StrongPoint ASA (STRO) Q4 FY2025 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to StrongPoint's Fourth Quarter Q&A audio call. Today, we have Jacob Tveraabak, CEO of StrongPoint; and Marius Drefvelin, the CFO, to answer your questions. But before we start, let me give you a quick recap of highlights from this morning's Q4 announcement. On the financials, revenue for the quarter was NOK 342 million, NOK 2 million higher than Q4 the previous year. The 12-month rolling recurring revenue increased by 7% compared to Q4 last year ending at NOK 385 million. The reported EBITDA decreased by NOK 10 million to minus NOK 5 million. EBITDA adjusted was NOK 2 million. Highlights from the company operations was that Swedish retailer EKO rolling out StrongPoint's ShopFlow Logistics in all their stores. Vensafe proof of concepts in the U.K. continued with a total of 5 leading grocery retailers. StrongPoint launched Shelf-Verified Order Picking solution, leveraging Vusion's on-shelf cameras. That was the Q4 highlights.

Now a reminder for everyone. Please click the button in the lower right corner of your screen to ask a question. We have already received some questions that came in advance via the investor@strongpoint e-mail address. So kicking off with the first question, Marius. Very poor EBITDA this quarter. Will this be improved significantly in the quarters to come?

Well, yes, it was a bad quarter in the sense that we had the negative EBITDA reported. But it is important to note that without the one-off costs of NOK 7 million incurred this quarter, the EBITDA would have been positive NOK 2 million compared to NOK 5 million last year. So fairly flat development from that perspective. But still, we are clearly not satisfied with the negative reported EBITDA. On to the question on whether the quarters will improve or not, we are not guiding, and we cannot comment specifically on the next quarters to come. But what we are commenting is the effect of the Pricer recurring revenue, which will have a negative impact going forward in the sense that we are losing these recurring revenues. However, which we are making a big point out of in the presentation this morning, we are also, at the same time, seeing new revenues coming in from Vusion. Having said that, we are expecting fluctuations between the quarters, which is why we believe it is more relevant to look at the longer perspective. And with that, for the year of 2025, EBITDA increased from NOK 2 million in 2024 to NOK 33 million in 2025 if we exclude this NOK 7 million one-off costs. So that is a significant improvement for the whole year of 2025.

A second question, and that's related to investments. Is there a risk you invest too much in the U.K. and Spain? Do you use temporary workers for the ESL installations?

I can comment on that initially. So with the first question on U.K. and Spain, yes, of course, there is always a risk anytime you invest in something which is new and/or unproven. But these are the key growth markets for the long term, so very important. And as we are stating in the Q4 financials, we are seeing positive development in both U.K. and Spain with 36% revenue growth in the U.K. and 58% growth in Spain. As for the question on whether we are using temporary workers for ESL installations, absolutely, the answer is yes, we are. We are using a combination of temporary workers and the permanent employees that we already have.

If I may just also comment on that. I mean, the U.K. market and the Spanish markets are very big markets, but they're not only big, they also have, we believe, a good product market fit with what StrongPoint has to offer. So long term and over the cycles, both these markets will be very important for StrongPoint. And again, in this quarter alone, we also saw a very good growth. And both of these markets are now contributing positively to the overall business.

Very good. I think the next question is also for you, Jacob, and it's regarding Vensafe in the U.K. It says you talked about one proof-of-concept schedule to launch and 2 are evaluating the results so far. And there's a first one that's question that says, are we getting revenue on the pilots? And the second question is, is it possible to say anything about time line and potential orders?

So let me just take a step back first when it comes to Vensafe. Vensafe has been and is a sort of very common site in both Norway and Sweden for theft prevention of tobacco products typically, other projects as well, but typically tobacco products. Now in the U.K., theft and shrinkage is at a completely different level, much, much higher level than what we see in the Nordics. And the industry is looking for solutions to curb and to solve these theft issues. Now the fact that we have 5 proof of concepts with major grocery retailers in the U.K. is a proof of the need for a solution to tackle these challenges. Now we have to respect at the same time, these are new solutions in the market, new solutions in a high-velocity industry such as grocery retail will take time. But it's correct that we are progressing well with many of these pilots. But I think it's too early to sort of start sharing any kind of specific rollout plans, et cetera. I mean, for that, the market is getting used to seeing this solution in the market. But overall, very positive about Vensafe being a critical solving mechanism for the theft issue in the U.K.

Next question is regarding another solution of ours, and that's CashGuard Connect. The question is, you said the same thing regarding CashGuard Connect the last quarter. Do you have any pilots in store now? If not, why? Elaborate on time line and profitability, if possible.

Yes. I mean, as for CashGuard Connect, although maybe the statements are pretty similar, there is a lot happening. I mean we're continuously improving the product with a very professional manufacturing partner. We have lined up a set of customers, in particular within Spain, but also outside Spain that has shown interest. And of course, we're in discussions about getting pilots in stores. We don't have pilots in stores as of now. When that happens, we will, of course, communicate that. But I think it's important to sort of recognize this is also a new product for the market. It's not only the product that needs to work. We also need customers that are receptive to it. The interest in the market is high. There is a need to automate cash handling in many, many markets. And so that's why we're continuing to be very positive about the overall business case for CashGuard Connect. And whenever there is any new progress with regards to customers, we will, of course, inform the market about it.

Very good. Marius, a question for you. Regarding the steadily increasing capitalization of development costs for CashGuard Connect, isn't this in conflict with the company policy to expense development costs as incurred? And are we risking impairments of this balance sheet item?

Absolutely. So that's a fair and a good question. So to clarify on the first part, no, it is not in conflict with the company policy. We have been saying since 2023 that the costs related to CashGuard Connect development have been capitalized. However, what we are expensing are development costs relating to the other products, for example, Order Picking, Vensafe, et cetera. And this is in accordance with the IFRS. On the second question on impairment, yes, absolutely, there is a risk anytime it's in the balance sheet, and we haven't received any purchase order or commercial orders. We are monitoring this closely, obviously. But I think most importantly, we are working hard to make this a commercial success.

Also in relation to CashGuard Connect, there's a question here. Approximately how much CapEx will be spent on CashGuard Connect in 2026?

Yes, also a fair question. It's slightly, I would say, difficult to answer in the sense that we are not guiding on future P&L or capital expenditure for that matter. What we can say is that historically, over the last 3 years, we have been spending and capitalizing somewhere between NOK 20 million to NOK 30 million per year in development CapEx relating to CashGuard Connect. So obviously, at the point in time, there will be less development costs as the product is maturing and we are getting to commercializing this product. If there will be new CapEx from that perspective, there will be manufacturing CapEx on the back of commercial orders. But we will continue to report on this each quarter as we are doing in the presentation and how much we are capitalizing.

Next question is regarding Sainsbury's Order Picking. What can you say about the rollout and assumed time line?

So again, to take for any new potential asset, I mean, like Sainsbury's is a customer we won 2 years back, right? And understandably, with the second largest grocery retailer in the U.K. with approximately NOK 500 billion turnover, of which closely NOK 60 billion is e-commerce and everything being picked in store, that's a huge project also for us. Now so we are continuing to work with the customer to get the solution out in store, adding on the functions and features that the customer is requiring over and beyond what we already have in our fantastic, and I would say, the world's best Order Picking solution for in-store picking. And I think that's what we can say now. We have a double-digit number of stores live with our solution, and we'll continue working closely with the customer to both increase the number of stores, but also, of course, increase the performance of the solution out in the stores.

Continuing with another question about Sainsbury. If Sainsbury's chose ESL from Vusion, Will you get revenue for sales of ESL? Will you get revenue from installations?

First of all, it's a hypothetical question, and it's just too specific for me to really continue or to really answer super specifically. But I think what I can say in general is that the partnership we have with Vusion is a very strong one. I will talk more about that in the investor update we'll have on March 12, but the partnership we have with Vusion is very strong. It's both a value-added reseller agreement, and it's an independent software vendor partnership. Now in a number of cases, even before we entered into the partnership with Vusion, Vusion have been working with customers to ensure there are wins. And they've had quite a few wins now in the U.K. that are, frankly speaking, not the result of StrongPoint, but the result of themselves doing a great sales job. Obviously, then we don't get any revenue from those sales that Vusion have been doing and not us. What we have been getting though, which was also evident in this quarter is installation revenue from a number of these sales. So -- but I think in general, I can say that every sale that StrongPoint needs and do, we, of course, get the revenue from those Vusion sales. In the case of Vusion doing the sale, we have the opportunity to do installation and get revenue from that, which we have now also done in the last 6 months.

Marius. Are you through or finished getting ESL revenues from NorgesGruppen and Coop in Norway? Meaning will Pricer AB get all of this?

I think the short answer to that question is yes. We are completed with -- as far as the partnership with Pricer. And just to repeat, we terminated this agreement a while back. And hence, the revenues from Pricer will diminish as we have also talked about in the quarterly report and the presentation this morning. On the commercial side going forward, maybe, Jacob, you would like to elaborate on opportunities or continued on the Vusion partnership.

Yes. I mean, I think it's important to recognize that StrongPoint took the initiative to terminate the agreement with Pricer and to enter an agreement with Vusion. And obviously, we did that for a reason. And there are 3 reasons why that was the case. Number one is the portfolio of solutions that Vusion constitute go way beyond "only ESLs'', right? So not only is Vusion the by far biggest global supplier of electronic shelf labels, but it also has a full set of solutions really needed to digitize the stores. And this includes Capatana shelf-edge cameras. It includes the next-generation shelf-edge labels where the tags themselves actually don't have battery, but they're in the shelf rail called EdgeSense. They have a retail media platform and so on. So we're really moving from "only ESLs" with Pricer to a full digitization of store solution with Vusion, we're obviously also ESLs there. So that's number one. Number two is with Pricer -- or I'm sorry, with the shift to Vusion, we now de facto have 9 markets in which we can properly sell the entire portfolio of Vusion. And I'm saying de facto because although we had agreements with Pricer, I think those of you that have been following us realize that we're really only getting sales in Norway and Sweden and nowhere else. Now with Vusion, we're having not just the opportunity to, but also being encouraged to sell our solutions in markets that goes also beyond Norway and Sweden. And hopefully, we'll see that come to life in the future. And then it's number three, which is the related to the ISV partnership where we are working with Vusion on a joint technology road map that enhances both, of course, Vusion solutions, but also our Order Picking solution. And Kun you mentioned one of the product highlights that we announced end of last year, which was the Shelf Verified Picking. I'll explain super briefly what that is. But essentially, what it does is allowing or using shelf-edge cameras, the Capatana camera from Vusion, allowing the retailer to see what's on the shelf. And why is on-shelf availability important contrary to sort of in-store or in-stock availability. And the reason is, first of all, on-shelf availability is what really matters, first of all, when you have a customer in front of the shelf, but not least also when you do in-store picking. If the product is not there, you simply cannot pick the product. And so this integration allows for the grocer to really see what's on the shelf and allowing for sort of reshelving if the items are at stock. If they're not even in stock, at least what the solution will then offer is for the pickers not to go to the shelf and just realize that there are no items to be picked, but rather go to, for instance, an alternative location or a substitute. There's one of the many new innovations that will come in the aftermath of the partnership with Vusion. So we can talk a lot more about that in the investor update on March 12, but there's -- I just want to say that there is a clear reason why StrongPoint took the initiative to move from Pricer to Vusion.

One question for you, Marius. Can you comment on the main downside risk to the goodwill and intangible assets carrying values? What specific events or performance thresholds would trigger an impairment? And what would be the potential P&L and equity impact under the downside scenario?

Yes, it's, again, a good, although a little bit detailed question. I think the clear answer is the capitalized costs related to CashGuard Connect, as we have talked about, which we are saying in the report, NOK 95 million since inception in the balance sheet. In addition, we are also capitalizing the cost for this new POS solution in the Baltics with NOK 8 million. So that's a smaller, more irrelevant figure. So as far as impairment and the risks related to intangible assets, it would be the cost related to CashGuard Connect. And to the question, what would trigger that? Well, that would obviously be if we are seeing that the commercial interest is declining and that there will be a decision to either put the project on hold or terminate the project. So that would be the event that would trigger such a write-down and impairment. Then there will always be a discussion whether it's the full amount or if there are other usages of part of the development that has been done. As far as the equity impact, we have a 47% equity ratio. We are saying that we have a 30% equity ratio covenant. So with a balance sheet of around NOK 1 billion, the amount that we are talking about would be sustainable as far as the equity covenants.

Can I just comment also on that? I mean, these are all in principle, of course, entirely correct. We haven't done any write-offs, and we haven't triggered any impairment for a reason. So I just want to underline that we, as a company, really believe in CashGuard Connect having not just a commercial viability, but a very strong business case again.

We have a question here regarding rollouts to stores. Is it a plan to have Order Picking solution in all Sainsbury's 1,400 stores and continuing is it a plan to have the Order Picking solution in all Carrefour 700 stores? And when can we expect that all shops have the solution?

Okay. So first of all, the plan for -- with Sainsbury's is to roll out in all the stores where e-commerce is picked, and that's 300 out of the 1,400 stores. I have to recognize there are many stores that are smaller and not doing e-commerce, but that is a plan. When it comes to Carrefour, let me just clarify for the audience that Carrefour, although being in many, many countries, is principally a franchise organization. I mean Carrefour in France owns France and they also own Spain. So that's kind of driven from French headquarters. But beyond that, there's very kind of independent Carrefour's across the globe. So I assume that what's been referring to as Carrefour is Carrefour Belgium. And the plan is to use not just the plant, but the fact is that Carrefour is using our solution for the scheduled or the typically planned or next-day deliveries. That's already been in use. There will always be additional potential cases such as quick commerce. Quick commerce is an area that grows in general a lot. We have very soon a solution to also cater for that. So we're at least hopeful that we can increase our scope. But in general, I can say that wherever we go in with a customer, we typically do all the volumes.

Okay. I think that's it for the questions. Wishing everyone a good day, and I hope you will participate in our investor update meeting, 12th of March at ABG in Oslo and connect again for the Q1 2026 presentation and Annual General Meeting, 29th of April 2026. Thank you.