- Data centers: certification of Coolidge™-based NVMe-oF1 solution for storage servers expected in october and integration in progress with Wistron, a major Taiwanese player, for production by the end of 2020;
- Automotive: integration of Kalray's “Compute Acceleration” offering into NXP Semiconductors' BlueBox for the automotive market is underway, following NXP's investment in Kalray in the first half of 2020;
- Other opportunities: on-going discussions with leading players seeing Kalray's “Compute Acceleration” solution as an alternative for some “Edge Computing” markets such as the 5G market (Open Radio Access Network) and Industry 4.0 (Machine Vision);
- Half-yearly accounts: budget under control, in line with the financial projections announced in the context of the health crisis;
- Available cash: € 19.0 million at the end of June 2020, reinforced by the equity investment of NXP and the State Guaranteed Loan (PGE);
- Outlook: confirmation of financial objectives.
Grenoble, September 21, 2020 - Kalray (Euronext Growth Paris: ALKAL), a pioneer in processors dedicated to new intelligent systems, has published its first half 2020 earnings (from January 1 to June 30, 2020) and on this occasion, the company confirms its objectives.
Eric Baissus, President of Kalray's Executive Board, commented as follows:
“Thanks to the progress made in the first half of the year, whether from a product standpoint, with the completion of the development of our solutions based on Coolidge™, and on the partnerships front, with NXP Semiconductors in particular, we are aiming to close the second half of the year having met key ambitions. The prospect of integrating our intelligent processor into the next generation of storage servers for data centers will be a major new step in a market which has clearly been accelerated by the current health crisis. The solutions that we have developed, in the context of intelligent automobile, are also relevant for some “Edge Computing” markets and discussions are underway, with leading players, which aimed at using such current solutions, in markets such as 5G or Industry 4.0. These opportunities are extremely interesting to us, in particular for considerations of much shorter sales cycles than the automobile.
Finally, while consolidation in the sector is pushing many players to move to the American flag, Kalray also has the unique opportunity to position itself as a sovereign European alternative on the strategic market of processors for intelligent systems."
SCHEDULED LAUNCH OF NVMe-oF SOLUTION FOR THE STORAGE MARKET
After the first deliveries of the Kalray development environment to its customers last quarter, enabling them to build their next generation of products integrating Coolidge™, Kalray has initiated the certification process of its NVMe-oF solution for the data center market. NVMe-oF certification, provided by an independent laboratory, is expected in October.
At the same time, Kalray was able to deliver its NVMe-oF solution to its partner Wistron in order to start the integration of its solution into the storage servers of the Taiwanese group. Wistron is one of the world's largest manufacturers of data center servers. Kalray is therefore actively preparing its commercial deployment in the data center acceleration card market by positioning itself as a leader in NVMe-oF technology.
Kalray is receiving clear evidence that market is taking off now. As stated by Dennis Hahn, Senior Analyst, Cloud & Data Center at OMDIA in his report, Data Center Storage Equipment Market Tracker: “JBOF is just starting to experience an uptake in on-premises enterprise DC segments for its ultra-high performance and is ramping aggressively for use by hyper converged infrastructure and in data intensive applications ”.
STRUCTURING AGREEMENT WITH NXP SEMICONDUCTORS IN THE AUTOMOTIVE MARKET
At the same time, in the automotive market, Kalray continues to develop its cooperation with NXP Semiconductors, the world leader in semiconductors for Automotive market. The agreement with NXP spearheads Kalray's strategy in this field. Thanks to this structuring agreement, Kalray has strengthened its legitimacy in this sector while acquiring new technological means (by pooling skills), commercial (by leveraging NXP position on the field) and financial (thanks to the investment of € 8 million from NXP in Kalray).
The partners are continuing their joint work with a view to launching the next generation of NXP's BlueBox, a hardware and software platform that will integrate the Kalray solution and target a broad spectrum of intelligent and autonomous vehicles, ranging from level L2 (partial autonomy), already in service, to L4 level (complete autonomy in certain areas) or even ultimately L5 (car without steering wheel).
NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN EDGE COMPUTING SUCH AS 5G AND INDUSTRY 4.0
Kalray's solutions for the data center and automotive markets are also suitable to a broader industry need: the processing of a massive flow of data, close to where the data is generated, to extract relevant information which is a key need of “Edge Computing” markets.
In this context, Kalray has initiated discussions with major players and potential customers in the fields of machine vision (analysis and identification of faults, for example) for Industry 4.0 and 5G networks in particular.
EFFECTIVE COST CONTROL AND CASH IN LINE WITH FORECASTS
In the first half of 2020, Kalray generated 489 K€ in revenue (compared to 456 K€ in the first half of 2019), mainly consisting of sales of development stations and Coolidge ™ licenses despite a decline in activity in the car market due to the health crisis.
Half-year EBITDA2 was stable compared to the first half of 2019, at -2,612 K€, reflecting the perfect control of costs during the health crisis, in line with the announcements made by the company. During this period, the company did not have recourse to partial unemployment and continued to invest in both human and technological terms: 11 staff were added in the first half of 2020, mainly for engineering and customers support positions in order to better prepare the commercial launch of Coolidge ™. The 18% increase in staff costs was offset by a 17% decrease in other external costs, notably linked to the internalization of certain skills (impact on subcontracting) and the limitation of travel.
Given the increase in depreciation, amortization and provisions (+ 42% to 3,984 K€), linked in particular to the start of the amortization of Coolidge ™ development costs and masks, and after taking into account the research tax credit ( + 16% to 1,336 K€), the adjusted operating income3 comes to -5,260K € compared to -4,305K € a year earlier. The half-year net result is -5,301 K € in 2020 against -4,357 K € in 2019.
STRENGTHENED AVAILABLE CASH FLOW AS OF JUNE 30, 2020
As of June 30, 2020, Kalray's available cash amounted to 18,990 K€ compared to 15,725 K€ as of December 31, 2019. Financial debt was 9,568 K€ (including 6,476 K€ of conditional advances) and equity was 29,347 K €.
The financial structure was strengthened by the investment of NXP Semiconductors for € 8,000,000 and by the receipt of the first half of a State Guaranteed Loan of € 5,000,000 granted by banking partners (Bpifrance, BNP Paribas and CIC). The second half of the loan was cashed at the very beginning of July 2020. This additional financing covers the anticipated increase in cash consumption over the first half of the year. Free cash flow4 thus came to -8,247 K € compared to -6,613 K € in the first half of 2019, due in particular to an increase in investments.
CONFIRMATION OF FINANCIAL OBJECTIVES
As announced, Kalray expects 2020 sales to be comparable to that of 2019. A significant increase in sales is expected from 2021 with the volume of products based on Coolidge ™ by Kalray customers. Operating expenses should increase by around 20% for the year 2020 compared to 2019, due to recruitment (8 new hires planned for the 2nd semester in addition to the 11 for the 1st semester) and the amount allocated to the deployment of projects in the framework of the partnership with NXP Semiconductors. Free cash flow should therefore, in line with forecasts, be lower in 2020 than in 2019 (-14,187 K €).
On the basis of a commercial calendar providing for the presentation of offers in the second half of 2020 and a production ramp up in 2021, Kalray confirms its ambition to reach a break-even monthly EBITDA in mid-2021 and annual revenue of € 100 million between mid-2022 and mid-2023.
PUBLICATION OF FIRST HALF FINANCIAL REPORT 2020
The consolidated financial statements were approved by the Executive Board and reviewed by the Supervisory Board on September 17, 2020. The first half financial report, including the first half financial statements and notes, can be viewed under “Financial documents” on the company's website: www.kalray-bourse.com
ABOUT KALRAY
Kalray (Euronext Growth Paris - FR0010722819 - ALKAL) is a fabless semiconductor company, pioneer in a new generation of processors for intelligent systems. MPPA® Intelligent processors are able to capture and analyze on the fly massive data flows, close to where they are generated, and interact in real time with the outside world. These processors are capable of running demanding AI algorithms and simultaneously a wide set of different processing and control tasks such as mathematical algorithms, signal processing, network or storage software stacks. Kalray's Intelligent Processors can be deployed in fast-growing sectors of Edge Computing and AI: Modern data centers, networks (5G), autonomous vehicles, healthcare equipment, industry 4.0, drones and robots… Kalray's offering includes processors, system boards and a software suite, for a broad spectrum of customers such as data storage systems and compute server manufacturers, intelligent system integrators and consumer product manufacturers such as car makers. Founded in 2008 as a spin-off of CEA French lab, Kalray counts among its investors: Alliance Venture (Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi), Safran, NXP Semiconductors, CEA and Bpifrance. Read more at : www.kalrayinc.com
Annexes :
PROFIT & LOSS
| K€ - audited data | 30 June 2020 | 30 June 2019 |
| Net Sales | 489 | 456 |
| Subsidies | 980 | 1 056 |
| R&D capitalization | 3 548 | 3 279 |
| Other revenue | 38 | 55 |
| TOTAL REVENUE | 5 055 | 4 846 |
| Cost of sales | (144) | (66) |
| Operating expenses | (7 523) | (7 432) |
| including Salaries & contributions | (4 570) | (3 872) |
| including other expenses | (2 954) | (3 560) |
| EBITDA | (2 612) | (2 652) |
| Amortization & Depreciation | (3 984) | (2 800) |
| OPERATING RESULT | (6 595) | (5 452) |
| Research Tax Credit | 1 335 | 1 147 |
| NET OPERATING RESULT | (5 260) | (4 305) |
| FINANCIAL RESULT | (41) | (23) |
| EXCEPTIONNAL RESULT | | (29) |
| NET RESULT | (5 301) | (4 357) |
BALANCE SHEET
| K€ ASSETS - audited data | 30 June 2020 | 31 December 2019 |
| Intangible assets | 18 460 | 16 935 |
| Tangible assets | 4 510 | 4 673 |
| Financial assets | 546 | 609 |
| NON CURRENT ASSETS | 23 516 | 22 217 |
| Inventories | 220 | 240 |
| Accounts Receivable | 454 | 764 |
| Other receivable (CIR, CICE, Subsidies) | 2 147 | 1 779 |
| CASH | 18 990 | 15 725 |
| CURRENT ASSETS | 21 811 | 18 508 |
| Accrued expenses | 561 | 414 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | 45 889 | 41 140 |
| K€ EQUITY & LIABILITIES - audited data | 30 juin 2020 | 31 décembre 2019 |
| EQUITY | 29 347 | 26 665 |
| Provisions | 107 | 89 |
| R&D refundable advances | 6 476 | 5 904 |
| Bank loans | 3 092 | 775 |
| Accounts Payable | 2 180 | 3 128 |
| Taxes & contributions payable | 1 441 | 1 549 |
| Other debts | 536 | 354 |
| DEBTS & LIABILITIES | 13 832 | 11 799 |
| Deferred revenue (Subsidies) | 2 709 | 2 676 |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY | 45 889 | 41 140 |
CASH FLOW STATEMENT
| K€ - audited data | 30 juin 2020 | 31 décembre 2019 |
| Operating CF before Capex & WC variation | (2 333) | (5 204) |
| Change in working capital (incl. R&D tax credit) | (1 505) | 1 138 |
| OPERATING CASH FLOW | (3 838) | (4 066) |
| Capex | (1 734) | (5 335) |
| R&D capitalization | (3 548) | (6 217) |
| Investment subsidies | 873 | 1 431 |
| INVESTMENT CASH FLOW | (4 409) | (10 121) |
| FREE CASH-FLOW | (8 247) | (14 187) |
| Net Cash from investors | 7 998 | 96 |
| Bank Debt (net) | 2 317 | 318 |
| R&D conditionnal advances and prepaid subsidies (net) | 1 197 | 716 |
| FINANCING CASH FLOW | 11 512 | 1 130 |
| Annual Cash in (Cash out) | 3 265 | (13 057) |
| Cash beginning of period | 15 725 | 28 782 |
| CASH END OF PERIOD | 18 990 | 15 725 |
1NVMe-oF is a global standard defining the use of NVMe over Ethernet, allowing remote access to very high-performance storage appliances.
2Ebitda: operating result without Depreciation and Amortization
3Adjusted operating income: operating result + Research tax credit
4Free cash-flow: operating cash flows + investment cash flows
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