THE PERIOD 1 JANUARY - 31 DECEMBER 2024
- Net sales increased by 14.2 percent to 131.4 MSEK (115.0). Adjusted for currency effects between the comparison periods, net sales increased by 14.8 percent.
- Order intake increased by 10.8 percent to 127.5 MSEK (115.0). Adjusted for currency effects between the comparison periods, order intake increased by 11.0 percent.
- Operating profit before depreciation (EBITDA) amounted to -23.9 MSEK (-52.1) and operating profit before financial items (EBIT) amounted to -33.9 MSEK (-58.1).
- Profit before tax amounted to -36.3 MSEK (-60.5).
- Earnings per share amounted to -2.7 SEK (-6.4).
- Cash flow amounted to -14.3 MSEK (19.8). of which -11.2 MSEK (-57.3) from operating activities, -4.6 MSEK (-14.4) from investing activities, and 1.4 MSEK (91.5) from financing activities.
- Cash and cash equivalents amounted to 35.5 MSEK (48.6) at the end of the period.
FOURTH QUARTER 2024
- Net sales increased by 41.1 percent to 44.4 MSEK (31.5). Adjusted for currency effects between the comparison periods, net sales increased by 41.4 percent.
- Order intake decreased by 14.9 percent to 26.6 MSEK (31.3). Adjusted for currency effects between the comparison periods, order intake decreased by 14.8 percent.
- Operating profit before depreciation (EBITDA) amounted to 0.8 MSEK (-5.2) and operating profit before financial items (EBIT) amounted to -2.3 MSEK (-7.1).
- Profit before tax amounted to -2.6 MSEK (-7.5).
- Earnings per share amounted to -0.2 SEK (-0.6).
- Cash flow amounted to 1.8 MSEK (6.0). of which 4.6 MSEK (-11.5) from operating activities, -1.3 MSEK (-4.1) from investing activities, and -1.5 MSEK (21.6) from financing activities.
- Cash and cash equivalents amounted to 35.5 MSEK (48.6) at the end of the period.
- FlexQube receives Cart system order worth 3 MSEK to an existing Mexican customer.
- Anders Fogelberg assumed the position of CEO on November 18th.
- The company receives order worth approximately 4.0 MSEK for cart- and tugger train system.
EVENTS AFTER THE END OF THE QUARTER
- FlexQube is participating in Expo Manufactura, the largest intralogistics fair in Mexico as part of the intensification of marketing activities in 2025.
Link to the report for the fourth quarter 2024: https://flexqubegroup.com/financial-information/
The entire quarterly report is also attached to this press release.
CEO LETTER
A STRONG END TO THE YEAR FOR BOTH SALES AND RESULTS
I am very happy and excited to be back as CEO at FlexQube! I have strong confidence that we can reach new heights through the fantastic products and offerings we have in our portfolio and the dedicated employees we have in our organization.
Sales in the fourth quarter amounted to 44.4 MSEK, which is an increase of 76 percent compared to the third quarter of 2024 and an increase of 41.1 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. Throughout the year, we have been working with the communicated goal of achieving a positive EBITDA and cash flow level by the end of the year. It is very satisfying that we can now check off the goals for both, which also motivates us to continue improving profitability in 2025. The improvement in results is primarily driven by cost savings and the increased turnover, along with more efficient management of our working capital. We continue to see that primarily working capital and revenue growth are the biggest factors that will continue to generate improvements in results and cash flow going forward.
Our product portfolio is strong, and the opportunities within internal logistics are significant, where both mechanical carts and the new automation products offer opportunities for customers to get a solution that fits their process. Our large installed base of mechanical carts provides us with unique long-term opportunities to build on.
The delivery of the first AMR order to Mexico took place during the quarter, but the installation at the customer will occur in the first quarter. We continue to work on deliveries to our AMR customers in Sweden, as the rollout at the customer has been slightly slower than expected due to the installation of other systems at the customers' sites in parallel. The work of expanding the fleet of AMRs with existing customers is ongoing, and the target is high for additional orders in 2025. Over the years, we have sold mechanical cart projects to more than 1200 different customers in 40 countries, which we see as one of our greatest assets as we introduce automation solutions.
We will now intensify our marketing activities by participating in Expo Manufactura in Monterrey, Mexico, and ProMAT in Chicago. These are the two largest internal logistics trade fairs in their respective countries. We will be focusing heavily on our AMR product during these fairs.
I have had a lot of contact with industry colleagues over the past year, and many are experiencing a challenging market in automation due to the large supply of similar robotic solutions and the competition within this space. Customers have not kept up with the developments, and there is a gap between suppliers and customers that will take some time to bridge. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly clear that many of the developed products have been too technology-oriented instead of solving concrete problems in a customer-friendly way. Many products are looking for problems to solve, rather than being developed for specific challenges, which creates problems when implementing them with customers.
However, I am even more convinced that the innovative solution we offer, which combines material handling with material presentation and focuses on logistics processes within the manufacturing industry, has unique features that will prove to be very valuable going forward. Even though sales processes take time and the number of projects is still not sufficient, we are seeing evidence that our solution can compete against large, established brands in automation. We have already won over large and well-known companies in automation, and we will continue to do so in 2025-not by being an established supplier of automation products, but by being responsive and successful in understanding our customers' challenges and needs and offering a solution that addresses them.
The past few years for FlexQube have been challenging, and after the strong 2022, where we had several large projects at the same time with many customers undertaking their first smaller automation projects, the order intake has been inconsistent. Many of our industry colleagues have seen a similar decline. The war in Ukraine created uncertainties and geopolitical risks, mixed with inflation, which has reduced risk appetite and investments. However, the trend has been upward for some time now, and even though the threat of tariffs can create short-term challenges, there is a much greater sense of optimism among customers today.
Investments in automation are a way to minimize risks by reducing the need for personnel while strengthening competitiveness by creating greater efficiency in processes and improving safety in factories.
When we started FlexQube, the driving force for many companies was a forklift-free production. Today, 15 years and many customer projects later, many companies are not even in the starting blocks for this. We have a great opportunity to continue delivering the solutions required for companies to achieve this, through carts, train solutions, and robots.
With a lower cost structure, we have lowered our break-even point. Even though the product mix in the fourth quarter was skewed towards products with lower gross margins, we managed to achieve a positive EBITDA.
At the end of the fourth quarter, we saw a more positive development in the UK than we have in a long time. One of FlexQube's key challenges is to achieve sufficient volume in each market to reach a level that covers our fixed costs. When we see that the volume is coming, the economies of scale will quickly follow, as we have production capacity in both Sweden and the USA that can handle much larger volumes than today, and our purchasing and shipping volumes create a positive effect on the margin side.
In the fourth quarter, we experienced growth from several customers who are currently investing to meet the demand within AI. This includes companies in electronics and air cooling. For our customers in the automotive industry, the past few years have been challenging. However, we still see that there are business opportunities, primarily on the subcontractor side, and in Mexico, we closed several significant orders in the fourth quarter. Mexico also reached the highest growth in order intake for the entire year of 2024 among all our regions, and we continue to view the opportunities in the country very positively. This was further reinforced when I traveled to Mexico in October for a week with Business Sweden, where I met various companies and exchanged experiences with other Swedish companies operating in the country.
By shifting our marketing to be more targeted, working more on driving organic traffic to our website, and stopping the purchase of digital ads, we have significantly reduced our marketing costs over the year. We have also received more relevant inquiries from customers and projects we want to engage in. We are constantly looking for new ways to generate inquiries and get involved in projects. I am grateful to have a very tech-savvy organization that is constantly searching for new effective methods using AI and similar technologies to stay at the forefront.
2024 has been a challenging year but still a year where we show that we can turn the trend around and return to growth by growing 14.3% for the entire year and achieving positive EBITDA and cash flow in the final quarter. Additionally, we have completed larger and very successful AMR installations and increased project inflow despite not participating in any major trade fairs during 2024.
After I took over as CEO again on November 18th, I set a plan to drive sales to a higher level over time. We need to work more as a team with different competencies to drive automation projects to completion. We also need to maintain a very strong cost focus and be able to extract more efficiency from the organization. I also dedicate a significant portion of my time to sales through many trips, especially to North America, as we see the greatest potential in the short term to win larger deals in the USA, Mexico, and Canada. Our journey to increase our robot sales is still in its early stages, and we also need to be patient as it takes time to transition to increased sales from this future segment.
For more information, contact:
CEO, Anders Fogelberg
anders.fogelberg@flexqube.com
+46 702 86 06 74
About FlexQube
FlexQube is a technology company headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden with subsidiaries in USA, Mexico, Germany and England. FlexQube offers solutions for cart-based material handling using a patented modular concept. FlexQube develops and designs customized solutions for both robotic and mechanical cart logistics. Through the own developed and unique automation concept FlexQube can offer robust and self-driving robotic carts. FlexQube has more than 1000 customers in 38 countries with primary markets being North America and Europe.
FlexQube's customers can be found within the manufacturing industry, distribution- and warehousing. We represent some of the most successful companies in the world with a significant share being represented on the Fortune 500 list. These companies exist within automotive, electric vehicle manufacturing, online retail, heavy-duty trucks, industrial automation and retail logistics.
This information is information that FlexQube is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 2025-02-19 08:00 CET.
