Polestar Automotive Holding UK PLC Q4 FY2025 Earnings Call

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Polestar Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results Conference Call. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Anna Gavrilova. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone. I'm Anna Gavrilova, Head of Investor Relations at Polestar. Thank you for joining this call covering Polestar's results for the fourth quarter and full year 2025. I'm joined by Michael Lohscheller, Polestar's CEO; and Jean-Francois Mady, Polestar's CFO, who will comment on the performance, and then we will open the floor to analysts' questions. Before we start, I would like to remind participants that many of our comments today will be considered forward-looking statements under the U.S. federal securities laws and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause Polestar's actual results to differ materially from what has been communicated. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the future financial performance of the company, production and delivery volumes, financial and operating results, near-term outlook and medium-term targets, fundraising and funding requirements, macroeconomic and industry trends, company initiatives and other future events. Forward-looking statements made today are effective only as of today, and Polestar undertakes no obligation to update any of its forward-looking statements. For a discussion of some of the factors that could cause our actual results to differ, please review the risk factors contained in our SEC filings. In addition, management may make references to non-GAAP financial measures during the call. A discussion of why we use non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measure can be found in the appendix of the press release and in the Form 6-K published today. Now I will hand over to Michael.

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today as we present our full year 2025 results and provide an update on recent developments across the business. As you are all aware, the world around us continues to throw up challenges, but we are making good progress, and we are focusing on delivering against our strategy. I want to update you on the most recent developments within technology, our financing situation and future model lineup expansion. But before that, a few words on the year that just passed. 2025 was a record year for Polestar in terms of retail sales. We delivered over 60,100 cars during the year, in line with our guidance of 30% to 35% growth and a new record for our young brand, an achievement to be proud of given the competition and market conditions. 2025 was also a year in which we took significant steps to adapt our commercial strategy and footprint—an important foundation for our future growth and journey towards profitability. We accelerated the expansion of our network of retailers by 50% from 140 to 210 retail sales points and have worked hard to improve our operational efficiency, while also preparing for the company's largest ever model offensive which we presented in February. During the fourth quarter, we made several announcements that reinforce our position as a technology leader in the EV segment. The upgraded model year '26 Polestar 3, which is being tested by the world's leading automotive media in the U.K. this week, has received several upgrades, including an 800-volt architecture, which means our flagship SUV offers customers charging speeds of up to 350 kilowatts and peak power up to 500 kilowatts, and 6% better efficiency. It also has an upgraded NVIDIA processor, taking its computing power from 30 to 254 trillion operations per second. The same upgrade is also being offered to all existing Polestar 3 customers. We are the first OEM to integrate Google's Live Lane Guidance in our cars. It's already being rolled out to Polestar 4 for customers across the U.S. and Sweden with more to come. Further evidence of our strong relationship with Google came in November when we demoed Google's AI-based Gemini assistant in Polestar 5. This service brings a whole new level of interaction and experience to our cars and it will be rolled out via over-the-air updates to existing Polestar customers. We have made solid progress on securing additional financing in the last month. Starting in December 2025 through a series of three equity financing rounds, we have raised $1 billion of new external equity with the support of Geely Sweden Holdings. These placements strengthen our balance sheet and widen our shareholder base. Concurrently, we have announced agreements with Volvo Cars and Geely Sweden Holdings for the conversion of approximately $640 million of shareholder loans to equity. These conversions, once completed, will reinforce our liquidity profile and maintain Volvo Cars' ownership in Polestar at approximately 19.9%. Both the equity funding rounds and the debt-to-equity conversions are a clear sign of the continued support that we enjoy from our major shareholders. In February, we presented the details of our largest ever model lineup expansion with four new cars planned in the next three years. Polestar 5, our four-door GT, which was presented during the end of last year, is expected to start deliveries in the summer. This car sets a whole new standard in the EV performance segment, combining design, performance and luxury in a way that has never been done before. Later this year, we will bring a new variant of Polestar 4 to the market. Our global best seller, which represented 65% of our deliveries in the first quarter of this year, will bring even more versatility to an already compelling car. This will help us to address a wider segment and offer more customers an alternative based on their lifestyle and needs. First deliveries are expected to start in the fourth quarter, with production for all markets taking place in Busan, South Korea. Our next model will be the next-generation Polestar 2, the car that built Polestar's brand with over 190,000 Polestar 2s on the road. This car already has a huge following and customer base, which we have an opportunity to capitalize on. Completely redesigned with the latest in drivetrain, battery and UX technology, Polestar 2 will play an important role in our future success. Our compact premium SUV, Polestar 7, provides an attractive entry point to the brand, offering a level of performance and design that this segment lacks today. The pace at which we are developing and bringing those models to market is a testament to the value of our asset-light model, our ability to work in close collaboration with partners, and a sign of our underlying ambitions for more profitable growth, targeting wider, more profitable segments. Before handing over to Jean-Francois for the financial details, I'd like to just spend a moment reflecting on the first quarter of this year, 2026. Our sales team has worked incredibly hard to carry over our record performance in '25 into the start of this year. Our retail sales in the first quarter totaled some 13,100 cars, a record number for a first quarter, translating into a year-on-year growth of 7%. Europe remains our largest region, and we saw particularly strong sales increases in some of our most important markets, including the U.K., which grew by 20%, Sweden, which grew by 17%, and Germany, which grew by 35%. Outside of Europe, we performed well across several markets, most notably in Australia and South Korea, two established markets that delivered strong growth. In the U.S., changes to government policies have had a negative impact on EV demand in general, but the launch of Polestar 4 across North America is off to a good start with strong media reviews and good customer feedback. Growing at near double digits in the current market, given our relatively young age compared to the competition, shows what's possible when you have an engaged and growing network of retailers, an established service network and great cars. Interest from existing and potential regional partners remains high, and we expect to grow our network to reach approximately 250 sales points by the end of this year, a growth of 20% compared to the end of 2025. Market conditions are becoming more challenging amid ongoing geopolitical developments. But as I've said before, we are fully focused on proactively handling the issues and challenges that are within our control and building the stronger Polestar. I'll hand now over to Jean-Francois and look forward to taking your questions in a few minutes. Thank you.

Thank you, Michael. Good morning, good afternoon, everyone. 2025 was a year of record retail sales for Polestar, as Michael highlighted. And consequently, we achieved substantial revenue growth and a near breakeven adjusted gross profit. We also made meaningful progress on cost discipline and organizational efficiency, and we improved our capital structure profile and liquidity position. This performance was delivered despite a challenging market, exerting pressure on pricing and a geopolitical environment that led to higher tariffs and duties in 2025. Looking at the financial results for the full year 2025 and as preannounced, retail sales exceeded 60,000 cars. This represented an increase of 34% year-on-year in line with our growth target of 30% to 35%. The growth was driven by the continued transition to an active selling model and consequently an accelerated retail sales network expansion, leveraging our attractive model lineup. The Polestar 4 group, our best-selling model, made up just over half of the volume. By geography, we saw particularly strong performances in Europe, led by the U.K., Germany, Belgium, and the Nordic region, and in Asia Pacific with South Korea. Europe, including the Nordics, delivered 78% of our total volume. Throughout last year, our U.S. business was challenged by higher tariffs, regulation and policy changes. For example, changes in regulation meant that the value of compliance credits used by the company to offset lower efficiency fleet decreased. Furthermore, at the end of the third quarter, the tax credit for EV purchases expired. This market represented 7% of our retail sales, down from 14% in 2024. We operate in 28 countries worldwide, including 17 in our key regions of Europe. In cooperation with our partners, we opened 71 new sales points and signed up 54 new retailers in 2025. Most of this expansion was in Europe. Volume growth and our offer of three models translated into significant revenue growth of 50% year-on-year to surpass $3 billion. The increase in revenue of over $1 billion was driven by a higher volume effect of $559 million and higher revenue per vehicle as a result of favorable mix development of $271 million. Carbon credit revenue was higher by $181 million under the new EU pool agreement. However, these positive factors were partially offset by pressure on pricing. Of the total sale of carbon credits of $211 million, $192 million is booked in revenue and $19 million is booked in other operating income. We have achieved the target of a three-digit million dollar amount in 2025 as we guided in January 2025 and expect a similar level in 2026. Gross margin was a negative 35% in 2025 due to impairment expenses of USD 1.1 billion for Polestar 2, Polestar 3 and internal development projects which include Polestar 5. The key factors driving the impairment were changes in regulation and policies and tariffs leading to higher production costs, mounting pressure on pricing, slower demand in the upper EV premium segment and competitive dynamics. Overall, adjusted gross margin, which excludes the impairment expenses and other unusual items, improved to a near breakeven level of negative 0.7% from negative 12.5% a year ago. Positive developments contributing to the improvement of the adjusted gross margin were: first, a growing share of Polestar 4 and the improvement of geographical sales mix; secondly, the increase in carbon credit revenue of $181 million; and finally, continuous product cost reduction being delivered through commercial negotiation and de-contenting initiatives, driving lower cost of materials, content and batteries. Cost of sales, excluding impairment expenses, increased in line with higher volume and related production. There was further impact from higher duties and tariffs. Selling, general and administrative expenses improved by $34 million compared to 2024. Headcount reduction of almost 25%, optimized marketing and administrative spending and overall cost discipline resulted in cost savings worth USD 100 million, a 12% decrease year-on-year. However, these SG&A savings were partially offset by higher sales agent remuneration, which increased by $65 million in line with higher sales volume. Research and development expenses were $78 million, up from USD 38 million in the prior year, driven by additional spending on new programs with a lower capitalization rate. In 2025, net loss results primarily reflect the impairment expenses. Adjusted EBITDA loss of $783 million narrowed by 27% or close to $300 million of improvement as we reached the near breakeven adjusted gross profit and optimized SG&A. If we look at the result of the fourth quarter, retail sales exceeded 15,600 cars in the quarter, an increase of 27% compared with the fourth quarter of 2024. Revenue was USD 887 million, up 54% year-on-year, supported mainly by higher volume, a favorable model and channel mix evolution, carbon credit sales of USD 88 million, lower adjustment of residual value guarantees related to the North American markets and positive foreign exchange impact, partly offset by pressure on pricing. Gross margin improved in the quarter year-on-year by 109 percentage points, but remained still negative at 38%, largely due to significantly lower impairment expenses of $340 million booked in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to $622 million booked in the fourth quarter of 2024. Adjusted gross margin improved to a positive 2% versus a negative margin of 39% in the comparable period, supported by a favorable product and geographical sales mix with the proportion of Polestar 4 in the sales mix at 66%, of which 84% of Polestar 4 cars were sold in Europe. Higher carbon credit sales of $88 million versus $11 million in the comparable period and lower residual value guarantee adjustments related to the North America market also supported the improvement. The positive effects were partially offset by pressure on pricing and higher duties and tariffs. The net loss for the quarter was USD 799 million, an improvement of 32% compared to the prior year period, mainly due to factors explained earlier and lower impairment expenses in the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA improved substantially to negative $223 million compared with negative $470 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. This improvement was driven by adjusted gross profit turning from negative $224 million in the fourth quarter of '24 to positive $17 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. On the funding of our operations and liquidity, with strong support of Geely Holding, Polestar secured in total USD 1.2 billion of new equity investment from existing investors and external financial institutions from June 2025 to March 2026. In June 2025, we raised $200 million of new equity from PSD Investment and existing investors and an entity that is controlled by Mr. Li Shufu, Founder and Chairman of Geely Holding Group. Since December 2025, we have raised a further $1 billion from a number of institutions over three rounds. The share price at which these investments were raised was $19.34. Through this transaction, we broadened our shareholder base and improved our free float to over 40%. Moreover, our partners, Geely Sweden and Volvo Cars, agreed to convert into Polestar equity approximately $639 million of the respective outstanding shareholder loan owned by Polestar under relevant agreements, of which Volvo Cars converted the first tranche into Polestar equity and the maturity of the remaining balance of the shareholder loan was extended to December 2031. Geely Sweden is expected to convert about $300 million into Polestar equity later this quarter. After this event, Volvo Cars is expected to convert a further $65 million to maintain its shareholding in Polestar at 19.9%. This transaction—raising equity from existing and external sources and debt-to-equity conversion by our partners—is a major step towards enhancing our capital structure and liquidity position and helping Polestar to strengthen its balance sheet. We are grateful for the continued support shown by Geely Holding and their confidence in Polestar's vision. In terms of loan facilities in 2025, we secured about $1.6 billion worth of new 12-month term facilities and renewed about $3 billion of existing 12-month term facilities. These facilities allow for efficient funding of Polestar's operating and investing activities. Our cash position at the end of December 2025 was approximately USD 1.2 billion. We continuously engage in a constructive dialogue with our club loan lenders. Polestar exited the year in compliance with all its covenants and the club loan members agreed to amend covenants for 2026. In terms of guidance for 2026, we reiterate a low double-digit growth rate for retail sales volume with progress through the year and in line with seasonality. The sales mix will continue to evolve to include a greater share of the Polestar 4 group, our best-selling model, and later in 2026, the new Polestar 4 variant, Polestar 4 SUV. To conclude, our priorities remain: first, driving growth through the active selling model and our expanding sales network and leveraging our attractive model lineup; second, improving processes, streamlining the organization and finding further operational synergies; third, extracting efficiencies and sustaining cost cutting and financial discipline; and last but not least, focusing on cash conversion cycle management and exploring sources of future funding. Now I will hand over back to the operator.

We will now take the first question from the line of Andres Sheppard from Cantor Fitzgerald.

This is Anand on for Andres. Just to kick us off, maybe I was wondering how much of a headwind do you expect from tariffs and geopolitics given the significant manufacturing in China? And do you expect the plant in the U.S. and South Carolina to offset this a little bit? Can you give us some color there?

Yes. Thanks, Andres. So obviously, it's a time of uncertainty. That's fair to say. But I think the manufacturing footprint we set up is quite good because, as you know, we produce also in North America, now in South Korea and in China, but there is uncertainty. And obviously, we'll make sure we try to balance this as best as we can. That's also why in the midterm we want to localize more here in Europe, as we outlined. The Polestar 7, as a compact SUV, will come into a European facility. We consolidated the Polestar 3 in Charleston to have one manufacturing footprint for the Polestar 3, but it's fair to say it's a time of uncertainty.

Got you. I appreciate the color. And separately, with autonomy really becoming a significant theme in EVs, I was wondering if you could talk to us about how you view the space and maybe remind us of what your autonomy plans are with Polestar?

Yes. I mean that's an important topic for us because we stand for innovation. We have documented several times that we brought innovations early to our cars—for example, the Google build-in was one element. But autonomous driving is an important topic. It will not come overnight; it will come in steps. That's why, for example, the partnership with Mobileye but also access to the Geely ecosystem is important. We will go to Level 2, Level 2+ and then go step by step. It is a topic for the future because it makes life easier for consumers, but it comes gradually. So not overnight and also not from Level 2 to Level 4 in one step, but it is something we are very focused on. The good thing is that we have access to the technology through various partners, and it's a very dynamic field. We also want to take a leading position there.

We will now take the next question from the line of Dan Levy from Barclays.

It's Josh on for Dan Levy. So I have one and then a follow-up. First question for you after the headcount initiative last year. Can you just walk us through the latest cost initiatives and maybe the cadence of those?

Okay. So thanks, Dan, for the question. Indeed, we have achieved quite significant fixed cost reduction when it comes to headcount in 2025. We decreased headcount by 25%, which is a significant achievement. On top of that, we have optimized our marketing and communication spending. We will continue to look for more synergies moving forward. When it comes to cost reduction, I would like to emphasize product cost reduction where we have achieved relevant results in 2025 compared to 2024, especially on the Polestar 4 where we have reduced product cost by a low double-digit level year-over-year, which is a great achievement—not only in material but also in battery. We don't want to stop here. We'll continue focusing on product cost reductions through commercial negotiation, but also de-contenting of our product while not compromising the premium positioning. For us, it's very important to improve not only the product cost but also our fixed costs. We are well-oriented entering 2026, with more to come on those topics.

Great. And then just in terms of the latest outlook for monthly cash burn. Could you walk us through the puts and takes there and what we should keep in mind for this year and then going forward?

Yes. So in 2025, the level of cash burn is on average around USD 120 million per month. So I will say it's very similar to 2024 in total. Structurally, the cash burn is improving in the sense that we are improving our operating results. We have cut losses when it comes to adjusted EBITDA by USD 300 million year-over-year. When you look at working capital, we have decreased significantly the level of inventory by around 7,000 new vehicles year-over-year. However, this positive impact has been compensated by higher activity when it comes to receivables due to the increase of volume, but also higher cash out when it comes to our payables due to 2024 payables entering 2025. It is fair to recognize that when you look at the level of indebtedness, we have a heavy weight in terms of financial interest. Also, looking at the cash out related to our investing activities, we still had in 2025 a tail of cash out related to legacy programs. Entering 2026, we are going to continue improving operating results with all the actions that we have put in place: improvement of volume, sales mix and cost actions, as we discussed. Also fair to comment that due to the restructuring of our capital structure with the recent debt-to-equity conversion, the weight of financial interest in our operating cash flow will reduce. The same applies for CapEx cash out: during the last Strategy Day on February 18th we reiterated the fact that we wanted to move to a unique platform strategy and rely also on Geely Group technologies. That will help us to reduce CapEx cash out moving forward. So we are confident that the cash burn in 2026 should improve versus 2025.

There are no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the conference back to Michael Lohscheller, Polestar CEO, to conclude the call.

Yes. Thanks, everybody, for joining, and we'll be in touch as we review the Q1 results in three weeks' time together. So I wish you a wonderful day and talk to you soon. Bye-bye.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.