NKT posts strong Q1 2021 results, all divisions deliver

NKT has reported a revenue of €296 million in the first quarter of 2021, a 21% organic growth from the €240 million in the same quarter of 2020, with positive growth from all of the company’s three business lines.

Operational EBITDA increased for all the business lines and almost tripled from €10.2 million in Q1 2020 to €30.2 million in Q1 2021.

The quarter was characterized by a high level of activity across power cable types in Solutions and by record-high performance in Service & Accessories with a high level of repair work, NKT said.

After the end of the quarter, NKT secured a turnkey order to provide subsea cable for Troll West in Norway, under a contract valued at approximately €95 million.

Revenue for Solutions amounted to €161 million in Q1 2021, which was €37 million above Q1 2020. The organic growth of 27% is said to be due to execution of orders across power cable types awarded over recent years.

This increased activity resulted in improved profitability, with operational EBITDA amounting to €19.5 million in Q1 2021 against €5.6 million in Q1 2020.

NKT had several projects in execution in Q1 2021, including the Dogger Bank A+B, Moray East, Ostwind 2 and Viking Link. The company also delivered the export and inter-array cables for the Triton Knoll offshore wind project in the UK.

Service & Accessories achieved revenue of €46.1 million, the highest ever figure for this business line, representing a 82% growth from €28.4 million in Q1 2020. This was mainly due to increased service repair work combined with continued growth in the accessories business.

“We had a satisfactory start to 2021. We saw increased activity across all business lines in NKT and NKT Photonics, and our target to improve profitability showed in the financial results,” said NKT CEO Alexander Kara.

“The market outlook for the NKT Group’s businesses is driven by several megatrends with the global green transformation being among the most prominent. Our revenue growth in Q1 2021 was a testimony to the potential driven by these megatrends.”

For 2021, NKT anticipates a revenue of circa €1.1-1.2 billion and the operational EBITDA of €80-110 million.

The targeted improvement in revenue and earnings compared to 2020 is mainly expected to be driven by Solutions. Due to the anticipated phasing of revenue in 2021, EBITDA in the first half of the year is expected to be at a higher level than in the second half.