Second quarter report 2023
SERSTECH GROUP, 1 APRIL – 30 JUNE 2023
• Net sales amounted to KSEK 32 775 (8 444), an increase of 288%.
• EBITDA amounted to KSEK 16 064 (-231), corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 49% (-3%).
• EBIT amounted to KSEK 13 084 (-1 910), corresponding to an EBIT margin of 40% (-23%).
• Cash flow from operating activities amounted to KSEK -8 191 (-4 465).
• Earnings per share amounted to SEK 0.06 (-0.02).
• Earnings per average number of shares amounted to SEK 0.06 (-0.02).
SERSTECH GROUP, 1 JANUARY – 30 JUNE 2023
• Net sales amounted to KSEK 45 111 (10 498), an increase of 330%.
• EBITDA amounted to KSEK 17 371 (-5 130), corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 39% (-49%).
• EBIT amounted to KSEK 11 444 (-8 488), corresponding to an EBIT margin of 25% (-81%).
• Cash flow from operating activities amounted to KSEK -9 762 (-13 340).
• Earnings per share amounted to SEK 0.05 (-0.10).
• Earnings per average number of shares amounted to SEK 0.08 (-0.10)
Comments from the CEO
For the first time, we can report a profitable first six months of a year. With 45 MSEK in sales, we have 330% growth compared to the same period in 2022 and more than 163% growth compared to the full year of 2022. The sales opportunity pipeline remains at historically high levels, and the market conditions continue to be favorable. One of our highest priorities now is to continue to ramp up production and production capacity. The goal is to have tripled production capacity by the end of the year, since there is reason to expect continued high volumes over the coming 12 months. As always, it is hard to predict if and when tender bids turn into orders. We therefore expect continued large variation between quarters.
In May, we received the largest order to date of our latest generation product, Serstech Arx. Since we have been building inventory of products, the large order could be completely delivered and invoiced already in June. The component inventory we built in 2022 has largely been consumed, but our sourcing efforts have been successful, and we don’t expect any major issues the coming six months. We expect to complete the upgrade of our electronic platform in Serstech Arx by October, and the new platform only uses components that have acceptable delivery times. Until the work is done, we will however see some limitations in production capacity and at least parts of any larger order received in Q3 will need to be delivered and invoiced in Q4 this year.
We have been successful in our recruitment efforts, and we have added in total seven people to our team this year, including VP R&D, CFO and several engineers. We have hired the CEO of one of our most successful partners as our new US Sales Director and we expect that his experience and contacts will help accelerate our US sales efforts.
The market conditions remain favorable and there is a combination of factors driving tenders and sales:
• The absence of purchasing during the pandemic period created a pent-up demand,
• The threats posed by Russia in Europe has caused NATO, the EU and many individual countries to increase their defense and security spending,
• Police and border control organizations need to modernize their tools to be able to meet the current threats posed by narcotics, especially the synthetic substances,
• The newly launched Serstech Arx and our SERS products provide an excellent solution to our customers’ problems, and at a competitive price.
For the rest of 2023, our main challenge is to scale up production and to improve production yield. Since Arx is a new product, there is additional development and COGS reduction work yet to be done, which is why we have increased our R&D spending significantly in 2023. Some of the work is being done by external consultants, and we expect to see a reduction in spending by the fourth quarter.
The results in Q2 and H1 are good, and we expect continued strong sales over the coming 12 months period. Current and potential customers are impressed by Serstech Arx and our SERS solution, the market conditions are favorable, and the component shortage problems are under control. There is every reason to be optimistic for the future.
For further information, please contact:
Stefan Sandor,
CEO, Serstech AB Phone: +46 739 606 067
Email: [email protected]
or
Thomas Pileby,
Chairman of the Board, Serstech AB Phone: +46 702 072 643
Email: [email protected]
or visit: www.serstech.com
This is information that Serstech AB (publ.) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above at 08:45 CET on July 14, 2023.
Certified advisor to Serstech is Svensk Kapitalmarknadsgranskning AB (SKMG).
About Serstech
Serstech delivers solutions for chemical identification and has customers around the world, mainly in the safety and security industry. Typical customers are customs, police authorities, security organizations and first responders. The solutions and technology are however not limited to security applications and potentially any industry using chemicals of some kind could be addressed by Serstech’s solution. Serstech’s head office is in Sweden and all production is done in Sweden.
Serstech is traded at Nasdaq First North Growth Market and more information about the company can be found at www.serstech.com
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