Translation: Original published in Finnish on 10/7/2026 at 7:45 am EEST.

Betolar announced yesterday that it has developed a solution to protect subsea cables and pipelines against anchor-dragging incidents and has validated it in a customer project with offshore engineering experts. This initiative extends the Critical Infrastructure Protection business, which was launched in April, to the seabed. Since commercialization begins with engineering projects, we estimate that the impact on revenue will not be felt until 2027 at the earliest, and this announcement does not call for any changes to our forecasts.

Protective fence assembled from standard offshore components

Betolar's solution consists of a protective fence that is placed on the seabed and positioned on both sides of the asset to be protected in order to stop a dragged anchor. The structure is assembled from standard offshore components and can be equipped with surveillance and sensor technologies. A patent application for the solution was filed in January 2025, over a year before Betolar announced its Critical Infrastructure Protection business. The company did not disclose the customer of the validation project or the price of the solution but stated that the cost of protection is a fraction of the cost to repair a single anchor-dragging incident. Commercialization will start with engineering projects in Northern Europe, and the company intends to later deliver and install complete protection structures. The company says it is in dialogue across several geographies and cites interconnections, gas pipes, and grid connections for offshore wind farms as some of its targets. This is not a new direction, as CEO Vibeke Krohn identified seabed infrastructure as one of the customer segments under review when presenting the half-year report, noting that customers' decision-making cycles, regulations, and the complexity of installations are lengthening delivery times.

Validation enables commercialization to begin

The vulnerability of seabed infrastructure has been a recognized problem since the incidents in the Baltic Sea, so this initiative aligns with the strategic focus established in June. As far as we understand, Betolar’s protection solutions on land rely, at least in part, on the company’s own material technology, whereas the seabed structure is assembled from standard components. Betolar's role is thus weighted toward the concept, design, and patent protection, which makes the solution quick to deliver and capital-light but, in our view, leaves the competitive advantage dependent on design expertise and the patent.

Returns from engineering projects are relatively small, and, in our view, complete deliveries will require partners for installation and marine operations, as is the case on land, where Enersense is a key partner. Our forecasts already factor in income from critical infrastructure protection solutions as part of other projects, so this announcement does not warrant any changes to our forecasts. The next checkpoints are the Q3 business review, which will be published on October 28 and on which our focus will be received orders, and the Capital Markets Day, which is planned for the fall but for which the company has not yet specified the exact timing.