Kempower Oyj (KEMPOWR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hi, everyone, and welcome to this webcast where we present Kempower's financial results for the third quarter of 2025. My name is Paula Savonen. I am the VP of Communications at Kempower and also the host for today's webcast. Today, we have two presenters. We start with our CEO, Bhasker Kaushal, and continue with our CFO, Jukka Kainulainen. [Operator Instructions] I hope you enjoy the presentations. And now over to Bhasker.

Thanks, Paula, and good afternoon, everyone. So Q3 was my first full quarter as the CEO. And 5 months in, I'm very pleased with the progress we're making as a team. We're focused on the four priorities that I talked about 3 months back. We're building good execution discipline and momentum in those priority areas. And through that focus and discipline, we have delivered a strong growth and performance in Q3. Some quick highlights. Strong order intake growth in the quarter, up 45% versus last year, which was driven by new customer acquisitions across segments and regions. The order intake of EUR 74.7 million is the second-highest quarterly order intake in our company history. Strong revenue growth, which is up 41% versus last year. This was driven by exceptional growth in North America and Europe outside Nordics. Now in Q3, we did benefit from a softer comparable versus last year, a relatively soft Q3, and a strong Q4 in 2024. On gross margins, we are holding steady. Year-to-date, we're at 48.4%, which is in line with last year's margins at this point. Operative EBIT was positive. So, this quarter marks a return to profitability for us as a company. We improved EBIT by EUR 8 million versus last year and by EUR 1.9 million sequentially versus Q2. We maintained positive operating cash flow for the second consecutive quarter. And lastly, another solid performance by North America, where our strategic investments are bringing very good results. Now turning to some quick market updates. We saw strong growth in both new BEV registrations and new public fast charging installations across Europe and North America. In Q3, new BEV registrations grew 29% versus last year in North America and by 28% in Europe. Year-to-date, the new registrations are up 20% versus last year combined across these two regions. New public fast charging installations also saw strong growth in Q3, up 112% versus last year in North America and up 23% in Europe. Year-to-date, combined across these two regions, the new installations are up 7% versus last year. Also, very strong growth in e-trucks and e-buses. That market data comes with a bit of lag. It's not on the page. But through the first half of this year, new e-truck registrations were up 48% versus last year, and new e-bus registrations were up 38% versus last year. So, the strong growth in new BEVs that we see across the vehicle segments shows an accelerating shift towards electric mobility. And tied to that is the increasing importance of reliable fast-charging solutions and infrastructure. Next, a quick update on some market trends. And around the world, we're seeing growing BEV sales driven by several factors: one, emissions reduction targets, particularly in Europe, falling battery prices, more affordable battery electric vehicles in the market, and a lot more options for customers to choose from across different price tiers. In the U.S., we saw a mini boom in the sales of BEVs in the third quarter. Now that was partially driven by the expiration of the federal government subsidies in September. Those subsidies effectively reduced prices by up to $7,500 for select models. Now we're seeing a number of OEMs respond to that subsidy expiration with offsetting price reductions. In terms of infrastructure funding in the U.S., NEVI, which is the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program, is open again. They're granting funds. They're taking applications. There's over $3 billion of funding still available to be granted from that program. So overall, we firmly believe that while policies and subsidies can help accelerate the transition, the favorable total cost of ownership and the economics remain the fundamental and lasting driver of the shift to electrification. And as one of our customers put it best, the electric mile is cheaper than the diesel mile. Now shifting to where we are focused and how we are doing. Let me start with a quick reminder of our priorities, the four key pillars. 3 months back, shortly after I started as the CEO, I talked about the four priorities that are critical for Kempower to deliver now and to position us for long-term success. Now these priorities are rooted in winning with customers, innovation, operational excellence, and building a winning culture. We've been defining clear initiative targets within each of these priority areas. We're improving our execution discipline, our say-do ratios. And as we deliver against the targets that we set; we build credibility. And I'm proud that the team has shown that through strong performance in the third quarter. Starting with winning customers. That's at the heart of our growth strategy. We are gaining share by acquiring new customers and winning with strategic accounts. In Q3, we brought in 26 new customers. Approximately 40% of our order intake is from the new customers that we've added since the beginning of 2024. And these are industry-leading customers such as Circle K, ASCO, and Allego. Our growth is also now more global and broad-based beyond the Nordics. Year-to-date, approximately 2/3 of our sales are from regions outside the Nordics. Now that shows our growing global reach and impact. Specifically, we've had strong momentum in North America. In Q3, revenues were up 242% and order intake up 149% versus last year. And one of the highlights was the multiple-site order we received from PowerUp America, which is a NEVI-funded charge point operator. We're focused on continuing to build very strong and enduring customer relationships and supporting their evolving needs. Next, I want to talk briefly about our partners. In addition to our customers, we're building a strong ecosystem of sales and service partners around the world. They are very important in supporting our growing global reach and installed base. In Q3, we hosted 100-plus participants from 63 partners from across the world, from Europe and North America to Asia and Africa. We spent 3 days together. We held training for our partners. We shared notes on all the market developments from different regions, different vehicle segments. We talked about new use cases that are emerging. And we also did some great team building. We had an unforgettable karaoke, probably the best rendition of Slim Shady that I've heard, better than Eminem himself could do. Now we're stronger as a company by building these enduring relationships with our partners. Next, I'll talk about technology, which is the lifeblood of our business. And innovation is rooted in Kempower's DNA. We're constantly striving to lead the industry. I want to share a couple of examples of how we are leading now in the electric truck charging with our megawatt charging system, which we call MCS. In Q3, our Swedish customer, Alfredsson, completed the world's first public MCS charging session in Sweden using Kempower's megawatt charging unit. That's a really proud moment for our Kempower and Alfredsson team. In Norway, we opened ASCO's first MCS public truck charging site with a distributed charging system. This is the first of its kind in Norway. In the U.S., we also delivered our first MCS units to EV Realty in California. They're setting up a truck charging site that will be the largest grid-connected site in the U.S. Our technology is also enabling new use cases in the truck segment. And a good example is the fully electric heavy-duty Posti e-truck that is hauling packages in the Finland area. Now all of these examples highlight the momentum that we are building in e-truck charging with our MCS technology in addition to everything that we're doing on the public charging for passenger cars. Now Kempower is very well-positioned to support this upcoming growth in the e-truck charging segment as well. Next, I'll talk about operational excellence, which is one of the foundational elements of our business. In Q3, our operations team delivered 41% growth in revenues versus last year through very strong execution and best-in-class on-time delivery performance. In addition to the operations at our facilities, we're also improving our capabilities and execution in the field. In Q3, we opened a new spare parts hub in France, which enables delivery of critical components across Mainland Europe within 2 working days. And by bringing these spare parts closer to our customers, we're improving delivery times and responsiveness. Along with the strong performance, safety and well-being of our employees is a top priority for us. And I'm pleased to share that we had 0 accidents or lost time in our operations in Q3. And we'll continue to focus on this, keep improving our safety processes as we strive to maintain this record. We're also actively building our unit cost reduction program to drive productivity through our operations and supply chain. And all of these initiatives reflect the ongoing focus that we have on productivity, operational agility and continuous improvement. Next, I want to take a moment to bring it back to our mission, our purpose, what drives us, and that is to drive emissions reduction and transition to sustainable energy, which we believe are two of the biggest challenges that we need to solve for our people and planet. And Kempower does this by driving the electric mobility transition through best-in-class fast charging solutions. We pride ourselves on being a green company, and NASDAQ agrees with us. I'm very pleased to share that Kempower received the Green Equity Designation Renewal from NASDAQ in September. To remind you, the Green Equity Designation is given to companies that have more than 50% of their turnover from activities considered green, ours is 100%, by the way. And more than 50% of the company's investments must be allocated to activities considered green. And we achieved these criteria with flying colors. Now this designation is great for us as it gives visibility and transparency for investors looking for sustainable green investments. Now as I conclude, I'll first address the updated outlook for the year. On revenues, we're tightening our full year guidance range, reducing the upper end to 15% to better reflect the backlog delivery timing. Entering Q4 this year, we have strong backlog, but a good portion of that is for 2026 deliveries based on the timing of customer installations and order deliveries. Now overall, to summarize our third quarter, I want to highlight three points. First, we're building positive momentum. The growth in sales and order intake demonstrates that. Second, we're in a strong strategic position. We are well-positioned to capitalize on this growing market across different segments and regions. And we're continuing to invest for the future. And third, we're doing this while being financially disciplined. We have returned to positive operating EBIT in this quarter, and we continue to focus on profitable growth and executing on our priorities. Lastly, looking ahead, what is our strategy going forward? Over the last couple of months, I've been working very closely with our team on this. We're making excellent progress in shaping the next phase of our strategy. We're laying the groundwork. We're launching a range of initiatives to drive market-leading growth, margin improvements, productivity, what are the next-generation technologies, building a winning team and culture. And we're looking at adjustments to our operating model to operate more effectively and efficiently wherever necessary. And all of this is with a view to drive strong value creation as a company. We're planning to present this updated strategy in our Capital Markets Day in the second quarter of 2026, and we'll share the exact date and location early in the new year. So overall, I'm excited about the progress we're making as a team. And I want to take a moment to thank all Kempower employees around the globe for delivering a strong quarter and for driving us forward as a company. And with that, I will hand it over to Jukka for a deep dive on the financials. Thank you.

Thank you, Bhasker. And let's go to quarterly financials. And of course, as being the growth company, top line growth is most important for us. And this is what we delivered. We grew the order intake 45% during the quarter 3. We grew the revenue 41% during the quarter 3. At the same time, we delivered positive operating EBIT and positive cash flow as well. So really strong result overall as a company, which we are, of course, happy overall. Let's look more in details. Order intake, we continue growing. That was actually fourth quarter in a row when we were able to grow our orders. So, order growth, 45% for the quarter, like I commented in the previous slide and also year-to-date growth, 38%. So really strong performance over there. And regions driving the growth in our orders is the Europe outside Nordics, which were growing more than 80% in the orders and North America as well, growing almost 150% in orders, reaching EUR 16.7 million on quarterly order intake. And that already starts to be quite a significant number from the group point of view, around 1/5 of our quarterly orders came from the North America. And another highlight regarding North America, when we look at the year-to-date orders of EUR 43 million from North America and compare that to our home market of Nordics, EUR 45 million, starts to be already quite on the same level than the Nordics. So, our investment what we have taken regarding North America start to now pay off for us as a company. Regarding order backlog, like Bhasker commented, we are around 17% up year-on-year in EUR 117 million. But at the same time, our order backlog has a relatively high amount of orders, which will be delivered to customers in 2026 and recognized then as a revenue 2026, with impact on our guidance, which I will show you later on in this presentation. Then about the revenue. Also, like I commented earlier, really strong revenue growth for the quarter, 41%. Also, first 9 months revenue growth also strong 18%. And this was also the third quarter in a row when we were able to grow revenue year-on-year. And actually, same regions which were driving growth in the order intake were, of course, driving the growth in revenue as well. So, Europe outside Nordics, North America and actually Southeast Asia as well. Also highlighting our success as a growth company, we have been able to increase the share of revenue outside Nordics. It's already 71% overall. And if you look on the left-hand side, the graph, you look at the red box over there, which is North America, and you see over the years how that share is all the time increasing and contributing more revenue for us as a company. And that's a really important milestone and highlight as well. Then going to gross profit margin. Quarter 3 gross profit margin was 45.8% compared to 51.3% 1 year back, so down year-on-year. But at the same time, when we look first 9 months gross margin, we're actually slightly up comparing the last year first 9 months, so 48.4%. And if you look at our gross profit margin over the years, it has been deviating between 46.5% and 52.1% in that range. So, we are quite aligned with our historical trend. Of course, history doesn't tell about the future. And we, of course, recognize the factors which were dropping our margin now in quarter 3 relating to the inventory scrapping, some shift in the sales mix, there is price competition ongoing. And that's why we have taken targeted actions to improve our unit costing, and we already expect some results on our unit cost and gross margin to be visible in our quarter 4 numbers this year. But overall, we have been able to maintain healthy gross profit margin, and we continue defending that also in the future. Then going to the operating EBIT and cash flow, like I commented, it was great to deliver the positive operating EBIT despite the fact that we had to book additional EUR 3 million costs regarding scrapping, regarding fulfilling aftersales customer commitments. But despite that, we delivered positive operating EBIT for the quarter, driven by also increased revenue cost savings actions we took 1 year back in autumn 2024. Then at the same time, positive operating cash flow also for the quarter, EUR 3.9 million, significant improvement year-on-year as well. And even taking into account that actually our working capital increased during the quarter by EUR 9 million, driven by increased accounts receivables. But despite that, we delivered positive operating cash flow. And actually, when looking year-to-date, our cash flow, we have been delivering positive operating cash flow for whole year as well. So, it's EUR 300,000 positive. So, it's really great result, especially looking at the improvement year-on-year from the 2024. So really, really strong performance in both of these metrics as well. Then let's go to specified outlook, what also Bhasker already commented. Just reminding about this year, we have been able to grow the orders 38%. We have been able to grow our revenue. We delivered positive operative EBIT for this quarter. Our operating cash flow has been positive. It has been a great turnaround year. But at the same time, we need to take into account that the big portion of the orders and backlog we have at the moment will be delivered to customers in 2026. And that's why we revised our guidance maximum, and our new revised revenue guidance is between 10% to 15% revenue growth for the year. For operative EBIT, we keep the profitability guidance on the same, improving significantly from 2024. Regarding financial targets, no changes in financial targets, growth in revenue, EUR 750 million under the year 2028. And in the same time frame, delivering operative EBIT margin between 10% up to 15%. Thank you.

And now we go to the questions and answers. We have received plenty of questions, and you can still type those in, let's see how many questions we have time to take. Okay. Let's go. First, we go to the gross margin. What was behind the decreasing gross margin? Is that a trend?

I can take that. So, look, gross margins, as I mentioned, year-to-date, we're at 48.4%, which is right in line with where we were last year, actually 10 basis points above. We were 48.3% last year. So, we're holding steady, as Jukka also showed in his chart. Look, within quarters, there can be fluctuations. In Q3, we were hit with onetime operational expenses related to some obsolescence costs. We did see some price and mix effects but what's important is the trend. And overall, look, on the gross margins, we look to be price/cost neutral as if we see price effects, we look to offset or more than offset those with cost reductions. We've launched a range of programs to go drive that. As Jukka mentioned, we're going to start to see some effects of those already in Q4. So that will be our goal, and we'll keep a close eye on that.

Then we go to the revised guidance. As you have had a good level of order intake, why have you decreased the high-end of revenue guidance? Yes.

Yes. Perhaps, look, as we enter Q4, our backlog is strong. We're at EUR 117 million, which is 17% higher than where we were last year. As Jukka commented, a good chunk of that backlog is for 2026 deliveries based on customer order deliveries, the installations that they're doing for their sites. And so that gives us a good tailwind. I mean just to remind you, in the second half of the year, even with this new guidance, we're going to be in the range of 13% to 21% growth for the second half of the year. So that's what we are driving towards.

Then the next question is from North America and the U.S. So how do you see the North America developing?

Yes. Look, good momentum in that market. The North America team, just as a reminder for everyone, we started operating in North America less than 2 years back. So, the team has made great strides. Since then, we see great commercial activity, a very solid pipeline. The customers that we signed up thus far are fast growing and leading the charge in terms of electrification charging infrastructure in the U.S., names such as Revel, Skycharger, EV Realty, we shared PowerUp that we acquired as a new customer in the third quarter. A number of these NEVI-funded. So, we see good tailwinds in the North America market. And for us, the focus is to grow share in the North America market, having just started 2 years back. And the team is doing an excellent job, and we see really strong opportunities there.

There is a follow-up question from North America. So, in the presentation, we highlighted that there has been changes in the subsidies in the U.S., which may create volatility in the short-term. So, what about the client behavior? Have you seen impacts on client behavior from subsidy changes in the U.S.?

Yes. Thus far, the data that we see and, on the ground, the commercial activity that we see, we are very -- that's all very positive. As I shared New BEV registrations were up close to 30% in North America in the third quarter. When we look at a big driver being NEVI funding, there's that program, which was originally $5 billion. There's still about $3 billion that can be dispersed out of that program. That was paused for a period of time. Now it's back open. They're taking applications. They're granting funds, which is going to help drive the North America charging infrastructure market. So, the data that we see and the commercial activity gives us really good confidence, as well as the fact that, look, having started late in the market, we have ample amount of opportunity to grow by growing share, market share. So thus far, I mean, we see good opportunities there.

And the next question goes to Jukka. It's about the order intake. So, how big a share of your Q3 order intake was explained by single large orders. Did single large orders contribute as much or less, or more in Q3 compared to Q2 and Q1 this year?

Yes. I can comment, of course, that the majority came from the, let's say, smaller order size, but there was a few larger ones as well. And what we can see that the orders in North America is actually relatively higher as order size comparing the, let's say, the Europe where we are operating as well, as one of the main markets as well. But majority came from the, let's say, smaller orders.

The next question is also about orders, but about order trends in the Nordics compared to other Europe. So, you have pretty different order trends in Nordics compared to other Europe. Can you open drivers behind those? Do you expect similar trends to continue?

I can start. So of course, the orders are always a little bit fluctuating between the regions and between the quarters. So that's a normal trend. A little bit the orders and the revenue, like you have seen from our historical trends, are impacting, especially in the Nordics, the climate and how it impacts on installations in the wintertime. So that's impacting on the order behavior, revenue recognition, and deliveries as well. And of course, when we grow the share in the revenue in the other regions, so that impact is less in the future. So, it will stabilize more. But it's always in every business that you might have certain big orders slipping for the following quarter, or you get it on time for that quarter. So, it's changing the numbers quite easily, quite a lot.

Just to add a point on that. Look, I think Nordics, what we saw was Nordics led the charge in terms of BEV adoption and the charging infrastructure over the course of the last 5 years for passenger cars. And we're seeing a little bit of stabilization of that. So, we're not seeing the same kind of growth rates that we saw over the course of the last 5 years. But BEV adoption continues to be pretty solid there. So, we feel that's the fundamental driver. But what's very interesting is we're starting to see Nordics now take the lead in the truck charging and the e-truck adoption as well. So, we believe that, look, I mean, as that picks up, that will ultimately help the Nordics market again grow to the levels, but sort of we see that sort of transitionary period right now.

So, let's continue with the Nordic countries and the trends. So, sales in Nordic countries is falling. Is it falling in all countries? What has happened to market shares? What is the underlying reason for falling sales? Is the growth period already over?

Yes. This is what we have seen for this year, especially Finland, Norway, there's a little bit over investment in the past on those markets, and that's why our orders, our revenue has been declining there. And this is what we also expected. We saw that when we were entering that year. So, there is nothing exceptional over there. It's actually usually changes quite quickly when you get new amount of vehicles on the road, 1 year or even more than that. So, it's quite quickly changing that there is an investment that already. But at the moment, there is a high investment capacity coming from the past years, impacting on the demand.

Then the next question is about the lower sales guidance. So, given the lower sales guidance, how do you expect the Q4 to progress in comparison to Q3?

Yes. Look, last year, as I mentioned upfront, the comparables in 2024, we had a soft Q3 and a strong Q4 last year. So that's a little bit of what's affecting. But in the second half of this year, even based on the new guidance, we expect to see between 13% to 21% growth in revenues entering new year. So, the midpoint of that sort of leads to high teens growth, mid-to-high teens. And that's what we're seeing in terms of the backlog and the order delivery. I mean, what gives us great confidence is that the order backlog continues to grow, and we have good line of sight to that.

We stay in this same topic about the delivery times, delivery times and the new orders. Has average delivery time in new orders been increasing in 2025?

What I can comment on that, I think we have commented that earlier also, that what we see relatively higher amount now that amount of orders and order intake we get, which will be delivered to customers inside the quarter. So that has changed quite a lot in 1 year or even in 2 years. But then at the same time, actually North America is slightly different. So there, the customers make quite a lot more orders earlier than they do in Europe. So, a slightly different behavior in North America. But overall, when looking from a group point of view, that's what we see that quite a big portion of orders are coming inside quarter at the moment.

I think we still have time for a couple of more questions. There is actually a follow-up question about the gross margin. So, your gross margin came down clearly. Can you open the reason behind that more? Have the orders received in Q3 been taken in with similar gross margin profile?

So, what we can comment on the gross margin is that we need to repeat a little bit the same messages we have been repeating, that there is a price pressure ongoing, especially in the Europe at the moment. So that is driving down around the pricing and margins as well. Then at the same time, in quarter 3, we had some scrapping costs and some product mix, which impacted on the margin. So, we don't see this price competition to go away. But at the same time, like we commented, we have taken the targeted actions to reduce the unit costs, improve the gross margin, and we expect the results to be visible already in quarter 4.

Just to add, I mean, look, our goal will be to be price cost neutral or positive. And where we see any kind of offsetting effects on price, we'll look to more than offset that through cost reductions. And look, our operations team has built out a number of range of productivity initiatives that I mentioned earlier, as well across within the four walls of our facilities, how do we be more productive and within supply chain, how do we be more productive in terms of our cost and the leverage that we have over our suppliers as we are a growing business. So, we'll continue to focus on that, and cost and productivity is going to be a key focus to keep us price cost neutral or positive.

Then, about the warranty. How long is the warranty on Kempower's chargers? And how does it compare to other charging equipment manufacturers?

I can start. Yes, we have standard 2 years, and we're quite competitive with the market. There are some exceptions depending on the customers. So of course, we can agree something else as well.

And one more question, and this is in seasonally high order intake, a little bit of what you touched upon already. In history, Q4 has been a quarter with seasonally high order intake compared to Q1, Q3. Is this something we should expect also this year?

Yes. It's a nice question. It would be great if we would guide the order intake, which we don't do. Then of course, as a growth company, we continue targeting growth in orders, growth in revenue. So that's what I can answer on that question.

Thank you, Bhasker. Thank you, Jukka, and thank you for all the questions and the discussion. We will publish the webcast on Kempower's website later on. And if there are any questions that we didn't have time to answer, we will publish the answers to those 2. Before we close the lines, we want to showcase you how we drive the MCS transformation globally and in different countries. So here is a video about that. Thank you. Goodbye.

Thanks, Paula.

Thank you.