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Ballard Reports First Quarter 2015 Results
Friday, May 1, 2015Company Profile | Follow Company
Vancouver, BC, May 1, 2015--(T-Net)--Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ: BLDP; TSX: BLD) today announced its consolidated financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015.
All amounts are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted and have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
"In the first quarter, we made progress building our foundation for long-term growth by achieving several key deliverables," said Randy MacEwen, President and CEO. "Most notably, through our newly positioned Technology Solutions platform, we completed a landmark transaction with Volkswagen Group that surfaced value from our intellectual property portfolio by combining it with our intellectual capital-intensive engineering services. This transaction enabled us to report a $7.0 million profit in the first quarter and strongly positions us for long-term automotive fuel cell exposure."
"We continue to expect 2015 revenue to be heavily weighted in the second half of the year. We are seeing significant progression of our sales pipeline based on repeat customer business and complemented by attractive new customers in both our Power Products and Technology Solutions platforms."
Q1 2015 Metrics Summary
(all comparisons to Q1 2014 unless otherwise noted)
Q1 2015 Market Performance
(all comparisons to Q1 2014 unless otherwise noted)
Power Products:
The Power Products platform - consisting of fuel cell products for the Telecom Backup Power market, the Material Handling market and Development Stage Markets - generated revenue of $4.9 million in the quarter, approximately flat year-over-year but reflecting a shift in product mix as detailed below.
Telecom Backup Power
Material Handling
Development Stage Markets
Technology Solutions:
The Technology Solutions platform - consisting of engineering services and intellectual property licensing - generated revenue of $4.4 million in the quarter, a year-over-year decline of 51%, since revenue in Q1 2014 had included licensing contracts in China that Ballard subsequently terminated and also reflected a cadence in engineering services contract work for Volkswagen AG that was weighted toward the early portion of last year.
Q1 2015 Financial Results |
||||
(Millions of U.S. dollars) |
Three months ended March 31, |
|||
2015 |
2014 |
% Improvement |
||
GROWTH |
||||
Fuel Cell Products & Services Revenue:1 |
||||
Telecom Backup Power |
0.6 |
2.9 |
-79% |
|
Material Handling |
2.6 |
2.0 |
29% |
|
Development Stage Markets |
1.7 |
0.1 |
1,820% |
|
Sub-Total |
$4.9 |
$5.0 |
-2% |
|
Technology Solutions |
4.4 |
9.0 |
-51% |
|
Total Fuel Cell Products & Services Revenue |
$9.3 |
$14.0 |
-34% |
|
PROFITABILITY |
||||
Gross Margin $ |
$1.0 |
$3.5 |
-71% |
|
Gross Margin % |
11% |
25% |
-14 points |
|
Cash Operating Costs2 |
$7.9 |
$6.3 |
-25% |
|
Adjusted EBITDA2 |
($5.1) |
($1.8) |
-182% |
|
Gain on Sale of Intellectual Property |
$14.2 |
- |
N/A |
|
Net Income (Loss)3 |
$7.0 |
($3.8) |
283% |
|
Earnings Per Share |
$0.05 |
($0.03) |
269% |
|
Normalized Net Loss2 |
($8.2) |
($3.7) |
-122% |
|
Normalized Net Loss per share2 |
($0.06) |
($0.03) |
-93% |
|
CASH |
||||
Cash Used by Operating Activities: |
||||
Cash Operating Income (Loss) |
($5.8) |
($2.2) |
-166% |
|
Working Capital Changes |
$0.4 |
($4.5) |
108% |
|
Cash Used By Operating Activities |
($5.4) |
($6.6) |
19% |
|
Cash Reserves |
$47.6 |
$41.6 |
15% |
For a more detailed discussion of Ballard Power Systems' first quarter 2015 results, please see the company's financial statements and management's discussion & analysis, which are available at www.ballard.com/investors, www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.
About Ballard Power Systems
Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ: BLDP; TSX: BLD) provides clean energy products that reduce customer costs and risks, and helps customers solve difficult technical and business challenges in their fuel cell programs. To learn more about Ballard, please visit www.ballard.com.
Important Cautions Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements concerning projected revenue growth, product shipments, gross margin, Adjusted EBITDA, cash operating expenses and product sales. These forward-looking statements reflect Ballard's current expectations as contemplated under Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any such statements are based on Ballard's assumptions relating to its financial forecasts and expectations regarding its product development efforts, manufacturing capacity, and market demand. For a detailed discussion of the factors and assumptions that these statements are based upon, and factors that could cause our actual results or outcomes to differ materially, please refer to Ballard's most recent management discussion & analysis. Other risks and uncertainties that may cause Ballard's actual results to be materially different include general economic and regulatory changes, detrimental reliance on third parties, successfully achieving our business plans and achieving and sustaining profitability. For a detailed discussion of these and other risk factors that could affect Ballard's future performance, please refer to Ballard's most recent Annual Information Form. These forward-looking statements are provided to enable external stakeholders to understand Ballard's expectations as at the date of this release and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Readers should not place undue reliance on these statements and Ballard assumes no obligation to update or release any revisions to them, other than as required under applicable legislation.
Endnotes: |
1 We report our results in the single operating segment of Fuel Cell Products and Services. Our Fuel Cell Products and Services segment consists of the sale and service of fuel cell products for our "commercial stage" markets of Telecom Backup Power and Material Handling and for our "development stage" markets of Bus and Distributed Generation, as well as the delivery of Technology Solutions including engineering services and the license and sale of our extensive intellectual property portfolio and fundamental knowledge for a variety of fuel cell applications. |
We made changes to the composition of revenues in our Fuel Cell Products and Services segment in the first quarter of 2015. As a result, licensing revenues of $1.6 million for the first quarter of 2014 previously recorded as "development stage" Bus revenues have been retroactively reclassified as Technology Solutions revenues. |
2 Cash Operating Costs measures operating expenses excluding stock based compensation expense, depreciation and amortization, impairment losses or recoveries on trade receivables, restructuring charges, acquisition costs and financing charges. EBITDA measures net loss attributable to Ballard Power Systems Inc. excluding finance expense, income taxes, depreciation of property, plant and equipment, amortization of intangible assets, and goodwill impairment charges. Adjusted EBITDA adjusts EBITDA for stock based compensation expense, transactional gains and losses, asset impairment charges, finance and other income and acquisition costs. Normalized Net Loss measures net loss attributable to Ballard from continuing operations, excluding impairment losses or recoveries on trade receivables, transactional gains and losses and asset impairment charges. |
Note that Cash Operating Costs, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Normalized Net Loss, are non GAAP measures. Non GAAP measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP and therefore are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Ballard believes that Cash Operating Costs, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Normalized Net Loss assist investors in assessing Ballard's operating performance and liquidity. These measures should be used in addition to, and not as a substitute for, net income, cash flows and other measures of financial performance and liquidity reported in accordance with GAAP. For a reconciliation of Cash Operating Costs, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Normalized Net Loss to the Consolidated Financial Statements, please refer to Ballard's Management's Discussion & Analysis. |
3 Includes gain of $14.2 million on sale of intellectual property to Volkswagen Group. |
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