Shape Robotics A/S (SHAPE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome, and thank you for joining us for the presentation of Shape Robotics Quarter 4 2024 Interim Report, which also presents the results for the full year '24 as presented in our annual report. My name is Mark Abraham, and I'm the CEO of Shape Robotics. Today, I will walk you through our results and highlight as well the guidance for '25, which were also announced earlier today. Following this presentation, I invite you to a live Q&A session on Thursday, April 10. All the information regarding the Q&A session and the link for sending questions will be shown below this speaker. Now let me turn to Slide 2 for the key takeaways for quarter 4. The key takeaways of quarter 4 2024. We had set very ambitious financial targets for 2024, but we succeeded and delivered both of them. The revenue target, DKK 300 million and the earnings target with an adjusted EBITDA of DKK 25 million. We are very proud of this result, and quarter 4 was our strongest quarter to date with a revenue of DKK 125 million, 44% year-over-year increase. Our contribution margin also reached an all-time high, 38%, supported by strong service revenue and improved product mix. The adjusted EBITDA reached DKK 26 million just in quarter 4 alone, bringing us to the full-year EBITDA target. With strengthened financial backing, new distribution partnership and growing demand across key markets, we have finished '24 with momentum. On the Slide #3, I will address the financial numbers in more detail. As you can see on the bar charts on the right side of our slide showing the last 4 quarters, we have a strong momentum. Revenue reached DKK 125 million just in Q4, up from DKK 86 million in Q4 2023. Growth was driven by strong deliveries in the SmartLab project in Romania and the rising in service revenue, primarily under the Techducator teaching concept. Service revenue, which is something new for the company, made up a significant 30% of our quarter 4 revenue. Remember, we only introduced the service revenue in the third quarter in 2024. Therefore, the contribution margin improved to DKK 48 million for a record high 38%, up from 28% in quarter 4 2023. The adjusted EBITDA came to DKK 26 million. It's a 50%, 60% increase year-over-year. Turning to our financial guidance for '25 on Slide 4. The financial guidance for '25. We expect the 2025 revenue to grow between 20% and 35%, which will lead to a revenue between DKK 360 million and DKK 410 million. The expected revenue growth is lower than in '24, but supportive of our long-term ambitions and higher margin plans. The adjusted EBITDA is expected to reach at least 10% of our revenue with an EBITDA margin of at least 8% before adjustments related to acquisition of Storykids and other investments that we have done in the past. There are some important assumptions of our guidance. Important drivers for growth alongside Romania will be Poland, a market we expect to contribute significantly to our revenue in '25. The contribution margin in line with previous year, high 20s or lower 30s, will be maintained, and we expect service revenue to be an important revenue and margin driver. The operational efficiency gain and cost optimization will also underline the margin improvements in '25. Specifically, as announced earlier today, we expect to reduce the company's cost base at the current level of activity with an impact of at least DKK 12 million to DKK 15 million. This is for the full year '25 with initiatives that will be fully implemented by the end of June '25. Finally, we expect also to secure additional financing through banking agreements or other means to enable the continuous ambitious growth. Now let me turn to Slide 5 for an overview of the important business events of '24. Now one of my favorite slides, the business updates of '24. We have managed to secure a EUR 139 million (sic) [ DKK 139 million ] financing facility from UniCredit. We are supporting with that the R&D, the production and the working capital. We have signed a strategic distribution agreement with Ingram Micro, creating thus a dual distribution model with Network One in Romania, which has provided financial flexibility and reduced our operational risks. After the end of the year, in January '25, we have announced and communicated publicly that we have received also an order of 50 Thinken Mobile STEAM Labs via the Lenovo 3PO partnership. This is a EUR 1.5 million value deal. We have also welcomed 2 new independent Board members, Aurel Netin and Per Ikov. And Jeppe Frandsen was reelected as Chair at the Extraordinary General Meeting in January '25. Together, all these developments strengthen our operational and strategic foundation for the growth. On the next slide, Slide #6, I will dig a bit into our revenue composition and our product mix, so you can better understand our business model. Now on Slide #6, we shall dig in a little bit in our product mix and the revenue composition. In the full year '24, SmartLab projects remained our key revenue driver. This contributed to 70% of our total revenue. Fable Robots sales remained stable at 8% with new sales channels opening through the Thinken products. Service revenue under the Techducator initiative reached DKK 22.6 million in the financial year 2024, which corresponds to an impressive 7% of total revenue in 2024. This first result of the Techducator has supported the management ambition to create a more diversified foundation for the growth, and of course, improve the contribution margin. The other revenue channels, mainly custom lower-margin AV technology hardware solution, was reduced to 50% of the revenue, down from 30% in 2023. Geographic diversification also has a key role. 12.5% of the financial year revenue came from outside Romania. This is up from 4.6% in 2023. Finally, but also very importantly, I will address our ability to service the revenue growth. How do we address our capital management? This is Slide #7. Net working capital increased to DKK 176 million. This is aligned with our high Q4 activity level and revenue growth for the full year, largely driven by receivables and inventories. Trade receivables was also up by year-end, as expected due to high activity level in Q4. The DKK 139 million financing agreement with UniCredit is key for our operation. It bridges the working capital needs, funds for R&D and expansion and provides stability despite volatile cash flows. To further strengthen our capital operations, the management and the Board have decided and taken initiatives to reduce the company's base cost by at least DKK 12 million for the full year 2025, but this is in taking consideration the current level of activity. In addition, an increased focus on Shape Robotics' cash flow management and capital tied up through a greater focus on the company's supply chain management and the terms associated there within on both customers and the supplier side. Finally, tighter prioritization of Shape Robotics development activities. These efforts reflect our focus on operational efficiency and creating a solid financial foundation for the future expansion. This concludes my comments for the quarter 4 and the full year 2024 financial results and business highlights. Let me conclude by showing our next investment highlights on the next page. Investment highlights, we are very strongly positioned in the EdTech market. Our presence spans across 2,000 schools already in Europe. More than 25,000 Fable Robots have been sold. And together, Thinken and Techducator are gaining traction. The ongoing investments that we do in AI with power tools like E.di also are targeting subscription-based learning tools. The strong demand driver still remain, the EUR 13.8 billion commitment with digitalization of education by 2027, and this is creating still a clear path for us for the reaching of DKK 1 billion revenue goal in 2027. Thank you very much for your attention. As noted in the beginning, please join our live Q&A session so that we have an opportunity to discuss all the questions that you have, on Thursday, April 10, at 1700 Central European Time via LinkedIn. We look forward to your questions and to your continuing this exciting journey together. Together we are shaping the future of education.