UGE International Ltd. (the "Company" or "UGE"), a leader in commercial and community solar, reported its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2024. UGE reports all amounts in US dollars.
Key financial results in Q1 2024 included:
Ended the quarter with 5.6MW of operating assets that contributed $175.9K of energy generation revenue in the three months ended March 31, 2024. This reflects an increase of 64% in recurring revenue over the same period of 2023. UGE is in the early stages of scaling its operational portfolio, which will see recurring revenue become the Company's dominant source of revenue this year.
Realized total revenue of $468.0K, representing a decline of 10% as compared to Q1 2023. This decline is associated with both the run-off of the Company's legacy third party EPC contracts and its shift away from providing external engineering services. Total gross margins were 92% compared with 41% in 2023 due to both the higher share of recurring energy generation revenue and the high margins recorded on the non-recurring revenue. This non-recurring revenue was driven by the sale of development stage projects in the Philippines, which was recorded within EPC and engineering services.
The net loss and adjusted net loss for the quarter was $4.0 MM, compared with $2.8 MM for Q1 2023, as a result of continued investment in developing UGE's project portfolio. UGE is currently developing a significant volume of projects; and expects that losses will continue until a greater share of the Company's portfolio has reached commercial operation. The increase was driven by increased headcount costs, development, and financing expenses as the Company develops its growing portfolio.
Cash used in operations was $3.5MM vs $0.4MM in Q1 2023, driven primarily by the increase in net loss and changes in working capital; the cash balance at March 31, 2024 was $1.1 MM.
Key business highlights in Q1 2024 included:
Reached commercial operation in the quarter on two projects totaling 0.8MW which will start to have full effect in Q2.
Mobilized on 9.5MW of projects in the quarter as projects progress towards commercial operation. As of March 31, 2024, UGE had 19.6MW of projects that were between the NTP and COD stages of project deployment.
Project backlog was 316MW as compared to 324MW on December 31, 2023.
"2024 is shaping up to be an exciting year for UGE, as our operating portfolio starts to scale more significantly," said UGE's CEO, Nick Blitterswyk. "With almost 20MW of projects currently in construction, we look forward to seeing our operating portfolio grow several-fold this year."
Full financial results and Management's Discussion and Analysis are posted to SEDAR (www.sedarplus.ca) as well as on the Company's website.
In light of the announcement released May 29, 2024 at 7am EDT regarding entering an arrangement agreement to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company, management will not be hosting a webinar to review the results of Q1, 2024.
