going forward.
Yeah. So, in general, of course, it's also somewhat hard to kind of to predict quarter-by-quarter revenues and margins. As you know, they are still heavily project execution-based. And as we all know, project execution tends to have fluctuations in terms of progress, in terms of different margins you realizes in different quarters. I would say that kind of if you look on our first half figures for this year and the first half margins, they are more in line with the historical figures of Nekkar. And it's also what we more look to. And of course, also we will now have Globetech coming into the portfolio, which will positively influence the mix of revenues. So all in all, we are kind of...
We still see Nekkar as a good profitable company in the coming quarters, but we still will see some quarterly fluctuations.
Thank you. I think that covers all the questions that have come in today.
Thank you. Then we will round off. So thank you, everyone, for listening, and see you next time in a couple of months.