Voxeljet AG (VJET) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Greetings. Welcome to the voxeljet AG First Quarter 2020 Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this conference is being recorded.

I will now turn the conference over to your host. Mr. Johannes Pesch, you may begin.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. With me today are Dr. Ingo Ederer, voxeljet's Chief Executive Officer; and Rudi Franz, voxeljet's Chief Financial Officer.

On Wednesday after the market close, voxeljet issued a press release announcing its first quarter financial results for the period ended March 31, 2023. The release as well as the accompanying presentation for this conference call is available in the Investor Relations section of the company's website at voxeljet.com. During our call, we may make certain forward-looking statements about the company's performance, including expectations on results from our current order backlog. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, one should not place undue reliance upon them.

Forward-looking statements are also subject to enhanced risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed, including the risks and uncertainties caused by the current COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting uncertainty in the global economy. For additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in our forward-looking statements, you should refer to the cautionary statements contained in our press release as well as the risk factors contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Ingo, Chief Executive Officer of voxeljet.

Thank you, Johannes. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on our earnings call today. We are happy with the start of the new business year in our on-demand printing segment services, demand continues to be extremely robust, both in Europe and in the U.S. This high demand is driven by large production orders, which is very exciting. For example, a supplier to a leading U.S.-based exploration company recently placed another large order with voxeljet for printed PMMA pattern. These patterns are used to cast large titanium components that are mounted on space rockets.

Historically, high on-demand printing revenue has led to higher systems revenue as customers upgrades from buying parts to operating their own 3D printers. So this makes us very optimistic for the rest of the year and beyond.

Let's turn to Slide 4 and a brief history of our company. On the left side, you can see the first prototype that we built around 1996 and the related patents. On the right side, you see our largest 3D printer, VX4000, that reach back to the year 1995 with the first successful dosing of UV resins. In the context of a hidden project, initial 3D printing techs were performed at the Technical University in Munich and cofounded the company on May 5, 1999, as a spinoff from the university with a clear vision in mind to establish new manufacturing standards. Today, we provide our customers a strategic competitive advantage by upgrading the existing production method to additive manufacturing solutions.

Let's turn to Slide 5, where we describe our technology. In the additive manufacturing market, there are likely more than 10 different technologies, each with its specified period of application, we used a technology called binder jetting. Binder jetting is especially suited for high-volume manufacturing because of its potential to scale. With our VJET X technology, we are pushing new boundaries.

On Slide 6, you can find a high-level overview of our company and recent key developments. In October 2022, we completed the sale-leaseback transaction of our headquarters in Germany with the gross proceeds of approximately EUR 26.5 million, we keyed up the balance sheet and repaid our financial liability. In December 2022, we completed the revenue recognition of all 5 VJET X units at BMW. The printers, which are integrated into a fully automated casting line are in full operation at BMW's facility.

Our production line produces several hundred complex engine components till date. These components are used to make the cars more efficient by improving the temperature management. Because the components are freely printed, we can attain conformer shares and can get closer to the heat anticipated more quickly. VJET X uses a new inorganic binding system for maximum the environmental compatibility when casting the 3D printed core.

Turning to Slide 7, where we explain our 2 business segments. In the Services segment, we operate our own 3D printers in 3 facilities around the world to offer affordable on-demand access to our technology. Our business model is very user-friendly as customers only need to send in the 3D data, and we will print parts for them. That is a great and easy way for our customers to understand new business opportunities in 3D printing. Customers come from various industries, including automotive, aerospace, general engineering as well as art and architecture. As mentioned earlier, U.S. is one of our largest on-demand printing clients as a supplier to a leading space exploration company.

In our Systems segment, we manufacture and sell industrial-grade, high-speed, large-format 3D printing systems geared towards mass production of complex models, molds and direct parts. Systems revenue also includes recurring revenue from the sale of consumables, maintenance contracts, upgrades and other aftersales activities. This recurring portion of revenue is growing as the installed base of our 3D printers extend.

Let's turn to Slide 8 and an illustration of the wide range of applications of our technology. Slide 9 shows an art piece recently printed for the BMW Art Club in Warsaw, Poland. It always amazes me to see the ideal clients come up with and to be able to make such ideas into reality with our binder-jetting technology.

Slide 10 shows our global sales network and production footprint. As you can see, we have reached an established position in all major markets in Europe, U.S.A. as well as Asia. Since March 2022, we have stopped our activities in Russia and Belarus until further notice.

Turning to Slide 11. On the left side, we have summarized our new piece. We differentiate ourselves from our competitors by build size, mature, diversity and speed. This leads to a complete set of industrial 3D printers to address the challenges and needs that are most important to our customers. Each model can be used with multiple mature sets. On the right side of this slide, you can see our portfolio of 3D printers corresponding to this volume. Their times may vary with the platform and process and can go as fast as 4 seconds with the VJET X.

Let's start with the formal part of the presentation. I will begin with an overview of the results for the third quarter, Rudi will then provide a more in-depth view of our financials for the first quarter of 2023 and our outlook for the rest of the year. Following his comments, we will be happy to take your questions.

Turning to Slide 13. Total revenue for the first quarter this year increased 30% to EUR 6.0 million from EUR 4.6 million in the first quarter last year. That's a great result. In Services, our on-demand 3D printing segment, we saw another robust quarter with continuous high demand for our products. Revenue from our German and Chinese service centers was slightly below the very successful first quarter in the previous year, reflected by a decrease of 11% year-over-year for the segment. In Systems revenue increased 123% as we sold 1 unit of our largest printers in the first quarter of 2023 compared to 1 smaller system in the first quarter 2022.

The recurring portion of revenue is also growing as the installed base of our 3D printers expand. This includes the sale of consumables, maintenance, contracts, upgrades and other aftersales activities. Gross profit in the Systems segment more than quadrupled and gross margin almost doubled from 17.3% in the first quarter of 2022 to 33.5% in the first quarter this year. Gross profit margin in the Services segment decreased to 30% from 41.7% in the first quarter 2023. This was mainly related to lower gross profit from our German and the Chinese service centers. We continue to see challenges when it comes to lead times for certain electrical components for our printers, and we are working hard with our suppliers on this topic.

Slide 14 breaks down order backlog by quarter, revenue by geography and operating expenses by category. And looking at revenue by geographic region, we target an even distribution across the 3 regions to hedge against risk from local events. Order backlog through 3D printers increased 62% from EUR 5.7 million at the end of the first quarter last year to EUR 9.2 million at the end of this year's first quarter.

Turning to Slide 15. I'm very excited to share a schematic of our massive new 3D printers VX9000 BFP with you, together with GE Renewable Energy, we are developing the world's largest binder jet 3D printer for the production of critical components for the next generation of wind turbine called Haliade-X. As you can see from the slide, we are aiming for a build area of more than 60 square meters. That's more than 7x the build area of our currently largest system, the VX4000.

Why did GE choose voxeljet? For 20 years, we have been developing the largest and fastest binder-jetting printers in the industry, and we have built a comprehensive IP portfolio. With the extra-large build area of the new 3D printers, the number of individual parts can be significantly reduced. In addition, the mold for casting can be optimized in terms of functionality and material consumption. This optimization makes it possible completely new casing designs that can enhance the efficiency of the turbine.

Also it streamlines logistics. The 3D printer can be operated close to the location that the mold will be cast, optimizing what could otherwise be very complex logistics, like long and complicated road transportation. What exactly is our part in this project? We will handle the design, mechanical development and creation of the prototypes as well as commercialization of the new printers. GE will supply to align know-how and the digital blueprints of the parts to be printed by the machine. However, we'll do the research and development on incorporating new printing concepts and experimentation.

So how big could this market opportunity become? According to research from McKinsey, the global installed offshore wind capacity is expected to reach 630 gigawatts by 2050, up from 40 gigawatts in 2020. And with upside potential of 1000 gigawatts in a 1.5 degree Celsius past week scenario. International Energy Agency has projected that global offshore wind capacity will increase 15-fold by 2040, becoming a $1 trillion industry. Thanks to failing cost, supportive government policies and technology footprint, like those behind the Haliade-X to offshore to wind turbine.

In U.S., the White House has taken action to jump out the American Offshore Wind industry, including a $9.8 billion in new investments in 2022, more than triple the previous year. While advancing the first large-scale projects and new manufacturing and port activity along the East Coast, the Biden administration has also supported development of the entire supply chain that stretches across other regions from steel production in Alabama, Kentucky and West Virginia to ship it in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and (inaudible). So we are very excited about this project.

Slide 16 highlights recent improvements in the performance of our binder-jetting technology. We have shown a similar slide in the last earnings presentation and we now added estimates for the new printers that we are developing in collaboration with GE. For this project, we plan to build, what we believe to be the largest binder jet printer ever made, it is planned to be around 7 meters in length and cover the whole printing area in a single car. It is absolutely massive, and we calculate that if we can achieve the development goals, it would print more than 2,500 liters power.

On the next 2 slides, you can see 2 examples of how our clients, TEI and Sharrow Marine are using our technology for series production. Turning to Slide 17. TEI is using the world's largest 3D fan printer, voxeljet's VX4000 to produce cores for this year's production of large-format, light-saving structural components for the Cadillac Celestiq. They just added another system in the first quarter and now own 3 VX4000 printers. Using 3D printing, the novel underbody structure consists of only 6 large precision sand-cast aluminum parts. Each the 6 castings reduces the number of parts by 30 to 40 components compared to a typical stamped construction. On Slide 18, you can see the Sharrow propeller. You have heard me talk about this very exciting project in the earlier presentation.

Slide 19 summarizes our value proposition, our commitment to technology leadership is stronger than ever as can be seen by how we have advanced our research and development strategy over the last few years. We have now started to capitalize on these investments. We believe we are well on our way towards profitable growth.

With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Rudi.

Thank you, Ingo, and good morning, everyone. We're happy with the results for the quarter, and how the business is developing. I will now take you through the financials for the first quarter. After that, we are happy to take your questions.

Turning to Slide 21. First quarter 2023 revenues increased almost 30% to EUR 6 million in the first quarter of this year as compared to EUR 4.6 million in the same period last year. Gross profit margin in the quarter slightly decreased to 32% from 34% in the first quarter last year. Let's break this down. In Systems gross profit margin from the sale of 3D printers increased because of the different product mix. We sold 1 unit of our large system and larger systems typically generate higher gross margins. In Services, Germany and China contributed lower gross margins as compared to the first quarter of the previous year.

The next slide show our segment reporting for the quarter. On Slide 22, revenues from our Systems segment, which includes revenues from selling 3D printers, consumables and spare parts had grown and maintenance increased 122.8% to EUR 3.2 million for the first quarter this year from EUR 1.4 million in the first quarter of last year. We sold 1 large new printer this quarter compared to 1 small new printer in the first quarter 2022. We are also encouraged to see the recurring revenue portion growing at the full base of our printed system. Consumable business, especially can generate high gross profit.

On Slide 23, services revenue decreased 11% to EUR 2.9 million in the first quarter of 2023 compared to EUR 3.2 million in the same quarter last year. Services gross profit margin decreased to 30% in the first quarter of 2023 from 42% in the same quarter 2020.

Looking now to the rest of the financial highlights on Slide 24. Selling expense increased to EUR 1.9 million in the first quarter of 2023. The majority of our selling expenses are personnel expenses and distribution expenses, such as freight and commissions for sales agent. This compares to EUR 1.6 million in the first quarter of 2022. Administrative expenses decreased to EUR 1.5 million as compared to EUR 1.7 million in the first quarter of 2022. Keep in mind, we typically spent more than EUR 1 million in auditing fees per year and EUR 0.5 million in legal fees.

Research and development expenses increased to EUR 1.6 million in the first quarter compared to EUR 1.4 million in the same quarter 2022. These expenses are usually driven by individual projects, especially through the consumption of materials, services demand of external services and it may vary significantly from quarter-to-quarter.

Operating loss was EUR 2.8 million in the first quarter of '23, compared to an operating loss of EUR 1 million in the comparative period in 2022. This increase in loss was mainly due to the one-off impact in the first quarter 2022 from the reclassification of foreign currency transactions in connection with the volume down (inaudible). We received approximately EUR 0.5 million in research and development expense from reimbursement and grants this quarter, up from EUR 0.1 million in the same quarter last year.

As a result, net loss for the quarter was EUR 3.2 million or EUR 0.34 per ADS compared to a net loss of EUR 0.8 million or EUR 0.10 in the prior year same quarter. Shares outstanding as of March 31, 2023 are 9,134,724. And on Slide 25, we show selected balance sheet items. As of March 31, 2023, the company had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments in bond funds of roughly EUR 15 million. This includes restricted cash of approximately EUR 3 million. Total financial debt as of March 31, 2023 was approximately EUR 2.5 million.

Moving now on to Slide 26 and our financial guidance for full year 2023, which remains unchanged. Revenue for the second quarter of Page 26 is expected to be in the range of EUR 4.25 million and EUR 5.75 million. This concludes our remarks.

And with that, we'll now open the call up for your questions. Operator?

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Brian Kinstlinger from Alliance Global Partners.

My first question is Systems revenue was up 100% year-over-year, a little bit more in the first quarter. You talked about selling 1 printer, which is bigger than the one you sold in 2022 in the first quarter. So I know prices are different. But can you tell us roughly how much of the growth was from the higher price system versus more of the after sales pieces such as consumables?

The increase comes primarily from the sale of the system, so probably 80%. And the remaining portion comes out of recurring revenue consumables, spare parts and maintenance.

Okay. So that suggest to me that the price of the large system was close to $2 million?

We do not disclose those numbers in detail. The average selling price of the system still is given in a range of EUR 500,000 to EUR 600,000. Have in mind that the smaller systems are EUR 200,000, which starts at least EUR 200,000 up to EUR 1.65 million (inaudible) for 1000. And think within those ballpark numbers you then can come to the right numbers.

Yes, it's helpful. Great. And then you said Services revenue was down as a result of the lower contribution from the China and German facilities. I think you made similar comments in the last few quarters about this partially offsetting the growth there. So can you talk about the actual drivers behind the lower services demand at these facilities?

Well, I would say, the business was really good. And the first quarter last year was extremely good, let's say, this way. I would say, the German facility is running at capacity, which is quite nice. We had some movement of revenue we needed to book in the next quarter. I think this explains it for Germany. China is relatively -- was relatively under pressure in the first quarter, we believe that it's becoming better during the rest of the year.

Right. Why is China under pressure? Is it still the effects of the lockdowns and opening up? I mean, is it the customer...

Exactly. We're still suffering a little bit of the COVID situation, but this is now released. So we believe that it's now going much better for the remaining year.

And then can you comment on the mix of the 12 printers in your backlog? Are they generally the larger and higher priced systems? Is it mainly split between the smaller and larger? Maybe just a little more detail there would be helpful.

So we are focusing -- thank you for the question, Brian. We are focusing more on the larger printers, and that's how it is in this current backlog, well it's more the larger printers.

So the environment generally is good for the larger printers. This is what we see on a global scale, especially in the fan printing area, the request for production printers is really increasing.

Great. Last question I have is for your large variant, auto customer who's got 5 printers. I mean, they're not printing a large amount of a variety of their different parts, I don't think. So what has to happen for that customer take more printers, how far are we for other parts assuming they are successful with those 5 they've got?

So for this moment, we can name this company, BMW, so it's already released. So they are currently testing these printers or the technology for this combustion engine, if you anticipate. Of course, they are thinking about different components of the electrical -- for electrical vehicles in future. And you need to know that only a smaller portion of the production is made in-house. So they are also seeking with their suppliers for future production capabilities and that's why we are, let's say, very curious about how the suppliers will approach us in future. We already had discussions with them. We believe that this is becoming closer and better for the near future.

And we have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I'll now turn the call back over to Dr. Ingo Ederer for closing remarks.

Thank you. So it was good seeing many of you at the Rapid Show a couple of weeks back in Chicago. Thank you for joining today's call, and we look forward to speaking with you again in our next earnings call, which we expect to take place in August with results for the second quarter 2023. Thank you very much, and have a good weekend.

Thank you very much. Good weekend to all.

And this concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.