Drone Volt published another year of record sales to €13.4m (+53%). It could have been much better without the impact from its US partner. Overall activity was driven by the contribution (€1m) of recently-acquired SKYTOOLS.
• Sales rose to €13.4m, an increase of 53%, on a non pro forma basis
• SKYTOOLS added €1m in FY22.
• Distribution of third-party kit has been the main contributor with €11.7m, an increase of 130% yoy.
• Drone Volt Factory (in house production) dropped by 53% yoy.
• Gross margin dropped by 14 points to reach 21% in FY22.
• 2023 should see the launch of LINEDRONE1 (specialised drone sold to HYDRO-QUEBEC) and Drone As a Service.
Drone Volt managed a turbulent 2022 by exceeding its objectives of €10m in sales, despite the already announced interruption of its licensing revenue from Aquiline Drone which has had an important impact on its revenues (c.€650k) as it now only focuses on the distribution of HERCULES 20 in the US. This shift in strategy has cost Drone Volt Factory 8-points of growth for FY22 and a revenue drop of 53% to €1.7m. This has logically resulted in a 48% decrease in the gross margin for Drone Volt Factory, to €1.06m. This side of the business only account for 38% of the total (71% in 2021).
Beyond these discounted pieces of bad news, a positive surprise comes from Drone Volt Factory’s gross margin rate which increased by 5-points in 2022, driven by activities such as training and educating customers. These are very profitable for Drone Volt, with a 62% gross margin.
The total gross margin figure remained fairly stable at €2.8m, representing 21% of turnover, despite a drop of 14 points.
2023 looks promising
FY23 could be another record-breaking year in terms of sales for Drone Volt thanks to its innovations as it rolls out two of the most important products in its product portfolio: the Hercules 20 and the Heliplane. At the end of December 2022, Drone Volt announced the sale of four Hercules 20 (which have been fully paid before delivery). With its growing reputation in the industry thanks to its distribution business role and the efforts put into attending industry shows, FY23 looks well oriented.
The Hydro Quebec test of Linedrone, aimed at the checking of high voltage lines, looks successful so that 2023 deliveries will help raise the mix.
The use of Drones As a Service is expected to spark a surge of interest from professionals and expand the pool of new clients since it will allow customers to use drones at a reasonable price, tying up capital for occasional deployment.
Drone Volt’s sales clearly beat our expectations of €10.1m FY22. The current strategy should yield further top-line growth this year, while the margin model will be reset with the annual results on 15 March. For now, we reiterate our Buy recommendantion, assuming no further dilution of capital raising.
