Atea ASA

Atea reported Q2 gross sales of NOK 18.9 billion, up 12.5% year over year, with organic growth in constant currency of 19.4%. Net revenue under IFRS was NOK 10.4 billion, up 14.1%; gross profit increased 3.5% to NOK 2.9 billion; operating expenses rose 1.8% to NOK 2.6 billion; EBIT increased 19.2% to NOK 320 million; and net profit after tax was NOK 218 million versus NOK 157 million last year. For the first half, gross sales were NOK 33.7 billion, up 12%, EBIT was NOK 796 million versus NOK 549 million, and net profit was NOK 607 million, up more than 90%. Management did not provide formal quarterly or full-year numeric guidance, but said Q3 will likely be “more of the same” and that demand, backlog, and infrastructure needs remain strong.

Steinar Sønsteby struck an upbeat but measured tone, saying the quarter was “equally good as the Norwegian World Cup” and emphasizing broad customer demand. He highlighted CIO survey data showing 55% expect IT budgets to rise more than 10% in 2026, but also noted only 18% have seen positive AI results so far and just 23% are positive on public cloud, which supports Atea’s hybrid and sovereign data-center positioning. He also stressed that Atea is well prepared in data centers, AI infrastructure, and regional cloud connectivity to serve Nordic customers.

Robert Giori said the quarter was driven by strong demand for hardware and software, but gross margin was lower than last year because of a higher hardware mix. He cited gross profit of NOK 2.9 billion, operating expenses of NOK 2.6 billion, EBIT of NOK 320 million, and net profit of NOK 218 million. Cash flow from operations was an outflow of NOK 727 million versus an outflow of NOK 111 million last year, driven by higher inventory to secure customer deliveries during supply constraints; he said Atea plans to reduce inventory in the second half of 2026, which should improve cash flow. He also noted net debt of NOK 1.3 billion, or 0.5x net debt/EBITDA, and said the company had NOK 4.7 billion of headroom below covenant limits.

Analysts asked how much of the hardware growth was due to supply-chain and pricing dynamics; management estimated that roughly half of the 21% hardware growth reflected those factors, with the rest driven by underlying demand. On services, management said first-half weakness was mostly due to tough comparisons with an exceptional prior year and customer budget prioritization toward hardware, and it said this was not a loss-of-business trend or an AI displacement issue. On Denmark, management said the market is improving after sales-organization changes, with better account management helping drive more private business and larger project wins, though it is still early.