Alfen N.V. (ALFEN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello. Welcome to the Alfen 2026 Half Year Results Conference Call hosted by Michael Colijn, CEO; and Bart Meussen, Interim CFO. [Operator Instructions] And I would now like to hand the call over to Michael Colijn. Mr. Colijn, please go ahead.

Thank you, Elba. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Alfen's 2026 Half Year Earnings Call. Thank you all for taking the time to join us. I'm Michael Colijn, CEO of Alfen, and I'm delighted to be leading this trading update with you today. Before we start, let me introduce Bart Meussen, who joined us as Interim CFO on the 1st of July and is with us on this call for the first time. With his appointment, continuity of the finance function and financial leadership is safeguarded. Bart joined at a demanding moment and has made a strong start. He has been closely involved in preparing the results we are presenting today. As such, he will take you through our financial performance and join me during Q&A. It has been a pleasure working with Bart these first few weeks. Let me give the word to Bart for a short introduction.

Yes. Thank you, Michael, and good morning, everyone, also from my side. I joined indeed Alfen as the interim CFO on the 1st of July and got a warm welcome by the team. I've been working closely with Michael, the Alfen management team and the finance department over the last weeks. The first weeks here, I have and you said it already have gone straight into the half year. Like also what's written in the short announcement, I had careers at companies such as KPN, Philips and most recently I served at BAM as CFO of the Netherlands. In all those assignments, I gained extensive experience and knowledge on finance leadership, business transformation and organizational change. What I found is a finance organization that knows its business well and a company with a clear sense of what it is building with many strong and dedicated professionals. My focus is on continuity, making sure the finance function keeps delivering and that, for example, you receive the same quality and consistency of reporting you are used to. My second focus is to support the ongoing transformation with everything that is needed to be done on short term. I really look forward to speaking with you later in the call and to meet many of you over the course of the coming months. Michael, back to you.

Thank you, Bart. Let me share what we can say about the situation at this moment in time. The Supervisory Board process is ongoing, and Bart will continue in the role until a permanent appointment is made, and we will update you in due course. Moving on to today's agenda, which is structured to give you a comprehensive view of the developments during the first half of '26. I'll begin with the highlights. We'll then dive into each of our 3 business lines. Bart will follow with our financials, and we will conclude with our outlook before we open the floor for the questions-and-answer session. I'm pleased to report that Alfen delivered a solid first half of '26 with revenue reaching EUR 261.5 million, representing a 23.6% increase compared to the first half of '25. This growth was driven primarily by our energy storage system business and continued momentum in our smart grid solutions. Our adjusted gross margin for the period was EUR 68.3 million or 26.1% of revenue compared to EUR 61.6 million or 29.1% of revenue in the first half of '25. The margin percentage decline is attributable to a business unit mix shift towards energy storage systems. The underlying margins in each of our business units remain healthy and are performing within their expected ranges. Turning to profitability. Our adjusted EBITDA increased to EUR 16.4 million compared to EUR 13 million in the first half of '25. Our adjusted EBITDA margin improved to 6.3% from 6.1% in the prior year. I'm also excited to announce that we appointed business unit directors for all business units, representing a next step in our transformation. This solid first half reinforces our confidence in our full year guidance, which we're reiterating today. We expect revenue to be between EUR 435 million and EUR 475 million with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 4% to 7% and capital expenditure below 4% of revenue. As we've indicated previously, our revenue is front-loaded in '26, particularly in energy storage systems. The first half results demonstrate that we're executing well operationally, while we position Alfen for its next phase. Moving on to the business unit review. I'm pleased to report that our Smart Grid Solutions business delivered strong performance in the first half of '26, with revenue reaching EUR 111.6 million, representing a 14.9% increase compared to the first half of '25. We saw growth across the board with the majority attributable to an increase in project business with notable mentioning that our transport distribution stations are now a structural part of this. But we also saw an increase in revenue from grid operators in the first half, driven by a stable quarter-over-quarter pattern. As a reminder, last year, 2 grid operators adjusted their forecast downwards after Q1 for which we had to correct in the remainder of the year. 69% of revenue came from the grid operator products and 31% from projects. Operationally, we delivered 1,716 substations during the period, 1,199 in the Netherlands and 517 in Finland. The sharp increase in Finnish substations is attributable to a higher demand. Gross margin performance remained within the expected range at 22.9%, up from 22.4% in the prior year. This improvement was primarily driven by the higher share of project sales in our revenue mix. Looking at the market dynamics, we are seeing structural grid congestion continuing to drive the substantial need for grid expansions, something that is increasingly recognized by governments across Europe. At European level, we saw the electrification action plan published in July, aiming to accelerate the electrification of transport, buildings and industry. The objective is to reduce Europe's dependence on fossil fuels, strengthen energy security and competitiveness and ultimately increase electricity share of the final consumption to around 46% by 2040. This requires not only more electrified transport, buildings and industry, but also the charging infrastructure, energy storage and electricity grids needed to support that transition. Relevant for our Smart grid solutions business is that it identified grid capacity as a key constraint to electrification and therefore, urges member states to boost grid investments and accelerate permitting. Looking at the Netherlands specifically, we are starting to see regulators move from designing measures towards execution with a regional approach targeting spatial planning, site development and permitting. This is further evidenced by the new fast track regime for grid projects that shortens the appeal procedures from October this year. However, the short-term reality is more balanced with the known key constraining factors still impacting our smart grid solutions clients today, and therefore, we do not expect a volume impact in the current year, but these developments are expected to translate into orders and deliveries over time. Moving over to EV charging. We faced a decline in the first half with revenue down 17% to EUR 51.1 million, which is in line with expectations as we renew our portfolio. Our performance reflects similar dynamics to those discussed last quarter. First, the gradual ramp-up of features on our new product continued impacting order volume, although less so in the last few months. Second, uneven order patterns in the public segment; and third, the competitive pressure in the home charging segment, which will stay with us throughout this year until we introduce our new charger for residential segment. Our adjusted gross margin was 39.9% compared with 44.1% in the prior year. This is around the midpoint of the expected gross margin range of 35% to 45% and reflects the introduction of new charger models and ongoing sales campaigns. From a production perspective, we delivered approximately 53,700 in the first half of 2026, representing a 12.3% decrease compared with the 61,200 charge points delivered in the first half of '25. The average sales price decreased due to more competitive pricing strategies. But here is what gives me confidence. We are not standing still, and we've taken decisive action to address these challenges head on with a comprehensive set of strategic initiatives introduced on this call last quarter. And let me share with you the progress against these initiatives. On the product development front, we are on schedule to launch our new home charging solution, specifically designed to address this competitive market in that segment. For our Plus models, we have introduced new features and are rolling out the next update in the next few weeks, amongst others, solar charging, the availability of the latest OCPP protocol for smart charging and an upgrade of Alfen's own smart charging network capabilities. These together are significant steps in the right direction. What I'm particularly excited about is that we are rolling out our digital strategy. The Eve Control platform launched last month, and we have since then handled the first service requests remotely through the platform. This platform combines asset management capabilities for our customers with efficient service handling. It saves both Alfen and our customers valuable time and resources. This renewed approach with connected chargers allows us to scale effectively through digitalization without adding complexity to the organization. I would now like to dive deeper into the market context. Across Europe, battery electric vehicle registrations continue their upward trajectory. European battery electric vehicle registrations grew 35% in the first half. More than 1 in 5 new cars in Europe is now fully electric, 22% against 17% a year ago. Similar to our market update last quarter, the country-specific picture remains mixed. In our core markets, major car markets are driving European growth figures, while the Netherlands and Belgium are on the lower end of the spectrum, reflecting their mature market status. Conversely, Alfen's expanding markets are demonstrating strong momentum with Italy and Spain showing robust year-on-year improvements in battery electric vehicle registrations. Current geopolitical tensions have created a reacceleration of demand in 2026, with fuel price hikes driving renewed consumer interest in electric mobility. At the same time, we are seeing renewed policy support across the European markets this year. As a result, this positively influences the total cost of ownership, which was already compelling for battery electric vehicles compared to internal combustion engine counterparts. This is starting to become a reality for all vehicle segments as new models hit the market that are cheaper and deliver superior performance. It further reinforces our view that electric vehicle adoption will increasingly be driven by consumer adoption rather than regulatory support alone. In all, we are on an undeniable path towards electric transport, and this will translate to sustained demand for charging infrastructure across all our European markets in the coming years. While we are currently renewing our portfolio, we expect to benefit again from this momentum in the coming years. Moving to Energy storage, where we saw a result of strong execution during the first half of the year. Revenue reached EUR 98.8 million, representing an 88% increase compared to the first half of '25. This significant growth was primarily driven by achieving major milestones in 2 of Alfen's largest projects to date, complemented by positive momentum for our mobile storage systems, which grew significantly in revenue compared to the first half of last year. More specifically, we have seen an increase in traction against the second half of last year, mostly coming from large power rentals that rent our systems to replace traditional diesel gensets for a variety of use cases, including construction sites, events or grid services. Our gross margin for the period was 22.8%, which positions us comfortably above the midpoint of our expected range of 15% to 25%. I want to provide some context here. In the first half of '25, our gross margin was elevated to 28.5% due to one-off items, including the release of project contingencies. Turning to our backlog and pipeline. At the end of the first half, we had EUR 93 million in our backlog with EUR 37 million scheduled for delivery in '26 and the remaining EUR 56 million for '27. The underlying pipeline remains healthy and the pace at which orders are converted reflects the lumpiness inherent in our project-based business rather than a change in underlying demand. To give you some color, we recorded approximately EUR 30 million of new order intake since the end of the second quarter, including EUR 6 million in mobile storage orders that can be executed in the second half of '26, given their shorter order to revenue cycle. During the second half of the year, we will focus on filling the order book for next year. The trajectory is expected to be consistent with our year-on-year revenue growth ambition. Now let me address timing dynamics candidly. Given typical project time lines and component lead times for utility scale energy storage systems, the natural window for converting pipeline opportunities into 2026 revenue is very tight. In July, Alfen and CATL announced a partnership to deploy sodium-ion battery storage across Europe. It extends our cooperation we have had with CATL for years now into a new battery technology. Sodium-ion technology is promising and aligns with our view of where the market is heading. The raw materials are more widely available compared to lithium, about 1,000x more abundant. Its safety performance is strong. It is able to operate reliably across a much wider temperature range and the expected service life is long. The energy density is slightly lower, but for stationary storage systems, that is acceptable and often not the primary buying criterion. With this technology, we aim to diversify our portfolio, meaning that sodium-ion complements our lithium-ion offering. Let me also share some details on timing. We expect to bring our first sodium-ion project to market from the second half of '27, starting with pilots. This does not yet change what you see in the numbers today. What it does change is our position for the years thereafter. 2 technologies, 2 supply routes and the engineering capability behind both. In short, we aim to be the frontrunner in the European market and are convinced that having access to this technology puts us ahead of the curve. Now I'll give the word to Bart to talk you through our financial performance.

Yes. Thank you, Michael. I'll now walk you through our financials, starting with the second quarter figures. Revenue came in at EUR 131.7 million, representing a 22.3% increase compared to the EUR 107.7 million in the prior year. Similar to the first quarter, growth is primarily driven by a strong performance in energy storage and Smart Grid Solutions. Our group adjusted gross margin reached EUR 34.2 million, equal to 26% of revenue compared with an adjusted gross margin of EUR 32.4 million or 30.1% in Q2 2025. The percentage decline reflects our business unit mix shift towards energy storage systems, which typically carries different margin characteristics than our other business units. This mix shift was consistent with our expectations. Our EBITDA was EUR 4.2 million in Q2 2026 compared to EUR 5.4 million in Q2 2025. The adjusted EBITDA performance increased in absolute terms from EUR 7.6 million in Q2 last year to EUR 8.2 million this year. The adjusted EBITDA percentage as share of revenue declined from 7% to 6.3%, which is attributable to the business unit mix shift. Looking at our half year income statement, I'll walk you through the key financial metrics and how they compare to our performance in the first half of 2025. Starting with our top line, we delivered a revenue level increase of 23.6% to EUR 261.5 million compared with the EUR 211.5 million in the prior year. As previously indicated, revenue is front-loaded this year and this first half performance reflects that pattern. Our adjusted gross margin reached EUR 68.3 million, representing 26.1% of revenue compared with EUR 63.4 million or 30.1% in H1 2025. Again, the group percentage is lower due to the business unit mix shift. At business unit level, underlying performance remains solid with margins within the expected ranges. No adjustments were made in the gross margin during H1 2026. Moving to our operational costs. Adjusted personnel expenses increased by 6.1% to EUR 40.1 million, mostly due to labor agreement indexations of roughly 5% since June 2025. Let me touch briefly upon personnel expenses, which we expect to be higher in the second half of this year. During a transition of this kind, the old and the new organization exist side-by-side for a period. Some roles are still being positioned. Interim agreements are in place while permanent appointments are completed, and we are recruiting and onboarding into the new structure. In addition, we are investments -- we are investing in capabilities ahead of the revenue it supports, such as software and project management, which, as you know, are a deliberate part of the strategy direction. This effect is planned for, and we expect it to fade out over the course of next year as the transition completes and the new organization settles. Adjusted other operating expenses decreased by 4.3% to EUR 11.5 million compared with EUR 12.1 million in H1 2025 as a result of strict cost control measures, which we will continue. EBITDA was EUR 11 million in H1 2026 compared to EUR 9.6 million in H1 2025, our prior year. We adjusted for one-off costs in the first half year, I'll sum them up for you. First, we have recognized one-off cost of EUR 3.5 million related to the restructuring we announced in February. This amount was primarily driven by settlement agreements and therefore, impacting personnel expenses. Second, we took EUR 1.7 million one-off transformation costs, which covers nonpersonnel-related transformation-linked costs, for example, advisory costs, therefore, impacting other operating costs. And third, EUR 0.2 million share-based payments associated with our long-term incentive plans. You have seen the details in our semiannual report. Together, they totaled EUR 5.4 million special items, which brings us to an adjusted EBITDA performance of EUR 16.4 million, representing an improvement in absolute terms from EUR 30 million in the comparable prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA as a share of revenue increased slightly from 6.1% to 6.3%. Our net loss improved from EUR 1.3 million in H1 2025 to a loss of EUR 0.5 million in the first half of this year. When adjusting though for one-off costs and special items after tax, net profit amounted to EUR 3.6 million compared to EUR 1.3 million in the prior year period. This represents an improvement in our underlying profitability. Looking then at our balance sheet position at the end of June of this year, starting with the asset side. Noncurrent assets remained stable, reflecting our continued investment in our operational infrastructure to support our growth strategy. Current assets showed an increase of our accounts receivable position due to the front-loaded first half of the year. Furthermore, I'd like to point out the significant reduction in inventory, which directly contributed to cash generation during H1 2026. This led to a substantial increase in cash and cash equivalents rising from EUR 26.7 million at year-end 2025 to EUR 51.1 million as of June 30, 2026. Moving to the liability side of the balance sheet. Noncurrent liabilities remained broadly stable. Our debt position, including lease liabilities, decreased by EUR 4.5 million following scheduled repayments. Provisions increased as a result of restructuring measures implemented during H1 2026. The current liabilities increased primarily driven by a EUR 30.5 million increase in trade payables, which contributed positively to our working capital position. This reflects the timing of our energy storage system projects. Our borrowings position improved considerably. We moved from a net debt position of EUR 20.7 million at the last day of last year to a net cash position of EUR 6.2 million at June 30, 2026. This represents a swing of nearly EUR 27 million. Equity remains solid, supported by our improved profitability in the period, providing a stable foundation for our continued growth investments. Overall, our balance sheet demonstrates the effectiveness of our working capital initiatives and positions us well to execute on our strategic priorities for the remainder of 2026. Let me now take you through our working capital development, which showed a healthy development over the first half. Our working capital decreased by EUR 23.1 million during H1 2026, an improvement that was the primary driver behind our strong operating cash flow of EUR 36.5 million compared to EUR 10.8 million in the same period. Breaking this down into the key components. Inventory decreased by EUR 19.7 million compared to end of last year, primarily driven by the energy storage battery allocation for a larger project. Looking at the mobile storage side, with strong mobile sales in the second quarter, we made a significant step in structurally bringing down battery inventory that was on the books with us for some time now. For EV charging inventory decreased slightly, whereas Smart grid solutions, the inventory of it increased. This increase is related to higher stock levels to bridge summer period and Alfen Elkamo in Finland to cope with increased production levels over there. Since we are discussing inventory, I'd like to mention that in comparing to the last years, we are not anticipating a further reduction for the remainder of this year. Trade and other receivables as well as trade payables showed an increase triggered by the activity level in the first half of this year. The combined effect is therefore limited. We remain focused on sustainable cash generation from our EBITDA results and working capital management needed to execute on our strategic priorities. And with that, I'd like to hand back the call to Michael.

Thank you, Bart. Let me update you on our leadership changes that were made in line with our new organizational model. During the second quarter, we announced management changes in line with our new business unit structure. With the appointment of 3 business unit directors, the leadership of our business units is now complete. Each unit will be led by a dedicated director accountable for its performance and its development. Stephanie Schockaert has been appointed as Business Unit Director for Energy Storage Systems. Stephanie has been with Alfen since 2017 and previously served as Sales Director for the business unit. She knows our customers, projects and the market deeply. Eva Hatzidemou has been appointed as Business Unit Director for EV charging. Eva brings over 25 years of international leadership experience in the energy and mobility sectors. And finally, Evert Kooijstra has been appointed Business Unit Director for Smart Grid Solutions. Evert brings more than 25 years of senior leadership experience across technology, e-mobility and finance. Together with the appointment of our new HR Director, Marieke Hoorneman, I'm confident that we have the business leadership to guide us in the next phase of our transformation. On the right side of the page, we have outlined our new governance structure. Now turning to our outlook. The solid performance in the first half reinforces our full 2026 guidance. Therefore, we reiterate our guidance in full, expect revenue to be between EUR 435 million and EUR 475 million. Our adjusted EBITDA margin guidance for '26 is between 4% and 7%, and our CapEx is expected to remain below 4% of revenue. On business line level, Smart Grid Solutions revenue is anticipated to increase for both grid operator products and projects. While we're making every effort to restore EV charging revenue to growth for our 2026 planning, we assume a reduction as we upgrade our portfolio and services. For Energy storage, we anticipate year-on-year growth, while our revenue distribution remains consistent with the front-loaded pattern we communicated during the last 2 updates. I want to be as transparent as possible on where that leaves us for the second half of the year. The second half will be softer than the first half, resulting in a lower top line compared to the second half last year and the first half this year. As a consequence, we expect this to affect our adjusted EBITDA in the remainder of the year. For 2027, we remain confident that the transformation, combined with our outlined growth strategies will reignite consistent profitable growth, resulting in year-over-year improvements in both revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin. Lastly, we are convinced that the European energy system will continue to electrify over the coming decades. Alfen's 3 complementary business units are strategically positioned at the heart of the transition towards electrification. And with that, Alfen aims to be the go-to company when battling grid congestion. 2026, as we said previously, is our transformation year, focused on establishing the capabilities and market position that will drive long-term profitable growth. The progress we've made in the first half year reinforces our confidence in executing this successfully. The future, we believe, is electric. Thank you. We'll now open the floor for questions from our analysts.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Nikita Papaccio from Deutsche Bank.

I would have 2. The first one is on your charging business. I mean you're targeting now for 2027 year-on-year improvement and maybe in the long term, returning to initial margins we saw a couple of years back. Do you think that you need the huge turnaround in the chargers to hit this margin level? And especially with the new home charger, do you think that the margin or the gross margin of the business will deteriorate with this new charger? Or is it as competitive or as profitable as it was -- as the other products were? The second one is on your guidance for the clarification on the margin we should think of in H2. Are there any mitigation measures in H2 to limit the impact from lower top line and also higher personnel costs?

Thank you, Nikita, for your question. I will take the first question on the EV charging business, and Bart will answer the guidance question second. Regarding the EV charging business, as I said earlier, we are using '26 to transform the business by developing new hardware, launching our digital platforms and making sure that we are prepared for future growth in that area again. The home charger, which is under development is not only the hardware itself, but it is also the first step for us to renew our position in all 3 segments, which are home, business and public because it uses the same software platform that we're rolling out now. And as such, I expect that rollout across those 3 to also keep stable our position there, and it will help to improve profit, but it will also make sure that we get our footing back in our growth. Regarding the long-term outlook, everything we're doing today is about building our platform stable that is really future-proof with all the features that we need to compete head on in a competitive market.

Yes. And now coming back to the first question, Nikita, you asked. So good first half year. As we just mentioned, we reiterate the outlook. We said also front-loaded here, which means Michael said in his introduction, a softer second half of the year. Market provides us still challenges, both challenges and opportunities. So we keep that outlook. And obviously, with a softer half year, there's this dynamic of the leverage effect, the ability of the organization to cover the organizational costs. And the labor cost linked to the transformation. And obviously, it's our full focus to your question, to win tenders not only for next year, but also for this year, drive sales, keep our strict cost control and when it comes to more cash, keep a strict focus on our working capital. And that is what we have been doing, and that's what we will continue to do for the remainder of the year.

The following question comes from David Kerstens from Jefferies.

I have 2 questions. First on your Smart grids business, you had a strong momentum in the first half of the year driven by the project business leading to higher margins, but not yet that much from grid debottlenecking, which you don't expect to impact revenues in the second half of the year. But the question is, will you be able to maintain the momentum you had in the first half with revenues of over EUR 55 million? Should we assume that will also be reachable for the second half of the year? Then the second question is on a follow-up on the personnel expenses. The EUR 40 million in the first half, you said will be higher in the second half. Can you give an indication how much higher? And can you give an indication roughly what the impact is of the transformation that then will disappear in 2027? And what would be a normalized level for personnel expenses given your current headcount?

Thank you, David. I think I'll take the first question, and Bart will take the second question. Regarding your SGS question, I'm really delighted with the question. One of the things that we are doing this year with a focus is to make sure that we are as predictable as possible. And in terms of the SGS business, we would expect that it will be a predictable smooth ride for the remainder of the year, meaning that we would see continuation of revenues as planned.

Yes, exactly. And when it comes to the personnel cost, your second question, indeed, personnel costs second half of the year higher than the first half of the year, really linked to the transformation effort, which is broad and we are fully into it. Personnel costs, H1 also higher than H1 last year, but obviously, that is not only transformation, but also the inflation, the labor agreement component, roughly 5% coming in. These figures have been included in the outlook of this year, which we reiterated and an outlook for 2027, we don't give at this moment.

And just to clarify, the EUR 40 million is adjusted for the restructuring charge, right? And that is the basis for guidance for the second half. The EUR 40 million will be higher in the second half of the year.

Yes. So we make a distinction between the one-off restructuring cost of EUR 3.5 million linked to the transformation program and the running cost just in our P&L of the launch we mentioned.

The following question comes from Luuk Van Beek from Degroof Petercam.

First of all, a question about your EV chargers. You mentioned a new home charge. A couple of questions about that. So one is when do you expect that to start to improve your revenues? And also, how long do you think it will take you to roll it out to the other end markets and basically use the new platform for all of your chargers? Furthermore, I was wondering there if the production of the new charge will be more efficient, so that will support your gross margin? And on energy storage systems, I was wondering if H2 will also be front-end loaded or that we should expect the orders to be delivered more evenly between Q3 and Q4?