DRONE VOLT EARNINGS/SALES RELEASES
Drone Volt unveiled outstanding results, widely beating its Q1 23 guidance provided two months ago and maintaining its objective of increasing its gross margin and the recurrence.
FACT
• Sales increased by almost 5x to €8.9m (Q1 23: €1.6m) thanks to the completion of the big distribution contract notably (which was not initiated in the Q1 23) and new orders, smashing the company’s goal to at least double the sales compared to last year.
• The gross result almost trebled to €1.023m from €327k, the lower gross margin stemming from very high proportion of sales coming from distribution (93%), also widely beating the doubling objective
• The company reiterated its guidance for the FY24
ANALYSIS
Explosive growth on both segments
The revenue growth was driven primarily by distribution, which grew by 544% to €8.261m thanks to the completion of €4m from the big distribution contract but also more importantly due to new regular orders, representing €2.6m in Q1 23 and already €1.7m since the beginning of April. The Drone Volt Factory, Services & Academy segment revenue also grew strongly by 125% to €654k thanks to the Drone Volt Expert offer notably that was not available in Q1 23.
Delivering on margins
The gross result performance was driven by the distribution segment with growth of 229% to €642k, which means that the margin was a tad disappointing at 8% compared to 10% in FY23. However, the margin improved on the Drone Volt Factory, Services and Academy side from 45% (€132m) in Q1 23 to 58% (€381m) due to the higher value-added by the drone as a service offer representing more than a third of the division sales.
Convincing outlook
The company reiterated its objective of increasing its gross margin and its recurrency thanks to the capacity to increase revenue at constant staff and cost control. This is notably underpinned by the maturity of its products (Hercules 20, Linedrone, Heliplane) that seem to already be paying off as witnessed by the commercial momentum in the Q1 and since the beginning of April in distribution. The Kobra should also contribute towards the end of the year and benefit from the expansion on international markets (Middle East and Turkey recently announced).
IMPACT
We will not change our estimates as we believe that the sales momentum could fade in the coming quarters due to the near completion of the €20m distribution contract, and the gross margin improvement is still driven by distribution for the moment. The Q2 results should provide more clarity on the potential for Drone Volt without the big distribution contract.
