VIA optronics AG

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome and thank you for joining the Vioptronics Second Quarter 2021 Financial Resource Conference call. Throughout today's recorded presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, you may press star followed by one on your touch-down telephone. Press the star key followed by zero for operator assistance. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mrs. Savarese from Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Lindsay Savarese Good morning and welcome to VIA Optronics Second Quarter 2021 Financial Results Conference Call. I'm Lindsay Savarese, Investor Relations for VIA Optronics. Joining me on the call today will be Juergen Aigner, VIA's Chief Executive Officer, and Dr. Marcus Peters, VIA's Chief Financial Officer. Today's call is being webcast live and will be archived on the investor relations section of VIA's website at via-optronics.com, where the company's earnings press release is currently available. Certain matters we will be discussing today, including the business outlook and financial projections for the third quarter and full year 2021, are forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are discussed in the company's documents filed with the SEC, including VIA's annual report on Form 20F, which was filed on April 29, 2021. Please note that any forward-looking statements that are made on this call are based on assumptions as of today, and the company undertakes no obligation to update these statements. as a result of new information or future events. And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Juergen.

Thank you, Lindsay. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. First, I will provide a brief overview of our second quarter 2021 results. I will then discuss our recent acquisition of Germany's followed by our key achievements and notable awards in the quarter. Before I turn the call over to Markus, who will review our second quarter financial performance in more detail and provide our outlook for the third quarter of 2021 and the full year. Turning into the second quarter, revenue of 43.7 million increased 11.5% year-over-year, driven by growth in our display solutions segment. Our EBITDA in the second quarter of negative 4.7 million decreased from positive 2.2 million in the second quarter. I'd like to provide a few words on the global component shortages. While we have been able to successfully manage the impacts of the global supply disruptions and continue on our growth path, our second quarter revenue was slightly affected by the shortages. While these shortages have impacted many companies globally, We still expect to record about 20% revenue growth in 2021 compared to 2020. There is an increase in some of our component and transportation costs driven by the shortage. However, we are working with our customers on a case-by-case basis to resolve potential impacts on margins. I am pleased to report that we solved the issues we had with our equipment supplier for the new German facility without affecting our revenue by using additional production capacity in our China facility. During the second quarter, we had already completed the site acceptance test in Nuremberg for the new facility and are now ramping up production for our large US-based EV manufacturer. Consistent with our strategy of extending our leading position in interactive display systems, especially for the automotive market, we acquired Germaneers during the second quarter. Germaneers is a high-tech engineering company focused on automotive system integration and user interfaces. The company provides solutions for a range of well-known high-end original equipment manufacturers. Through this transaction, we are strengthening our concept phase of the auto-design process. Together with Germany, we can design and deliver compelling, technologically advanced cockpit solutions, including but not limited to, sophisticated user interfaces with brilliant optical and sensing performance and cameras for interior and all types of add-ons and driver-assistant functions like surround view, mirror replacement, and driver monitoring. We already had a strong working relationship with the company for over two years, and that worked to welcome the entire Germany's team on board. We also made a financial investment in SigmaSense, a global leader in touch controller technology. With this investment, we have expanded our collaboration to develop new touch solutions for automotive applications, industrial displays, and consumer electronics. We believe that we will be able to produce new and exciting touch and sensing solutions by combining our metal mesh touch sensors with SigmaSense touch controller. We continue to receive project awards that have further increased our presence in the automotive, industrial, and consumer markets. In addition, we are now expanding our presence in the overall EV infrastructure market by providing display touch solutions for charging stations. Our backlogging pipeline continues to be much stronger, with much better visibility into the upcoming years, and we believe this trend will continue. Looking ahead, we will further execute on our strategy of driving our sales in the auto and industrial markets, leveraging our LCD, optical bonding, sensor and camera capabilities to deliver system solutions, while expanding the number and size of our projects within our existing customer base. We are constantly benchmarking and evaluating existing and new M&A opportunities focused on electronic system design to further increase our R&D capabilities. As announced in July, Daniel Juergens has transitioned the CFO role to Dr. Marcus Peters. I am grateful to Daniel for all the work that he has done for GIA, especially during the transition from a private health company to the public markets. I wish him all the best in his future endeavors and would like to welcome Markus to the VR team, bringing lots of experience, especially in public markets. With this, I'd like to hand over to him to present our financial results and outlook in more detail. Markus, please go ahead.