Earnings call transcript: Solstad Maritime lifts 2026 outlook after strong Q2 2026

Earnings call transcript: Solstad Maritime lifts 2026 outlook after strong Q2 2026

US futures rise on cooling rate fears, strong earnings; Iran strikes continue Solstad Maritime reported a stronger second quarter, with adjusted EBITDA rising 12% year over year to $88 million and net income climbing 34% to $59 million, helped by higher fleet utilization, better day rates and more work on long-term contracts. The company also raised its full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to $360 million-$390 million from $340 million-$380 million. Shares of Solstad Maritime rose 1.8% to $28.3, near the top of their 52-week range of $16.84 to $30.

Key Takeaways - Adjusted EBITDA rose to $88 million in Q2 2026 from $78 million a year earlier. - Net income increased to $59 million, up 34.1% from $44 million in Q2 2025. - Fleet utilization improved to 82% from 75% a year earlier.

- The company lifted full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to $360 million-$390 million. - Backlog reached $1.1 billion, while H2 2026 revenue booked stood at about $280 million. - The board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, equal to about $47 million.

Company Performance Solstad Maritime said the second quarter was marked by broad improvement across its business. The company’s anchor handling segment remained the main driver, supported by stronger short-term market rates and higher use of vessels in Brazil and the North Sea. Operating income rose to $176 million from $152 million a year earlier, while first-half operating income climbed to $356 million from $297 million.

The company said reduced maintenance activity also helped lift utilization. The results point to a business that is benefiting from a tighter market in several regions, even as management noted that the offshore vessel market remains cyclical and project-based. The company’s long-term contract strategy appears to be cushioning it from some of the volatility seen in spot markets.

Financial Highlights - Adjusted EBITDA: $88 million, up 12% year over year from $78 million. - First-half adjusted EBITDA: $191 million, up 20% from $159 million. - Operating income: $176 million, up 15.8% from $152 million. -

First-half operating income: $356 million, up 19.9% from $297 million. - Net income: $59 million, up 34.1% from $44 million. - First-half net income: $129 million, up 40.2% from $92 million.

- Book equity: $952 million, up from $808 million a year earlier. - Equity ratio: 55%, showing a solid capital structure. - Adjusted net interest-bearing debt: $512 million, down from $592 million a year earlier.

- Cash: $154 million, up from $98 million a year earlier. Earnings vs. Forecast The supplied forecast data showed expected revenue of $1.62 billion and expected earnings per share of $1.20 for the reporting period, but the company did not provide matching actual EPS or revenue figures in the materials reviewed here.

That means a direct beat-or-miss comparison cannot be made from the available numbers. Even so, the operating figures point to a strong quarter. Adjusted EBITDA rose 12% year over year, operating income increased nearly 16%, and net income climbed more than 34%.

Those gains suggest the business continued to improve at a healthy pace, especially compared with the same period last year. The company also said its first-half performance and second-half contract coverage gave it enough confidence to raise and narrow full-year EBITDA guidance. That kind of revision often signals better visibility and stronger execution.

Market Reaction Solstad Maritime shares were last up 1.8% at $28.3, compared with a previous close of $27.8. The move added about $0.50 per share. The stock is now trading close to the top of its 52-week range, sitting just below the $30 high and well above the $16.84 low.

According to InvestingPro data, the stock is currently trading near its 52-week high, a position that reflects strong investor confidence. That suggests investors have already rewarded the company for its recent operational progress, and the latest gain was positive but measured. InvestingPro offers 5 additional exclusive tips for Solstad Maritime, providing deeper insight into the company’s valuation and market position.

The modest rise may reflect a balanced reading of the report: the quarter was strong, guidance improved and the balance sheet remained healthy, but the offshore vessel market still carries supply and rate risks. Outlook & Guidance Solstad Maritime raised its full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to $360 million-$390 million, from a prior range of $340 million-$380 million. Management said the change reflects a strong first half, a positive market backdrop and contracts already secured for the second half.

The company said it has about $280 million of revenue booked for H2 2026, with 29% of vessel days still available. For 2027, it said more than $400 million of revenue is already booked, with around $280 million in projected EBITDA and 44% of vessel days still open. Capital spending guidance was also adjusted, with the upper end lowered to $70 million from $75 million.

Management said that reflects improved capital efficiency. The company said it expects to keep pursuing project work where it can achieve higher utilization and additional service sales. It also highlighted its partnership with Omega Subsea, which adds remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, capabilities to its offering.

For investors seeking comprehensive analysis, Solstad Maritime is covered by InvestingPro’s detailed Pro Research Report, which transforms complex financial data into clear, actionable intelligence across 1,400+ top stocks. Executive Commentary “We delivered a strong second quarter, both operationally and financially, with all key figures improving year-over-year,” Chief Executive Lars Peder Solstad said. He said the anchor handling segment was the main contributor, helped by higher utilization and improved day rates.

Chief Financial Officer Kjetil Ramstad said the higher utilization was “mainly driven by lower maintenance activity and more vessels working on long-term contracts in Brazil.” He added that this helped lift operating income to $176 million. Solstad also pointed to the North Sea market, calling it “a perfect market where the rates can vary significantly, even within a day,” while saying conditions have improved since the third quarter of last year.

Risks and Challenges - New vessel supply: Management said newbuilding deliveries over the next 18 months could increase competition and pressure rates. - Project-based demand: Parts of the CSV and spot markets are highly cyclical, which can make earnings less predictable.

- Idle capacity: Some vessels remain without work at times, especially in smaller markets such as Australia. - Rate volatility: North Sea spot rates can change quickly, which can affect short-term returns. - Market concentration: Petrobras and other large clients are important sources of work, so contract timing matters.

Q&A Analysts focused on three main issues during the call. First, they asked about the North Sea spot market for anchor handlers. Solstad said conditions should remain “quite positive” for the rest of 2026, although the outlook depends on how many vessels return from project work elsewhere.

Second, analysts pressed management on the CSV market and the impact of newbuild competition. Solstad said the vessels most exposed to direct competition are largely booked through 2027 and beyond, which should help protect earnings. He also acknowledged that some short-term market exposure remains.

Third, questions turned to Australia and Asia Pacific. Management said Australia is a small market but should see more activity in 2027, while Taiwan remains busy and longer-term field development and decommissioning work could support demand in the region. Full transcript - Solstad Maritime (SOMA) Q2 2026:

Lars Peder Solstad, CEO, Solstad Maritime: Good morning and welcome to the second quarter presentation for Solstad Maritime. It has been a solid quarter with high activity across the fleet.

This presentation will be held by CFO, Kjetil Ramstad, and myself, CEO, Lars Peder Solstad. There will be a Q&A session after the presentation. Please send your questions in the chat.

We take a quick look at the disclaimer before we move on to the business update for the quarter and for the first half year. We delivered a strong second quarter, both operationally and financially, with all key figures improving year-over-year. The anchor handling segment was the main contributor, supported by higher utilization and improved day rates, particularly in the short-term market.

Financially, Adjusted EBITDA was $88 million for the quarter and $191 million for the first half year, compared to $78 million and $159 million last year. Have further improved our financial flexibility by a $100 million incremental financing drawn, and have now an equity ratio of 55% and a leverage ratio of 1.5. Based on the first half performance, the current market outlook and contracts already in hand for second half, we are increasing and narrowing our full year Adjusted EBITDA guidance to $360 million-$390 million for the year.

We signed important contracts, especially for the Normand Fortress that got a two-year contract with Petrobras in Brazil, and Normand Jarstein that was awarded a two-year contract in the Black Sea. We also continue to return capital to shareholders with a quarterly dividend of $0.1 per share, corresponding to approximately $47 million in total for the quarter. By that, I hand the word over to you, Kjetil, to take us through the numbers in more details.

Kjetil Ramstad, CFO, Solstad Maritime: Thank you, Lars. We have a look at the financial and operational summary for the second quarter and the half year. The second quarter of 2026 had a fleet utilization of 82%, an improvement from 75% in the same quarter last year.

For the half year, utilization was 83%, up from 77% last year. The high utilization for the quarter and for the half year is mainly driven by lower maintenance activity and more vessels working on long-term contracts in Brazil. This resulted in operating income for the second quarter of $176 million, compared to $152 million last year.

For the first half of 2026, operating income ended at $356 million, a substantial improvement from $297 million last year. Operating income in second quarter 2026 included gain of $8 million after the sale of Normand Clipper. This gain is not included in the Adjusted EBITDA figure.

Solstad Maritime delivered Adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter of $88 million, $10 million better than second quarter last year, 12% improvement year-over-year. For the first half, the Adjusted EBITDA was $191 million, compared with last year. It’s a significant improvement of 20% year-over-year.

The net result for the quarter was $59 million, compared to $44 million in second quarter of 2025. For the first half year, the net result was $129 million and represent a $37 million improvement compared to last year. Book equity at the end of second quarter was $952 million, up from $808 million last year, reflecting an increase of $144 million and gives a healthy equity ratio of 55%.

Book equity has increased by the net result in the period, offset by $105 million paid in dividends to shareholder over the last 12 months. The Adjusted Net Interest-Bearing Debt was $512 million at second quarter end, down from $592 million last year. Leverage ratio was at 1.5 at quarter end.

Cash position at the quarter end was $154 million, compared to $98 million last year. The firm backlog of $1.1 billion versus $929 last year. If we go to the dividend slide on the next page.

As a consequence of the improved earnings and better visibility, the company has decided to increase dividends for the second quarter to $47 million or $0.1 per share. This represent a dividend yield of approximately 14%, based on yesterday’s share price. The dividend will be paid in NOK, and the NOK amount will be announced prior to the payment.

The key dates for the second quarter dividend. The last day of trading, inclusive the rights to receive dividend is 16th of July, 2026. The ex-date is 17 July 2026.

The record date is 20th of July, and the distribution date will be on or about the 24th of July 2026. With that, I will give the word back to you, Lars. Lars Peder Solstad, CEO, Solstad Maritime: Thank you, Kjetil.

I will take a closer look at the market. In general, the activity level remains at the high level, and the outlook continues to be positive. The anchor handling market in the North Sea has been and is still very strong.

I will come back to this in more details on the next slide. For us, it had also been positive that we have had a quarter of full utilization on the term vessels that started on their long-term contracts in Brazil earlier this year. Also to mention in Australia, we have three vessels working, and they are performing well.

Normand Ranger recently came off a contract and we are now actively pursuing the next employment opportunity for that vessel. As mentioned, I will come back to more details about the anchor handling market on next slides. If we take a closer look at the CSV segment, the activity has been high.

The main rule is that the market is very project-oriented. We have dry docked three vessels in the quarter and also had some idle time on a few other vessels. Normand Navigator came off a project with Subsea 7 in Brazil end of March and started on her term contract with Saipem around 1st June.

She is now fully booked until third quarter 2027 and with further options thereafter. Normand Cutter has been relocated from Brazil to Norway and is now doing her main classing before starting on a one-to-two-month project in the U.K. end of this month. The vessel will now be mobilized with ROVs from Omega Subsea, and by that, we are also able to offer more services to our clients in addition to the time charter itself.

Normand Mermaid came off a contract early May and is idle at the moment. We are bidding on some opportunities and will hopefully be awarded some projects within not too long. Normand Pioneer continues her contract with Petrobras and is now firm to mid-August, while we are working on an extension of the Normand Australis contract in Asia.

Normand Valiant continues her contract with Petrobras and is also ranked first in the Petrobras walk-to-work tender. No award has been made yet, but we have ongoing discussions with the client. In general, there are some idle vessels in the market, and I would have liked to see a bit more activity, especially taking into consideration the new buildings that will be delivered from yards to the market the coming 18 months or so.

Geographically, the story is the same as earlier. South America, including Guyana, West Africa, and the North Sea, are the busiest areas as we see it. If we take a closer look at the anchor handling spot and the project market, the North Sea project market, the North Sea spot market, I mean, gets a lot of attention for good reasons.

It is, in a way, a perfect market where the rates can vary significantly, even within a day. There has been a change to the better in the market since third quarter last year. The three vessels that Solstad Maritime have with exposure to the spot and anchor handling project market.

In third quarter 2025, those three vessels have a negative EBITDA. Since then, we have now had three quarters where the same three vessels combined have had $15 million to $16 million in EBITDA per quarter. Not necessarily due to higher market activity alone, but the combination of vessels that has left the North Sea for term work in Brazil, more activity in the global project market, and less owners competing in the spot market in the North Sea.

However, it is also worth noting that these earnings do not justify ordering new building anchor handlers at the present cost level. If we take a look at the utilization, it is not that impressive. The potential in this market is higher, but it is about a fine balance between supply and demand here.

If a few more vessels enter the North Sea spot market, the picture can be different. For third quarter, Solstad Maritime have about 160 days of project work booked for the three vessels. For us, it will continue to be a priority to chase project work where we can achieve high utilization and also have the opportunity to sell additional services to our clients.

Moving on to the backlog. We have good visibility for the second half of the year, with about $280 million of revenue booked, and still we have about 29% available vessel days. Those days are split between anchor handlers in the spot/project market.

It is available CSVs, and it is optional days that the charter can exercise. For 2027, we have more than $400 million in revenue booked and around $280 million in EBITDA. We have still a 44% available vessel days available.

In the current market, this combination of secure backlog and remaining availability gives us a strong platform to continue building backlog for 2026 and 2027, and also for the years beyond that. The book-to-bill factor came in below one in the quarter, but looking at the average over the last 12 months, the book-to-bill factor is about 1.2 times. We move on to the outlook and the guiding, we have increased and narrowed the full year adjusted EBITDA guidance due to a solid first half year and positive outlook for the remainder of the year.

The range was $340 million-$380 million. That has now been increased and narrowed to $360 million-$390 million for the year. The CapEx, we have lowered the upper range from $75 million-$70 million.

The debt amortization is influenced by the incremental financing done in the quarter. The other parameters are unchanged. As illustrated on the graph to the right, the company is positioned to generate significant cash flow going forward, supported by the current backlog, improved earnings, and continued market activity.

To summarize the second quarter and first half year for Solstad Maritime, we have delivered a strong second quarter and first half year, with improved operational and financial performance across the key parameters. The anchor handling market remains particularly strong. CSV activity is high, although very project-oriented.

We enter the second half with a good backlog visibility. Based on the first half performance, market outlook, and contracts in hand, we have increased and narrowed our full year adjusted EBITDA guidance to $363 million-$390 million. At the same time, we continue to return capital to our shareholders through an increased quarterly dividend of $0.1 per share, representing approximately $47 million for the quarter.

With that, we conclude the presentation and we open up for Q&A. Kjetil Ramstad, CFO, Solstad Maritime: All right. Let’s have a look at the questions.

The first question is, how do you see the North Sea spot market for anchor handlers developing for rest of the year? Lars Peder Solstad, CEO, Solstad Maritime: Well, it looks quite positive, I will say.

It will depend on, let’s say, the number of vessels potentially returning from project work outside the North Sea or from project work in general. I think we have expectations that the market will continue on a decent level also for the remainder of the year. Kjetil Ramstad, CFO, Solstad Maritime: Thank you.

You also went through the CSV market and commented that CSV market has been good. There’s a question about some of the vessels that have lower backlog in the fleet, and I think you went pretty detailed through those vessels. In addition to this, there is also a question about is there a concern when the new builds are entering the market that the vessels with the lower backlog will potentially struggle?

How do you see the market play out when the new builds are coming? Lars Peder Solstad, CEO, Solstad Maritime: I think it’s, as I mentioned in the presentation, I would have liked to see some higher activity in the market, especially taking into consideration that the supply side will increase.

I think for us, seen from a Solstad perspective, the vessels in our fleet that will sort of directly get an increased competition. Most of those vessels are booked through 2027 and longer. That has been, let’s say, something we have been actively working on to protect ourselves for the increased competition.

That having said, we have also some vessels that are in the short term market, and there will be increased competition and that’s just a fact. I would have liked to see a little bit more activity, and that might come, but at the moment, it’s difficult to see where it is on, let’s say, the short term at least. Kjetil Ramstad, CFO, Solstad Maritime:

Yeah, okay. Thank you. The last question for today, can you elaborate a little bit about the Australian market going forward and also Asia Pacific?

Lars Peder Solstad, CEO, Solstad Maritime: Yeah. The Australian, at least seen from a Solstad perspective, again, our exposure to Australian market is mainly for the anchor handlers.

We have three vessels. Two of them are working through this year. One is available at the moment.

It’s a quite small market. I think the vessel we have idle at the moment will be able to pick up work pretty soon. The market, the rate level is still okay.

We also understand and how we read it is that there will be some increased activity going into next year. For us, it probably will be a market where we will keep the three vessels we have and have expectations of keeping them on okay contracts also going forward. On the Asia market in general, you see that Taiwan is still pretty busy.

The more longer term, there are quite a few prospects of, let’s say, field development that will require subsea vessels going forward. There are a decommissioning market also in Australia and elsewhere that requires quite some tonnage. Not a very, I mean, in short term, not a market we expect to see a lot of growth, but more on a stable level as it is today, I would say.

Kjetil Ramstad, CFO, Solstad Maritime: Okay. Thank you.

That concludes the questions. Lars Peder Solstad, CEO, Solstad Maritime: Okay.

Thanks everyone for listening in, and wish you all a nice summer. Thank you.