This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.
Operator
Good afternoon and welcome to the new V Holding Corporation Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on a touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. On today's call are Gregor Poulan, Chief Executive Officer, and David Robson, Chief Financial Officer of NewVie. Earlier today, NewVie issued a press release announcing its Second Quarter 2024 results. Following prepared remarks, we will open up the call for questions. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that this call may contain forward-looking statements. While these forward-looking statements reflect NewVie's best current judgment, they are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by these forward-looking projections. These risk factors are discussed in NewVie's filings with the SEC and in the earnings release issued today, which are available on our website. NewVie undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Gregor Poulan, Chief Executive Officer of NewVie. Gregory?
Gregor Poulan
Thank you, and good afternoon to everyone here today. Thank you for joining our Second Quarter 2024 results call. We are pleased to have the opportunity to update you on the progress we believe we are making in scaling our business and positioning NewVie for future growth. This second quarter has remained challenging for NewVie as school districts have been awaiting EPF funding approval letters before placing orders. The good news is that the EPF funding rounds 2 and 3 are finally moving forward, but after significant delays. This situation forces us to be more aggressive and review our operational processes tightly. We are now seeing orders picking up and we expect that the following three quarters will see significant increase. But that also means that some recognized revenue expected in 2024 will slide into 2025. This is disappointing, but doesn't change our view on the school bus business in the long run. Concerning our project in Fresno, we had a great event in July where the different parties got together for a breaking ground event. This allowed us to share more details about the project and help other customers understand the value that NewVie platform can bring for such development. As a reminder, NewGive software platform provides the ability to manage and optimize site level EV charging and -the-meter solar and battery storage and to aggregate resources across multiple sites to participate in ancillary services and grid service markets. This allows fleet operators to save money, transition to EV fleet faster, and optimize the life of the sector. We also expect our other projects in collaboration with Taiwan Power Corporation to kick off soon as we are finalizing a contract with e-Formula, our local partner. Expect to hear more soon on this project with a total deployment of 90 bus charging stations. In the meantime, our pattern of projects on the island is also expanding. As a reminder, you can find more details on our V2G Hub projects on our Hub website, .newvv2ghubs.com. I now have some exciting news to share with you. To further expand the deployment of our technology, we have been working with a new partner, Wise EV LLC headquartered in Nevada. Through this relationship, we are excited to announce the launch of our Joint SPV special purpose vehicle. This SPV targets a deployment of public infrastructure on a first site in Nevada, leveraging a very attractive source of funding from Nevada Energy. We expect this to be the first in a series of planned SPVs that allow us to accelerate new technology deployment, save money for EV drivers by providing attractive energy cost pricing and reliable equipment, and bring non-dilutive cash to Nuvi in the form of prepaid services. This first SPV will be financed through debt provided to the SPV for a total project cost of about $1.5 million. An event scheduled in Las Vegas on Thursday will allow us to promote the next set of projects. The consumer public infrastructure segment is not new to Nuvi. You might remember our engagement with Circle K last year in Europe. We believe this is a key segment that requires a deep integration into the electric system and that is also supported by a significant amount of funding from various governments around the world. We believe the SPV structure we have adapted makes our future revenue more forecastable and provides cash upfront. On the other hand, revenue recognition happened in a longer period. When we planned our 2024 revenue forecast in late 2023, we guided full year 2024 revenue to range between $15 to $20 million. However, given project delays we are experiencing with some of the large customers and delays occurring in the timing of EPF funding award, as well as the structure of the project we are making for future revenue, we believe that we no longer anticipate we will achieve the $15 to $20 million revenue target this year. Given the difficulty in forecasting the timing to convert our backlog and pipeline to revenue, we will not be updating our revenue guidance for 2024. Finally, earlier this quarter, we had engaged Capello Global, a Los Angeles-based investment bank, in order to work on our strategic investment. This process is underway and we hope to share an update with you over the next few months. The SPV is a good indication of our vision. In the meantime, we are managing our cash tightly. And now I will let David take you through the details of our financials. David?
David
Thanks, Gregory. I will start with a recap of second quarter 2024 results. In the second quarter, we generated total revenues of $802,000 compared to $2.12 million in the second quarter of 2023. The decrease was primarily driven by the reduction in charger hardware sales and the reduction -to-date margins. Margins on products, services, and grant revenues were .9% for the second quarter of 2024 compared to 8% for the year-ago period. -to-date margins through June 30, 2024, were .9% compared with .2% for the year-ago period. The increase is primarily due to improved pricing on hardware sales and a higher mix of service and grant revenues this quarter compared with last year. Excluding grant revenues, margins on product and service revenues were .1% for the second quarter of 2024 compared to .8% in the year-ago period. As a reminder, margins can be lumpy from quarter to quarter depending on the mix. DC charger gross margins at standard pricing generally range from 15 to 25%, while AC charger gross margins are approximately 50%, but in dollar terms are a smaller fraction of the revenue of a DC charger. Grid service revenue margins are generally 30%, while software and engineering service margins are as high as 100%. Operating cost, excluding cost of sales, was $6 million for the second quarter of 2024 compared to $7.5 million for the first quarter of 2024 and $8.5 million for the second quarter of 2023. We have continued to drive efficiencies in 2024, resulting in lower overhead costs. We expect the lower operating costs we have realized this quarter to continue in future quarters. Cash operating expenses, excluding cost of sales, stock compensation, and depreciation and amortization expense, declined to $5.4 million in the second quarter of 2024 versus $6.3 million in the first quarter of 2024 and $7.3 million in the second quarter of 2023. Other income was $1.8 million in the second quarter of 2024, up from $0.3 million in the year-ago quarter. The current period benefited from a non-cash gain from the change in the fair value of warrants. Net loss attributable to newly common stockholders decreased in the second quarter of 2024 to $3.9 million from a net loss of $8 million in the second quarter of 2023. The improvement was primarily a result of lower operating expenses and non-cash gains from the change in the fair value of warrants this quarter compared to the second quarter of 2023. Now, turning to our balance sheet, we had approximately $1.4 million in cash as of June 30, 2024, excluding half a million in restricted cash, which represents a decrease of $0.1 million from December 2023. The decrease was primarily a result of $8.7 million used in operating activities. Subsequent to the quarter ended June 30, 2024, in August we received $1 million in proceeds from a short-term loan, which was paid off in monthly payments with interest through March of 2025. During the quarter, inventories decreased by $0.1 million to $6 million at June 30, 2024, as we continued to reduce inventory levels. The net decline in inventory during the quarter was partially offset by the recording of LCFS credits at customer sites generated during the same period. Accounts payable at the end of the second quarter of 2024 was $1.9 million, an increase of $0.4 million compared to the first quarter of $1.5 million. Now, turning to our megawatts under management and estimated future grid service revenues, as a reminder, megawatts under management is a metric we use to quantify the aggregated amount of electrical capacity from the deployment of our V1G and V2G chargers, which are primarily deployed in the electric school bus market in the US and in light duty fleet deployments in Europe, in addition to stationary batteries. Currently, these chargers and batteries are located throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. Megawatts under management in the second quarter increased .7% over the first quarter of 2024 to 27.1 megawatts from 26.6 megawatts, a .3% increase compared to the second quarter of 2023. In terms of its composition, 7.1 megawatts were from stationary batteries and 20 megawatts were from EV chargers. We continue to expect further growth in our megawatts under management as we go through the remainder of the year and continue to commission our backlog of customer orders we have earned, in addition to new business we anticipate winning, which we have visibility to in our pipeline for both EV chargers and stationary batteries. Now turning to backlog, on June 30, 2024, our hardware and service backlog decreased to 18.2 million, a decrease of 0.8 million from 19 million reported at March 31, 2024. The decrease is related to the conversion of backlog into sales this quarter, in addition to adjustments to contracts amounts with two customers. -to-date, backlog in 2024 has increased by 14.3 million from 3.9 million at December 31, 2023, which is primarily related to a large hub project in Fresno, California, which was closed during Q1 of this year. That concludes my portion of the prepared remarks. Gregory, back to you to conclude.
Gregor Poulan
Thanks David. So this quarter 2024, the second quarter 2024 has remained challenging. We are very focused on closing on the large projects we have been awarded while the school bus segment is getting back on track. We also believe that expanding our reach within segments where we can bring significant value and where government support is strong will allow us to diversify our sources of revenue and bring more -to-quarter stability. These are also deployments where we feel like we have good control on the timing. Finally, we hope to share the progress we are making on our strategic path soon. Thank you.
Operator
We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your touchtone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star, then two. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Again, if you have a question, please press star, then one. Seeing no questions, this will conclude our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Gregory Poilan for any closing remarks.
Gregor Poulan
Again, I would like to thank you for listening to us today and looking forward to sharing more with you in the very near future. Bye-bye.
Operator
The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.
Disclaimer