Kraken Robotics Reports Record Q1 2024 Financial Results

ST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland and Labrador, May 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kraken Robotics Inc. (TSX-V: PNG, OTCQB: KRKNF) ("Kraken" or the "Company"), announced it has filed its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2024 (“Q1 2024”). Please refer to the unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements and Management’s Discussion and Analysis (“MD&A”) for quarter ended March 31, 2024, filed on www.sedarplus.ca for more information. Unless otherwise specified, all dollar amounts are denominated in Canadian dollars.

Q1 2024 Financial Highlights

• Consolidated revenue for Q1 2024 was $20.9 million compared to $7.6 million, an increase of 175% over the comparable quarter. Revenue mix was 76% Product / 24% Service.
• Product revenue in the quarter was $15.8 million, an increase of 197% over the comparable quarter. The increase was the result of continued delivery of subsea batteries, work with the Canadian Navy on its Remote Minehunting and Disposal Systems (RMDS) program and the production of KATFISH™ systems.
• Service revenue in the quarter was $5.1 million, an increase of 125% over the comparable quarter due to continued growth with our customers utilizing our Sub-Bottom Imager™ and Acoustic Corer™ technologies, as well as a significant naval route survey contract utilizing KATFISH in the Indo Pacific region.
• Gross margin percentage⁽¹⁾ in Q1 2024 was 45% compared to 59% in Q1 2023 with the change related to revenue mix by project in the quarter when compared to the prior year. Gross margins can vary significantly quarter-to-quarter depending on the mix of products and projects being worked on during the quarter.   
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽²⁾ for the quarter was $4.1 million compared to an Adjusted EBITDA⁽²⁾ of $0.9 million in the comparable quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin⁽²⁾ in the quarter was 20% compared to 12% in the year ago quarter.
• Net income in the quarter was $2.2 million, compared to net loss of $1.3 million in Q1 2023.
• Total assets were $73.5 million on March 31, 2024 compared to $65.2 million on March 31, 2023.
• Capital and intangible expenditures in the quarter were $0.8 million compared to $1.6 million in Q1 2023.

Q1 2024 Financial Summary

Subsequent to Q1 2024

• The Company entered into a new Credit Agreement with a Tier 1 Canadian bank. The Credit Facilities consist of: (i) a revolving 3-year term facility of up to $35 million; (ii) a $10 million revolving capital expenditure line of credit; (iii) a $10 million uncommitted letter of credit facility; and (iv) an uncommitted accordion facility of up to $30 million. 
• The Company closed a bought deal financing for gross proceeds of $20.1 million which consisted of 21,185,300 common shares at $0.95 per Common share. The proceeds from this financing will be used by the Company (i) to facilitate its long term strategy, including potential investment in facilities, expanding manufacturing capacity, anticipated working capital for expansion of sole-source/single award programs and high probability pipeline opportunities; (ii) to further strengthen the Company’s balance sheet in anticipation of upcoming customer and partners decisions and source selection on additional large, new program and contract opportunities; and (iii) for general corporate purposes.

2024 Financial Guidance Unchanged

Our annual financial guidance remains unchanged from our April 18, 2024 press release. Kraken expects revenue between $90.0 million to $100.0 million and Adjusted EBITDA⁽²⁾ in the $18.0 million to $24.0 million range. Capital and intangible expenditures in 2024 are expected to range from $6.0 million to $7.0 million. Our 2024 outlook is driven by contracts in hand and reflects strength across both our Product and Service groups addressing defense and offshore energy customers.

Management Comments

“We are off to a strong start to 2024 with strength across all areas of our business, record Q1 revenue (up 175% year-over-year), and solid adjusted EBITDA⁽²⁾ margins of 20%. With our recently closed $20 million equity financing and $45 million of new committed credit facilities, our balance sheet has been strengthened as we pursue and execute on multiple sizeable subsea defense and commercial programs,” said Kraken President and CEO Greg Reid. “Our participation at various trade shows, customer demonstrations, and UUV user groups continues to re-affirm the strong demand signals we see in the market and our solid competitive position. At the beginning of the year when we quoted a sales pipeline of more than $900 million, we noted that we would only be providing numerical updates on an annual basis, not quarterly. However, through the first five months of this year, we can say that our sales pipeline has expanded significantly from the beginning of the year as we gained clarity on certain large programs and our strengthened business development teams explore ancillary market and geographical opportunities for our sonar and subsea power solutions. Below I highlight some recent industry observations.”

• There continues to be an increasing focus on the surveillance and security of critical underwater infrastructure (CUI). These subsea fiber optic cables, pipelines, and power cables drive are essential to national security and the normal functioning of world economies. CUI, while previously rarely talked about in the public domain, is top of mind for politicians in many countries.   
• There is an increasing focus on naval defense and subsea warfare as multiple regions see increased geopolitical tensions, from the Baltic, North, and Black Seas, to the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, to the IndoPacific and even the Arctic.
• The growth of unmanned systems in the subsea domain, while years behind the growth curve of the aerial domain, is coming on strong. In this market, where technical challenges abound due to the operating environment, subsea drones are seen as a complement to very expensive, exquisite surface warfare assets and submarines, providing an attritable capabilities gap filler.
• In the mine warfare arena, a renewal cycle is occurring and now being accelerated by challenging geopolitical situations across the globe. Many navies around the world are in various stages of planning and executing these upgrades with multiple large tenders in the market or coming to market in the next 3 years. With our growing track record of success in this area, our expanding customer base and deepening relationship with various navies, UUV, and USV companies, we feel well positioned to capture significant new business.
• Customers are looking for lower cost force multipliers. In providing high end sonar and subsea batteries to UUV companies and navy end users, we are providing customers with two of their most important needs: access to high resolution data to make better decisions and longer endurance for their unmanned underwater assets. To use an analogy, we are providing the picks and shovels in the subsea gold rush.
• In 2024, we are investing significant efforts in customer demonstrations and participation in naval defense exercises in the US, the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the IndoPacific. At REPMUS (Robotic Experimentation & Prototyping with Maritime Unmanned Systems) this year, we expect to support Kraken’s synthetic aperture sonar on UUVs from 6-7 allied countries. Hosted by the Portugese Navy and NATO, REPMUS brings together numerous foreign militaries, research institutions, and technology companies and is a core exercise for developing maritime unmanned systems, operational tactics, and command and control.
• Outside of defense, commercial market activity is strong, driven by the development and maintenance of offshore wind and offshore oil and gas infrastructure. In these markets, we offer technology differentiating solutions for seabed and sub-seabed intelligence, that is needed in both the buildout phase as well as operations and maintenance phase of offshore energy. Momentum in this market is visible as numerous suppliers and customers in this market post strong financial results and growth outlooks and M&A activity grows. We recently won a $8 million contract for an Acoustic Corer job and expect of our offshore services business to record its best year ever, building from our acquisition of PanGeo Subsea in 2021. In addition to being an attractive growth market, this market allows us to “eat our own cooking” as our field operations teams are tightly in tune with equipment performance and customer feedback, which feeds back into our technical roadmap and engineering for existing and future products.
  

NON-IFRS MEASURES

Non-IFRS measures, including certain non-IFRS financial measures and non-IFRS ratios in this press release, are provided where management believes they supplement measures determined in accordance with IFRS and provide readers with an improved ability to evaluate the underlying performance of the Company. Non-IFRS financial measures and non-IFRS ratios do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore they may not be comparable to similar measures employed by other companies. This data is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

The Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, Adjusted EBITDA is useful to securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in evaluating operating performance by presenting the results of the Company on a basis which excludes the impact of certain non-operational items which enables the primary readers of this press release to evaluate the results of the Company such that it was operating without certain non-cash and non-recurring items. Adjusted EBITDA is calculated as earnings before interest expense, interest income, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation expense and non-recurring impact transactions, if any.

Adjusted EBITDA Margin is defined at Adjusted EBITDA divided by Total Revenue.

Gross Margin and Gross Margin Percentage

Gross margin is defined as revenue less cost of total sales. Gross margin percentage is defined as gross margin divided by total revenues.

ABOUT KRAKEN ROBOTICS INC.

Kraken Robotics Inc. (TSX.V: PNG) (OTCQB: KRKNF) is a marine technology company providing complex subsea sensors, batteries, and robotic systems. Our high-resolution 3D acoustic imaging solutions and services enable clients to overcome the challenges in our oceans - safely, efficiently, and sustainably. Kraken Robotics is headquartered in Canada and has offices in North and South America and Europe. Kraken is ranked as a Top 100 marine technology company by Marine Technology Reporter.

LINKS:

www.krakenrobotics.com

SOCIAL MEDIA:

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/krakenrobotics
Twitter www.twitter.com/krakenrobotics
Facebook www.facebook.com/krakenroboticsinc
YouTube www.youtube.com/channel/UCEMyaMQnneTeIr71HYgrT2A
Instagram www.instagram.com/krakenrobotics

For further information:

Jack North, Marketing
jnorth@krakenrobotics.com

Joe MacKay, Chief Financial Officer
(416) 303-0605
jmackay@krakenrobotics.com

Greg Reid, President & CEO
(416) 818-9822
greid@krakenrobotics.com

Sean Peasgood, Investor Relations
(647) 955-1274
sean@sophiccapital.com

Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements. When used in this news release, the words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "seek", "propose", "estimate", "expect", and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements with respect to, among other things, business objectives, expected growth, results of operations, performance, business projects and opportunities and financial results. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events based on certain material factors and assumptions and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, changes in market, competition, governmental or regulatory developments, general economic conditions and other factors set out in the Company's public disclosure documents. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to vary from those described in this news release, including without limitation those listed above. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this news release and such forward-looking statements included in, or incorporated by reference in this news release, should not be unduly relied upon. Such statements speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Financial Outlook

The Company and its management believe that the statements regarding 2024 revenue, Adjusted EBITDA and capital expenditures contained in this press release are reasonable as of the date hereof, are based on management's current views, strategies, expectations, assumptions and forecasts, and have been calculated using accounting policies that are generally consistent with the Company's current accounting policies. These statements are considered future-oriented financial outlooks and financial information (collectively, "FOFI") under applicable securities laws. These statements and any other FOFI included herein have been approved by management of the Company as of the date hereof. Such FOFI are provided for the purposes of presenting information about management's current expectations and goals relating to the Company's expected growth in its Products and Services groups. However, because this information is highly subjective and subject to numerous risks, including the risks discussed in the disclaimer for forward looking statements below, it should not be relied on as necessarily indicative of future results. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the FOFI prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any FOFI, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. nor its Regulation Services Provide (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release, and the OTCQB has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

¹ Gross margin percentage is a non-IFRS ratio with no standard meaning under IFRS and may not be comparable to similar financial measures disclosed by other issuers. Refer to the "Non-IFRS Measures" section of this press release.
² Adjusted EBITDA margin is a non-IFRS ratio with no standard meaning under IFRS and may not be comparable to similar financial measures disclosed by other issuers. Refer to the "Non-IFRS Measures" section of this press release.