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Craig Irwin

 

That's very good to hear. That's very good to hear. Gross margins, you were again very strong, similar to last quarter. There seems to be continuous improvement in the character of the customers you're serving, the way you're pricing things into the market, and obviously, execution in Mississauga. Can you maybe talk to us a little bit about what's going right on the gross margin side? Is there any potential volatility that you're seeing right now that could impact margins sequentially in the fourth quarter? How should we think about potential margin development over the course of '25? Should we expect margin expansion from here?

 

Rajshekar DasGupta

 

Yes, I would expect margins to improve. And the volatility is highly unlikely, given that the material cost is more or less baked in for the next 12 months. So we have a very good understanding of the material costs. In some cases, it may be coming down. So overall, and we're getting more efficient at manufacturing. And so, overall, I would expect our margins to continue to improve quarter-over-quarter over the next 12 months.

 

Craig Irwin

 

Excellent. Then, last question for me, I guess, is around the EBITDA. So this is your sixth sequential quarter where you've been solidly EBITDA positive. Obviously, if you're going to go out there for loans from a lending institution, be it a bank or some government agency, it's a nice thing to have, right? They're going to want to see profitability. But customers, very often people forget that they like to also see companies make a little bit of money and still feel comfortable that there's clear pricing and sustainability in the business. Can you maybe unpack for us what this profitability means for you as far as your customer relationships? You're picking up a number of Tier 1s, high profile customers that I would think would be sensitivity to long-term staying power. And I was hoping you might be able to explain a little bit about how they're happy or might -- how they might perceive the profitability of Electrovaya and your growth profile?

 

Rajshekar DasGupta

 

For sure. So, years back, companies had to take a big risk to work with us. And thank heavens, they did, and that's why we are where we are today. But as you mentioned, we've had six straight quarters of positive EBITDA. That's why this large North American bank is coming in to refinance our working capital. They're doing so actually without any other guarantees or third parties there. So it really a testament to the business. So overall, that's a good sign of support.

 

In terms of customers, yes, I would tend to agree with you. We are seeing the impact of that where we are seeing some customers specifically approaching U.S., because they are worried about their existing vendors. We'd like to say it's because we're the best, but -- that too, but we're seeing some of that take place right now. In the battery space, in the climate tech space in general, you'll probably have noticed, there are many companies who are struggling, and that definitely, in the short term, it doesn't work in our favor, because obviously, our share price goes down with the market, and we've seen some of that take place. But overall, the strong hands are going to succeed, and Electrovaya is most definitely going to be one of those companies.

 

Craig Irwin

 

Great. Well congratulations on a commercial progress. I will hop back in the queue.

 

Rajshekar DasGupta

 

Thanks, Craig.

Operator

 

[Operator Instructions]. We now have Amit Dayal from Wainwright.

 

Amit Dayal

 

Thank you. Good afternoon. So, Raj, with respect to sort of the non-material handling side of the business going into fiscal 2025, are these orders still sort of pilot level orders? If you could give us a sense of what your expectations are for sort of the revenue mix in fiscal '25? We are at around $45 million in revenues for fiscal '24. Should we expect growth on that $45 million plus non-material handling to drive revenues for fiscal '25?

 

Rajshekar DasGupta

 

Yes. I'd say still you're going to see growth in material handling for sure, and material handling is going to be over -- back of the envelope, over 90% of the revenue. However, 10% of revenue from non-material handling is significant, especially given the larger top line. So, that's sort of what we're expecting and starting to, I would expect to see the impact of that start really fiscal '25 Q2 and ramp from there. Up until that point, yes, it's really development orders, things that don't really stick out in our financial statements. But Q2 fiscal '25, I would expect something meaningful to pop out in that quarter and then carry on going forward from that.

 

Amit Dayal

 

Understood. I mean the brand picture looks pretty strong. Industry trends are very favorable. Regulatory trends are very favorable. Is it maybe the financing aspect that is holding you back a little bit from really capturing the growth you could potentially have? And in that context, is there some sort of time frame within which, let's say by the end of calendar 2024, you could have the financing aspects lined up that could position you for the next 18, 24 months in a much solid position?

 

Rajshekar DasGupta

 

Yes, I'd say, financing has been part of it. I expect -- or John -- we expect the -- both the working -- first on the working capital facility, we're expecting that to be closed by the end of the fiscal year, so end of September, so just a few weeks from now. So that's going to be key.

 

On the Jamestown front, we anticipate things are moving very quickly right now with the U.S. government agency that we're working with. And in fact, they're visiting us day after tomorrow here and in Jamestown. So that's moving quickly. Let's say, we're aiming to form an agreement with them by the end of the fiscal year as well. Of course, there's many factors that can come in on that. And the objective is to have battery production out of Jamestown, New York in 2026.

 

So overall, I'd say the market, while the demand for our batteries is substantial, and I expect it to grow significantly, it takes time for companies to validate, test and get our systems into production programs. Just one example is this OEM project, which we mentioned in our call. That project has been in development for over a year. We've spent significant resources on it [indiscernible]. But it doesn't go into production until 2025. So that's sort of the time horizons these things typically take. And I'd say that's an expedited development program.

 

John Gibson

 

And I'll add, Amit, to that. While the general financing has kind of held us back, we have been able to do a lot with the very little. So we did more than double our revenue last year, and then we sustained it this year. So increase in the working capital is really going to help us step up to that next level.

 

Amit Dayal

 

Understood. That makes sense. In the press release, you have -- you're indicating some co-investment for new product development. I'm not completely sure what this is about, but if you could provide some clarity, I would appreciate it.

 

Rajshekar DasGupta

 

Yes. Maybe that's a little confusing. So, basically, there is -- we are doing a project with one of our main OEM partners, and there's been a significant co-development of that system. So we've obviously spent significant engineering resources on it. We've been spending our own cash on certification, testing, et cetera. And so as that OEM, they've been cost sharing many of these activities. So -- and that's one of the products which will be going to production next year.

 

Amit Dayal

 

Is this for sort of the construction end market or storage or something else?

 

Rajshekar DasGupta

 

Well, actually, we're also doing some co-development with the Japanese construction vehicle OEM. That's at a much smaller scale, so it doesn't turn up. But this particular project is in the material handling space. It's for a new industrial material handling vehicle.

 

Amit Dayal

 

Okay. That's all I have guys. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

 

Operator

 

Thanks. We have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call back over to your hosts for any parting thoughts.

 

Rajshekar DasGupta

 

Well, thanks, everyone. That concludes our call, and thank you for listening.

 

Operator

 

We do have two questioners that just joined at this moment. Would you like to take additional questions?

 

Rajshekar DasGupta

 

I think we'll leave it for today. And that concludes our call, and thank you for listening. We look forward to speaking with you again after we report our fourth quarter 2024 results. Have a wonderful evening.

 

Operator

This concludes today's conference

 

 

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