Cyviz AS (CYVIZ) Q4 FY2025 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hi, and welcome to the quarterly earnings call for Q4 for Cyviz. My name is Espen Gylvik. I'm the CEO of the company. And with me, I have Peter Gombrii, the CFO of the company, and we will take you through today's agenda. So let's have a look at that. First, we will go through Q4 '25 in a brief and then look a little bit around '25 as a whole. Some business highlights, more details on the Q4 finals, we'll talk about the outlook and how we see the market going forward. And then, of course, at the end, we will open up for some questions. So with that, let's kick it off. So we are quite happy with the result isolated in Q4, quite good growth in revenue and also a positive movement on the EBITDA. As a year in the whole, the year didn't end exactly where we planned and expected. I think we will talk more about that later, but just at large, can be isolated very, very basically to 2 significant large deals in Middle East of value of NOK 140 million in order value, and approximately an impact of NOK 100 million on the revenue side, and of course, also some significant impact on the overall EBITDA. Those deals were decided by the customers, 2 customers to be moved into 2026 and parts of it in 2027 due to the foreseen and unfortunate incident and situations in the Middle East and in particular, in the Gaza area. But we can elaborate a bit more on that. Order intake in the quarter ended at NOK 152 million, somewhat in line with our expectation. Revenue, more or less on our target, NOK 204 million, which is up NOK 14 million compared to last year. We have, and we have talked about a pivoting focus for us as a company, moving more and more towards like software services platform business and also Cyviz Core Technology sold through partners. Happy to see that our ARR is landing at NOK 65.8 million, which is up 35% compared to same period in 2025. I also want to reiterate that, that is not including the backlog of ARR that we bring into 2026 on new clients that was signed up during the second half of the year. So the overall base is significantly higher than the NOK 65.8 million. Gross profit landed at NOK 91 million, 44% margin. I think Karl Peter will talk more about the margin side later, which is down NOK 4.9 million compared to last year. And an EBITDA of NOK 21.1 million, which is up NOK 1.3 million, 6% compared to last year. So the full year order intake ended at NOK 631 million, revenue at NOK 564 million, gross profit at NOK 302 million. Quite happy with the overall margin for the year at 54%, which is by far the strongest in our industry, and a full year EBITDA of NOK 22.1 million. So in essence, good Q4. Full year, not in line with our expectations, but I think I explained quite clearly the rationale behind that. So underlying business overall went quite well. U.S. performed fantastic in 2025, way above our expectations, Europe on target and then Middle East and APAC due to those deals ended significantly below our internal expectations, hence, also the deficit on the full year numbers for us. And I leave it to you, Karl Peter.

Thank you. So looking at the 12-month rolling development comparing it to the same period last year, we had an order intake of NOK 631 million, which is a 2% increase year-over-year. Again, closely related to what Espen just mentioned about the 2 large deals in the Middle East. Gross profit, NOK 302 million compared to NOK 313 million the year before. For the year as a whole, gross margins are comparable to last year. This is related to full year revenue, which were on the lower end for the same reason. And EBITDA, NOK 22 million compared to NOK 36 million last year, also reflecting what you just mentioned with the 2 deals at the beginning of the year. So I'd like to reiterate the same as you do. The fourth quarter was better than last year and year as a whole affected by those 2 deals. Looking at the order intake and backlog. The quarterly order intake was 16% below the same period last year. But as mentioned, it was a year-on-year increase following a very strong third quarter. And as you can see from the slide here, the quarterly order intake fluctuates quite a bit, which is normal for our business. So hence, looking at the 12-month rolling development is a better proxy. Last thing to look at here is the backlog, which is fairly in line with the same period last year, but with a major change, which is the pipeline. Perhaps you want to...

Yes. I think the essence going into 2026 compared to last year, I think NOK 376 million in order backlog is still significant, and it's a solid platform to enter the year. But I think the key differentiator from 2025 into 2026 is that the size and volume in the pipeline for 2026 and beyond is significantly larger and much more firm than it was going into 2025. So if you add those 2 things together, I think the perspective for 2026, well aware that those 2 large deals in the Middle East also wasn't canceled, but they are confirmed being ordered and delivered in 2026 and parts of early 2027 makes the outlook into 2026 significantly better than '25.

All right.

Okay. So one of those areas we have talked about for a while is trying to pivot the company gradually more and more towards software platform and services and also enable an ecosystem of partners to take the Cyviz Core Technology and build Cyviz technology on their own to a much larger audience in the market. And we have given a very clear target on ARR during our Capital Markets Day, where we are aiming to like reach a target of NOK 250 million ARR. We are in line with those type of prognosis if we consider the year-end ARR and the order backlog we bring on top of that into 2026. I also want to reiterate that we have already migrated the 2 largest global accounts we have over to the new software -- Cyviz software platform, which is incredibly important, both from a marketing point of view, but also from a trust and sales toolkit for partners point of view. Getting into later part of Q1 and early Q2, we will also start using those referrals, both by ourselves, but also through our partner ecosystem to generate a lot more interest and sale on the platform in 2026. So we think that the year-end on ARR with the order backlog on ARR on top is exactly where it should be, and we are quite positive when it comes to our ability to like significantly grow that during 2026. And maybe one minor thing to mention. We are finalizing the last bits and bites on the software platform, largely driven by feedback from customers. And I also want to reiterate that we have started to apply the proper usage of AI technology to ramp up the speed on how we build those plug-ins that allows this to become a much larger ecosystem and we have reduced the time line of every developed plug-in from 6 weeks down to 2, 3 days, which is a significant improvement. So I think from early April, the platform is perfectly commercially ready for a large market distribution.

And the primary work being done now is user interface. So it's based on the partner ecosystem, which we already built. We'll get back to that on a later slide. But the work that is done now is reacting to their feedback and improving primarily the user interface and things are developing well.

Okay. Let's move on.

There you go.

So we talked about the importance of partners. I think Cyviz Core Technology is the Cyviz software and hardware components. So it's the software platform, it's the user interface, it's the controller that allows you to use the system, and it's our video processor. We have now 23 partners signed, 8 of those were signed in Q4. They are a mix of regional, global and local. We are focusing more on quality partners that has the same willingness and ability to go out and sell this and deploy this rather than trying to have the biggest pool of partners in the marketplace. But I think it's fair to say even our largest global competitors have requested opportunities to be partners and to bring Cyviz technology out to a much larger audience, which is a good add-on to the partner pipeline. And the partner pipeline for CCT in particular, going into 2026 starts to firm out and look quite positive. And this is a key element of being less dependent on those large singular projects that we historically have worked with and have a more predictable path for growth going forward. And on the software management platform side, 30 partners signed, 6 new in Q4. We have advanced discussions and trials with 7 more partners, 8 quite significant end customers is already hosted in the Cyviz Cloud, including the 2 largest global customers we have. And we continue to build partner pipeline because this is a volume game, and this is also where the subscription type of revenue would start to kick in during 2026 where we start to get the distribution out in the marketplace. Let's look at some business highlights. You want to take it? Or should I take it? I can take it. Yes. So I mean we continue to close deals with, I mean, significant important customers. I'm not going to read all of them. I do want to take a second or a minute to just highlight that we have 3 new defense deals now in Europe during Q4. With 2 of them, are directly sold and delivered to NATO. We have managed to get all the 4 type of programmatical agreements in place with NATO quite fast. So we are allowed to compete and deliver across all NATO countries in all type of projects related to what we do. And we will show you at the end of today a video as well that indicates one of the unique things we have developed that has very high interest, especially in the European market, across defense, which is mission-critical control rooms built inside mobile containers that can be used in the field of any sort of war or training purpose. And it has created a very, very high interest of high-ranking NATO officers to explore that opportunity going forward. We continue to do more business with Microsoft, which is important. And we have continued to deliver additional business also to the large significant energy company we signed off in 2025 in the U.S. market. If you look at the vertical side, we still have the opportunity to play with different verticals. I think that diversification strategy that we built 3, 3.5 years ago, has been very, very important for us. I mean there are things that happens in the market where it slows down in one vertical, but it picks up in others by geopolitical incidents or even as basic as oil price. So having that ability to play with different verticals is key and will continue to be key. Quite balanced mix between the regions for the quarter, which is also good. It means that we have leverage to play with. And I think let's look at the full year view. Yes. Here, you can actually see the effect of what we talked about. I mean the 2 significant large deals out of Middle East impact the full year number when you look at the split between North America, Europe and MEAP. In Q4, it was quite balanced. But as a whole, for the year, the impact of NOK 140 million in order intake is definitely impacting the percentage split for MEAP. So I think that will level out in 2026, but it's a reflection on the reality of 2025. And Energy & Renewables still counts overall for a very significant part of our business. But I'm very happy to see that Defense already in 2025 is accounting for 15% and I think that would have a much bigger and more significant piece of the cake when we sum up 2026.

All right. So looking into the Q4 financials, starting with revenue, EBITDA, both up. Gross profit, a slight decrease related to the gross margin, which came in at 44%. The change versus last year is directly related to the mix of projects that we have. So we have skewed towards the U.S., where we have a slightly lower margin situation, which is completely normal. So this will oscillate depending on where we're delivering projects. So kind of looking into the details, there are no other clarifications.

Yes. I think worthwhile to mention is U.S. for the last 3, 4 years has been a more competitive market. I think those large customers are much more aware of what price points are. And they are more focused on line item pricing in their tender process as well. And that would -- will have an impact on margins compared to other projects in other parts of the world. And since that huge energy project was a significant part of Q4 and delivery, with slightly lower average margin, hence, we land at 44% with a yearly one at 54%.

But again, overall, there is nothing unusual by the individual margins, but it's just the size of the U.S. project, which was particularly large in Q4. EBITDA coming up to NOK 21.1 million. I touched upon the order intake previously. Better to look at the 12-month rolling development since we had a particularly high order intake in Q3. So for the year as a whole, which I'll get into now, we have an increase in order intake. Conversely, revenue is down 5%, again, closely related to the order intake and the Middle Eastern deal that Espen mentioned at the beginning. Gross profit is directly related to revenue for the year. So contrary to Q4, where it's the mix of projects, for the year as a whole, the gross margin is fairly in line with the previous year. EBITDA, NOK 22.1 million, which is down NOK 14 million on last year, which is then directly related to the revenue. So I think the end message here is the order intake and the backlog, which we touched upon a few slides ago, and impaired with the pipeline that we're seeing, the outlook for 2026 is good.

Yes. As I started, I mean, this session with, I mean, we are not happy when it comes to the overall end result for 2025, it didn't land where we expected it to do. I think we have tried to have a rational explanation on why, and I think bringing NOK 140 million sliding into '26 and part of '27 and compare that to still a small but positive growth on order intake, I think shows that the underlying business across the regions is still running quite well.

All right. Then moving into operating cash flow, starting with Q4, which came in at minus NOK 6 million, heavily driven by accounts receivable, where we had many orders at the end of the quarter, which were then collected at the beginning of 2026, and thus not reflected in the Q4 cash flow. For the year as a whole, a positive operating cash flow of NOK 25.2 million. Yes, I don't have much more to add there. So it's normal fluctuations that we have, payable, receivable depending on where we have the contracts going and the timing of the projects.

I think the key message here is NOK 25.2 million in positive operating cash flow for the year with all the type of unpredictability that hits, I mean, the whole global market in 2025 and some of the slippages we have had is still quite, I would say, quite good.

All right. Moving on to the outlook. We touched upon it multiple times already, but let's do the formal slide as well.

Yes. Let's do that very, very basically. I think we have built a fundament. I mean, from mid-2024, definitely during 2025 to manage that type of pivoting we are aiming to do as a company, moving more towards a partner-driven ecosystem and a software and platform-driven company. That doesn't mean that we will stop doing large, interesting, I mean, turnkey projects, but we would limit that more -- gradually more down towards maybe the 2025 important global and regional accounts that requires that we work with them directly. But I think future growth would come through a partner ecosystem, both on the core tech kit and also on the platform and software side. I think that's very important. We have the baseline and the fundament, both technology-wise, but also organizationally. I think we have been quite prudent, by the way, when it comes to OpEx in 2025. Used, I mean, the speed and the break quite significantly. So we have a rig capability-wise, organizational-wise, partner-wise to really go after a much more significant growth in 2026 than we were able to do in 2025. So I think that's key. Cash management will always be important, also, especially for a company that still has a significant part of our business on projects that swings by month and by quarter. And not at least and probably one of the most interesting, important focus areas for us in 2026 and beyond is to capitalize on the increased defense budget investments in Europe and within NATO. And I think we are better positioned than anyone in our industry. We have all the type of security clearance, both on our technology and our people. We are the first one to build new concepts that are appealing for the military, and we can do both mobile and stationary control room and mission-critical solutions that has TEMPEST B certification that is important for those mission-critical control rooms.

Which we will see in a second.

And without saying too much, the pipeline for defense is significantly improved going into 2026 where it was in 2025. And we think that will continue to grow. Okay. I think with that, let's -- before we go to Q&A, let's just show a video. We talked about mobile control room in a container. We have been participating at the joint force NATO exercise, HEIMDALL, up north in Norway, where this has been exposed for everyone participating. This is something we will also bring around in Europe and showcase to multiple countries and NATO memberships going forward. But super proud of being invited, having the ability to show that. I think it's a token of the technology and the quality of what we provide, both from a people point of view, but also from a technology point of view. So let's roll the video. [Presentation]

Okay. I think with that, we open up for questions.

Let's do that. Are the 2 postponed Middle Eastern orders part of the reported order backlog? They are not. No. Perhaps you want to say something about the confidence levels if it's not yet converted into firm orders.

Yes. I mean, yes, so the confidence level on those deals are quite good. I have had the pleasure of being in the region, talking to the clients. We have a frame -- one of them were the -- by far, the largest of those 2 deals are related. We have a frame agreement that runs for 3 years. We are not exposed to tenders. The technology choice is Cyviz and it's related to a large upgrade project as well as a completely new build because the customer have grown out of the first type of large office building they've built. So they will start rolling, I think, already in Q2. And the same goes for the other customers. So not booked into the order backlog. They are, of course, part of a pipeline, also an important part of why we talk about a much more firm and sizable pipeline going into 2026. It contains those deals plus a couple of large U.S. deals and not at least the magnitude of projects that is in the pipeline when it comes to defense in Europe. So yes, they are definitely not part of the order backlog.

How does currency affect your annual results?

I think I can talk about it, but you should do it. That's fine.

So broadly speaking, the -- so we are primarily dollar-denominated, particularly on the revenue side. So around 70-ish percent of our revenues are denominated in U.S. dollars, and about, I think, 10%...

10% to 11%.

10% to 11% decrease in USD NOK compared to the previous year. So quite significant. And those would be the direct P&L effects. And then in addition, we have the Agio-Disagio effect as well, which is already reflected in the numbers. So material is, I think, the best way to put it.

Yes. It definitely has a significant impact.

Yes, it does, for sure. That actually concludes the questions.

Yes. Okay. I think if there are no more questions, I'd like to thank everyone that participated. And looking forward to come back talking about Q1 numbers and the development across software, partners and not at least defense in the Q1 earnings call. So with that, thank you, and have a joyful day.