Blink Charging Co (BLNK) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Blink Charging Company's first-quarter 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions)

大家下午好，歡迎參加 Blink Charging Company 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）

Please note this conference is being recorded.

請注意，本次會議正在錄製中。

I will now turn the conference over to your host for today, Vitalie Stelea, VP of Investor Relations. Vitalie, over to you.

現在，我將會議交給今天的東道主，投資者關係副總裁維塔利·斯特萊亞 (Vitalie Stelea)。維塔莉，交給你了。

Thank you, Jenny, and welcome to Blink 's first-quarter 2024 earnings call. On this call today we have Brendan Jones, President and CEO; Michael Rama, Chief Financial Officer; and Michael Battaglia, our Chief Operating Officer. The discussions today will include non-GAAP references. These are reconciled to the most comparable US GAAP measures in the appendix of our earnings deck. You may find the deck along with the rest of our earnings materials and other important content of Blink's Investor Relations website.

謝謝 Jenny，歡迎參加 Blink 的 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。出席今天的電話會議的有總裁兼執行長布倫丹瓊斯 (Brendan Jones)；麥可‧拉瑪，財務長；和我們的營運長 Michael Battaglia。今天的討論將包括非公認會計準則參考。這些數據與我們收益表附錄中最具可比性的美國公認會計準則衡量標準進行了調整。您可以在 Blink 投資者關係網站上找到該簡報以及我們的其他收益資料和其他重要內容。

Today's discussion may also include forward-looking statements about our expectations. Actual results may be different from those stated and the most significant factors that could cause actual results to differ are included on page 2 of the first-quarter 2024 earnings deck.

今天的討論也可能包括有關我們期望的前瞻性陳述。實際結果可能與所述不同，可能導致實際結果不同的最重要因素包含在 2024 年第一季財報的第 2 頁。

Unless otherwise noted, all comparisons are year over year.

除非另有說明，所有比較均為逐年比較。

And now regarding the investor relations calendar, Blink's management team will be attending the B. Riley Institutional Conference in Beverly Hills, California on May 22; the Stifel 2024 Cross Sector Investor Conference on June 4 in Boston; and the JPMorgan Energy Power Renewables Conference on June 17 in New York City. We will be meeting with investors during all of these events. Please also follow our announcements and our website for additional events in the future.

現在關於投資者關係日曆，Blink 的管理團隊將於 5 月 22 日參加在加州比佛利山莊舉行的 B. Riley 機構會議； Stifel 2024 年跨產業投資者會議於 6 月 4 日在波士頓舉行；以及 6 月 17 日在紐約市舉行的摩根大通能源電力再生能源會議。我們將在所有這些活動期間與投資者會面。也請關注我們的公告和網站，以了解未來的其他活動。

And now I'd like to turn the call over to Brendan Jones, our President and CEO. Please go ahead, Brendan.

現在我想將電話轉給我們的總裁兼執行長布倫丹瓊斯 (Brendan Jones)。請繼續，布倫丹。

Sure, and thank you, Vitalie. Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks again for joining us today. Let's just jump right into the presentation.

當然，謝謝你，維塔莉。大家下午好。再次感謝您今天加入我們。讓我們直接進入演示。

So let's go to slide 4. So 2024 is off to a strong start with revenues for the quarter growing to 73% year over year. That is a first quarter record of $37.6 million for Blink. Blink's service revenue increased by 72% to $8.2 million.

讓我們看投影片 4。2024 年有一個良好的開端，該季度的營收年增 73%。這是 Blink 第一季 3760 萬美元的記錄。 Blink 的服務收入成長了 72%，達到 820 萬美元。

Now our charging service revenue increased by 74% to $5 million compared to $2.9 million in the first quarter of 2023, representing a $2.1 million increase in charging revenue. We also recorded a 27% increase in network services fees to $2.1 million for the quarter. And our network servicing fees are reoccurring in nature and they represent what we call a reliable and high margin revenue stream for Blink.

現在，我們的充電服務收入成長了 74%，達到 500 萬美元，而 2023 年第一季為 290 萬美元，相當於充電收入增加了 210 萬美元。本季網路服務費也成長了 27%，達到 210 萬美元。我們的網路服務費本質上是重複發生的，它們代表了我們所謂的 Blink 可靠且高利潤的收入來源。

Blink's company-wide gross profit in the first quarter of 2024 was $13.4 million or 36% compared to $4.5 million or 21% of the first quarter of last year, representing a gross profit increase of $8.9 million or 195% in gross profit.

Blink 2024 年第一季全公司毛利為 1,340 萬美元，增幅為 36%，去年第一季為 450 萬美元，增幅為 21%，毛利增加了 890 萬美元，增幅為 195%。

We contracted sold or deployed 4,555 chargers globally in the first quarter of this year. Blink chargers disbursed approximately 30 gigawatts of energy across all Blink networks globally in Q1 2024. As you can see from these numbers, our revenue is becoming increasingly diversified. We have a competitive advantage in our industry because we offer flexible business models and we can provide L2 and DC chargers as well as network and charging services. We can be nimble, not only in our response to addressing customers' needs, but also in reacting to changes in the market, which allows us to effectively manage revenue generation and profitability.

今年第一季度，我們在全球簽約銷售或部署了 4,555 個充電器。 2024 年第一季度，Blink 充電器在全球所有 Blink 網路中消耗了約 30 吉瓦的能源。我們在業界擁有競爭優勢，因為我們提供靈活的商業模式，我們可以提供 L2 和 DC 充電器以及網路和充電服務。我們不僅可以靈活地滿足客戶的需求，還可以靈活地應對市場的變化，這使我們能夠有效地管理創收和獲利能力。

Our first quarter was characterized by strong performance by the Blink team and is indicative of healthy customer demand. Furthermore, demonstrating our ability to leverage our manufacturing and logistical strengths to meet that demand and vertical integration is working for Blink.

我們第一季的特點是 Blink 團隊表現強勁，顯示客戶需求良好。此外，展示我們利用製造和物流優勢來滿足需求和垂直整合的能力對 Blink 來說是有效的。

If we move to slide 5, for 2024, we are keeping our full year 2024 revenue target, unchanged at $165 million to $175 million. Now while we had a strong Q1, which we, by the way, are very, very excited about, we are also seeing some lower bookings in April. We are closely monitoring the market and it's too early to tell if we will see an impact in the full-year revenue target. We regularly review our pipeline and will provide an update if necessary in the future.

如果我們轉到投影片 5，對於 2024 年，我們將保持 2024 年全年收入目標不變，即 1.65 億至 1.75 億美元。現在，雖然我們第一季表現強勁，順便說一句，我們對此非常非常興奮，但我們也看到 4 月的預訂量有所下降。我們正在密切關注市場，現在判斷全年收入目標是否會受到影響還為時過早。我們會定期審查我們的管道，並在將來如有必要時提供更新。

However, as a result of several companies entering the charging space or reducing their presence, along with confirmation of some very strong orders in the Q3 and Q4 timeframe, we expect opportunities for additional growth in the second half of 2024. We are also maintaining our target of achieving positive EBITDA run rate by December of 2024 as well as our full-year 2024 gross margin target of 33%, which you've already seen and that we've overachieved in the first quarter.

然而，由於多家公司進入充電領域或減少其存在，加上在第三季和第四季確認了一些非常強勁的訂單，我們預計 2024 年下半年將有進一步成長的機會。實現正EBITDA 運行率的目標以及我們2024 年全年毛利率33% 的目標，您已經看到了這一目標，並且我們在第一季就超額實現了這一目標。

If we jump to slide 6, we have recently strengthened our balance sheet and are properly capitalized to achieve our adjusted EBITDA run rate target. Our cash and cash equivalents at March 31, 2024, was $93.5 million.

如果我們跳到投影片 6，我們最近加強了資產負債表，並進行了適當的資本化，以實現調整後的 EBITDA 運行率目標。截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日，我們的現金和現金等價物為 9,350 萬美元。

Now let's move on to slide 7. Let's take a minute on slide 7 to discuss what is happening in the industry with demand for EVs and EV infrastructure. Despite reports that EV sales are slowing, Kelley Blue Book indicates that first-quarter 2024 EV penetration was 7.3% of sales in the US, which is an increase of 2.6% versus Q1 of 2023.

現在讓我們繼續看幻燈片 7。儘管有報導稱電動車銷量正在放緩，但凱利藍皮書表示，2024 年第一季電動車滲透率占美國銷量的 7.3%，比 2023 年第一季度增長了 2.6%。

Sequentially, there was a bit of decline when you view EVs in terms of the number of vehicles sold as compared to Q4 of 2023. This decline is primarily due to Tesla volumes as the other nine leading EV manufacturers, excluding Tesla, reported EV sales growth of over 50% in Q1 of 2024. And that includes Hyundai, Kia, Ford, Mercedes, Cadillac, BMW, and others. Additionally, we saw on March 27, 2024, that Hyundai revealed an ambitious $50 billion investment to secure the top three spot in the EV market.

因此，與2023 年第四季相比，當您從銷售的車輛數量來看電動車時，會出現一些下降。的其他九家領先電動車製造商都報告了電動車銷量成長到 2024 年第一季度，這一比例將超過 50%。此外，我們在 2024 年 3 月 27 日看到，現代汽車宣布雄心勃勃地投資 500 億美元，以確保在電動車市場佔據前三名的位置。

We continue also to see growth in Europe and specifically the markets where we generate a significant amount of charging service revenue. In Belgium, the Netherlands, UK, and Ireland, EVs continue to gain significant momentum with robust growth. In Belgium, battery electric vehicle registrations increased nearly 50% in Q1 2024 versus Q1 2023. In the Netherlands, there was growth of nearly 20% versus last year.

我們也繼續看到歐洲的成長，特別是我們產生大量充電服務收入的市場。在比利時、荷蘭、英國和愛爾蘭，電動車持續保持強勁成長勢頭。在比利時，2024 年第一季純電動車註冊量比 2023 年第一季成長了近 50%。

And in the UK, according to the Guardian newspaper, a record number of chargers were installed in Q1 of 2024. UK also recorded a number of battery electric vehicles registration this month of March, representing nearly 25% of all cars sold in the country.

根據《衛報》報道，在英國，2024 年第一季安裝的充電樁數量創歷史新高。

In the US, Mackenzie currently forecast over 28 million chargers will be needed by 2030. And globally, EV infrastructure spending is forecasted to be about $260 billion by 2030 with about 90% of those chargers being L2.

Mackenzie 目前預測，到2030 年，美國將需要超過2,800 萬個充電器。 。

Now, moreover, industry data shows that EV infrastructure significantly lags behind the current EV fleets on the roads today in the US and also lags to some extent in Europe. We also see increasing consolidation in our industry with certain of our competitors choosing to reduce their presence, or in some cases, even pullback entirely. Blink sees these as opportunities to grow and deploy our disciplined operating models in both the L2 and DC fast charger markets.

此外，現在的產業數據顯示，電動車基礎設施明顯落後於當今美國道路上現有的電動車隊，在歐洲也有一定程度的落後。我們也看到，我們的產業整合日益加強，某些競爭對手選擇減少其存在，或在某些情況下，甚至完全撤退。 Blink 將這些視為在 L2 和直流快速充電器市場發展和部署我們嚴格營運模式的機會。

Now let's pivot over to slide 8. You can see that cumulatively, the end of Q1 of 2024, Blink has contracted, sold, or deployed nearly 95,000 chargers since the company's inception, on the way to exceed 100,000 very soon. If we look at that geographically, 77% of the total company-wide number is attributed in North America and then 23% to Europe and some other international locations.

現在讓我們轉向幻燈片 8。如果我們從地理角度來看，整個公司總數的 77% 歸因於北美，然後 23% 歸因於歐洲和其他一些國際地點。

Now let's move over to slide 9. You can see our innovative product portfolio and flexible solutions for both L2 chargers and high-powered DC fast chargers. The variety of products we offer appeal to a broad and diverse range of customers. Our Series 7 and 8 chargers, which are produced in-house in the US in our Bowie, Maryland facility are the most popular Level 2 model among our customers.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 9。我們提供的各種產品吸引了廣泛而多樣化的客戶。我們的 7 系列和 8 系列充電器在美國馬裡蘭州鮑伊工廠內部生產，是最受客戶歡迎的 2 級型號。

Now if we move to slide 10, it shows a representative group of our customer base, including many recognizable names across commercial entities, multifamily complexes, planned community, healthcare facilities, fleets, and municipalities around the world. As we said before, we take advantage of places where vehicles are idle and sit.

現在，如果我們轉到幻燈片 10，它顯示了我們客戶群的代表性群體，包括世界各地商業實體、多戶綜合體、規劃社區、醫療保健設施、車隊和市政當局的許多知名品牌。正如我們之前所說，我們利用車輛閒置和停放的地方。

And just last week, we announced that Blink was selected as one of the official electric vehicle chargers and network service providers for the State of New York. We are excited to have this opportunity to work in close cooperation with New York authorities to electrify the state and municipal fleets, provide public charging for employees, for residents, and for visitors of the city.

就在上週，我們宣布 Blink 被選為紐約州官方電動車充電器和網路服務供應商之一。我們很高興有機會與紐約當局密切合作，為州和市政車隊提供電力，為員工、居民和城市遊客提供公共充電。

So with that, I will now pass the presentation over to Michael Rama, our CFO. Michael, take it away.

因此，我現在將把簡報交給我們的財務長 Michael Rama。邁克爾，把它拿走。

Thank you, Brendan, and good afternoon, everyone. Turning to slide 12, total revenue in the first quarter of 2024 grew 73% year over year to $37.6 million. Product sales in the first quarter of 2024 for $27.5 million, an increase of 68% over the same period in 2023. This was primarily due to customers purchasing greater volumes of our commercial chargers.

謝謝布倫丹，大家下午好。轉向投影片 12，2024 年第一季的總營收年增 73%，達到 3,760 萬美元。 2024 年第一季的產品銷售額為 2,750 萬美元，比 2023 年同期成長 68%。

First-quarter 2024 service revenues, which consists of charging service revenues, network fees, and car-sharing revenues were $8.2 million, an increase of 72% compared to the first quarter of 2023. The year-over-year growth was primarily driven by greater utilization of our charters in the US and internationally, the increased number of charges on Blink networks, and revenues associated with our car share programs.

2024 年第一季服務收入（包括充電服務收入、網路費用和汽車共享收入）為 820 萬美元，較 2023 年第一季成長 72%。更高，Blink 網路的收費數量增加，以及與我們的汽車共享計劃相關的收入。

Our gross profit for the first quarter of 2024 was $13.4 million, an increase of 195% or $8.9 million over the same period last year. As a percentage of revenues, gross margin was 36% in Q1 2024 compared to 21% in the same period of the prior year. Importantly, we improved our gross margin in Q1 nearly 200% on revenue growth of 73%. This is primarily due to the shift to higher margin product, increased vertical integration of charger manufacturing, as well as higher gross margins from service revenues.

我們2024年第一季的毛利為1,340萬美元，比去年同期成長195%，即890萬美元。 2024 年第一季毛利率佔營收的百分比為 36%，而去年同期為 21%。重要的是，我們第一季的毛利率提高了近 200%，營收成長了 73%。這主要是由於轉向利潤率更高的產品、充電器製造垂直整合的增加以及服務收入毛利率的提高。

Operating expenses in the first quarter of 2024 were $30.9 million, which is a decrease of 13% or an improvement of $4.5 million. This decrease is especially notable when compared to total operating expenses as a percentage of revenues, which showed nearly an [8,100 basis points] improvement in operating expenses year over year.

2024 年第一季營運費用為 3,090 萬美元，下降 13%，增加 450 萬美元。與總營運支出佔收入的百分比相比，這一下降尤其顯著，這表明營運支出比去年同期改善了近 [8,100 個基點]。

Within this number, compensation expense was down $7.8 million or 34% year over year, and SG&A was down 8% or about $700,000 versus the same period last year. Excluding the impact of the noncash charge related to a change in fair value of the consideration payable of $1.7 million, the actual reduction in overall operating expenses in Q1 would have been $6.2 million or 18% versus the prior year. This is the result of reductions in executive compensation and discipline, cost reductions, and cost avoidance actions achieved through continuous improvement efforts.

其中，薪資費用年減 780 萬美元，或 34%，SG&A 年減 8%，約 70 萬美元。排除與應付對價公允價值變動相關的非現金費用 170 萬美元的影響，第一季整體營運費用實際減少 620 萬美元，比上年減少 18%。這是透過持續改進努力減少高階主管薪酬和紀律、降低成本以及避免成本行動的結果。

Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2024 was a loss of $10.2 million compared to a loss of $17.8 million in the prior-year period. This is an improvement of $7.6 million year over year. Sequentially, Q1 adjusted EBITDA improved $3.8 million compared to Q4 2023 and a significant improvement from just one quarter.

2024 年第一季調整後 EBITDA 虧損 1,020 萬美元，而上年同期虧損 1,780 萬美元。這比去年同期增加了 760 萬美元。隨後，與 2023 年第四季相比，第一季調整後 EBITDA 增加了 380 萬美元，比一個季度有了顯著改善。

Adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended March 31, 2024, excludes the impact of stock-based compensation, acquisition-related costs, estimated loss related to underperforming assets of a subsidiary, and the change in fair value related to a consideration payable.

截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日止三個月的調整後 EBITDA 不包括股票薪酬、收購相關成本、與子公司表現不佳資產相關的估計損失以及與應付對價相關的公允價值變動的影響。

Now, earnings per share for the first quarter of 2024 was a loss of $0.17 per share compared to a loss of $0.53 per share in the prior-your period. As of March 31, 2024, the weighted average shares outstanding was 99.9 million shares. As of March 31, 2023, the weighted average shares outstanding was 56.5 million shares.

現在，2024 年第一季的每股收益為每股虧損 0.17 美元，而上一季每股虧損為 0.53 美元。截至2024年3月31日，加權平均流通股數為9,990萬股。截至2023年3月31日，加權平均流通股數為5,650萬股。

Adjusted earnings per share for the first quarter of 2024 was a loss of $0.13 per share compared to a loss of $0.49 per share in the prior-your period. Non-GAAP adjusted earnings per share is defined as net income, which excludes the amortization of intangible assets, acquisition-related cost, estimated loss related to underperforming assets of the subsidiary, and the change in fair value related to consideration payable divided by the weighted average shares outstanding.

2024 年第一季調整後每股收益為每股虧損 0.13 美元，而上一季每股虧損 0.49 美元。非公認會計準則調整後每股收益定義為淨利潤，不包括無形資產攤銷、收購相關成本、與子公司表現不佳資產相關的估計損失以及與應付對價相關的公允價值變動除以加權平均已發行股數。

Now turning to slide 13, you could see that Q1 2024 reflects significant progress in revenue growth when compared to the same periods in 2023 and 2022. Two years ago, our Q1 revenue was below $10 million. And in Q1 2024, it was about $38 million, a 4 times growth trajectory in just two years.

現在轉向投影片 13，您可以看到，與 2023 年和 2022 年同期相比，2024 年第一季的營收成長取得了重大進展。 2024 年第一季度，這一數字約為 3,800 萬美元，短短兩年內成長了 4 倍。

However, what we believe is equally important about this quarter is that we generated a 36% gross margin and reduced our total operating expenses by over $4.5 million. So in Q1, revenue was up 73%, gross profit was up nearly 200%, and total operating expenses were down 13%.

然而，我們認為本季同樣重要的是，我們實現了 36% 的毛利率，並將總營運費用減少了超過 450 萬美元。第一季度，營收成長了 73%，毛利成長了近 200%，總營運費用下降了 13%。

And if you now turn to page 14, here, we are showing the quarterly growth in our service revenues. Just three years ago, we had less than $350,000 in service quarterly revenues. In Q1 2024, we recorded $8.2 million of service revenues. That is a 24 times increase and a 189% CAGR. The impressive growth is due to scale and synergies we obtained from acquisitions as well as new and innovative ways to deliver our services.

如果您現在翻到第 14 頁，我們將顯示服務收入的季度成長。就在三年前，我們的季度服務收入還不到 35 萬美元。 2024 年第一季度，我們的服務收入為 820 萬美元。即成長了 24 倍，複合年增長率為 189%。令人印象深刻的成長歸功於我們透過收購獲得的規模和協同效應以及提供服務的創新方式。

As with balance sheet, cash and cash equivalents at March 31, 2024, with $93.5 million. We used $21.5 million of cash in operating activities in Q1 2024 that is nearly $3 million less in Q1 -- less than Q1 of last year. As of March 31, 2024, we fully paid off promissory notes and interest of $45.5 million related to the SemaConnect acquisition.

截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日，資產負債表中的現金及現金等價物為 9,350 萬美元。 2024 年第一季度，我們在經營活動中使用了 2,150 萬美元現金，比去年第一季減少了近 300 萬美元。截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日，我們已全額償還與 SemaConnect 收購相關的 4,550 萬美元本票和利息。

And subsequent to the end of the first quarter, Blink paid off $7 million of notes payable associated with the ongoing acquisition. Currently, we have no cash debt obligations on the balance sheet.

第一季末後，Blink 還清了與正在進行的收購相關的 700 萬美元應付票據。目前，我們的資產負債表上沒有現金債務。

In summary, we had a record Q1 for both revenue, gross margin, and adjusted EBITDA, showing significant improvements. This is a result of meticulous planning and decisive actions that started two years ago. And we will continue to structurally adjust Blink as we move forward.

總而言之，我們第一季的營收、毛利率和調整後 EBITDA 均創歷史新高，顯示出顯著改善。這是兩年前開始的精心策劃和果斷行動的結果。隨著我們的前進，我們將繼續對 Blink 進行結構調整。

This concludes our prepared remarks. I'll turn the call back over to Brendan. Brendan?

我們準備好的演講到此結束。我會把電話轉回給布倫丹。布倫丹？

Thanks, Michael. So now let's wrap this up. Obviously, you can all tell we are very pleased with our team's performance in Q1 of 2024. As you can see from the numbers Michael just reviewed, Blink continues its positive momentum in the marketplace.

謝謝，麥可。現在讓我們總結一下。顯然，大家都可以看出，我們對我們團隊在 2024 年第一季的表現非常滿意。

We showed again that we can deliver. We delivered 73% growth in revenues and 36% gross margin while improving adjusted EBITDA by $7.6 million. At the same time, we reduced our operating expense by 13%, which is a reduction of $4.5 million.

我們再次證明我們可以交付。我們的營收成長了 73%，毛利率成長了 36%，同時調整後的 EBITDA 提高了 760 萬美元。同時，我們的營運費用減少了 13%，即減少了 450 萬美元。

Additionally, Blink now has zero cash debt. We paid off all of our debt obligations. Our number-one priority right now is to continue to structurally adjust the company for future opportunities as well as changes in the market conditions.

此外，Blink 現在的現金債務為零。我們還清了所有債務。我們目前的首要任務是繼續對公司進行結構調整，以適應未來的機會和市場條件的變化。

Blink's synergy, cost cutting, and cost avoidance activities will continue throughout 2024. Our goal is profitability and cash generation that will ensure that Blink can grow sustainably into the future. We fundamentally believe that this is achievable, especially with our culture of continuous improvement that is already showing positive results.

Blink 的協同效應、成本削減和成本規避活動將持續到 2024 年。我們從根本上相信這是可以實現的，特別是我們的持續改進文化已經顯示出積極的成果。

Again, very proud of our team and the effort this past quarter but we are even more excited about the future of Blink. We remain committed to making Blink more flexible, adaptable, and most importantly for this industry, financially sustainable as we continue to charge towards profitability.

再次，我們對我們的團隊和上個季度的努力感到非常自豪，但我們對 Blink 的未來更加興奮。我們仍然致力於使 Blink 更加靈活、適應性強，最重要的是，隨著我們繼續追求盈利，該行業在財務上可持續。

Now that concludes our formal remarks. I think we're ready to turn it over for some questions. Thanks.

現在我們的正式發言結束了。我想我們已經準備好將其移交給一些問題了。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Chris Pierce, Needham & Company.

克里斯皮爾斯，李約瑟公司。

Hey, good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for taking the questions. On the April softness, was this -- I'm assuming this is before the Tesla news. I think calendar-wise, that lined up. But I'm just curious because the Tesla news, we're hearing a lot about the superchargers and Level 3 charges that you have out there, but they had been moving down into the Level 2 space and had won some hospitality deals with Hilton, and I believe, Best Western.

嘿，大家下午好，感謝您提出問題。關於四月份的疲軟，是這樣的——我假設這是在特斯拉新聞發布之前。我認為從日曆角度來看，這是一致的。但我只是好奇，因為特斯拉的新聞，我們聽到了很多關於超級充電站和 3 級充電的信息，但他們已經進入了 2 級充電領域，並贏得了希爾頓的一些招待協議，我相信，最佳西方飯店。

So I guess do those -- are you optimistic about those deals being reopened and that's kind of creating a revenue opportunity for you guys? I'm just kind of want to get a sense of --.

所以我想，你對這些交易的重新開放持樂觀態度嗎？我只是想了解一下——。

Yes. Sure. We can't get into specifics. But yes, I think the thing we can say factually is we've received quite a bit of inbound inquiries already when the news came out. And we put ourselves in a position that we're poised to take advantage of them when they actually materialize into an offer order or an order. So yes, it has created some momentum for us. And we have the products and services and charges to take advantage of that and we intend to do so.

是的。當然。我們無法透露具體細節。但是，是的，我認為我們實際上可以說的是，當消息傳出時，我們已經收到了相當多的入站詢問。我們將自己置於這樣一個位置：當它們實際落實到要約訂單或訂單中時，我們就準備好利用它們。所以，是的，它為我們創造了一些動力。我們有產品、服務和收費來利用這一點，我們打算這樣做。

Is that Level 2 momentum or just broad-based across Level 2 and Level 3?

這是 2 級勢頭還是只是在 2 級和 3 級具有廣泛基礎？

So Linda, we've actually we've actually received inquiries on both .

琳達，我們實際上已經收到了有關這兩個方面的詢問。

Okay. Okay. And then just on the cash burn versus the cash balance and exiting this year positive adjusted EBITDA, I don't want to specifically ask about '25, but just kind of -- it looks like there may be some tightness getting -- going into the end of the year based on Q1 cash losses. How should we think about the remainder of the year in kind of potential financing needs as you see it?

好的。好的。然後，就現金消耗與現金餘額以及今年退出正調整 EBITDA 而言，我不想具體詢問 25 年的情況，但只是 - 看起來可能會出現一些緊張 - 進入年底基於第一季度現金損失。您認為我們應該如何看待今年剩餘時間的潛在融資需求？

Yes. So as we've stated, we have enough cash on the books to get to EBITDA positive. We're not going to make any statements just yet in terms of free cash flow for 2025. Although we've said previously, that is the goal. So it's that balance to win, that that goal is achievable.

是的。正如我們所說，我們帳上有足夠的現金來實現 EBITDA 為正值。我們目前還不打算就 2025 年的自由現金流發表任何聲明。因此，只有這種平衡才能獲勝，才能實現該目標。

We are investigating opportunities that we may have as we move into 2025. But as we said and said before, we will not be engaging in any equity raises or dilution-like activities throughout this year. But we'll have more to come on that topic as we get into most likely, Q3 and Q4 this year.

我們正在調查進入 2025 年時可能擁有的機會。但當我們很可能進入今年第三季和第四季時，我們將有更多關於這個主題的內容。

Michael Rama, any additional follow-up questions on that?

Michael Rama，對此還有其他後續問題嗎？

No for me.

對我來說不。

All right.

好的。

Okay, thank you.

好的謝謝。

Craig Irwin, ROTH MKM.

克雷格歐文，羅斯 MKM。

Hey, good afternoon. Congratulations on the really strong revenue quarter. So, Brendan, you guys are crushing it on the gross margin side, right? You're well above the guide for 33%, coming in almost 36% this quarter. Can you maybe talk a little bit about where the strength is coming from?

嘿，下午好。恭喜本季的營收非常強勁。所以，布倫丹，你們在毛利率方面正在壓垮它，對嗎？您遠高於指南 33%，本季接近 36%。能談談力量從何而來嗎？

And you maintained your guide for this year. So should we think about potential expenses or inefficiencies just for gross margins as (inaudible) does start to ramp? Or are there other business mix items that you may be factoring in the guidance that has you give a number that's consistent with what you guided before, but lower than recent acquisition?

您保留了今年的指南。那麼，當（聽不清楚）開始上升時，我們是否應該只考慮毛利率的潛在費用或低效率？或者，您可能會在指導中考慮其他業務組合項目，使您給出的數字與先前指導的一致，但低於最近的收購？

There is always continuing to work ourselves out of some legacy product and we've been doing a fairly efficient job of that. There's still a little bit to go, but it's nothing -- it's not a game changer and we took some of that this quarter as well.

我們總是會繼續努力擺脫一些遺留產品，而且我們在這方面做得相當有效。還有一些工作要做，但這沒什麼——它不會改變遊戲規則，我們在本季也取得了一些成果。

So it really is two things that add up to this equation. It's continuing to push hard on vertical integration and take cost out of the equation. And that's both in the US production side and on the parts manufacturing and some assembly side in India. Then also it's pushing for an increase in Europe of more efficiencies and cost savings on the owner-operator model where that revenue that we're generating off of chargers we own and operate continues to be a class-leading margin.

所以這個等式其實是由兩件事相加而成的。它繼續大力推動垂直整合並消除成本。這既發生在美國的生產方面，也發生在印度的零件製造和一些組裝方面。此外，它還在歐洲推動業主營運商模式提高效率並節省成本，在這種模式下，我們透過擁有和經營的充電器產生的收入繼續保持領先的利潤率。

And that also has a big positive effect, not only that revenue is growing considerably month over month, quarter over quarter, year over year, but also it's becoming more profitable. When you compare us to other in the marketplaces in terms of margin on owner operator, we're the gold standard. We set the bar for everybody else there. We're well above EVgo and others in terms of margin on the owner-operator side of the equation.

這也產生了巨大的正面影響，不僅收入逐月、逐季、逐年大幅成長，而且利潤也變得更高。當您將我們與市場上其他公司的所有者經營者利潤進行比較時，我們就是黃金標準。我們為那裡的其他人設定了標準。就業主經營者方面的利潤而言，我們遠高於 EVgo 和其他公司。

So you wrap those two up together. If you take a look at the networking fees that we get and those are scalable from L2 to DC fast charger and then added software that we're going to be coming out in the market with around energy management and other services that we need in the marketplace to grow. And it continues to add to that margin.

所以你把這兩個包裹在一起。如果你看一下我們獲得的網路費用，這些費用可以從 L2 擴展到直流快速充電器，然後添加我們將在市場上推出的軟體，圍繞著能源管理和我們需要的其他服務市場成長。而且它還在繼續增加這利潤。

And that's why we really believe the flexible business model, combined with operating in Europe and the United States and doing both the sales of hardware and services and networking services and the owner-operator model is really making us flexible and adaptable as the market changes.

這就是為什麼我們堅信靈活的商業模式，結合在歐洲和美國的運營，同時進行硬體和服務、網路服務的銷售以及業主運營商模式，確實使我們能夠靈活地適應市場的變化。

Excellent. Thank you so much for that. My second question is about the progress towards positive EBITDA at the end of the year. So if we're thinking -- it's not really a positive EBITDA quarter but positive EBITDA months, so that your breakeven, you need a fairly substantial move on either lower cost or higher margins, if we assume that you execute at the high end of your guidance for revenue.

出色的。對此感激不盡。我的第二個問題是關於年底實現正 EBITDA 的進展。因此，如果我們在想，這並不是真正的正 EBITDA 季度，而是正 EBITDA 月份，因此，如果我們假設您在您的收入指引。

So can you maybe help us understand how we balance, lower SG&A costs and salaries and comp as you consolidate these five facilities down to one and reposition the business? I guess there's probably outside expenses, too, that you're eliminating. Can you maybe just help us frame this out.

那麼，當您將這五個設施整合為一個並重新定位業務時，您能否幫助我們了解如何平衡、降低 SG&A 成本以及薪資和薪酬？我想您可能還要消除一些外部費用。你能幫我們解決這個問題嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Because consensus has a long way from break-even EBITDA, right?

因為達成共識距離 EBITDA 損益平衡還有很長的路要走，對嗎？

So where I can, there's certain activities we can't disclose yet because of the sensitivity of them, as you probably are aware. But we've announced that we are going to -- we'll have the spin-off completed this year of Blink Mobility, and that includes the BlueLA car service. So that has been -- remove a large chunk of it in that simple action.

因此，正如您可能知道的那樣，由於某些活動的敏感性，我們目前還無法透露這些活動。但我們已經宣布，我們將在今年完成 Blink Mobility 的分拆，其中包括 BlueLA 汽車服務。所以這就是——透過這個簡單的操作刪除其中的一大塊。

And then also we are engaged in cost reduction activities across a multiplicity of the businesses. That will be revealed more as we move into Q2 and indeed in Q3. And those include expense reductions. There is some structurally adjusting certain businesses and reorganizations that will result in savings on headcount, et cetera, in there. And there's also the closing of nonperforming assets.

此外，我們也在多個業務領域開展了降低成本的活動。當我們進入第二季甚至第三季時，這一點將會得到更多揭示。其中包括費用削減。對某些業務和重組進行一些結構性調整，將導致員工人數等方面的節省。還有不良資產的關閉。

We'll have an announcement shortly on one nonperforming asset that we're eliminating; we've successfully sold. It is below the line right now, but there's a significant net savings in terms of cash outlay on a monthly quarterly and yearly basis that will net. And we have at least one or two of those more to go.

我們很快就會發布關於我們正在消除的一項不良資產的公告；我們已經成功出售了。目前它低於該線，但就每月、每季和每年的現金支出而言，將會產生顯著的淨節省。我們至少還需要完成其中一兩個任務。

So when you add it all up, our team that monitors that and they have all these different slots and levers where they come in, we see ourselves right now at the current market rate and at the current revenue streams that are coming in. We see ourselves achieving the goal based on the cuts that we have planned, the spin off, et cetera.

因此，當你把這一切加起來時，我們的團隊負責監控，他們擁有所有這些不同的插槽和槓桿，我們現在看到自己處於當前的市場價格和當前的收入流中。我們計劃的削減、分拆等來實現目標。

And so we still feel confident about that. Mr. Rama or Mr. Battaglia, any additional comments for Craig? Since it is a real good question that we expected.

所以我們對此仍然充滿信心。 Rama 先生或 Battaglia 先生，還有什麼想對 Craig 說的話嗎？因為這是我們所期望的一個真正的好問題。

No, my only additional comment would be, Craig, that -- and this is Michael Battaglia. That we continue to be focused on expense reduction across the business. The EBITDA positive goal is a number-one goal at Blink. And as long as the market cooperates with us on the top line, we have the plan in place to achieve.

不，我唯一的補充意見是，克雷格，這是邁克爾·巴塔利亞。我們繼續專注於整個業務的費用削減。 EBITDA 正向目標是 Blink 的首要目標。只要市場在營收上與我們合作，我們就有實現的計畫。

Excellent. I really appreciate that answer. So just as a follow-up, it sounds like Blink Mobility is probably the biggest factor and the spin-off there. Can you maybe share with us what their expense burden was in '23? Or what's a good sort of rough number for us to be thinking in '24 as we look at that? Maybe not the forward-looking number, but the historical numbers, probably the easier one to give.

出色的。我真的很感激這個答案。因此，作為後續行動，聽起來 Blink Mobility 可能是最大的因素，也是其中的副產品。您能否與我們分享他們 23 年的費用負擔是多少？或者說，當我們考慮這個問題時，我們在 24 年思考的一個粗略數字是多少？也許不是前瞻性數字，而是歷史數據，可能更容易給出。

Michael?

麥可？

Yes, I'll jump in that one. Historically, between the combination of Envoy as well as BlueLA was burning about $4 million bottom-line EBITDA. So there's a good chunk that we're looking at that's going to be -- once that gets solved -- resolved in Alaska, that will be a positive factor that EBITDA goal.

是的，我會跳進去。從歷史上看，Envoy 和 BlueLA 的合併消耗了約 400 萬美元的 EBITDA。因此，我們正在考慮的一個重要問題是——一旦問題得到解決——在阿拉斯加得到解決，這將成為實現 EBITDA 目標的積極因素。

And as we've mentioned, it's really looking at these nonperforming assets and really being able to position ourselves to really benefit to the strengths of what we do best. And that's the EV charging infrastructure.

正如我們所提到的，它確實關注這些不良資產，並真正能夠使自己真正受益於我們最擅長的領域的優勢。這就是電動車充電基礎設施。

Great. And then last question, if I could squeeze another one in is the Post Office. You guys did a great job winning that contract. It looks like from the two other vendors -- well, one, they both outsource. I guess it depends on how you look at it. But it doesn't look like either one of them has Buy in America compliant product. And I think the Post Office is talking about 14,000 chargers this year.

偉大的。最後一個問題，如果我可以再擠進去一個，那就是郵局。你們在贏得這份合約方面做得很好。看起來像是來自另外兩家供應商——嗯，其一，他們都是外包的。我想這取決於你如何看待它。但看起來他們都沒有符合「在美國購買」標準的產品。我認為郵局今年正在談論 14,000 個充電器。

How ready are you to serve demand from the Post Office? You know, do you believe it's accurate that the others do not have Buy in America compliant product to offer the Post Office at this time? Is there anything else we should probably look at to try to understand the potential in there?

您準備好滿足郵局的需求了嗎？您知道嗎，您認為其他人目前沒有向郵局提供符合「在美國購買」標準的產品的說法是否準確？我們是否應該考慮其他任何事情來嘗試了解其中的潛力？

So I'll say this, we can't comment on the other manufacturers and where they stand, right? We can say that we are in good standing in our relationship with the Post Office. We're in contact with them and they are in contact with us about what the future looks like for 2024. We have a lot of confidence in the communications that they're delivering to us and what we need to do to fulfill the orders that will come in in 2024. The details of it, we haven't got permission from the Post Office to release yet. So we have to kind of lay a little bit low on that.

所以我想說的是，我們不能評論其他製造商及其立場，對嗎？可以說，我們與郵局的關係良好。我們正在與他們聯繫，他們也正在與我們聯繫，討論 2024 年的未來。沒有得到郵局的許可，無法發布。所以我們必須對此保持低調。

Mike Battaglia, any additional insight on that other than what I just said?

Mike Battaglia，除了我剛才說的之外，還有什麼其他見解嗎？

Yes. The only thing I would add is, Craig, you asked about production capacity. And to answer your question directly, yes, we have the production capacity to fulfill what they're looking.

是的。我唯一要補充的是，克雷格，你問的是生產能力。直接回答你的問題，是的，我們有生產能力來滿足他們的需求。

Perfect. Thank you, gentlemen, and congrats on another really solid quarter. Impressive.

完美的。謝謝先生們，並祝賀又一個非常穩定的季度。感人的。

Stephen Gengaro, Stifel.

史蒂芬·根加羅，斯蒂菲爾。

Thanks. Good afternoon, everybody.

謝謝。大家下午好。

Hey, Stephen.

嘿，史蒂芬。

So a couple of things for me. The first is when we think about the different pieces of revenue, right, and I'm going to think of product sales, but then within the charging service revenue, how should we think about the relative growth of those pieces as we go forward? And I'm talking about multiple quarters or even the next couple of years. Like should we think about products outgrowing that piece? Or do you think you'll start to see the charging service revenue because of EV density picking up start to kind of accelerate?

對我來說有幾件事。首先是當我們考慮不同的收入部分時，對吧，我會考慮產品銷售，但在充電服務收入中，我們應該如何考慮這些部分的相對增長？我說的是多個季度甚至未來幾年。例如我們是否應該考慮產品的發展是否超出了這一步驟？或者您認為由於電動車密度的增加而開始加速充電服務收入？

Well, I'll take a shot at it, and then I'll ask the rest of the team try and answer as well, Stephen. But certainly what we've seen on the trend analysis, and this, I'm going to focus on service revenue first, is that utilization in Europe continues to increase significantly, month over month, quarter over quarter, and year over year. And we continue in Europe to win awards to install more chargers under that model. So we're going to see that revenue continue to grow, especially as we max out utilization of certain stations and have to add more.

好吧，我會嘗試一下，然後我會要求團隊的其他成員也嘗試回答，史蒂芬。但我們在趨勢分析中看到的情況是，我將首先關注服務收入，歐洲的利用率逐月、逐季、逐年持續顯著增加。我們繼續在歐洲贏得獎項，在該型號下安裝更多充電器。因此，我們將看到收入繼續增長，特別是當我們最大限度地利用某些電台並必須增加更多電台時。

However, when we go back to the data and looking at the US alone and looking at who's in the space today with full service solutions, who is one-stop and can provide network installation, chargers, and a flexible model to do that. And that's on the product side. And we're one of the most well-positioned ones, plus the vertical integration that we have allows us to do that in high margins.

然而，當我們回到數據並單獨看看美國，看看今天誰在這個領域擁有全套服務解決方案，誰是一站式的，可以提供網路安裝、充電器和靈活的模型來做到這一點。這是在產品方面。我們是定位最有利的公司之一，加上我們擁有的垂直整合使我們能夠以高利潤做到這一點。

So we do see product continuing to be delivered a lot of revenue and we see growth there. But we think the growth is going to be higher on the owner-operator model than it will be on the product model over time. The difficult part is when does that inflection point come? And, you know, we haven't -- while we've done some internal analysis on that, we have nothing substantial enough to report out as here's when the inflection point will be and one is going to eclipse the other.

因此，我們確實看到產品繼續帶來大量收入，並且我們看到了成長。但我們認為，隨著時間的推移，業主營運商模式的成長將高於產品模式。困難的是這個拐點什麼時候會到來？而且，你知道，我們還沒有——雖然我們對此做了一些內部分析，但我們沒有足夠的實質報告來報告，因為拐點將在此時出現，一個將超越另一個。

Michael and Michael, any --?

邁克爾和邁克爾，有人嗎——？

This is Mike Rama. I would just add that we've seen in just in Q1 itself this year is, I think, a little bit of a shift towards a little bit our mix on hardware for product sales to service. We're running about 70% now where we had used to be 75% to 80% on the product side and now service is closer to 30%. So we're starting to see an increase in that service side of that as a percentage of our overall revenue uptrend.

這是麥克·拉瑪。我想補充一點，我認為，我們在今年第一季看到，我們在產品銷售和服務的硬體組合方面發生了一些轉變。我們現在的運作率約為 70%，而以前我們在產品方面的運作率為 75% 至 80%，而現在服務方面的運作率接近 30%。因此，我們開始看到服務方面占我們整體收入上升趨勢的百分比增加。

Okay. That's helpful. And then one other question, and this is probably a sort of three-year view plus. I mean, should we think about the growth in your business kind of just paralleling EV sales growth? I mean, is that a reasonable way to think about the North America business? Or do you think there are parts that are either outpaced or underperform at that level?

好的。這很有幫助。然後是另一個問題，這可能是三年的觀點。我的意思是，我們是否應該考慮您的業務成長與電動車銷售成長並行？我的意思是，這是思考北美業務的合理方式嗎？或者您認為在該水平上是否有某些部分錶現落後或表現不佳？

Yes, I think it's a reasonable assumption to say that some but not all of the growth will go in parallel to EV sales. But as you -- we also know that whereas we're moving more into energy services and SaaS options, such as load management, building management, load curtailment, integration into micro grids, et cetera, those additional services will provide standalone revenue as part of the overall package of network services.

是的，我認為這是一個合理的假設，即部分但不是全部增長將與電動車銷售並行。但正如您一樣，我們也知道，雖然我們正在更多地轉向能源服務和 SaaS 選項，例如負載管理、建築管理、負載削減、整合到微電網等，但這些附加服務將作為一部分提供獨立收入網路服務的整體包。

So the SaaS end of the business is going to continue to grow. And we can only say what we're working on right now, what I just outlined. But we expect that new things in the future may come in to energy management. Internally, we have a whole task force and strategy group that's focused on energy managed as a standalone item. And we believe that we'll see more out of that particular channel in the future.

因此，SaaS 端業務將持續成長。我們只能說我們現在正在做的事情，也就是我剛才概述的事情。但我們預期未來的新事物可能會進入能源管理領域。在內部，我們有一個完整的工作小組和策略小組，專注於作為獨立專案進行能源管理。我們相信，未來我們會從這個特定管道中看到更多。

And then there's going to be other SaaS things since we manage our own network and we deliver other software services. And it's our development center in the US, Europe, and in India. The SaaS applications will continue to grow.

然後還會有其他 SaaS 事物，因為我們管理自己的網路並提供其他軟體服務。這是我們在美國、歐洲和印度的開發中心。 SaaS 應用程式將繼續成長。

So Michael Battaglia, any other comment on that?

Michael Battaglia，對此還有其他評論嗎？

No, I would just add that one of the beautiful things about Blink is that we approach the market where the market is and where the customer is and what the customer wants. And we keep going back to this, but our business models enable us to do that.

不，我只想補充一點，Blink 的美妙之處之一是，我們在市場所在、客戶所在以及客戶想要什麼的地方接近市場。我們不斷回到這一點，但我們的商業模式使我們能夠做到這一點。

So when we think about the mix between product sales versus owner operator, things like that, that's largely going to follow the market opportunities. That said, the focus of the organization is on repeatable, high-margin recurring revenue. So that, as we know, is more directed towards things like, of course, the services, things like a Blink-owned owner-operator chargers out in the field. So our focus always is that. But we will continue to deliver to the market what the market's asking of us.

因此，當我們考慮產品銷售與業主經營者之間的組合時，諸如此類的事情，很大程度上將遵循市場機會。也就是說，組織的重點是可重複的、高利潤的經常性收入。因此，正如我們所知，更多的是針對諸如服務之類的事情，例如 Blink 擁有的業主運營商在現場的充電器。所以我們的重點始終是這個。但我們將繼續向市場提供市場對我們的要求。

Great. No, that's good color, gentlemen. Thank you.

偉大的。不，先生們，這個顏色很好。謝謝。

Sameer Joshi, H.C. Wainwright.

薩米爾‧喬希 (Sameer Joshi)，H.C.溫賴特。

Great. Thanks. Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. Just if you could give us a little bit more insight into your developments on the energy management solutions. I know you referenced that to the previous question, but should we expect these to be standalone or grid adjacent applications or charging adjacent applications?

偉大的。謝謝。大家下午好。感謝您回答我的問題。如果您能讓我們更深入了解您在能源管理解決方案方面的發展就好了。我知道您在上一個問題中提到過這一點，但我們是否應該期望這些是獨立的或網格相鄰的應用程式或對相鄰的應用程式充電？

Yes. So I'll end that answer, Sameer, first at about 30,000-foot view and Mike might give you some more color commentary. So it's a two stage -- it's a two-faceted approach. The European Energy Management service and US Energy Management service, primarily as we're looking at it. The needs in Europe are actually significantly different at this point in time and the needs in the US.

是的。所以我將結束這個答案，薩米爾，首先在大約 30,000 英尺的視野中，麥克可能會給你一些更多的彩色評論。所以這是一個兩個階段——這是一個兩方面的方法。我們主要關注的是歐洲能源管理服務和美國能源管理服務。目前歐洲的需求實際上與美國的需求有很大不同。

So the team is already developing these features and benefits. I'm not going to give you a release date yet because that would be premature. But we already have some of them in place today. And on top of that, we're adding to fleet management services. So they'll be standalone in terms of you have to have the network to activate them in most cases. But they will fit into either model that we do. You can do them on the owner operator, the hybrid model or the sales model, and one will benefit Blink and the other will benefit the customer.

因此，團隊已經在開發這些功能和優勢。我不會告訴你發布日期，因為那還為時過早。但今天我們已經準備好了其中一些。最重要的是，我們正在增加車隊管理服務。因此，在大多數情況下，您必須擁有網路才能啟動它們，因此它們將是獨立的。但它們將適合我們所做的任何一種模型。你可以在業主經營者、混合模式或銷售模式上進行，一種使 Blink 受益，另一種使客戶受益。

So their application, it has to be with the network. So it wouldn't be standalone as a piece of software that you can buy right now. At first, it's going to help to service the network and generate business. Because what we're seeing in the RFPs that are coming out, you have to have these in order to win the business. And that business that we're seeing is part of a full service RFP for full service for the charters, for the network, for the installation for the energy management all wrapped into one.

所以他們的應用，就必須要藉助網路。因此，它不會作為您現在可以購買的獨立軟體。首先，它將幫助服務網絡並產生業務。因為我們在即將發布的 RFP 中看到的內容是，您必須擁有這些才能贏得業務。我們看到的這項業務是全方位服務 RFP 的一部分，該 RFP 為包機、網路、能源管理安裝提供全方位服務，所有服務都包含在其中。

Mike, any additional on that?

麥克，還有什麼補充嗎？

No, Brendan. You covered it nicely.

不，布倫丹。你把它遮蓋得很好。

All right. Thanks. Occasionally, the CEO is smart, occasionally. (laughter)

好的。謝謝。有時，首席執行官很聰明。 （笑聲）

Just another question, and this was also referenced earlier, but it seems the product margins of nearly 40% this quarter. Therefore, is there further room to improve these margins going forward? And is that sort of a part of your getting to a positive adjusted EBITDA by the end of this year?

另一個問題，也是前面提到的，但似乎本季的產品利潤率接近 40%。因此，未來這些利潤率還有進一步提升的空間嗎？這是否是您在今年年底前實現正調整 EBITDA 的一部分？

Well, I certainly hope we can improve them. I don't want to commit to anything just yet. As you know, we continue to be conservative, so we can meet expectations properly as a company.

嗯，我當然希望我們能夠改進它們。我現在還不想承諾任何事。如您所知，我們仍然保持保守態度，因此作為一家公司，我們可以適當地滿足期望。

Yes, we do have some. We're not seeing a lot of commoditization in the commercial space as of yet, and we are seeing an uptick and the need for quality product. But we also have to balance that again to the needs for DC fast chargers, which ebb and flow a little bit more. And when you have higher orders on the DC side, you do reduce some of your margin.

是的，我們確實有一些。到目前為止，我們在商業領域還沒有看到太多的商品化，但我們看到了商品化的成長和對優質產品的需求。但我們也必須再次平衡直流快速充電器的需求，因為直流快速充電器的潮起潮落要多一些。當你在 DC 方面有更高的訂單時，你確實會減少一些利潤。

Now we've already succeeded in some margin protection activities. The first was bringing on our DC9 charger, which we produce ourselves and we have a higher margin on that. But we're working on our own DC fast charger, but we'll have that made by a third-party manufacturer.

現在我們已經成功地進行了一些保證金保護活動。第一個是推出我們自己生產的 DC9 充電器，我們在這方面有更高的利潤。但我們正在開發自己的直流快速充電器，但我們將由第三方製造商製造。

So if the balance is primarily L2 and those are the commercial chargers that we're very adept at building, yes, you'll see improvement. But on the whole, we have to be a little conservative. While will move to 80% vertical integration when we convert European L2s over to Blink manufactured, we'll still have a lot of high revenue DC fast chargers moving out, and those won't be at those high margins that we have the L2.

因此，如果平衡主要是 L2 並且這些是我們非常擅長構建的商業充電器，是的，您會看到改進。但總的來說，我們還是要保守一點。雖然當我們將歐洲 L2 轉為 Blink 製造時，垂直整合度將達到 80%，但我們仍然會有大量高收入直流快速充電器被淘汰，而且這些充電器的利潤率不會像 L2 那麼高。

Michael, I might have convoluted that a little bit. Any color or commentary or clarification on that?

邁克爾，我可能有點複雜了。對此有任何顏色或評論或澄清嗎？

Well, I can kind of jump in there. I actually have just a couple of quick comments on that. So one is we have a couple of different levers that we can pull in terms of margin expansion. One of them is SKU consolidation, which we're working on. So simple (inaudible) in order to sell more of a fewer SKUs for economies of scale, purchasing power, things like that.

好吧，我可以跳進去。實際上我對此只有幾個簡短的評論。因此，我們有幾個不同的槓桿可以用來擴大利潤率。其中之一是我們正在努力的 SKU 整合。如此簡單（聽不清楚），就是為了規模經濟、購買力等，銷售更多或更少的 SKU。

The second is it is while we have our manufacturing facility in Bowie, Maryland, that's providing Buy America compliant chargers, we also have the ability to produce finished goods in India and that is -- it represents another lever we haven't pulled yet for margin expansion of our L2 product line. So there are a couple of different things that we can do to continue to work on that. I think as Brendan indicated, we're holding to our guidance. We had a good Q1, and so we'll see where that takes us.

第二個是，雖然我們在馬裡蘭州鮑伊擁有製造工廠，提供符合「購買美國」標準的充電器，但我們也有能力在印度生產成品，也就是說，它代表了我們尚未拉動的另一個槓桿我們的L2 產品線的利潤擴張。因此，我們可以採取一些不同的措施來繼續努力。我認為正如布倫丹所指出的，我們堅持我們的指導。我們第一季表現不錯，所以我們會看看這會帶我們走向何方。

Understood. Thanks for that. And then one last one on costs. Will you remind us what constitutes other OpEx, operating expenses? I think they were slightly elevated this quarter. How should we look at it if we are projecting it for the rest of the year?

明白了。感謝那。最後一項是關於成本的。您能提醒我們什麼是其他 OpEx、營運費用嗎？我認為本季略有上升。如果我們預測今年剩餘時間的情況，我們該如何看待它？

Yes, I'll jump in on that. We had over $2 million. We had $1.7 million that ran through operating expenses for adjustment, and I'll call it an accounting adjustment towards a fair value of bringing up the continued or the consideration payable to Envoy that's in stock so that we had increased that liability. So that's another $1.7 million. We pulled that out of from an adjusted EBITDA standpoint because it's really not an operating. It could gap adjustment if you will.

是的，我會加入進來。我們有超過 200 萬美元。我們有 170 萬美元用於調整營運費用，我稱之為會計調整，以提高庫存中持續支付給特使的對價的公允價值，以便我們增加負債。那麼這又是 170 萬美元。我們從調整後的 EBITDA 角度將其剔除，因為它實際上不是一項營運。如果願意的話，可以調整間隙。

And so then we also had another $0.5 million that we had to take a charge on underperforming assets to a subsidiary. So that in conjunction is by $2.2 million just in the quarter, that's nonrecurring.

因此，我們還有另外 50 萬美元，我們必須將表現不佳的資產轉嫁給子公司。因此，光是本季就增加了 220 萬美元，這是非經常性的。

And the $6.4 million in other operating expenses, slightly elevated related to like $3 million to $4 million in the previous quarter?

640 萬美元的其他營運支出與上一季的 300 萬至 400 萬美元相比略有增加？

Yes, it could be timing on some activities and stuff like that. So we had a little bit more probably in the T&E that we may have -- and some trade shows that you had that were at in the first quarter and some of that. But the meaningful item is the items that I just alluded to.

是的，可能是某些活動之類的時間安排。因此，我們在 T&E 方面可能有更多的機會，以及第一季舉辦的一些貿易展覽等。但有意義的項目是我剛才提到的項目。

Great. Great. Got it. Thanks a lot and congratulations on a great quarter.

偉大的。偉大的。知道了。非常感謝並祝賀您度過了一個美好的季度。

Thanks, Sameer.

謝謝，薩米爾。

Noel Parks, Tuohy Brothers.

諾埃爾·帕克斯、圖伊兄弟。

I just had a couple. I wanted to just touch back on maybe a little bit of what's happening in sort of the grants function. And I just wondered if you had any updates you could share around NEVI funding and just maybe where that's showing up in your business? What sort of visibility you might have there?

我剛喝了幾個。我想回顧一下贈款職能中正在發生的一些事情。我只是想知道您是否有任何有關 NEVI 融資的最新情況可以分享，以及這可能出現在您的業務中？您在那裡可能有什麼樣的能見度？

Yes, we've won a couple of NEVI sites already, but there's a key thing as a covering statement that we should use. All of our forecasting and data analysis right now that we're looking at is devoid of winning grants in the future. We believe that to become a sustainable company, we can't rely on government funding because it may or may not be there. And there may be less opportunities or more opportunities depending on how we fit into particularly programs and RFPs that the states or the federal government put out there.

是的，我們已經贏得了幾個 NEVI 站點，但我們應該使用一個關鍵的內容作為覆蓋聲明。我們目前正在考慮的所有預測和數據分析都缺乏未來贏得資助的機會。我們相信，要成為一家永續發展的公司，我們不能依賴政府資金，因為政府資金可能有也可能沒有。機會可能會減少或增加，這取決於我們如何適應州或聯邦政府提出的特定計劃和 RFP。

So with that said, we do look for NEVI opportunities that really fit blank. And what I mean by that is we will not be a plant-a-flag company. What that means is we win an award, we put a station there, but just because we won the award. If the site doesn't have positive station economics and we don't have a positive return for our shareholder in a set amount of time, we will pass on the NEVI opportunity regardless of the state and the amount of funding provided.

話雖如此，我們確實在尋找真正適合空白的 NEVI 機會。我的意思是我們不會成為一家自吹自擂的公司。這意味著我們贏得了獎項，我們在那裡設立了一個電台，但只是因為我們贏得了獎項。如果該站點沒有積極的車站經濟效益，並且我們在規定的時間內沒有為股東帶來積極的回報，那麼無論州政府和提供的資金數額如何，我們都會放棄 NEVI 機會。

The ones that we have won and there's only a few of them that we've won, they already passed that litmus test, meaning that we're going to get a return on that investment. And we can show positive growth in revenue over a period of time to our stakeholders.

我們贏得的項目（我們贏得的只有少數）已經通過了試金石，這意味著我們將從投資中獲得回報。我們可以向利害關係人展示一段時間內收入的正增長。

Now we do participate and we're already heavily involved in the second part of -- it's not the NEVI, but $7.5 million. And there's another $2.5 million set aside for other projects and we're already feeling engaged.

現在我們確實參與了，而且我們已經深入參與了第二部分——這不是 NEVI，而是 750 萬美元。另外還預留了 250 萬美元用於其他項目，我們已經感到投入其中。

Thanks, Mike. And Mike, you know, actually, you're better to answer the CFI part, so you want to follow up there?

謝謝，麥克。麥克，你知道，實際上，你最好回答 CFI 部分，所以你想跟進嗎？

Yes. Yes, no problem. So as Brendan indicated, there's two pieces to NEVI. There's the DC fast charging side and then there's this other $2.5 billion for what's called CFI. And the CFI money is thought to be geared towards Level 2 community charging.

是的。是沒有問題。正如 Brendan 所指出的，NEVI 有兩個部分。有直流快速充電方面，還有另外 25 億美元用於所謂的 CFI。 CFI 的資金被認為是用於 2 級社區收費。

That money is not just -- it's not allocated in the same way that the DC money is. So what happens is local municipalities, states, et cetera, they apply for these funds. They have a project or projects in mind and then they get approval, they get funding. And then what they will do is RFP out to companies like Blink to win those projects.

這筆錢不僅僅是——它的分配方式與 DC 的錢不同。因此，地方市政當局、州政府等都會申請這些資金。他們心裡有一個或多個項目，然後獲得批准，獲得資金。然後他們要做的就是向 Blink 這樣的公司發出 RFP，以贏得這些專案。

So those are starting now and our real focus as a heavily focused L2 company is the pursuit of. So those are just -- we're at the very beginning cusp of money being released, those RFPs being issued. So while we're going to continue to pursue the DCP side, we are most definitely running hard at the CFI side.

所以這些現在就開始了，作為一家重點關注的 L2 公司，我們真正的重點是追求。所以這些只是——我們正處於資金釋放、RFP 發布的最初階段。因此，雖然我們將繼續追求 DCP 方面，但我們肯定會在 CFI 方面努力爭取。

Great. Thanks for that detail. And you know, I'm just wondering thinking about the network and sort of the -- as you have more time operating a broader set of networks, as far as the customer charging experience, just wondering what sort of feedback you might have in recent quarters and whether there are any many goals or enhancements on the horizon, I don't know, either for the app or the onsite software that you have in mind?

偉大的。謝謝你的詳細資料。你知道，我只是想知道網絡之類的——因為你有更多的時間運營更廣泛的網絡，就客戶收費體驗而言，只是想知道你最近可能會得到什麼樣的反饋我不知道是否有任何目標或增強功能即將到來，無論是對於您想要的應用程式還是現場軟體？

Yes, it's continuous improvement. We're analyzing feedback from everywhere. We've analyzed equipment that we may need to sunset because it's not functioning properly. There's firmware or software issues. We just launched Blink Care, which is a preventative maintenance program that helps improve the quality of stations out in the field. That just launched the other day.

是的，這是持續改進。我們正在分析來自各地的回饋。我們分析了可能需要關閉的設備，因為它們無法正常運作。存在韌體或軟體問題。我們剛剛推出了 Blink Care，這是一項預防性維護計劃，有助於提高現場站的品質。前幾天剛推出。

We're also working on an effort to consolidate platforms, as Mike spoke to earlier. And what that does is it limits your problems with points of connection between software, firmware, and a multiplicity of platforms. Vertical integration is helping with that. So we have a plan that is both operational and technology minded to day over day, week over week, year over year improve our quality scores.

正如麥克之前所說，我們還在努力整合平台。它的作用是限制軟體、韌體和多種平台之間連接點的問題。垂直整合對此有所幫助。因此，我們有一個既注重營運又注重技術的計劃，旨在日復一日、週復一周、年復一年地提高我們的品質分數。

We're already seeing that tick up, but we're paying attention to the industry, the feedback. We're very, very active in the space. Mike is leading that effort. So, Mike, any comments from you on quality improvement initiatives?

我們已經看到這種情況有所增加，但我們正在關注行業的反饋。我們在這個領域非常非常活躍。麥克正在領導這項工作。那麼，麥克，您對品質改進計劃有何評論？

So one of the hottest issues in the industry is charger uptime and customer experience, charging, obviously mitigating and eliminating broken chargers. So as Brendan indicated, that falls under my purview and it is something that is reviewed, analyzed constantly literally on a daily basis where we look at the population of chargers that are healthy, that are unhealthy. But we do deep dives into the nature of the issues that are causing a charger to be down, offline, whatever it might be.

因此，該行業中最熱門的問題之一是充電器的正常運行時間和客戶體驗、充電，顯然可以減輕和消除損壞的充電器。正如布倫丹所指出的，這屬於我的職權範圍，我們每天都會對它進行不斷的審查和分析，我們會觀察健康和不健康的充電器群體。但我們確實深入研究了導致充電器停機、離線等問題的本質。

But this is a multifaceted issue, which sometimes folks overlook because there are some challenges associated with someone else owning the charging stations. So we have a lot of control over the charging stations that we own ourselves and our uptime is very high on those stations. When you sell a charging station to someone and if they don't maintain it, it's very difficult to, in some respects, enforce that, if you will.

但這是一個多方面的問題，有時人們會忽略這個問題，因為其他人擁有充電站會帶來一些挑戰。因此，我們對自己擁有的充電站有很多控制權，而且這些充電站的正常運作時間非常長。當你把充電站賣給某人時，如果他們不維護它，那麼在某些方面，如果你願意的話，就很難強制執行。

So we are trying many different things from a marketing perspective, from a field services perspective to ensure that the entire portfolio of Blink chargers in the market are -- they are optimized reliability.

因此，我們從行銷角度和現場服務角度嘗試了許多不同的事情，以確保市場上的整個 Blink 充電器產品組合都具有優化的可靠性。

Great. Thanks. Sounds terrific.

偉大的。謝謝。聽起來棒極了。

Thank you very much. Well, we have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I will now hand back over to Vitalie for any closing.

非常感謝。好了，我們的問答環節已經結束了。現在，我將把所有的結案交還給維塔利。

Thank you, Jenny, and thank you all for joining us on the call today and for your interest in Blink, especially as we announce our another record first quarter. To summarize the quarter in a few numbers, our Q1 revenue was up 73%, our gross profit was up nearly 200%, and we did all of that while reducing total operating expenses by 13%, and making significant progress towards our adjusted EBITDA profitability and run rate target.

謝謝 Jenny，也謝謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議並感謝大家對 Blink 的興趣，特別是在我們宣布第一季再創新高的時候。用幾個數字來總結本季度，我們第一季的營收成長了73%，毛利成長了近200%，同時我們實現了所有這些目標，同時將總營運費用減少了13%，並在調整後EBITDA 獲利能力方面取得了重大進展和運作率目標。

So for additional questions or request to meet with management, please e-mail us at ir@blinkcharging.com. And we'll look forward to engaging with you in the future. Thank you.

因此，如有其他問題或要求與管理層會面，請發送電子郵件至 ir@blinkcharging.com。我們期待將來與您合作。謝謝。

Thank you very much. This does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect your phone lines and have a wonderful rest of the day. Thank you for your participation.

非常感謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。您可以斷開電話線並享受美好的一天。感謝您的參與。