Sivers Semiconductors AB (publ), Year-End Report January - December 2020

Sivers Semiconductors posted a strong quarter, and although 2020 was an unusual year the company has gone from strength to strength.

Fourth quarter 2020

• Revenue amounted to SEK 29.707 M (25.362), an increase of 17%
• Profit before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to SEK 3.108 M (-19.877)
• Profit/loss for the period amounted to SEK -0.563 M (-22.784)
• Earnings per share amounted to SEK -0.00 (-0.17)
• Equity per share amounted to SEK 3.44 (2.16)
• EBITDA was affected by SEK 6.320 M (-1.342) relating to provision reversals for social security expenses relating to employee stock option programs. Adjusted for this item, EBITDA amounted to SEK -3.212 M (-18.535).

January–December 2020

• Revenue amounted to SEK 96.170 M (96.355), a change of 0%
• Profit before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to SEK -55.661 M (-48.322)
• Profit/loss for the period amounted to SEK -195.782 M (-75.661
• Earnings per share amounted to SEK -1.37 (-0.59)
• Equity per share amounted to SEK 3,44 (2,16)
• EBITDA was affected by SEK -28.704 M (-1.436) in provisions for social security expenses relating to the employee stock option programs. Adjusted for this item, EBITDA amounted to SEK -26.957 M (-46.886).
• Profit/loss was charged with SEK -111.018 M (-1.419) in revaluation effects from embedded derivatives in the convertible debentures. Adjusted for this effect, and the provisions for social security expenses for employee stock option programs, profit/loss was SEK -56.060 M (-72.806).

Significant events in the fourth quarter:

• On October 1, Ampleon called for conversion of the convertible debentures issued in December 2017. The loan, including accrued interest, was converted to 4,651,727 new shares on October 22.
• On October 9, Sivers IMA Holding AB changed its name to Sivers Semiconductors AB. In connection with the name change, the subsidiaries’ names were also changed to Sivers Wireless (formerly Sivers IMA AB) and Sivers Photonics (formerly CST Global).
• On October 12, Sivers Semiconductors announced that the subsidiary Sivers Photonics received an order worth approx. SEK 4 M for a new project from one of the company’s established Fortune 100 customers.
• On October 29 Sivers Semiconductors announced that the subsidiary Sivers Photonics had been awarded a SEK 3.1 M UK grant for its part in the MAG-V project aimed at developing the world’s first commercial Quantum Atomic Magnetometer.
• On November 3 Sivers Semiconductors announced that the subsidiary Sivers Wireless had received a Chinese 5G order from Siemens Healthineers.
• On December 7 Sivers Semiconductors announced that Sivers Wireless had signed a long-term supply contract for the new 2D RF module. The forecast of the supply contract for the first four years is estimated at SEK 70-100 M and is based on estimated volumes from 8devices.
• On December 9 Sivers Semiconductors announced that Sivers Photonics had been awarded a government grant of approx. SEK 3.6 M from Innovate UK relating to the company’s participation in the SPIDAR project which develops quantumbased LiDAR systems for driver assisted and autonomous vehicle applications.
• On December 29 Sivers Semiconductors announced that Sivers Wireless had won its first order from India, from Astra Microwave Products Ltd, based in i Hyderabad, India, through its local distributor Doppler Electronics Pvt Ltd for the Dual Quad Beamformer IC-chip (BFIC).

Significant events after the end of the period:

• On January 11 Pelle Wijk was appointed MD of the subsidiary Sivers Wireless.
• On January 11, Sivers Semiconductors announced that the subsidiary Sivers Photonics had won an order in Optical Sensing worth approx. SEK 11 M from one of the company’s established Fortune 100 customers. The order will be delivered and invoiced in the first half of 2021.
• On January 21, Lottie Saks was appointed new Board member in Sivers Semiconductors AB at an Extraordinary General Meeting.
• On February 4 Sivers Semiconductors announced that Sivers Wireless has received an order for 5GmmWave IC from TMYTEK in Taiwan.

Key performance indicator

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CEO’s Statement

Sivers Semiconductors posted a strong quarter, and although 2020 was an unusual year the company has gone from strength to strength. During the year, we have focused on continuing building for the future and I am now looking forward to 2021.

Net sales totaled SEK 30 M in the fourth quarter, an increase of 17% year-on-year. It is pleasing that both business areas returned sales growth despite a second wave of the pandemic: Wireless grew by 42% and Photonics by 11%. We also succeeded in delivering positive EBITDA, although adjusted for provision reversals relating to social security expenses for employee stock option programs, EBITDA was SEK -3.2 M, an improvement of approx. SEK 15 M year-on-year. This positive performance is driven by a combination of sales growth and cost savings.

Photonics – at the leading edge of technology
Sivers Photonics delivered a very strong quarter and year. For the full year, Photonics’ achieved break even at EBITDA level, against a loss of SEK 23 M in 2019. Photonics successfully  reduced costs, mainly by increasing internal production and eliminating external production stages, which generated full-year savings of approx. SEK 12 M. In addition, Photonics has successfully proven and delivered a higher value of their product portfolio and thereby increased the prices to existing customers.

In the fourth quarter, Photonics received an order worth approx. SEK 4 M from our largest Fortune 100 customer, and after the end of the quarter we won another order in optical sensing from the same customer worth approx. SEK 11 M. This means that this customer has placed orders worth a total of SEK 85 M since October 2018. The SEK 11 M order will be delivered and invoiced in the first half of 2021.
 
Sivers Photonics’ development projects are leading edge. In the quarter, Photonics received two government grants worth a total of SEK 6.7 M. This related to participation in two British initiatives: the MAG-V project aimed at developing the world’s first commercial Quantum Atomic Magnetometer, and the SPIDAR project which develops quantum-based LiDAR systems for driver-assisted and autonomous vehicle applications.

Wireless wins several important orders
Sivers Wireless grew sharply in the quarter. At the end of the year, we had achieved 21 design-wins, against 12 at the end of 2019. We also sold a record number of evaluation kits, with some 150 kits sold in the year. Although many of these were sold to universities and other research institutions and will not generate design-wins, the sales demonstrate the significant interest in our technology and products. We have a very promising customer mix active in many different verticals such as Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), Backhaul, transport (Track to Train), defense, multigigabit wireless indoor backbone, medtech etc. This has been a quite exciting year, as some of our customers now have started
entering the volume production phase.

We won several orders in the quarter, including a Chinese 5G-order from Siemens Healthineers, our first order from India, and a long-term supply contract for our new 57-71 GHz 2D antenna module for FWA from Lithuanian company 8devices. 8devices estimates the volumes for the first four years to approx. SEK 70-100 M related to a specific US customer.

We signed the design-win that underpins the contract with 8devices in fourth quarter 2020, and under our current plan it will be less than a year from start until the finished product has been installed with the end customer on the US market. The contract is important because 8devices already had a leading US customer at the time of the design-win, which means that we anticipate volume growth as early as 2021. We are also hopeful that 8devices will sell the product to other customers, which would generate even higher revenue than estimated for the period.

Strong future optimism
Our name change in October to Sivers Semiconductors, with the subsidiaries Sivers Wireless (previously Sivers IMA AB) and Sivers Photonics (previously CST Global), was also followed by organizational changes where we announced that Pelle Wijk had been appointed Managing Director of Sivers Wireless after the end of the fourth quarter. As planned, we are continuing to work hard to secure the up-listing to Nasdaq Stockholm’s main list in the first half of 2021, and more time has now been released for me to focus on this and to lead the Group.

At the end of the fourth quarter, total cash and cash equivalents amounted to SEK 249 M, a strong position. The cash will be used to accelerate our organic and international expansion, mainly through investments in production capacity, customer support, sales and marketing. The plans also include opening a joint sales office in the US for Wireless and Photonics.

Everyone at Sivers has worked hard to get where we are today. Overall, both Photonics and Wireless had a strong year in 2020 and I want to thank both teams for their excellent efforts. While the pandemic slowed general activity in 2020, delaying the strong growth we foresee, results still remained in line with the previous year. Although the pandemic may continue to slow progress in the early part of 2021, for example by complicating some end customers’ field tests of new products, as the pandemic and associated restrictions loosen their grip on the world, I foresee our growth accelerating. We are in an excellent position in terms of our customers, balance sheet and new products, and I remain very optimistic about the future.

Anders Storm, President and CEO

 

For more information please contact: 
Anders Storm, Group CEO  
Tel: +46 70 262 6390  
E-mail: anders.storm@sivers-semiconductors.com  

Sivers Semiconductors is listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Stockholm.  
The company's Certified Adviser is Erik Penser Bank, +46 8 463 83 00, certifiedadviser@penser.se. 

This is information that Sivers Semiconductors AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the contact person set out above at 08:00 (CET) on February 12, 2021. 

Sivers Semiconductors AB is a leading and internationally recognized technology company that, through its two business areas Wireless and Photonics, supplies chips and integrated modules. Wireless develops RF chips and antennas for advanced 5G systems for data and telecommunications networks. Photonics develops and manufactures semiconductor-based optical products for optical fiber networks, sensors and optical fiber communications (Li-Fi). The company is listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market Stockholm under SIE. The head office is located in Kista, Sweden. For more information: http://sivers-semiconductors.com.