Q3 2025 Blink Charging Co Earnings Call
Speaker #5: Welcome to the Blink Charging Co. third quarter 2025 earnings call . At this time , all participants are in a listen only mode .
Speaker #5: Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Vitalie Stelea, Vice President of Treasury and Finance.
Speaker #5: Please go ahead .
Speaker #6: Thank you , Jen , and welcome to blinks . Third quarter 2020 Earnings Call . With us today we have Mike Battaglia , President and Chief Executive Officer and Michael Bercovich Chief Financial Officer .
Speaker #6: Today's discussion will include non-GAAP references . These are reconciled to the most comparable US GAAP measures in the appendix of our earnings deck .
Speaker #6: The earnings deck. You may find the deck, along with the rest of our earnings materials and other important content, on Blink's Investor Relations website.
Speaker #6: Today's discussions may also include forward looking statements about our expectations . Actual results may be different from those stated . The most significant factors that could cause results to differ are included on page two of the third quarter 2020 earnings deck .
Speaker #6: Unless otherwise noted , all comparisons are year over year . Now for our conference schedule . Blink management will be attending and holding investor meetings at the B Riley Convergence Conference on December 4th in New York City and the Needham 28th Annual Growth Conference on January 15th and 16 .
Speaker #6: For additional events , please follow our media releases and the events section on Blink's Investor Relations website . And now I will turn the call over to Mike Battaglia , president and CEO of Blink Charging Co.
Speaker #6: . Please go ahead . Mike .
Speaker #7: All right . Great . Thanks for tally . Good afternoon , everyone , and thanks for joining us today . Before we move into the quarterly numbers , I'd like to start with several key updates .
Speaker #7: First , I want to highlight the meaningful progress we've made under our blink Forward initiative . As a reminder , we launched Blink Forward during our first quarter 2020 earnings call in May .
Speaker #7: This program represents a comprehensive transformation plan designed to accelerate our path to profitability and sustainable long term growth . Next , I'm pleased to report that year to date , we have identified and eliminated approximately $13 million of annualized operating expenses .
Speaker #7: Historically , our operations were organized regionally within our global markets , largely reflecting legacy structures from past acquisitions . We have now transitioned to a global functional model led by departmental global leaders and supported by global back office functions .
Speaker #7: Our regional leaders maintain local market expertise , adapt to local demand patterns and incentive programs , and are tasked with maximizing returns on local investments , all while operating under global functional guidance .
Speaker #7: This realignment is already driving efficiency , accountability and faster decision making across the company . On Wednesday , we also announced another major step toward profitability a strategic shift to acutely focused blink on growth in service revenues .
Speaker #7: Specifically , we are stopping in-house manufacturing and instead will leverage our intellectual property and engineering expertise through partnerships with third party manufacturers who operate at greater scale and efficiency .
Speaker #7: There is a clear path in place to exit manufacturing by early 2026 . In fact , we have already exited some of our production facilities or sublet to other companies .
Speaker #7: To be clear , blink will retain full ownership of all hardware , firmware and software design and development . We're simply outsourcing production to world class manufacturing partners .
Speaker #7: This approach enables us to deploy capital efficiently and focus on growing , charging services through expansion of our DC fast charging footprint and network services .
Speaker #7: While benefiting from the cost , quality and supply chain . Advantages of partners with greater scale . Our sourcing strategy is intentionally diversified across geographies , including multiple manufacturing partners in both the United States and India , where we already maintain engineering talent and oversight to ensure quality , cost effectiveness and supply chain resilience .
Speaker #7: Some might ask how ? How does this differentiate blink from competitors ? Well , it's really pretty simple . First , we'll continue to offer flexible business models selling charging station solutions to customers while also owning and operating charging sites .
Speaker #7: Ourselves . The common denominator across both models is our recurring and repeat service revenues , anchored not only by our Blink Network platform , but also high quality hardware that is designed for commercial applications .
Speaker #7: Importantly , our DC fast charging portfolio remains the central pillar of Blink Forward . As we expand our owned and operated footprint in high utilization locations that deliver predictable , recurring cash flow .
Speaker #7: Even as we leverage contract manufacturing , the second differentiator is that our technology remains proprietary from hardware architecture to firmware and software development , and integration .
Speaker #7: This ensures end to end compatibility , reliability , and superior performance demanded by our customers to support charger uptime and customer experience . So looking at slide five , we see that blink has improved quarterly revenue substantially since Q1 , demonstrating consistency and stability and Q3 gross margin also bounced back from Q2 to nearly 36% .
Speaker #7: Other major achievements this quarter are our discipline in cash and working capital management and operating expense reductions . All key components of Blink Forward .
Speaker #7: As a result , we reduced cash burn in Q3 by 87% to $2.2 million sequentially . The lowest level in more than three years .
Speaker #7: Even with a significantly higher revenue base , this cash efficiency underscores the financial resilience we are building into our everyday operations . These actions represent foundational steps in our of profitability and long term resilience .
Speaker #7: They also positioned blink to navigate near-term variability in EV sales , which we anticipate following the expiration of certain government incentive programs . While these market adjustments may temporarily impact EV sales demand , we continue to see strong momentum for dependable charging infrastructure across our global footprint .
Speaker #7: Looking ahead , we anticipate EV sales to stabilize by mid 2026 as the market recalibrates and in new wave of EV models enters the ecosystem .
Speaker #7: Further reinforcing long term demand for charging solutions . Now let's turn to the quarter on slide seven . We view the third quarter as another example of progress as we transform blink .
Speaker #7: Total revenue was $27 million , a 7.3% increase over the third quarter of 2020 . For . In Q3 2025 . We prioritized higher quality revenue , leading to stronger margins .
Speaker #7: And due to timing issues , mainly in Europe , a number of projects and revenue shifted into Q4 . Service revenue reached a record $11.9 million , up 36% year over year , reflecting the continued strength of our network and blink owned asset portfolio .
Speaker #7: Importantly , in Q3 , we achieved gross margins of 35.8% , supported by services revenue growth and our focus on higher margin product opportunities and disciplined pricing .
Speaker #7: As shown on slide eight , our blink owned portfolio of chargers continues to perform , driving 48% growth in charging revenue and more than 300% year over year growth in DC Fast charger revenue from blink owned sites .
Speaker #7: On slide nine , we demonstrate continued progress in reducing our expense structure and cash burn since the beginning of this year . You can see that excluding certain non-cash and non-repeating items , our operating expenses came down from nearly $28 million in Q1 to $20.6 million in Q3 .
Speaker #7: The contributing factors were significant reductions in both compensation and G&A expenses that both came down by about 35% . These items , combined with significantly improved working capital practices , have resulted in an 87% reduction in cash burn in Q3 compared to Q1 .
Speaker #7: And as I've said in the past , we are not done yet . With that , I'll turn it over to Michael Bercovich , our chief financial officer , to review financials in more detail .
Speaker #7: And then I'll circle back at the end of the call . Michael , go ahead .
Speaker #8: Thank you . Mike . And a very good afternoon , everyone . With that said , let's turn to slide 11 . Our Q3 2025 revenues were $27 million compared to $25.2 million in the third quarter of prior year .
Speaker #8: This represents a 7% increase . Product revenues for first quarter of 2025 were $13 million , compared to $13.5 million in the third quarter of 2020 .
Speaker #8: Four , which is relatively flat year over year . What's important here is that in this phase of blink turnaround , our priority is quality of revenue , not just quantity .
Speaker #8: Growing top line matters . But profitable , durable and strategically aligned growth matters more revenue must contribute to improving margins and long term shareholder value .
Speaker #8: Building a company that generates predictable cash flow rather than one that simply grows for growth , is the key to sustainable success . This is further demonstrated by our product gross margin of 39% in Q3 of 2025 , which is about 700 basis points higher than 32% product gross margin in Q3 of last year .
Speaker #8: It is worth noting that some of our revenue in Europe was impacted by delayed timing of revenue recognition , which shifted revenue for certain projects to Q4 of 2025 .
Speaker #8: We made a conscious decision to focus on growth oriented and disciplined revenue , and while we generated less total revenue versus Q2 , we have increased the gross profit margins and repositioned our team on quality revenue in the future .
Speaker #8: Service revenue increased 36% to $11.9 million in Q3 , consisting of repeat charging service revenues , recurring network fees , and car sharing revenues .
Speaker #8: Other revenues , which consist of warranty fees , grants and rebates , and other revenue items , were $2.1 million in the third quarter , compared to nearly $3 million in Q3 of last year .
Speaker #8: The 1 million decrease in other revenues was primarily due to a change in how warranty sales are structured and recognized at the beginning of this year .
Speaker #8: Blink outsourced its extended warranty program to a third party, and as a result, we now record only the net revenue earned from this contract rather than the full amount recognized in prior periods.
Speaker #8: Gross profit in Q3 was $9.7 million , or 35.8% of revenues , compared to gross profit of 9.1 million , or 36.2% of revenues , in third quarter of 2020 .
Speaker #8: For operating expenses in the third quarter of 2025 were $9.9 million , compared to $97.4 million in third quarter of 2020 . For excluding the impact of the favorable non-cash change in fair value of consideration payable of $11.7 million and 2 million of favorable adjustment in the allowance of doubtful accounts receivable , the total total operating expenses in the third quarter of 2025 were $23.6 million .
Speaker #8: When comparing to the third quarter of 2024 and excluding the non-cash charges of 69.5 million for impairment of goodwill and non-cash change in fair value of consideration payable .
Speaker #8: Total operating expenses were $27.9 million . In summary , the adjusted operating expenses in Q3 2025 were $23.6 million , compared to $27.9 million in Q3 2020 .
Speaker #8: For excluding the above mentioned charges , it represents a decrease in operating expenses of 15% year over year . Also , I would like to update you on the blink Forward initiative and how it impacted our financials in Q3 .
Speaker #8: In the third quarter of 2025 , we incurred $3 million in operating expenses that have been eliminated on a go forward basis . And are not expected to recur in the future .
Speaker #8: Excluding those $3 million from the 23.6 million of operating expenses that I mentioned earlier , total operating expenses in the fourth quarter would have been $20.6 million , representing a year over year decrease of 26% and a sequential decrease of 15% .
Speaker #8: This is further exemplified by the significant decrease in both compensation and Ghana expenses in Q3 of this year, which have been reduced by 24% and 32%, respectively.
Speaker #8: On a year over year basis . And as we just said , we expect another $3 million of expenses that have been recorded in Q3 not to reoccur going forward due to cost optimization actions .
Speaker #8: We have taken already. Loss per share for the quarter was almost zero compared to a loss of $0.86 in the prior year period.
Speaker #8: Adjusted loss per share for the quarter was $0.10 , compared to a loss of $0.16 in the third quarter of 2020 . For adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 25 was a loss of $8.9 million compared to a loss of $14 million for the prior year .
Speaker #8: As of September 30th , 2025 , cash and cash equivalents totaled $23.1 million , compared to 55 million as of December 31st , 2020 .
Speaker #8: For . And compared to 25.3 million as of June 30th , 2025 . If you do a quick math in Q3 2025 , blink used only 2.2 million in cash .
Speaker #8: This is due to great liquidity optimization actions taken by our teams across all of blink , resulting in significant improvement in working capital metrics as we continue our journey of transformation this quarter reflects meaningful progress in threatening our foundation for sustainable and disciplined growth .
Speaker #8: While revenue came slightly lower compared to the previous quarter . Our team has made substantial strides in controlling and reducing operating expenses , enhancing gross margins and managing cash burn .
Speaker #8: This discipline is not only visible in the numbers , but in the way we run the business every day . The decisive actions we have taken to streamline operations , rationalize costs and focus resources on the most creative opportunities are showing tangible results .
Speaker #8: Our cash burn rate has materially improved and our operating efficiency is trending in the right direction . Both Mike and I mentioned this earlier as we went through this stage of our transformation .
Speaker #8: Our focus remains on quality and sustainability of the growth , not just in space . Expanding revenue is important , but even more essential is ensuring that the revenue contributes to profitability .
Speaker #8: Margin improvement and long term shareholder value . We're building a business designed for durable , cash generative performance , one that grows with purpose and discipline .
Speaker #8: Looking ahead , we expect to focus on the same three key factors I covered during the Q2 earnings call . And as follows .
Speaker #8: Number one , revenue growth based on the current visibility , blink expects revenue to show continued sequential growth in the second half of 2025 .
Speaker #8: Number two: lower operating expenses reflecting disciplined cost management and the benefit of efficiency initiatives we have already put in place and that were successful in delivering on.
Speaker #8: And the last one , number three improved working capital practices , particularly around receivables management where we have already implemented several practices to accelerate receivables collection and reduce age balances .
Speaker #8: I will now turn back over to Mike to wrap it up . Go ahead Mike .
Speaker #7: All right . Great . Thanks , Michael . So to be clear , this quarter was one of profound transformation for blink . We are exiting in-house manufacturing to refocus our efforts on growing our service revenue streams .
Speaker #7: Our goal is to grow recurring network fees and repeat charging revenue , primarily through a larger blink owned DC fast charger footprint . We eliminated an additional $5 million of annualized operating expenses that we do not expect to reoccur .
Speaker #7: Going forward . That puts us at $13 million per year of annualized expenses eliminated to date , compared to an anticipated $11 million that we announced earlier in the year .
Speaker #7: And as I said earlier , we are not done yet . We reduced our cash burn and improved our working capital practices that resulted in cash burn of $2.2 million for the quarter and 87% sequential reduction .
Speaker #7: We refocused our teams to invest in accretive sales opportunities and improve the quality of our revenue . This was evident in the product gross margin of 38.7% and overall company gross margin of 35.8% .
Speaker #7: We believe this is a key contributing factor on our path to profitability and finally , we are on track to start shipping our value focused Shasta chargers ahead of schedule in Q4 .
Speaker #7: This is a product that fills a gap in our portfolio and is aimed at gaining share in the fleet and multifamily market segments .
Speaker #7: As we said earlier , regarding revenue and gross margins , we expect revenue in the second half of 2025 to exceed the first half , and we expect the same positive trends we saw in Q3 to continue into Q4 .
Speaker #7: So I would like to extend a thank you to the blink team for its resilience and focus . And I would like to say thank you to our customers and drivers who rely on blink to provide energy to their vehicles every day .
Speaker #7: With that , let's move on to Q&A . Operator . .
Speaker #5: Thank you . At this time , we will conduct the question and answer session . If you would like to ask a question , please press Star one on your phone now .
Speaker #5: And you'll be placed into the queue in the order received. Once again, to ask a question, press Star 1 on your phone.
Speaker #5: Now . And our first question today will come from Craig Erwin with Roth Capital .
Speaker #9: Good evening gentlemen . Congratulations on another really strong execution quarter . And it's hard to know really where to start . But I guess if we kind of step back and the forward look right , the biggest change looking forward from everything that you've you've implemented is probably the change in manufacturing .
Speaker #9: And I suspect there's more to unpack there around what this means for margins and . Resources for costs necessary to support the business .
Speaker #9: Can you maybe talk us through how this change in manufacturing is likely to cut over for blink ? I know that you have had relationships with contract manufacturers , particularly in India , for several years , and experience substantial experience working with CMS globally .
Speaker #9: What sort of cash costs are there associated with ? Maybe the exit of different manufacturing facilities ? Any other color that you could give us to understand how this this helps you towards the bigger mission of profitability , which is what I know you're really working for .
Speaker #7: Yeah , great . Great . Thanks , Craig . So I'll start and I'm sure Michael Bercovich will have a couple comments as well .
Speaker #7: So first of all , this was not something that we just decided to do yesterday . So it's something that we've been planning for quite some time .
Speaker #7: In fact , we have been moving this direction all year . And just to slightly amend what you what you said , blink has owned its manufacturing and production in India .
Speaker #7: We haven't historically had contract manufacturers in India . We've assembled products in the United States , and then we've sourced some third party chargers externally , which we continue to do .
Speaker #7: So specifically what this enables us to do really is a number of things . Number one , it enables us to simplify our product procurement strategy .
Speaker #7: So in think of this instead of having to manage a manufacturing supply chain and individual components that go into a number of different SKUs within our charging lineup , we now can simply manage , finished goods , inventory .
Speaker #7: So number one , it simplifies the company streamlines operations and allows us to focus on fewer things . And we think and expect that it de-risks the supply chain for us .
Speaker #7: Secondly , it us to reduce costs . It enables us to reduce compensation expense . It enables us to reduce facility expenses . And , you know , those are those are meaningful as we , you know , as we move toward profitability .
Speaker #7: So at the same time , what we've done parallel with this , because you're right in the sense that there's always risk that when you outsource manufacturing , in theory , your component or your finished goods cost could go up .
Speaker #7: in that an expect that our margins on products will be consistent with what we experienced today . So Michael , anything to add ?
Speaker #7: But what we've decided to do in parallel with this is to redesign some of our chargers that we currently sell in order to reduce cost .
Speaker #8: Yeah , absolutely . Mike thank you . We are treating the capital as we raised it today . The discipline is now embedded in how we build price and operate our product .
Speaker #8: And services . We intend to protect our margins , especially because we will continue to own our IP going forward . We're aligning costs with revenues and everything we do , and we believe that this is actually a very positive move in the direction of going to profitability .
Speaker #8: And as Mike said , we intend to sublease the premises . We exited it with minimal cost . That is not going to take an impact on us , on our ongoing operation .
Speaker #8: And this is a very moving.
Speaker #8: positive
Speaker #9: Understood . Thank you for that . The second , I guess , question that that kind of hits the top of my list is the throughputs on your networks have been really impressive , right ?
Speaker #9: 49 gigawatt hours , 66% increase on the blink networks in the quarter . That is just really impressive . You know , investors have
Speaker #9: been bearish on EVs , but 66% growth in utilization means that customers are comfortable with blink . And you know , the profitability of this network is clearly increasing .
Speaker #9: Can you talk about anything that's maybe changed , that's allowed you to see this growth , acceleration , and how much you know , follow through ?
Speaker #9: Do we have on the existing network ? Can we see Utilizations go , you know , 20 , 30 points generally on the on the assets you already have in place ?
Speaker #9: higher
Speaker #7: Yeah . So good question . So I would say the largest the biggest driving factor between the , the volume of energy going through the network is the fact that in the last 12 to 18 months , our footprint of DC fast chargers has increased , you know , pretty dramatically .
Speaker #7: And by the way , just to clarify , that's
Speaker #7: not all blink owned . That's a customer host owned . That's blink own . That's both . So , you know , I think we have in the neighborhood of about 1800 DC fast chargers .
Speaker #7: Now within the United States . And then obviously more in our global markets over in Europe . So the footprint of DC fast chargers contributes to to that volume .
Speaker #7: And those increases . So I'd say that that's primarily number one . Number two , the second part of your question is can we continue this .
Speaker #7: And can , you know , we continue to see a higher utilization rates . And the answer to that is we certainly expect so .
Speaker #7: And the reason why we expect so is that we feel good about our two aspects of the DC fast charging business. For us.
Speaker #7: We feel good about the units that we're selling through the channel into the market , some of which are publicly accessible , some of which are not .
Speaker #7: And then secondly , the prospect for the blink owned DC charger footprint . So as we become better and smarter about where to site chargers to increase the likelihood of success of those chargers , we'll see meaningful utilization at those sites .
Speaker #7: So I think on the , you know , bottom line , Craig , I think we still have room to run .
Speaker #9: Excellent . Then last question , if I may . You know , you've been pretty clear in your remarks that your your emphasizing DC fast chargers as a real opportunity over the next few years .
Speaker #9: And you know , I assume there's still a portion of mix . I don't know if you if you'd like to break that out for us today , but with the emphasis on DC fast chargers , I probably would have expected a contraction of gross profit margins .
Speaker #9: You know , something's working for you in there . Can you maybe help us understand , you know , if the profitability of of DC fast charger sales is changing for healthy blink and , you know , is this something that would weigh on , on on future , future margins if it did become an outsized portion of mix or have margins there come up to the corporate average ?
Speaker #7: Yeah . Again , great . Great question . So first of all , while the emphasis on blink forward and are owned and operated , footprint is DC level two is still a huge part of our business .
Speaker #7: And it's a big part of our business both through the channel as well as the owner , operator model . The shift is that when we look at our capital expenditures , we want more of those dollars in the future .
Speaker #7: Going to DC fast charging than to than to level two , because we think that the revenue and the profit opportunity will just accelerate through those sites rather than the owned and operated L2 from a procurement perspective , we've also done a better job .
Speaker #7: So we're procuring DC fast chargers at a more favorable cost . Our margins are improving in that in that space . But to be clear , you're right .
Speaker #7: The L2 margins are historically a bit higher than DC . So when you look at our quarters , depending on the mix of those two things , gross margins could move .
Speaker #7: You know , one way or another within a reasonably narrow band . We think . But so I think as we continue to do a better job of procuring DC as our volume goes up , we're going to see those gross margins either stay steady or or perhaps improve a bit .
Speaker #9: Well , that's really good to hear . Thanks again for taking my my questions and congrats on this substantial progress with the the path to future profitability .
Speaker #7: Yeah . Thanks , Craig .
Speaker #5: As a reminder , if you'd like to ask a question , you may signal by pressing star one at this time and our next question will come from Sameer Joshi with H.C.
Speaker #5: Wainwright .
Speaker #10: Hey , good afternoon . Good evening . Thanks for taking my questions . It was a very good presentation . A lot of things were highlighted during the call .
Speaker #10: I would like to just dig a little bit deeper into working capital improvements that you have already made and are making on the AR front .
Speaker #10: We can see that . Is there any concerted effort towards improving the inventory situation here ?
Speaker #7: Yeah . Michael , do you want to take that ? Yes .
Speaker #8: Absolutely . Hi , Samir . Thank you for your question . You absolutely right . We have improved the working capital through several measures .
Speaker #8: One of them was the way that we approach our receivables, the way we manage, the way we collect, and the way we even contract the other piece.
Speaker #8: If you see on our balance sheet , we also managing the inventory more carefully . We deploy based on the needs on both short term and long term .
Speaker #8: We managing this way more tightly because the cost of capital is up top of our mind , and we will continue doing so .
Speaker #8: As you see , we will be moving to the truck manufacturing and this will help us even further to realign between the needs of the business at every single stage and also the cost of that revenue .
Speaker #8: We are focusing now on . A more disciplined , more focused approach of quality revenue . As I mentioned before , in my in my reload of the results .
Speaker #8: And this is where you see through the all facets of a working capital deployment inventory and the .
Speaker #10: Understood and just adjacent question , especially in relation to the new contract manufacturing model . How will how should we see this inventory sort of deplete over the next few quarters as you transition to contract manufacture or should we like what kind of dynamics are in play here ?
Speaker #7: So we expect our inventory , our inventory inventories to come down . Now , that said , it's really there's it's also driven by mix .
Speaker #7: So you know as you do more DC fast charging business , the inventory costs are higher . But those those we typically manage very leanly .
Speaker #7: So it's typically a build to order model . So they don't sit in inventory too terribly long . But we expect that as we move to contract manufacturing , our overall inventory costs will go down .
Speaker #10: Yeah . Makes sense . And just one last one on utilization . I just want to make sure that the what you're talking about is that the throughput is increasing the number of electrons delivered , of course , is increasing .
Speaker #10: Is it on a per unit basis that the utilization is improving or on the install base that you're seeing more throughput ? Just wanted to understand that .
Speaker #7: It's both . Samir . It's both , it's both . So we're seeing we're seeing more we're seeing more volume go through because of additional charges on the ground .
Speaker #7: And then we're also seeing better utilization of the chargers that are installed .
Speaker #10: That is really good to know . That's really good . Thanks for taking my questions .
Speaker #8: Thank you .
Speaker #5: And once again , if you'd like to ask a question , you may signal by pressing star one at this time and we'll pause for just a moment to allow everyone an opportunity to signal .
Speaker #5: And it appears there are no further questions at this time . Mr. . Celia , I'll turn the conference back to you .
Speaker #6: We thank you all for joining blink on our quarterly earnings call . As we announced another strong quarter with significant reduction in cash flow burn and reduction in operating expenses .
Speaker #6: We're happy to connect you with our management team for additional questions . In order to do so , please send us an email at IR at Blink Charging Co.
Speaker #6: . Com and we'll look forward to updating you as we progress over the next quarter . And in the future . With that , we're going to conclude our presentation .
Speaker #6: Thank you .
Speaker #5: And this does conclude today's conference call . Thank you for attending .