ALMERE, THE NETHERLANDS – Alfen N.V. (AEX: ALFEN), specialist in energy solutions for the future, today publishes its trading update for the third quarter of 2021.

Highlights:

Q3 2021 revenues of €60.6m, a 21% growth versus Q3 2020 (€49.9m).
Gross margin at 36.9%, slightly lower compared to 37.2% in Q3 2020, but an increase of 50bps compared to 36.4% over the first half-year of 2021.
Adjusted EBITDA of €9.7m (16.0% of revenues), a 28% growth compared with Q3 2020 (€7.5m, 15.1% of revenues).
Alfen reconfirms its 2021 full-year revenue guidance of €225-250m.


Marco Roeleveld, CEO of Alfen, said:
“I am delighted that we continued to deliver revenue growth combined with a 28% increase in profitability as we further executed on our profitable growth strategy in the third quarter. With our unique business model and strong market position, we continued to benefit from the energy transition that keeps building momentum throughout Europe and beyond.

We are excited about the realisation of the market momentum in EV charging. We have further expanded our market position across Europe and have been able to more than double our revenue this quarter compared to the same quarter last year.

Our energy storage business line continues to be in a nascent stage and saw a weaker quarter. Although we see significant pipeline growth, decision-making across the sector can still take longer than we initially anticipated resulting in longer lead-times to secure new orders. Nevertheless, we maintain our strong position in the market and remain convinced of the long-term market opportunity.

From a supply chain perspective, the high demand for components, especially electrical ones, continues to put pressure on the supply chain throughout the world. As such, we keep managing our supply chain closely and we have been able to mitigate the delivery challenges we experienced up to this point. Looking forward, we still expect supply chain pressure to continue well into 2022.

Long-term, we continue to anticipate positive market developments for all our business lines and we continue to further invest in our organisation, facilities and innovations for the future.

Financial highlights
In € millions 20Q3 20Q4 20FY 21Q1 21Q2 21Q3 21YTD
Revenues and other income 49.9 48.8 189.0 53.8 61.5 60.6 176.0
Y-o-y growth 46% 3% 32% 22% 33% 21% 26%

Gross margin 18.6 18.7 69.3 19.6 22.4 22.4 64.4
As % of revenues and other income 37.2% 38.3% 36.7% 36.5% 36.4% 36.9% 36.6%

Adjusted EBITDA 7.5 6.9 24.4 7.2 9.7 9.7 26.6
As % of revenues and other income 15.1% 14.1% 12.9% 13.3% 15.9% 16.0% 15.1%

Segmental review
In the Smart grid solutions business line, Q3 revenues were €33.2m (+1% from €32.8m in Q3 2020). Alfen continued to supply transformer substations to grid operators and smart grid solutions to, for instance, renewable projects, greenhouses and industrial customers. Revenue growth was partly offset by some project delays in the latter segment, which has been the result of customer schedule delays as well as grid operator planning challenges to establish grid connections.
In Q3 2021, Alfen produced approximately 910 substations, a 6% growth compared to Q3 2020 with approximately 860 substations.

In the EV charging equipment business line, Q3 revenues more than doubled to €25.2m (+123% from €11.3m in Q3 2020). Alfen benefitted from its strong international market position as the penetration of Electric Vehicles in new car sales keeps growing across Europe. More and more car OEM’s have committed to electrification of their portfolios and are rapidly increasing and diversifying EV supply in the market. This together with the ongoing incentives for EVs across Europe is driving the growing demand for EV charge points at home, at businesses and in public locations.
From a supply chain perspective, a high demand for components, especially electrical ones, continued to put pressure on the supply chain throughout the world. Alfen continued to closely manage its supply chain and has been able to mitigate the delivery challenges up to this point.
In Q3 2021, Alfen produced approximately 28,000 charge points, a growth of 137% from Q3 2020 with approximately 11,800 charge points.

In the Energy storage systems business line, Q3 revenues were €2.2m (-62% from €5.8m in Q3 2020). The decrease in revenues is a result of COVID-19 headwinds in 2020 combined with ongoing decision-making delays across the sector resulting in longer lead-times to secure new orders and generate revenue. Nevertheless, Alfen’s projects pipeline of qualified leads at the end of the third quarter has more than tripled compared to the same period last year and Alfen remains convinced of the long-term market opportunity.



Gross margin and adjusted EBITDA
Gross margin in Q3 2021 was 36.9%. Although this was slightly lower than the 37.2% gross margin in Q3 2020, it increased 50bps compared to the 36.4% gross margin of the first half-year of 2021. The differences are related to product mix effects.

Adjusted EBITDA mounted to €9.7m (16.0% of revenues) compared with €7.5m (15.1% of revenues) in Q3 2020. Despite a slightly lower gross margin, the adjusted EBITDA increased because of operational leverage.



Outlook
Alfen still expects supply chain pressure to continue from Q4 well into 2022. This may result in some adverse impact. At the same time, Alfen continues to anticipate strong market developments for all its business lines and as such, continues to further invest in its organisation, facilities and innovations for the future. Alfen reconfirms its 2021 full-year revenue guidance of €225-250m.
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Webcast

Alfen will host a webcast at 9:00 CET this morning to comment on the 2021 Q3 trading update. Please see ir.alfen.com for details to participate.

Financial calendar
16 February 2022: 2021 full-year results
11 May 2022: 2022 Q1 trading update