Hexicon AB (publ) (67T.F) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. I'm here today to provide an insight into the world of floating wind and how we at Hexicon offer a unique business model and technology to take part in the exceptional growth expected for this industry. And in conjunction with our Q2 report issued this morning, I'll hereby share the latest developments of Hexicon. My name is Marcus Thor. I'm the CEO of Hexicon. Welcome. And for the agenda today, I'll first present a brief of both floating wind as a segment and Hexicon as a company. This will be followed by an operations update, and I'll be ending with a look ahead. So let's get to it. And I'd like to start to outline the case for floating wind in general. On our quest towards net-zero emissions, the by far most important task is to transform the energy production. And the challenge here is to deploy renewable power at the significant scale that is needed and doing that in a way that people, industry and nature can coexist. And it's in this context that floating wind makes perfect sense. And why I'm sure that floating wind will need to be a significant part of the future global energy mix. Using floating technology, there is virtually an unlimited resource. Of the total global offshore wind potential, some 70% to 80% is estimated to lie in waters deeper than 60 meters. And using floating systems, one can be more flexible in citing projects, not constrained by water depth, and as such, place them further offshore. This means higher average wind speeds and more stable winds, all in all, increasing capacity factors. And the floating turbines to date have recorded capacity factors up to twice that of onshore wind. And the increased flexibility in citing floating wind projects further increased the possibility of avoiding impacting the environment, be out of sight and ultimately enables sustainable coexistence -- sorry, coexistence with other maritime stakeholders such as the fisheries, commercial shipping, the military and so on. And lastly, floating offshore wind holds all the prerequisites to be effectively industrialized. And I believe that the 10 or so years, it took commercial projects of fixed bottom wind to hit the more substantial decline of cost, will be reduced for floating wind. And I'd like to view Hexicon as an enabler and accelerator of this shift into floating wind. Hexicon is both a project developer and foundation technology provider for deepwater offshore wind. We focus on the origination and early-stage developments of projects for high value creation, and we do this in a partnership model with both local and industry partners. We have our own IP for a dual turbine floating foundation, the TwinWind, which enables an efficient energy production in deepwaters and with minimal footprint. And these 2 legs, projects and technology of our business model, provide independent revenue stream, but at the same time being synergetic. Projects provide an opportunity to install the technology, and having our own IP opens markets and project opportunities. And in the short term, over the next few years, it is the value increase of the project portfolio that will contribute most to the value build of Hexicon. And this will then, over time, change the more coming from the technology offering as this matures and is implemented in greater volumes. In our vision for 2025, floating wind is an important part of the energy mix. And Hexicon has capitalized on its early mover position and evolved to a leading player within this sector with a tested technology that is the obvious choice for developers. By 2025, we aim to 4 projects; have revenue-generating operations in the 3 key offshore wind regions, being Europe, the U.S. and Asia; and for technology, have gone through our technology road map to the point where the TwinWind is verified and tested with all benefits confirmed; and on the financial front, for Hexicon AB's entire operations, to be EBITDA positive. And the key building blocks to get us there are to continue to work with best-in-class partners, to mature, optimize and scale the technology, getting it in position for serial fabrication and enhancing the organization to be able to capture the value potential of this growing industry and specifically, to seize the opportunity present right now in terms of securing new water areas and as such projects. And it's important to recognize that Hexicon is on a long-term journey. The lead times involved in offshore wind are long, regardless of it being projects or technology developments. What the industry, however, offers in combination with Hexicon's early mover position in it is an opportunity to grow this company into something really meaningful, especially so as Hexicon is exposed to the value potential in both project developments and technology supply. But this will take a few years. There is no way getting around it. And we are, the entire team, absolutely convinced of the long-term potential of the company and fully determined to get there. And Hexicon's offering is more relevant than ever. The transition to fossil-free energy sources have gone from being motivated by climate change only, to more recently also being motivated by natural energy and security politics. And such additional arguments entail a greater acceptance for, and interest in, new and innovative sustainable technologies and projects, both such that can be deployed fast and at scale. And what this slide shows is the typical value enhancement curve across the development of a project. Hexicon acts from inception and through the development phase where the relative value increase is the greatest. And at which timings, projects are later divested will be decided on a project-by-project basis. But right now, there is a window of opportunity for us as an originator and early-stage developer of floating wind projects. There are new markets opening up on almost a monthly basis that need offshore wind to meet its renewable targets. And quite often, such markets have limited onshore acreage and deepwaters off the coast. And for many of these countries, it's easy to embrace private project initiatives and support bilateral license applications when compared to regulating offshore wind and establishing suitable legislation. And to a large extent, it is such markets that are not yet fully regulated that we have been successful in, working with local partners and securing project rights through leg work and bilateral applications. Now how long will this window of opportunity last? That's, of course, hard to say. But over time, I believe that the more -- more the industry matures, more and more markets will become regulated and likely go towards an auction scheme type. So therefore, we [ are now ] very focused on building a pipeline of projects in attractive markets, and this is where most of our efforts go towards. And we're building a pipeline of projects for several reasons. First of all, it provides a revenue stream in itself. As project value is enhanced through the development phase, that can be monetized through developer fees and divestments. And this is ahead of our technology being verified and implemented in large scale. Secondly, each project developed is an opportunity to license the technology down the line. The long lead times involved in offshore wind mean that a project initiated today might not make its technology decisions until several years ahead at a time when our TwinWind foundation is verified. And lastly, by putting our core skill set to use in developing projects in core markets and with Tier 1 partners, Hexicon builds its brand as a leading incredible floating offshore wind company. And let's remember, the floating offshore wind is in its very beginning of an expected tremendous growth, and our portfolio is well positioned to be part of this upcoming first round of commercial scale projects that we expect to be realized during the course of this decade. So on to our technology, the TwinWind. And this is essentially a triangular shaped floating steel structure that carries 2 large wind turbines. It is more through [ a target ] at the front corner. That's a standard component from oil and gas, and it's basically just a big bearing. And this allows the complete unit to freely rotate with the wind direction. And it does so around that point, which is the corner of the triangle that does not hold a turbine. And this rotation ensures that the 2 turbines do not disturb one another. And this is the key feature enabling the use of 2 turbines on the same structure. And what 2 turbines on the same structure entails is that we can install more power in a given area when compared to the competition. This reduces cost as well as further increases the possibility of coexisting with other stakeholders as we're occupying a smaller area. And ultimately, our 2 main design drivers are: one, the lowest possible cost of energy; and two, lowest impact on the environment and surrounding activities. And the TwinWind is completely agnostic to the supply chain, including turbines and is fully scalable to the largest of turbines. Now on to an update of our operations. And I'll start by highlighting some of our main events during and after the period. In April, we formed a joint venture, Hexicon Power in Greece with local partners. And the intent is to develop floating wind projects in Greek waters. Greece has some of the best wind resources in Europe and also many islands with deepwater surrounding them. So all in all, very suitable for floating wind. And in line with the country's overall economic recovery strategy, the Greek government has made renewable energy, one of its top priorities and setting some of the most ambitious goals of the EU. And secondly, in pretty much all markets, the electrical grid is a challenge, typically with lack of capacity. And this is why we may partner with Elia Grid International to work generically across geographies on the electrical transmission of projects. Elia Grid is a subsidiary of the Belgian transmission system operator and brings a wealth of global experience to jointly with us optimize the connection to the onshore electrical system across our projects around the world. And another typical challenge facing offshore wind developers is the fishing industry, which usually opposes the development of offshore wind, simply because it intrudes on their fishing grounds. So it was with great excitement we were finally able to, in June, announce an industry-first collaboration through a partnership with Ireland's largest fishing group, The e Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation, we will jointly develop a floating wind farm. And this is a project development partnership from the onset. And I'm certain that this type of collaboration is not only a route to success for this specific project but may also serve as a role model for the industry at large. And then onwards, our flagship project in the portfolio when considering development maturity and size continues to be the MunmuBaram project in South Korea. This project is still on a rather steep value increase curve, which is why we decided to increase our stake in it. And just recently, Hexicon AB bought Hexicon Korea's 20% stake of the project. And effectively, this means that we've gone from a 10% indirect holding through the joint venture, Hexicon Korea, to now a 20% direct holding. And I'll be back in just a few slides with an update on this project. And in addition to the MunmuBaram project with Shell, Hexicon Korea continues to develop new areas along the Korean coastline. And one of them, the Yeonggwang project on the South West Coast of the country, has been developed by Hexicon Korea together with the group of regional partners. And this entire project, of which Hexicon Korea held 40%, was earlier this summer sold to a major energy company. We're unable to, at this moment, disclose more details of this transaction. One reason of this is that Hexicon Korea are currently in other negotiations in the country regarding new projects, and such information may constrain Hexicon Korea's abilities to the successful outcome of those. However, transaction like this is a clear example of our business model where we together with the local partners, originate the project, so we started from scratch, secure the rights to the seabed, raise value of it through some early milestones and then sell off parts or all of the projects. I just want to note here as well on this transaction that the revenue gain from project divestments in Korea goes to Hexicon Korea. And not on to Hexicon's accounts until dividends are paid out to the 2 owners of Hexicon Korea, which is ourselves and Korean company, Coens. And finally, in the U.K., we were thrilled by the news in early July that our TwinHub project had won the first auction to have a separate budget for floating wind. And I'll get back to this major milestone in just a few slides. So here's our portfolio of projects and prospects. And the distinction between a project and prospect is made by a number of criteria. The main one being site control. Below the table, I provide both the gross and net numbers. And the reason for both being of interest is that the gross number reflects the potential volume of future technology sales, whilst the net relates to how much revenue can be achieved through project divestments. It is within this portfolio that most of our efforts go to right now as well as most of the company value sits and most of our forecasted near-term revenue will come from. In South Korea, we're together with Shell, developing what is targeted to be the world's largest floating wind farm. It will be roughly 1,300 megawatts and located outside the industrial city of Ulsan, that's on the East Coast. And this project is well advanced with wind and seabed surveys completed and its so-called electricity generation business licenses in place for the full project. This project targets a final investment decision in late '24, and a key near-term milestone is to get into a grid connection agreement with the country's transmission system operator, [ KEPCO ]. In Scotland, the majority of Hexicon's early-stage developments was last year acquired by Danish Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. And this project is since then being redeveloped into a 100-megawatt floating wind farm, targeting a participation in the next allocation round within the U.K.'s Contracts for Difference tariff scheme. So this is the same one that our TwinHub project in the U.K. was early this summer successful in, which I'll get back to. Next time around, which is planned for next year, this project, the Pentland Floating Wind Farm plans to participate. And the plan is to start with this project construction in 2024 and operations 2 years later. And that's all subject to final permits, which are expected early next year. And in Sweden, we are working together with Aker Offshore Wind through the 50-50 joint venture, Freja Offshore. And we're developing multiple sites in Southern Sweden on both the East and the West Coast. And 3 of our projects are currently in the Environmental Impact Assessment stage, following successful completion of general consultations. Now Sweden's net-zero target by 2045 and the electrification of industry along that way, calls for a range of opportunities to supply electricity from floating wind, both through commercial PPAs to produce hydrogen and potentially to the grid. Now projects in Sweden will, however, take time. But we are pushing forward quite hard with the first permit application forecasted to be handed in before year-end. And regarding the TwinHub project, I'll again come back to that on my next slide. But last on the list of projects, Hexicon Korea has secured water rights amounting to roughly 900 megawatts on the East Coast. And this is further north of Ulsan where the MunmuBaram project is located with Shell. And for this project, Hexicon Korea is currently in dialogue with potential investors, and I do hope to be able to come back to you more on this during the fall. On the prospects list, we have progressed well in further defining such opportunities. Most of [ them have progressed through ] the typical early works such as site selection, establishing a plant to site control and permits and to get that underway. And on to the more specifics of our TwinHub project in the U.K. and a short background. So this project and area was originally developed for wave power. And after years of development, the owners couldn't get that to work, and they decided to repermit the site for floating wind and sell. And in last spring, after third due diligence, Hexicon bought the site, including permits and the electrical infrastructure already in place. And our aim was clear, it was to reach the level of maturity and comfort needed to bid into this year's auction for the U.K. tariff scheme, Contracts for Difference. And that would, for the first time, this summer, have an allocated budget for floating wind. And that meant after having acquired the site that we still needed a last and final permit for the project, a so-called marine license, run quite a lot of technical work and engaged with the local supply chain to ultimately determine how low we would be able to win -- or sorry, bid to be able to win. And this work has been a key focus during the last year, and we were absolutely thrilled when the results were announced in early July. So the TwinHub project was the only floating wind project to be awarded funding through the CfD scheme. And we won at a price of GBP 87.3 per megawatt hours. These prices, however, set in 2012 price levels. So factoring in inflation, it is around GBP 100 per megawatt hour in today's money. And the scheme works in such way that the project will receive this amount for every megawatt hour it produces over 15 years. And so with this offtake confirmed, the project will now enter the next stage, fast tracking towards final investment decision next year and then onwards into construction. The work until then is predominantly design and engineering as well as finalizing the supply chain to be involved. And I do expect to be able to announce new partnerships during the coming months. And now the only way to reach commercial scale use of our TwinWind technology is to verify it in full scale and prove its benefits. And I've shown this technology road map before. And [indiscernible] in England and securing revenue through that for the TwinHub project, we now have the luxury of conducting a strategic review of both projects within the technology road map. So that is collectively the TwinWay project in Norway and the TwinHub project in the U.K., simply to determine how best to get our technology verified. Factors to weigh in here or amongst others, schedule of both projects and how they compare, cost for Hexicon to realize each of them and how well they serve Hexicon as verification of the technology. And here, that laterally mainly depends on the content of each project. So we're right now carefully going through the quickest possible approach to install the first unit in England, which may be advanced compared to the current base case of early '25. And if we see the scheduled benefit on Norway reducing, we may consider alternative ways forward for TwinWay in such way that the 2 projects truly complement each other. We haven't made any decision regarding this as of yet, however. And right now, that review is ongoing on how to prioritize our efforts, and I will be able to come back to this in due course. Now this slide is just an illustration to show the size of the TwinWind foundation that will be used for the TwinHub project in England. And these structures will quite quickly become large, and they will be even larger looking into the future of commercial scale projects. Worthwhile adding, however, is that floating wind allows you to place these structures further off the coasts where they're not visible from the shore. And finally, to wrap up, here's a brief look ahead. We will work hard now to iron out the fastest route to installation for the TwinHub project and progress the overall project then in accordance with that. And in parallel to that, during the coming period, [ review ] best way to progress the TwinWay project, now knowing that [indiscernible] in the U.K. and ensure that the 2 projects complement each other. We will, of course, continue to mature existing projects and prospects as well as continuing to add new opportunities to the portfolio. And with that said, I'd like to thank you all for listening, and now welcome any questions there may be. Thank you.

Thank you, Marcus, for that presentation, and we have received some questions, and I'll start off with this one concerning our TwinWind technology. What stage is Hexicon's technology development? And how far have you come in comparison to your competitors? And what are the biggest challenges?

Well, so if you look at, it's probably around -- I don't have the exact number, but over 50 different versions or proposals at least of floating foundations. And most of them are just on the drawing board. I would say that there are 3 to 4 that are more advanced. And there is another 3 to 4 that are at similar stage as we are. And then there's a whole bunch and the rest of that, that are behind ourselves. However, what we've set out from the outset was never to get as early as possible foundation install but is to design and offer the long-term competitive solution. And that's -- that amend that we have, in some extent, leapfrog the evolution by hosting 2 turbines on the same structure. So that has taken a bit longer. But we are now, as displayed here, both [ TwinWay ] project or in the TwinHub project securing the offtake, we are progressing hard towards start of fabrication within the next 6 to 12 months period of the first full-scale unit.

And some of the challenges, do you see any?

Yes, of course, there are many challenges with new technology. It's very capital intense in the beginning to get new technology out there and building small projects or fewer units in a single project or even a single unit, it is quite costly if you spread it out on a per megawatt basis. So it is a hurdle to get over now. But I do believe in comparison to a few years ago when being on conference and speaking to potential partners, customers and clients, et cetera, it's another tone out there, and it's no longer a question whether or not this will work. But it's still on us to push it over the hurdle to get that first installation. So that raised to the first installation of a preferably commercial scale size of our technology that is critical.

And talking about investments, another question here. When do you expect to capitalize on the investments you're doing today?

Good question again. So we are very much, and I think I said earlier as well, we are now this opportunity to grasp new projects and to build value for Hexicon in the long haul, that is what we're focused on. Now with that said, we've displayed our vision for 2025 here, and that still very much stands. And we are closing, I don't want to give an exact date, but we are closing in on peak loss and then on that journey on to the target, which is to be EBITDA positive or profitable in 2025. So it is over the next few years. It's quite a flexible business model, so we can choose to divest, and we want to make sure we do that at the right timing when the project have crossed important milestones and not selling too early because we have to.

And how does your project portfolio stand in comparison to competitors in terms of size and geo spread?