Maven Wireless publish Year-End Report for 2023. The year-end report is available as an attached document and at www.mavenwireless.com
Fourth quarter 1 October – 31 December 2023
- Net sales amounted to SEK 77,788 thousand (40,698)
- EBITDA amounted to SEK 16,205 thousand (2,104)
- Operating profit amounted to SEK 13,788 thousand (564)
- Order intake amounted to SEK 30,577 thousand (120,617)
- Orders from 14 customers, of which 2 new customers during the period
- Cash flow from current operations amounted to SEK 39,321 thousand (986)
- Earnings per share 0.31 (0,01)
- Life Cycle Assessment -68% kg CO2e during operation
The period 1 January – 31 December 2023
- Net sales amounted to SEK 237 640thousand (101,446)
- EBITDA amounted to SEK 43,957 thousand (-53)
- Operating profit amounted to SEK 37 101thousand (-5,037)
- Order intake amounted to SEK 124,535 thousand (227,897)
- Orders from 36 customers, including 15 new customers during the period.
- Cash flow from current operations amounted to SEK 48,558 thousand (2,582)
- Earnings per share SEK 0.75 (-0.11)
- Proposed dividend of SEK 0.10 per share
Significant events during the fourth quarter
Maven Wireless granted a first patent in India
Maven Wireless has been granted a first patent in India. Maven Wireless possesses 70 patents worldwide and has additionally 9 patent applications pending. The new patent in India covers key elements on how the Distributed Antenna System (DAS) equipment automatically configure itself depending on external environment as well as how to make the DAS redundant and resilient. This patent supports and protects Maven Wireless’ business globally.
Maven Wireless has been granted two more patents in India
Maven Wireless has been granted two more patents in India around ORAN and digital DAS. Including the 2 newly granted patents, Maven Wireless has 72 patents worldwide and has 7 more patent applications pending. The new patents in India cover key elements of how DAS (Distributed Antenna System) equipment sends digital data over high-speed fiber as well as how to build ORAN-based multi-operator DAS. Both patents support and protect Maven Wireless' operations in India specifically and in a general global perspective.
Significant events after the end of the period
Maven Wireless receives follow-up orders from Dutch MNO worth circa 10 MSEK
One of the biggest mobile network operators (MNO) in Holland will use Maven Wireless high power digital DAS to build mobile phone coverage in both tunnel and in-door projects in the Netherlands. Both projects will be shipped and invoiced during first half of 2024.
Maven Wireless digital DAS was selected by the customer primarily based on its sustainable DAS product with the lowest CO2 emissions on the market. The simple interface with one layer for all technologies making upgrades for 5G very simple was also a key factor in the selection process together with the success factors with implementing the same Maven DAS in an in-door project last year.
CEO’s statement
We are now more than doubling our revenue for the third year in a row. At the same time, during the quarter we reach a gross margin of 44%, which is significantly higher than the same period last year when it was 29%.
Through increasing deliveries to existing framework agreement and to completely new customers, the group's net sales rose to SEK 78 million during the quarter. This gives a turnover growth of 91% compared to the previous year. Cumulative turnover for the full year 2023 is SEK 238 million compared to the full year 2022, giving an annual growth of 134%.
The improvement in the gross margin is primarily due to normalized component prices and the fact that the deliveries that are now taking place are with adjusted prices. There are also some one-off effects through a favourable product mix. With the higher gross margin, we deliver an EBITDA result of approximately SEK 16 million and an EBITDA margin of 21%. The operating profit is SEK 14 million and an operating margin of 18%.
With a profit after tax of SEK 0.75 per share for the full year 2023, the board proposes a dividend of SEK 0.10 per share.
With the return to normal lead times for components, we now offer a delivery time of 8-16 weeks for our standard products, which is significantly shorter than during the same period last year and is now considered completely normal. This means that the order book is also normalized where orders are converted to turnover in approximately 3 months. Therefore, the ordering customers have done far in advance to secure deliveries for their projects bottomed in the late autumn. We now see that order intake is starting to pick up again and is increasing slightly compared to the previous quarter, landing at 31 million. This results in an order book at the end of the period of SEK 84 million. After the period there is an increased order intake of 23 million in the month of January alone, which is also considered short as many organizations do not operate fully during the first week.
The improved operating profit has led to the cash flow from current operations before changes in working capital increasing to 39 million. We have continued tied up capital on the balance sheet in the form of stock of IC components and modules of approximately SEK 20 million, of which approximately half will be used in production at our new production partner Kitron in 2024. There is also a certain stock of the new Nimbus and Helix products which is now being launched and which will be delivered and invoiced during 2024.
The group's expansion continues where, in addition to existing framework agreements, we win new customers and projects in more countries, not least in the USA where our American EXO repeater has been installed in a hospital in Texas and received connection approval from T-Mobile. During the quarter, 3 different patents were approved in India, where we are also increasing our activity through involvement with more local partners. We are gaining additional market share in both Germany and the United Arab Emirates, where we win orders from new customers. After the end of the period, we win several deals in Holland with one of Europe's largest telecom operators and in Great Britain we win a first tunnel project to connect the British mobile operators., The latter is a very important reference project for expanding further in the largest European mobile market.
With the current global situation, we once again note how important it is with cyber security. With more conflict zones across the globe and with additional hybrid warfare on a broad scale as well as with IT attacks and ransomware, cyber security and reliable communication is something that is important for everyone. Our products maintain the high level of security from base stations to all users in all our products for coverage in tunnels, inbuilding and on board trains. We also see continued high activity among both our existing, new potential customers and the accelerating rollout of 5G worldwide enabling further digitization of communities, cloud services and other new innovations.
At the same time, we see sustainability as an equally important issue where our energy-efficient and maintenance-free solutions are attractive both from an energy and cost perspective but also from a sustainability perspective. More people, organizations and countries need to take responsibility for our common environment and our emissions. We are proud to offer a product portfolio that has the lowest climate footprint compared to others in our industry.
Finally, I am very satisfied that through hard work with committed employees, we are continuing the global expansion at a high pace according to plan where our financial results are continuously improving. We continue to contribute to the digitization of society with our climate-smart and safe products, both for 5G and for other critical communications.
Fredrik Ekström – Group CEO