Aker Solutions ASA on Tuesday announced the appointment of Paal Eikeseth, who has headed the Norwegian oil and gas contractor’s Life Cycle business since 2022, as president and chief executive effective immediately.
Eikeseth – who previously held operations- and growth-related roles at Aker Solutions in Angola, Canada, the United Kingdom and Asia – has replaced Kjetel Digre. Digre, who assumed both titles 2020, stepped down after six years.
“Together with our 11,700 colleagues around the world, I look forward to further improving project execution and making greater use of our expertise through standardization, reuse and data”, Eikeseth said in an online statement issued by Aker Solutions.
“We have already started this journey. We are reducing project costs, standardizing deliveries and using digital and autonomous solutions to deliver measurable gains, while expanding our customer base and market reach. The opportunity now is to scale these improvements across the company and continue evolving our capabilities to meet our customers’ needs in a changing energy landscape”.
Leif-Arne Langøy, chair of Aker Solutions’ board of directors, said, “As leader of Aker Solutions’ Life Cycle business segment, Paal has pushed a highly effective and sustained customer-focused change agenda. His experience will be valuable to achieve our targets on productivity and execution, scale our expertise and expand the reach of Aker Solutions’ capabilities”.
Digre said, “The company is in a strong position for its next chapter, and I am confident that Paal and the team will continue to build on this foundation”.
Eikeseth, who holds a master’s degree from the Norwegian School of Economics, had a prior consulting role at PwC, Aker Solutions noted.
Digre led Aker Solutions “through one of the most significant periods in the company’s history, initiating the shift to a broader energy services scope while improving profitability and significantly increasing shareholder value”, Aker Solutions said. “His deep project expertise was fundamental for securing one of the largest and most significant project portfolios in the company’s history, which is now nearing successful completion”.
For the first half (H1) of 2026 Aker Solutions earlier reported an order intake of NOK 38.7 billion (around $4.15 billion) with a book-to-bill ratio of 1.5x, including NOK 9.9 billion for the second quarter.
The quarterly figure “was mainly driven by the award for an HVDC substructure, supply of all electromechanical equipment to the Tussa II hydropower plant and a long-term frame agreement with Cenovus Energy in Canada”, Aker Solutions said in a financial statement published July 14. “The secured backlog at the end of the quarter stood at NOK 77.2 billion”.
Revenue fell to NOK 26.5 billion for H1 2026 from NOK 29.54 billion for H1 2025. Earnings before interest and other financial items, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) dropped to NOK 2.3 billion from NOK 2.46 billion. EBITDA excluding special items slid to NOK 2.35 billion from NOK 2.47 billion. EBIT excluding special items declined to NOK 1.6 billion from NOK 1.77 billion.
Net profit excluding special items fell to NOK1.29 billion or NOK 2.67 per share for H1 2026 from NOK 1.33 billion for H1 2025.
In April, Aker Solutions paid the ordinary dividend per share of NOK 3.6 and the extraordinary dividend per share of NOK 5 that were approved at its general meeting. The extraordinary dividend was paid in relation to Aker Solutions’ sale of its shareholding in SLB NV, acquired when SLB OneSubsea was established. Aker Solutions retains a 20 percent stake in SLB OneSubsea.
Operating cash flow rose to NOK 2.49 billion for H1 2026 from NOK 1.24 billion for H1 2025. Net cash stood at NOK 2.31 billion.
Equity ratio was 25.7 percent. Liquidity reserve totaled NOK 7.31 billion.
“Operationally, Aker Solutions reached several important milestones across its project portfolio, including load-out of the Hugin B topside for Aker BP and construction start for the second-generation CCS projects in Norway”, Aker Solutions said.
“Based on the secured backlog and market activity, full-year revenue in 2026 is now expected to be between NOK 50 and 55 billion”, it said. “The underlying EBITDA margin, excluding net profit from SLB OneSubsea, is expected to be around 7.5 percent for the full year 2026”.
“Aker Solutions expects distributions from SLB OneSubsea to increase in the second half of 2026, supporting full-year distribution broadly in line with 2025 levels”, it added.
source: WorldOil