Twin Vee PowerCats Co (VEEE) 2021 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Twin Vee PowerCats Co. fourth-quarter 2021 investor call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded, and all participants are in a listen-only mode. Your speakers for today's program are Joseph Visconti, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Twin Vee PowerCats Co.; and Carrie Gunnerson, CFO of Twin Vee PowerCats Co.

Before I turn the call over to Joseph, please remember that certain statements made during this investor call are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements on this call, other than statements of historical facts, including statements regarding the company's future operations and financial position, business strategy, and plans and objectives of management for future operations are forward-looking statements.

In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminologies, such as believes, may, estimates, continue, anticipates, intends, should, plans, expects, predict, potential, or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. The company has based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that it believes may affect its financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, and financial needs.

These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties and assumptions described, including those set forth in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available on our website at www.twinvee.com.

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We cannot assure you that the events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur.

Finally, this conference is being webcast. The webcast will be available in the Investor Relations section of our website at ir.twinvee.com for at least 90 days. (Operator Instructions)

And I will now turn the call over to Joseph Visconti.

Thank you, Jennifer. My name is Joseph Visconti. I'm the CEO of Twin Vee. Thank you, and good afternoon. And I'd like to thank everyone on the call today so -- and participating in our 2021 year-end financial results.

Today, I'd like to update you on the significant progress that we've made in this past year and our plan as we move forward in 2022.

So first, I'll give a brief overview of our operating history. Next, I'll discuss market conditions and the impact we expect they will have on our business. Then I will update you on Twin Vee products, our initiatives, and the advancement of our Forza X1 electric boat development and testing. And then Carrie Gunnerson, our CFO, will give a financial update. And finally, we'll conclude with a Q&A.

As an overview, our business, the Twin Vee name has been synonymous with offshore catamaran boats for over 27 years. And Twin Vee is considered by many to be one of the best riding boats on the water. Under the brand name Twin Vee PowerCats, our company designs, manufactures, and sells a variety of catamaran sport boats here in our Fort Pierce factory in Florida.

We employ around 145 employees. This is up from 125 employees at the end of Q4 2021. Over the past 12 months, we continued to see sustained demand for our products. We continue to work to increase our weekly, monthly, and annual production output. The demand for our boats remains greater than our current production levels. And this, of course, is causing dealer inventory levels to remain at record low numbers.

As of last Monday -- this previous Monday -- we had only 15 boats in inventory, when typical pre-COVID inventory levels were 60 or 70 units.

Our backlog orders remain over 200 boats. These orders are comprised of sold boats to end users or customers, dealer restocking units to bring dealer inventory back to normalized levels, and the remainder of the dealer -- the remainder of the numbers is forecasted units by our dealers throughout the current network of our dealers.

Our current production is comprised of our GFX model lines. We have successfully transitioned away from our classic boats. Our new GFX models -- and due to the engineering of the GFX models, the manufacturing efficiency should add to increased throughput, a reduction of unit hours per boat, and a reduction of warranty issues.

For almost three decades, the classic Twin Vees have served this company very well. The company has produced over 7,000 classics, and we've built these boats and shipped them all over the world. And the classics will be just that -- classics -- and part of the ongoing heritage of this company.

Over the past several months, three of our GFX models have been selected by some of the best boats and some peer organizations. On January 26, 2022, Boat Trader, one of America's largest online voting marketplaces, named our 24-foot dual console GFX as one of the seven best power catamarans in 2022.

Earlier this month, our 24' center console GFX was named one of the six best center consoles by fishing -- for fishing by Motor Boat & Yachting magazine. This is a renowned European boating publication. The category was not limited to only catamaran boats. So our 24' was picked as one of the six best in both the monohull and the dual-hull category.

And then most recently, on March 14, the same magazine, Motor Boat & Yachting, listed its picks for the best center consoles under 30 feet. Our 28-foot GFX was chosen as the best power cat center console under 30 feet, and the rider was Elliott Maurice. He wrote in his article that the right quality was phenomenal for a boat of this length. He also stated that the close quarter maneuvering was much better than any equivalent monohulls, and he thanks the wide spacing of our engines.

Now these articles were independent. They were not part of any play-for-pay marketing campaign, which is pretty commonplace in the world of print publication. So this was an extremely pleasant surprise for us. But more importantly, it was an affirmation that the world is learning what we've known all along, which, Twin Vee power cats are some of the best riding boats on the water.

The growing popularity in catamaran boats has helped us gain additional dealers. Adding to our distribution network, we've got Carefree Boat Club in Panama City, Panama; Beachline Marine in Brevard County, Florida; Vermilion Marina near Lake Erie in Vermilion, Ohio. Including the three dealers, we now have a network of 19 independent boat dealers and 23 locations across North America, Caribbean, and Central America.

Now turning to our current models and production. Our IPO capital raise in July of 2021 has given us the opportunity to add facility infrastructure that has been vital in supporting increased production and additionally, funding the development of several new Twin Vee models.

Our facility upgrades and new manufacturing equipment add to the quality of our manufacturing process and add in our ability to attract and recruit the best most experienced boat builders to our company. A modernized manufacturing facility with the right equipment is crucial to reaching annual production levels of 400 boats or more.

In addition to upgrading our facility, we've added new models to our line-up, which has opened new sales and market opportunities for our company. We are in the process of adding several new models to our line-up. And by the end of Q3 2022, Twin Vee will have a total of eight GFX models available and in full production.

These models will include three 24's, a 24' CC, and two 24' DCs as a sport model and as go-fish model; a new 26' is coming online; our current 28' center console, which we're introducing another 28' version; our 34' that just entered production recently, and our upcoming 40-foot center console GFX.

These models and lengths will complete a robust line-up for Twin Vee and should allow us to attract some of the best A-rated dealers in the marine industry and across this country as we expand our network.

Our newest model to enter production is our 34-foot GFX. This twin-engine boat entered production in Q4 of 2021. And as part of our prior guidance, if you were part of our IPO, I was forecasting that we would possibly sell 10 34's in all of 2022. I'm proud to report that as of today, we've delivered our 11th 340 GFX, and we have another 23 40's on order from our dealers.

The 340 GFX is off to a solid start with good reviews from customers and dealers. Unfortunately, we do have a supply chain issue related to motors for this particular boat. As you know, we power boats with Suzuki motors and specifically, a pair of 350-horsepower motors for our 340.

Suzuki delivered very -- has delivered very limited amounts of their 350-horsepower motor over the past 90 days. And we've been being told by the Suzuki rep that these 350 motors on order may be less than what we need over the next 90 days. As of today, we do not have any other motor shortfalls required to power our 240s or 280s.

Our 340s can also be powered with 300s, so some dealers have accepted 340s with 300s. Some other dealers have accepted boats with no motors and knowing that when we do get the 350s, those 350s will be drop shipped to that dealer. So a little bit of a challenge with the 340s, but it's the new reality with supply chain issues. So the boats have been leaving, and so we're hopeful that the 350s will show up here shortly.

Our 280 GFX -- and by the way, we have a plan B if -- on worst case, if anything ever happened -- that we were not able to get 350s -- we would increase the production of our smaller boats. We have no supply chain challenges with 150s to power our smaller boats. We have plenty of molds, and in a short term, if we needed to scale up our smaller boat production to meet, manage, or exceed our revenue goals, that's the plan for us to do that.

Our 280 GFX has been selling exceptionally well, and we have minimal supply chain issues related to the manufacturing and delivery of our 280.

The next model that will enter production is our new 26' GFX center console, which is going to be here in June and also takes 150s, which we have not had a supply chain issue with those motors. The molds for the 260 GFX are entering their final stage of tooling.

We estimate that are new 260 will enter full production in June of this year, only three months away. We're excited about the new addition of this brand-new model from -- and we believe that the 260 will be one of our best-selling boats by unit count.

Now on to our largest and most powerful Twin Vee ever developed -- our 400 GFX. Now this boat is the only boat that Twin Vee where the fiberglass parts will be produced outside of our Fort Pierce, Florida factory. The reason we chose to outsource the production of the fiberglass was due to maximizing our production floor space.

The first 40', the [hull, deck,] and three dozen individual fiberglass parts have been produced, trimmed, repaired, dry fit, shrink-wrapped, and placed on a transport ship. They're heading for Tampa, Florida, where our Twin Vee truck will pick them up, bring them to our Fort Pierce factory for rigging, electronics, power performance testing, and ready to sell to dealers and customers.

Our engineering and rigging team have completed most of the pre-work required to rig out our 400 GFX, including the wire harness components, mechanical and electrical systems. So when this vessel hits our rigging floor in the next 30 days, our team is waiting and ready to go.

The 40 footer is the largest and most powerful Twin Vee ever designed or produced by our company. The 400 GFX is a bold and important move to strategically compete, selling professional-grade offshore boats to a very elite offshore fishing crowd. There's only a small handful of serious offshore 40-foot cat boat builders. It's a highly respected and admired group of boat builders. Very shortly -- and very shortly, there will be one more -- Twin Vee.

Our sales and marketing team is laying the groundwork to properly launch this boat to all potential buyers, professional, semi-pro, and the weekend warriors that require an ocean catamaran to run hard and fast in offshore seas when it's required to travel 50, 100 miles, and more to your favorite fishing location.

Now on to production. As of today, we are manufacturing an average of four boats per week. This is up from a little bit less than three in Q4 of 2021. We have reduced our build time from over 35 days per boat to just under 25 days.

Our short-term goal is to maintain a single shift and produce one boat per day or five boats per week and further reduce our build times to under 15 days per boat. That's our goal short term. Now that's it for now with our gas-powered boats.

I would like to move to our electric vehicle manufacturing subsidiary, Forza X1. When this IPO helped raise funds in part to develop, prototype, test, and commercially manufacture a fully electric propulsion system and a model line of electric boats, the initial plan was for Twin Vee to design and build fiberglass boats under the name of Twin Vee Electric, and Twin Vee would also design and build a fully electric outboard motor under the name, Electra Power Sports.

We subsequently decided to pivot from the name Twin Vee Electra -- Electric and Electra Power Sports to a single branded name, Forza X1. Now Forza means force in Italian, and the X1 is a nod to the innovation and aviation where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the X1.

The thinking behind the pivot includes several key factors. First, the increased demand on our gas-powered boats has pressed our team to maximize [almost] most every square inch of our Twin Vee factory. As we stated previously, Twin Vee has gone from approximately 125 employees at the end of 2021 to over 145 employees as of today. So you could imagine some of the limitations as we ramp up.

Additionally, the ongoing supply chain shortages of components and materials required to design, build, and test EV products is a little rough right now. And so this has extended our go-to-market strategies and timelines.

As you know, the world is transitioning to electric. And so there's just not a lot of batteries out there -- motors. Everyone's chasing the same parts. This additional time allowed us to push our development towards a single-charge plug-and-play, fully integrated electric boat motor and control system.

Instead of utilizing Twin Vee's gas models and retrofitting EV propulsion systems, we took a step back, designed a unique and original electric boat that has the hydrodynamic properties of Twin Vee boats, but also the stylish functionality that is better suited for marine EV early adopters. You can see our Forza FX1 center console and our Forza FX1 dual console at forzax1.com.

We also feel confident that these unique and stylish designed electric boats will forge their own brand recognition. We are receiving very positive feedback already. With Twin Vee current growth trajectory and also understanding the market for electric boats could be a quite large expanding opportunity.

We felt that additional funding for an independent and dedicated Forza X1 factory would serve both companies much better. The initial plan for Twin Vee to build the boats, manufacture and assemble the electric motor within the Twin Vee facility place many limitations on ramping up production for both gas-powered and our electric boats.

The gas-powered boats and electric boats are also manufactured and assembled in two very different processes. One example of this is Twin Vee currently hangs large gas-powered motors on the transom at the back of our boats, where Forza X1 installations will include battery packs, vehicle control units, charging systems, cooling systems, EV components that are dust sensitive and require somewhat of a clean room manufacturing process.

With all those reasons in mind, Twin Vee, incorporated this wholly owned company name, Forza X1, in October of 2021. So the shareholders of VEEE, pre-IPO, 100% own Forza X1. We're also looking to unlock shareholder value for the benefit of the VEEE shareholders.

With all these reasons in mind, our electric propulsion development roadmap into 2023 included two primary tracks. Now track one is the outboard motor battery and control development and integration, and then track two is the FX1 boat hull and deck plug mold and structural fabrication. Both tracks are running parallel. They're in process, and they are scheduled for an initial pilot production goal of 2023.

I hope you enjoyed my presentation. Now let me turn it over to our CFO, Carrie Gunnerson, who will give you a more detailed review of our financial results from our fourth quarter. Carrie?

Thank you, Joseph. I'm going to begin with the income statement.

Our revenues for the year ended December 31, 2021, were approximately $15,774,000 compared to just $11,064,000. This represents a $4,711,000 increase year over year or 43%.

Our gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2021, was approximately $6,276,000 compared to a gross profit of approximately $4,774,000 in 2020. The gross profit margin for the year ended December 31, 2021, was approximately 40% compared to 43% in 2020.

We continue to monitor the cost of our raw materials and our purchased components -- increased significantly over the year. And we will continue to adjust our sales prices accordingly. Our operating expenses for the year ended December 31, 2021, were approximately $7,907,000 compared to $4,053,000 in 2020.

Our net loss for the year ended December 31, 2021, was approximately $1,011,000 compared to net income of $1,171,000 in 2020. The net loss is a reflection of the many positive changes and improvements required as we add the new models and the new production infrastructure to our facilities to continue to grow our revenue, increasing our production weekly, monthly, and annually.

In 2021, we produced 27% more boats than in 2020. With this increased demand for our products, our product line and our manufacturing efficiencies of producing the GFX models, we feel confident our 2022 production numbers could exceed 200 boats, which will add to our financial strength.

Our net loss from our core business, the gas-powered boats, was approximately $488,000 for the year ended December 31, 2021. Our electric boat segment accounted for approximately $458,000, while our franchise business accounted for approximately $65,000 of our net loss.

Further, when we look at our adjusted net income for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, which excludes non-cash charges, our net loss was approximately $419,000, and our adjusted net income for our core business, the gas-powered boats, was approximately $103,000 (sic - see press release, "$100,000").

Turning to the balance sheet, the company had cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of approximately $13,039,000 as of December 31, 2021, compared to approximately $892,000 at December 31 of 2020. At this time, we believe our cash, our cash equivalents, and cash from operations will provide sufficient cash to finance our operations.

With that, I'm going to turn the call back over to Joseph.

Thank you, Carrie. In conclusion, I believe Twin Vee's fourth quarter was very strong with solid year-over-year growth, as we introduced new and larger GFX models. Catamarans, in general, continue to gain momentum. Several of our boats have garnered media attention, with our upgrades and modernization of our facility. Our strong balance sheet continued and increased demand for our product. It's hard not to be excited about our future.

In addition, the progress we've made toward commercializing a new brand of electric boats under the name, Forza X1, is pretty amazing. We will be sharing some images and videos in the coming months of our product development and testing.

There's a lot of unrest around the world, and we don't take this opportunity lightly. We are a dedicated group. Our team is united. We're pumped. We're grateful. And every day, we show up, and we get to build the best riding boats on the water.

I want to thank our employees. Many thanks for their hard work through the year. The growth has put a lot of -- create a lot of incredible opportunity for our employees. And I'm just really thankful. So as we continue this growth to build these boats -- and I finally want to thank our shareholders for their support and everyone on the call today for their time and their interest in Twin Vee PowerCats.

So I'd like to open it up for questions now.

(Operator Instructions) [David Horough, Strat Holdings.]

Hey, Joseph and Carrie, just real quickly on the land -- the waterfront purchase you were looking at for testing and expanding manufacturing? Where does that stand?

So we continue to look. And part of the goal was to -- because every time we test a boat, we've got to drag a boat 20 minutes down to the water, and it's a little bit inconvenient. And so as real estate in Florida -- if you've read about, it just -- actually through the roof. That $2 million parcel is now $6 million.

So we're looking, but real estate is through -- the pricing is through the roof right now. So it's just not the right time.

(Operator Instructions) And it appears there are no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the conference back to Mr. Visconti for any additional or closing remarks.

I want to thank everybody. We've had a great year, and it looks like we're off to a great start here in 2022. Again, we invite any and all of you. We've had investors come down -- or just give us a day heads-up. We can give you a tour.

Looking forward to meeting all of you, showing you all the incredible progress with our factory and our boats and our models. And we thank you for being our shareholders and supporting our company.

Thank you again. Have a great day.

And this concludes today's conference. Thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect.