Creating Value Amid Uncertainty

Dear Fellow Shareholders,

We are operating in a period of heightened geopolitical instability and rising expectations of industrial ownership. Aker’s response is to remain steady through uncertainty while investing decisively in long-term value creation, most recently reflected in our commitment to artificial intelligence and the Nscale transaction.

We are increasingly reminded of how quickly underlying assumptions can shift – and how critical it is to be prepared when they do. The war in Ukraine and the Middle East, along with rising tensions between major powers, continues to leave a clear mark on energy markets, capital flows, and investment decisions.

In this landscape, the importance of financial resilience and strategic agility became especially evident. The funding round in Nscale, through which Aker became the largest shareholder, demonstrates how we use our balance sheet to take decisive positions in long-term value creation within technology and artificial intelligence.

The transaction reflects an increase in Aker’s adjusted net asset value of approximately NOK 24 billion. The fact that it was announced on March 9 this year – the same day oil prices exceeded USD 100 per barrel, driven by the conflict in the Middle East – underlines the interplay between geopolitics, energy markets, and capital allocation in our time. Through our ownership in Aker BP, Aker remains exposed to oil prices and to the strategic importance of energy security.

2026 has begun much as the previous year ended. 2025 was a year of rapid market movements. Assumptions were tested, and the distance between decision and consequence grew shorter. In that environment, Aker delivered total shareholder returns approaching 50 percent. The result reflects both strong performance across the portfolio and deliberate ownership choices – simplifying where complexity no longer created value, concentrating capital where we see the greatest potential, and preserving the ability to act as conditions evolved. By year-end, Aker was more focused and clearer in its priorities than twelve months earlier.

Aker’s approach to ownership is shaped by a combination that is not always easy to sustain over time. We are an industrial owner, grounded in operating competence and long-term development, while also maintaining an entrepreneurial capacity to originate, build, and reshape businesses. We invest with a long-term perspective, but retain the ability to act when opportunities emerge. As a listed company with a deeply committed majority shareholder, Aker operates with public-market discipline alongside clear ownership alignment. This structure informed the decisions taken during the year and remains a defining feature of how we create value.

In 2025, the broader operating environment saw some significant shifts. Competition for capital, energy, technology, and talent is intensified, and geopolitical considerations played a more visible role in industrial and investment decisions. For an industrial owner, this places greater weight on execution capability, financial resilience, and partnerships built to last across cycles and changing policy landscapes.

Aker’s portfolio is positioned where energy, technology, and industry meet. Energy remains a foundational advantage, particularly when paired with industrial competence and a long-term perspective. At the same time, digitalization and artificial intelligence are increasingly shaping how industrial assets are developed and operated. During the year, these dynamics became more closely integrated across the portfolio, influencing both how we invest and how our companies create value in practice.

We also expanded our exposure to real assets with stable, long-duration cash flows. Real estate and infrastructure play an important role in strengthening portfolio resilience and reducing volatility over time. Active ownership, structure, and disciplined entry points remain central to how we approach these investments.
Capital discipline remains unchanged. Our objective is to deliver predictable returns to shareholders while preserving the flexibility required to invest through cycles and respond to opportunities as they arise. This balance continues to define Aker’s ownership model.

The period ahead will be shaped by faster change and greater uncertainty than we have been accustomed to. Technology, markets, and geopolitics are evolving in ways that challenge established assumptions. Outcomes will only become clear over time, and there will be both winners and losers. In such an environment, the role of an industrial owner is not to predict the future, but to remain positioned to endure it – with financial strength, industrial competence, and the capacity to adapt as conditions change. This is the perspective Aker brings to the years ahead.

On behalf of the Board and management, thank you for your continued trust.

 

With regards,

Øyvind