Smart Eye Interim Report January – March 2018
Continued growth on a fast expanding market
January – March 2018
· Net sales totalled SEK 9 580 (7 633) thousand which corresponds to a rise of 26 %.
· Operating profit/loss totalled SEK -13 846 (-9 163) thousand, in line with plan and in accordance with decided investments in personnel in Sweden as well as an increased pace in the geographical expansion.
· Profit/loss after financial items was SEK -13 974 (-9 282) thousand
· Profit/loss after tax per share is negative.
· Cash and cash equivalents totalled SEK 37 794 TSEK at the end of March
· A Directed issue of SEK 43.6 million was completed in January.
· Smart Eye released in cooperation with NVIDIA, Smart AI–X, an AI platform for car interior sensing.
Comments from CEO
The first quarter of 2018 was marked by the final stages of many of the procurements currently under way throughout the world in respect of driver monitoring cameras. Smart Eye is faring well in the face of the international competition. With speed, flexibility and innovativeness, we are meeting the meticulous requirements of the automotive industry.
Broad acceptance leading to increased growth rate
The first generation of driver monitoring systems found its epicentre in the European premium car segment. The systems now being procured and that will be fitted in large volumes into serial produced cars starting as of 2020 will have a much greater geographical reach. All global automotive centres – i.e. the EU, Detroit, Japan, Korea and China as well as the electric car manufacturers in Silicon Valley – will implement driver monitoring systems on a large scale.
There are many mechanisms that make the automotive industry reluctant to change but once new technology has become sufficiently accepted on a broad scale, changes occur rapidly and simultaneously throughout the industry. This is precisely the stage that the market for driver monitoring systems has reached. Smart Eye is delighted to be a part of the automotive industry’s global supply chain in such a situation.
Smart Eye - an AI company in the automotive industry
The transformation of the global automotive industry, which Smart Eye is a part of, is a feature of an even larger macro-trend, whereby the machines that we use to assist us are becoming smarter for each generation that passes. The new technology means that computers can now process a large amount of information in parallel, calculate it in parallel and also feedback parts of the result into its own learning process. This is what is known as artificial intelligence, AI. Together with the automotive industry’s premium segment, Smart Eye is at the epicentre of AI development. In the electronic industry, the opinion is that the automotive industry is expected to be the next growth driver, after mobile telephony. Smart Eye already uses cutting-edge technologies and tools for sophisticated software based on AI. Our products are compatible with our customers’ AI strategies. We have established a position that enables us to play a key role in AI in the premium segment of the automotive industry and to take part in the global AI transformation.
Product launches
In the past quarter, we achieved tangible successes with our R&D work. We launched two products. Smart AI-X, a hardware and software plug-and-play suite for driver monitoring that is based on NVIDIA’s DRIVE IX platform, which was presented in March and we have already sold the first systems. The second product is a new version of our off-the-shelf eye-tracker, Aurora, now with a recording speed of 30Hz.
Positive sales trend
While the market upheaval occurring on the front line has yet to become tangibly evident in the figures, net sales still rose 26 percent year-on-year. It is Applied Solutions that is the main contributor to the increase and sales in this business area rose by 96 percent. However, Research Instrument’s sales declined 20 percent year-on-year. We continue to foresee increasingly favourable market conditions when volume manufacturing of driver monitoring systems starts in earnest during 2019 and 2020.
Martin Krantz CEO, Smart Eye
For more information
Martin Krantz, CEO Smart Eye AB
Phone: +46 70-329 26 98
Email: martin.krantz@smarteye.se
About Smart Eye
Smart Eye was founded to bridge the gap between man and machine for a better tomorrow by developing ground breaking eye tracking technology that understands, assists and predicts human intentions and actions. Through combining deep, technical knowledge with playful creativity, Smart Eye consist of two business units. Its research instruments offer high performance in complex, real-world situations, paving the way for new insights in aerospace, aviation, automotive, psychology, neuroscience, medical and clinical research. Business unit Applied Solutions are embedded in next generation vehicles, helping the automotive industry take another step towards autonomous vehicles.
Founded in 1999, Smart Eye has offices in Gothenburg, Sweden and Michigan, USA as well as having partners, resellers and distributors in Europe, USA and APAC. Its solutions are used by more than 700 clients all over the world by leading research groups, brands and labs such as US Air Force, Nasa, BMW, Lockheed Martin, Audi, Boeing, Volvo, GM, and many more.
Smart Eye is listed on First North. Erik Penser is Certified Adviser and can be reached at +46-8-463 8000.
This information is information that Smart Eye AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at April 25th, 2018 at 08:30 CET.