Seeing Machines Limited ("Seeing
Machines" or the "Company")
26 February 2025
H1 FY2025 Trading Update
& Quarterly KPIs
Strong cash position, 90%
increase in cars on road & new partnerships
position Company for success
against wider market turbulence
Seeing Machines Limited (AIM: SEE),
the advanced computer vision technology company that designs
AI-powered operator monitoring systems to improve transport safety,
provides a trading update for the six months to 31 December 2024
("H1 2025") and quarterly Key Performance Indicators ("KPIs") for
the quarter ended 31 December 2024, based on unaudited
numbers.
Key
Financial Highlights:
-
Reported Revenue for H1 2025 is expected to be
US$25.3m, in line with the equivalent period in the prior year (H1
2024: US$25.7m)
-
Annualised Recurring Revenues of US$13.4m
(H1 2024: US$13.0m)
-
Strong balance sheet, with cash at 31 December
2024 of US$39.6m (30 June 2024: US$23.4m)
-
Reduction in operating
expenses1 for H1 2025 of US$5.7m compared to H1 2024 and a reduction of
US$2.2m compared to H2 2024
-
EBITDA loss continues to improve with H1 2025
expected to be around US$9.5m to US$10.0m (H1 2024: loss
US$14.3m)
-
Adjusted EBITDA loss expected to be around
US$17.5m to US$18.0m (H1 2024: loss US$26.5m)
-
Cars on the road with Seeing Machines' technology
increased to 2,883,745 units
1 Operating expenses include
research and development costs capitalised and exclude
one-off/other items
Key
Operational Highlights:
-
Seeing Machines secured a landmark £26.2m
(US$32.8m) investment as part of its partnership with Mitsubishi
Electric Mobility Corporation ("MELMB"), a global leader in the
design and manufacture of automotive products and technologies.
Following an additional purchase of shares, MELMB now holds 19.9%
of Seeing Machines' issued share capital, strengthening the
Company's balance sheet and providing a strong foundation for
future growth.
-
The investment by MELMB was underpinned by a
collaboration agreement where the two companies have joined forces
to grow their market share in Japan and harness rising demand for
driver safety solutions as the Japanese Automotive OEMs prepare for
regulatory deadlines in Europe and beyond.
- The Mitsubishi
collaboration will also extend to all areas of Seeing Machines'
transport related business and is intended to eventually expand
into adjacent markets where Seeing Machines' Intellectual Property
may be leveraged to enhance segments in which Mitsubishi has an
existing competitive advantage.
-
Valeo and Seeing Machines entered a strategic
collaboration to grow market share in Automotive. The market
leading scale of Valeo, alongside its expertise in cutting-edge
cameras and processing units, software and system integration, will
help to accelerate adoption of the Company's AI-powered DMS and OMS
technology. The companies are working closely together to jointly
pursue new business as Seeing Machines strategically partners with
a small number of blue-chip Tier 1s to enhance opportunities for
growth.
- Seeing Machines acquired software company Asaphus Vision GmbH
("Asaphus"), providing a significant material boost to AI and
Machine Learning capabilities. Asaphus, now operating as Seeing
Machines Berlin, provides the Company with a European footprint,
leaving it strongly positioned to support a rapidly growing
customer base with both technical and operational staff.
- The UK's largest
electric bus manufacturer, Northern Ireland based Wrightbus, became
the first commercial vehicle manufacturer to achieve homologation
(i.e. been approved and certified) for Europe's General Safety
Regulation, leveraging Seeing Machines' Guardian Generation 3,
installed in vehicles as they are sold into Europe.
Post period end
- Signed Referral Agreement
with Mitsubishi Electric Automotive America Inc. ("MEAA"), enabling
Seeing Machines to leverage Mitsubishi's significant Aftermarket
distribution network and customer base of over 1m individual
vehicles across The Americas to accelerate sales of the Company's
Guardian Generation 3 AI-powered driver monitoring
solution.
Q2
FY2025 KPI highlights:
- Cars on the road
with Seeing Machines' technology increased to 2,883,745 units,
representing an increase of 90% from 12 months ago (Q2 FY2024:
1,516,545)
- In line with
weakness across the wider automotive market, Quarterly production
of 266,654 units, down 34% from the previous quarter (Q1 FY2025:
405,669) and up 28% from the previous corresponding quarter (Q2
FY2024: 208,231), demonstrating continued year on year growth
despite quarter-on-quarter volatility.
- Annual Recurring
Revenue (ARR), excluding Caterpillar, increased by 3% in US$
compared to the same period 12 months ago. ARR in US$ declined by
1% from the previous quarter, however, increased by 6% in constant
currency terms. The majority of recurring revenues are derived in
A$, which weakened against the US$ towards the end of Q2
2025.
Automotive Production Volumes (production of new vehicles
using Seeing Machines' Driver Monitoring System (DMS)
technology):
|
Q2 FY2024
|
Q3 FY2024
|
Q4 FY2024
|
Q1 FY2025
|
Q2 FY2025
|
Production FY2024 - 25
|
208,231
|
313,662
|
381,215
|
405,669
|
266,654
|
%
Growth Qtr on Qtr
|
(6%)
|
51%
|
22%
|
6%
|
(34%)
|
|
Q2 FY2023
|
Q3 FY2023
|
Q4 FY2023
|
Q1 FY2024
|
Q2 FY2024
|
Production FY2023-24
|
141,747
|
173,802
|
211,325
|
222,138
|
208,231
|
%
Growth Comparative
|
47%
|
80%
|
80%
|
83%
|
28%
|
The Company has experienced ongoing
year on year growth in Automotive production volumes, but
consistent with turbulence in the global automotive market, Q2
FY2025 has seen increased volatility resulting in a reduction in
sequential volumes across all OEM customers. While this volatility
has influenced the timing of some high margin royalty revenue, the
Company remains in a unique position where several programs have
minimum payment guarantees which are now being received, but not
yet being recognised as revenue in H1 2025.
Importantly, as the EU's
General Safety Regulation (GSR) introduces the
requirement for Advanced Driver Distraction Warning (ADDW) in July
2026 for all new cars, vans, trucks and buses, this will generate
increased adoption, and therefore the Company's
expectations for production volumes and associated high-margin
royalty revenue in 2026 remain largely unchanged.
As OEMs respond to the regulations,
Seeing Machines expects to continue to benefit from the increasing
adoption of driver monitoring technologies across a widening range
of global markets.
Aftermarket (Guardian) (technology for commercial transport
fleets and logistics organisations):
|
Q2 FY2024
|
Q3 FY2024
|
Q4 FY2024
|
Q1 FY2025
|
Q2 FY2025
|
Guardian Hardware unit sales
|
3,037
|
1,660
|
9,807
|
1,491
|
288
|
ARR
excluding Caterpillar (historical)
|
$13.0m
|
$12.9m
|
$13.3m
|
$13.6m
|
$13.4m
|
%
Growth Qtr on Qtr
|
8%
|
(1%)
|
3%
|
2%
|
(1%)
|
Guardian Generation 3, the Company's
aftermarket safety technology targeting the commercial transport
and logistics segment, is now in production and being trialed
globally in several large fleets. These trials are well underway
and have seen Guardian outperform its competition due to its
precision detection of fatigue and distraction by leveraging the
Company's automotive grade DMS technology, coupled with its unique
24/7 monitoring services and cloud-based platform.
While slightly delayed, the
production ramp will increase substantially during H2 FY2025
helping to meet demand and the requirements of the robust global
pipeline.
Despite the delay, Guardian units
continue to be connected across transport and logistics fleets as
previously sold Guardian Generation 2 units are installed, largely
in the Asia Pacific region, contributing to Annual Recurring
Revenue. The Referral Agreement with MEAA will also see an
acceleration of opportunities for Guardian Generation 3 across The
Americas as Seeing Machines works with MEAA to successfully
leverage their significant customer base in the region.
Paul McGlone, CEO of Seeing Machines,
commented: "We continue to identify growth opportunities
created by the rising demand for driver monitoring systems, despite
some turbulence across the global automative market. Our
collaboration and work with Mitsubishi is extremely promising, and
the Referral Agreement with MEAA is expected to contribute this
financial year. Together, these partnerships place us in a strong
position from which to grow our overall market share within the
transport and logistics sector.
Prior to the introduction of ADDW requirements for GSR in July
2026, which will increase DMS fitment across Europe, we remain
focused on working to achieve a sustainable cashflow break-even run
rate. The exact timing of achieving this is dependent on the
recovery of automotive royalty revenue and, given the wider market
volatility mentioned above, we now expect this target to be reached
by the end of the 2025 calendar year.
Global road safety continues to be a priority for world
leaders, and our technology is set to play a key role in achieving
that. Our disciplined cost management initiatives over the past 12
months are contributing to progress, and we are well positioned to
make further improvements through H2 FY2025 to achieve a
significantly lower cost base by FY2026 that will enable us to more
effectively exploit the growing global and structural adoption of
DMS."
The Company expects to publish its
unaudited H1 FY2025 results on 27 March 2025.
This announcement contains inside
information under the UK Market Abuse Regulation. The person
responsible for arranging for the release of this announcement on
behalf of the Company is Paul McGlone, CEO.
Enquiries:
Seeing Machines Limited
|
+61 2 6103
4700
|
Paul McGlone - CEO
Sophie Nicoll - Corporate
Communications
|
|
|
|
Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Nominated Adviser and
Broker)
|
+44 20 7710
7600
|
Alex Price
Fred Walsh
Ben Good
|
|
|
|
DGA
Group (Media Enquiries)
James Styles
Methuselah Tanyanyiwa
Matthias Jarosz
seeingmachines@dgagroup.com
|
+44 20 7664
5095
|
|
|
|
| |
About Seeing Machines (AIM: SEE), a global company founded in 2000 and headquartered in
Australia, is an industry leader in vision-based monitoring
technology that enable machines to see, understand and assist
people. Seeing Machines is revolutionizing global transport safety.
Its technology portfolio of AI algorithms, embedded processing and
optics, power products that need to deliver reliable real-time
understanding of vehicle operators. The technology spans the
critical measurement of where a driver is looking, through to
classification of their cognitive state as it applies to accident
risk. Reliable "driver state" measurement is the end-goal of Driver
Monitoring Systems (DMS) technology. Seeing Machines develops DMS
technology to drive safety for Automotive, Commercial Fleet,
Off-road and Aviation. The company has offices in Australia, USA,
Europe and Asia, and supplies technology solutions and services to
industry leaders in each market vertical.
www.seeingmachines.com