19.11.2021 06:30:00 CET | Nordic Unmanned | Half yearly financial reports and audit reports / limited reviews

Nordic Unmanned today announced third quarter 2021 results showing continued growth and significant increases in contract backlog and sales pipeline, pointing towards strong growth moving forward.

“Events over the past months have further strengthened our belief in the tremendous growth potential of the unmanned market, and we’re now investing in a platform for our further strategic growth, both organically and through targeted M&A activities to consolidate a fragmented market. During the third quarter, we took major steps along this way, and we’re confident that these steps will result in strong growth in the coming quarters,” says Knut Roar Wiig, CEO of Nordic Unmanned.

Revenues in the third quarter amounted to NOK 31.5 million, an increase of 38 percent from the third quarter 2020. Year-to-Date revenue amounted to NOK 80.1 million, an increase of 97% from 2020.

The contract backlog at the end of the third quarter was NOK 588 million, up 61% from NOK 364 million at the end of the second quarter.

Operating profit (EBITDA) for the third quarter was negative NOK 2.8 million and negative NOK 1 million adjusted for Covid-19 related personnel cost. EBITDA for the same quarter in 2020 was positive with NOK 2.5 million.

Expanding operations
Nordic Unmanned's operations continued to grow in the third quarter. The company performed 539 flights during the quarter, an increase of 20 percent compared to the same quarter one year earlier. 

Over the past months, Nordic Unmanned has won several important framework contracts with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), Swedish and Norwegian law enforcement agencies and Norwegian railway owner Bane NOR.

Meanwhile, the company is pursuing technical innovations and pushing into new markets.

The launch of the Staaker Railway Drone in August was met with broad international interest from potential customers. This drone is specifically targeted at the railway market and can move along tracks while flying to the side when traffic approaches.

In November, Nordic Unmanned was awarded its first commercial drone cargo service, for the transport of medical equipment over a distance of 12 kilometers for Bærum municipality in Norway.

“We’re combining strong and growing revenues from market verticals such as Maritime and Security with initiatives to build new business within extremely promising verticals such as Logistics, which we expect may become our largest market in 2025,” adds Mr. Wiig.

Pursuing strategic M&A 
In addition to organic growth, Nordic Unmanned is pursuing an M&A strategy aimed at consolidating the fragmented drone industry. 

In the third quarter Nordic Unmanned announced the closing of the acquisition of the German drone developer and manufacturer AirRobot and Ecoxy, a Norwegian provider of accredited maritime emission measurements.

Increased financial flexibility
Shortly after the end of the third quarter, Nordic Unmanned raised gross proceeds of NOK 107 million from private placements. Following this, the existing bank credit line was refinanced with a new NOK 122 million facility, with the purpose of supporting among other, the Aerosonde investment program and the 2022 growth.

Outlook
Nordic Unmanned expects 2021 revenues to more than double from 2020. The company’s growth plans for 2022 are under full execution, but full year 2021 adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to be significantly higher than in the first half-year of 2021.

The third quarter presentation is enclosed. There will be a livestreamed presentation as well as a Q&A session at 10:00 CET: https://vimeo.com/645250512 

Disclosure regulation

This release is an announcement issued pursuant to legal information obligations and is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Article 17 no. 1 and section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act, and was submitted for publication by Trond Østerhus.

Contacts

• Knut Roar Wiig, CEO, +47 92 66 66 59, krw@nordicunmanned.com
• Trond Østerhus, CFO, +47 95 99 08 79, to@nordicunmanned.com

About Nordic Unmanned

Nordic Unmanned delivers comprehensive data solutions through industry leading expertise, to assist both public and private customers in the transition to unmanned technology. The focus is to support demanding clients by collecting time-critical data with the use of unmanned technology.

Founded in 2014, the company has offices in Sandnes, Oslo, and Frankfurt, and has quickly become one of Europe's leading providers of unmanned systems and services, with operations across the continent. The company is ISO 9001-2015 certified by DNV-GL for the operation, maintenance, sale, design, development and production of unmanned systems and sensor technology. and sensor technology.

For more information visit nordicunmanned.com

Attachments

• Nordic Unmanned Q3 2021.pdf