A pre‑silent call for the third quarter of 2026 was held on 1 October with CFO Arjen Berends. In this blog post, we summarise the key messages and most relevant questions raised during the discussion.
The recording of the call is available here, and the presentation materials here.
Wärtsilä has completed the closing of the Energy Storage joint venture
According to Arjen, the financial impact of the Energy Storage transaction is now expected to be lower than the previously indicated EUR -40 to 50 million. Following the impairment recognised in the third quarter prior to the establishment of the joint venture, the net impact on Wärtsilä's 2026 operating profit is currently estimated at approximately EUR -10 to -15 million. The impact will not be treated as an item affecting comparability.
Arjen also highlighted upcoming accounting changes under IFRS 18, effective from 1 January 2027. The joint venture's results will be included in operating profit under Other Business Activities as "Share of result of associated companies" in the fourth quarter of 2026, and will move outside operating profit once the new standard comes into force.
Energy market activity remains strong
Wärtsilä continues to see healthy activity across the Energy business. Recent developments include the company's largest-ever engine power plant order in Australia and a Memorandum of Understanding with Tokyo Gas to support data centre developments in Japan. Arjen views these developments as encouraging signs of continued demand and expanding opportunities in key growth markets.
Looking ahead, Arjen highlighted balancing power and data centres as the most significant growth opportunities within the Energy business. As renewable energy continues to expand globally, increasing demand for flexible balancing power solutions is creating a growing market opportunity for Wärtsilä's engine-based power solutions, while data centre investments continue to drive strong demand for reliable power generation capacity.
Marine markets continue to develop positively
The latest update from Clarksons points to a positive outlook for global shipbuilding activity. Demand remains strong across several vessel segments, including container ships, tankers, bulk carriers, and gas carriers, while cruise and ferry markets continue at healthy levels. The global order book now represents approximately 22% of fleet capacity, supporting expectations of sustained newbuild activity.
The marine industry's regulatory landscape is becoming increasingly complex as regional emissions trading schemes continue to emerge across major markets. As shipowners navigate an environment of regulations, Wärtsilä sees increasing demand for advisory support and technology solutions that help customers balance decarbonisation, operational efficiency and long-term investment decisions.
Overall market conditions remain supportive
Overall, Wärtsilä continues to see positive market conditions across both Energy and Marine businesses. While accounting changes and the Energy Storage JV transaction will affect reported results, underlying customer activity, order intake and market fundamentals remain supportive as the company enters the final quarter of the year.
Q&A
What are the expected benefits of the new collaboration with Schneider Electric and Stanley Consultants?
We see this collaboration as an opportunity to combine complementary expertise across process optimisation, system design and project execution to help accelerate customers' time-to-power. The idea behind the partnership is that by bringing together the capabilities of all three companies, we can create a stronger overall offering than individually.
That said, we have only recently announced the collaboration and the detailed work is just getting started. Our teams now need to work together to identify where we can create the greatest synergies and how we can streamline project delivery for customers. For that reason, it is still too early to estimate adoption rates, quantify potential reductions in project timelines or assess the overall commercial impact. We are optimistic about the opportunity, but at this stage we view it as a long-term initiative rather than something we can yet put specific numbers around.
What is affecting Marine Services demand?
The main factors currently affecting demand are high freight rates and elevated fuel prices. In many shipping segments, vessel utilisation remains strong and operators are earning attractive rates. As a result, some customers prefer to keep their vessels trading rather than taking them out of service for maintenance.
At the same time, fuel costs remain high and are consuming a larger share of customers' budgets. This can lead to maintenance spending being deferred, particularly for projects that are not immediately critical. Some customers are choosing to prioritise operations and fuel costs in the current environment.
Importantly, we see this largely as a timing issue rather than a structural change in demand. Maintenance cannot be postponed indefinitely without risking equipment performance and reliability. Critical work will eventually need to be completed, and we therefore view the current softness as temporary. We are not seeing signs of deterioration compared to the second quarter.
The impact is most visible in spare parts demand.It also has some indirect effect on field service activity because installing parts often requires service engineers as well. Overall, field service utilisation remains healthy, supported by long-term service agreements, retrofit activity and other lifecycle services.
Can investors compare Wärtsilä's pricing per kilowatt with competitors?
We would caution against making direct comparisons based solely on euro-per-kilowatt metrics. Projects differ significantly in scope, and those differences can have a major impact on contract value.
For example, one customer may purchase only engine equipment, while another may require a much broader package including generators, cooling systems, fuel handling systems, filtration equipment and other supporting infrastructure. Both projects could have exactly the same power output, but the contract value could still differ significantly because the scope of supply is different.
In fact, even within our own order book we can have projects with identical megawatt capacity where the contract value differs substantially due entirely to scope differences. That is why we have previously highlighted that euro-per-kilowatt is not an ideal KPI for assessing competitiveness or profitability.
When evaluating projects, we believe it is more important to consider the overall solution, lifecycle value, service opportunities and project execution scope rather than focusing solely on installed megawatt capacity. Direct comparisons with competitors can therefore be misleading if the underlying scope is not the same.
When are service agreements for data centre projects typically signed?
The timing can vary from project to project, so there is no single point in the process when agreements are always secured. What we can say is that we remain very positive about the service opportunity associated with the growing data centre backlog.
Historically, our attachment rate for lifecycle agreements on new Energy projects has been above 80%. In other words, the majority of customers ultimately choose to enter into some form of long-term service relationship with us. We expect data centre projects to follow a similar pattern over time.
While we have not yet announced specific service agreements related to the recently secured data centre projects, we are confident that a substantial portion of those installations will create future service opportunities. Even where customers choose not to enter into a full lifecycle agreement, they often purchase spare parts, maintenance support and field services on a transactional basis.
Overall, we view the expanding data centre installed base as an attractive future source of recurring service revenue and long-term customer relationships.
How important is balancing power as a future growth opportunity?
We see balancing power as one of the most important long-term growth opportunities for Wärtsilä, alongside data centres. While data centres are currently attracting significant attention, the need for balancing power is driven by broader structural changes taking place across the global energy system.
As renewable energy generation continues to expand, power systems require increasing amounts of flexible generation capacity to manage intermittency and maintain grid stability. Wind and solar are growing rapidly, but because their output varies, additional balancing resources are needed to ensure electricity supply remains reliable.
This is where our technology is particularly well positioned. Our engine-based power solutions offer fast start-stop capability, operational flexibility and strong performance across a wide range of operating conditions. These characteristics make them highly suitable for balancing renewable generation and supporting energy transition goals.
We generally see the energy market as consisting of three key segments: traditional baseload power generation, balancing power and data centres. Baseload demand remains relatively stable, while balancing power and data centres represent the most significant growth areas.
In addition, our engines can operate on a range of fuels, including LNG, biofuels, ammonia and hydrogen. This provides customers with flexibility as they move towards lower-carbon energy systems. As coal is gradually phased out and renewable penetration increases, we believe demand for balancing power will continue to grow and remain a major opportunity for Wärtsilä over the long term.
