Ballard Reports Q1 2023 Results
Source: PR Newswire (US)
VANCOUVER, BC, May 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ: BLDP) (TSX: BLDP) today announced consolidated financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. All amounts are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted and have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
"Our first quarter revenue of $13.3 million and new order intake of $17.6 million are consistent with our full-year 2023 plan," said Randy MacEwen, President and CEO. "With an increasingly positive policy landscape, we see growing customer interest in our core mobility markets of bus, truck, rail, and marine in Europe and North America. We believe our $137.7 million Order Backlog reflects continued customer platform wins, including a record Power Products Order Backlog that has doubled from one year ago and now exceeds $100 million. This positions us for a busy second half of 2023, where we expect second half revenue to be approximately 70% of our annual total, and an exciting set-up for 2024."
"With our Q1 expenses also on plan, we are tracking to our full-year guidance ranges for operating and capital expenses. We continue to prioritize investments in our technology and product development programs, product cost reduction initiatives, customer platform wins, customer experience, and advanced manufacturing," Mr. MacEwen added.
Mr. MacEwen continued, "As previously communicated, we continue to see gross margin pressures into 2024 given our revenue mix, pricing strategy, investments in production capacity, and timing lag before our production volumes ramp and our product cost reduction initiatives move into production. We ended the quarter with $863.8 million in cash reserves."
"We are looking forward to our upcoming Capital Markets Day on June 13th, where we will provide key updates on long-term business plan, including sales growth in our verticals, gross margin progression, our technology and product roadmap, product cost reduction, capital expenditures, and ESG initiatives. We will also unveil our TCO-driven comparative value proposition model for fuel cell trucks," Mr. MacEwen concluded.
Q1 2023 Financial Highlights
(all comparisons are to Q1 2022 unless otherwise noted)
Total revenue was $13.3 million in the quarter, down 37% year-over-year.
Heavy Duty Mobility revenue of $8.7 million decreased 11%, driven primarily by lower revenues from Technology Services contracts in China relating to our truck vertical, partially offset by higher rail and marine revenue.
Stationary revenue of $2.5 million decreased 58% due primarily to a decrease in sales of stationary power generation fuel cell modules, stacks, products, and services in Australia.
Emerging and Other Markets revenue of $2.1 million decreased 61% due primarily to the completion of the Audi Technology Services program and lower shipments in our Materials Handling segment.
Power products revenue represented more than 70% of our total revenue in the quarter.
Gross margin was (42)% in the quarter, a decrease of 41-points, driven by a combination of a greater weight of power products in the revenue mix, pricing strategy, increased investment in manufacturing capacity, increases in supply and labor costs, and inventory adjustments.
Total Operating Expenses and Cash Operating Costs3 were $37.5 million and $32.0 million, respectively, an increase of 24% and 23%, respectively, from Q1 2022. Increases were driven primarily by higher expenditures on research, technology and product development activities, and sales and marketing activities.
Adjusted EBITDA3 was ($38.3) million, compared to ($27.5) million in Q1 2022, primarily as a result of the decrease in gross margin and increase in Cash Operating Costs.
Ballard received approximately $17.6 million of new orders in Q1, and delivered orders valued at $13.3 million, resulting in an Order Backlog of approximately $137.7 million at end-Q1. Order Backlog growth was driven predominantly by increased orders from Europe and North America in the bus and stationary power markets. These regions combined represent approximately 76% of the total Order Backlog, compared to approximately 39% at end-Q1 2022. Specifically, the Power Products Order Backlog accounts for nearly 75% of our total Order Backlog, an increase of 100% since Q1 2022, and is at the highest level in Ballard's history.
The 12-month Order Book was $73.9 million at end-Q1, an increase of $16.6 million from the end of Q4 2022, an approximately 29% quarter over quarter increase
