Aumann AG

XETRA:AAG

Earnings Call Analysis

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q1

[Operator]

In today's call, we will delve into the Q1 figures of 2024. Warm welcome to CEO, Sebastian Roll; and CFO, Jan-Henrik Pollitt, who will start with the presentation shortly. After the presentation, we will move forward with the Q&A session. And with this, let's start. Sebastian Roll, the stage is yours.

[Sebastian Roll, executive]

Yes, good morning. Thanks for the nice introduction, and also for sure, a warm welcome from us. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sebastian Roll, and I'm the CEO of Aumann. Joining me is my colleague, Jan-Henrik Pollitt, who is our CFO. I'm very happy that you are interested in Aumann in joining our earnings call. So in our upcoming presentation, we will give you assure -- a quick overview of Aumann and our financial performance in the first quarter 2024. And honestly, we are very pleased to kick off the year with a double-digit EBITDA margin. But first of all, let's refresh quickly. What sets our money apart? As you know, we are transforming the automotive industry with our cutting-edge technologies. In our core business, we deliver fully automated production lines for all key components of the electromobility. We are not just a supplier. We are a reliable and innovative development partner. All major players trust Aumann for their production [indiscernible]. The who is who of the automotive industry, and all of them are steering their business towards a mobility. As a result, our E-mobility segment has an impressive average growth of 27% since 2016. So this slide shows our transformation. Over time, Aumann has progressed into a leading provider for E-mobility production solutions. This illustration showcases the drivetrain of a fully electric car. And apart from the tires, all components can be manufactured using Aumann production lines. Of course, this requires a colorful mix of competence. Therefore, we are pleased that we have expanded our technology portfolio through our acquisition in the end of last year. And outside our key competencies, such as assembly, winding, and automation, we can now also provide coating solutions. Let's have a look at our beginnings in the electromobility. Right from the start, Aumann plays a clear focus on the e-drive unit. If we take a closer look at the e-drive unit, it becomes evident that the fundamental of an e-motor has remained unchanged for over 170 years. However, there isn't just a single e-motor for all customers. Instead, each customer follows very different approaches in development. As a turnkey supplier, Aumann offers all the latest production solutions for stators and rotors. On top of its existing operations, Aumann has entered the inverter business over the last 2 years. To support this new business, Aumann developed its own modular production system perfectly suited for inverters. Now let's shift our focus to our battery portfolio. Our rapid growth, as you know, is mainly driven by our success for standing within the domain of battery systems. From our perspective, we benefit for 3 reasons. Firstly, as a pioneer in technology, Aumann provides the complete range of battery modules, battery packs, and even sell to [ X ] solutions. Secondly, the increasing demand for EVs drives demand for advanced battery manufacturing solutions. Another reason is that the latest designs such as Cell-to-Pack design set the highest standards for production solutions and process. Additionally, thanks to our new converting technology, we are now able to upstream our business and enter into the electrode manufacturing. Also in the field of fuel cells in which Aumann has been active for over 15 years, the new acquisition fits perfectly into our existing Aumann technology portfolio. Aumann is now able to offer cutting-edge production solutions from coating and stacking all the way to final assembly. As a result, Aumann can provide tailor-made solutions across the entire value chain. Let's investigate the outlook for electromobility. As you are aware, last year's EV sales figures of our customers have risen significantly, even despite challenging overall conditions. However, the market share of electric vehicles is still only at 20%. This highlights how much traditional production capacity still needs to be converted to E-mobility. Now I would like to hand over to Jan for the financial performance.

[Jan-Henrik Pollitt, executive]

Yes. Thank you, Sebastian, and also a warm welcome from my side. We are very happy to now share with you the key financial figures of the first 3 months 2024. The highlights on this slide illustrate our dynamic performance and successful development in the first quarter. But first things first, we are extremely happy to prove the first double-digit EBITDA margin in the quarter since Q1 2019. EBITDA has grown by 94.5% to EUR 6.7 million. This results in an EBITDA margin of 10.5% after 3 months. Our revenue increased by 15.8% year-over-year to EUR 64.5 million. Order intake is with EUR 76 million in line with the previous year. As a result, our order backlog is up 13.5% on the previous year and now amounts to EUR 313.9 million. The process -- to process the high order backlog, our internal capacity increased to 958 employees, which is a plus of 14.9% year-over-year. With a liquidity position of EUR 137.8 million, Aumann continues to have a very strong financial position and is excellently positioned for further profitable growth. Let us now jump into a few details. We would like to dive into order intake and order backlog first. Order intake in 2024 reached the previous year's level despite all market uncertainties with EUR 76 million. While the first quarter 2023 included a large-scale order in the Classic segment, the main share of our Q1 2024 order intake was acquired in the E-mobility segment with more than 90%. As a result, the order backlog increased to EUR 313.9 million, which means a growth of 13.5% year-over-year and a EUR 10 million plus compared to the end of last year. Before we jump into the next slide, let me quickly remind you of what we already highlighted in the last earnings call. All of the lower-margin orders were completed in 2023. And therefore, the order backlog margin is significantly higher compared to the previous year, and this had a direct impact on our Q1 earnings situation. Despite the first quarter being relatively slow in revenue after the end of year [indiscernible], revenue rose from EUR 55.7 million to EUR 64.5 million, which means a growth of 15.8%. Our profitability, on the other hand, showed a direct and significant improvement. EBITDA almost doubled from EUR 3.5 million to EUR 6.7 million, and the EBITDA margin increased from 6.2% to 10.5%. Once again, our order backlog has a very satisfactory EBITDA margin level overall, which is the main driver for the big 4.3 percentage point improvement year-over-year. Let me quickly show you our segments in detail. Let's start with the E-mobility segment. Order intake of EUR 68.9 million in the first quarter of 2024 is 75.5% over the previous year. And all of the other key figures increased as well. Order backlog, plus 23.9% to EUR 255.9 million. Revenue, plus 23.1% to EUR 48.6 million and EBITDA, plus EUR 3 million in EUR 5.3 million, and this means a 5.1 percentage point plus to 11% EBITDA margin after Q1. As you can easily see from these numbers further growth in this segment is already in our books. Let's continue with our Classic segment. As you know, we operate this segment opportunistically with a business mix of automotive, general industry, and renewables. Order intake decreased notably year-over-year as the first quarter of 2023 included a large-scale order. Order backlog came down to a normal level again since the large-scale order led to an inflated order backlog last year. And revenue and EBITDA after 3 months are on previous year's level. In total, the Classic segment is a secure second pillar for our business. By the end of March 2024, our balance sheet continues to be in excellent shape with an equity ratio of 54.9% and EUR 129 million net cash. Additionally, the current share buyback program with a maximum volume of EUR 8 million up to a price of EUR 20 per share has been completed last Monday, reaching the maximum volume. Going forward, our balance sheet offers a great foundation for organic and inorganic growth. For the full year 2024, we are totally on track to reach our guidance of more than EUR 320 million revenue based on our high order backlog. Moreover, after Q1 2024, we are with a 10.5% EBITDA margin already in the upper half of our EBITDA guidance of 9% to 11%. And the order backlog, of course, gives us the good visibility on further margin performance. Let me now hand over to Sebastian again.

[Sebastian Roll, executive]

Yes. Thanks, Jan. To sum up our presentation, we have kicked off 2024 on a strong note. Order intake is in line with previous year. E-mobility segment accounts for over 90% of the total order intake, new all-time high in order backlog with revenue increasing by roughly 16%. And as promised, the EBITDA margin is now in double digits. Based on our excellent order backlog and our solid financials, we are well prepared for growth in 2024 as well. Thank you very much for your attention, and we will now happily answer your questions.

[Operator]

Yes. Thank you so much for the insightful presentation. Sebastian Roll and Jan-Henrik Pollitt. And we're now moving forward with a Q&A session. And to keep the conversation engaging, we would like to ask you to ask your questions via the audio line. [Operator Instructions]And we've got a first question by Yasmin Steilen.

[Yasmin Steilen, analyst]

I have 3, if I may. So the first one on the Q1 order intake. It was very good to see that the mobility order intake was up sharply. So it's encouraging and also a technical glance of flattish development of the overall order intake is not disappointing at all. However, just looking at your Classic order intake, it's down significantly, and you already mentioned that you're running the business opportunistically. So how should we think about Classic order intake in the next quarters? That's my first question. Then the second, on the order dynamics in the second quarter on the mobility side. So on the one hand, we hear about future -- further investments in EV, in particular, in battery technology, which would be supportive for you. On the other hand, we also hear noise about the EU possibly delaying the ICE ban by 2035. So what is the feedback you received from your OE customers? What scenarios are they reflecting in the investment plans? And what could be a potential downside risk in, say, [indiscernible] postponement? That's my second question. And the last one, just a housekeeping question. Could you provide a split into battery systems and other electric -- E-mobility applications for your Q1 sales and order intake? And how we should expect this demand to develop in the course of the year?

[Sebastian Roll, executive]

Yes, maybe we start directly with the question of order intake for Q1. I mean, first of all, as you said, we are now at 90% in the share of E-mobility, which is even higher than year-end last year, and we are quite happy about this. But the question around was also concerning our Classic segment. And for sure, and this is how we stated it out also in the past, it is just opportunistic. So if we see that there is maybe an old Classic project, which we have done before and there's a kind of retrofit, which makes margin-wise a sense or if they are in the kind of mass production within the area of renewables, for sure, we go for it. And -- but it's always the same opportunistic approach. So we think it is a more or less a stable second pillar, but nothing more, yes? And if we have the choice to do maybe a better project margin-wise or strategic-wise, within the mobility for sure, we go for this project instead of a Classic project. You also asked about the current share within the E-mobility in Q1.And once again, we are very happy that our battery activities are roughly around 50%. This includes also, which is also very interesting for us. As you know, this also includes already new projects within the cell electrode manufacturing for -- and the reason is that we are already, in our point of view, very successful with our new acquisition in the market. Then if I remember right, you asked about the second quarter and also about maybe postponements like we heard in the last days from Mercedes-Benz. Maybe first of all, coming to Mercedes-Benz, you are totally right. I mean, Mercedes-Benz postponed the MB.EA-Large which was together with the [ MB ], let's say, the successor platform of the EV platform, which was planned to launch in 2028. So this means that, honestly speaking, in our forecast, we haven't seen this kind of RFQs before the beginning of 2025. So we are not affected by this in this year. This is on the one hand. On the other hand, as they have announced, they go for the IFA platform, and they also go for the [ MB ] platform. And for sure, for both platforms they also have to invest. And for sure, there are lots of production lines in place already from Aumann. So we expect also in this area, some nice investments, maybe margin-wise, even more interesting. Last but not least, I mean, let's say, the general market situation, yes. For us, important is that in our point of view or important for us is that we have right now the highest order backlog in Company's history after Q1. And that means that we have enough work to keep busy at least for 1 and 1.5 year. At the same time, our pipeline is also, let's say, as full as it was last year with interesting and large projects. But you are right. I mean, as we have communicated for why volatility in order backlog from quarter to quarter can occur, which is also due to the increasing project size we see right now in the market, and we see also in our pipeline. But -- and I think this is important, if a project is delayed from one quarter to another. Or if it is even canceled, it doesn't immediately cause concern given the level of our order backlog. And of course, for sure, also we cannot control the market. If the whole market crashes down, Aumann will be affected, too. I think that's clear. But nevertheless, I think our recent achievements over the last 1 and 2 years have positioned Aumann better today than ever before, yes. And that's the only thing we can do. We can do our homework.

[Operator]

We received another question from the chat. Could you please tell us what is the breakdown of your order backlog between European, American and Asian OEMs or Tier 1 suppliers?

[Sebastian Roll, executive]

Jan, would you?

[Jan-Henrik Pollitt, executive]

Yes. So in general, and that's what we also highlighted in our last annual financial statement. Of course, we are with our current footprint pretty much focused on the European OEMs due to our big and large footprint in Europe. But nevertheless, we were able to also acquire new customers. This means that especially the American, North American customers are interesting, which goes in line with our M&A targets to increase our footprint in the U.S. And therefore, the footprint is large at European OEMs and also Tier 1s, as well as the first orders and projects with North American customers. The Asian customers are pretty much focused on Asian equipment suppliers. There are large capacities in the -- especially Chinese market, and the price level is very poor there. And therefore, the footprint for Asian OEMs isn't too big in our order backlog.

[Operator]

We received another question from the chat. Could you please tell us what are the margins that you recently locked in? And are they comparable with the current margins a bit higher?

[Jan-Henrik Pollitt, executive]

Yes. So Q1 was very good in margins. So the high order intake, especially in the E-mobility segment came in with -- at a good margin level. To be honest, the margins are a bit higher than the current earnings level, which we showed in the slides. Nevertheless, we have, of course, the growth, the revenue growth which we need to manage and -- yes, but as I said, we still have a bit of headroom in our EBITDA guidance. And therefore, yes, we are pretty satisfied with the margin level in the order intake in Q1.

[Operator]

We received another question. What is the plan with your large cash pile? Given your high free cash flow generation, what do you view as the optimal cash level?

[Jan-Henrik Pollitt, executive]

Yes. So a pretty understandable question. We have a very good cash position. We brought down the working capital, especially on year-end '23, and we still have that good working capital level after Q1 2024. During the course of the year, we might -- yes, we might spend a little more cash on working capital, which is on an extraordinary low level currently. And on the other side, we had 2 share buyback programs last year. The one was finished, as I said last Monday. This is the next topic where we also -- the cash flow is going. EUR 8 million on the last share buyback program was spent in total. And of course, we have the dividend payment and our M&A strategy to also focus on the increase of the Aumann footprint internationally.

[Operator]

We received the last question. Could you please tell us about the key risk factors for your guidance this year maybe as a summary?

[Jan-Henrik Pollitt, executive]

Yes. So the factors for our guidance are very much based on our order backlog. So as we already showed and discussed also in the last call, we have a very good order backlog in terms of margins. The lower margin portion of the order backlog has been executed in 2023 completely. And therefore, we have a very secure guidance for 2024 because we have these margins in the backlog already and therefore, the risk level on the guidance as we see it now is significantly low.

[Operator]

Thank you so much, Jan-Henrik Pollitt, for the answers. And yes, no further questions have come in. We are coming now to the end of today's earnings call. On behalf of Montega, I thank you so much for your attention. Should any questions arise in the future, please don't hesitate to contact the Investor Relations Department or us. And I wish you a beautiful day and hand over for some final remarks to Sebastian Roll.

[Sebastian Roll, executive]

Thank you. So as we have recognized, we are quite satisfied with the start of the year 2024 with a double-digit margin. We have achieved a substantial boost in our profitability. And moreover, the new all-time high order backlog secures our profitable growth in 2024. And as Jan said, we are already fighting for 2025 concerning all these order intakes and margins.