- 2020 sales revenue: up 6% to €21.7 million, following Q4 growth of 87%
- Further decrease in operating expenses: down 36% compared with 2019
- Significant reduction in operating losses in H2 2020: €1.1 million versus €6.5 million in H1 2020
- Gross margin improvement to 21% vs. 6% in 2019, including 33% in H2 2020 vs. 4% in H1 2020
- Stronger cash position: €8.8 million
- Signature of order commitments amounting to €13.6 million for 2021
- Growth expected to accelerate in 2021, with a further improvement in profitability
Regulatory News:
BALYO (FR0013258399, Ticker: BALYO, eligible for PEA-PME plans) (Paris:BALYO), a technological leader in the design and development of innovative robotic solutions for material handling trucks, today announces its full-year 2020 results, as approved by the Board of Directors on March 17, 2021.
Pascal Rialland, CEO of BALYO, said: "2020 was an unprecedented year due to Covid-19 and the economic context, but BALYO is emerging stronger from the crisis because of the collective work and commitment of its teams. In practical terms, the impact of the commercial and operational strategy we implemented during the year was positive and very encouraging. We stepped up our digital marketing strategy, raising the profile of our technology platform with a growing number of industrial and logistics companies across all geographies, and particularly in Asia and the United States. Our main industrial partner renewed its order commitments and we signed numerous contracts with integrators, giving BALYO greater visibility across all of its business. Our commercial momentum should also receive a boost as we ramp up our direct sales capabilities. As a result, we are confident that our profitability will continue to improve significantly in 2021, and that we will achieve robust growth. Our range of robotic solutions for warehouses, which can be deployed rapidly and generate strong ROI, combined with our enhanced operational and marketing strategy, means that we are ideally placed for 2021."
Full-year 2020 results*
€ million | 2019 | 2020 |
Sales revenue | 20.43 | 21.68 |
Cost of sales | -19.14 | -17.11 |
Gross profit | 1.29 | 4.57 |
Gross margin | 6.0% | 21.0% |
Research and development | -5.94 | -3.86 |
Sales and marketing | -5.88 | -2.28 |
Overheads | -6.97 | -5.99 |
Share-based payment expense | -0.11 | -0.04 |
Operating loss | -17.61 | -7.54 |
Financial expense | -0.15 | -0.37 |
Tax | 0.06 | ns |
Net loss | -17.70 | -7.91 |
Cash position | 4.56 | 8.79 |
* The consolidated financial statements have been audited, and the Statutory Auditor's report will be issued once the management report has been verified and once the required procedures have been completed.
As previously announced, 2020 sales revenue amounted to €21.7 million incorporating the IFRS 2 charge associated with the allocation of BSA equity warrants.After adding the €4.8 million of orders received in Q4 2020, the backlog was €8.2 million at December 31, 2020. Together with the recent minimum order commitment of €13.6 million from Linde Material Handling and the new sales channels established, this provides a solid outlook for the year to come.
Gross margin was 21% in 2020 versus 6% in 2019, clearly showing the success of the operational strategy adopted in previous periods, through which BALYO has carried out a great deal of work to improve its installation, training and quality control processes. In particular, the shift towards selling robotic kits has played a large part in these improvements.
Operating expenses continued to decline in the second half of 2020, showing a reduction of 36% over the period. These reductions were mainly driven by a better allocation of our payroll expenses along with a decline in marketing expenses in connection with the Covid-19 situation.
BALYO made an operating loss of €7.5 million in 2020, of which a loss of €6.5 million in the first half of 2020. Overall, and including a financial expense of €0.4 million related to foreign exchange losses, the net loss amounted to €7.9 million in 2020 versus €17.7 million in 2019.
The obtention of a €9.5 million French State-guaranteed loan, associated with the good cash management, meant that BALYO's financial resources totaled to €8.8 million at December 31, 2020 as opposed to €4.6 million at end-2019.
Strategy and outlook
In 2021, BALYO should benefit from the growing positive effect of new operational business drivers, efforts to strengthen its sales department, commercial partnerships with integrators, greater commercial independence supporting direct sales, and technological progress achieved in 2020. The minimum order commitment from Linde Material Handling, amounting to €13.6 million in 2021 as opposed to €12 million in 2020, up by 13%, shows the increasing acknowledgment of the unique quality our robotic solutions and their readiness to now be fully deployed in all types of industrial environments.
BALYO's cost-cutting strategy has also drastically reduced the breakeven point of its business, which now represents sales revenue of around €25 million.
In 2021, building on these many developments, BALYO is aiming to achieve faster growth and maintain the significant improvement in its operating profitability.
BALYO's annual financial report will shortly be available in the investors section of the BALYO website: https://www.balyo.fr/Societe/Investisseurs
Next financial release: first quarter 2021 sales revenue on April 22, 2021.
ABOUT BALYO
Balyo transforms standard forklift trucks into standalone intelligent robots thanks to its breakthrough proprietary Driven by Balyo technology. The geoguidance navigation system developed by Balyo allows vehicles equipped with the system to locate their position and navigate autonomously inside buildings. Within the automated handling vehicle market, Balyo has entered into two strategic agreements with Kion Group AG (Linde Material Handling's parent company) and Hyster-Yale Group, two major operators in the material handling sector. Balyo is present in three major geographic regions (Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific). Its sales revenue reached €21.7 million in 2020.
For more information, please visit our website at www.balyo.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210318005818/en/
Contacts:
BALYO
Frank Chuffart
investors@balyo.com
NewCap
Financial Communication and Investor Relations
Thomas Grojean Louis-Victor Delouvrier
Tel: +33 1 44 71 98 53
balyo@newcap.eu