Zaptec ASA (ZAP) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, and welcome to the presentation of Zaptec's financial results for the third quarter. My name is Kurt Ostrem. I'm CEO in Zaptec. And since our CFO have got the flu, today, I have Kristian Sæther, our Finance Director, with me to help to present the numbers for the third quarter. First, we look into the business highlights for the third quarter. The third quarter is characterized by the soft revenue due to a very weak market. But despite this weak market, Zaptec is capturing market shares, and we're really happy with that. In the third quarter, we retained a strong gross margin, and we achieved a positive EBITDA. As promised, we reduced inventory with a clear path towards normalization during 2025. We have sufficient liquidity to navigate in the current weak market. And we are well positioned for 2025 with our new product will be released in the first quarter next year. We expect the market to recover during 2025, and we have a continued cost focus. So now we will look into the numbers for the third quarter, and that will be presented by you, Kristian.

Looking at the financial highlights. We have achieved a revenue of NOK 299 million and an order intake of NOK 244 million. This is soft compared to previous quarters. However, looking at the weak EV market, we are maintaining a strong market share. Entering the fourth quarter, we have a backlog of NOK 365 million. Operational-wise, we continue to deliver a strong gross margin, keep OpEx at a sustainable low level and deliver positive EBITDA.

When we look at the revenue in the third quarter, it's reflecting the challenging market. As you see, the revenue is down by 26% compared to the third quarter last year. But you have to remember that the third quarter, also the fourth quarter last year was an unusual quarter. It was really high revenue last year due to this change in the competition who happened last year. But still, we are not pleased with the revenue in the third quarter due to the weak market, but we are gaining market share. In the third quarter, Sweden was our largest market with 29% of the sales, followed by Norway, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands. And also U.K. is really starting to show nice figures. If you look at the order intake, it's also soft due to the weak market, but we still have a solid backlog for NOK 365 million at the end of the quarter. So that gives us a good visibility for the fourth quarter. And also look at the special order situation on the graph here because last year, in the first and second quarter, we got a huge order intake. And almost all of these orders was delivered in the third and fourth quarter last year due to lack of inventory and low production capacity. So this is the high number we are now comparing today's number with.

Looking on gross margin, we continued the positive trend and achieved a margin of 39% for the third quarter. We are following our supply chain closely and have incorporated cost focus as part of product development and we'll continue to keep COGS low in our future releases.

Yes. And we are also releasing new products with a stronger gross margin in the first quarter.

On EBITDA, even in a challenging market, we are delivering positive EBITDA. We are in control of our operational expenses and have a strong scalability given higher income.

When we look at the inventory, we have reduced it with NOK 70 million in the last quarter. And this is due to a low production, and we have managed to reduce the production, and this will be reduced even more from the first quarter next year. That's why we are really comfort that we will normalize the inventory during 2025, also with the current weak market. And this also means that we will improve our liquidity going forward. Then we will look into the market. In 2024 and in the third quarter, we have seen a significant drop in the European plug-in vehicle sales. When we look at the third quarter, there was an 18% reduction in EU. We have seen a 12% decline in Zaptec prioritized market. And Zaptec prioritized market is the Nordics, Switzerland and the Netherlands. And then we look at Zaptec's core markets, who is the Nordics and Switzerland, there were no growth at all in the third quarter. So a really weak EV sales in this quarter. But we see that Zaptec have a steady installation growth since July. And this is a positive indication for future sales because all the distributors are now emptying their stock and are ready for reordering. So this looks very positive for the time ahead of us. And if you look at the graph, it's really growing also now into October. Zaptec is increasing market share and the quarterly Zaptec installation versus the plug-in sales increasing over time. And this implying Zaptec is capturing market share. If you look at the plug-in vehicle sales in prioritized markets, it's down 12% from the third quarter this year -- from the third quarter last year. But the Zaptec installation versus plug-in vehicle sales are all-time high in the third quarter. So that's really positive for Zaptec. We expect and all other expect that the market will recover during 2025. And this is driven by a stricter EU CO2 emission requirements who will start from 1st of January next year. There will also come more affordable EV models into the market. That will also increase the EV sales. And the Goldman Sachs report says that from 2023 to 2026, they expect a 50% drop in battery prices. So the COGS on producing EV will go down. And we believe that there will be new incentives to meet EU's 2035 zero emission target as we have been done with great success in Norway. When we look at the outlook, we're really looking forward to our new product, Zaptec Go. That will give us access to new markets, but will also improve the sales in existing markets. And we are looking forward to the Zaptec Pro Eichrecht, who are targeting Germany, the largest EU markets in the next quarter. We will grow with new and existing B2B partners through national and international agreements, and we already see the effect of this. We will always continue to have a commitment to strong cost efficiency. And we have a scalable business model with significant free cash generation expected in the years ahead of us. So to summarize, we experienced a soft revenue due to the weak market in the third quarter, but Zaptec is gaining market share. So this is really strong compared to all our competitors. We remained a strong gross margin and deliver positive EBITDA. We have successfully reduced inventory and are on track for normalization during 2025. We continue our cost focus. We have, I have to underline, sufficient liquidity to navigate in the current market, and we expect market recovery in 2025. And we're really looking forward to our new product that will be released in the first quarter next year. So in total, Zaptec is well positioned for 2025. Not only do we expect to grow with the market next year, but we expect to grow even more due to our new product and new market access. Thank you.