Gauzy Ltd. Q1 FY2025 Earnings Call

Thank you, Operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Hosting the call today are Gauzy's CEO and Co-Founder, Eyal Peso, and Chief Financial Officer, Meir Peleg. On this call, management will be making forward-looking statements, not historical facts, which are based on management's current expectations, beliefs, projections and assumptions, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from our forward-looking statements if any of our key expectations, beliefs, projections, or assumptions are incorrect because of other factors discussed in today's earnings news release and the comments made during this conference call or in our latest report and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, each of which can be found on our website, www.gauzy.com. We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements. This call contains time-sensitive information that is accurate only as of today, May 13, 2025. Except as required by law, Gauzy disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any information to reflect events or circumstances that occur after this call. Today's presentation also includes references to non-GAAP financial measures. You should refer to the information contained in the company's first quarter press release for definitional information and reconciliations of historical non-GAAP measures to the comparable financial measures. With that, let me turn the call over to Eyal.

Thank you very much, Dan, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today as we discuss our first quarter 2025 results. For today's call, I'd like you to focus on three key takeaways. First, our solid first quarter performance in the face of global uncertainty for our customers, which underscores the strength of our business model and the growing demand for our technologies. Second, the significant business milestones we've achieved during the quarter and subsequent to its end that will drive our growth in 2025 and beyond. Third, we have signed the first $10 million out of a previously announced $20 million planned debt financing under significantly more favorable terms as compared to our borrowings as a private company. And finally, our reaffirmed 2025 guidance supported by a strong backlog of purchase orders and enhanced balance sheets. We delivered a solid start to the year despite a two to three-week period in March 2025 of market uncertainty as customers attempted to assess tariff impacts and risks. Revenue growth in the automotive and Safety Tech divisions was offset by some timing shifts in deliveries in the Aero and Architecture divisions, which we expect to revert to a more normal cadence across the balance of the year. This view is supported by the record spike in the backlog of purchase orders to be shipped in the next few months. We're excited to execute against the backlog after a quarter in which we demonstrated our ability to deliver significant gross margin expansion as we accelerate revenues into the back half of 2025. Now let me highlight some of the key business milestones we achieved during the first quarter and subsequent period. On our last call, we told you about our new black SPD Smart Lap technology introduced at CES, our partnership with Journeo to enhance London's 8,500 bus fleet with ADAS, our partnership with Ambarella to enhance ADAS for customers such as Ford Trucks, and our FMCSA Exemption Renewal to accelerate adoption of ADAS in commercial vehicles across the U.S. I'll now focus my comments on three recent announcements. First, we announced that Air France KLM Group has selected our advanced shading system for the new La Première first-class suites in the Boeing 777 aircraft. These five-window suites represent a significant opportunity in the airline shading market, valued at $600 million annually with a 6.4% projected growth through 2028. Gauzy has captured over 95% of the cockpit shading market and works with OEMs, including Embraer, HondaJet, Daher, and others. The double-pleated system allows passengers to choose between translucent and blackout settings while providing centralized control for crew members. This is another example of our goal of transferring our cockpit shading success to cabin applications. Second, we announced that Mercedes-Benz has implemented our Smart Glass technologies in 75% of the glazing in the new Vision V show car, which premiered in the Auto Show in Shanghai 2025. This marks Mercedes-Benz's first use of Gauzy's dual-technology windows, combining SPD and PDLC for enhanced shading, privacy, and digital application. Mercedes-Benz previously used SPD in its Magic Sky control. In the Vision V, these technologies allow transitions between transparent, shaded, and private states while creating projection surfaces. The solution reduces glare and cabin temperature while maintaining visibility. A segmented PDLC partition provides flexible privacy between cabins. And importantly, today we're excited to announce the ramp-up of shipments for the serial production of the Cadillac Celestique EV with a four-zone SPD sunroof, marking the continuation of business with GM. These collaborations with Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz are yet another example of growing demand for our automotive smart glass technologies, with the market projected to reach $25 billion by 2028. Before I turn it over to Meir, I want to emphasize that our backlog of purchase orders, which was below $31 million at yearend 2024, expanded to almost $36 million at the end of March, indicative of the strong continued demand for our product. As a reminder, purchase order backlog represents orders we have in hand and expect to ship in the next few months. The entire Gauzy organization is excited to deliver on this tremendous momentum. With that, I will turn it over to Meir for an update on Gauzy's financial results.

Thank you, Eyal. I'd like to begin by providing a detailed overview of our first quarter 2025 financial results, which highlights the strength of our customer relationships and the fast improvement in operational efficiency as we progress towards our long-term financial objectives. For the first quarter, we generated revenues of $22.4 million, compared to $24.7 million in the prior year period. We saw growth in both Automotive and Safety Tech as compared to prior year period. This was offset by Aero and Architecture, where we experienced a momentary pause towards the end of the quarter as customers sought to determine any potential tariff impacts. Importantly, we saw no cancellations, and in certain cases by the end of the quarter and subsequent to its end, customers placed orders above their contractual minimums. Even with the revenue dynamic, our gross margin increased to 25.6%, compared to 25.1% in the prior year period. This 50 basis points expansion was primarily the result of improved operational efficiencies, which continues our progress towards profitability. Total operating expenses for the first quarter were $14.4 million, down 9% compared to $15.8 million in the prior year quarter. This decrease was mainly due to lower R&D, G&A, and sales and marketing expenses, partially offset by higher D&A. Adjusted EBITDA in the quarter was negative $5.5 million, compared to negative $4.8 million in the prior year quarter. This decrease was primarily driven by the factors already discussed for gross profit and operating expenses. Now, turning to our segmented results, starting with Safety Tech. Revenue in the segment was $10.8 million in the first quarter, up 1.5% compared to $10.7 million in the prior year quarter. The growth was driven by continued demand across the segment for our clients. Gross margin improved dramatically to 19.7%, compared to 12.8% in the prior year period, primarily due to the benefit of scale. In Aero, revenue was $7.6 million in the first quarter, down 24.6% compared to $10.1 million in the prior year quarter. Gross margin was 33.9%, compared to 44.1% in the prior year period. This decline reflects momentary pauses, as customers sought to determine any potential tariff impact and the resulting shifting of some shipments in the second quarter. In Architecture, revenue was $2.4 million in the first quarter, down 8.2%, compared to $2.6 million in the prior year quarter. As we have said before, Architectural revenues can be particularly lumpy throughout the year, though this quarter was also impacted by macro uncertainties, similar to what I just discussed in Aero. Gross margin expanded to 32.1%, up from 48.9% in the prior year period, driven primarily by the benefit of scale and operational efficiencies. In Automotive, revenue was $1.5 million in the first quarter, compared to $1.3 million in the prior year quarter. The dramatic gross margin improvement we delivered is aligned with the broader operational improvements we are making across GAUZ. We expect our Automotive segment to continue showing improved results in 2025, as our new programs with major OEMs begin to ramp up, as well as the beginning of recent serial production wins. Turning to our balance sheet and liquidity position, we ended the quarter with total liquidity of $36.2 million, including $1.2 million of cash and cash equivalents, and $35 million of available capacity under our undrawn credit line. Total debt at quarter end was $37.3 million, including $12.5 million of short-term receivable financing. In terms of cash flow, our first quarter results included cash use in operating activities of $0.6 million, a significant improvement from a use of $6.9 million in the prior year period. The result was free cash flow of negative $2.3 million compared to negative $8.4 million in the prior year quarter. We're excited today to announce that subsequent to quarter end, we signed a new $10 million debt facility with Mizrahi, the third largest bank in Israel. This is important because it's the first step in securing a total of $20 million of debt financing as previously announced. We have obtained this debt financing at much more favorable terms as compared to our pre-IPO lending facility. The improvements include a 370 basis point interest rate reduction and no prepayment penalties. This increased liquidity and enhanced working capital in turn supports our full-year goals. I'm also pleased to announce that we are reiterating our guidance for full year 2025. We continue to expect revenue to be in the range of $130 million to $140 million, representing more than 30% growth at the midpoint compared to 2024. Based on the benefit of scale, favorable operating leverage and strong recurring revenue base that we have, we also reaffirm adjusted EBITDA to be positive for the full year 2025. Given our typical seasonality related to visibility into our end market, we expect the second half to be stronger than the first half and drive a full year growth and profitability. This guidance reflects the strong demand we're seeing across all of our segments, the growing adoption of our technology by leading OEMs and the expanded production capacity we're putting in place to meet this demands.

Thank you, Meir. As we look across the balance of 2025, we remain incredibly excited about the opportunities in front of us. Even with the uncertainty in the markets, the momentum in our business continues to build. Direct impact from tariffs on Gauzy has been minimal and customer purchase orders remain strong. We're excited for what this year holds for us. The resilience of our long-term backlog, growing pipeline of innovation and enhanced liquidity position with our new debt facility reinforce our confidence in our growth trajectory. We'll continue investing in innovation, expanding our leadership in light and vision control technologies. Our future product roadmap includes promising developments across all four business divisions that we expect to accelerate adoption and expand our markets. Operationally, we're focused on scaling efficiently, balancing growth with margin expansion and progress toward profitability. We remain well positioned to deliver our reiterated 2025 guidance, accelerating growth and delivering outstanding value. In closing, I want to express my gratitude to our employees, customers, partners, and shareholders for their continued support and confidence in Gauzy. Thank you for your time today. Now we'll open up the line for questions.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Our first question comes from Dan Levy from Barclays. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking the questions. Wanted to first just start with a question on the cadence, and I appreciate the commentary that there were some delays in Architecture, Aerospace, and that the second half is going to be stronger than the first half. But what's the line of sight on second quarter? And what's the line of sight on converting that backlog order book that you have into firm revenue? Should we expect a sharp step up in the second quarter on revenue for the quarter?

Hi, Dan. This is Eyal. Thanks for joining and thanks for the question. To start with the end, basically, yes. I think that if you look at what we have reported shipping in Q1 and then add that to our POs in the backlog to be shipped soon, so, yeah, you should expect Q2 to always, as always, but also to be as strong as expected. And we reiterated, reaffirmed the guidance for the full year right now mid-Q2 because even though the last two weeks, last three weeks of March, there was some hesitance among customers regarding shipments, we could see that there's a clear path ahead. And if you remember, April 2 was Liberation Day where there was determination about tariffs, leading to a lot of questions and some hesitation in March. But nothing affected the business, and it's important for me to emphasize that again. We had no cancellations. It's a little bit of push. In the last two weeks of March, there was uncertainty, especially with products that were just ready for shipment. All the business is there. More than anything, I'd like to say that the cadence within Q2 and the POs we have now to ship is as good, if not better than what we saw in late December or early 2025. So that's why we're confident that we're going to deliver on our guidance for the full year.

Okay. Thank you. Second, if we could just go into the free cash flow. So you did EBITDA of roughly negative $5 million, negative $6 million, but the free cash flow was substantially better. So could you just talk about what the offsets were? Is it one-time benefits on working capital, some reversals there and how sustainable that is?

So as you can see, good morning first, it's Meir here. As you can see, the cash flow, the main impact on the cash flow is the working capital. Part of it is timely, but it comes from a strong and continuous effort on cash management, including, for instance, our payment terms with suppliers, financing invoices, which gives us cash much faster and improves our cash flow overall.

I'd like to add that a big part of this, and we should expect that throughout the year towards being cash flow positive in 2026 is, every 30 days we can get better terms from our suppliers or advance payments. This greatly impacts our cash inflow and operational cash flow for this quarter.

Okay. Thanks. If I could just squeeze in one more, what's the line of sight on that additional $10 million financing that you talked about?

So it's basically done. It's all signed. Between signing and closing, there are a few deliverables that we need to provide, but I see no risk here. It should close hopefully even this week or maybe next week. Regarding the second $10 million, again, I don't want to give a commitment, but we're trying our best to sign that off, ideally before Q2 ends or early Q3. That’s my expectation.

Thank you. And the next question comes from Josh Nichols from B. Riley Securities. Your line is now open. Please go ahead and ask your question.

Hi, this is Matthew on for Josh Nichols. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess to start off touching on the macro uncertainty that caused the hiccup in Q1. You did say it's mainly based off peak uncertainty on Liberation Day. From there, do things look smoother in terms of orders and timing, or what should we look out for in terms of possible additional hiccups in the future?

Hi, this is Eyal. Thanks for the question. So I want to clarify this again: There has been minimal impact from tariffs on Gauzy's real business. However, for production companies importing products into the U.S., March was characterized by hesitation and uncertainty regarding where to take products from. But all of Gauzy's finished goods are ready, and if you just look at the POs reported, you're seeing about $60 million that has already shipped or will be shipped very soon. Thus, the business is strong and our guidance for the rest of the year stands. This is why we're confident about our outcomes, despite these hiccups.

Got it. Very helpful. And regarding the large spike in purchase orders, which segment would you say is getting most of those orders or what is the split there?

On the backlog, we have a very good mixture. Safety Tech saw about $17 million or $18 million in orders. Aero has about $15.5 million, an increase of $2.5 million from last year. A unique situation of around $6 million in Automotive that shows great visibility to our smart glass portion. Overall, we're well-positioned and have good visibility to increase our production significantly with significant demand coming from all segments.

Got it. Thank you. And I guess last one for me, it's somewhat of a related question. To get to your guidance of full-year EBITDA profitability, what segments or products are you most excited about? What do you see getting you there?

To achieve EBITDA positivity for the full year 2025, every segment is vital. However, the significant contributors will be driven largely by improvements in Aero, along with growth in Safety Tech, which has shown remarkable gross margin improvements recently. The operational discipline we've implemented will ensure aligned expenses with our growth.

Great. Thank you. Good morning, everybody. I just had two follow-ups. First, maybe to pick up off the last question, could you just talk a little about what you expect for OpEx directionally for the rest of the year? I think they came down in Q1. Just curious how you're thinking about that for the rest of 2025.

Hi, Itay. Good morning, and thanks for the question. Expect steady OpEx. We're going to be very disciplined in that area. The Q1 OpEx gives us a good baseline, and we're prepared to support larger growth as we approach the stronger quarters. Yes, there may be some increases primarily in sales and marketing as we grow, but overall we intend to be careful with our expenses to maintain a positive EBITDA.

As Eyal said, we don't expect 2025 to see positive free cash flow. We anticipate that to happen in 2026. It's important to understand that we will have a negative free cash flow in 2025.

And just to reiterate, improving working capital by increasing payment terms with suppliers is crucial. Every 30-day extension brings significant cash flow benefits and can positively change the operational cash outflow. Our target is to increase our net terms to enhance cash operations as we progress. Thank you very much for joining us today. We look forward to future discussions and announcements to update you on our progress. Have a great rest of your day. Thank you, everyone.

Thank you. This concludes our conference call for today. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect.