Huddly AS (HDLY) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everybody. My name is Graham Williams. I'm the CEO of Huddly, and I'm joined by our CFO, Abhi. And later on, our Chairman, Jostein Devold will join us in the presentation. So these are the key highlights from Q1 2024. First of all, around results, gross margin improved to 48%, up quite a long way from 38% in Q4 last year and this is in line with our guidance of around 50% for the full year. So revenue for the quarter was NOK 33 million compared to NOK 44 million in Q4 '23. So channel sales improved, but our strategic partner sales are still not anywhere near where we want them to be. So revenue from channels increased 7% year-on-year, which is a step in the right direction. And we continue this -- we expect this is going to continue as we move forward, and that's what we're working to do, and I'll explain a little bit further. Sales through strategic partners decreased 65% year-on-year, and that was due to continued inventory buildup downstream in supply chain. So we have refocused our go-to-market model. We've shifted from strategic partners to our channels model. This improves predictability and margins. We simplified our channel program that was launched in the middle of last year to allow greater access to Huddly products. And we've started building out our sales hubs in the U.S., starting with one in New York. I just want to recap on what I introduced beginning of last year when I took over as CEO and just talk about how we're progressing on the 4 objectives that we're very, very focused on at Huddly. So if I take the first 3, number one was to continue to lead with technology innovation. And as Abhi will show you later on and talk to you about, we've continued to invest very heavily in this area. That's the decision that the management and the Board have taken, and that's proving very, very good results. Our entire product line is now certified by Microsoft, which we're very proud of. Huddly Crew is being exceptionally well received in the market, which will lead to increased revenue as we go forward. Our engineering team is executing extremely well. They're very focused and doing a great job. And our product road map through for the next 3 years is very defined. And now we're working on 27 plus and what those products are going to look like. So we've really got our arms around what I consider to be the foundation of this company, which is the technology, which is the fundamental value that we create for shareholders. Gross margin, the third one, as I said before, that's around 50%, and that's what we target, and that's what we're going to work to sustain as we go forward. So that's taken a lot of work. It didn't come easily, but we're roughly where we want to be. And cost has been a major focus over the last year and will continue to be going forward. We've got our cost base roughly where it needs to be with a heavy emphasis on investment on R&D and now into our Channels business. So number two, revenue is really what this year is all about for us at Huddly and particularly the management team. So as you can see in Q1 there, Channels is a much bigger part of our revenue now. The overall number is nowhere near where we need it to be. But we're going to really focus on #2. And the fact that as a management team, we managed to deliver 1, 3 and 4, hopefully, that gives everybody some comfort that we'll be able to deliver on # 2 as well, which we certainly believe we can. Let's explain this go-to-market strategy a little bit more and what we're actually doing there. So on the left is Huddly, I guess, in the past and what the investors have seen for a long time now, which is big fluctuations in revenue from strategic partners, which to be quite frank, we had very little control over, which was not good. So that was up and down and very unpredictable. And as I said before, we were impacted by the downstream supply chain and continue to be. And Channels is very much a secondary focus. So on the right, you'll see what we're moving towards, really focusing on our channels business, which is strong, predictable and more profitable run rate business and very diversified across different countries, different distributors, different resellers are much more resilient. And then we are still going to work with strategic partners. They are still an important part of what we're going to do, but we're going to consider that as upside and good news when it comes. And this is all about derisking and creating a sustainable go-to-market model and quite frankly, a sustainable go-to-market company as well. So this is just a bit of a recap on what our channels model looks like. So Huddly is geographically located in U.S.A., EMEA and APAC. And these are the areas we're going to continue to focus on and build out, starting with the U.S.A., which is our biggest market by a long shot. We sell to distributors, which we're working closely with at the moment, improving how we can do their business and then selling to resellers and then eventually through to end customers. So this is the value chain for our partners. And this is what the whole management team at Huddly is behind bringing to life and creating that sustainable revenue that I spoke about earlier. So this is our first hub that we're pretty proud of at H. We have got some pretty great office space in New York City on Broadway. There's lots of office space you can get at a good price and we're not spending a whole bunch of money. So we're very, very focused on what we wanted to do. The U.S.A. is a key market. It represents about 40% of the global meeting room market and lots and lots of Fortune 1000 customers, which are really what we're after at Huddly with our solutions. And we have a lot of potential then to scale these customers out globally. So as we move forward, we're going to start on the -- in New York on the East Coast. And as we start getting proof points that this is working, we'll roll out with a hub in the middle, and then we'll roll out a hub over on the West Coast of the U.S. as well. And then once we get this working, we'll roll out in EMEA and then APAC. So we're not looking at employing hundreds of salespeople and brute forcing products into the market. We're going to be very targeted as we are across the rest of our business and really cost effective. So this is what you'll see us moving on with as we go through this year. We had some -- our sales team had some fantastic success at our ISE in Barcelona, which is a huge tech conference. And the important thing here is we work with our partners, Shure and Crestron, who we still work closely with. And the important thing for me is Huddly being cost efficient. We managed to get a meeting room is quite a long way away from the main area. So it wasn't easy for people to get there, which we're very cost effective on how we spend everyone's money. But the incredible thing that happened is we got over 800 customers and partners turn up, just not to say hi, but to sit through a 45-minute demo. And this is just an amazing achievement from everybody involved at the show and also our engineers and developers and the whole Huddly crew back home in Oslo who made this happen. So this is something we're really proud of. It was incredibly well received, lots of end customer interest, and this is what you'll see more of Huddly, as we push through this year. Another massive focus for us has been around Microsoft. Everybody knows Microsoft. They own a large portion of the collaboration market with their Teams application, which is a great product. All of our products are Microsoft Teams certified now, the whole portfolio right through to Huddly Crew, which is a multi-camera solution, which is fantastic. And why this is important is because to be certified on Teams is a very important thing for end users when they're making buying decisions. And this has been a big effort, and this will continue to be an effort and a big focus. We intend to get closer and closer to Microsoft. We enjoy a great relationship and we'll continue to do this. So this is a big focus, and we're investing a fair bit of time and money. So the strategic review, we announced this back in Q3 2023. And this was initiated after we received interest from a global player. The process is still ongoing, let me assure you. It's something which takes up a fair bit of our time still. And the Board will provide a further update when that's appropriate. And the Board is assisted by Sansa Advisers. Over to Abhi.

Thank you very much, Graham. So I will be going through the financials for the first quarter of 2024. Let's start with revenue first. Revenue for the first quarter this year ended up at NOK 33 million, which is a 25% decline versus Q4 2023. Breaking that down into 2 revenue streams, we can see that sales to channels increased by 7% versus Q1 '23, but decreased by 17% compared to Q4 2023. It should be noted that there is a quarter-on-quarter reduction, but that mainly reflects seasonal variations in the sales cycle to distributors and end customers. So typically, what happens is that distributors they stock during the last part of the year, hence their revenue typically increases. So the best comparison for the first quarter this year is the same quarter last year, which then again is 7% increased. We're, as already described by Graham, taking significant efforts and measures in implementing improvements in our Channel revenue business. Second part of the revenue stream is strategic partners and sales to that revenue stream decreased by 38% compared to Q4 '23, and we're still experiencing headwind due to continued inventory buildup. We're working proactively with existing partners to manage this situation. Gross margin-wise was a quite positive quarter for Huddly. Gross margin ended up at 48%, which is an increase from 38% in Q4 2023. It was also an increase versus the 46% in Q1 2023. So for the first part of this year, we are arriving at the level of the guidance of 50% for the full year. And we're seeing a trend towards a higher gross margin in 2023 and 2024 versus the previous years. So increasing the level from approximately 35% to 40% to a level around 50%. And that mainly reflects the fact that we have a change in customer mix, which then again illustrates the high profitability in Channel sales, which we then again are prioritizing going forward. Summarizing into the profit and loss statement. As already mentioned, Q1 revenue declined mainly due to continued headwind from strategic partners. Gross margin is healthy and arrived at 48%, and we are actively addressing and controlling the cost base and there are 2 specific measures that should be noted. The first one is a reduction in headcount. And the second is subleasing part of the Oslo HQ office as reflected in other revenue. So total OpEx reduced by 7%. And in addition, we have the cost savings from the other revenue item line. I want to say a few more words on headcount. End of Q1 '23, we had 131 FTEs and end of the first quarter this year, it was 112. So we have a 15% decrease in number of FTEs. That is mainly due to natural attrition and performance management. And the result of that is a 12% decrease in payroll, including all salaries, pension and taxes. As already mentioned by Graham, we are still investing in our R&D in order to defend our leading technological position in the market with intelligent camera devices. We have a 60 strong engineering department with deep and extensive experience in AI, machine learning, software development and hardware. So capitalized R&D is stable and arrived in Q1 2024 at NOK 18 million. Going forward, it is a key priority to successfully monetize on these investments, and it is of utmost priority to translate these investments into revenue and cash and then again into ROI. If you look at cash flow, end of last year, cash balance was NOK 164 million and changed to NOK 154 million end of Q1 2024. Minus NOK 18 million was contributed from operations, minus NOK 19 million from investment and a net positive of NOK 19 million from financing. Financing was mainly due to equity repair issue, which was successfully done in February, where we raised NOK 28.5 million in net capital. So that is the financials for the Q1. And with that, I'd like to go through the financial outlook for 2024. Historically speaking, Huddly has been a profitable company. In 2019, 2020 and 2021, we were quite profitable and especially in 2020. And our priority going forward is to return back to that profitability. So for 2024, we guide revenue at a comparable level to 2023, and that is a change from the last quarterly announcement where we guided increase. And the reason for that change is due to the continued headwind that we're seeing with downstream supply chain with strategic partners. However, we do see momentum in channel revenue, and we do expect to see an increase in channel revenue in next few quarters. Gross margin is still expected to be around 50%, and we guide a positive cash flow during second half of 2025. And that concludes the presentation of the quarter announcement, and we will go over to a Q&A session. And together with me, I have Graham Williams, CEO, joining in addition to Jostein Devold, Chair of the Board. So with that, we will open for questions from the audience.

Can you say something about the situation on strategic partners and when it's expected to improve? That's a great question. I can absolutely take that one. So as we said in the presentation, we have very little control over the revenue stream from our strategic partners. So we don't know when it's going to improve. They still have issues with their downstream inventory, which is, as Abhi explained. So we don't actually know the answer to that question. But what we are focusing on is our Channels business and things we can control and creating sustainable revenue for this business. And that's where we're putting all of our efforts. So that's where we are with that. Have we lost Google as a strategic partner? No, we haven't. We still work closely with Google. That's ongoing. We still provide the camera, which goes into the Series 1 kit, which is sold by Lenovo. So that's ongoing. So that's no change there. Are you planning to sell the business? Are there any bidders? Well, we are in a strategic process, so I will let our Chairman take that question.

I mean strategic process includes both someone acquiring Huddly. It could be that we have an industrial investment into Huddly and other solutions. So as we mentioned, the process is still very much ongoing, and we will revert to the shareholders when there is something concrete to inform about in this respect.

What is -- there's another question here. What is the reason behind the rough strategic partner situation on inventories for them? Can you please elaborate? So I think we have to respect the confidentiality of the partners. We're not at liberty to kind of talk about other people's businesses. So it's just the continued situation of building up inventory and then selling it through, which is ongoing for reasons which are theirs, quite frankly. So there's really not much more we are allowed to say without breaching confidentiality. So during the last -- during the past 2 years, another question here. There's a lot of questions coming, which is great. During the past 2 years, you've said that you expect new strategic partners to be signed. Is that something we can still expect going forward? Absolutely. In Q1, we had quite a large process with a strategic partner, which once again took quite a lot of time and a lot of travel. And that's just ongoing. But as I've said before, bringing on strategic partners does take a lot of time. It takes a lot of resources, and we need to make the right decisions. And we need to create sustainable and reliable revenue streams that we can control as much as we can. And that's where our focus is. And our focus is building sustainable revenue streams that we can control and run this business. But no, we do always have ongoing conversations with new strategic partners. That's something which never seems to stop at Huddly, but we are very selective about what we do. Another one for you, Jostein. Can you say something when is the strategic review expected to close?

Yes. And what we said last often was that such processes very often takes a lot of time because we're dealing with the really big companies. So we hope it will be concluded in the next few months. But it's, of course, dependent on the interested parties. And what we can say now is that we're using a lot of time having conversations and having meetings. So we just have to, as I said, revert to when we have something concrete to inform about.