#37 (EN): Quarterly Report, Public Transport Service, Vasectomy
Have a nice Sunday! Even if it feels quiet at the moment - a lot is going on: the prototypes are in testing in Frankfurt and Munich, Sono has presented the quarterly report, and Asti has listened to the earnings call for us.
+++ QUARTERLY REPORT Q2 +++
As a publicly traded company, Sono has to file a report every quarter. Essentially, they see themselves "on track" with the development of the Sion and Sono Solar. Financially, the CFO sees a "strong cash position", Sono still had 90 million in cash on hand at the end of the second quarter.
However, the nearly 400 employees and investments in series production are now starting to show on the balance sheet, with over 35 million in expenses in the second quarter alone.
Sono is looking to raise another 122 million this year. One of the ways to raise money is through the "committed equity facility," where Sono is allowed to sell shares to Berenberg daily. Two risks are explicitly mentioned in the program:
the upper limit of shares is 17.5 million (at the price of 3 euros, one can calculate that it will be tight to reach 122 million)
a maximum of 20% of the trading volume of one day may be sold to Berenberg. This limits the amount of sellable shares.
Twitter user "EVNews4" calculates that only 1.5 million of the 17.5 million shares have been placed so far - and that this alone will probably not be enough if the price remains the same:
https://twitter.com/EVNews4/status/1568163303884570624
The report mentions additional steps - finding further sources of financing (such as grants and loans) or cost-cutting measures. For those interested in the details, here are the links:
Quarterly Report:
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1840416/000117184322006016/exh_991.htm
Details on the 17.5 million Committed Equity Facility
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1840416/000117184322006019/f424b3_090822.htm
+++ EARNINGS CALL +++
Asti listened to the earnings call for you to get first-hand insights. Laurin (CEO), Thomas (COO), and Torsten (CFO) were on hand to answer questions about the company's finances.
Sono sees itself more than ever correctly positioned; rising energy prices make solar integration more and more worthwhile. Also, the increased number of pilot projects shows that they hit the nerve in the B2B market.
There were questions in the call about the timeline and the relationship of existing reservation holders with down payments - and customers like FINN, who typically don't make down payments in the industry. The agreement with FINN, he said, is already a preorder, so it's more than an LOI. We - i.e., the reservation holders - are served first, with one small exception. The 100 Sions for Finn will also be delivered in 2024. The next 2,500 for Finn will not be delivered until 2025. 22,000 institutional orders (LOIs) have already been placed.
No discounts for large customers - a clear message from Thomas because the Sion comes with everything you need for large customers like FINN, including the tools for renting the vehicles. That must be enough at the low price.
Currently (still) no further acquisition for any fleet customers. Astrid's interpretation is that the 2024 production is already well utilized into 2025 as part of the so-called ramp-up/run-up. At the moment, it doesn't matter; about 43,000 Sions want to be produced first to serve the reservations.
Laurin and Thomas emphasize several times that they are still "on track", but of course, Sono is also aware that the market environment with delivery problems is more difficult than two years ago. Analysts are asking about this because Lucid Motors and others are also looking for money at the moment. Thomas acknowledges that but is very confident looking towards the start of production.
Before you ask, nothing was said about test drives of SVVs later this year for us, nor was it asked, it was a financial call after all. In the second half of 2023, community test drives with the pre-production series will also be able to take place.
It was emphasized that a Sion SVV (SVC3) would also go to the US for a hands-on presentation. Since this is said in the financial call, one can cautiously guess why. So far, the US is not in the plan as an end-user market for the Sion.
Anything after the 16 SVVs will be near-production vehicles. Initial tooling for Uusikaupunki/Finland has also been ordered.
The solar division met with interest. New partners, such as Mitsubishi with the succinct name "Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Thermal Transport Europe (MTTE)", are also being won for series production via LOI, so it will not just be retrofitted as with Ari or the buses. At the IAA Commercial Vehicles in Hannover next week you can see something at the already known booth C02.
You can listen to the whole thing as a webcast at:
https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/64bhvo8c
https://sec.report/Document/0001171843-22-006003/
+++ EFAHRER +++
Sono has a deal with FINN to buy a total of 12,500 Sions by 2029 - and e-driver knocks out a cheer:
"Solar carmaker makes mega deal: 12,600 cars go in one fell swoop".
Finn offers cars on a subscription basis starting at one month. Already, 30 percent of the Finn fleet consists of e-cars. With the Sion from Sono Motors, the company wants to expand its range and become even more climate-friendly. The first 100 e-cars of the will go to Finn in 2024. After that, another 2,500 vehicles will follow annually.
EDIT: Because there were questions about the 100 vehicles: the production start and ramp-up of the Sion was again confirmed as "in the second half of 2023" by Sono in the press release of September 8. But there are already enough reservers waiting, and other B2B orders, so commitments for new orders in 2024 are not that easy anymore.
+++ ÖPNV SERVICE, HAGEN +++
Sono is using an experienced partner to install the solar kits. ÖPNV Service GmbH from Hagen has been working for local transport companies for around 15 years. This makes scalability possible without having to strain your own capacities for installation. Neither Sono nor local transport companies have people to spare. Such a partnership also makes it possible to get more customers.
+++ FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION +++
Thomas' little statement in the earnings call gets an extra point. It was just an aside: the principle of "form follows function" also applies to other Sono models. Unfortunately, we don't know whether something concrete is already in the planning stage or whether that was a general statement. In any case, this will go into the "topic memory" for the next round of questions.
+++ SIMPLY STOCK +++
"Einfach Börse" presents four listed start-ups where anything is still possible - from the "multi-bagger" (stock market commentator-speak for shares that can increase tenfold) to the penny stock.
The market environment is currently difficult; who would have thought that at the end of the pandemic, a toilet paper manufacturer (Hakle) of all things would go brankrupt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTdgOr58Zo
+++ LIST OF QUESTIONS +++
Judith from Sono grabbed the question list and asked some questions to Simon (Exterior) and Lara (Interior), who gave answers in the Sono basement studio.
If you want to know on the soundtrack if a mattress fits in the Sion, just listen in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i5TzviXqVc
+++ FUN FACT +++
Power outages are much more common in the U.S. than here. Let's hope that we don't have a situation like the one, where a patient desperately wanted a vasectomy (the operation where male electrons are prevented to…. you know what it is).
The surgeon unceremoniously took the power out of his Rivian to perform the surgery - the first known application of “Vehicle to Surgery” (V2S).
Sounds unbelievable but the doc's office is in - Austin, Texas - so no further questions. Defintivley “cutting edge” technology.
https://twitter.com/ChrisYangMD/status/1565437347403022343
Have a nice week, and stay healthy - the rest will find you.
Sebastian, Astrid.