VANCOUVER, April 26, 2016 /CNW/ - Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ: BLDP; TSX: BLD) today announced its consolidated financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016. All amounts are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted and have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
"Our previously disclosed record order book of $58 million for 2016 drove a 76% year-on-year increase in Q1 revenue," said Randy MacEwen, President and CEO. "This was comprised of a 111% increase in revenue from our Power Products platform – including a large gain in the Heavy Duty Motive market, given last year's progress in China, along with the addition of Portable Power revenue from our acquisition of Protonex – and a 38% increase in revenue from our Technology Solutions platform. A shift in product mix toward higher margin Heavy Duty Motive, Technology Solutions and Portable Power products resulted in gross margin of 20% in the quarter, a significant year-on-year improvement."
Mr. MacEwen continued, "During the quarter, we implemented a number of initiatives to reduce our operating cost base, primarily related to Telecom Backup Power. These initiatives are expected to yield annualized cost savings in excess of $4 million, lowering breakeven revenue by more than $20 million. In addition, we further fortified the balance sheet, ending the quarter with $44.3 million in cash."
Q1 2016 Financial Highlights
(all comparisons are to Q1 2015 unless otherwise noted)
Q1 2016 Sales and Operations Highlights
Q1 2016 Corporate Platform Highlights
Q1 2016 Financial Summary
(Millions of U.S. dollars) |
Three months ended March 31, |
|||
2016 |
2015 |
% |
||
REVENUE |
||||
Fuel Cell Products & Services Revenue:1 |
||||
Heavy Duty Motive |
3.3 |
1.7 |
91% |
|
Portable Power |
2.6 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Material Handling |
4.1 |
2.6 |
59% |
|
Telecom Backup Power |
0.3 |
0.6 |
-45% |
|
Sub-Total |
$10.2 |
$4.8 |
111% |
|
Technology Solutions |
6.1 |
4.4 |
38% |
|
Total Fuel Cell Products & Services Revenue |
$16.3 |
$9.3 |
76% |
|
PROFITABILITY |
||||
Gross Margin $ |
$3.3 |
$1.0 |
223% |
|
Gross Margin % |
20% |
11% |
9-points |
|
Cash Operating Costs2 |
$9.4 |
$7.9 |
-19% |
|
Adjusted EBITDA2 |
($7.2) |
($5.1) |
-42% |
|
Net Income (Loss)3 |
($10.0) |
$7.0 |
-242% |
|
Earnings Per Share |
($0.06) |
$0.05 |
-220% |
|
Normalized Net Loss2 |
($9.0) |
($8.2) |
-10% |
|
Normalized Net Loss per share2 |
($0.06) |
($0.06) |
8% |
|
CASH |
||||
Cash Used by Operating Activities: |
||||
Cash Operating Income (Loss) |
($7.4) |
($5.8) |
-27% |
|
Working Capital Changes |
($0.1) |
$0.4 |
-113% |
|
Cash Used By Operating Activities |
($7.5) |
($5.4) |
-39% |
|
Cash Reserves |
$44.3 |
$47.6 |
-7% |
For a more detailed discussion of Ballard Power Systems' first quarter 2016 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.
Conference Call
Ballard will hold a conference call on Wednesday, April 27, 2016 at 8:00 a.m. PDT (11:00 a.m. EDT) to review its first quarter 2016 operating results. The live call can be accessed by dialing +1.604.638.5340. Alternatively, a live audio and slide webcast can be accessed through a link on Ballard's homepage (www.ballard.com). Following the call, the audio webcast will be archived in the Quarterly Results area of the Investors section of Ballard's website (www.ballard.com/investors).
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 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and 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 power product markets of Heavy Duty Motive (consisting of bus and tram applications), Portable Power, Material Handling and Telecom Backup Power, 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.
2 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.
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, asset impairment charges, and acquisition costs.
3 Includes gain of $14.2 million in the first quarter of 2015 on sale of intellectual property to Volkswagen Group.
SOURCE Ballard Power Systems Inc.
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Guy McAree +1.604.412.7919, [email protected] or [email protected]
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