Fluence Energy, Inc., a leading global provider of energy storage products and services as well as digital applications for renewables and storage, today announced its results for the three and nine months ended June 30, 2024.
Financial Highlights for the Third Fiscal Quarter ended June 30, 2024
- Revenue of approximately $483.3 million, which represents a decrease of approximately 10% from the same quarter last year, primarily driven by timing of product deliveries.
- GAAP gross profit margin improved to approximately 17.2%, compared to approximately 4.1% for the same quarter last year, reflecting Company’s continued focus on ongoing profit improvement strategies.
- Adjusted gross profit margin improved to approximately 17.5%, compared to approximately 4.4% for the same quarter last year.
- Net income of approximately $1.1 million, improved from a net loss of approximately $35 million for the same quarter last year.
- Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $15.6 million, improved from approximately negative $27.5 million for the same quarter last year.
- Record quarterly order intake of $1.3 billion, compared to approximately $565 million for the same quarter last year.
- Backlog increased to approximately $4.5 billion as of June 30, 2024, compared to approximately $3.7 billion as of March 31, 2024.
- Total Cash of approximately $513.3 million as of June 30, 2024, representing an increase of approximately $50.6 million from September 30, 2023.
- Net cash provided by operating activities was approximately $69.2 million in the first nine months of the fiscal year 2024, compared to approximately negative $160.5 million in the same period last year.
- Free cash flow was approximately $64.3 million in the first nine months of fiscal year 2024, compared to approximately negative $162.4 million in the same period last year.
- In August 2024, converted our existing $400 million ABL facility into a revolving credit facility, providing us $500 million of additional available liquidity to support our ongoing growth.
Executive Summary
“We delivered a tremendous quarter highlighted by achieving approximately $15.6 million Adjusted EBITDA, our highest order intake, and a record backlog of $4.5 billion,” said Julian Nebreda, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “I am pleased to report that we are seeing robust demand globally, highlighted by our U.S. domestic content offering which we will begin delivering at the beginning of 2025, ahead of our competition.”
“We continue to execute at a high level as we recently completed the world’s third largest battery storage facility for a customer, a monumental achievement. As we look to close out our fiscal year, I am confident in our ability to deliver on our fourth quarter customer obligations, which are projected to be the largest in the Company’s history.”
Mr. Nebreda continued, “I am delighted to report that we are making substantial progress on each of our strategic objectives detailed below.”
| Strategic Objectives | |
| 1. | Deliver Profitable Growth |
| • For the third fiscal quarter of 2024, we delivered approximately $1.1 million of net income and $15.6 million of Adjusted EBITDA, representing a 103% and 157% increase from the same period last year, respectively. | |
| • Delivered year-to-date GAAP gross profit margins of 12.5%. | |
| 2. | Develop Products and Solutions That Our Customers Need |
| • Gridstack Pro product line is on schedule and currently undergoing testing at our Pennsylvania lab, initial deliveries are expected in early 2025. | |
| 3. | Convert Our Supply Chain into a Competitive Advantage |
| • Currently on track for start of U.S. battery module production in September 2024 that will enable our products to meet the criteria for U.S. domestic content incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”) and the recently published domestic content guidelines. | |
| 4. | Use Fluence Digital as a Competitive Differentiator and Margin Driver |
| • As a result of continued growth in our services and digital businesses, we are increasing our Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) guidance to approximately $100 million by the end of fiscal year 2024. | |
| 5. | Work Better |
| • In July 2024, Fluence expanded its Global Innovation Center in India to include a Digital Service Center and Remote Monitoring and Diagnostics Center. This central hub is intended to provide the necessary infrastructure to serve our growing customer base and provide a platform for our anticipated continued ARR growth. |
Updated Fiscal Year 2024 Guidance
The Company is narrowing its fiscal year 2024 total revenue guidance range to $2.7 billion to $2.8 billion (midpoint $2.75 billion) from the prior range of $2.7 billion to $3.3 billion (midpoint $3 billion). This change reflects signed contracts for which the majority of the associated revenue is now expected to be realized in fiscal 2025. The midpoint of the updated fiscal year 2024 revenue guidance is 100% covered by the Company’s current backlog plus revenue recognized year-to-date. Additionally, the Company is narrowing its fiscal year 2024 Adjusted EBITDA4 range of $55 million to $65 million (midpoint $60 million) from the prior range of $50 million to $80 million (midpoint $65 million). Finally, the Company is raising its fiscal year 2024 ARR guidance to approximately $100 million from approximately $80 million.
“Our year-to-date results demonstrate our ability to deliver consistent and profitable growth. Although we have lowered the midpoint of our revenue guidance for fiscal 2024, we expect to achieve gross profit margins at the higher end of our previous 10% to 12% target range for this fiscal year, which should carry through to a strong Adjusted EBITDA result,” said Ahmed Pasha, Fluence’s Chief Financial Officer. “Furthermore, we appreciate the confidence shown by our relationship banks by committing $500 million under our revolving credit facility, which provides us additional flexibility to support our industry-leading growth.”
The foregoing Updated 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 June 30, 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 | 62,726,112 |
| Total Class A and Class B-1 common stock outstanding | 180,392,777 |
