HighCom Limited (HCL) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

So welcome to everybody to the FY '26 HighCom Limited results announcement. You would have seen the data posted on the ASX this morning. And Sharon, if you'd just like to put up the slide deck at this point in time, we'll start running everybody through that. Okay. So on the call today, we've got myself, and most of you on the call will know me, and we've also got Martyn sitting in attendance as well. So FY '26 year-end presentation. And it's been quite a significant year for the enterprise. So we can go to the first slide, please, Sharon. So just a couple of things to remind everybody about what the business is all about. We have 2 divisions. We have HighCom Armour. HighCom Armour has been in business for 30 years as a specialist designer manufacturer and supplier of advanced ballistic materials, and it continues in that position as a small player, but a niche player that's well respected in the industry. We also have HighCom Technology. And once again, that kind of flows back more to the XTEK roots where we're focused on drones, counter drones, control systems, vertical high antennas. But once again, very specialized unit. And both units are specialized on the fact that they're focused on technology as a differentiator. The technology provides superior products and superior products gives you better pricing power in the marketplace. You'll see a few snapshots there just about the shareholder base and the top 5 shareholders. Of significance there, obviously, is the number of shares on issue has gone up since this time last year due to the capital raise. Number of shareholders in the enterprise gone up slightly, but once again, generally relatively stable. And over on the right, you can see a summary of the top 5 shareholders. Those that will say, well, there's only 4 listed there, Regal and others picks up the missing person there. Next slide, please. So key highlights. It was a difficult year for the enterprise. Technology had a good year, but Armour was hit significantly by what happened in the U.S. with the budget shutdown. It was a long shutdown. I mean they do have those periodically, but this was particularly long and the impact industry-wide for the industries we play in was significant. We met with key players in January at a show in Vegas, one of the major shows for the year. And all of the industry players were being badly impacted by it. And you can see it in the way that it's impacted the result. Now there's nothing new here. This is what we told the market at the half, and we also continue to inform the market of during our capital raise period, but it did impact the result. And as you can see, revenue for the year of $29.8 million. Negative EBITDA of $6.8 million, pleasingly strong closing cash. It's been a good year for cash, particularly the tail end of it, driven by a very solid Q4, particularly in the Armour business and also in the technology business. It was momentum during the year, though, as we say, the C-UAS order for our technology business was significant and puts a significant basis forward, I suppose, for us to continue to grow that enterprise alongside our drone offerings in the small, medium and tethered spaces. Pleasingly as well, you'll see that U.S. Armour had a very strong Q4. We were expecting an H2 recovery. As we said to the market in the capital raise, we couldn't predict precisely when that would happen, but we could see clear evidence of it happening in Q4 is when that came on and particularly into a very strong June as well. So that's very pleasing as a clear indicator of the market coming back on. And the other thing of significance is that we had the XTclave running at full commercial rates and production rates. And in doing so, we proved out that, #1, it works well under load, very well in actual fact, it was very stable. #2, we proved out the economics, and we see significant upside forward in how we operate that machine and the production benefits and gains we can get, not just from a technology sense, but also from a cost sense. There's huge upside potential forward as we learn more and more about that. But it was good to get it into full production rates into June and off into July. And the other thing of significance there is market tailwinds. We are in very strong global marketplaces, and we've been out experiencing those marketplaces globally in the last couple of months. It's clear that the drone space is front and center of everybody's mind. And obviously, with that comes counter drone as well. We've just come back from a couple of weeks in Europe meeting with all of our European clients and particularly our drone and counter drone specialists and their markets are buoyant. The technologies we're associated with are engaged in full battle right now and proving their worth and we represent those products in this region. The other thing of significance in the tailwinds is the global expansion of our Armour pipeline. It truly now is a global pipeline. It's over $800 million in value, and it covers off not just U.S.A., but the Americas, North and South, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. And we'll talk to you later on about what's driving that. But that's a very, very pleasing and significant forward opportunity for the business. And the other thing is the level of global inquiry continue to increase during this half, which has been very pleasing. Next slide, please. So a little bit more detail. We've spoken about most of this in the previous slide. But you'll see there the third line in orange there, we did land the second half midrange on our revised guidance. So that's a good result given that, as I say, the recovery in the U.S. was about a quarter later than we wanted it to be, just driven by the administrative processes of getting the money into the marketplace and getting the final approvals through Congress. And once again, closing cash was strong. But there really is significant operating momentum buildup in the second half. Technology is really set for a strong year coming and future, and it had a really good H2. We've talked about the Q4 recovery as the U.S. government came back on and also as international purchases increased. And we've also talked about the strong pipeline build, which happened in H2 but sets us up forward into '27 and beyond. It's quite significant. You can see over there on the right-hand side, just the revenue, how it was very low H1 coming back a little bit in H2, generating a modest year for '26. Next slide, please. Working capital. Once again, we closed out with good solid cash. When you take down the debt that's drawn, add back in the debt headroom that remains, we've got good solid liquidity. We actually run forward cash models out 12 months now, 13 weeks in detail, 6 months in less detail and then 12 months running off the budget figures. We have cash capabilities that run the business forward solidly, and we run scenarios high, low, medium on that, and we are performing well to those at this point in time and happy with the position. The things that contribute to cash is the ongoing technology and parts orders that are coming in through technology business. The capital raise obviously was significant and provided capital for the continual development of the XTclave as well as working capital. The improved sales in Q4 for Armour are obviously significant. And the final piece is really an important change in the way that the business does business. This idea of asking for significant down payments. It's something you need to work with your leadership teams on. Most people are embarrassed to do it. We've got a team that's very happy to do it. We've also, more importantly, got a customer base that's happy to support upfront payments. We have to buy, obviously, the inventory to make the products. And in doing that, obviously, it's our cash out upfront, we're working hard to make sure that it's not. And as I say, the team has done a really, really good job there in making that a key part of how we operate. In the period, we've had some projects where 100% of the payment was made upfront, regularly 50%, minimum targets 30s. And so it's a significant smoother of our working capital requirements in what previously has been a lumpy section of the business. Next slide. A little bit of detail here for the analysts that may want to go through this, but just running you from the opening cash to the closing cash, and you can see the significant contributors there. Obviously, the capital raise was significant and as I say, important in setting up the balance sheet ready for what will be a growth period forward. Next slide, please. Inventory, it's now very much a secondary issue in the business, but it has historically obviously been something that's caused an issue. So we put a slide in for you to see here. And as you can see, inventory levels are quite reasonable at this point in time. More importantly, though, is the right-hand side, which is what we really focus on is the aged inventory. In other words, what things are sitting around too long that need to be moved. And as you can see, we've made a significant dent in that during the year, and we'll continue to do that to ensure that the inventory we do bring in is for current work and current orders, not long-dated stuff that might not turn over quickly. The only other comment to make for the -- on the left-hand side there, H2 FY '26 -- included in there is inventory for a Brazilian order that we delivered into July. So we ran it through the shot in May June period. And obviously, it's built up some stock in that case or some inventory in that case, but for delivery into Brazil in July, which has happened. So yes, we continue to work hard to move the old stock. We are looking at making sure that we convert that older inventory into cash. And obviously, units produced for Q4 in the delivery for Brazil has obviously impacted that H2 figure slightly. Next slide. So this is the summary at the HCL level. After this, we'll actually go into the divisions themselves a little bit. But it was indeed a very significant year of transition and in my case, a very significant 6 months of transition for the business. We've strengthened the Board and particularly strengthened the global leadership team. We now have 2 very solid presidents running each business. They are experienced military personnel. They are well networked. They are suited to their task. And they're both technically focused individuals that know how to use technology to differentiate products in the marketplace. And we're very pleased with the way they're both settling into their roles. Underneath them, they're further developing their leadership teams to provide the staple leadership and direction required to deliver the business into the growth that's ahead of us. We've globalized our product offerings in response to worldwide demand signals, and that's truly the fact, as I say, we took the leadership team to Europe for a couple of weeks in July in order to go and experience that firsthand and meet the customers and also meet our key partners in the marketplace. And the trip proved out what we thought there is real opportunity for the enterprise and real demand for our product suites into Europe. Obviously, we strengthened the balance sheet, and we spread the range of investors on the register, which is good. And we consolidated the debt into one package with CBA and improved that package slightly in order to support the growth that's coming, and we're very thankful to CBA for their support in that process. It really simplifies what we're doing, being able to deal with CBA here, our head offices in Australia, as is CBA. And although we enjoy and still enjoy a relationship with PNC out of the business in the U.S., it's just more appropriate that we run with CBA for this period. Technology outperformed for the year. The team delivered well. So pulling off that order for the counter UAS is significant. There's now not quite 100 units running around out there and doing well. And I suppose we've also experienced those units operating in Europe in real conditions and seeing how valuable that product is and how good that product is. We've set up our new integrator role with Menet Aero with our first tethered drone sold to DoD here in Australia. And we have a second one, which we use for trial and demonstration, but we see great future for that particular product, not just with DoD, but also with first responders for fire emergency and others. And really, the technology business just delivered strong results. It's well positioned. We were actually at a dinner last night with one of our key technology providers for this business, and the signals there are all very strong and positive forward. Armour has continued to innovate during this difficult period. They've hunkered down well as they needed to, to preserve cash in that second half until things lifted. But really, they continue to work on developing their next-generation Armour plates and particularly the female Armour plate. And we're doing this because it targets premium markets using our proprietary technology. We can produce lightweight plate. We can produce form-fitted plate, and we can produce ballistically strong plate using this process. And as I say, we've now proven that, that process works and that the commercial nature of it is valid and real. So it's been a really important point for us. So for FY '27 outlook, it's positive. We are positioned for growth. And I must say the growth forward is good. More normal U.S. government buying patterns, global demand steadily increasing, and we'll talk a little bit more later on about why. And both businesses are now supported by strong multiyear global pipelines. So in spite of it being a difficult year and a tricky year for navigating our way through what happened in the U.S., we've come out of a position well for what's available forward. And as I say, we look forward to a positive outlook into '27 and beyond. So now next slide, please. Just a little bit of a visual here for you to understand about the business. Most people think about the business as 2 very separate and distinct divisions. And what we've been doing is getting them to spend more time together. You'll see on that mannequin model there or actually the real soldier there, you've got the counter UAS system on the front of the carrier, in behind that is the Armour. And it's that connection between what's going on the front and around the back of the carrier and the Armour that's underneath that means the connection between our technology business and our Armour business is actually quite strong and valuable. A lot of work needs to go into ensuring that the carrier is efficient with all of this extra gear that it's lighter than it used to be because you can't just keep adding weight to the fighting person. It's bad for their ergonomics. And so we're getting the businesses to start to do a lot of work together on what does that mean, what unique proposition do we have for the market given we do both. And there's very few firms in the world that do both. And we see that as a very significant future offering for us. So we'll continue, obviously, to push each business separately. They've got their own enterprises and growth pathways. But in the middle between the 2 is this emerging opportunity, which will grow over time. Next slide. So just on that picture there, that is our tethered drone just doing a test flight. It is large. It's a big beast. It's got great payload capacity. And once again, as I say, we see it having great use in many facets of Australian life, not just defense. Next slide. So Armour, you can see the tricky year they had. That's a very low revenue figure for them. It's a business capable of 4x and 5x that amount easily in current form without adding a lot to it. But the fact that it got through, it continued to develop its critical differentiators and the big Q4 that came out of all of this was really, really encouraging. So this broader sales coverage helped cover that off. So we were selling plates into the Ukraine, Brazil, which we've mentioned before and the U.S. even though unit sales volumes were down 60% against our more normalized annual levels. That's a very significant drop to navigate, but we've managed to do that well. And now this business has a very strong, well-considered multiyear pipeline. And we are meeting about that 2 to 3 times a week as a team as we target and drive and develop our winning strategies to convert this work into the revenue that's support and available. And as we say, the XTclave is now in operational mode, and we're very, very happy with that. It outperformed with what we thought it could do in June and in July, and we see that as a great moment for the future of how well we can do with that particular piece of gear. Now just to reinforce with everyone, we continue to make plates in other ways. This is just one of our production technologies, not the only one. A lot of people think everything is going to be XTclave. It won't be -- it's part of a balanced delivery. It's a premium part of the delivery. It will be a high volume, but it is part of a total suite of delivery technologies that we have. Next slide. Just to makeup of the segment. So this is for '26, and you'll see that the bulk of the sales were hard Armour, which is not unusual for this business. But one of the things that's evident from the pipeline, interest in our shields and helmets, our lightweight shields and helmets and our technologically differentiated shields and helmets is growing rapidly. So we would expect this to change over time. It remains a core part of what we do and always will be, but we see these other parts growing alongside it as well. We are positioned as a specialist. We're not there to be in a big retail marketplace, although we do sell some products there, but only where people want to pay the right price for what we have. This is really about specialist ballistic protection materials for helmets, shields and Armour. And it's also not just for personnel. We're now finding inquiries for marine vessels for buildings and also for aircraft and lightweight air platforms. And we've already mentioned the global pipeline and expanding pipeline. Next. So technology, you'll see there a pretty good year, not a bad EBITDA. There are some costs in this year of setting the business up to enter and become successful in the C-UAS field and in the tethered drone field. So you'll see these EBITDA margins improve forward from here, but all said, still a good year. The MyDefence order was significant, and our relationship with MyDefence is going from strength to strength. We've hosted them here in Australia on multiple occasions. We've been hosted by them in Europe, not only in their facilities, but introduced us to their manufacturing partners and their technology partners in Europe as well as part of growing our whole knowledge in this field. And as we say, we've talked about the tethered drone. So we've also continued to grow the partnerships in these high-value partnerships. They are really important to us. But underneath all of that, we've also continued with supporting our Puma fleet, which is with the ADF and has been for a number of years and will continue to be. It's an important baseline piece of business. The photo on the right there is AeroVironment's JUMP 20 platform, JUMP 20-X actually, that one on the back of the ship. That's a very significant future platform for use. In that case, it's on the back of the Navy ship, but it stays in multiple uses around not just Australia, but globally at this point in time. And our team has been lucky to see that in operation in trials in a number of spots around the world in the last couple of months. And as we mentioned, the technology pipeline continues to strengthen. Next slide. So positioning for '27, once again, there is indeed the JUMP. It's just either coming in or taking off. It's got vertical takeoff capabilities. It's also able to handle particularly difficult sea conditions and land successfully on the back of moving ships. Next. So this slide is really important because this sets the forward program of why we expect to grow successfully forward. It's very clear that defense spending in Europe is being driven by rearming and our trip with which we ended up covering 8 to 9 countries in our time there. The further east you are in Europe, the more intensity of focus, obviously, because they're closer to the Russian border, but the intensity is real. And even going as far west as into the U.K., they recognize the need that they need to change what they do. They need to move forward and prepare just in case and that is all driving high levels of inquiry and potential future business for the enterprise, and that trip to Europe was key plank of putting that strategy forward for its next part of implementation. The U.S. is experiencing a more hostile defense and law enforcement environment at home and abroad, and people just need to read the papers to see that and see what that means. But that really is a very significant driver for a lot of things. South America, generally raising defense and law enforcement spending. We have significant opportunities we delivered, but also in the pipeline for South America, and I won't mention the countries particularly, but it says it's a growing field of focus for us. It's of note we now have Brazilian certified plates as an example, as part of some of the work we've been doing there recently. And then Asia Pacific is also raising its defense and law enforcement spend as it realizes that there's tensions in the region that we all hope that they don't blossom forward, but it says people are preparing in case they do. So both of our enterprises sit with these tailwinds in these markets, and they're well positioned. So I think that's a really important slide to think about what's possible for these enterprises forward. Next slide. Continuing on the tailwinds. Obviously, the global ballistic protection marketplace is indeed large and growing. Fair bit of that's in the U.S., but we're now seeing significant inquiry as I say, from South America and Europe. I think the other thing, too, is that our focus moves beyond just body Armour for human beings. We're now looking at Armour for, as I say, marine vessels for physical land assets as well as aerial assets as well. Now that's work being developed. It's not orders in hand right now, but it's a growing field where because of our XTclave technology, we have some unique offerings that are being explored by a number of parties at this point in time. Counter-Drone, the numbers are large and growing. Even here in Australia, the recognition that we need to embrace drones forward, and that's not just aerial, that's marine as well. And the defense force is doing a very good job at this point in time of setting up programs to pilot the technologies to work out what is the selection of technologies they should be engaged in. We sit on the panels to help provide some of that information to them. We meet directly and influencing them in the way they think forward and educating them about our product suite. But obviously, we've also got our products already in these marketplaces being trialed, which is significant. There aren't any really big players in these marketplaces worldwide. There's lots that have got 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, but there's no really big players. So the opportunities there are significant. And we're also now seeing that civil infrastructure is realizing the need for protection, particularly from drone and counter drone, and we see growing inquiries there. And then over on the right is kind of what we covered off on the world map earlier. People are now starting to realize they have to spend. Some are taking a slight longer period of time to step up, but they're all stepping up in one way or another. And this is really important for these businesses that we are blessed to be looking after at this point in time. Next slide. This is a little bit about the pipeline. As we say, it's over AUD 1 billion big figure and say yes, sure. This is real certified pipeline. We spent a huge amount of time in putting the processes around this to make sure that what's there is real and valid. And it covers off for both businesses. The time frame of this means that the Tech one looks a bit light if we were to go out another 2 years, the Tech one adds another couple of hundred million to that. So it's just a timing issue given that, as I say, clients are piloting what we do and they will make big decisions later on, and we're positioning to be there. Significant message here, though, as you can see the size of Europe. It's big and growing, and it's growing probably quicker than North America. And I say probably, I don't have definitive data. It's just meeting with people and talking and understanding what's going on, but it's our feel that it's going to be growing quicker than North America. And as you can see, South America are large market opportunities there for us as well. APAC is small, but that's because, as I say, the time window on the technology pipeline. But it's significant and real and it's global, which is really important for this enterprise. Next slide. So the other question that those that have been on our calls before might ask is, so what's happening with NIJ certification, et cetera. The first message for everybody is that NIJ is not the only certification that's important to us. We are certifying products now to global demand. We are looking at CAST certification for the U.K. because we have inquiry there. We have Brazilian certifications that were required for us to provide plates into Brazil recently, which we've done. And so right now, we have a suite of certifications happening. Now it's a note that we have well in excess of 10 NIJ 7 plates are the fully certified and on the list or close to being certified and on the list. It's actually more like 12, 13. So it is indeed happening, but it is a suite of certifications that are required by us to meet this global marketplace. The good thing about it is that we are very quick at being able to develop the designs, meet the spec, do our own internal testing, get the independent testing done and then move to certification. We are now good and fast at doing that, and we intend to continue certifying to make sure that we can service the inquiries that are coming in. The other note on the right-hand side there, you'll see the female officers standing there. The female plate is very significant. There are many people claiming to have them right now, but we are the only ones that have an XTclave lightweight female form fit. The reason being unique is that our ballistics are better. They perform better because our process doesn't stress the substrates that are involved in producing it. And we continue to get solid inquiry around this product as we move it to commercialization over the next period. Next slide, please. So look back to the slide we've been through earlier on. It was a foundational year, in my case, a foundational 6 months. We've done the heavy lifting. We've got the business in position ready and it says the marketplaces are there. It's in our hands now to convert the opportunities that sit in front of us. XTclave has proven it can work, and it's proven it can work and make money as it operates, which is a really important proof point in its new location. So '27 is positioned for growth. U.S. back at more normal buying patterns, people might ask, could Trump do something again? Yes, he could. We're far better prepared for it. What we haven't mentioned actually is we now have an AI tool that does our workshop planning for us. The reason inventory gets better managed now is that it's all managed by AI. So it plans in real time as things change, and we're able to spin labor materials production process around very quickly and very efficiently. But I said, look, there is -- is it a risk? We think it's a low risk given what's coming up in the midterms. But it's still Trump, we'll have to wait and see, but we are far better prepared than we were before, and we have a highly responsive team that knows how to make this work. Global demand is steadily increasing and both businesses now have strong multiyear global pipelines. So that's it for this part. Next slide, please. I think we'll go to. Yes. So just one more. We just put up the disclaimers so people can see that it was there in the pack. Yes. So let me just wrap up on that. We haven't received any questions as of cut off time for this presentation. We appreciate you attending and listening. We intend to get out and about and meet with investors directly over the next couple of weeks to make sure that we can provide further color and detail around this. Heavy lifting done. Market is coming back on. We're preparing to run harder as we head off into '27 and beyond. So thank you very much for your support.