Alfen 2018 revenue growth of 37% with further internationalisation and investments for future growth
20-02-2019
Published on 20 February 2019, 7:30 CET
Full year 2018 revenues of €102m and revenue growth of 37%, compared to 21% the year before
Supported by all business lines: revenue growth in Smart grid solutions of 30%, EV charging equipment of 37% and Energy storage systems of 87%
Success of internationalisation strategy with 28% revenues outside the Netherlands, compared to 18% in 2017; new market entries in Finland, Sweden and France
Gross margin increased to 30% compared to 29% in 2017, demonstrating the company’s strong position in the market
Adjusted EBITDA of €3.6m versus €4.9m in 2017, impacted by accelerated investments in Smart grids solutions to accommodate a hampering supply chain and continued investments in Energy storage despite some delays in order intake
Alfen envisions a continuation of strong market growth in all business lines and reconfirms its medium-term objectives and strategy
Expected revenues for 2019 of €135m to €145m, supported by a strong market outlook, important new client wins, a 60% larger order backlog and a stronger projects pipeline compared to last year
Marco Roeleveld, CEO of Alfen, said:
“2018 was a year of accelerated growth, further internationalisation and accelerated investments to prepare ourselves for the anticipated further strong growth in the coming years. Our revenues increased with 37% compared to 2017 and mounted to €102 million. A strong result, although we anticipated even stronger growth as some order intake in our Energy storage business line was delayed to 2019. Nevertheless, we see the market for energy storage gradually taking off as storage projects are increasing in size and more and more customers are building up experience with storage projects, often leading to repeat orders. As a consequence, timing and predictability of our project pipeline is improving as well as the size of our pipeline.
As the markets we operate in are developing favourably, we continued to invest in our organisation and were able to expand the number of employees from 234 to 410, benefitting from our position in the heart of the energy transition as well as from an increased public profile after our IPO. We accelerated the hiring of new production personnel in our Smart grid solutions business line to mitigate a hampering supply chain within the industry after a step-up in growth in H2 2018. As the supply chain is catching-up, the additional personnel in the Smart grid solutions business line is expected to be sufficient to facilitate our growth outlook for 2019. We also invested in new innovations such as new EV charging concepts and our mobile energy storage solution. As planned, we expanded our production facilities by renting a new premises for our Energy storage business line to be ready for further growth in the years ahead.
The abovementioned accelerated investments in the organisation and delayed order intake in Energy storage resulted in a lower than anticipated EBITDA. Yet, these investments enable the continuation of our growth journey in each of our business lines. Additionally, our internationalisation strategy is gaining momentum, with our own sales force now covering most of North-western Europe. An important factor is also that we benefit from clients with a broad European footprint like Vattenfall, E.On, BMW and Allego. This positive outlook positions us well to increase profitability in the years ahead.
We reconfirm our medium-term objectives and strategy of benefitting from high market growth, international expansion, cross-selling opportunities between our business lines and our expanding service offering. For 2019, we expect our revenues to be between €135m and €145m, supported by a stronger projects pipeline compared to last year and customers’ guidance on 2019 volumes.”