EQS-News: SFC Energy AG remains on track after nine months – Significant sales growth with disproportionately high increase in profitability

SFC Energy AG remains on track after nine months – Significant sales growth with disproportionately high increase in profitability

• Group sales growth of 19.5% to EUR 105,190 thousand (9M/2023: EUR 88,030 thousand)
• Adjusted EBITDA up 52.8% to EUR 18,230 thousand (9M/2023: EUR 11,931 thousand); adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 17.4% (9M/2023: 13.6%)
• Adjusted EBIT increased by 81.3% to EUR 13,704 thousand (9M/2023: EUR 7,561 thousand); adjusted EBIT margin at 13.0% (9M/2023: 8.6%)
• Net cash position of EUR 61,499 thousand (31 December 2023: EUR 56,056 thousand)
• Internationalisation on track: expansion of US site, founding of Danish subsidiary and expansion of production capacities in Germany, Romania and India
• Order intake significantly above previous year's level at EUR 98,772 thousand (9M/2023: EUR 89,678 thousand)
• Forecast for 2024: upper end of the range for adjusted EBIT moderately raised, ranges for sales and adjusted EBITDA confirmed and specified

Brunnthal/Munich, Germany, 19 November 2024 – SFC Energy AG (“SFC”, F3C:DE, ISIN: DE0007568578), a leading supplier of hydrogen and methanol fuel cells for stationary and mobile hybrid power solutions, published its figures for the first nine months of 2024 today.

Report by the Management Board

Dr Peter Podesser, CEO of SFC Energy AG: “In a turbulent global economic and geopolitical environment, we succeeded in continuing our growth trajectory and significantly increasing our profitability. This was despite the fact that we experienced temporary shortfalls in the availability of Membrane Electrode Assemblies (MEAs) in the second quarter and at the beginning of the third quarter due to the ramp-up phase of our own membrane production in Swindon (UK). These have meanwhile been eliminated.

Against this background, a substantial increase in sales of around 20% can be recognised. At the same time, we were able to increase adjusted EBITDA by 52.8% and adjusted EBIT by 81.3% – despite significant investments in our international expansion. SFC Energy's profitable growth is therefore a strong differentiator in the fuel cell industry.

With the opening of our largest production facility to date in Cluj, Romania, in the third quarter, we have also laid the foundation to significantly increase our production capacity for fuel cells and meet the growing global demand.

Another strategic milestone was the acquisition of assets from Ballard Power Systems Europe A/S for stationary hydrogen fuel cell solutions below 50 kW. This expands our technology portfolio, accelerates our access to growth markets in Northern Europe and drives market consolidation. Our solid financial position – with a net cash position of EUR 61,499 thousand and a strong increase in operating cash flow before changes in working capital (9M/2024: EUR 18,038 thousand vs. 9M/2023: EUR 12,164 thousand) – provides long-term stability and strengthens our ability to continue driving market consolidation in the future.

We are closely monitoring the geopolitical environment and see considerable opportunities for SFC. With our sites in the USA, Canada, and India, we are ideally positioned in key growth regions. In the US in particular, we expect a continued dynamic development, regardless of government subsidies. Our durable, reliable, and low-emission fuel cell solutions are used in key industries that are also the focus of the new US administration, such as oil and gas, mining, defence and public safety.

We expect a strong year-end performance in both sales and order intake and look forward to consistently continuing our path of profitable growth.”

Orders and sales

Order intake increased to EUR 98,772 thousand in the reporting period (9M/2023: EUR 89,678 thousand). As of the reporting date, orders on hand decreased to EUR 75,443 thousand as of 30 September 2024 (31 December 2023: EUR 81,300 thousand).

In the period from 1 January to 30 September 2024, the SFC Energy Group achieved significant sales growth of 19.5% to EUR 105,190 thousand (9M/2023: EUR 88,030 thousand). This positive development was driven in particular by strong organic growth in the Clean Energy segment. From a regional perspective, demand from Asia showed the strongest growth in the nine-month period at 63.1%. As a result, Asia's relative share of sales increased to 16.5% (9M/2023: 12.1%). At 37.6% (9M/2023: 46.2%), North America made the largest relative contribution to sales, although the decrease compared to the previous year is primarily due to exchange rate effects.

Segment performance

The Clean Energy segment achieved an increase in sales of 24.6% to EUR 73,385 thousand in the first nine months of 2024 compared to EUR 58,877 thousand in the previous year. The continued high demand for fuel cells for industrial applications - which account for more than half of segment sales - contributed to this growth in sales. The segment also benefited from the significantly expanded project business and rising demand in the core target markets in the area of public safety, which also recorded sustained and significant growth. The share of Group sales increased to 69.8% in the reporting period (9M/2023: 66.9%). Clean Energy thus remained the segment with the highest proportion of sales. The Clean Power Management segment's share of Group sales fell to 30.2% (9M/2023: 33.1%). However, the segment's sales increased significantly year on year by 9.1% to EUR 31,805 thousand (9M/2023: EUR 29,153 thousand). Business with power management solutions recorded noticeable growth, while business in the upstream oil and gas industry grew moderately compared to the previous year.

Earnings

The Group’s gross profit increased disproportionately in relation to sales growth at 31.9% to EUR 43,945 thousand (9M/2023: EUR 33,321 thousand). The resulting gross profit margin for the Group (gross profit as a percentage of sales) was 41.8% in the reporting period, also significantly higher than the previous year's figure of 37.9%. This increase was fuelled by strong organic sales growth and the associated margin expansion. As in the first half of the year, a very advantageous product mix favouring high-margin products and a significant increase in production capacity utilisation in the Clean Energy segment contributed significantly to the increase in gross profit and the corresponding gross profit margin.

Gross profit for the individual segments compared to the previous year is as follows:

EBITDA adjusted for special effects rose by 52.8% to EUR 18,230 thousand in the first nine months of 2024 (9M/2023: EUR 11,931 thousand). The adjusted EBITDA margin rose by 3.8 percentage points to 17.4% (9M/2023: 13.6%). Over the course of the year, the strong sales growth combined with a lower increase in functional costs in tandem with the marked improvement in the gross profit margin continued to drive the increase in adjusted EBITDA. The EBIT, adjusted for special effects, improved significantly by EUR 6,143 thousand to EUR 13,704 thousand (9M/2023: EUR 7,561 thousand) compared to the previous year. This resulted in a significant increase in the adjusted EBIT margin to 13.0% (9M/2023: 8.6%).

The Group's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 38.8% to EUR 16,047 thousand in the nine-month period (9M/2023: EUR 11,564 thousand). The Group's earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were up 60.2% to EUR 11,521 thousand (9M/2023: EUR 7,194 thousand). The consolidated net result for the nine-month period totalled EUR 8,735 thousand, compared to EUR 6,495 thousand in the same period of the previous year. Accordingly, basic and diluted earnings per share in accordance with IFRS increased to EUR 0.48 and EUR 0.46 respectively (9M/2023: EUR 0.37 and EUR 0.36 respectively).

Balance sheet

At 72.3% as of 30 September 2024, the equity ratio remained almost at the same level as at the end of the 2023 financial year (31 December 2023: 72.6%). The net financial position, consisting of freely available cash and cash equivalents less liabilities to banks, amounted to EUR 61,499 thousand as at 30 September 2024 (31 December 2023: EUR 56,056 thousand). As at 30 September 2024, the SFC Energy Group had 451 permanent employees (31 December 2023: 403).

Forecast for 2024: confirmation and specification within the existing ranges and moderate increase of the upper end of the adjusted EBIT forecast

The sustained strong demand for SFC‘s products and solutions has also had a positive impact on SFC‘s growth and financial performance in the current financial year. As expected, both sales and earnings increased significantly in the third quarter compared to the same quarter last year. The Management Board expects the demand for SFC‘s energy solutions to be sustained and to continue to grow steadily.

Sales

In view of the course of business in the first nine months of 2024 and the expected deliveries and current order backlog for the fourth quarter of 2024, the Management Board is specifying the forecast for SFC Energy AG‘s sales growth in 2024 at 20.0% to 22.6% and now expects sales in a range of around EUR 142,000 thousand to EUR 145,000 thousand (previously: EUR 141,700 thousand to EUR 153,500 thousand).

Adjusted EBITDA

Taking into account the positive sales trend, the results achieved in the first nine months of the financial year and the developments described above, the Management Board is specifying the forecast for adjusted EBITDA at the upper end of the previous forecast and narrowing the range to around EUR 20,000 thousand to EUR 21,500 thousand (previously: EUR 17,500 thousand to EUR 22,400 thousand).

Adjusted EBIT

In line with the results achieved in the first nine months of the financial year and the expectations described above, the Management Board is specifying the forecast for adjusted EBIT, moderately raising the upper end and narrowing the range to around EUR 13,800 thousand to EUR 15,100 thousand and thus the upper end of the previous forecast (previously: EUR 9,800 thousand to EUR 14,700 thousand).

Key figures 9M 2024/9M 2023

* As of 30 September 2024/31 December 2023

Detailed financial information and conference call today, 19 November 2024

SFC Energy AG’s Nine-Month Report 2024 is available at www.sfc.com.

SFC Energy AG will be holding a conference call in English for interested investors and members of the press at 9.00 a.m. today, 19 November 2024.

To register, please send an e-mail message to susan.hoffmeister@sfc.com.

In addition, the Management Board of SFC Energy will be giving a presentation at 1.30 p.m. on 25 November 2024 during the Deutsches Eigenkapitalforum. To register, please use the following link:

Registration Deutsches Eigenkapitalforum

Further information on SFC Energy’s Clean Energy and Clean Power Management solutions can be found at sfc.com.

About SFC Energy AG
SFC Energy AG (www.sfc.com) is a leading supplier of hydrogen and methanol fuel cells for stationary, portable and mobile hybrid power supply solutions. With its Clean Energy and Clean Power Management business segments, SFC Energy AG is a fuel cell producer characterised by sustained profitability. The company distributes its award-winning products worldwide and has sold more than 75,000 fuel cells to date. The company is headquartered in Brunnthal/Munich, Germany, and has operating subsidiaries in India, Canada, the Netherlands, Romania, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. SFC Energy AG is listed in the Prime Standard of the German Stock Exchange and has been included in the SDAX selection index since 2022 (GSIN: 756857, ISIN: DE0007568578).

SFC Energy Investor Relations and Press Contact:
CROSS ALLIANCE communication GmbH
Susan Hoffmeister
Phone +49 89 125 09 03-33
Email: susan.hoffmeister@sfc.com
Web: sfc.com 

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This corporate news may contain certain forward-looking statements, estimates, opinions and projections regarding the future development of the company (“forward-looking statements”). Forward-looking statements can be recognised by terms such as “assume”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “expect”, “intend”, “will” or “should” as well as their negation and similar variants or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements include all matters that are not based on historical facts. They are based on the current opinions, forecasts and assumptions of the Management Board of SFC Energy AG and involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results and are not necessarily reliable indicators of whether or not such results will be achieved. All forward-looking statements contained in this corporate news apply only as of the date of this release. The company will not update or revise the information, forward-looking statements or conclusions contained in this corporate news to reflect any subsequent events, circumstances or inaccuracies that may arise after the date of this corporate news as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, and assumes no obligation to do so. We provide no guarantee whatsoever that the forward-looking statements or assumptions contained herein will materialise.