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spk01: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. All participants are at present in listen-only mode. Welcome to today's conference call to discuss Nano Dimensions 2022 second quarter results. On the call with us today are Yoav Stern, CEO, and Yael Sandler, CFO. Before we begin, may I remind our listeners that certain information provided on this call may contain forward-looking statements. and the safe harbor statement outlined in today's earnings press release also pertains to this call. If you have not received a copy of the press release, please view it in the Investors Relations section of the company's website. Yoav will begin the call with a business update, followed by a question and answer session, at which time Yael will answer questions regarding the second quarter 2022 financial results. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded September 1st,
spk11: 2022. i would now like to hand over the call to mr yoav stern mr stern would you like to begin thank you very much yoni and good day to everybody uh just to add we have with us today also julian letterman which is our head of corporate development and our financial marketing department which is only lately established in order to reinforce and improve the connection with all you guys, the shareholders. So welcome, Julian, as well. You'll be talking to him. So we had a very good quarter in spite of the situation in the market, specifically in Europe, with the issues of the war in Ukraine, which affected especially Central Europe purchasing rates where Germany and countries around it kind of initially froze a little bit. But in spite of that, all our acquisitions and our internal growth and organic growth proved to be going well. The go-to-market systems that we established. And I'm not going to read, of course, as traditionally we don't, the whole report. And I'm assuming you have read it and If you did, then you'll have questions for me. But the highlight is the $11.1 million revenue is 12 times the revenue of the same quarter last year. And we expect that as the crisis with the supply chain of components is hopefully easing up, will ease up, we will even grow faster organically. The second thing we are quite happy about is while we're trying to accelerate the R&D, which the indication thereof is spending more money, we managed to be much lower in a cash burn rate than we originally planned. So we are maintaining the around $40 million per half a year of cash burn rate, double than that or a bit more for a year. And in a funny way, we are hoping actually to accelerate because the burn rate in cash is mostly to accelerate the R&D and bring the new products into market. So that's good news. The gross margins, as we spoke last time, is a combination 36 of high gross margins of 65% in new machines in the manufacturing electronics and additive manufacturing metal and ceramics, and lower gross margins in additive surface mount technology, which is traditionally 35% gross margins, 32% gross margins. So the mixture and the average gross margin is a combination of both. We don't have service business like other people, which is reducing gross margins even more. So that's basically giving you the outline of our source of revenue and then source of cash going down below the gross margin. We have spent this quarter $12.9 million in R&D, which of course by a gap in IFRS is an expense, we also consider it an investment. The results of the R&D are showing amazing results in advancement toward the new product, which will go into beta toward the end of this year, and then next year will be released. And I'm kind of hoping, you know, it's not great to hope that the market will stay as erratic and as low as it is, the public market, but assuming it is, What we see beyond the operations of the company is the fact that multiples and values are lower and the activity in M&A is accelerating, which is very exciting because companies I held back on for two years now and we have looked at 330 companies. I'm now back and now they're talking to me and now the multiples are right or at least right there or better. and reasonable, so we expect to show some results there. So our growth as projected or as expected, I should say, is by now more practically available to us because I'm not going to have to overpay, which I refused to do in the past. Of course, we did an acquisition as well this quarter. I think we closed it a month and a little bit more ago. a very exciting acquisition in Europe, Holland, one of the most leading technology in metal and ceramic printing, a small company that was kind of hidden from the visual sight of both analysts and the competition because it was a subsidiary of a very large American company which was in trouble for many years. And through our search we found them and we believe There will be a call for very fast growth of our additive manufacturing business. So bottom line as we proceed and as we expand, you can look at us today where traditionally we started from additive manufacturing electronics. Our growth strategy both organically in the development and R&D and requisition is we expand from electronics from additive manufacturing electronics into electronics and on the left side call it and from additive manufacturing electronics into other additive manufacturing on the right side so you're going to own a company that is expensive as much as his ability to manufacture machines in in additive manufacturing in general it's already happening and in other digital machines for electronics that add value as they are being part of the network of machines that we're building, led by the artificial intelligence and deep learning and machine learning software that we have. On that area of machine learning and software and deep learning, from dozens of interviews and due diligence that we did, I can tell you, ladies and gentlemen, we are ahead of everybody. And it's just a matter of time until this robotic brain, as I pointed, is going to be in most of our machines, plus in the networking between the machines. So it becomes, call it if you wish, manufacturing, cloud manufacturing, if you wish. That is kind of wrapping up both where we are this quarter and connecting it to where we have been coming from and where we're going. I will be more than happy, of course, now to hear your questions and refer much more to issues that are of interest to you today in this call, please.
spk01: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time we will begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please press star 1. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star 2. If you are using speaker equipment, kindly lift a handset before pressing the numbers. Your questions will be polled in the order they are received. Please stand by while we poll for your questions. I repeat, if you have a question, please press star one. The first question is from Yoram Perlman. Please go ahead.
spk08: Good morning or good evening, Yoram. Good morning. I have a very simple question. We are probably going into recession if we are not in a recession. And at some point in the near, I hope in the near future, the AI will be integrated in the machine. And my question is, do you consider opening factories in maybe one in Europe, one in the US, maybe even in Asia, that will supply the final product to the final customer and not just doing prototypes?
spk02: No.
spk08: Capital goods in the time of recession are not a very desirable expense. The answer is no. Do you want to explain why?
spk11: Because I believe it's not the right strategy. I believe that a service business... is a business where you subcontract manufacturing, be it AM or others. Your gross margins are much lower. You cannot afford to do R&D and to develop the technologies you have because your business model is based on servicing. Your gross margin between 28% to 35%, 38% will not let you continue the R&D. You lose your comparative edge. Your competitive edge has to be based on completely different variables than a technology business that is based on innovation and effective R&D, and it doesn't fit.
spk08: But don't you consider that you have a lot of cash in the company, and so you can still continue R&D with the cash you have, but don't you consider the fact that you're not going to be able to sell the final product that you have now
spk11: I am able to sell the final product, and as you see, our revenue is growing from 5 million a year and a half ago to 50, or a rate of 40 to 50. So we don't see a problem selling our products. Absolutely not. B, we don't spend all the money we have on R&D. Far from that. We're going to spend it partly, and we are spending it on acquisitions. So the answer is no, we're not going to do it. It's not the plan right now.
spk08: Okay.
spk01: Thank you. Thank you. The next question is from David Shapiro. Please go ahead.
spk05: Good morning, and I have a question for you specifically about the stock price buybacks and the investment that was made in SSYS. If you could please speak to those issues.
spk11: What do you want to know about it? What's the question?
spk05: Why are we not doing a buyback?
spk11: Who says we're not doing a buyback?
spk05: Are we doing a buyback?
spk11: We just got the approval for a buyback a few days ago. So we got approval for a buyback for the next 12 months. And during the next 12 months, which started only 10 days ago, we're going to consider a buyback, absolutely.
spk05: So when we say we're going to consider it, the concern is that the markets is not anticipating that that's going to happen, or the stock price would not be at the price that it is today.
spk11: Did you look at the stock price of the 13 other additive manufacturing companies since the beginning of this year?
spk05: I'm specifically looking at our company.
spk11: Okay, so if you look at our company, at any company, you have to compare it to where the market and how it behaves. Our stock... behaved better than 9 to 10 other stocks in additive manufacturing. And short answer to your question, we'll consider buying stocks now that we have the approval and we'll think about it. The board will make a decision in the next 12 months on an ongoing basis. It was your first question. What was the second one, please?
spk05: The investment that was made in SSYS and as an investor in NNDM one has to wonder why are we spending money on another company rather than buying our own shares?
spk11: This is not one against the other, first of all. And we invest, we're spending money in other companies, not only in SSYS. We bought five other companies. The investment in SSYS was a strategist, was described in the news list, explained exactly why we're investing. And if you've read the news release, I don't want to repeat it and take time from other people. It explains why strategic investment is important, why our shareholders, you and me, will gain from that, and what we intend to do with it moving forward. So I don't want to repeat it because it will take time from everybody else. What was the third question?
spk05: Do you anticipate additional investments in SSYS?
spk11: As I said in the news release again, the last sentence in the news release speaks exactly to that. Sir, one of the things that I really do out of appreciation for people like you and other shareholders is I write everything I intend to do in the news release. So your question is answered by the last sentence in the last news release regarding SSIS and I'll repeat it now. We will during the next short and medium while, buy or sell shares based on situation of the market and other considerations. I'm speaking about shares of strategies. Thank you very much.
spk01: The next question is from Rich Brunn. Please go ahead.
spk04: Hello, good morning, Yoav.
spk01: Good morning.
spk04: Good morning. Thank you for taking my call. Just a few questions. Are we still in negotiations with the Australian acquisition?
spk11: Which one? Sorry?
spk04: I know we were talking about in a previous conference call about acquisition in Austria. Are we still in negotiations there or no?
spk11: I did not speak in the last conference call about an acquisition in Austria.
spk04: Not the last one, a previous conference call.
spk11: I did not speak in any conference call about specific acquisition that I said that is happening. We've been looking at acquisitions in Germany, in Austria, in UK, in Switzerland, in Netherlands, and in the United States. So I don't really know what you're talking about.
spk04: Okay. So we're not in any negotiations with any company in Austria?
spk11: I just said. that we're looking at companies in United States, Netherlands, UK, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Actually, in Italy as well.
spk04: Okay. Can you kind of elaborate a little bit on the modification to the GIS deal?
spk11: I'm sorry. What do you mean by modifications?
spk04: I don't know. There was a press release that was released sent out in regards to GIS, something with, I don't know if it was any type of performance metric related information.
spk11: Oh, I see what you're saying. No, I know what I'm saying. No, what happened is the CEO of GIS, ex-CEO, which joined us, took a very senior position in our management, Mr. Nick Geddes, And since we wanted him to devote time not only to an earn out that he did, we basically purchased out the earn out and he had a certain earn out that he could reach over the next year and he gave it up and we took a discounted price on this earn out which we paid him and the earn out disappeared so we don't have to pay it in the future. And now he's not only running GIS, actually his number two is running GIS, he is part of the senior manager of the company, and he took a position of the senior chief technology officer.
spk04: Okay. So the deal actually worked out more favorable to NMDM shareholders?
spk11: Yeah, because we paid less.
spk04: Okay. I just wanted to clear that up. Are you still observing any challenges hiring, like, quality engineers, deep learning personnel?
spk11: It's a little bit better than it was before because of the situation in the market and because both in the United States and in Israel, and actually in Europe as well, there started to be a little bit of layoffs in other high-tech companies. So it's a little bit better, but it's not a total change of direction.
spk04: Are we looking to solve that through an acquisition, maybe?
spk11: Yes. Part of the things we are looking at in acquisitions, I shouldn't say part of the things. Maybe one of the main things is the people and the quality of the people that are in the companies we're looking at. And it's definitely a major advantage. Until now, all the companies we acquired all the people stayed, I say all, all the management, all the R&D people, maybe one here or one there, but from what I remember, the people who were placed are not in R&D, not engineers. And we are very, very happy with the quality of the personnel that we are now including. We are now 500 people and we've been, to remind you, two years ago, we've been 95. So the long answer to your question is yes.
spk04: Okay. Would it be out of bounds to say that a potential acquisition would be specifically for deep learning to kind of support what DeepCube is doing?
spk11: No. On that one, we feel we have very, very, very good team, world-class team in-house. We managed to grow it from 24 when we, They've acquired them to 20, sorry, to above 30. Yael, we have above 30 by now, right?
spk05: Yes, indeed, yes.
spk11: Yeah, and while we are looking to hire more, we're not going to spend money on acquisition and pay premiums for that. We have it in-house. The product, the technology is working. We don't intend to do it.
spk04: Okay, so you believe that the product we have right now is superior to whatever may be on the market right now? Okay, all right.
spk11: The product or the technology was working actually when we acquired it, but by now it's already in the process of being adapted to additive manufacturing, both additive manufacturing electronics and now into additive manufacturing machines of ceramics and metal, and we feel we are in a good position there.
spk04: Okay, and this is my last question. I know in the previous conference call you talked about reaching out to, you know, companies that were a little difficult to negotiate. Have you seen any rebalancing in the valuations and have any of those, okay, has anything materialized into something meaningful?
spk11: The answer is yes. We're seeing, I don't want to call it rebalance, but the ask in the negotiations on the other side of the seller's, is lower and more reasonable. And as I mentioned in the opening statements, we are hopeful that now we'll advance on that field very fast, even though between us, we've done five, six acquisitions over a year and a quarter. So it's average, almost an acquisition a quarter. And I don't believe in acquisitions that you don't give it enough time also to integrate them properly, to get the synergies out. And if you start to acquire too fast, you end up failing in the implementation. So you have to be really, really careful. However, and you're right, we are hoping very, very much, and I'm seeing it, that the multiples are lower, the asks are lower, and people are more reasonable in negotiations. So we'll hopefully be able to get the acquisitions we're interested in easier.
spk04: All right. Can I follow that up with one more question, please, if no one minds?
spk00: Go ahead, please.
spk04: Go ahead, please. Yeah. I don't know if you can disclose, how many proprietary materials do we have in the pipeline currently that show some significant progress?
spk11: We have proprietary materials in the area of additive manufacturing electronics between three to six. We have additive materials in the area of advanced micropolymer printing, about three. And we have new materials in the area of ceramics and metal, about two or three.
spk04: Okay. And those are just ones available, or those are in the pipelines?
spk11: I would say that either available or will be available in the pipeline, but in a very short period of time. I'm not talking a year or two years. I'm talking months.
spk04: Okay. All right. Thank you for your time.
spk11: Thank you very much for your question, sir.
spk04: All right.
spk01: The next question is from David Shapiro. Please go ahead.
spk05: Yeah, I wanted to focus in a little bit more on the share price. Your perspective may be that we're doing just fine relative to other companies, but many of us that have been invested in this company for a long time are not too pleased with what's happened, particularly the recent fall from the $3.50 range. So I'd like to explore that a little bit more with you and specifically have you explain initiatives that you and the company are taking to increase the share price, particularly as it relates to analyst coverage, which is something that you've discussed on previous calls?
spk11: We are discussing analyst, hopefully picking up our companies for reporting. It's very, very important. We hired a special outside firm that's expertise is exactly in that. The firm itself, is also going to initiate analyst reports themselves and recruit analyst reports from the outside. We're paying them based on their work on a monthly basis and we have a project with them with a plan that we designed for the next foreseeable future and we're hopeful that this will be effective. You're right, it's very, very important. The share price of the company is gyrating together with all the other companies that are in our field. So while you're unhappy, I'm unhappy as well. I'm a shareholder like you. All my upside is there. I don't have stock options, I mean personally. So the difference between you and me maybe is I know what is coming up and I know that the performance of the companies are so good and expected to be as such that the share price will respond. And you're absolutely right. Analyst reports is very important. In addition to that, as part of this program that I'm telling you, we now intend that Corona finally cleared the way to start to participate in face-to-face conferences of investment banks and other organizations that are inviting us to come and present what we do. This stopped for two years. So over these two years, the only thing I could do is do Zoom calls. And of course, it's not the same. You realize that. So in the next two quarters and more than that, but the next two quarters are already on the horizon. We intend to do a lot of exposure to the company in this, both investors conferences and industry conferences, which we think will help as well. And most important than everything else, we are running the business well and improving the results.
spk05: And those are wonderful things. And I commend you and the company for the progress that you're making. Thank you. The elephant in the room is this share buyback. And I'm really concerned as an investor in the company that the responses about we're considering and we may in the future and all of that that is not sending a signal to future investors or to the shorts that are on this company that there is going to be something that's going to happen that will be a concrete catalyst to move the stock price up.
spk11: I hear your concern, but there's no question there.
spk05: Thank you for answering the questions.
spk01: Thank you very much. The next question is from Devin Terrell. Please go ahead. Hi, Yoav, how's it going?
spk10: Very well, thank you. Yeah, I'm calling because I have a few questions about R&D. A little over a year ago, you had stated that you cannot time nano, and over the course of time, there's going to be a bunch of inflection points specifically circulating around R&D. that are going to inflect the price. You mentioned to a previous caller that you guys have hired 500 employees.
spk11: You also mentioned that... Just one second, just one second, just one second. I never said there's going to be inflection points that are going to affect the price. I said there are going to be inflection points in R&D that are going to affect the performance of our business.
spk10: Well, you did. You said there's going to be inflection points that are going to make the price go up and you won't be able to catch it.
spk11: I did not say that inflection points may cause the price to go up because inflection points are affecting the business. The perception of the market may cause the price to go up.
spk10: Okay, well, so my question to you is, before when all the money was being raised, we were hearing things about R&D and news reports all the time. after the money was finally secured, it seems as if we only have heard information about acquisitions and complete silence has gone on with R&D. So I'm just curious, has there been any kind of breakthroughs with R&D? Is there anything that we can look forward to coming up? Or just kind of more so, how come so much silence on that end?
spk11: First of all, you have heard news about R&D, we came up with new products which we announced them. That's R&D. And you realize that any time that something new comes up, we announce it and there's no reason not to announce it. And whatever we didn't announce means it didn't happen. So we will continue and we'll announce once we have information that we think we can announce and we don't risk competitive information that may harm us in increasing the sales or the revenue. So when there'll be news, we'll be more than happy to announce it.
spk10: So just from the quote from what you had said in the previous call, you said, So there will be inflection point when we will announce achievements that will cause things to jump up and you will be late to come into the share.
spk11: I did not say that if I announce, it will cause the share to go up. How can I tell you that the share will go up by me saying something? The perception of the market may be that when we announce and something positive happens, more people will buy. And if it will happen, then you'll see it.
spk10: Okay, yeah, it just seems as if there hasn't been any kind of investor interaction other than a few, you know, you had said on one of the previous calls last year, actually, that you were going to set up more conference calls. A caller had called in and said that, and you said, yeah, that would be fine. If anything, we feel like the company has gotten more silence over the last half a year.
spk11: Sir, we don't have less conference calls than last year. And if you want me to set the conference call, as you speak with me on this conference call, you get all the information you want and you ask. And the next conference call will be either when the next quarter comes up or if we have an event. I can't set up a conference call with nothing happening. For what?
spk10: And one last question. You had previously said on the last call that the analysts should consider covering you guys because in a few quarters you're going to be industry leaders. Now, when we talk about the share price, you say that we have to look at the other companies.
spk11: I never said that in a few quarters we'll be industry leaders.
spk10: I think we're all just having miscommunication with your calls because that is what I heard from you.
spk11: Well, when you say we all, you are just one person. So I never said that in few quarters we'll be industry leaders, ever.
spk10: Do you feel like the stock price has any room to move differently from the other additive manufacturing companies, or you feel as if as long as they stay stagnant, nanodimension will stay stagnant?
spk11: I feel that as long as the market segment is stagnant, the ability of any share, either ours or others, to penetrate through that and be dramatically different is much more difficult.
spk10: Yeah, because I'll speak for myself. I know the buyback, $100 million in a stock buyback, would do wonders for this company with room to raise again later on in the future. It just feels as if retail was kind of leaned on a lot when raising all the money, and now we've gotten to this point, and you speak a lot about how you're very focused on institutional investors and you're not here to make money for retail, but it just seems like no bone is being thrown.
spk11: I never said that I'm not here to make money for retail, totally, ever, never.
spk10: Thank you for your time, Yoav. Thank you.
spk01: The next question is from Brett Race of Jannie Montgomery Scott. Please go ahead.
spk02: Hi, Mr. Stern.
spk01: Hi, how are you doing?
spk02: Good, good. Could you just give us some background and color the process in place at the company to do the due diligence on the potential acquisitions. You said you're looking at over 300 companies.
spk11: No, no, no. I said we looked at over 320 companies, out of which we dove deeper. Actually, Julian, do you remember the numbers? We just spoke about it. Can you quote them?
spk03: Yes, we've looked at 350 companies in one capacity or another. We've looked at, I would say, of those 350, about 120 in some type of, call it multi-engagement, several meetings with them. And we've done in-depth due diligence, site visits, extensive analysis into 30 of those companies. And from that, we've acquired five.
spk02: Okay. But the question is, who is the we? Could you describe? Yeah. Is it 10 people? What are their backgrounds? And when you've focused on something, do you, Mr. Stern, unilaterally call the shots on to buy or not buy? Or at a certain threshold level, it's submitted to the board for their reflection and approval? So what's the process in place at the company?
spk11: Let's start. Every acquisition, it doesn't matter what the size, is brought up to the board. No acquisition is done without board approval, point number one. Point number two, there's about five people in the company led by chief head of M&A, which is an ex-CEO of two companies, one $500 million company, public, and another startup company that he was a CEO. He's 62 years old. He spent 23 years with the largest supplier of optical inspection for the PCB industry, ran all of the commercial divisions, did M&A in his previous companies as well. He is the head of the team. Of course, beside me, I'm participating. Under him, there's two or three analysts with background from Goldman Sachs, from Lehman Brothers, from Amazon, which is involved in the due diligence. In addition to that, our president, which is ex-CEO of three companies, 63 years old, has done about 15 to 20 acquisitions in his life, is involved intensely in all the due diligence. In addition to that, when we do due diligence and we need to do a due diligence of both the technology, the R&D, the operations, the sales, and all the facets of the companies we're looking at. We bring in people that are in the company in the fields where we're looking at. So Dr. Elie David, one of the five world leaders in professional intelligence and the chief technology officer of AI is participating in due diligence on the algorithms and the machine learning side. head of materials phd is looking doing r d if it's materials issues our head of new technologies is doing it on new technologies in in machine and robotics etc etc similar to that software people and electronic engineers so if you look at the total number of people that are involved once you get to an intensive due diligence I would say it's about 10 to 12 people at least. And of course, in parallel to that, Yael, the CFO, which is on the call here, and you can ask her specifics, she's leading the financial due diligence. And financial due diligence in all the acquisitions is led by KPMG as an outside agency. And KPMG, both Europe and United States, as it relates to wherever we do the acquisition. And in parallel, we have, of course, the law firm that's involved in helping us in the legal due diligence. Plus, we have investment bankers, both one in Europe and right now close to two in the United States, that involve in the analysis, financial analysis, comparative analysis of valuation. And all this is run by me as leading the team. and involved in decision-making. And when this team has a recommendation, it goes to the board and recommends. Then the board looks at it, and the board makes a decision if it's worthwhile or not, and either does the acquisition or doesn't.
spk02: All right. That sounds like a good team. So thank you for the color in answering my question.
spk11: You're welcome. Thank you for the question.
spk01: Thank you. The next question is from Jesse Zachagnini. Please go ahead.
spk09: Yes, Mr. Stern. Quick question. In the event you all do decide to buy back shares, is there any, like, securities obligation or plan that communicates any of that activity, you know, back to the – general public or shareholders, or is there no obligation to do that? There's no obligation to do that. Okay. So at any point, we'll just kind of not be aware of that then.
spk11: Well, if the claim of some people is right, that buyback of shares is causing the share price to go up, then theoretically you'll see the share price going up. All of us will see it. If it doesn't cause the share to go up, then you wouldn't see it.
spk09: Okay. Thank you.
spk11: Now, of course, eventually when we report our quarterly reporting and annual report, if we purchase shares, then you'll end up having less shares outstanding by definition because the shares are purchased by the company.
spk09: Excellent. Appreciate that. Thank you.
spk01: The next question is from Bob Downer. Please go ahead.
spk06: Good morning, Mr. Stern. Good morning. I've been an investor with NMDM Stock ever since Kathy Woods started mentioning your company maybe two and a half years ago. I've enjoyed your conferences. conference calls and stuff. And my background is I watched my dad fix TVs when I was a kid, printed circuit boards. I'm familiar with that. So I thought, hmm, this technology sounds really good. I'll invest in it. So my point being right now, I'm having a little bit of a vision problem. You might call it a cloudy vision of what NNVM is all about. Would you consider your Dragonfly 3D printer your flagship product still, or what is the vision for your company in terms of products?
spk11: Thank you for your question. I'll take you back to the opening statement and what I said. You're absolutely right. The company started in manufacturing electronics at the time. Dragonfly was Dragonfly Pro, Dragonfly LDM. By now we developed that area, that section to the product called Dragonfly 4. So there's a lot of investment there. And yes, this is a disruptive technology. It was the core of the company's investment and the only investment in R&D when I joined the company. Since then, we continue that investment because we believe this is an amazing, promising future. But since then, we found we developed two things, two thoughts or two directions. A, it will take time, and I spoke about it in the past, until the technology matures and I believe that the next product coming up after the Dragonfly 4, which I mentioned before, still in the same direction in electronics, is going to be miles ahead. It will take time until the industry will adjust its specs until materials will reach the point. So as we develop this and do not give up on the investment, we found out and after research that we sell to five, six verticals and there's a lot of synergies by selling to these verticals additional additive manufacturing technologies. And we purchased these additional additive manufacturing technologies by purchasing companies that already have technologies in that field. And by now, we're having not only the machines that print circuit boards or print three-dimensional high-performance electronic devices, but we also have machines that are printing other parts, like micro-mechanical parts, like metal parts. And the reason why this sits well with the core development of the electronics is because it is sold to very similar customers, so we can leverage and scale up our go-to-market, our sales organization and marketing, selling different kinds of machines to the same customer, and the growth of our revenue in the last two years from $4 million to above $40 million run rate in less than 24 months is a result of both the growth of the Dragonfly 4 revenue and the growth into other electronic and additive manufacturing fields. So the summary of my answer to you, and it relates to again what I said in the beginning, is the reason why you may be confused, and I hope that this explains it, is the growth of the company is much faster and scalable by having more products in edit manufacturing that can be leveraged by both our distribution channels that go to market and by applying our artificial intelligence and deep learning into other machines as long as we keep the synergy that we sell to similar customer which is mostly defense, aviation, aerospace, advanced medical, advanced industrial applications academics, of course, and research institutions. So that is the reason you may be a little bit confused that it's not only the Dragon Horse Horror. It's much more than that by now.
spk06: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Stern. I just wanted to hear your discussion on that.
spk11: Thank you very much for your question. It was a very interesting one.
spk01: If there are any additional questions, please press star one. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. Please stand by while we poll for more questions. The next question is from Joe Audigen. Joe, please go ahead.
spk07: Hi, good morning. It's Joe Alwyn Stern. I'm an evening star, Mr. Stern. Anyway, I've spoken to you on every conference call. I'm actually pleased with the way things are progressing. I wish the progression would be greater, but things are moving forward. I also feel that the board and you felt that maybe let's wait to buy back shares because the share price may go down. We're in a recession. Potentially we're in a recession and we're in a bear market. You can buy shares for cheaper. That's not so bad. What I don't understand, and I can't get my head around this, is We ended the quarter, the June quarter, with $1.27 million, and our market cap is $750 million with no debt. It's crazy. I just don't understand. Could you give me an explanation for this? How can we be selling at $500 million below cash when things are progressing? They may not be progressing. We're not at $200 million sales, but we're progressing. We're buying businesses. You have an explanation. I don't understand it. I don't understand it.
spk11: I think you're right. I'm puzzled by that, and obviously I'm frustrated like you and like others that were on this call, but if I would be waking up in the morning being busy with my frustration, then we wouldn't be growing from $5 million to $50 million, which we did. But your question and your frustration is totally understandable, and I tell you what's my thought. And please don't take it and quote me telling you this is the case. But I want to share with you because I feel close to you and to others that mentioned it. My thoughts are the following. You're right. The market is behaving erratically. We're kind of a recession. The interest rates are going up. Cathie Woods and ARK Invest are having issues being ETF and they had to sell. So while she... still holding a lot of shares in ours, and I know exactly what. It's not for me to quote, but she's a big shareholder. She had to unload not only ourselves, but other shares in high-tech in similar fields. So that affected the share price, specifically of ours, but it's not only ours. All the shares in our, call it, arena, And I'm following daily, sir, at least 13 publicly traded shares of additive manufacturing and additive manufacturing related companies. And in the next show, in the next conference call, I will put the slide which will show you the behaviors of all these, you know, 9 to 13, depends if you're taking the Europeans as well, shares, and you will see that it's almost like a clockwork orange. They are moving up and down together. I'm not talking only in the last eight months. In the last 24 months, they're moving together. And the differences between where the share goes up and down are so small, it causes to feel that there's synthetic algorithms that when the market is going down or up or specific segment of the market, certain investors, obviously not retailers, but more institutions, having algorithm selling all the shares in the certain segment down once the segment is showing signs that it's going down. So having said all that, we all go, our share go with the rest of the shares, and actually in the last eight, nine months, we are doing better than all 11 of them. Better. But not a lot better. For me, better is great, but if it goes down from below cash value and where it is, it's not good enough for me. Now, the only company, however, of these 13 companies that is traded below its cash value is us. And for me, it's an opportunity. Now, sir, there's two types of people that I'm facing over my life. There's people that see a problem in the opportunity and the people that see opportunity in the problem. I see opportunity in the problem, so it will be better.
spk08: Next question, please.
spk01: Okay, the next question. There is no more questions at this time. Mr. Stern, would you like to make your concluding statement?
spk11: I see two more questions coming up. David Shapiro wants to ask another question.
spk01: Okay. The next question is from David Shapiro. Please go ahead.
spk05: My question again, and that last question and your answer, I think it's something all of us shareholders really want to focus in on. And I can tell you from my perspective, and I'm going to come back to the buyback issue, there is one significant catalyst that you can offer for our company and for our shareholders that is different than all those other companies. And that is the cash that you've got, the ability that you've got to buy back shares, and the fact that the board has already approved that significant buyback. And Insider buying would also make a big difference, as well as analyst coverage and some of the other things that we discussed. But as we're on this call, the share price is actually dropping. And if you were to make an announcement in short order that you are going to use the resources to do a share buyback, that would differentiate our company from all of those other companies. I would just again encourage you to make a statement.
spk11: Thank you for your advice. Thank you very much. Okay, next question.
spk01: The next question is from Devin Terrell. Please go ahead.
spk10: Hey, Yov. This is me again. you just mentioned that you were uncertain of what the things were that were causing the share price to go down. I would just speak on, I know a bunch of people invested in this company and one of the main things that they say, I don't know if this will lend anything to it, is that you have been very, very straightforward on your calls, which I commend you for. But, and also by doing that, the short, you would get on the calls and you would say, I will not do share buybacks. I will not do this. I will not do that. And it caused them to be able to just take advantage of this company. Speaking back on the share buyback thing, again, I agree with the previous caller, not to tell you how to run the business, but there are a lot of biotechs that move the same, and then one comes up with news or one is able to do a share buyback, and it skyrockets them from the rest of the company. So it's just sometimes it feels as if from shareholders all the power is given to the shorts. based on your words, of things you will not do. So I would just kind of throw that out there as a recommendation for what pain I see with shareholders and why they are hesitant to keep buying in. Thank you.
spk11: Okay. As you know, I think in the last call, I was asked, or two calls before, I was against the share buyback, and then I changed my mind And I went through a process of three months of getting the share buyback approved, mostly because of the issues we had to go through the regulation with the court. But we got it done. And I'm proud that I can change my mind. But we're not going to do the share buyback just because of the conference call. And we're closing the conference call. We're buying back. We're going to have a year now to decide when to do it and if to do it and at what pace. And this is different than half a year ago when I felt that it's not justified to do it. And the board will take it into consideration, including all variables involved. And we're hearing you. But, you know, the shorts and the shorts play and it's part of the market and it's part of And, you know, when you play the game, you have to play by its rules. So we announced the approval and we'll act accordingly as needed in the future. Next question, please.
spk10: One more thing. With the stock price trading $500 million below cash on hand, what would signify an appropriate time to buy back shares if not now?
spk11: For instance, if I'm approaching a certain other use of funds and I decided or the board decides rather than mayors, really the board, that the other use of funds at this point, if it's substantial, is before we buy back shares or if the board decides the price to buy shares is this or different or many other considerations as much as market considerations that I'm not an expert with. I'm an expert in business. And that's the role of the board. And the board, we have an excellent board. And the board is doing it.
spk10: My only concern is the stock and the chart and everything has been descending for a long time. It finally started coiling. It finally started coming up. It's $500 million below cash on hand. It's any time to do a buyback to get momentum in this company, in this stock. I understand. I hear you.
spk11: I hear you. And I responded to you and told you the board is considering it. And it will make a decision in the next 12 months when and if will be the right decision or the right judgment from them that it's the right decision.
spk10: Thank you, Yov. Thank you.
spk01: There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Stern, would you like to make your concluding statement?
spk11: Sure, but I see another question. Do you want to give it? Okay, it's canceled. So everybody, thank you very much for your participation. Again, we hope to be speaking with you soon, either on special events that are happening during the quarter or at the end of the quarter when we'll have the next quarter reports. Thank you very much.
spk01: Thank you. This concludes the Nano Dimension 2022 Second Quarter Financial Results call. Thank you for your participation. You may go ahead and disconnect.
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