VivoPower International PLC (VVPR) 2021 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the VivoPower International PLC fiscal 2021 full-year earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Kevin Chin, Chairman and CEO. Please go ahead.

女士們、先生們，感謝大家的支持，並歡迎參加 VivoPower International PLC 2021 財年全年收益電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。 （操作員指示）我現在想將會議交給今天的發言人，董事長兼執行長 Kevin Chin。請繼續。

Thank you, and welcome, everybody, to [our] earnings results call. I'm going to start on page 2 of the presentation. So in a nutshell, it's been an unusual year. We've had our results impacted by COVID lockdowns, but we've also delivered some transformational milestones, which have really transformed the growth trajectory of the company.

謝謝大家，歡迎大家參加我們的財報電話會議。我將從簡報的第 2 頁開始。簡而言之，這是不尋常的一年。我們的業績受到了新冠疫情封鎖的影響，但我們也實現了一些轉型里程碑，這些里程碑確實改變了公司的成長軌跡。

Group revenues were down 16%. That compares to $48 million for the previous year, and as I mentioned, that's driven by COVID-19-related lockdowns, which caused operational disruption and project delays in our Australian business. That figure includes a $1.4 million contribution from Tembo for the eight months that we owned that business since acquiring it back in November 2020. That's slightly below where we expected it to be, again, based on border closures that impacted deliveries to Australia.

集團收入下降 16%。相比之下，去年的收入為 4,800 萬美元，正如我所提到的，這是由與 COVID-19 相關的封鎖推動的，這導致了我們澳洲業務的營運中斷和專案延誤。該數字包括自2020 年11 月收購該業務以來，我們在擁有該業務的八個月內Tembo 提供的140 萬美元捐款。這一數字再次略低於我們的預期，因為邊境關閉影響了向澳大利亞的交貨。

Gross profit declined as well by 11% due to the fall in revenue. This was partially offset by some margin improvements. So gross margins increased from 14.7% to 15.6% as a result of some efficiency gains we were able to eke out of critical power business in Australia.

由於收入下降，毛利也下降了 11%。這被一些利潤率的提高所部分抵消。因此，由於我們能夠在澳洲的關鍵電力業務中勉強維持一些效率提升，毛利率從 14.7% 增加到 15.6%。

Our overheads increased deliberately due to investments that we made in people, systems, IT equipment, in particular for underpinning growth OpEx to support hyperscaling. That includes $1.9 million invested directly into Tembo, and that's principally the recruitment of hardware, software, and embedded engineers. And there was $1.1 million of noncash share remuneration that was shared amongst the team.

由於我們在人員、系統、IT 設備方面的投資，特別是支持超大規模擴展的支撐營運支出成長的投資，我們的管理費用故意增加。其中包括直接投資於 Tembo 的 190 萬美元，主要用於招募硬體、軟體和嵌入式工程師。團隊之間分享了 110 萬美元的非現金股票報酬。

EBITDA declined due to principally the increase in overheads. So our underlying EBITDA fell to $1.4 million versus $3.9 million profits in the prior year. To clarify, that's a loss of $1.4 million.

EBITDA 下降主要是因為管理費用的增加。因此，我們的基本 EBITDA 降至 140 萬美元，而前一年的利潤為 390 萬美元。澄清一下，這是 140 萬美元的損失。

We also incurred just under $3 million of nonrecurring charges that primarily related to final litigation costs pertaining to the former CEO. That figure also includes some expenses, transaction expenses, relating to the purchase of Tembo. Of note, our balance sheet was significantly improved versus this time last fiscal year. So that was principally because of $32 million in net proceeds raised from equity issuance through an F-1 and through an ATM facility as well.

我們還產生了近 300 萬美元的非經常性費用，主要與前任執行長的最終訴訟費用有關。該數字還包括與購買 Tembo 相關的一些費用、交易費用。值得注意的是，與上一財年同期相比，我們的資產負債表顯著改善。這主要是因為透過 F-1 和 ATM 設施發行股票籌集了 3,200 萬美元的淨收益。

Our cash balance at the end of the fiscal year rose to $8.6 million from $2.8 million. And so in terms of where we've invested, the rest of the monies that were raised, the $7.1 million was invested to purchase Tembo. We invested a further $5 million, just under $5 million in terms of growth OpEx, as previously mentioned. The $6 million is obviously attributable to the cash increase. We reduced net debt by $9 million -- or rather, debt by $9 million; $3 million went to nonrecurring costs; and $2 million went to other costs as well as interest.

本財年末我們的現金餘額從 280 萬美元增至 860 萬美元。因此，就我們的投資方向而言，在籌集的其餘資金中，710 萬美元投資於收購 Tembo。如前所述，我們又投資了 500 萬美元，就成長營運支出而言，投資額略低於 500 萬美元。 600萬美元顯然是由於現金增加所致。我們將淨債務減少了 900 萬美元，或者更確切地說，債務減少了 900 萬美元； 300 萬美元用於非經常性費用； 200 萬美元用於其他成本和利息。

The Tembo acquisition obviously has delivered a transformational change to the business. Pleased to report that we're tracking ahead of schedule as far as where we thought we would be, particularly with respect to global distribution partnership agreements that have been cemented and commitments for almost 5,000 electric vehicle conversion kits to date.

收購 Tembo 顯然為該業務帶來了變革。很高興地報告，我們正在提前追蹤我們的預期，特別是在已經簽訂的全球分銷合作夥伴協議以及迄今為止近 5,000 套電動車轉換套件的承諾方面。

We've also signed a binding LOI with Toyota Australia, which was announced in June. We continued to make investments in engineering, assembly, and production capabilities, and we'll continue to further invest in R&D going forward as well.

我們還與澳洲豐田公司簽署了具有約束力的意向書，該意向書於 6 月宣布。我們繼續對工程、組裝和生產能力進行投資，並將繼續進一步投資於研發。

We also achieved a major milestone in terms of our sustainable energy solutions strategy. We signed our first full-suite SES feasibility study, which we are confident will lead into contracted projects and that's with a leading English Premier League football club, Tottenham Hotspur, in relation to both their training grounds as well as their stadium in North London.

我們也在永續能源解決方案策略方面實現了一個重要里程碑。我們簽署了第一份全套SES 可行性研究報告，我們相信該研究報告將轉化為與領先的英超足球俱樂部托特納姆熱刺隊簽訂的合約項目，涉及他們的訓練場以及北倫敦的體育場。

We also gained full ownership of the remaining 50% equity interest in the US solar joint venture for nominal consideration. I'll unpack further in terms of a new strategy that's we are rolling out for that division.

我們也以像徵性對價獲得了美國太陽能合資企業剩餘50%股權的全部所有權。我將進一步闡述我們正在為該部門推出的新策略。

Moving on to the next page, this is a quick snapshot of the 12 months that was. This time last year, we were navigating a very uncertain environment with COVID lockdowns and a very difficult path forward as far as our cash position was concerned. Obviously, that's been transformed. So we've really pivoted from hyper-turnaround mode to hyper-scale mode now. And going forward, this is all about driving the Tembo business as well as the broader SES business for us.

轉到下一頁，這是 12 個月的快速快照。去年的這個時候，我們正面臨著一個非常不確定的環境，新冠疫情導致封鎖，就我們的現金狀況而言，前進的道路非常困難。顯然，情況已經發生了轉變。因此，我們現在確實從超週轉模式轉向超大規模模式。展望未來，這一切都是為了推動 Tembo 業務以及更廣泛的 SES 業務。

On the next slide, this sets out the key objectives that we communicated this time last year and put ourselves to account for. I'm pleased to report that we delivered near-flawless execution, credit to the team here, and we completed 16 out of the 18 objectives that we had set for ourselves. The only misses were securing new strategic development partners for our longer-dated sites in the US. And we didn't quite [complete] the digital transaction solutions that we wanted to roll out to optimize data analytics.

在下一張投影片中，列出了我們去年這個時候傳達的關鍵目標，並讓我們自己負責。我很高興地向大家報告，我們的執行力近乎完美，這要歸功於我們的團隊，我們完成了為自己設定的 18 個目標中的 16 個。唯一的失誤是為我們在美國的長期基地尋找新的策略發展夥伴。我們還沒有完全[完成]我們想要推出來優化數據分析的數位交易解決方案。

I think someone may need to go on mute if possible. Thank you. Just got some background noise.

我認為如果可能的話，有人可能需要保持沉默。謝謝。剛剛聽到一些背景噪音。

On the next slide, this is the Board and leadership team. So we've beefed up the Board as well as added to the leadership bench. We recruited Jos van der Linden as MD of Tembo in the Netherlands. We hired Gary Challinor in Australia as Director of sustainable energy solutions. And we also recruited James Howell-Richardson as our General Counsel.

在下一張投影片上，這是董事會和領導團隊。因此，我們加強了董事會的實力，並增加了領導班子。我們聘請 Jos van der Linden 擔任荷蘭 Tembo 的總經理。我們聘請澳洲的 Gary Challinor 擔任永續能源解決方案總監。我們也聘請了 James Howell-Richardson 擔任我們的總法律顧問。

Joining us on the Board was Gemma Godfrey during the year. And we've also assembled an advisory council that has a very good mix of automotive, hardware, software, renewable energy, and digital transformation capabilities.

今年，傑瑪·戈弗雷 (Gemma Godfrey) 加入了我們的董事會。我們還組建了一個諮詢委員會，該委員會擁有汽車、硬體、軟體、再生能源和數位轉型能力的良好組合。

Moving on to the next slide, this is the profit and loss summary for the year. So unpacking further on the numbers I presented before. As mentioned, the group revenue is down to $40.4 million, better than what we had expected given what we had to contend with in Australia. But nonetheless, we're not happy about that result.

轉到下一張投影片，這是本年度的損益摘要。因此，進一步分析我之前提供的數字。如前所述，集團收入降至 4,040 萬澳元，好於我們在澳洲面臨的困境的預期。但儘管如此，我們對這個結果並不滿意。

Gross profit was down as well. EBITDA, negative $1.4 million versus $3.9 million in the prior year. That translated into a group loss after tax, this is statutory, of $8 million versus $5 million in the previous year, and statutory EPS of $0.49 negative versus $0.38 negative in the prior year.

毛利也下降了。 EBITDA 為負 140 萬美元，而前一年為 390 萬美元。這意味著集團稅後法定虧損為 800 萬美元，而前一年為 500 萬美元；法定每股收益為負 0.49 美元，上一年為負 0.38 美元。

I won't go through the next two slides, which go into some depth in terms of reconciling our underlying EBITDA to IFRS as well as EPS to IFRS. I can handle any questions in the Q&A section if anyone's got queries on those.

我不會詳細介紹接下來的兩張投影片，它們深入探討了我們的基本 EBITDA 與 IFRS 以及 EPS 與 IFRS 之間的協調關係。如果有人對此有疑問，我可以在問答部分處理任何問題。

Moving on to the balance sheet, so net assets increased to north of $40 million versus $17.9 million this time last year. Total assets increased largely reflecting the increase in fair value attributable to the US solar portfolio for which we acquired the remaining 50% for a very nominal consideration.

看看資產負債表，淨資產增加到 4,000 萬美元以上，而去年同期為 1,790 萬美元。總資產的增加主要反映了美國太陽能投資組合公允價值的增加，我們以非常名義上的代價收購了剩餘的 50%。

In addition, as I mentioned before, net debt has been reduced by just under $9 million to $14.5 million and that is up principally with the largest shareholder, AWN, in Australia. Importantly, we were also to remedy the net current asset deficiency that we had last year. So that's now in positive territory, and we've got a healthy cash balance as well.

此外，正如我之前提到的，淨債務減少了近 900 萬美元，降至 1,450 萬美元，這主要是由澳洲最大股東 AWN 造成的。重要的是，我們還要彌補去年的淨流動資產不足。所以現在處於積極的狀態，我們也有健康的現金餘額。

I'm going to go through the individual business units and talk about the outlook for FY22. So starting first on page 10 with critical power services. That business has had to contend again with a number of delayed projects due to new lockdowns that have been introduced in Australia over the last month. We, nonetheless, do still expect them to be completed over the course of FY22.

我將介紹各個業務部門並討論 2022 財年的前景。因此，首先從第 10 頁開始介紹關鍵電力服務。由於上個月澳洲實施了新的封鎖措施，該企業不得不再次應對一些延遲的項目。儘管如此，我們仍然預計它們將在 2022 財年完成。

The State of the Union in Australia is that the government there has said that they will stop lockdowns once vaccination rates hit 70% and potentially look to open its national borders on a staged basis once vaccinations hit 80%. At the current rate of vaccination, the expectation is that 70% will be achieved sometime in October, and 80% will be achieved sometime in early November.

澳洲國情咨文稱，該國政府表示，一旦疫苗接種率達到 70%，他們將停止封鎖，一旦疫苗接種率達到 80%，他們可能會考慮分階段開放邊境。以目前的疫苗接種率，預計10月某個時候將達到70%，11月初某個時候將達到80%。

Based on these dates, we do expect a strong rebound for the critical power service business from October onwards. There's been no diminution in terms of the tailwinds that underpin that business. There continues to be a strong infrastructure spend that we expect will further increase to bolster the economy both at a federal and a state level. And of course, we've got a resurgent mining sector where across a number of base minerals, base commodities, rather, prices are at all-time highs, including iron ore.

根據這些數據，我們預計關鍵電力服務業務從 10 月起將出現強勁反彈。支撐該業務的有利因素並沒有減弱。我們預計基礎設施支出將繼續強勁，並將進一步增加，以提振聯邦和州一級的經濟。當然，我們的採礦業正在復甦，許多基礎礦物、基礎商品的價格都處於歷史高位，包括鐵礦石。

There is a growing contract -- growing contracted head of works that reflect these tailwinds for the Aevitas businesses, particularly for J.A. Martin, which, prior to the latest lockdowns, was sitting on its record ever heads of works for that business. We'll continue to focus on leveraging our critical power capabilities to support and integrate into our broader SES strategy. And that, we expect, will yield some further revenue upside opportunities in time.

越來越多的合約——越來越多的合約工程負責人反映了 Aevitas 業務的順風車，特別是對於 J.A.在最近的封鎖之前，馬丁公司的業務負責人數量創下了歷史新高。我們將繼續專注於利用我們的關鍵電力能力來支持和融入我們更廣泛的 SES 策略。我們預計，這將及時帶來一些進一步的收入成長機會。

Moving on to Tembo on page 11. So in terms of FY22, we're very focused on delivery of orders to key markets, especially Australia. This will obviously be influenced by the supply chain and border dynamics that everyone knows about. As we emerge from lockdowns, particularly in Australia, we expect that that will help to unlock supply chain blockages as well.

前往第 11 頁的 Tembo。因此，就 2022 財年而言，我們非常專注於向主要市場（尤其是澳洲）交付訂單。這顯然會受到眾所周知的供應鏈和邊境動態的影響。隨著我們擺脫封鎖，特別是在澳大利亞，我們預計這也將有助於解除供應鏈封鎖。

And we do expect to also see an escalation in demand from the mining and other off-road sectors that we plan to manage through the introduction of a build slot program. So managing that demand is going to be a key tension versus the supply chain obstacles that we'll need to overcome. In addition to that, we will continue to focus on further R&D to be undertaken in the Netherlands in the UK as well as Australia to further enhance the product offering that Tembo has.

我們確實預計採礦和其他越野行業的需求也會增加，我們計劃透過引入建設槽計劃來管理這些行業。因此，管理需求將成為我們需要克服的供應鏈障礙的關鍵。除此之外，我們將繼續專注於在荷蘭、英國以及澳洲進行的進一步研發，以進一步增強 Tembo 的產品供應。

Moving on to the next slide, sustainable energy solutions. So we will continue to focus our SES efforts on the mining and infrastructure, including sports infrastructure sectors, global. We know for a fact that decarbonization is an increasing focus of the mining industry, where 89% of executives expect sites to electrify within two decades; 61% believe next-generation mines will be all electric; and 83% think renewables will drastically change mining operations.

轉到下一張投影片，永續能源解決方案。因此，我們將繼續將 SES 工作重點放在全球採礦和基礎設施領域，包括體育基礎設施領域。我們知道，脫碳已成為採礦業日益關注的焦點，89% 的高階主管預計採礦場將在二十年內實現電氣化； 61% 的人相信下一代礦山將是全電動的； 83% 的人認為再生能源將徹底改變採礦作業。

We know this first-hand from being a member of what's called the Electric Mines Consortium in Australia, where we are in constant dialogue with the mining companies and the industry more generally. We expect to deliver the first SES projects with Tottenham, obviously, a high-profile company, and that will stand us in good stead in terms of developing a further pipeline in terms of SES customers.

作為澳洲電力礦山聯盟的成員，我們對這一點有第一手了解，我們與採礦公司和整個產業不斷進行對話。我們期望與托特納姆熱刺（顯然是一家備受矚目的公司）一起交付第一個 SES 項目，這將使我們在開發 SES 客戶的進一步管道方面處於有利地位。

Moving on to page 13, we've called this Vivo Solar on this deck. We announced just after releasing this that we have changed the name of this entity to Caret Solar, and Caret Solar will be focused on what's called Power-to-X applications.

轉到第 13 頁，我們在這個平台上稱之為 Vivo Solar。在發布此消息後不久，我們宣布已將該實體的名稱更改為 Caret Solar，Caret Solar 將專注於所謂的 Power-to-X 應用程式。

So Power-to-X in simple terms means the excess -- that the use of excess renewable energy, over and above baseload power, for other energy-intensive applications. The highest profile of this at the moment is crypto mining, where we're seeing an increasing appetite from crypto mining groups to vertically integrate their operations to include the renewable generation plants. And given the exodus of crypto mining groups out of China in particular, there is very strong demand that we're seeing for renewable plants across the US and rest of the world.

因此，簡單來說，Power-to-X 意味著過剩，即在其他能源密集型應用中使用超出基本負載電力的過剩再生能源。目前最引人注目的是加密貨幣挖礦，我們看到加密貨幣挖礦集團越來越有興趣垂直整合其業務，將再生能源發電廠納入其中。特別是考慮到加密貨幣挖礦集團紛紛撤離中國，我們看到美國和世界其他地區對再生能源工廠的需求非常強勁。

Another area where we expect to see increasing demand is from the green hydrogen sector, also a very energy-intensive industry that wants to be green. This will be especially the case of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Bill in the United States has passed, given the attractive incentives in the bill for green hydrogen developers and producers.

我們預期需求成長的另一個領域是綠氫產業，這也是一個希望實現綠色的能源密集產業。鑑於美國已通過的 1.2 兆美元基礎設施法案對綠氫開發商和生產商具有吸引力的激勵措施，情況尤其如此。

So we believe the Power-to-X potential of Caret's projects, which are located in Texas and New Mexico, in areas with relatively low solar project penetration. We expect that there will continue to be strategic interest in that portfolio from various Power-to-X players.

因此，我們相信 Caret 專案位於德克薩斯州和新墨西哥州太陽能專案滲透率相對較低的地區的 Power-to-X 潛力。我們預計各個 Power-to-X 參與者將繼續對該產品組合產生策略性興趣。

That being said, solid developments, and isolation is no longer our core activity. We're very much focused on our core sustainable energy solutions. So our intention is to reinvest any proceeds generated from any potential monetization of cash projects into our core SES strategy.

話雖這麼說，紮實的發展和孤立不再是我們的核心活動。我們非常關注我們的核心永續能源解決方案。因此，我們的目的是將現金項目潛在貨幣化產生的任何收益再投資到我們的核心 SES 策略中。

Turning to the last slide, so these are our objectives that we're going to hold ourselves accountable to for FY22. The theme is to accelerate execution across all growth vectors. First one is to expand on our SES pipeline and delivery capabilities. We want to complete the Tottenham Hotspur projects; we want to further build out engineering and sales teams to grow the SES pipeline; and we want to look at enhancing our capabilities through acquisitions and joint ventures.

轉到最後一張投影片，這些是我們要在 2022 財年實現的目標。主題是加速所有成長向量的執行。第一個是擴展我們的 SES 管道和交付能力。我們要完成托特納姆熱刺的專案；我們希望進一步建立工程和銷售團隊來擴大 SES 管道；我們希望考慮透過收購和合資來增強我們的能力。

Second one, we want to grow the Aevitas business units to support SES. First amongst that is to complete all scheduled works including delayed projects; further expand the collaboration between SES -- the SES team as well as the Tembo team to further accelerate growth for Aevitas itself. And we're also completing a strategic review of M&A and joint venture opportunities that could enhance growth further.

第二，我們希望發展 Aevitas 業務部門以支援 SES。首先是完成所有預定的工作，包括延遲的項目；進一步擴大 SES、SES 團隊以及 Tembo 團隊之間的合作，以進一步加速 Aevitas 自身的發展。我們也正在完成對可以進一步促進成長的併購和合資機會的策略性審查。

Next one is to deliver on Tembo orders on schedule and on budget. As I mentioned before, we want to complete a build slot strategy to enable just-in-time assembly. We want to execute to the necessary timelines to deliver on orders and deepen our collaboration with distribution partners to accelerate delivery of conversions.

下一步是按時、按預算交付 Tembo 訂單。正如我之前提到的，我們希望完成建置槽策略以實現即時組裝。我們希望按照必要的時間表交付訂單，並加深與分銷合作夥伴的合作，以加快交付轉換。

We're also focused on advancing the e-LV product design. Supply and quality initiatives are also front of mind. So that includes completing the engineering and mass production model for e-LVs; expanding the supply chain network for key components to derisk that; increasing R&D to improve hardware, software, and data capture to OEM standards.

我們也致力於推進 e-LV 產品設計。供應和品質措施也是首要考慮因素。這包括完成電動LV的工程和量產模型；擴大關鍵零件的供應鏈網絡，以消除此風險；加強研發力度，改善硬體、軟體和資料擷取，使其達到 OEM 標準。

Next one is to cement our partnerships with TMCA, which is Toyota Motor Corporation of Australia, as well as global distributors. We mentioned in June in our press release that we've been looking to work on an MSA or a master services agreement with Toyota. We have a strategy to also grow our global distribution network to all continents by the end of this calendar year. And in doing so, we want to secure an additional 5,000 e-LV kits globally, which will bring us to just under 10,000.

下一步是鞏固我們與 TMCA（澳洲豐田汽車公司）以及全球經銷商的合作關係。我們在 6 月的新聞稿中提到，我們一直在尋求與豐田簽訂 MSA 或主服務協議。我們也制定了一項策略，即在今年年底將我們的全球分銷網絡擴展到各大洲。在此過程中，我們希望在全球範圍內再獲得 5,000 個 e-LV 套件，這將使我們的數量達到近 10,000 個。

Last but not least, we want to execute on corporate initiatives to support growth. As I mentioned before, this includes maximizing value of our US solar portfolio, Caret, via strategic initiatives. We want to complete the digital transformation and workflow automation across the group, which will really underpin accelerated scale-up. And importantly, we also want to retain our focus on B Corp impact and the triple bottom line mantra that we subscribe to.

最後但並非最不重要的一點是，我們希望執行企業措施來支持成長。正如我之前提到的，這包括透過策略性舉措最大化我們美國太陽能產品組合 Caret 的價值。我們希望完成整個集團的數位轉型和工作流程自動化，這將真正為加速規模化奠定基礎。重要的是，我們也希望繼續關注共益企業的影響力和我們所認同的三重底線口號。

Thank you for listening in to our FY21 full-year results presentation. I'll open it up to questions at this juncture.

感謝您收聽我們的 2021 財年全年業績示範。此時此刻我將開放提問。

(Operator Instructions) And pardon me, speakers, we have no questions in the queue at this time.

（操作員說明）請各位發言者原諒，目前我們隊列中沒有任何問題。

Okay. So we bring the meeting to a close.

好的。我們就這樣結束會議。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。

Thank you, all.

謝謝你們。