Hexagon Composites ASA

OSE:HEX

Earnings Call Transcript 2020-Q3

[Karen Romer, Senior Vice President of Communications]

Hi, and welcome to Hexagon Composites Third Quarter Results for 2020. My name is Karen Romer. I'm the SVP of Communications at Hexagon and will be moderating today.Today's presentation will include the company update and market review, followed by a summary of group highlights and financials. Outlook will be then covered, and then we will open up for Q&A. [Operator Instructions]And today, I'm reporting live from our Oslo streaming center in Oslo, together with our CFO, David Bandele. And joining us from Ålesund is our CEO, Jon Erik Engeset. And without any further ado, I will hand over to Jon Erik. Jon Erik?

[Jon Erik Engeset, President & CEO]

If you go to the first page, please? So we are well into the fourth quarter of [indiscernible], but we feel quite good about where we stand at this point in time. So we have had impact of the COVID-19 but fortunately, all the cases that we've had have either recovered or are recovering. So no direct serious effects on our employees, fortunately. The business impact has been limited. No major supplier disruptions. And in the quarter, all our production facilities have remained open and have only been marginally affected. And the underlying market demand is very strong.Next slide, please. And that is not list by the very favorable macro picture. So the governments around the world continue to firm up the emission reduction targets. The EU has raised their target to 55% CO2 emission reductions by 2030, China has now committed to full carbon neutrality by 2060 and California bans all new gasoline cars and trucks from 2035, to give some examples.Next slide, please. And the customers are following suit. So they have equally or, in many cases, even more ambitious targets. Anheuser-Busch have a plan to convert its entire long-haul fleet to renewable energy in 5 years. UPS has announced that they will acquire more than 6,000 natural gas vehicles in the next 2 years. And Waste Management will cut their emissions by 45% by 2038.And on the OEM side, there's also a lot of interesting things going on. There was an announcement this morning. Our partner, Hino, has launched their future zero emissions vehicles. They are part of the Toyota Group and also has very ambitious targets.Next slide, please. In the following slides, I will talk a little bit about some organizational changes that we will do in the coming months. Maybe the most exciting one is that we build -- we will build on Digital Wave and establish a new business area where we will focus on digitalization solutions. So we have this unique Modal Acoustic Emissions technology, which you can say is a CT scanner for cylinders, and we've used that for a number of years now on mobile pipelines, and we have been working over the last few years on miniaturizing that technology. And our ambition is to make it so cost effective and applicable that we can have it in all the tanks that we deliver. And that opens up a whole range of new digital opportunities for us, including artificial intelligence, algorithms and new business models based on that.Next slide, please. And for the customers, this technology is giving a lot of new values, increased safety, maybe the most important, they will get real-time data and warnings in case of any changes in the structures, increased lifetime of the tanks as a result and reduced total cost of ownership.Next, please. Another organizational change we are in the process of doing is that we will now combine our Mobile Pipeline business area with Agility Fuel Solutions and that will -- we effect from the 1st of January. We renamed to Hexagon Agility. And this will enable us to utilize the volatility of Mobile Pipeline -- of the Mobile Pipeline business in an efficient way, free up capacity and optimize the utilization of the workforce and of capacities and even out the ups and downs that we have experienced in the Mobile Pipeline business. And at the same time, we will then coordinate the marketing resources in our continued endeavors to globalize the business of Agility.Next page, please. And then Hexagon Purus is on track to being spun off and established or listed as a separate business on the Merkur stock exchange. That will allow that business its full potential. And we have prepared this over a long period of time. We feel very ready. It's a very strong case in our opinion, and we look forward to launching that on the Merkur exchange and allowing our investors to have a direct exposure to that opportunity.Next, please. So with these changes, with the effect from the 1st of January 2021, we will report Hexagon Agility together with Hexagon CNG Light-Duty Vehicle. So the CNG business, which has been part of Hexagon Purus, but which has been separated in connection with the preparation of the spin-off of Hexagon Purus. So Hexagon CNG LDV and Hexagon Agility will jointly be reported as g-mobility. Then we will start reporting on Hexagon Digital Wave as a separate business area. And Hexagon Ragasco, as you know. And then Hexagon Purus as a separately listed company.And with that, I hand over to you, David.

[David Bandele, Chief Financial Officer]

Thank you, Jon Erik. Well, it looks like Hexagon Purus is setting its course. We look forward to the next big thing, which is digitalization, as Jon Erik mentioned, through our very own Hexagon Digital Wave.Let me first start off before we go into the numbers, just a financial impact of COVID-19, a quick update. In quarter 3, already we see recovery well in progress. We will cover Agility shortly, but they did have a record, very strong quarter. That's very pleasing. On the other side, Mobile Pipeline continues to be impacted, given that the end customer contracts are mainly project-based.General disclaimer, as we always do, it's difficult to assess or predict with precision the future broad effects of COVID-19, and the actual ongoing impact will depend on many factors beyond the company's control and knowledge. What we can say now is that we do expect, of course, overall negative impact to full year results in 2020. Good thing is though, we see these as delays in sales across the board rather than any cancellations of orders.Also, we don't expect any material impacts on the balance sheet. As of quarter 3, we had undrawn committed facilities of NOK 653 million. In addition, we had NOK 957 million in cash after the successful private placement in August this year, which returned NOK 907 million in gross proceeds.So that leaves our net interest-bearing debt at a very low NOK 0.5 billion, and that's just 6% of market capitalization, depending on the day you measure that.We continue to have very flexible arrangements with our principal financier. We've had a long relationship with them. And these arrangements continue to provide good headroom, and they've been necessary through a challenging 2020 but also into 2021. So we're in very good shape there.Sneak look at the Hino XL7. This is a heavy-duty battery electric vehicle powered by Hexagon Purus, and that should take us into the Q3 highlights.So once again, top billing really goes to Agility. They had record revenues and exceptional EBITDA. And this was really driven by the further deliveries on our major logistics customers. So the truck -- heavy-duty truck business and also European Transit Bus businesses. And g-mobility, in general, is in good shape, strong momentum, when you include the Anheuser-Busch order we got in the quarter for $8 million to be delivered in subsequent quarters.Mobile Pipeline, as we mentioned, continue to be impacted by COVID-19. We've used the quarter well with production geared towards the $7 million order that we received earlier in the year for deliveries now in the fourth quarter.For CNG Light-Duty Vehicle, volumes relatively low. Good news is that production restarted after Volkswagen had successfully relocated their CNG assembly plant and call offs have restarted in the quarter.For Purus, the e-mobility market remains really heated. We were nominated for a serial production contract towards fuel cell electric vehicle, SUV, with an estimated sales value of EUR 25 million, very pleased with that one. And of course, the big news is that we announced in the quarter the intended spin-off and public listing, which, as Jon Erik mentioned, is on track.For LPG, Hexagon Ragasco, a very robust performance in the quarter. Remember, quarter 3 and quarter 4 for Ragasco are seasonally low quarters. However, good profitability there. One item is we are very pleased to see our first deliveries to Bangladesh since the pandemic. Europe remains strong. This is where COVID-19 has had a positive impact, particularly in the leisure sector with more barbecuing we've seen this summer. And Hexagon Ragasco remains very diversified in terms of its customers, products and geographies, and we did celebrate as well market entry into Argentina in the quarter.So let's go over to the numbers. Quarter 3 2020, for the group, we did revenues of NOK 770 million. Again, record Agility revenues driving that, and that's counterbalancing the weak Mobile Pipeline volumes. So we actually had the same top line as last year, so flat growth year-over-year. However, from quarter 2, we've seen substantial recovery in our top line.Despite that flat growth, if we go over to EBITDA in the center, we grew EBITDA by 32%. So that's significant to NOK 65 million. And again, this recovery from COVID-19, but also the great cost control in the quarter has helped to boost the profitability. And if you bear in mind that within that NOK 65 million, we're still absorbing the e-mobility ramp-up effects of minus NOK 28 million in the quarter, and the same quarter last year was minus NOK 20 million.If we go over to the right, we look at profit after tax, we made a loss after tax of minus NOK 46 million this quarter versus a profit of NOK 56 million in the same quarter last year. Big difference is really there was exceptional favorable foreign exchange movement in the same quarter last year, not quite the same, very modest effects this year. So year-over-year, you have that big difference of NOK 94 million year-over-year effect. And the other effect we've had is some adverse movements in tax charges related to movements in deferred tax assets.Taking a look at revenue by segment for the third quarter. First of all, just to point out, the graph on the left is 2019. This is a pro forma view, meaning that it's not exactly how we reported in quarter 3 '19, but it's actually apples-to-apples to how the business is organized and reported in 2020.So looking at 2020 to the right, you see agility with NOK 540 million, significant increase over last year's NOK 389 million. And again, like I said, the heavy-duty truck orders are really coming through the second half of the year and being delivered successfully. Also, throughout the year, European Transit Bus has been really, really, really exceptional. They have also been impacted in the second quarter by COVID-19, but we see the OEMs ramping up now, and we expect that momentum to continue.If we go over to Purus, recorded NOK 97 million in top line versus NOK 143 million the same year before. The real difference there is, again, the CNG Light-Duty volumes, which continue to be reported in Purus through 2020. The CNG Light-Duty Vehicles will then be reported in g-mobility in 2021. But for now, you can see CNG Light-Duty Vehicles had a great quarter last year. And of course, it's just coming back from the Volkswagen relocation impact this quarter this year.Going over to Mobile Pipeline. They recorded NOK 57 million in revenue, again, a weak quarter, similar to quarter 2. And if you look at quarter 3 2019, we see NOK 132 million was the top line last year. And really, again, you can see the difference given the reduction in online -- I'm sorry, in onshore oil and gas revenues, but also the COVID-19 impacts year-over-year.For Ragasco, pretty much the same level of top line at NOK 116 million. I will say that their EBITDA was significantly higher year-over-year, some of that with favorable currency effects.Looking at our balance sheet. On the left, you can see the asset side that's really boosted mainly by the cash received from the private placement, hence, the high cash balance. The other effect is in our receivables, the light gray area, quite an expansion in receivables. Again, this is mainly due to Agility recovering from quarter 2 to quarter 3, and we should see those receivables turn into cash in the subsequent quarters going forward. And then on the right-hand side, the equity position, you can see, has increased significantly to NOK 3 billion, and that leaves an equity ratio of about 50%. So a much stronger balance sheet, of course, after the private placement.So in summary, very strong results, very strong profitability, given that we are still recovering from the COVID-19 impacts that were most severe in the second quarter of this year. And also that we are not fully up to speed with Volkswagen call-offs in the CNG Light-Duty vehicle volumes. So great quarter. And again, top billing goes to Agility Fuel Solutions, now Hexagon Agility.So let's look at the outlook. Short-term outlook, Q4 for Agility. It's hard to keep breaking records, but we would, of course, hope to maybe match Q4. So we're looking for a similar quarter as we had for Q3, pretty much driven by the same things, European Transit Bus and heavy-duty truck.If we go over to Purus, very pleased to say, we've been working on a train contract since Alstom, and we have a few others in the pipeline. But we just signed a contract with Stadler Rail from Switzerland, and we will be producing hydrogen cylinder storage systems for what should be then the first hydrogen-powered commuter train in the U.S. So these are obviously longer-term projects. The building and testing will continue in Europe, mainly in Switzerland, through to 2023 before being transferred to California for operation.In quarter 3, we are working with at least 5 OEMs on battery electric and fuel cell electric contracts. I'm very pleased to say that we were awarded the contract to provide a full electric drive system to Hino's Project Z. So Hino is a Toyota Group company. And deliveries are expected in the first half of 2021. And deliveries continue to other major OEMS, as we've seen in Q3, and that's what we expect in Q4.And when we look at the fuel cell electric vehicles, so hydrogen-powered buses, we will continue deliveries to CaetanoBus and also continue to ship product to Solaris. So excitement in the fuel cell and battery electric vehicle, heavy-duty space.And when we look at our full project pipeline, we've now included the full e-mobility spectrum. So previously, we've reported mainly just on the hydrogen projects, but now we include, of course, all the battery electric and other types of projects within Purus, the new Purus. These include automotive projects, as you see from light-duty through to medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Distribution of these gases, marine, rail, as we've just seen, ground storage, mobile refueling and even aerospace, as you've seen us report previously. So very high number of hydrogen and battery electric development contracts in quite a variety of segments.CNG Light-Duty Vehicles. As I mentioned, Volkswagen have started up production. That's good for us. So we have call-offs in Q3. We're hoping that, that ramps up even more in Q4, but we don't see that it will be to the same level or run rate as we had in 2019, and that's primarily due to some lingering effects of COVID-19, but also a subsequent delay of the SEAT LEON launch, the new facelift. That's the car that you see pictured there. That will be produced in Spain, and then we expect then to have follow-on orders then for first quarter of 2021.Hexagon Mobile Pipeline. So we have been focusing on opportunities in new segments for a while. We've reported previously that the RNG segment is something that we've developed significantly, and that's helped us to diversify away from the oil and gas exposure. So COVID-19 and those oil-related exposures continue to weigh on Mobile Pipeline. But for example, Mobile refueling units, that's something we saw sales too in Q3, and that's a relatively new segment for us. We expect more orders in quarter 4.We expect a better quarter in quarter 4, as I mentioned, due to our deliveries for units to virtual connect projects, some RNG and also energy-intensive applications. So far, they predict a cold winter, which is very good then for the virtual connect market, particularly in the northeast of U.S.When we look at Hexagon Ragasco, so demand for LPG domestic use is recovering, and there's been stable demand from Europe. We expect that to continue in Q4. We've made deliveries to Argentina, the new market that opened up in Q3 for us. And also, we would expect deliveries then to our major customer in Bangladesh for Q4.So in summary, I would say that barring any unfavorable COVID-19 developments, we're expecting that stronger market outlook of the second half of the year to continue in quarter 4. As we've seen with Jon Erik, the COVID recovery is bearing significant green funding, incentive programs and also new regulations that are focused on cleaner fuel solutions around the world. So that is very good for Hexagon. We have strong liquidity and business resilience. And of course, we are very well prepared for the spin-off of Hexagon Purus. Thank you very much.

[Karen Romer, Senior Vice President of Communications]

And now we'll go to the questions that we are receiving in on the tap-in platform to start with. And Jon Erik will join us on screen here with David and myself.So from Anders Rosenlund. I think this is the third time you've made changes to the structure. Is this it? I imagine that's for you, Jon Erik.

[Jon Erik Engeset, President & CEO]

I think we, over the years, have probably made more changes to the structure than 3x. But of course, the integration of Agility, the focus on the hydrogen opportunity through Hexagon Purus has made it necessary to adjust the structure accordingly. So it's true. But that said, I think we will now, for quite a while, remain with the new structure.

[Karen Romer, Senior Vice President of Communications]

Okay. Anders had a second question. Please provide an update on the progress or the lack of such towards reaching an agreement with ENRIC, which was previously indicated as being completed within Q3.

[Jon Erik Engeset, President & CEO]

Yes. So the discussions are ongoing, very good dialogue with our Chinese friends. Of course, the COVID-19 situation has made it impossible for us to travel and do ordinary due diligence in China, so that has caused some delays. But we remain optimistic that we will reach an agreement.

[Karen Romer, Senior Vice President of Communications]

Okay. Also continuing on the Purus front, Mikkel Nyholtt-Smedseng. In Purus, what is the likelihood of signing a decent-sized serial contract within the next 6 to 12 months?

[Jon Erik Engeset, President & CEO]

Well, let me first remind you that we did sign quite recently a very decent-sized serial contract in Northeast Asia. And without going into a lot of detail, we have a lot of opportunities out there now. So the market is very vibrant and dynamic.So it depends, of course, on what one means by decent. But certainly, we think that there will be important breakthroughs. And that said, the near years will be short series predominantly, and then we are preparing for long series from 2023, 2024 onwards in the heavy-duty segments. But a lot of very interesting and encouraging stuff is ongoing, and we expect to land quite a lot of business in the coming months and years.

[Karen Romer, Senior Vice President of Communications]

Okay. From [ Paul Fromanco ]. What is the timing for the hydrogen spin-off?

[Jon Erik Engeset, President & CEO]

So we have indicated previously that we expect to complete that process by the end of this year, and that is our maintained expectation and ambition.

[Karen Romer, Senior Vice President of Communications]

On the same topic, how much additional funds do you plan to raise for the hydrogen business in 2021? And do you plan to issue more shares to support that separation of the business?

[Jon Erik Engeset, President & CEO]

So we would not want to go into too much detail on that. At this stage, we will keep the investors updated and informed as we take those decisions. What I can say is that with the capital raise that we did in Hexagon Composites ASA in August, we have a well-funded Hexagon Purus. So we are not in need of any near-term capital addition. But of course, we will continue to make sure that, that business is well funded for its opportunities going forward.

[Karen Romer, Senior Vice President of Communications]

He continued with several more questions, which I think you've basically covered, but I'll just repeat them to make sure that we've answered them all.What percentage of the business will be kept by Hexagon's existing shareholders? And any remaining issues, i.e., debt holders? And can existing shareholders participate in spin-off share issuance?

[Jon Erik Engeset, President & CEO]

So we will revert to all those questions, hopefully, in the near future. But for now, we are not able to give more detail on the specifics of the restructuring or the spin-off and the listing.

[Karen Romer, Senior Vice President of Communications]

Okay. Now from Mikkel Nyholtt-Smedseng. Still early in the quarter, but do you expect Agility to report a somewhat similar level of EBITDA in Q4?

[David Bandele, Chief Financial Officer]

Yes, I can take that. Short answer is yes.

[Karen Romer, Senior Vice President of Communications]

Okay. Another question from Mikkel. VW CNG volumes guided to recover to normal run rate during Q4. Please elaborate and draw lines to respective quarters in 2019 when EBITDA was trending NOK 100 million to NOK 120 million, but now being loss-making.

[David Bandele, Chief Financial Officer]

Yes. I would say -- I think -- I hope I was clear to say that we don't expect the same run rate as 2019 in Q4, but we do expect to see the ramp-up continue. So we had a return -- restart of production in Q3. We hope to see that ramp up, then gradually build up Q4 and then into 2021. And part of that delay, as we mentioned, is due to the delay of the launch of the SEAT LEON facelift. And once that is launched, I think you will see a fairly decent run rate again through in 2021.

[Karen Romer, Senior Vice President of Communications]

Okay. Then this is for you, John Erik. How large do you expect the Digital Wave business opportunity to become?

[Jon Erik Engeset, President & CEO]

I think that can become major without wanting to quantify it at this stage, but also our business need to digitalize. So we see some extremely attractive opportunities there. And we will revert to that in the coming quarters, of course. But certainly, we see major opportunities.

[Karen Romer, Senior Vice President of Communications]

We do have a question again from Anders Rosenlund. You sent out to save the date for CMD on November 17, that date is approaching. What should we expect? What will the agenda be?I perhaps can answer that question. So the agenda will cover the entire Hexagon business. So all the business areas, including Digital Wave, we'll give investors a good deep dive into what we expect from that part of the business. And the date, November 17, there will be issued an announcement later, just moving that slightly to just to some scheduling -- internal scheduling challenges with all the processes we have going on. But we will cover all parts of the business, and we encourage all of our investors to participate in the virtual presentation.Anything you'd like to add, gentleman or...

[David Bandele, Chief Financial Officer]

I think you covered that.

[Karen Romer, Senior Vice President of Communications]

Okay. And I think that is -- we'll give them another second here to see if we've -- I think that covers the questions from the audience. So I think what we'll do there is we'll call it a wrap. And thank everybody for joining us for our third quarter presentation.

[David Bandele, Chief Financial Officer]

Thank you.

[Karen Romer, Senior Vice President of Communications]

Thank you.

[Jon Erik Engeset, President & CEO]

Thank you.