SFC Energy AG

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us on a, I would say, a truly special day and special call. After just stepping out of the night train here from Kyiv to Poland, I'm still in transit and hope that the connection is stable enough.

If it's not, please remind us, and then I think Daniel and I can share the presentation or I can find a space where I have a better connection. So as usual, we will lead you through the numbers, but naturally also now we give you our view on the contract and program we signed yesterday in -- as said, we just arrived here after, I would say, for me, a remarkable and impressive visit to Ukraine.

And besides, yes, signing, I think, this contract, we are looking also at what is the impact of all of this to our business this year, but also beyond. Starting -- well, I think we can only also express our gratitude here at SFC Energy to the Ukraine and Ukraine partners as well as our own German government for their trust in us.

We also, I think, see this as an expression of, let's say, an important contribution here to this initiative here to enable the Ukraine to sustain their efforts in their war against Russia. And I think as a new defense-tech company, we are bringing different capabilities there now.

And I think that's the main message here. At the end, what do they use it for?

We see them use it for naturally our conventional critical communication applications. It's used as uninterruptible power in vehicles.

But the key elements are it's resilient, it's decentralized and it's easy to deploy and easy to move in very short periods of time. And then it comes to the, let's say, 2 differentiators.

It's now, again, combat-proven like we have systems for years also with other forces, including Israel, but Ukraine has, let's say, I think, a leading role right now and everybody looks at what they use and how they develop it. And it virtually has -- and that's a key element no signature, neither temperature nor noise and therefore, a different level of safety.

It's a safe, reliable energy source for the ones who use it. And this was also what we got back yesterday as a reflection when talking to one of those commanders there at the end, he said, "Well, you're making the lives safer for my young men and women.

It's not just that, let's say, our anti-drone laser operates now not just 7 days, but 28 days, so a factor of 4 longer. It simply gives them the opportunity to exchange fuel cartridges and not charge batteries by generators and therefore, expose themselves to a life-threatening risk.

So I think that's about how is the user looking at it. If we now look at the structure of the agreement itself.

It starts at the end this quarter. We are supposed to ship a good almost half of the equipment until mid of the year.

This is also the reason why we compromised on some capacity in Q1 here for production already to satisfy the needs here. And we are supposed to deliver everything within 2026.

So the first step now is to really operate under this contract that is financed by the task force of the Ministry of Defense, 100% payment out of Germany and with, let's say, significant impact also on our cash flow, where Daniel can give you the mechanics and the details also in a second. The visit we had now, the last days here on site was about naturally getting to a final signature on this contract, but it's now also about the next 2 stages and also this week's visit of Mr.

Pistorius in Kyiv was about, well, how to localize now activities. The next step now is support activities, training, service and repair capabilities on site.

And beyond this, then also naturally to look into a local supply chain contribution here from Ukraine, which we see in a time frame of, let's say, '27, '28. And all those activities are still supported also by financing from Germany as well as the EU.

And that's why we see, I'd say, also an impact beyond the year 2026. If I now go back to, I'd say, what was the original naturally topic for the call.

We are looking also at a first quarter with a significant increase in profitability. And on the revenue side, we -- as mentioned, we did compromise some capacity, and we are looking at, let's say, a shortfall of about 12% compared to last year's Q1 revenue.

If we look into the details here, we also have to say that the first quarter, especially in 2 regions, in India and in the U.S. last year were the strongest quarters we had.

In those 2 regions, we also had a currency impact. But overall, looking, I'd say, at the 3 million to 3.5 million capacity we took out of the first quarter and already used for production of components here for shipments to Ukraine in Q2.

I think we can look at a solid start on the profitability side. Daniel will lead you through, let's say, the reasons for an improved profitability in terms of EBITDA and EBIT ratio.

If we look into the segments and also what we expect now going forward, yes, the bigger impact we had on the Clean Energy part of the business here by delivering EUR 24.7 million products out in the first quarter of 2026 compared to EUR 28.4 million. The lower sales, as said, in core businesses in the civilian part as well as in the defense part.

But looking at where we are right now at the end of -- or at mid-May, we also see, let's say, activities up significantly in Europe, with Germany and the Netherlands being leading here. On the defense side, we had the first shipments on a sizable project here above EUR 1 million to Austria here for portable fuel cell systems, which also had a good impact on the mix and on the profitability.

No rebound in India in Q1 as expected because it was the last fiscal year of their year to be completed, we also see and expect a rebound in the Indian defense part. If we look on to the power side, a slight increase here in terms of overall proportion of the Clean Power business, but also there, in terms of revenue, an expected lower revenue in Q1 because we had, as already also mentioned and reported before, a soft start with our biggest customer, Thermo Fisher.

Looking at their forecast as of today and also looking at an up cycle in the semiconductor business and therefore, our second biggest customer, ASML, we are seeing a catch-up here in Q2. On the power side, a really good start in Canada in the oil and gas business.

The high oil price doesn't lead now to immediate new projects coming up. But what we see is a solid execution on budgets.

And we also expect this to be and have a positive impact on, let's say, Q2 and Q3 here in terms of significant orders and projects out there for decision-making. So looking at the backlog, I think, if we look at the historical data back in at the end of first quarter, I think that's maybe from today's point of view, not that meaningful, adding up what we signed yesterday, we are looking right now at the backlog between EUR 112 million and EUR 115 million total and a solid pipeline.

Therefore, I think we were catching up compared to 31st of March. With this, I would like to hand over to Daniel to look into the earnings of Q1.

Good morning, everybody. Thank you for joining our call.

So I want to keep it kind of short today. I'm assuming that the Q&A session will be a little bit longer.

I'm just going to go through a few highlights or a few explanation with regards to financial. I think we quickly want to drop a word on the gross margin.

The gross margin on group level, you've seen has gone down to 42.7%. We are coming from 44.3% in the first quarter of 2025.

So that is slightly below what we've seen in the first quarter '25, still above what we've seen on the full year level where the gross margin was 40.8% for the entire year. So we are kind of happy and okay with the gross margin.

When we look at the segment and Peter kind of indicated already, the gross margin on the segment Clean Energy with 48.8% is on the higher side. So that is okay and a little bit above our expectation, to be honest.

If we look at the gross margin on the segment Clean Power with 26.8%, that is definitely on the lower side and below our expectation a little bit. The reason is, Peter mentioned it, that we had lower revenues in SFC Netherlands, we have the power electronic components.

And that margin decline is mainly due to the lower manufacturing overhead dilution, which is as a result of those revenues. Again, the overall gross margin, we are fine with that and it's on a decent and good level.

If you look quickly at the operating expenses and also there, let me just go through the 3, 4 highlights for the first quarter. We had a positive impact from an exchange rate net gain.

That's a small gain of EUR 200,000. However, that compares to a loss that we had in the last year's first quarter of EUR 800,000.

So we see that this has a positive impact on the EBITDA. Again, also here, the larger part of these net gains have not been realized as has a larger part of the net losses.

We've seen that the expenses for IT and ERP are on a higher level, but it's not above what we've budgeted. We will expect those costs to remain a little bit on a higher level.

We've also seen that the capitalization of R&D expenses is on a lower side. We're looking at 40% versus 23% in the first quarter of 2025, which has an implication on the R&D expenses on the P&L, but still overall, R&D expenses are slightly lower what we've seen in the last year.

If we look at the entire operating expenses, so operating expenses, meaning sales and marketing expenses, development expenses and admin expenses, we see that we are roughly EUR 1 million lower from what we've seen in the first quarter last year, which, of course, has a positive impact on our EBITDA. Main reasons are here and there a little bit less headcount, of course, some savings or lower expenses for advisory expenses.

So overall, some of the, let's call it, cost discipline measures we introduced in the last year are still helping us and leveraging this cost. Now we'll get to the adjusted EBITDA.

It's about EUR 6.2 million, pretty much in the level what we've seen last year with the lower revenue that we realized in the first quarter that, of course, translates into a higher adjusted EBITDA margin with 18%, which is normalized on the higher side. Of course, it will change a little bit to the positive with the large order we just received yesterday.

If we then look into CapEx, CapEx in the first quarter, if you look at the cash flow, you'll see that it was above EUR 3 million, which, again, is on the higher side, but the largest part of that CapEx is really the investment in Oneberry, which we had. So this is carried under CapEx plus it's an participation.

The CapEx in PP&E and intangible assets really without the investment in Oneberry was a much lower level of EUR 600,000. So that is the normalized run rate that we're having.

That is, I think, something I just want to mention and go through. Cash position, EUR 45.7 million.

So again, at a very solid level. It's about EUR 1 million lower from what we've seen at the year-end.

The financial debt has slightly decreased. So that brings us to a net cash position of EUR 42.3 million, healthy for our operations and to finance our group.

If we look quickly at the cash flow, operating cash flow before in the change of -- before -- sorry, the change in net working capital is about EUR 5.5 million, 22% lower from what we've seen in the last first quarter. This is mostly due to the lower revenue that we generated.

Net working capital, quickly, went down by -- sorry, went up by roughly EUR 800,000. The largest impact on the net working capital had the decrease in accounts payables in the first quarter with a negative cash impact of EUR 3.2 million.

So if we then look at our days of payable outstanding, 12-month trailing, we at 63 days. which is 3 days below what we've seen at year-end.

So not significantly, but apparently paying a lot of bills in the first quarter. If we look at the inventory, the inventory decreased slightly, so not worth mentioning.

Basically, it stayed at the same level what we've seen at year-end. Days of inventories have increased to 155 days from 151 days.

And then apparently, as Peter just mentioned, with the order of Ukraine, we will expect our inventory to decrease significantly over the next 2 quarters. And then -- and also when it comes to the working capital, we did collect quite a large amount of accounts receivables, EUR 2.2 million in the first quarter, which brings our days of collectibles outstanding to 103 days.

Overall, after tax payment, investment and financing cash flow, the change in cash is negative EUR 1 million, so at a very healthy level. I will leave it at this in this call, and thank you very much.

Giving it back to Peter.

Well, thank you, Daniel. And yes, let me summarize now the outlook.

And also apart from what we signed yesterday, I think we see a healthy development in the business. And -- but based naturally on yesterday's decision, we have changed the guidance, and we have raised the guidance revenue-wise to EUR 163 million to EUR 175 million.

It's not just an add-on of, let's say, the total order of Ukraine to this because there are, I think, 3 elements to mention. We had part of it and I'd say, obviously, a small part of it in our planning.

You can think about EUR 10 million. We add the differential to it.

And then still there is, let's say, a differential remaining of another, whatever, EUR 15 million, where at the end, we see naturally headroom throughout the year to our business. There's still risk in some projects we had planned for.

So we still expect this to close, but it's not closed yet. And the other element is also it's not about production capacity, but it's really now a significant task here on supply chain, we have specific components, dedicated components for our fuel cell products, be it civilian, be it defense, where we are now working on still increasing capacity here with our suppliers, especially for Q4.

And that's why somebody might call it cautious here at this level, I would call it realistic. It's the range here that we are seeing as the realistic one.

If we improve on the supply chain part and if we can execute on all the projects we had in there originally, naturally, we would have to look at this range again. On the profitability, we see a significant impact also of the operational leverage and the mix impact here, especially of our defense business, bringing the EBITDA range up to -- from EUR 29 million to EUR 34 million is the bandwidth we are seeing compared to the EUR 20 million to EUR 24 million we had before.

Well, and likewise, on the EBIT side, also a jump, raising it to a range from EUR 20.5 million to EUR 25.5 million from the previous EUR 11 million to EUR 11.5 million. So overall, I think a solid outlook, and you see us confident to really deliver on this.

The workload naturally now is on the operational side. But as mentioned before, we started to work on this already in Q1 as we had indications of an earlier signing of this contract, which now coincidentally was just the day before our publication of the Q1 results, which ended up naturally now in a sequence of news from yesterday night to today.

But overall, I think we are having -- the overall picture right now, and we are happy to now go into the Q&A session and give you more details, especially also on the structure of the deal and the program here for the enablement of Ukraine. Handing back to Hilli to open the floor for Q&A.

Congratulations on the great outlook. I just have maybe 2 general questions.

Number one would be, so we have a very big order from Ukraine. With regards to sustainability of it going forward, so I do understand that it is now sort of a one-off order for this year, but do you see some implications of it coming back next year or the years after it?

And my second question, if I may, would be on India. So you've already had a very massive order from Ukraine, do you still see something positive from the Indian front, for example, in H2 going forward this year?

Very grateful. That will be my 2 questions.

Thank you, Usama. Let me take those 2 on.

Yes, I think it's about then how sustainable is it going forward? And I tried to allude on 2 elements already during the introduction.

So I think the key part is there is a supporting plan still in place here from Germany as well as the EU. We are talking about EUR 44 billion on the EU side, the German program should be comparable to this year's EUR 12 billion.

And assuming a positive feedback as we had it already now before entering into this program, we would see, let's say, a continuation here and the discussions for next year's planning and budget, they are already on, and we are in the midst of it. But therefore, I think it's also important to see this order didn't happen just now, let's say, last couple of weeks as a surprise to us.

We started to work consistently here with the task force, but then also directly with the different forces in Ukraine over a period of, I'd say, more than a year, bringing our products just out there to the users, to the front line, have them, let's say, experience it and put it what is called at the end, their requirement list. So we are part of the formal requirement that was set by the forces here also to the German task force here for this support and enablement package.

And the other element is this is for one single part of the forces. So we are now in what is called the national guards.

But then you still have, let's say, the conventional army, you still have, let's say, special forces. They all have tested our products already.

We have positive references, and we expect a rollout there, too. So it is a program that has started in a very positive way now with this significant order.

And the work and the expectation now is to translate it naturally into, let's say, a sustainable yearly business here. And therefore, also, the other element is to build up now the support and service and training structure on site and also going to a localization like we did it also in India.

So naturally here -- expectation here is work -- or what we work for is to have, let's say, a continuous business here with the different parts of the armed forces in the Ukraine on a, I think, solid basis we are creating now with them. India, first quarter here, still last quarter in the fiscal year in India, there was no expectation there.

So yes, a soft start in our first quarter, as mentioned. We had quite some exchange here with customers, with our partners, FCTec there.

As mentioned before, we have a very cautious planning here on our end. So we only have in our previous guidance, we had about EUR 5 million of business with India in there.

What we see right now is a rebound at least to this level. What we have is indications for some stronger demand and also the financing for it.

But I think we would not change our expectations. And first orders coming in, in a June, July, August time frame.

The ongoing support programs are running. And therefore, yes, we expect a distinctively better year in our Indian business than it was last year, where this was, let's say, if you want to call it like this, our biggest headache if we look into 2025.

So rebound in India as of Q3.

My first question is, I mean, now you are kind of Russian enemy, I think you are a small company, but is there any preparation from your side regarding possible attacks of Russian agents on SFC? Be it cyber, be it terrorist.

Is there any personal danger for management? How do you see this?

Well, I think at the end, we have been well advised and well prepared also by the relevant people here from the MOD, from the Ministry of Defense. And we have been preparing for this on the cyber level with an enhanced and increased security.

We are doing it as we speak on our premises and the same, let's say, for individuals potentially being exposed. So there is -- I think there are examples out there, and I think we are following those examples.

All right. That sounds good.

You mentioned that you don't have a problem regarding capacity, but that supply chain is a challenge. So my question is, do you have to postpone orders of other clients to get this order through on time?

Or how do you manage that?

Well, at the end, we were doing 2 things. If we look at the capacity, yes, it's not about the production.

Now as we all know here in this round, we did build up capacity in different parts of the world. So here with Romania and Munich on the fuel cell side, we do some of the assembly also in India for some of those products right now going to Ukraine.

We are well equipped. The membrane part we have in our hands, we ramped this up significantly.

We are starting to commission our second robot there in Swindon in the next couple of weeks. So also there, I think we kick it off.

It's really about dedicated components here for the normal effort, but also the JENNY and the EMILY line, where we are now working on really the supply, especially for the last couple of months of the year. And in terms of, let's say, satisfying our existing customer base, we have not, let's say, taken out orders or, let's say, not satisfied urgent orders, but we have scaled it back across the board, which at the end of the day, then leaves us again with the situation that I think that the guidance range we have out there is a pretty solid one.

And let's look at it again, whatever in September time frame, there might be some headroom.

All right. That sounds good.

One last question from my side. Could you say something about the U.S.

business, production side, demand there? Could you give us an update?

Absolutely. Well, we are already shipping the first units to -- that are, let's say, what we call so-called refurb units here to our biggest customer, LifeView.

We are starting also to ship products to others. I think that's working and under control.

As we made, let's say, an experience of being too aggressive last year in our assessment of the U.S. growth rates and also, let's say, uncertainty and spending, let's say, concerns in the U.S., we have a much more cautious planning here.

And therefore, I think we we progress, but in, let's say, a different speed than we originally had planned for. Looking at North America in total, we do expect that Canada will, let's say, compensate for any, let's say, delays in rollouts in the U.S.

with, let's say, especially the oil and gas part being really solid there with a couple of projects in decision-making also for shipment this year of significant size. So we're more cautious in the U.S.

compared to Canada. North America, definitely on track.

Congratulations on -- from my side as well on the great order and the profitability in Q1. Most of the questions I had on the obviously kind of cautious guidance were already answered.

But just to be sure here. So you mentioned that especially in Q4, supply chain risk might be to shift of revenue into the next year.

I just want to make sure that there are no like penalties associated with possible delays of that contract so that this is scheduled for 2026. But if anything falls into 2027, everyone is kind of aware of the possible supply chain risks here.

Absolutely clear, Robert. Thanks for being with us and your question.

There are no penalties associated to it, but we might have to calibrate some shipments here across then a time span from November to maybe February. But at the same time, we are really actively working also on a ramp-up of capacity here that could, let's say, at the end, minimize this impact.

We didn't want now to go out with, let's say, an overly aggressive statement and then have to explain or talk about, let's say, some supply chain shortages in September time frame. It just we'd rather do it the other way around.

And also, if -- I think one thought that is linked to it, we have pretty favorable payment terms here in this big contract. So actually, today, we will send out the first invoice for 50% prepayment and down payment.

So -- and we naturally also use this to accelerate part of our supply chain by being also flexible then in our payment terms. And actually, with the last shipment of the product, we will also have 100% of the payments in with, I would say, 0 counterparty risk, this being the German government.

Okay. Perfect.

So there should then be a significantly more positive cash flow in the second quarter, of course, if I understood that. 50% will be prepaid.

Absolutely.

Congratulations also from my side. First question is on profitability.

Could we expect more or less a similar structural profitability within the contract in comparison to other defense projects?

Well, if I can start here and then Daniel, maybe you can take over. Yes, if we look at this contract here, this is not just strict defense products.

We also are shipping, let's say, 2,000 EFOYs here at a at an industrial price level. So overall, I think if you compare defense to defense, also this is naturally having the usual impact and therefore, is a driver.

But maybe, Daniel, you want to comment here on to this topic.

Yes, Malte. so basically, yes, of course, it's a defense business.

Our defense products have attractive margins. That also applies to the current contract, so to speak.

But we still have to look, it's a huge contract, right? It's rolling it out in a very short period of time, securing all the material and the logistical complexity may be a little bit higher.

So I think some of the margin on gross level will also be compromised by slightly higher operating cost. So -- but still, even if you take those higher expensive costs into account, it will still be a very attractive margin and on the higher side of what we see in our products.

Okay. Good.

Then on your comments trying to make inroads in other branches of the Ukrainian Army. Is that something that could materialize still in this year?

Or is that, in any case, something for 2027 as a follow-up?

No, we definitely expect first also shipments, not in this order of magnitude here, but first shipments to other branches. We have their positive references.

We have our quotes out, and we expect initial orders definitely in the second half of this year.

Okay. Sounds good.

And would you quantify -- I mean, within the scenario of maybe building a sustainable business going forward here, would you quantify this contract as maybe exceptionally high? Or would that be kind of the target level you would see as prospective sales across diverse areas of the Ukrainian Army going forward is potentially sustainable?

Well, I think as a target value, definitely desirable. Is there potential for more?

-- significantly more? Yes.

But if you ask me about, let's say, what I would put into the plan now when we do, let's say, our formal planning for '27, well, I'd say, see this as, let's say, slightly too high. So we would not put, let's say, the level of EUR 40-plus million in, maybe more between EUR 20 million and EUR 30 million as an ongoing and then project-based decision-making.

Okay.

And also there, if I may add this, sorry, I think we also have to now see how it trickles in with the other branches here of the armed forces. We should be in a better position to judge this, honestly, in a 3-month time period.

Looking at, let's say, September, when we do our also budget planning for next year, we should have a better visibility and then naturally, we would assess this again. For the time being, I think a little too early.

Let us get into our foot into the other doors and then we can assess this.

Okay. If the war would come to an end, would that trigger a change in your take of these prospects?

Would the customer still make investments into these areas?

We are seeing this across the board now with investments in defense. I do not -- and it's not just me, I think the consensus here really out of specialists, but also of the government sources is that investment will be high.

What we are introducing here, and it took us some time is a more reliable but also a safer energy supply here for all the different activities in terms of defense, not just the active combat situation. And the other part to it is I'm sorry.

I'm not sure whether this is with me right now, but you can still hear me, right?

Yes.

Okay. And the other part is that half of this whole project is already on civilian products.

So this is really already targeting at the restoration period also in Ukraine, having decentralized power here for communication for telecom, et cetera. So therefore, this also goes into, let's say, the rebuilding of the infrastructure where you have temporary needs and decentralized needs.

The biggest, I think, threat they have seen also to their infrastructure is this monolithic energy infrastructure they are having and the enemy is always targeting this. And that's why I'm particularly happy with this distribution between also civilian and strict military use cases.

Yes, makes sense.

That's really -- and that's also, I think, part of the idea of the financing here from the German side.

Okay. Again, on the guidance, sorry for that.

But I mean, the difference seems to be quite large between order volume and the guidance increase. I understand your take on maybe potentially hiking a bit later.

But then in combination with -- I mean, the order intake in the first quarter was not that strong. So are there areas where you see elevated risks that project won't materialize you had initially baked into your forecast?

Well, I think what we had in there, and that's why Q1 is also on the lower end was a slower start here on the power side, especially with Thermo Fisher. There, we expect decision-making for follow-on significant contracts to happen within the next 2, 3 months, which will, let's say, compensate for this part.

And as said before here to Karsten's questions, we are definitely more cautious than last year on the U.S. end.

as, let's say, experience tells us, it takes also some time for the rollout here. Production is, let's say, prepared.

We are on our way. We are doing the, I'd say, diversification of the customer base.

We might even see some positive surprises there on the defense part of the business within the next couple of weeks. But from the current view, I think it is Yes.

I know you see it as conservative. I think it's still a realistic framework.

And it's -- if you look at it, if we take the top end of the guidance, you take, let's say, the EUR 10 million we had in there as a potential value here for, let's say, this regional expansion of the business into Ukraine. If you then add, let's say, another EUR 15 million that is the top end of the guidance differential, and then the remaining part, if you split this half into, let's say, supply chain risk and some projects at the year-end with a certain risk still not being in, I think that's the math to it.

If we look at it again, I would say, right after summer or in summer, we might come to a less conservative conclusion here and then just make use of this headroom here. That's, I think, where we stand for the time being.

Okay. That's fair enough.

So no major deviation from the initial...

No. It's honestly, if we look at where we are there, we talked about India.

India was a real game changer last year. I think by being conservative in the planning and now seeing, let's say, a more positive outlook here from customers and FSTec, we will reflect this in a 3-month time period when we have the first orders in and similar here to the U.S.

And on the U.S. end, we are still looking at potential M&A targets, which will not have a revenue contribution this year, but should then help us to accelerate market penetration the year after.

So this is not off the agenda. This is there yet.

And defense U.S., I think we are progressing again. They're coming back to the technology.

The decision has been taken, and we are there again still this month, sitting down to see whether we start a program together here with the U.S. Army on a next-generation portable power system.

Well, thank you all, as always, for your time and your interest and trust in us. I think we have a really good, let's say, outlook here ahead of us.

But at the end, it's now about to execute on what we pulled in and then naturally to branch out and bring it to a sustainable and repeatable business level, especially on the defense part of the business with the impact on the profitability. If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to all of us, Suzanne, Daniel and myself.

And with this, wishing you a good remaining day and looking forward to catching up soon. Thank you very much.