On Wednesday, Cadeler (NYSE:CDLR) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

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View the webcast at https://cadeler-q1-2026-earnings-presentation.open-exchange.net/registration

Summary

Cadeler A/S reported a solid financial performance in Q1 2026, with revenue of €124.7 million, up from €65.5 million last year, and EBITDA of €47 million.

The company maintains a strong backlog of €2.7 billion, providing robust earnings visibility, with significant projects underway and successful mobilization of key vessels.

Strategic initiatives include continued vessel expansion, with new builds on schedule, and the execution of a private placement to support future growth, including two new T-class vessels and a rock dumping installation vessel.

Management expressed confidence in future prospects, maintaining full-year guidance and highlighting strong market demand for offshore wind projects, particularly in Europe.

Operational highlights include successful project execution milestones, such as the installation of monopiles in the Hornsea 3 project, and high vessel utilization rates.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning and welcome to Cadala's Q1 2026 Earnings Good morning and welcome to Cadeler A/S's Q1 2026 earnings presentation. Presenting today are Mikael Glierup, Chief Executive Officer and Peter Brogard, Chief Financial Office Officer. Please be reminded that the presenter's remarks today will include forward looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated. The risks and uncertainties that could cause cadla's results to differ materially from today's forward looking statements include Those detailed in Cadeler A/S's Annual Report on Form 20F on file with the United States securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward looking statements made this morning are based on assumptions as of today and Cadeler A/S undertakes no objectives obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events. This morning's presentation includes both IFRS and certain non IFRS financial measures. A reconciliation of non IFRS financial measures to the nearest IFRS equivalent is provided in Cadeler A/S's annual report. The Annual report and today's earnings presentation are available on Cadeler A/S's website at Cadeler A/S. We ask that you please hold all questions until the completion of the formal remarks, at which time you will be given instructions for the question and answer session. As a reminder, this call is being recorded today. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. Mikhail Glierup, you may begin.

Mikael Glierup (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you very much and hello to everyone and thank you for joining this Q1 2026 presentation from Cadeler A/S. Just to start off the presentation really a quarter that has has been running exactly as expected. Financial performance in line with our expectations, continuing a robust backlog of work standing currently at 2.7 billion euro which we believe provides a very solid earnings visibility for the company. New build program on track. We named the second A class vessel in April and she is about to deliver in the next couple of months as per the schedule. The second or the third rather A class vessel is delivering next year and is also on the schedule. We have continued with solid execution across the globe and I'm also very pleased to say that wind Ally and Windorca are fully mobilized and first complete monopile foundation has been installed on ONC3 which is very very important and a very important milestone for 2026 and we have a little bit extra on that presentation. Very strong utilization vessels operating across the world and NEXO has secured utilization on multiple projects in APEC and on the utilization. I would like just to quickly say that obviously we have many vessels that have been shifting between projects. So a lot of mobilization in the first quarter of the year, which has also been exactly as expected. Terms of growth, commercial highlights, vessels continuing to execute on projects across the fleet. Really a busy, busy, busy quarter in terms of managing vessels coming off projects, starting new projects and having other vessels coming in to take over on projects due to many different factors. But really overall I would also say a quarter where we have been able to support our clients and to do what has been necessary necessary to help them on their projects where they are currently engaged. Also very pleased to see that when Kiba has started its operation with Vestas and is performing on the project with Vestas as we speak. Next slide please on horn C3. As I said, really from concept to delivery, we have had many, many questions over the course of the last four years where we have been in process towards the horn C3 execution. A lot of planning is now finally coming to fruition and it's very pleasing to be able to say that we now have proof of concept on the project with the first full monopile installed and also all the secondary components being installed on that and being commissioned and handed over to the client. And actually we have eight monopiles in the water as per today's date. We have seven full secondary steel sets installed and five fully commissioned monopiles out there. So really the project is going as per the plan. The equipment that we have invested in that we are using on the project is working as we expected it and we are now slowly ramping up the speed on the project to get up to the speed where we want to be and to really make sure that there will be a smooth installation on this very, very important project, both for us and Cadeler A/S, but certainly also for our clients. So very, very pleased to say that we have proof of concept and that we are now delivering the full T Foundation project. Still sitting on a very significant backlog across key markets. 2.7 billion backlog, as I said, already provides a very solid earnings visibility. We continue to operate in the us, in Europe and in APEC and are really working on a lot of different opportunities for the future years as we have said in this quarter. Also we have executed a private placement for the investment in additional jack ups for the future and also for a rock dumping installation vessel that we believe all will strengthen our portfolio and our ability to support the clients going forward. We have also projects that are not in the backlog but where we are currently working and projects that will be added to the backlog as and when they come to fruition. But all in all, I would say that we have been reaffirmed in our opinion since the beginning, beginning of the year that we are looking at a very, very busy 26, 27. As we have also said, 28 is a different year, but we remain in the same position as we were when we did the annual report. And for 2029 we are working on some very, very interesting prospects at the moment. When we look into the new decade, we are also seeing very interesting projects and also a lot of projects currently in what we call category high. So this is really the category where we are working already now intensively with the client and where we believe that our vessels will be busy in the beginning of the next decade on the backlog, 82% of the backlog have reached FID. We believe that that is a very, very solid number and also gives us the earnings visibility that we really need as a company. We also see the start of nextra and the foundation of nextra starting to live the deliver contracts in Taiwan, which is of course very pleasing. And our ambitions on nextra continues to be strong and we continue to see that our main market for Nextra is the +1112 megawatt segment where we believe that we have a very good foundation to play for the main components replacements for the bigger turbine sets in the industry. We also have preferred supply agreement that is not included in the backlog and where we currently are negotiating with a client for installation in 28. In terms of the progress on the new builds, the windeis we expect the delivery in the beginning of the third quarter this year. We have basically done most of the of the material work there, but we are still having some tests planned for the vessel between now and the delivery and we believe that we are in a very, very good position to deliver this vessel on schedule and on budget. We had the naming ceremony this year and we were proud to have Ms. Lisa Western naming the vessel for us, the Wind Apex. As we also talked about on the annual report, we expect the Wind Apex to deliver in Q2 27 and we have been negotiating with the yacht to manage early delivery of this vessel because we are working with a client for the Wind Apex immediately after its return to Europe and where it will likely start a job for a client. And here in Europe, a few pictures from the naming ceremony on Wednesdays, a very big day for us as a team. Second Foundation Installation vessel delivered and the vessel will after its delivery from the shipyard return to Europe for the full mobilization for the East Anglia 2 project that we are commencing next year. And obviously we are already starting to take the learnings from the 1C3 project and implementing them into the EA2 project so we can ensure that our clients get the best possible product from catalog on the financial highlights. I will hand over to you now. Peter, thank you very much.

Peter Brogard (Chief Financial Officer)

Yes, for Q1 26 revenue was 1 24.7 million Euro as compared to 65.5 last year. XG ratio 47.6% and the adjusted utilization 77.7% which is. Which is satisfactory for us. We adjust the utilization for transfer from yard and plant dry docks and we had Serotonin not on High in Q1. So this is really what is expected. Market cap is 2.3 billion Euro. EBITDA was 47 million Euro as compared to 23.7 million Euro net profit minus 7 million Euro impacted as also communicated at the annual report by interest on our bank facilities. We we are now in a territory where we have delivered 10. We have 10 vessels on the fleet and only two vessels under construction. Hence more of the borrowing costs go to the P L than we saw in previous quarters. Backlog as mentioned by mill 2.7 billion strong backlog 3 months daily average turnover 7.7 million Euro. We have adjusted for the private placement that we did the 26th of March. If we look at the P L, I think it's important to emphasize that it is exactly as planned by us and totally in line with our own expectations. It goes for all the lines, both revenue and cost lines. It was as expected and we regarded as a strong start to the year. Of course a revenue increase as compared to last year because we have three more vessels on water. Cost of sales goes up also due to the bigger fleet goes up of course relatively more than revenue because us that we had some. We had three vessels in transit, we had vessels going from one project to another and we also had. A delayed revenue recognition on wind ally on the Horn C3 project. I think it's important to explain that according to ifrs, we can now not start revenue recognition on a project before we start installing. So VINLA has been mobilizing for the 1G3 project in Q1, but we have not taken any revenue in that will be done later. Of course we earn revenue on the contract under the mobilization, but cannot be taken to revenue in the P and L DNA increased to last year, but again a modest increase. That shows again the picture that we have. We have explained in previous quarters that we did early a man up of the organization to enable a bigger fleet but also a foundation project and that now shows the scalability of our operations. So the early investments now pays off. Financenet continue to be up against last year but due to this more is allocated to PNL than through the capex on the risks. Opex per day is €40,837 per day and that is a little bit higher than it will be the rest of the year due to mobility mobilization on Ally and Serotonin and there was some smaller one off expenses in in OPEX in Q1 balance sheet, strong balance sheet of course increased by by the equity is increased by the capital rates we did 26 of Mars and also lifting the equity ratio from 44% for the. Package program. The slide we have shown in the past to demonstrate that we are able to finance the expansion of the fleet that we have planned. So as you can see we have signed committee financing for A class with ace. We are in the advanced discussions with the banks to launch the APEX financing in Q2 here in Q2 26 expects to sign early Q3 for the business that is delivered next year. So in total we have 641 available funding for that and date of the outstanding instruction installments with net funding of 218. And we have not in this waterfall we have not taken in the cash that we have on the balance sheet and the available facilities that we have not drawn on. So cash on the available liquidity as per 31st of March was 221 million and available liquidity 360 million 9 million. Of course then we also have not that should also cover the payment on the first installment on the TCLASP versus one signed and ordered and the scour rock installation vessel that we have announced in connection with the private placement. Still we do our hedging policy which we strictly follow is 50% of US dollar exp is hedged and 50% of interest exposure hessed for the first five years of the expected facilities. This is the financial all you we should focus on what has happened since annual report we have extended the RCFB that was supposed to terminate in June 26. We have extended it for 18 months to 27 and we are in advanced negotiation on the accordion on the corporate loan that we have with HBC Euro 80 million. We expect to sign that here in Q2 and the reason for this is, you know it is to have a reasonable offer when we are looking at the available liquidity. So we 100% sure that we could go through the coming years and the capex program with the current financing, full year outlook remains the same, it's unchanged. And there's nothing we have seen from the performance in Q1 or until date that is not according to plan. Hence of course, we maintain the outlook for the year. The timing of the year is something that has maybe surprised some, but we have always planned with somewhat weaker Q1 in terms of revenue and income. And then Q2, Q3, Q4 will be bigger quarters in terms of revenue and income. And in total, the outlook for the full year outlook is unchanged. I will hand back to you.

Mikael Glierup (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you very much, Peter. In terms of market outlook, a slight repetition of what we saw in, in, in around the annual report. But what we are adding here is that we believe that the recent geopolitical tensions are increasingly pointing toward a higher demand for locally produced energy, energy security and affordability. And we believe that the offshore wind will play a massive role in the whole outbuild of at least the European energy system. And we can already start to see the trends of that coming our way. Also with auctions in Europe that have momentum as one of the award criteria, where we see that coming fast to the grid with a certain supply chain is something that is given a positive impact on the award criteria. And that's something we like to see because it's also something that is playing both in the direction of us as a company, but also for our clients. And we do believe that, as I said already, that we are in a very strong situation at the moment, two very strong years ahead of us here with 26 and 27 at 28, that is as we talked about during the annual annual reward presentation. And then at 29, where we see a lot of interesting stuff that we are currently discussing with clients. So then we come into the next decade. And in the next decade, I think that the number of projects we see in the various years there, whether you look at the various consultant reports or whether we talk to the clients, we can see that there is a very, very significant amount of projects that needs to be installed as we move into the next decades. And that is what we are trying to prepare for together with our clients, to make sure that we at least have a solution to what our clients need from us. And we also see the projects that previously were uncertain or projects that were delayed, they are now back with a firm timeline and will be also tendered in the various rounds that we see across Europe. So all in all, I think we are moving into positive territory with also the utilities saying that it looks like a very strong comeback for offshore wind in Europe in the coming years. So I think that all in all also Auction Round eight still move forward and still something that we are waiting to see the impact for. But I think that it's really something where we believe that there are some clients that are lined up to take an award in the uk. UK Round eight? Yes, please. We still believe in what we have discussed in the previous presentations regarding supply and demand. It is driven by factors like increased outbuild, as we have seen from North Sea Summit, various tender rounds across Europe. I think it's also important that not everything is as it seems to be. And I think that we have seen examples of that yesterday where there was announcements from Germany that maybe were over interpreted by some and then was corrected later during the day. And I think that that is the situation we are in an offshore wind. Very small changes create a lot of noise. But sometimes it's important to read what's in the fine print of these announcements. But I believe that the supply and demand imbalance is certainly present, both on average, but also if we look especially into the next decade and also as I said, driven by new projects that are coming, but also driven to a certain degree for the demand from other areas, in particular O and M, that is taking some demand, that has some demand, that takes some supply away, but also some of the vessels that are simply falling out of the market due to age. And that is something that we see very, very clear. So we executed a successful private placement where we raised around 175 million euro. And we believe that that really unlocks the potential for us to go ahead with the two proposed T class new builds and the acquisition of Scour protection vessel. And why did we do that? We have spoken to lots of investors since and thanks for all the support from the investors. We were massively oversupplied, subscribed on the deal and is really grateful for the support we see in the market. We believe in a structural vessel undersupply and we believe that with the delivery window we have decided for that we will be prepared for a very strong market uptick when these vessels deliver. And we can already see now that our clients are coming to us for these vessels because they are featuring something that nobody else can offer at this stage. We believe that the experience we have with delivering vessels and also the relationship we have built up with the whole supply chain on the vessels. But also the shipyards have given us an access to a very, very competitive pricing model on these vessels, which is of course incredibly important when you have to live with them for 25 years after delivery. We also are looking into the SCOUR protection asset, as we have already discussed. And for us it's really a strategic initiative enabler. But it's also something where we to a very large extent will be our own client. We will be offering this product to our clients as part of the foundation installation. And we also believe that that will also be a de risking of our foundation projects because we do not become solely depending on other companies providing this service to us or to our clients. And we believe that all in all that is a better strategy both for us and for our clients. And I would also like to say in this forum that the decision to go into that area is a decision that has been taken together with our clients who had a desire for us to be playing a role in this space. And hence we also expect that we will soon be able to announce utilization on such a vessel when the whole process towards the vessel has been finalized. And I think that that all in all the additional assets will allow us to continue to be flexible and have an integrated solution for our clients which should all in all allow CATL to get a higher than fair share of the market. But also something that we believe is driving a premium when we are executing a project because we are able to give the client the flexibility but also redundancy that we believe is pretty unique for our industry. And in terms of how the market looks like, we in this presentation are just showing how the whole market is looking, not discounting anything in terms of capability or efficiency, but have added the two T class vessels as potential vessels to be constructed on top of of the fleet and are yet again manifesting being the largest company of our kind in the industry with a very, very solid asset base that is in very, very high demand from the clients. So all in all, as Peter said, and as I said, a quarter that has formed as we expected and we have continued to build the company for a future that we believe will be very, very busy. So key investment highlights, as we already talked about, largest and most capable versatile fleet, which really means redundancy for the clients. And redundancy means a lot. If we look at where clients historically have had issues on their project is really when the redundancy is not existence. And that leads me to the next point. With strong relationship with our clients. I am arguing that we have very strong relations. We are are constantly in touch with our clients. To make sure that they get the service from us that they expect. And we are always trying to be proactive and helping when something is not going to plan. And we have a leading industry position. As I said, we believe that that will lead to a higher than fair share of market. We are working globally and we can work everywhere. And we also now have experience in working in every region where offshore wind is currently playing a role. We believe in a structure undersupply and an increasing market demand. And all in all we are building the fleet to handle that and to make sure that we return maximum value to our investors. Very strong track record and backlog and a backlog that we will continue to build over the coming quarters. And with that said, I think that we are going into the Q and A.

OPERATOR

Thank you. At this time we invite those analysts wishing to ask a question to click on the Raise Hand button, which can be found on the black bar at the bottom of your screen. You may remove yourself from the queue at any time by lowering your hand. When it is your turn, you will hear your name called and receive a prompt to be promoted. Please accept Wait a moment and once you've been promoted, you may unmute yourself and ask a question. We encourage you to turn your video on as well. We will wait one moment to allow the queue to form. Our first question is from Jamie Franklin from Jeffreys. Please unmute your line and ask your question.

Jamie Franklin (Equity Analyst)

Hey guys, thanks for taking my questions. Firstly, I just wanted to ask on utilization and how to think about the rest of the of the year, is it fair to assume a sort of similar profile that we saw in 2025 with utilization ramping up at a similar sort of magnitude in 2q 3q and maybe given that we're now halfway through the second quarter, are you able to give a bit more clarity on the kind of a range of utilization we might expect or if there are any specific factors that would result in 2Q vessel utilization being lower year on year?

Mikael Glierup (Chief Executive Officer)

I think that you're right in your first statement that we expect that utilization is coming up in in the following quarters of this year, which is also given by the fact that we maintain our guidance and with the Q1 being as per expectation, so we are completely in line with that. We can also say that Q1 has been defined by very much by vessels being swapped around, being in dry dock and preparing for projects, and that is work that has been done now and we only have very little of that left for the remainder of the year. So hence we believe that the utilization will be strong for. For the remainder of the year.

Jamie Franklin (Equity Analyst)

Thank you. And then maybe thinking about cash flow through the remainder of 2026. I believe that most of the remaining CapEx this year is obviously during the third quarter with the final installment on Windace. So just wanted to confirm that and whether there's any additional CAPEX to think about through the remainder of this year, please.

Peter Brogard (Chief Financial Officer)

Yes, definitely there is with ace. And we also have an installment on this year on the apex around 90 million year. And then we expect also to sign the yard contract on the T class versus this year and that we also need to pay the first installment. We don't know exactly, but it could be to the tune of 110 million Euro or something for both vessels. So that is the main components that we have in CapEx. Of course there's also someone on Windkeeper that will be finalized, but most of that was in Q1, so we made very little rest of the year on that one. And then, yeah, there will also be something on the fundraiser project. So that is the run through of that.

Jamie Franklin (Equity Analyst)

Okay, very helpful, thank you. And then finally you touched on Wind Apex and the potential for early delivery. Last results you said it could be up to one month early. So is that still the time frame you're sort of thinking about? And would there be any additional cost to the yard associated with early delivery? And if so, is that expected to be funded by the clients?

Peter Brogard (Chief Financial Officer)

Yes. So it's correct. We expect that the Wind Apex is now delivering towards the end of April, very early start of May, and that is already confirmed and signed with the shipyard. And there is a small associated cost with that that is being part of the project negotiation with the client. Yes, that's correct.

Jamie Franklin (Equity Analyst)

Okay, that's very helpful. I'll hand it over. Thanks, guys.

OPERATOR

Thank you. Thank you, Jamie. As a reminder, if anyone else would like to raise their hands, please use the raise hand feature at the bottom of your zoom screen. We appear to have no further questions at this time. Thank you so much for your participation. I will now hand the floor back to Mikael Glierup for any closing remarks.

Mikael Glierup (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you very much for listening in on this Q1 presentation. We are looking forward to a year that will very much be defined by execution and also the assets that we have discussed since the private placement. Thanks for the support from every investor that is supporting us. We are looking forward to a very strong year 2026.

Disclaimer: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, there may be errors or omissions in this automated transcription. For official company statements and financial information, please refer to the company's SEC filings and official press releases. Corporate participants' and analysts' statements reflect their views as of the date of this call and are subject to change without notice.