(Oslo / Norway) – Norwegian hydrogen technology company Nel ASA has raised gross proceeds of approximately 49.500.000 million kronor (24,75 million euros) through a private placement of 2,41 new shares at a price of 1.225 kronor (119 euros). The transaction price corresponds to a discount of 4,4 percent on the closing price on yesterday's transaction day (February 24, 2021). The private placement took place as part of an accelerated bookbuilding process carried out by Arctic Securities AS, Carnegie AS and Sparebank 1 Markets AS as joint bookrunners after the market closed.
The net proceeds will enable the company to pursue larger – and more extensive – projects. After the registration of the new share capital, the company has 1.457.297.488 shares with a nominal value of 0,20 crowns.
Increase in sales despite the pandemic
A few days ago, Nel ASA reported sales of 2020 million crowns (229 million euros) for the fourth quarter of 22, compared to 176 million crowns in the same quarter of 2019. The order backlog at the end of the year was around 980 million crowns, an increase of 90 percent compared to the previous year.
If you look at the year as a whole, Nel's sales are 651 million crowns (63 million euros), higher than the previous year's 569 million crowns. At 1.261 million crowns (122 million euros), the profit in 2020 was almost five times higher than in 2019 with 269 million crowns.
Hiring of more than 100 employees planned
According to the company, the lost sales due to Covid-19 and business interruptions will continue to have a negative impact on business in 2021. There were delays in installation and commissioning due to travel restrictions and in booking new orders. Nevertheless, Nel is keeping the workforce largely intact and wants to hire more than 2021 new employees in 100 in order to be able to “take off dynamically” after the situation normalizes.
The company also wants to accelerate investments in organization and technology, according to the annual report. Investments are also being made in the ongoing development of, among other things, PEM technologies as well as in technologies to support rapid hydrogen refueling for heavy-duty transport.
Startup of the 500 megawatt plant
At the end of January, Nel had already declared its goal of producing green hydrogen at a price of $2025 per kilogram by 1,50. To this end, the company wants to build a fully automated production facility on the Norwegian Herøya peninsula. Testing of the first 500 megawatt line will begin in the second quarter of 2021 and the commercial ramp-up will begin in the third quarter. The annual production capacity can be expanded to two gigawatts (we reported).
deep link
https://nelhydrogen.com/press-release/nel-asa-fourth-quarter-2020-financial-results/
https://mb.cision.com/Main/115/3289142/1374724.pdf
https://nelhydrogen.com/press-release/nel-asa-private-placement-successfully-completed-6/
Photos
© NEL ASA
