First Quarter Report 2024
First Quarter Report 2024
Serstech Group – Key Figures
- Net sales amounted to KSEK 14 174 (12 337), an increase of 15%.
- EBITDA amounted to KSEK 1 368 (1 305), corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 10%.
- EBIT amounted to KSEK -522 (-1 642), corresponding to an EBIT margin of -4%.
- Cash flow from operating activities amounted to KSEK 1 627 (-1 570).
- Earnings per share amounted to SEK -0.00 (-0.01).
- Earnings per average number of shares amounted to SEK -0.00 (-0.01).
Message from the CEO
The strong growth that resumed in 2023 continues into 2024, and by the end of the quarter, the total order intake was above 25.6 MSEK. We invoiced 14.1 MSEK of these in Q1, with the remaining 11.5 MSEK to be invoiced and delivered in April. Despite the rapid pace of orders and increasing volumes, we continue to deliver on time on all orders. The operational cashflow for Q1 was 1627 KSEK and EBITDA 1368 KSEK.
Several of the orders we received were repeat orders from existing customers – in Singapore, South Korea and Chile. In our early commercial phase, in 2018 and 2019, every order was the first time we sold in a country and the first time a new partner made a sale. As partners become more experienced and Serstech becomes more established, our effort for each order is reduced and our sales team can increase their focus on business development and to strengthen and help partners that are yet to make their first sale.
We added a European Sales Director in December, and a Senior Optics Specialist joins our Swedish R&D team in April. With these two persons in place, we have no further open positions and have no need to expand the team further in 2024. In 2023, we focused our efforts on creating an efficient, well-defined organization and making sure all processes were in place. As a result, we are confident that we can continue our growth journey without adding any significant fixed cost for at least the rest of the year.
For almost 18 months, we have been working on our next generation Raman instrument. The new product is launched in April 2024, and is called Serstech Arx mkII. The new instrument has the same appearance and almost the same name as the current one. The similarity is intentional, to allow us to replace the previous products in already ongoing sales projects without disruption. The Serstech Arx mkII contains latest-generation electronics, which reduces the risk of component shortage and speeds up the substance matching speed significantly. Optical upgrades dramatically improve its ability to obtain chemical spectra and the significantly improved algorithms improve the matching against our libraries. We also launch a mobile version of ChemDash, a biotoxins reference library, communication protocols for military networks and Bluetooth for connection to peripheral devices.
The military communication capability will strengthen our position in the US and with Nato customers. In the past, communication to and from Raman instruments has been uncommon, but we are starting to see requirements for this now. Our software and connectivity focus has put us in pole position to grab these opportunities over the coming years. The military network communication module we added will make Serstech Arx mkII the first and only Raman product that can function in US military networks and with military infrastructure.
We expect to remain at or above our long-term goal of at least 50% growth per year on average over a five-year period. The market remains larger than normal, driven by the pent-up demand from the pandemic, the increasing narcotics problems, the war in Ukraine and the risk of war in other regions. In 2024, one of our focus areas is to reduce our COGS to allow a continued increase of our gross margins, while maintaining a similar fixed cost level as in 2023. We expect to be debt-free by September 2024 and based on the growing opportunity pipeline, we believe that we will continue to improve our net profitability over the coming years.
Stefan Sandor, CEO
April 2024
The full report can be found here.
For further information, please contact:
Stefan Sandor,
CEO, Serstech AB Phone: +46 739 606 067
Email: ss@serstech.com
or
Thomas Pileby,
Chairman of the Board, Serstech AB Phone: +46 702 072 643
Email: tp@serstech.com
or visit: www.serstech.com
This is information that Serstech AB (publ.) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above at 12:00 CET on April 29, 2024.
Certified advisor to Serstech is Svensk Kapitalmarknadsgranskning AB (SKMG).
About Serstech
Serstech delivers solutions for chemical identification and has customers around the world, mainly in the safety and security industry. Typical customers are customs, police authorities, security organizations and first responders. The solutions and technology are however not limited to security applications and potentially any industry using chemicals of some kind could be addressed by Serstech’s solution. Serstech’s head office is in Sweden and all production is done in Sweden.
Serstech is traded at Nasdaq First North Growth Market and more information about the company can be found at www.serstech.com
