Crown ElectroKinetics Q2 2024 Earnings Results & Report

Crown ElectroKinetics EPS Results

• Actual EPS: -$883.50
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Crown ElectroKinetics Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $4.65 million
• Expected Revenue: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Crown ElectroKinetics (NASDAQ:CRKN) is a technology and infrastructure company focused on electrokinetic smart-glass products and fiber-optic network construction. Its flagship technology is an electrokinetic film designed to change the tint of glass when an electrical current is applied, allowing windows to transition between clear and tinted states. The technology is intended for applications such as commercial buildings, automobiles and other settings where controlling light and solar heat may be beneficial.

Through its fiber-optic operations, the company provides construction services for underground telecommunications networks. These services have included microtrenching and related installation work used to deploy fiber-optic cable, primarily for telecommunications and broadband infrastructure projects in the United States.

The company was previously associated with the Crown Fiber Optics name and later adopted the Crown ElectroKinetics name to reflect its emphasis on electrokinetic smart-window technology. Crown ElectroKinetics is headquartered in the United States. Doug Croxall has served as the company’s chief executive officer and has been associated with its development and corporate strategy.

Crown ElectroKinetics Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• The Electrokinetic Film division achieved a critical mastering milestone for its Gen 1 Alpha Smart Window Insert and expects to ship limited quantities by the end of the year.
• Fiber Optics revenue jumped to $4.6 million in Q2, a six-fold increase over Q1, with a cash-flow-positive project model and new backbone clusters in Nevada plus a $3.5 million desalination contract in Mexico.
• Crown formed two new divisions—Element 82 (lead pipe inspection) and PE Pipelines (lead pipe remediation)—leveraging proprietary Swordfish technology and has already secured projects in New York, Virginia and Florida.
• Q2 operating loss was $4.9 million with a net loss of $5 million, although six-month revenue of $5.3 million represents strong year-over-year growth and cash on hand rose to $4 million after $11.8 million in financing.
• On July 25, Crown regained full Nasdaq compliance, removing any immediate listing concerns.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Crown Electrokinetics second quarter 2024 conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will not be following the management's remarks. This conference call is being recorded. A replay of today's call will be available on the investor relations section of the Crown's website. I will now hand the call over to Jason Assad, Director of Corporate Communications, for introductions and the reading of the safe harbor statement. Please go ahead.

[Jason Assad, Director of Corporate Communications at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, and welcome to Crown's second quarter 2024 call. With us today on the call are Doug Croxall, Crown's Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Joel Krutz, Chief Financial Officer, and Sheldon Davis, President of the company's Electrokinetic Film Division. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that today's call contains certain forward-looking statements from management made within the meaning of the Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21A of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Words such as should, projects, expects, intends, plans, believes, anticipates, hopes, estimates, and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

[Jason Assad, Director of Corporate Communications at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

These statements are subject to numerous conditions, many of which are beyond the control of the company, including those set forth in the Risk Factors section of the company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the second quarter ended 2024. Copies of these documents are available on the SEC's website at sec.gov. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this call, except as required by law. Now, at this time, it's my pleasure to introduce Doug Croxall, CEO and Chairman of Crown. Doug?

[Doug Croxall, CEO and Chairman at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

Thanks, Jason. Welcome, everyone, to our second quarter 2024 earnings call. As most of you know, Crown has been expanding its scope of services. Previously, Crown was comprised of two divisions, our Electrokinetic Film Division and our Fiber Optic Construction Division. Recently, we announced further expansion into lead pipe inspection as well as lead pipe remediation. We now have four complementing markets and revenue verticals, which allow us to go broader within existing customers while taking advantage of what we believe to be large total addressable markets. Most importantly, we've attracted a team of top talent across all four of our divisions to ensure that we execute and drive both growth and profitability across all of them. I'd like to start with a discussion of our film division today. The development of our electrokinetic film has been a long and sometimes tedious process.

[Doug Croxall, CEO and Chairman at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

In late February of this year, we announced that our film team had solved the 12-inch mastering challenge for its Gen 1 Alpha Smart Window Insert product. We remain in a good position to start shipping the product, the first product, in small quantities in the next couple of months towards the end of the calendar year. With this technical milestone addressed, we announced that Sheldon Davis, previously a consultant to the company, was named President of our Electrokinetics Film Division. Sheldon's work history makes him the ideal person for Crown's exact stage of growth, and we're extremely encouraged by the progress that he has made in his short time in his new role. Sheldon and I have known each other since about 2016 while he was working at Guardian Glass, a Koch Industries company.

[Doug Croxall, CEO and Chairman at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

His knowledge of our target market, ink formations, window insert, glass manufacturing, and different glazing technologies make him the perfect person for the job. We're excited to have him take a leadership role at this important time. Sheldon is here on the call with us today, and I've asked him to provide you with a further update on the status of our film division. Sheldon?

[Sheldon Davis, President, Electrokinetic Film Division at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

Thank you, Doug. I appreciate this opportunity to update our progress on film division. In my previous company, I had the opportunity to interact with many different dynamic glazing companies, small and large. We explored different solutions, from electrochromic to novel lab technologies. I also talked with tenants, occupants, building engineers, and building owners worldwide. They shared what they needed and wanted. I learned a lot about their frustrations, about facades, windows, shading, and so much more. Through all of this, I saw the amazing potential of Crown Electrokinetics technology and business. Crown technology was differentiated and well positioned to succeed. The team had great customer outreach and connections. They listened to and understood their customers exceptionally well. When I chose to come to Crown Electrokinetics, I was excited and enthusiastic about being part of this team. It's been three months since joining Crown. Every day reaffirms my decision.

[Sheldon Davis, President, Electrokinetic Film Division at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

Our Dynamic Tint Film technology and Smart Window Inserts are excellent solutions for our target customers. Through conversations with our customers and within our value chain, our product looks to uniquely fulfill market needs. Technical progress has been good. We still expect the Gen 1 Alpha Smart Window Insert to be available in limited quantities by the end of the year. I am more enthusiastic and excited to be part of Crown today. Now the update. As mentioned, the film division had a significant breakthrough in the early part of the year. We were able to validate and demonstrate the mastering capability. The team is working hard to convert this technical breakthrough into manufacturing capability. We are making good progress.

[Sheldon Davis, President, Electrokinetic Film Division at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

Our partners are expected to deliver the necessary parts to begin 12-inch film production in the coming months. The mastering milestone was a critical development that required new techniques and technology. This success is foundational to our business, but there is much more to be done to bring our products to market. The team must build out the capabilities required for our alpha launch, and ultimately, a successful ramp to a full production and product release. To do so, we've begun reshaping and building out our team, starting with the senior management team. As announced earlier, we added Rob Vandell as Chief Technical Officer, and Francois Croue as Director of Business Development. Tim Cook shifted his role to Chief Innovation Officer. Tim Cook's work and leadership has been crucial in getting us this far. He continues to play an important role in our film development activities.

[Sheldon Davis, President, Electrokinetic Film Division at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

We are thankful for all he has done. In his role as Chief Innovation Officer, Tim will continue to focus on advancing our film design and technology in order to help bring the best product to market. Rob Vandell joins as CTO. This is a wonderful addition, as he rounds out the technical leadership. Rob has extensive experience bringing product technology to the market in automotive and building industries. Moreover, he is very familiar with manufacturing, having previously been a plant manager in Guardian Automotive. This experience will be critical in launching our product and establishing a strong platform to grow our business. Francois Croue joins as Director of Business Development. He will play an important role in developing the go-to-market capabilities required for success. Francois brings broad experience in financial planning, analysis, and strategy. Moreover, he has skill in understanding the value chain and translating that into action.

[Sheldon Davis, President, Electrokinetic Film Division at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

I've known Tim and worked with Rob and Francois for many, many years. I'm excited by the potential of this team. I know that they position us for our future success. To wrap up, there is much work to be done. Our management changes are a strong step forward. We remain optimistic about our Gen 1 Alpha launch in Q4 of this calendar year. I will now turn the call over to Bill.

[Doug Croxall, CEO and Chairman at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

Thanks, Sheldon. All right, let's move into the fiber optics division. The last nearly two years have taught us some pretty valuable lessons, a great deal about both the fiber construction market, how to operate, and how, more importantly, not to operate within it. As evidenced in today's financial report, Crown Fiber is generating revenue in multiple markets under the leadership of Corey Boaz, who we named as President of Construction in early February of this year. We have current projects in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Mexico. Corey not only added revenue and customers to, to Crown, but helped us change our operating model that allows Crown to be cash flow positive on a project from day one. As opposed to hiring hundreds of employees, we now deploy a model that includes a limited number of Crown employees and couple them with outside third-party subcontractors.

[Doug Croxall, CEO and Chairman at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

This allows Crown to control costs on a project-by-project basis, as well as lock in our margins. Corey has market credibility and connections that allowed us to build a significant pipeline of revenue-generating projects. The pipeline leverage with his proven business model will allow Crown to generate revenue and soon, positive net income. We also previously announced that we secured a large backbone project in Nevada, that includes primarily plowing and some horizontal directional drilling. Previously, Crown had received two clusters of the four clusters that constitute the project. Those two clusters will generate approximately $5.7 million in revenues. We communicated on our last call that we anticipated being awarded additional stages of the project as it continues through Nevada and eventually into the state of California. In July, we were awarded an additional cluster in Nevada under this agreement.

[Doug Croxall, CEO and Chairman at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

We're pleased to have been awarded this additional work for our customer. Obviously, we're happy to receive additional revenue that the project brings. We were awarded this work due to the high quality of work and the efficiency with which we had completed the other sections of the large project. Suffice to say, we would not be awarded the additional opportunity if it were not for our continuing commitment to exceeding customer expectations. High customer satisfaction and repeat business continue to fuel our pipeline. Our project with Twin Dolphin Club, located in Los Cabos, Mexico, is ongoing. The Twin Dolphin Club is an exclusive, high-end, 1,400 residential housing and resort master plan development. Crown is currently constructing slant wells for the desalinization plant that provides fresh water from the ocean to the hotel and surrounding planned residential development.

[Doug Croxall, CEO and Chairman at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

We've actively posted videos of our slant well construction on our various social media channels. The Twin Dolphin project is expected to conclude in the early fall timeframe and is expected to generate about $3.5 million in revenue. The opportunity was generated and is managed by Corey Boaz. We expect this new approach of slant well construction to lead to new revenue opportunities in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. I'd now like to focus on the formation of our two new divisions, Element 82 and PE Pipelines. Element 82 will focus on lead pipe inspection, and PE Pipelines will focus on lead pipe remediation. Lead in drinking water pipe represents an enormous problem for the United States. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that about 9.2 million lead pipes carry drinking water to the American taps.

[Doug Croxall, CEO and Chairman at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

The National Resource Council has estimated numbers as high as 12.8 million pipes. These numbers could be significantly higher, given the poor mapping and enormous complexity of our country's water systems. Despite the range, experts agree that millions of households remain at risk of lead exposure through their drinking water. To establish these divisions, Crown has hired a team of world-class experts, innovators, and operators. 18-year veteran, David Kinsella, will serve as President of Element 82 and PE Pipelines. Chuck Hansen, a 40-year water pipe industry expert, joins Crown as Chief Advisor, Lead Pipe Assessment. To assist Mr. Kinsella, Mike App and Matt Campos have joined in project management and engineering roles for Element 82 projects. Element 82 is teamed with Chuck Hansen and his California-based company, Electro Scan, to offer services to company's revolutionary Swordfish handheld tool.

[Doug Croxall, CEO and Chairman at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

Swordfish automatically detects various pipe materials using electric resistance, a low-voltage, machine-intelligent method. Before Swordfish, no technology other than digging or excavation was commercially available to accurately and reliably identify lead pipe. Recognized by the U.S. EPA, Swordfish quickly and accurately identifies multiple buried pipe materials. The Swordfish technology and Chuck Hansen's expertise provide Crown with significant competitive advantage. Element 82 has already commenced new projects in New York, Virginia, and Florida. Over the course of the next month or two, Element 82 will be making announcements regarding purchase orders and revenue targets for the remainder of this calendar year. All right, with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Joel for a review of our Q2 financial results, and I'll handle the closing remarks. Joel?

[Joel Krutz, CFO at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

Thank you, Doug. Good afternoon, everyone. Good morning. Today, we'll walk through Crown's second quarter 2024 financial results. Firstly, though, just a quick update on Crown's NASDAQ compliance. After working closely with NASDAQ, Crown received a notification from the Listing Qualifications Department on July 25, that confirmed Crown as being fully compliant again. Onto the Q2 financials. For the quarter ended June 30, 2024, Crown booked $4.6 million of revenue, which represented a net sixfold increase compared to the first quarter of this year. For the six months ended June 30, 2024, the company's revenue now stands at $5.3 million, as compared to just $0.1 million for the six months ended in 2023, June 30.

[Joel Krutz, CFO at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

Cost of revenues, which was solely generated by Crown Fiber Optics, was $4 million and $23,000 for the three months ended June 30, 2024, and 2023, respectively. They were $5.8 million and $0.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The cost of revenue of $4 million includes subcontract labor of $2.7 million, equipment costs of $2.6 million, and other costs related to supplies, materials, and maintenance of $0.7 million. Depreciation and amortization expense for the three months in Q2 were $0.2 million and $0.1 million, respectively. R&D expenses were $1.1 million for the three months ended June 30, compared to $0.5 million for last quarter in 2023.

[Joel Krutz, CFO at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

This increase of $0.6 million is primarily related to increases in salaries and benefits, which includes the addition of the new film leadership. G&A expenses were $4.2 million for the quarter, which included $2.4 million of non-cash stock compensation expense. The $0.1 million decrease in G&A is related to a reduction in professional fees of $1.4 million, offset by an increase in compensation and benefits related to wages of $1.3 million. Losses from operations for the second quarter were $4.9 million, in line with the same quarter in 2023. June year-to-date operating losses of $8.6 million were compared to $9 million in 2023. Finally, net losses were $5 million, compared to Q1 2023's $14.5 million.

[Joel Krutz, CFO at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

The $9.5 million reduction or improvement was due to reductions in other expenses, including debt interest and amortization, fair value write-downs from last year's balance sheet restructuring. On to cash, for the six months ended June 30, net cash increased $2.9 million to $4 million, as the company raised $11.8 million through financing activities, primarily as ELOC, and deployed $8.9 million in cash in operations. Just looking forward, we expect the strong growth trajectory to continue, and are projecting our third quarter revenues to be in line with previous guidance of $8 million. That concludes the financial update. Doug, back to you.

[Doug Croxall, CEO and Chairman at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.]

All right. Thanks, Joel. On the last call, I pointed out that if you look at where this company was a year ago compared to where we are today, that our progress was pretty substantial. And if you actually just look at where we were 90 days ago compared to where we are, we've grown tremendously. We believe that Crown is at the beginning of our growth mode in utility construction, and we also believe that 2025 is going to be a watershed year, both for investors in terms of our revenue generation and our EBITDA generation. We look forward to talking to everybody during our third quarter earnings call, which should be sometime in mid-November. With that, I'll turn it back to the operator. Thank you.

[Operator]

This conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines.

Participants

Analysts

• Jason Assad, Director of Corporate Communications at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.
• Doug Croxall, CEO and Chairman at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.
• Sheldon Davis, President, Electrokinetic Film Division at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.
• Joel Krutz, CFO at Crown Electrokinetics Corp.