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

Hello, everybody. I'm here today to provide an update of our work in the last period at Hexicon and provide an update of the world of floating offshore wind. My name is Marcus Thor, and I'm the CEO of Hexicon. Welcome. The agenda for today is to first present a brief of floating offshore wind, what's happening in it and why we think this is an extremely important part of the future energy mix. After that, I'll go into a brief on what we do at Hexicon, a business update and then ending with a look ahead. So let's get to it. Floating offshore wind. And I'm just putting this number here on one single slide. This is what it's all about. 80% or thereabouts of world's waters are deep. So this is the fundamental driver for floating offshore wind. The renewable energy need in the next decades to come is huge. And by this amount of waters that are in deep areas is where we need to have it, and we'll have it more effectively and cost effective to do it with floating foundations. If you take a look at what's happened in offshore wind in general, where it's grown in Northern Europe, we have in the North Sea, as an example, the luxury of really large areas in shallow water. This is not the case from a global perspective. Most waters around the world are deep. And a lot of areas and countries that are really big in onshore wind haven't really deployed offshore turbines yet simply because waters aren't deep. And now the technology for floating offshore wind is mature and is ready to commercialize. So where is different markets and what's ongoing? Well, there's an expected huge growth over the next few years. And this is really the decade of commercializing floating offshore wind. So from the 20 or thereabout floating turbines and full scale in the water today, which can be compared to over 10,000 on the seabed, this will change from those 20 or so to gigawatt projects that are now being in development phase planned for construction during the second half of this decade. And to mention a few of these markets, the U.S. since Biden took office has upped their ambitions and targets pretty much every year with the first-ever lease auction in deep waters that took place end of last year. Taiwan has now announced preparing auctions already this year in smaller scale for floating and then going bigger next year. Japan also preparing for auctions, and the U.K. will have its second lease round within their subsidy scheme contracts for difference that has a separate budget for floating wind also this year. And then on top of that, we've got Greece and Portugal here in Europe that are approving legislation for floating wind. So there's new opportunities and markets that are popping up almost on a monthly basis in floating offshore wind. And then over to Hexicon briefly. Now I'll start with a movie showing our technology. So Hexicon is both a project developer and a technology provider, and I'll come back to the business model. But I wanted to lay out this context first. So this is our TwinWind technology. And it -- the basic innovation and the fundamental part of the IP is that it rotates around a single -- the front corner of this triangle, and that's what enables us to have 2 turbines on the same platform. If you weren't able to rotate the platform, you would need to separate these 2 turbines by several turbine diameters. With the size of turbines today, that's kilometers. So by being able to rotate it, they don't disturb one another. So it's basically a triangular steel structure of semisubmersible characters. So it floats and is stable on its own, the mooring lines are there to hold it in position. And what allows it to rotate is that the mooring system is attached in at the bottom of this front corner through what's called a turret. That's basically just a big bearing. So it freely rotates around that point as the wind changes direction. Just as if you were to throw the anchor of the bow of the boat, that boat would also rotate and align with the wind direction. Now this -- and I'll come back to the project, TwinHub, in just a bit. But for the technology, we spent years of doing pretty much everything you can except installing it in full scale. That's years of numerical analysis, several different physical model testing in laboratories and now full speed ahead with our TwinHub project to get it installed in full scale to also verify and prove all the benefits that computers and laboratories are telling us, we need to demonstrate that in full scale. And to summarize Hexicon with a few numbers. This is where we are roughly today. A number of offshore wind projects that are over 16 today, a gross capacity in our project portfolio of around 17 gigawatts. Hexicon's holding in that, so the net capacity around 9 gigawatt. We're both, as mentioned, a project developer and technology provider. We're present in 4 continents and got over 20 patents -- sorry, patents approved in over 20 countries. And here is -- I put this slide up. Here is really what floating wind to a large extent is about. We talked about the 80%, a lot of deep waters out there. Here's the other key point. And this is a visualization as part of our application for a Swedish project called Mareld on the West Coast under JV, 50-50 with Mainstream Renewable Power. What's displayed here within the box is what is part of the application, and it shows what the wind farm looks like, the one that we're applying for from the nearest point from the coast. And as you can see, there's nothing there, and that's really the point. So floating offshore wind allows you to be much more flexible, not needing to only locate projects at shallow waters. So you don't have to be near the coast, meaning you don't have to see the turbines. Today, there is technology mature enough, ready to commercialize that allows us to be that flexible so you don't have to see the turbines from the coastline anymore. And I'm pretty sure that as offshore wind continues to develop, this is going to be a key factor. As it gets more crowded out there in waters, you are going to want to see or it's going to be more important the less you see them, and we're going to hit cumulative effects as well with more turbines out there. Not the least in a market like Sweden, I mean, we've got a very marine active nation. We've got our archipelagos. We've got a lot of summer houses around the coast lines in the archipelagos. And the key message is that we are flexible enough with today's technology to not needing to see it from the coastline. And our business model. So we are both the project developer and the technology provider. The project development part is a fairly classical project development setup in terms of we participate in projects. We drive them forward to higher valuations and can divest at a value that is greater than the cost we put into it. But where we are fairly unique and where our core skill set is, is in the earlier part: origination and early-stage development. This is our core strength, and this is where we created a lot of the value and the positioning as a project developer in the industry. The technology part is separate in terms of being a separate revenue model, but they're very synergetic and reinforce each other commercially as well. And projects obviously opened doors for the technology. But also, the other way around, where we have for a lot of projects, markets and with partners, we've actually managed to get into with favorable terms by having our own IP. So that allows us to offer an additional potential revenue stream down the line to joint ventures and to projects and partners in various markets. So we're using them to reinforce one another, and they are very synergetic. With that said, separate revenue models. They're not dependent on one another. And if anything, the majority of the value built today and where we'll see most of the revenue in the short term coming from will be the project development side. Whilst the really big scalable part of it is a technology, we need to first then get the full-scale version installed in the U.K. If we look forward to our vision for 2025, floating wind has then become a meaningful and key part of the energy mix and per future plans in a lot of these markets needing to be one. We've got ongoing operations for projects generating revenue in our core markets being Europe, North America and Asia. Technology, the TwinWind verified with all benefits confirmed and on the financial front for the group operations to be EBITDA positive. Now I'd also want to mention, and I've shown this before, is where we are in our company journey. So we've spent a few years investing in the growth of the company. i.e., the technology and the project portfolio to a stage where we decided earlier this year that this portfolio is now mature enough and diversified enough, both in geographies, but also maturity of the individual projects to now it being meaningful to start looking at also divestments. And this is in process now where we won't stop investing, but we will complement it with also divesting, so start recycling meaningful amounts into the company. That will then be followed once the technology is also verified, that will then follow with what we call the third phase or stage where all previous activities continues, but it's then also complemented by the technology being verified and we then get into a license mode from the technology. Now looking at project developments, and I appreciate potentially a lot of text on this slide. But what I just want to show is the fundamental of the project development and why we're engaged, and that's really the value increase during the development phase of these projects. And it's what's in gray in this figure that is the value increase and the slash or with curves black lines represents the cost of projects. So quite early, you get to see value increase that is greater than the cost. This value increase is, of course, not a smooth curve. It goes sort of in steps as we progress through milestones. But the important part of it is, and it's by having now created a core skill set in the origination and early-stage development, that's the part where you really have the greatest relative value increase. The absolute value increase is, of course, greater during construction, but then you need to provide them, put in billions of dollars. In the early stages is where you, not without risk, but a fairly low amount can create really meaningful positions and value increases. And this is our core skill set. Then we're not saying that we're only in it for the short run, don't want to be there longer. But this is where our focus is, and this is where we can with our own means provide a meaningful position. And just a quick glance at our portfolio. We've got both project prospects and presence at markets spread out across the globe. We are -- most projects are located in Europe. And on top of that, fairly active in South Korea, especially over in Asia. On top of that, presence and establishing our next steps in the U.S. So on to a business update. And here are a few bullets that summarizes and characterizes the last period. It's been quite the intense quarter, to say the least, both in projects but also in securing financing. We've seen several value-adding project achievements, and I'll come back to them in a bit more specifics. But it's -- a lot of progress have been achieved in Italy and achievements in Sweden, which I'll come back to. We've also gotten the confirmation, which was as expected, but nonetheless, good to have on paper, which is that the Swedish patent authorities has rejected a third-party claim against the patent. And this is -- if we go back, this is actually a claim that came in a week before our IPO in June of 2021, where the claim was not that we infringed on anyone else's patent. The claim was that our patent should never have been granted. And the evidence put forward was to the greatest extent, already available information. And this is why we were from the outset very confident in what the outcome would be and have communicated that as well. Nonetheless, good to have on paper now as well, that has been in court and it's been ruled in our favor with our patents continue to be valid. We continued since about the end of the year or early this year to streamline the organization. So we managed to get down our monthly cost base, not sacrificing our growth plans. And this ties into the next bullet, which was announced just earlier today, which I was extremely pleased to now get done, where we've managed to secure a long-term loan agreement with a fantastic partner in Glennmont Partners. And this will allow us to continue to push our projects forward, and I'll come back to more details in just a few slides on this. And lastly, as mentioned in a few slides ago, that we are in the next stage now of also seeing divestments. So this is an active process ongoing. What the financing facility allows us is to have more flexibility in when we sell, make sure we get it at the right terms. And just looking at a few highlights across the recent periods, I just mentioned a few of them. And especially in Italy, where we had tremendous progress, where we've got a portfolio of projects together with our partner, Avapa Energy, we've been working with 7 different areas. And we managed to, in total, during this period, secure over 7,000 megawatts of grid capacity. And this is really big. Some of them, we've already got site control of from before, about 2,500 megawatts. Now we've got on top of that grid capacity. And for some of the areas that we've got grid, but not site control, this is something expected within very short. So there is really a huge position that we managed to create very quickly. And this is the real early stage of origination, being able to choose the right areas where you can achieve site control and these various milestones very quickly, and that comes down to the choice. So making sure that you've chosen correctly based on the right criteria to not end up in conflict, to not upset stakeholders, which ultimately delays processes like this. We've also established ourselves in Taiwan through a partnership with a Dutch company locally present in Taiwan. We will explore together with them the possibility to participate in these future floating wind auctions that have now been decided for in Taiwan. Now that's nothing that we will go in with a tremendous financing ourselves. This is something that we're setting up to plan for and won't enter these auctions unless we find the backing of a greater balance sheet. I did mention the Swedish patent authorities, so I won't go into that again. What I will mention is a few more details in Sweden, where our joint venture, Freja Offshore, 50-50 with Mainstream Renewable Power, an Aker Horizons company, have applied for a first permit to the government for 2,500 megawatts of the West Coast. This is obviously a great milestone that is subsequent to a lot of work for some 2 years, having gone through the EIA and whatnot. So that was a tremendous milestone that we're now looking forward to work together with the authorities to make sure we get this approved quickly. And there's been some quite positive signals, I would say, recently from Swedish authorities and government in really engaging in this question that the industry have been pointing to for quite some time, a bottleneck being the long lead times to get permits in place. And we're really seeing things now happening and changing. So that was really positive. And lastly worthwhile mentioning, which I'll come back to in this slide instead, is the financing agreement that we put in place announced just this morning. So this is a loan agreement for developing projects. That's the key of it, up to EUR 45 million, and it's done with Glennmont Partners, which is a large infrastructure fund dedicated to renewable energy. So it's a fantastic partners with long-term ambitions and a clear focus in their investments. Up to EUR 35 million of this EUR 45 million will go straight to projects, the 4 projects being TwinHub; Freja Offshore, the portfolio in Sweden; MunmuBaram our project with Shell in Korea; and AvenHexicon, the portfolio in Italy. The remaining EUR 10 million will go to general corporate purposes, but also very importantly, to fully repay the outstanding convertible loans that we put in place in November. And we're doing that for a few reasons, but predominantly, because we think this setup is favorable when compared to that convertible in November. And if I were to describe the meaning of this and the rationale at this moment in time, it's pretty much twofold. One, it allows us to grow the portfolio and to partake in the projects longer. Not necessary that we want to keep projects longer per se, but it allows us the flexibility to choose the best timing and terms of a divestment. And this is key. The other is, of course, in the financial markets climates that we have today, we've worked very hard for a long period of time to get a setup in place that avoids diluting shareholders at this time. So this was great news that we're able to disclose this morning, and that is not only have been working long term going backwards, but this is very much a long-term facility that allows us to grow quickly, and it's a facility where we're perfectly aligned with Glennmont. It's about value increasing, optimizing these project developments. That's what it's all about, and we're both perfectly aligned with that ambition. So just a quick ending slide. Just looking at where we are with the industries. Well, we're continuing to be absolutely certain that floating offshore wind will play a key role in this transition. Well, the biggest task ahead of us is really to reduce carbon emissions. It's really to change and transform the energy production system, and their floating offshore wind needs to be an integral part, simply no other reasons because of the endless, almost at least availability and resources there is in deep waters. We managed to position ourselves with a strong customer and brand partnerships and exposure that we'll continue to build on. Technology, getting it installed, prove our benefits because it's ready to do so. And let's remember that Hexicon is one of the few companies with actually over a decade of experience in floating offshore wind. There aren't that many around. And lastly, the portfolio that I mentioned a lot of times, but this is perhaps the key value driver we managed to achieve over the last few years is the established and diversified project portfolio across markets and with various very solid and well reputable partners. So with that said, I'd like to thank everyone, and now welcome questions.

Okay. Thank you, Marcus. Yes, let's do some questions and answers. And of course, you're able to put your questions online. But I might start off with one. You have had a busy few days, I would imagine, with this -- entering this deal with Glennmont. Could you just give us some -- what's the real benefits, would you say, with this agreement?

Well, I think it's really about -- I mean, if we look at what -- the value that we've built to date, how do we translate that into real profit-making machine. Well, that is really to be able to sell projects at our own choosing, at the best possible timing. Certain products we might want to hold for longer, some we want to sell shorter. But that balance between what is it possible to get at across a certain milestone versus what does it cost to get us there, we can now more flexibly choose that as opposed to without this facility where you might be constrained in your own money to take them to certain points. So this is a key reason to be able to be more flexible, choose timing and, therefore, also best terms. And on top of that, as I think mentioned quickly as well, in the current unstable financial climate, we work quite hard to make a setup like this happen that doesn't dilute shareholders.

Okay. Great. For those investors, maybe if you don't know this industry as well, for me, example, could you elaborate a little bit about Glennmont. Is it, I mean, a reputable partner, would you say?

Very much so, yes. So this is a very experienced and dedicated infrastructure fund, I would say, that is dedicated to renewable energy. And it's -- they're based in the U.K. And what I think is interesting is their dedication and clear managing focus to renewable energy. Obviously, the amounts under management that they have, but also the -- this is a long-term player. So they're not in this to flip something around in a year and then leave. These people understand the business. It will be a very active partner. They understand the business, and they appreciate the long-term aspects of it. Where this is an industry, you cannot produce a project or provide a spinning wind turbine out there in waters in a few years. It takes several, several years. And this is something that we're perfectly aligned on and they understand, appreciate and wants to do.

Okay. Sounds good. I have a follow-up question from the online from [ Daniel Perez ]. Congrats on the deal with Glennmont. Was this an inbound opportunity with Glennmont approaching Hexicon? Or did Hexicon engage a financial adviser to look for financing?

Well, actually, the first encounter was not through an adviser, and that was through old relationships that we have in the industry. So we met them quite a while ago for the first time. And since then, it's been a sort of first for a bit of period, exploring and meeting of minds if this is something that we think might be a good setup. And basically, if there is an overlap in this space between what we need and want and what they want to do. And so it's -- yes, it didn't start off that way. But we've certainly had advisers engaged along the way.

Okay. So that's -- that was some questions regarding the financing. Let's get into some pipeline questions. Which project are you most happy with during the quarter, the progress in terms of -- yes, in terms of progress?

Well, I would say the two that stand out in this quarter is Italy and Sweden. And in Italy, probably more tangible in terms of new capacity, new milestones achieved. However, what we did with the application in Sweden, although that's nothing that's confirmed from the government, but it's a really big milestone. I mean we've worked over 2 years with EIAs and site selection and all these processes in Sweden. So just a fact of getting to that point, having cleared everything to be able to hand that into the government, that was also a big milestone. So I think those, the good capacity of over 7,000 megawatts in Italy and the application to the government for the wind farm on the West Coast in Sweden are the two that probably stand out in this period.