Fluence Energy, Inc., a leading global provider of energy storage products and services as well as digital applications for renewables and storage, announced its results for the three and six months ended March 31, 2024.
Financial Highlights for Second Fiscal Quarter ended March 31, 2024
- Revenue of approximately $623.1 million, which represents a decrease of approximately 11% from the same quarter last year, primarily driven by timing of product deliveries.
- GAAP gross profit margin improved to approximately 10.3%, compared to approximately 4.4% for the same quarter last year.
- Adjusted gross profit margin improved to approximately 10.6%, compared to approximately 4.6% for the same quarter last year.
- Net loss of approximately $12.9 million, improved from net loss of approximately $37.4 million for the same quarter last year.
- Adjusted EBITDA of approximately negative $6.1 million, improved from approximately negative $27.7 million for the same quarter last year.
- Backlog of approximately $3.7 billion as of March 31, 2024, compared to approximately $3.7 billion as of December 31, 2023.
- Total Cash of approximately $541.5 million, representing an increase of approximately $79 million from September 30, 2023.
- Net cash provided by operating activities was approximately $90.2 million in the first half of the fiscal year 2024, compared to approximately negative $163.4 million in the same period last year.
- Free cash flow was approximately $87.8 million in the first half of fiscal year 2024, compared to approximately negative $164.5 million in the same period last year.
Executive Summary
“I am pleased to report that in the second quarter, Fluence delivered more than $620 million of revenue and increased its total cash position to more than $540 million. We continued to demonstrate consistent profitability with our third consecutive quarter of double-digit gross margins. This strong financial performance reflects our commitment to strong execution and continuous focus on our customers to deliver competitive, reliable, and safe solutions,” said Julian Nebreda, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
“We made significant progress this quarter in offering products that provide greater value to our customers and we are seeing growing interest in these. Specifically, we recently launched our new Gridstack Pro 5000 product, our larger, and more energy-dense 5 MWh enclosure. Furthermore, discussions with potential customers for our domestic content offering are progressing and to that end, we recently signed our first contract.”
Mr. Nebreda continued, “I am pleased to report that we are making substantial progress on each of our strategic objectives detailed below.”
Strategic Objectives
- Deliver Profitable Growth
- The Company generated approximately $64.2 million of Gross Profit and approximately $65.9 million of Adjusted Gross Profit in the current quarter, representing 108% and 105% year-over-year increase, respectively. Furthermore, this quarter was the third consecutive quarter that the Company generated double-digit gross profit and adjusted gross profit margins.
- For the first half of fiscal year 2024, we achieved record net cash provided by operating activities of approximately $90.2 million, compared to approximately negative $163.4 million in the same period last year, and record free cash flow of approximately $87.8 million compared to approximately negative $164.5 million in the same period last year.
- Total Cash as of March 31, 2024 of $541.5 million increased by approximately $65 million from December 31, 2023, making this the fourth consecutive quarter in which Total Cash has increased.
- Develop Products and Solutions That Our Customers Need
- During the quarter, we began offering Gridstack Pro 5000, our larger and more dense 5 MWh, 20 foot enclosure, thus allowing for energy dense solutions at project sites, optimizing land usage, improving overall efficiency, and lowering cost.
- Signed our first domestic content contract that will benefit from incremental incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”).
- Convert Our Supply Chain into a Competitive Advantage
- Currently on track for start of U.S. battery module production in 2024, which is expected to enable our products to meet the criteria for domestic content incentives under the IRA. Fluence is one of the first suppliers capable of providing these products and we continue to see tremendous interest from customers for U.S. domestic content.
- Use Fluence Digital as a Competitive Differentiator and Margin Driver
- Digital backlog increased approximately 75% when compared to the same quarter last year.
- Work Better
- In April 2024, Fluence released its second annual sustainability report, building upon the sustainability disclosures from our inaugural report published in April 2023 and providing updates on Fluence’s sustainability strategy.
Fiscal Year 2024 Guidance
The Company is reaffirming its fiscal year 2024 total revenue and Adjusted EBITDA guidance ranges of $2.7 billion to $3.3 billion and $50 million to $80 million, respectively. Approximately 90% of the midpoint of the fiscal year 2024 revenue guidance is covered by the Company’s current backlog plus revenue recognized year to date. In addition, the Company is reaffirming its fiscal year 2024 annual recurring revenue (“ARR”) guidance of approximately $80 million.
“We remain committed to delivering attractive revenue growth, while improving margins and operating cash flow. We are also laser focused on improving our cost structure. This commitment is reflected in our strong financial results for the first half of this year, including approximately $88 million of free cash flow generation,” said Ahmed Pasha, Fluence’s Chief Financial Officer. “Our $16 billion development pipeline positions us well to deliver attractive returns to our shareholders in 2025 and beyond.”
The foregoing Fiscal Year 2024 Guidance statement represents management’s current best estimate as of the date of this release. Actual results may differ materially depending on a number of factors. Investors are urged to read the Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements included in this release. Management does not assume any obligation to update these estimates.
Share Count
The shares of the Company’s common stock as of March 31, 2024 are presented below:
| Common Shares | |
| Class B-1 common stock held by AES Grid Stability, LLC | 51,499,195 |
| Class A common stock held by Siemens AG | 39,738,064 |
| Class A common stock held by SPT Invest Management, Sarl | 11,761,131 |
| Class A common stock held by Qatar Holding LLC | 14,668,275 |
| Class A common stock held by public | 61,220,068 |
| Total Class A and Class B-1 common stock outstanding | 178,886,733 |
