Paris, 28 March 2023 – NHOA (NHOA.PA, formerly Engie EPS) successfully met the upward revised guidance for 2022, giving full visibility on 2023 growth:
- €165.7 million Revenues and Other Income, almost 5x compared to FY2021
- Backlog and Purchase Orders at around €360 million
2022 has been a turning point for all Global Business Lines (“GBL”):
- Energy Storage is the growth engine of NHOA Group’s activities with:
- more than 9x Revenues year-on-year
- EBITDA of over €2 million
- Backlog at €301 million
- Order Intake over €240 million
- 1.4GWh of projects under construction
- over €1 billion Pipeline
- e-Mobility, despite a difficult year with supply chain issues and the reorganization started in November 2022, with the new CEO, Mathilde Lheureux, Free2move eSolutions reached:
- Sales of €11 million
- Purchase orders of approx. €60 million at the beginning of 2023
- EV Fastcharging Infrastructure, in slightly more than one year of activity, closed 2022 with:
- 2,000 fastcharging Points of Charge online and under construction
- Over 2,700 new sites in the pipeline
2022 Key Figures
Revenues and Other Income as of 31 December 2022 amount to €165.7 million, up 448% compared to 2021.
Increase in Revenues and Other Income is mainly driven by the €153.6 million revenues realized by the GBL Energy Storage and are mainly related to:
- the 200MWh Kwinana storage project with Synergy in Australia, that at the end of 2022 was approaching its commissioning phase
- the 107MWh Yingde project in China, whose main components, including batteries, have been delivered and whose installation is ongoing
- the first storage system in HePing, Taiwan, and its immediate expansion, for an aggregate of more than 33MWh, now in commercial operation
- engineering and production activities for the second largest storage system in HePing, Taiwan, currently in installation and approaching commissioning (311MWh)
- four projects in the Americas for an aggregate capacity of 78.8MWh
- the portfolio of Fast Reserve projects in Italy, all approaching commercial operation
The eMobility GBL contributes for €11.4 million to consolidated revenues and EV Fastcharging Infrastructure booked its first revenues, for €0.6 million.
The 9.1% Gross margin including non-recurring item is mainly due to the revenue mix, where the Energy Storage GBL’s turnkey contracting business model weights heavier than the capital-intensive manufacturing and infrastructure GBLs. However, in 2022 the Energy Storage GBL marginality was affected by an unusual contribution of lower-margin civil works and interconnection activities, not expected to recur in the future.
Backlog totals €301 million, represented by 1,384MWh in Australia, Taiwan, China, Latin America, US and Europe, increasing by 56% compared to the Backlog communicated with the FY2021 Results.
Pipeline in the Energy Storage GBL reaches €1,043 million, +36% compared to the pipeline announced with the FY2021 Results. Given the over €200 million Order Intake confirmed at the end of the period, this is equivalent to a 32% conversion rate over 2022 and a year-on-year backlog increase of 56% despite the step change in Revenue generation.
Personnel costs reached €30.6 million, more than doubling compared to €14.7 million in 2021, in line with the increase in headcount. As of 31 December 2022, NHOA Group has 451 employees (from 31 nationalities) compared to 236 at the end of FY2021. The strengthening of the workforce is mainly due to the ramp-up of the EV Fastcharging Infrastructure GBL in four countries and to the Energy Storage GBL’s global growth, and is in line with NHOA Group’s roadmap and Masterplan10x.
Capital investments increased to €42.5 million, largely comprised of EV Fastcharging Infrastructure investments.
R&D investments amounted to €6.9 million and represent 4% of the consolidated Revenues.
Other Operating Expenses increased by 285%, amounting to €17.4 million, compared to €4.5 million in 2021, expressing an organic growth mainly driven by the full cycle of Energy Storage subsidiaries in America and Australia, the first full year of activity of the European structure of the GBL eMobility, its expansion over the US and the growth of the EV Fastcharging Infrastructure business in its first full year of activity. In addition, the eMobility GBL has been also affected by R&D costs related to the processes of discovering, testing and developing new products mainly in the Digital applications and not capitalized.
EBITDA including non-recurring income represents a €32.9 million loss in 2022 compared to a €13.2 million loss in 2021, due to the increase in operating expenses and in personnel costs, mainly due to a natural effect of the investments that NHOA made on the new EV Fastcharging Infrastructure GBL, capital intensive business whose benefits are expected to contribute to the bottom line in the following years, and to the eMobility GBL reorganization; indeed, Energy Storage GBL, closed FY2022 with a positive EBITDA that exceeded €2 million.
Non recurring expenses and Incentive Plan account for €2.8 million and €1.6 million, respectively; the first one is mainly due to the opening of the new legal entities and to the reorganization of the Group, while the second by the beginning of a new Long Term Incentive Plan approved by the Board of Directors.
EBIT and Net Result as of 31 December 2022 stand, respectively, at €-50.4 million and €-52.2 million, compared to €-27.9 million and €-28.4 million of the previous year, respectively.
Net Financial Position stands at €4.2 million as at 31 December 2022, compared to €74.3 million as at 31 December 2021, mainly reflecting the investment of the Group in the EV Fastcharging Infrastructure GBL and the working capital consumed by the Energy Storage GBL. The Company is carefully exploring its financing options in order to support the accelerated ramp-up of the investments in the EV Fastcharging Infrastructure GBL.
2022 Milestones and 2023 Highlights
2022 has been a transformational year for NHOA Group, across its three GBLs.
GBL Energy Storage
NHOA Energy is the main growth engine of the Group, with a series of iconic successes achieved in 2022 and a strong pipeline of new projects for 2023 onwards.
In 2022 NHOA Energy was awarded, among others, the flagship Blyth Battery storage project by NEOEN for 200MW/400MWh in South Australia, the supply of around 100MWh energy storage capacity in the Americas, as well as over 100MWh of capacity in Asia with TCC.
Over 300MWh of capacity were under or nearing commissioning at the end of the year.
The Company’s Industrial Plant in Cosio Valtellino assembled 230MWh of storage capacity during the year, and since October has been producing at a pace of 45MWh per month.
The global origination and delivery effort is now firmly established across four operational hubs in Houston, Milan, Perth and Taipei, working synergistically through the value chain, from commercial development through long-term service. In April, NHOA Energy’s 2023 Storage Analysts Class, the Company’s Graduate Program, will start its adventure, while the 2022 Class is already involved in the origination and execution of NHOA Energy global project portfolio.
GBL e-Mobility
Despite the difficulties of 2022, Free2move eSolutions, under the new leadership of Mathilde Lheureux, has started moving forward in its path to drive the EV market evolution and potential. The reshaping of its operations and the focus on sales of eProWallbox, in order to fulfill Stellantis customers’ needs, is proceeding. Moreover, at the beginning of 2023, Free2move eSolutions registered approx. €60 million of purchase orders, testifying the new path towards 2023 growth.
Free2move eSolutions’ eProWallbox is always next to Stellantis new EV launches. The collaboration started in 2022 with the Alfa Romeo Tonale, the new Peugeot DS7 and the new E-Doblò Fiat. eProWallbox will also be close to Stellantis new EV launches in the new year: supplying the charging devices to Maserati and Alfa Romeo, and in the process of launching of new models, as the Jeep Avenger, which recently won the title of Car of the Year 2023.
GBL EV Fastcharging Infrastructure
With operations started in October 2021 with the set-up of its legal entity and the arrival of its CEO, Atlante in just over one year, managed to sign iconic partnerships and inaugurate its stations in landmark locations.
By the end of 2022, Atlante counted on more than 2,000 points of charge online and under construction in Southern Europe, including also iconic stations such as the ones already in operation in Rome Fiumicino Airport, Misano World Circuit, Linate Airport (in collaboration with FreeToX) and its first station online in Spain. Atlante has also been awarded a €23 million grant by the European Union under the CEF-AFIF scheme and acquired a majority stake in KLC in Portugal, making Atlante the fourth largest operator overall in Portugal and the largest by number of fastchargers.
Moreover, Atlante was also awarded tenders for the creation of two innovative charging hubs in Padua, equipped with solar canopies and energy storage, and 46 points of charge in Buccinasco, within the Metropolitan city of Milan.
In the first two months of 2023, Atlante inaugurated the first fastcharging station located within a dealership that is part of the Stellantis network in Magenta and acquired the Ressolar e-mobility business unit, boosting in this way its presence in Northern Italy.
In March 2023, Atlante also announced an exclusive partnership with To Dream for the electrification of its urban district rejuvenation project in Turin with over 130 points of charge, and the entering in operation of the points of charge in the Saint-Memmie commercial area in France.
In just more than one year, Atlante can now rely on over 100 passionate professionals, including many young talents, and has already geographical platforms in operation in France, Spain and Portugal.
Restatement FY2021
Following some high-level controls on certain bill and hold agreements executed by Free2move eSolutions, at the end of October 2022, Free2move eSolutions became aware of potential accounting irregularities at Free2move eSolutions. NHOA and Stellantis, in their role of shareholders of Free2move eSolutions, promptly started a financial audit and engaged leading forensic independent experts in order to conduct an internal investigation. The analysis conducted highlighted certain irregularities related to the recognition of revenues by the e-Mobility GBL for the financial year ended 31 December 2021 and during the first nine months of the financial year ended 31 December 2022. These irregularities resulted in overstated revenues in NHOA’s published financial results over this period.
As a result, NHOA has proceeded with a restatement of its consolidated financial statements for the financial year ended 31 December 2021. This restatement was conducted in accordance with IAS8 (see Table 1.6 below).
All of the financial figures for the financial year ended 31 December 2021 included in this press release are taken from those restated financial statements.
The Table 1.6 below shows the impact of this restatement on the relevant line items of the consolidated financial statement for the financial year ended 31 December 2021, for the three-month period ended 31 March 2022, the six-month period ended 30 June 2022 and for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2022.
An internal investigation on the responsibilities of these accounting errors by Free2move eSolutions is ongoing with the support of specifically appointed forensic independent experts. In parallel with this investigation, NHOA is implementing new internal controls and procedures to strengthen its internal audit and control functions, such as the appointment of a new Group Head of Internal Audit. The internal audit and control procedures will be furtherly reinforced following the results coming from the internal investigation.