Lars Solstad
CEO & MD

Good morning, and welcome to the Solstad Offshore Second Quarter Presentation. It has been a strong and active quarter for the company with improved operational performance, important contract wins, increased backlog visibility and a continued capital distribution to our shareholders. We have also taken important strategic steps through the new joint venture we have established with SBM Offshore and the ordering of a specialized mooring and installation vessel further strengthen our long-term position in an attractive offshore market.

This presentation will be held by CFO, Kjetil Ramstad; and myself, CEO, Lars Peder Solstad, and there will be a Q&A session after the presentation. So please send in your questions in the chat. We take a quick look at the disclaimer before we move over to the business update for the quarter.

It has been a solid quarter with increased utilization and earnings from the vessels as well as good performance from the JVs and the associated companies. We entered into a long-term contract with SBM Offshore for a newbuild specialized mooring and installation vessel, and this vessel will be jointly owned with SBM and start operation in 2029.

We have also signed an MOA for the sale of the vessel, Normand Tonjer. We own 56% of the vessel, and we expect a cash effect for Solstad Offshore of around USD 19 million when the vessel is delivered to new owners sometime during the next 6 months.

During this quarter, we have also won an arbitration case, which will give the company a positive liquidity effect of around $14.5 million when received. And a P&L effect of USD 7 million has been

When flights are delayed or cancelled, UK and EU airlines, and other carriers when you are departing a UK or EU airport, have a duty to look after you.

That includes providing meals and accommodation, if necessary, and getting you to your destination. The airline should organise putting you on an alternative flight, at no extra cost.

Additional losses, such as unused accommodation, might require a claim to a credit card provider, if that was the payment option used.

After that, a claim may need to go to your travel insurance provider. But there is no standard definition of what is covered.

It may require a close look at the details of the policy to see what is covered, in which circumstances.

Passengers are also being urged to heed travel advice from the UK government, external, as this can also affect travel insurance rights.

The South West city has been ranked among the priciest in the world for construction

Bristol is among the top 10 most expensive places in the world to build in, according to a new report. The South West city ranked ninth on the International Construction Cost Index, above Los Angeles, Paris and Sydney.

The findings, which were compiled by design consultancy Arcadis, compared construction costs across 100 major cities around the globe.

Geneva, in Switzerland, took the top spot followed by London, Zurich, Munich and Copenhagen.

The index found the world’s highest-cost construction markets remain concentrated in mature cities with deep demand and constrained delivery capacity.

While Arcadis said the top of the ranking remained “broadly consistent”, the wider market context is understood to have shifted. Global construction markets are moving from inflation-led uncertainty into a more selective phase of investment, where capital is being deployed more carefully rather than demand simply slowing.

Edel Christie, global president of places at Arcadis, said: “The need to build has not gone away. Cities still need homes, infrastructure, resilient energy systems, modern workplaces and digital infrastructure to support the next generation of economic growth.

“The opportunity is clear, but investment will flow to places and programmes where delivery is credible, viable and achievable — not just cheap to build.”

The report found that many developers are increasingly favouring complex, high-performing assets that support long-term growth such as modern workplaces, healthcare facilities, laboratories, data centres and advanced manufacturing plants.

Ms Christie said one area where demand was “abundant” and where the construction sector was “rising to the delivery challenge” was in data centres.

“The spectacular growth of the wider data centre ecosystem has created a critical scaling challenge for the construction sector: the ability to deploy huge project teams quickly while maintaining detailed control over scope, quality, schedule and risk,” she said.

The Arcadis report also highlighted the breadth of cost variation across global construction markets. While high-cost locations are concentrated in Europe, the UK and North America, some of the lowest-cost locations were found across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Bengaluru ranked as the least expensive city in the index, followed by Buenos Aires, Delhi, Mumbai and Ho Chi Minh City.

10 most expensive cities in world for construction

1. Geneva

2. London

3. Switzerland

4. Munich

5. Copenhagen

6. New York

7. San Francisco

8. Dublin

9. Bristol

10. Philadelphia

SYDNEY — Shares of Sunrise Energy Metals surged 13.34% on Wednesday to close at $16.82, gaining $1.98 on the day and extending one of the most dramatic rallies on the Australian Securities Exchange, as investor enthusiasm for the company’s scandium project in New South Wales continued to drive intense buying activity.

The Melbourne-based mineral exploration company, formerly known as Clean TeQ Holdings before rebranding in March 2021, has emerged as the flagship Western play in the global scandium market, a niche but strategically significant metal used in aerospace, defense and clean energy applications. The stock’s latest surge builds on a rally that has seen shares climb from levels below 30 cents in early 2025 to well above $16 today, a gain exceeding 3,000% over roughly the past year.

The Syerston Project at the Center of the Story

At the heart of Sunrise’s remarkable ascent is its Syerston Project in New South Wales, which the company is developing into what would become the largest primary scandium operation outside China. The project’s significance has grown alongside intensifying global competition over critical mineral supply chains, particularly as China has moved to tighten export restrictions on scandium, a metal it currently controls an estimated 80% to 85% of global supply for.

Company materials have emphasized scandium’s applications across a range of high-specification uses, including defense and aerospace alloys, hypersonic technology, missile systems, shipbuilding and solid-oxide fuel cells, some of which support energy-intensive data centers used in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

A Landmark Deal With Lockheed Martin

A significant catalyst behind the stock’s re-rating came when Sunrise secured a multi-year supply agreement with Lockheed Martin, one of the world’s largest defense contractors. Under the arrangement, Lockheed holds an option to purchase up to 15 tonnes of scandium oxide over five years from the Syerston project, representing roughly 25% of the operation’s forecast Phase 1 production.

The agreement marked a significant validation for a company that had previously struggled to attract top-tier offtake partners, demonstrating both the project’s technical viability and genuine commercial demand for its output from a major aerospace and defense supplier.

CEO Sees Role in US Strategic Stockpile

Sunrise Energy Metals CEO Sam Riggall has publicly stated that the company expects to contribute scandium supply to the United States’ critical minerals stockpile, positioning Sunrise within broader U.S. industrial policy and defense supply-chain objectives as Washington works to diversify away from Chinese-dominated mineral markets.

That positioning has become central to the market’s valuation of the company, with investors increasingly treating the Syerston project as strategic infrastructure rather than a conventional speculative mining play, a framing that has helped cushion the stock against some of the volatility typically associated with pre-revenue resource companies.

Additional Government and Financial Backing

Sunrise has also drawn interest from U.S. government financing channels. The company received a letter of interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States for up to $67 million, or roughly 103 million Australian dollars, in debt financing support for the Syerston project, further reinforcing the strategic significance being placed on the operation by policymakers seeking to secure non-Chinese sources of critical minerals.

The company is backed in part by Canadian mining entrepreneur Robert Friedland, whose involvement has added additional credibility among institutional and retail investors closely tracking the critical minerals sector.

A Resource Base That Keeps Growing

Sunrise’s project economics have continued to improve alongside its exploration results. A mineral resource estimate revision in September 2025 roughly doubled the contained scandium metal identified at Syerston, reinforcing the project’s potential to support multi-decade supply commitments to strategic partners. The company has since moved from the study phase into early construction activity, awarding engineering contracts earlier this year as it works to advance the project toward production.

A feasibility study previously pegged life-of-mine direct site cash costs at roughly $530 to $540 per kilogram of scandium oxide, positioning Syerston at the lower end of the global cost curve and suggesting the project could offer Sunrise meaningful pricing power in a market where transparency remains limited and supply is tightly controlled by a small number of producers.

A Stock That Has Captured Retail Attention

Sunrise’s dramatic share price trajectory has made it a frequently discussed name within retail investing communities, with online forums repeatedly highlighting the stock’s outsized gains as a case study for other critical minerals equities. The broader rare earths and critical minerals sector has benefited from improving sentiment throughout 2026, supported by continued demand tied to electric vehicles, renewable energy infrastructure and heightened geopolitical concern over supply chain security.

Risks Remain Despite the Rally

Despite the extraordinary run, analysts have cautioned that Sunrise remains a pre-revenue company, meaning its current valuation continues to rest heavily on the successful execution of its development plans rather than established cash flow. The stock has also experienced sharp pullbacks at points over the past year, including notable declines in late February, underscoring the volatility that continues to accompany its rapid ascent.

With a market capitalization that has climbed into the billions of Australian dollars, the margin for error has narrowed considerably even as bullish sentiment persists. Whether Sunrise can successfully convert its scandium narrative into consistent operational output, and whether global demand for the metal ultimately matches current market expectations, will likely determine whether Wednesday’s gains represent another step in a sustainable long-term growth story or a further extension of a speculative run that has already defied expectations for more than a year.

The Nifty Bank index gained around 561 points to trade at 58,023, as seen at 12.40 pm. State Bank of India (SBI) shares were the top gainers, rising around 2%. Union Bank of India, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Canara Bank, HDFC Bank and Bank of Baroda rose more than 1% each.

IDFC First Bank, ICICI Bank and AU Small Finance Bank shares gained nearly 1% each, while Yes Bank, Axis Bank, Federal Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank shares were trading in the green with marginal gains.

“Improving balance sheets, better liquidity conditions, stable interest rates and moderating credit costs are expected to support stronger growth and mark the beginning of a broad-based earnings upside for the financials sector,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research of wealth management at Motilal Financial Services.

Q1 earnings showdown on Saturday

The sharp rise in the shares of the Indian lenders ahead of crucial Q1 earnings announcements scheduled for Saturday. As many as five heavyweight private banks, including HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and Yes Bank, are all set to announce their results for the April-June quarter of the ongoing financial year 2027 on Saturday (July 18).

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Nomura, in its note, said that it expected banks under its coverage to report modest core-PPOP growth, led by soft NII growth and controlled opex, while seasonally higher credit costs keep PAT growth muted. It named ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank as its top picks.
The international brokerage said that reported loan growth has been strong for HDFC Bank and Yes Bank, but soft for Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank. For ICICI Bank, Nomura expects loan growth to be strong. However, it overall expects net interest margins will moderate for the lenders.
“We expect Q1 FY27 to be another steady quarter with negative surprise, if any, coming from possible NIM contraction. Provisional numbers suggest solid performance on loan growth across banks (large/mid, public/private/SFB). Asset quality is holding up well across banks and products, with no discernible impact from the current crisis in the Middle East. We prefer frontline banks to others looking at the current macro set-up, which could see NIM pressures abating from here on,” said Kotak Institutional Equities.
Also read | Q1 Showdown: Analysts pick top bets as ICICI Bank, HDFC, Axis, Kotak, Yes Bank gear up for results this week

Motilal Oswal Financial Services, meanwhile, said that its channel checks signal a strong MSME credit demand in the April-June quarter of the ongoing FY27, with an increase in the working capital cycle. Private banks’ share is higher among higher ticket sizes, while public sector banks are gaining incremental market share with competitive pricing and CGTMSE-backed lending, the domestic brokerage added.

Technical view on Nifty Bank

Vatsal Bhuva, Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, expected the Nifty Bank index to find support in the 56,800–56,900 zone, while immediate resistance was seen around 58,200.

On the upside, 58,700 (June’s high) remains the immediate hurdle, according to Bajaj Broking. “A decisive close above this level would confirm a breakout from the ongoing consolidation and could trigger the next leg of the rally towards 59,300 and eventually 60,000 levels in the coming weeks,” it added.

Also read | Explained: Why is stock market rising today even as Iran-US war escalates, oil prices cross $85

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Trimmed-mean inflation measure and its sibling median inflation gauge have both gotten unprecedented attention in recent months. It is all owing to new Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh.

In his Senate Banking Committee