Hexagon Purus ASA (HPUR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hi, and welcome to Hexagon Purus Q3 2025 presentation. My name is Mathias Meidell, and I am the IR Director of Hexagon Purus. I will be moderating from the studio in Oslo and from the studio, I'm also joined by the Group CEO, Morten Holum, and the group CFO, Salman Alam. The agenda for today includes, as usual, the highlights from the quarter, a company update, the financials and the outlook. We will end the presentation with a Q&A session, so please feel free to enter your questions via the function on your screen. So with that, I'll pass the word over to you, Morten, who will take us through the highlights of the quarter.

Thank you, Mathias, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for tuning in to our webcast this morning. Let's dive straight into it. Key developments in the third quarter. Number one, we had sequential revenue growth. Revenue was weaker than we expected going into the quarter, and that's mainly a result of customer-driven shifts into Q4 and some execution-related issues driven by the major workforce reductions we implemented in the quarter. Number two, our underlying financial performance improved from Q2. We're now starting to see the impact of the cost measures we implemented in the first half of the year. And although we're still in negative margin territory, we saw a significant sequential improvement in Q3. And finally, number three, we completed a second round of workforce reduction in HMI during the quarter. And the organization is now properly adjusted to what we think is the needed short term. We have lowered capacity and taken out costs to match the near-term demand outlook across applications and to enable profitability at lower volume. We expect to see some positive impact of this already now in Q4, but the majority of the effect will come in 2026. Revenue for Q3 was NOK 252 million, down from last year, but 30% higher than last quarter and the highest revenue quarter so far this year. The positive delta from last quarter is mainly driven by higher volume in hydrogen distribution. We're also slowly working ourselves up on the EBITDA curve where volume is going up and costs are coming down. EBITDA in the quarter was negative NOK 116 million compared to negative NOK 161 million in Q2. And the Q3 figure includes a NOK 31 million charge for restructuring costs related to the personnel reductions. On the order side, we exited the quarter with a fairly solid order book of around NOK 1 billion. So we expect to see a meaningful uptick in activity in Q4. Based on the order book alone, we have enough business in there to give us an all-time high revenue in a single quarter. We do expect to deliver a large portion of this in Q4. But given the cost and capacity reductions we have implemented, we will have to shift some of the volume into Q1 to ensure that we execute well with the required quality output. Looking at revenue composition, Hydrogen Mobility made up the largest part of revenue in Q3, 37%, which is 10 percentage points higher than last year. Hydrogen Mobility today is mainly transit bus, which currently has good momentum. But the largest driver for the change in revenue mix is obviously the decline in hydrogen distribution compared to last year. We also see high activity in aerospace, which positively impacts revenue from other applications. But overall, given the change in market environment, we're still in a situation where we're meeting high comparables from last year. And that's clearly visible looking at the Q3 year-over-year revenue bridge. We had significantly lower revenue in Hydrogen distribution compared to last year. We do see that volumes are slowly picking up from a very low first half of this year, but we're not back to the levels we saw in Q3 last year, and we do not expect to be there either in the near to medium term. In Hydrogen Mobility, we had a positive impact from transit bus now in Q3. So the main reason for the negative year-over-year variance is the heavy-duty truck volumes that were there last year, but not this year. And in battery electric mobility, it's also more about last year than this year as we had a large one-off compensation payment related to the cancellation of a customer contract in third quarter last year. In other applications, we see continued high activity in aerospace, and good revenue contribution in the quarter, offset by somewhat lower activity in the industrial gas business. At this point in time, we don't focus much on the year-over-year variances. The main driver for those is the significant change we have seen in the market since last year. And we're obviously in a very different place this year. And our focus is more on adjusting the cost base to the current market environment, reviewing and adjusting the business portfolio and reducing the cash spend. Looking at the different application areas, the demand dynamics and the forward visibility vary between them. In hydrogen transit bus, the commercial momentum continues to be strong, driven by local and municipal adoption of public zero-emission transportation in Europe. A lot of this is battery electric but hydrogen adoption is also growing fast. Germany is the largest market and also one of the most supportive in terms of incentives. They recently announced a new round of incentives covering up to 80% of the cost difference between a hydrogen bus and a diesel bus. So we continue to see healthy tender activity and a strong medium-term pipeline in Europe. But we have limited visibility beyond the current order horizon. So it's still too early to assess how much of this activity will materialize as revenue in 2026. We also see strong momentum in aerospace currently. We have strong demand from U.S.-based commercial space exploration companies for onboard storage cylinders in space applications. The commercial launch activity has grown significantly, and we have a solid position with the most prominent space exploration companies in the U.S. And so with the combination of technology advancement and the new geopolitical situation, we expect the activity to increase significantly in the years ahead, and we already have a good order book for 2026. In Hydrogen Distribution, we see an uptick in activity and have a solid order book for Q4, and we believe in an attractive future for this business. Hydrogen still has strong support in Europe. Market is obviously significantly lower than what we expected a few years ago, but it is, in fact, growing. And there are several green hydrogen projects in construction that are expected to come online in the coming years. And then remember that our business is also driven by transportation of gray hydrogen for industrial purposes, and the replacement of older steel-based technology with our newer and more efficient type 4-based trailers. So we do expect to see a gradual improvement in demand for hydrogen distribution module from current levels in the coming years. But the visibility is still lower than what it has been in the past. We're currently in dialogue with customers for volume in '26, and we'll come back to our expectations for next year when we report Q4. The industrial gas business is mostly recurring annual customer demand for industrial gas bundles, for storing and transporting air gases for -- in industrial applications. It's typically a quite stable business, although somewhat lumpy in between the quarters. We have seen a bit lower volume this year and expect to come in at the lower end of the typical revenue range which correlates with the overall industrial activity in Germany and in Europe overall, which is also slower this year. The battery electric trucking area is expected to ramp slower than what we previously expected. North American truck market overall is weak currently, and volumes are significantly down from last year for all technologies, including diesel and natural gas. Policy shift from the federal government has not been helpful for the energy transition, but electrification is not going away. Several states, with California in the lead, are maintaining their incentives for zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucking. And there are around 150 BEV-friendly incentive programs in the U.S. and Canada, corresponding to more than $3 billion in total available incentives. So despite a lack of support from the federal government, there is significant support in many individual states. And the major fleets are continuing their electrification programs, and we see strong interest from many fleet operators to sign up for customer trials. The customer demo programs for the Tern RC8 with Hino continued during the third quarter. We have demo units operating with several leading logistics and distribution companies across the U.S., and these are customers representing beverage distribution, regional freight and logistics and large corporate fleets. And the feedback from these programs is encouraging with drivers and fleet operators emphasizing the vehicle's drivability, range efficiency and overall reliability. So I'm pleased to see that the truck is performing really well and high driver acceptance is key at this stage, confirming the vehicle's suitability for demanding urban and regional delivery applications. And we're soon ready to launch the Class 6 program announced earlier this year. That truck is intended to carry the Hino brand and be available through Hino's extensive network of authorized dealers. So we plan to deliver the first batch of demo trucks to Hino now in the fourth quarter. Moving on to the order book. As we entered the quarter, we had orders on hand totaling around NOK 1 billion, which is a bit down from last quarter, but actually higher than it was last year. It's split roughly equal between hydrogen distribution, hydrogen mobility and other applications, which is mainly aerospace. 56% is for execution this year. So we have good visibility for Q4. But as I mentioned earlier, we'll not be able to deliver all of this in Q4 as we have taken down our capacity as part of the cost reduction program. So some of it will be pushed into next year. It's unfortunate in some respects, I mean, we have enough orders to deliver an all-time high revenue in a single quarter. But it's the right thing to do, and it's better to get a more even volume spread across quarters. The second round of workforce reductions that we announced in July was completed in Q3. Adding to the measures we already implemented in the first half of the year, we have reduced the total workforce by around 30% compared to 2024. And we recognized a restructuring charge of NOK 31 million in Q3 as part of this second round of cuts. The full P&L impact of the underlying cost reductions is not expected to materialize until 2026, but we will start to see some positive effects already in Q4. It's always challenging to go through major workforce reductions. But this was important to align our cost base with expected demand and to establish a more sustainable operating structure going forward. While we have done a lot to adjust our cost base to match the demand outlook, we also continue to systematically review our entire portfolio. We have the strategic review process for the BVI business. That's still ongoing. And we're also going through the HMI business and the China JV, looking for ways to take out costs, to reduce capital spend considering both operational and structural measures. The ambition remains unchanged. The portfolio review together with the cost measures are aimed at maintaining sufficient liquidity to bridge the company to EBITDA and cash breakeven. Okay. That was the company update, and I'll now hand the word over to Salman, who will take you through the financials.

Yes. Thank you, Morten, and good morning, everyone. Let's have a closer look at the Q3 2025 results. In the third quarter of 2025, we posted revenue of NOK 252 million, which is 54% lower compared to the same period last year, but up 30% compared to the second quarter of this year. The year-over-year decline was driven primarily by lower revenue from hydrogen infrastructure and hydrogen heavy-duty mobility. Compared to the second quarter of this year, we saw more hydrogen distribution module deliveries and continued strong momentum for transit bus and aerospace. Total operating expenses ended at NOK 368 million in the third quarter. Our cost of materials ratio was 47% compared to 56% in the same quarter last year. This quarter, the materials ratio was positively impacted by product mix and a onetime customer payment for which no associated costs were incurred during the quarter. Payroll-related expenses were NOK 187 million, but this includes NOK 31 million of restructuring costs related to the personnel reductions announced in July. Adjusting for this payroll expenses of NOK 156 million, which is about 20% lower than the same period last year. Other operating expenses came in at NOK 62 million in the third quarter, which is 35% lower compared to the same period last year and reflects the effects of our cost reduction initiatives. Subtracting total operating expenses from total revenue, EBITDA ended at negative NOK 116 million in the third quarter compared to negative NOK 51 million in the same quarter of last year. Moving below the EBITDA line. Depreciation and amortization was NOK 68 million in the quarter, up from NOK 55 million in the same quarter last year, and the increase is mainly due to a higher balance of depreciable assets compared to last year. Losses from investments were stable in the quarter year-over-year at minus NOK 2 million and finance income in the third quarter was NOK 10 million, where NOK 5 million is related to interest income on bank deposits and NOK 5 million is related to foreign exchange fluctuations. Finance expense in the third quarter was NOK 191 million, where NOK 62 million of that is related to noncash interest on the 2 convertible bonds we have outstanding, another NOK 9 million is related to interest on lease liabilities and other interest-bearing debt and about NOK 15 million relates to foreign exchange fluctuations. The remaining amount primarily reflects a noncash impairment charge of NOK 102 million related to our investment in Norwegian Hydrogen and Vireon, reflecting mainly a reversal of prior fair value increases based on the recent market and company developments. At the group level, we are not yet in a taxable position and tax expense in the quarter was negative NOK 2 million, subsequently loss after tax ended at minus NOK 365 million versus minus NOK 149 million in the same quarter of last year. Moving on to the segments, starting off with hydrogen mobility and infrastructure. As a reminder, this segment is the business unit that manufactures hydrogen cylinders and hydrogen systems for storage of hydrogen onboard or off-road or on road vehicles or for infrastructure purposes such as the distribution of hydrogen from the point of production to the point of consumption. It also includes our industrial gas business in Europe and aerospace business in the U.S. The focus for HMI in the quarter has been on executing the cost reduction program to structurally lower its breakeven point and improve profitability going forward. In Germany, we have now completed the second round of workforce reductions, bringing the total reduction to around 30% compared to 2024 levels. The full P&L effect from these cost measures will materialize from 2026, although we're already starting to see the benefits of a leaner cost base from the first round of reductions in the Q3 numbers. On the commercial side, revenue in Q3 was impacted by capacity constraints and customer relating -- related timing shifts with deliveries moving from Q3 into Q4, and we're also expecting some spillover from Q4 and into 2026. Based on the current order book, we expect Q4 to still represent a significant uptick in activity for the segment. Revenue in the third quarter for HMI was NOK 233 million, which is down 55% compared to the same period last year, but up 42% compared to the second quarter of this year. The year-over-year decline is mainly driven by a reduction in hydrogen infrastructure revenue, which was down 75% year-over-year. As we've also seen year-to-date, Hydrogen Mobility was the largest revenue component for the HMI segment also in the third quarter and made up about 40% of revenue. Within the Hydrogen Mobility segment, we saw continued strong activity in transit bus, which was offset year-over-year by lower activity within heavy-duty trucking. In the other application area, higher aerospace revenue was offset by lower industrial gas revenue, which in sum resulted in a flat year-over-year development. We see that the industrial gas business, which is a business linked to the overall industrial and economic activity is having a weaker year than usual as industrial activity in Germany and in wider Europe is also slower this year. Turning to the right-hand side of the page, EBITDA for the quarter was negative NOK 47 million or negative NOK 28 million, which is equal to minus 12% margin when adjusted for nonrecurring items. While still negative, the underlying trend is encouraging. On the back of higher volumes and the leaner cost base, the segment returned to double-digit gross margins in the third quarter and this gives confidence that EBITDA breakeven is within reach as cost reduction measures take place and volumes improve. Moving on to the Battery Systems and Vehicle Integration segment. This is the business unit that engages in battery systems production, complete vehicle integration of battery electric and fuel cell electric vehicles for the North American market. We also have a complete suite of proprietary key components required for electrification of heavy-duty trucking. The BVI organization has, in recent quarters and months, been fully focused on demonstration programs that we've been running together with Hino with several major U.S. logistics and distribution companies. The feedback has been positive so far. And preparations for the Class 6 program that we announced in June is also underway, and we expect the first trucks to be delivered to Hino in Q4. Revenue for BVI in the third quarter was NOK 13 million and was primarily comprised of vehicle deliveries to Hino and lease revenue from Dallas. We recently entered into a sublease agreement with Hino, allowing them to use part of our Dallas facility for their own operations. This provides an efficient way to generate income from excess floor space that we do not expect to utilize in the near term. EBITDA for the BVI segment ended at negative NOK 30 million in the third quarter compared to negative NOK 21 million in the same quarter last year. Zooming out to the group level and turning to the balance sheet. The balance sheet amounted to approximately NOK 4 billion at the end of the third quarter, down from NOK 4.3 billion at the end of the second quarter. On the asset side, most line items remained relatively stable with an increase in inventory, primarily driven by higher levels of work in progress and raw materials in preparation for an expected ramp-up in revenue in the fourth quarter of this year. Cash stood at NOK 360 million at the end of the third quarter, which is down NOK 166 million from the same -- from the second quarter this year. On the liability side, the increase in noncurrent liabilities reflects the payment in [indiscernible] infrastructure of the convertible bonds. The equity ratio at the end of the second quarter was 26% and was down quarter-over-quarter impacted by losses after tax and the impairment charge that we mentioned earlier today. Moving to the cash flow statement, which captures the effects of changes in the balance sheet and income statement. Operating cash flow for the quarter was negative NOK 115 million in the quarter, primarily driven by the loss before tax, which is partly offset by noncash adjustments. Cash flow from investments ended at negative NOK 34 million, reflecting that we're seeing the tail end of the capacity expansion program. CapEx towards property, plant and equipment was NOK 14 million, and capitalized product development was NOK 16 million, which relates to ongoing product validation and certain highly selective next-generation technology initiatives. Cash flow from financing and currency movements was negative NOK 17 million in the quarter, resulting in a net cash flow of negative NOK 166 million and a cash balance at the end of the second quarter of NOK 360 million. As communicated in previous quarters this year, the cash outflow in the first half of the year has been significant. This was due to lower revenue, restructuring costs related to downsizing, spillover CapEx from 2024 and limited working capital release. We've also said that we expect the cash outflow to slow down in the second half of the year. And in the third quarter this year, we had the lowest cash outflow we've had in more than 2 years. Looking ahead, revenue is expected to increase with a stronger weighting towards November and December. Much of the material for these deliveries is already in inventory. So as revenue picks up, we will gradually convert inventory into cash, with most of that working capital release expected in the first quarter of 2026. With a leaner cost base following recent cost reductions and continued low capital expenditure, we expect cash outflow to remain at a lower level going forward. With that, I'd like to pass it over to Morten to walk us through the outlook

Thank you, Salman. So let's take a look at what we expect ahead. We have good visibility for the rest of this year, and we expect the fourth quarter to yield a sequential improvement in both revenue and EBITDA. In Hydrogen Mobility & Infrastructure, it's a matter of execution. We have more than enough orders for '25, so it's more about how much we will be able to complete before year-end and how much we need to move into 2026. We do expect the largest portion to be delivered in Q4 and a smaller portion to be pushed into Q1 though. We're also in dialogue with customers regarding 2026 volume expectations. For aerospace, we are fully booked for Q4 and also have a strong order book for '26. So the outlook there is good. The industrial gas business operates with a relatively short order horizon, but we expect this business to continue performing in line with the general industrial activity in Europe. On the battery electric mobility side, it will take some time to get visibility. We have a number of customer demos ongoing for the Class 8 truck, and we're planning to produce a batch of Class 6 trucks for Hino now in Q4 that will go into customer demo programs early next year. So it's a bit early. The feedback from existing demos is encouraging, and the customer interest to sign up for new demos have been good. So we're hopeful that these demos will eventually translate into purchase orders. So overall, we have a good outlook for Q4, and we expect a further sequential improvement from Q3, both in terms of revenue and profitability, albeit with some revenue likely being pushed then into '26 compared to what you can read straight out of the order backlog for Q4. And then we'll come back to the outlook for '26 when we report our Q4 numbers in the first half of February next year. We have now put a foundation in place for stabilization and gradual recovery. We have reduced costs significantly, and see the performance gradually improving with lower cost and higher volume. We have a good order book for the rest of this year, and we continue to review our business portfolio across all the individual components to focus our operation around the most attractive parts of the business with good near-term profitability and cash prospects. This is not the quarter where we're demonstrating that all our challenges are solved. We're still navigating through rough waters, and in that situation, you focused first and foremost on steadying the ship and then you make sure that you start moving in the right direction and that you're gradually picking up speed. This is where we are. We had a very tough first half of the year, but we reacted quickly and forcefully in a number of areas. And this quarter, you start to see the effect of that on the cost reduction side. Revenue is growing. We continue to grow the next quarter. Costs are coming down, margins are improving, cash outflow is getting lower. So we're on the right track. But by all means, we're still in challenging territory and have a lot more to do. Our overall target is to maintain sufficient liquidity to bridge the company to EBITDA and cash breakeven. And we're working intensively on several initiatives across the business, both operationally and structurally to ensure that we get there. We have respect for that challenge. It's not a given. But with the plan we have in place, if we execute on that successfully, we believe that we will succeed. So that concludes our presentation for today, and we'll now open it up for Q&A. Mathias?

Yes. Thank you, Morten and Salman. So we can just jump straight into it. There is a question from Daniel Haugland from ABG to you, Salman. So 3 questions from me. Will there be more restructuring costs in Q4 versus the NOK 31 million for workforce reduction you took in Q3? Two, the one-off customer payment in revenues this quarter on my calculation, it seems to be around NOK 12 million. And the last one, given the workforce reductions are now completed, is it correct to assume that the entire cost cuts of NOK 350 million versus 2024, will have effect from year-end and thus full effect in 2026?

Yes. So I think the first question, Daniel, we do not expect any further restructuring costs in Q4. The second question on the one-off customer payment that is correct. That was NOK 12 million, approximately NOK 12 million in the quarter. And then when it comes to cost cuts, of those NOK 350 million, we said that about 60% to 70% of that is going to be payroll-related expenses and 30% to 40% is going to be other OpEx expenses. I think on the personnel side, you will start to see the full effect from the start of 2026. We are already starting to see the effects on the other OpEx lines as well. Other OpEx was down 35% year-over-year. Payroll expenses was down 21% year-over-year adjusted for restructuring costs, but the other OpEx part of the cost reduction will also be continuous effort throughout 2026. So when you look at the full year 2026, our ambition is that costs will be NOK 350 million lower than what it was in 2024.

Good. Thank you, Salman. Then another question for you from Elliott Jones, Danske Bank. Can you provide more color as to the Q4 top line potential? The order book states around NOK 550 million could be delivered. However, you state some of this needs to be pushed out into Q1. What percentage roughly needs to be pushed?

Yes. I think our current read on that, Elliot, is about -- I would expect about 20% to 30% of that to potentially move into next year and then that we would execute on the remaining 70% to 80% next quarter.

And then a question from Thomas Martin at BNP for you, Morten. You noted you need to shift orders from Q4 to Q1. So presumably, it's fair to conclude, you're going to be at full capacity in HMI in the fourth quarter of 2025. Presumably, we should assume also that Q4 HMI revenues will be the ceiling for the foreseeable future given you just sort of reduced capacity?

I don't think it's right to think of Q4 now as a ceiling. I mean, if you take a step back, the nameplate capacity that we have remains the same. So it's not been a matter of taking the amount of operators down and you can also take the amount of operators up if you see higher demand and there is some time lag for that, but that's possible. And then I think the capacity that will -- let's take with the same amount of mining that we have now, if we move to Q4 in 2026, we'll have higher throughput than what we have in Q4 of this year, given that we're just coming out of a restructuring where there are a lot of new people, new roles and so forth. So I think it's wrong to think of it as a ceiling. .

And then another question from Thomas here for you, Salman. Is it sensible to expect a significant seasonal decline in the first quarter '26 versus the fourth quarter, '25 for HMI revenues? Or will the deferral from Q4 '25 enable you to maintain activity at peak levels in Q1 '26?

I think generally, just to comment on seasonality, Thomas, I mean, historically, first half of the year for us has been lower than the second half of the year. So I think we don't necessarily expect to change to that seasonality next year. I think one factor that will impact Q1 is the pushout that we just talked about, where there will be extra revenue coming into Q1 because the pushout is not cancellation of orders. It's just a pushout in timing. So that's the one additional effect that would come on top of the normal seasonality. .

And a question for you, Morten. There's more questions about China, so I think we can have this as the sort of catch-all question. So it's from [indiscernible]. When do you think the certification in China will take place? And what are the business impact you expect from that?

Yes, it's a good question that I've had different answers depending on when the questions have been asked. And it's been -- unfortunately, it's a bit difficult to predict. I mean if you take the history, it's -- the requirements for certification and the certification process overall has continuously shifted. So there have been new things coming in. And suddenly, we have a different set of rules. We are in the certification process. And we -- in China, overall, right, we have produced -- first of all, the factory is up, the machinery is running. We have produced cylinders for the European market. So all of that is good. The local certification, we are hoping that we will be able to achieve that in 2026 and that we will then start to have volume going into the domestic Chinese market. And in the meantime, we're, of course, looking for how to utilize that equipment for other markets than domestic China. .

And then a question for you as well, Morten from Boris [indiscernible] Markovich. What is the plan for developing hydrogen refueling units for rail transport in Germany? .

Yes. So we already have refueling units that can also be used for rail transport. I mean we are in the rail segment. We have delivered to rail customers in Germany. We are delivering to rail customers in the U.S. as well. We have a portfolio of refueling units, as part of the portfolio review that we have done, we have decided to take a few of the more sophisticated part of the products, which have lot of development costs and long time to maturity. We've put a lot of those on the shelf but we are maintaining also other parts of that refueling portfolio, which is also suitable for rail. So I guess the short answer is we already have this. So, yes.

And then a question -- a long question from Niel [indiscernible] here. So on Slide 10, it states that the Tern RC8 is an ongoing customer demonstrations, but the truck launched May 2024 17 months ago. The CEO promised a few hundred trucks in 2025. The BVI revenue is NOK 30 million, including Dallas facility sublease income from -- to Hino. So a simple question, how many Tern RC8 units have been sold to paying customer outside of Hino and Panasonic test programs? .

So I think there's a lot of things there, just to have that said, the market that we're seeing now, following November presidential election, there's been a dramatic change in the market. So I think the expectations that we had going back in the day is -- was higher than what we see now and the ramp-up and the sales of that product is going to be slower. I mean, that's clear. We have 6 customer demos that we have run through. Out of that of the decisions -- purchasing decisions that come out of that, the -- I think, we were sitting at around half of that yielding products. But I mean, these are very early demos that have come now the large demos ongoing won't be completed until we're into the first half of the year. So there are -- it's a handful of trucks that have been sold to paying customers at this point from the early demos that we had in Q3.

So that concludes -- that was the last question. So that concludes the session for today. So I wish to thank both Morten, and Salman, and everyone to -- that in the audience that joined us today. So on behalf of Hexagon Purus, I would like to wish you a good day, and we look forward to seeing you again soon. Thank you very much from Oslo.