Fluence Energy, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2025 Results; Lowers Full Year 2025 Guidance; Reports Record $5.1 Billion Backlog

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fluence Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: FLNC) ("Fluence” or the "Company”), a global market leader delivering intelligent energy storage, operational services, and asset optimization software, today announced its results for the three months ended December 31, 2024.

Financial Highlights for Fiscal Quarter ended December 31, 2024

• Revenue of approximately $186.8 million, which represents a decrease of approximately 49% from the same quarter last year, primarily driven by the pronounced backend nature of expected revenue for full year 2025 compared to the revenue distribution seen in full year 2024.
• GAAP gross profit margin improved to approximately 11.4%, compared to approximately 10.0% for the same quarter last year.
• Adjusted gross profit margin¹ improved to approximately 12.5%, compared to approximately 10.5% for the same quarter last year.
• Net loss of approximately $57.0 million, increased from net loss of approximately $25.6 million for the same quarter last year.
• Adjusted EBITDA¹ of approximately negative $49.7 million, compared to approximately negative $18.3 million for the same quarter last year.
• Quarterly order intake of $778.0 million, bringing backlog² to approximately $5.1 billion as of December 31, 2024.

Financial Position

• Total Cash³ of approximately $654.4 million as of December 31, 2024, representing an increase of approximately $135.7 million from September 30, 2024.
• In December 2024, the Company issued $400.0 million of 2.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2030 that provide the Company with additional liquidity to support its ongoing growth.

Fiscal Year 2025 Outlook

The Company is lowering its fiscal year 2025 total revenue guidance range to $3.1 billion to $3.7 billion (midpoint $3.4 billion) from its prior guidance of $3.6 billion to $4.4 billion (midpoint $4.0 billion). The $600 million reduction in revenue from the previous midpoint is primarily due to the timing of certain contracts in Australia that the Company now expects to sign later this year. The $3.4 billion midpoint of the revenue guidance range is approximately 85% covered by the current backlog plus revenue recognized year-to-date. Additionally, the Company is lowering its fiscal year 2025 Adjusted EBITDA¹ range to $70 million to $100 million (midpoint $85 million) from its prior guidance of $160 million to $200 million (midpoint $180 million). The decrease in Adjusted EBITDA is primarily driven by lower expected revenue and lower expected gross margins on recently signed contracts. Finally, the Company is reaffirming its fiscal year 2025 annual recurring revenue ("ARR") guidance of approximately $145 million.

"We have experienced customer-driven delays in signing certain contracts that, coupled with competitive pressures, result in the need to lower our fiscal year 2025 outlook. While these delays are disappointing, we continue to see a very robust utility scale battery storage market globally and strong interest in our U.S. domestic content product offering in particular, as evidenced by our record $5.1 billion backlog. Importantly, we are executing plans to maintain our leadership position, differentiate our product, and optimize our cost structure, which we expect will drive improved financial performance in fiscal year 2026 and beyond," said Julian Nebreda, Fluence's Chief Executive Officer.

"In December, we successfully raised $400 million of 2.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2030, providing us with increased financial flexibility and a stronger financial foundation to support our growing business. This additional capital helps us to achieve key milestones and accelerate our domestic content strategy which we see as a strong competitive advantage," said Ahmed Pasha, Fluence's Chief Financial Officer.

The foregoing Fiscal Year 2025 Outlook statements represent management's current best estimate as of the date of this release. Actual results may differ materially depending on a number of factors. Investors are urged to read the Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements included in this release. Management does not assume any obligation to update these estimates.

Share Count

The shares of the Company's common stock as of December 31, 2024 are presented below:

Conference Call Information

The Company will conduct a teleconference starting at 8:30 a.m. EST on Tuesday, February 11^th, 2025, to discuss the first fiscal quarter results. To participate, analysts are required to register by clicking Fluence Energy Q1 Earnings Call Registration Link. Once registered, analysts will be issued a unique PIN number and dial-in number. Analysts are encouraged to register at least 15 minutes before the scheduled start time.

General audience participants, and non-analysts are encouraged to join the teleconference in a listen-only mode at: Fluence Energy Listen - Only Webcast, or on www.fluenceenergy.com by selecting Investors, News & Events, and Events & Presentations. Supplemental materials that may be referenced during the teleconference will be available at: www.fluenceenergy.com, by selecting Investors, News & Events, and Events & Presentations.

A replay of the conference call will be available after 1:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, February 11^th, 2025. The replay will be available on the Company's website at www.fluenceenergy.com by selecting Investors, News & Events, and Events & Presentations.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We present our operating results in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. ("GAAP”). We believe certain financial measures, such as Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Gross Profit, Adjusted Gross Profit Margin, and Free Cash Flow, which are non-GAAP measures, provide users of our financial statements with supplemental information that may be useful in evaluating our operating performance. We believe that such non-GAAP measures, when read in conjunction with our operating results presented under GAAP, can be used to better assess our performance from period to period and relative to performance of other companies in our industry, without regard to financing methods, historical cost basis or capital structure. Such non-GAAP measures should be considered as a supplement to, and not as a substitute for, financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. These measures have limitations as analytical tools, including that other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate these measures differently, reducing their usefulness as comparative measures.

Adjusted EBITDA is calculated from the consolidated statements of operations using net income (loss) adjusted for (i) interest income, net, (ii) income taxes, (iii) depreciation and amortization, (iv) stock-based compensation, and (v) other non-recurring income or expenses. Adjusted EBITDA also includes amounts impacting net income related to estimated payments due to related parties pursuant to the Tax Receivable Agreement, dated October 27, 2021, by and among Fluence Energy, Inc., Fluence Energy, LLC, Siemens Industry, Inc. and AES Grid Stability, LLC (the "Tax Receivable Agreement”).

Adjusted Gross Profit is calculated using gross profit, adjusted to exclude (i) stock-based compensation expenses, (ii) amortization, and (iii) other non-recurring income or expenses. Adjusted Gross Profit Margin is calculated using Adjusted Gross Profit divided by total revenue.

Free Cash Flow is calculated from the consolidated statements of cash flows and is defined as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities, less purchase of property and equipment made in the period. We expect our Free Cash Flow to fluctuate in future periods as we invest in our business to support our plans for growth. Limitations on the use of Free Cash Flow include (i) it should not be inferred that the entire Free Cash Flow amount is available for discretionary expenditures (for example, cash is still required to satisfy other working capital needs, including short-term investment policy, restricted cash, and intangible assets); (ii) Free Cash Flow has limitations as an analytical tool, and it should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of other GAAP financial measures, such as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities; and (iii) this metric does not reflect our future contractual commitments.

Please refer to the reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures included in tables contained at the end of this release.  

The Company is not able to provide a quantitative reconciliation of full fiscal year 2025 Adjusted EBITDA to GAAP Net Income (Loss) on a forward-looking basis within this press release because of the uncertainty around certain items that may impact Adjusted EBITDA, including stock compensation and restructuring expenses, that are not within our control or cannot be reasonably predicted without unreasonable effort.

About Fluence

Fluence Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: FLNC) is a global market leader delivering intelligent energy storage and optimization software for renewables and storage. The Company's solutions and operational services are helping to create a more resilient grid and unlock the full potential of renewable portfolios. With gigawatts of projects successfully contracted, deployed, and under management across nearly 50 markets, the Company is transforming the way we power our world for a more sustainable future.

For more information, visit our website, or follow us on LinkedIn or X. To stay up to date on the latest industry insights, sign up for Fluence's Full Potential Blog.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The statements contained in this press release and statements that are made on our earnings call that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements set forth above under "Fiscal Year 2025 Outlook” and other statements regarding the Company's future financial and operational performance, business strategy, growth and leadership position, introduction of new technology, our ability to differentiate our product and optimize our cost structure, liquidity and access to capital and cash flows, anticipated diversification of our geographic mix in the future, expectations related to delivering on our customer obligations, demand for electricity and impact to energy storage, demand for the Company's energy storage solutions, services, and digital applications offerings, our positioning to capture market share with domestic content offering and future offerings, expectations relating to competitive pressures, expected impact and benefits from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and domestic content guidelines on us and on our customers, potential impact of tariffs and uncertainty around U.S. and foreign trade policy on the Company, potential impact of new policies, regulations, and other executive actions from the current U.S. political administration, new products and solutions and product innovation, relationships with new and existing customers and suppliers, expectations relating to backlog, pipeline, and contracted backlog, future revenue recognition, future capital expenditures and debt service obligations, and projected costs, beliefs, assumptions, prospects, plans and objectives of management. Such statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. When used in this press release, words such as "may,” "possible,” "will,” "should,” "seeks,” "expects,” "plans,” "anticipates,” "grows,” "could,” "intends,” "targets,” "projects,” "contemplates,” "commits", "believes,” "estimates,” "predicts,” "potential” or "continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions and variations thereof and similar words and expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking.

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments, as well as a number of assumptions concerning future events, and their potential effects on our business. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance, and there can be no assurance that future developments affecting our business will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control), or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, which include, but are not limited to, our relatively limited operating and revenue history as an independent entity and the nascent clean energy industry; anticipated increasing expenses in the future, and our ability to maintain prolonged profitability; fluctuations of our order intake and results of operations across fiscal periods; potential difficulties in maintaining manufacturing capacity and establishing expected mass manufacturing capacity in the future; risks relating to delays, disruptions, and quality control problems in our manufacturing operations; risks relating to quality and quantity of components provided by suppliers; risks relating to our status as a relatively low-volume purchaser as well as from supplier concentration and limited supplier capacity; risks relating to operating as a global company with a global supply chain; changes in the cost and availability of raw materials and underlying components; failure by manufacturers, vendors, and suppliers to use ethical business practices and comply with applicable laws and regulations; significant reduction in pricing or order volume or loss of one or more of our significant customers or their inability to perform under their contracts; risks relating to competition for our offerings and our ability to attract new customers and retain existing customers; ability to maintain and enhance our reputation and brand recognition; ability to effectively manage our recent and future growth and expansion of our business and operations; our growth depends in part on the success of our relationships with third parties; ability to attract and retain highly qualified personnel; risks associated with engineering and construction, utility interconnection, commissioning and installation of our energy storage solutions and products, cost overruns, and delays; risks relating to lengthy sales and installation cycle for our energy storage solutions; risks related to defects, errors, vulnerabilities and/or bugs in our products and technology; risks relating to estimation uncertainty related to our product warranties; fluctuations in currency exchange rates; risks related to our current and planned foreign operations; amounts included in our pipeline and contracted backlog may not result in actual revenue or translate into profits; risks related to acquisitions we have made or that we may pursue; events and incidents relating to storage, delivery, installation, operation, maintenance and shutdowns of our products; risks relating to our impacts to our customer relationships due to events and incidents during the project lifecycle of an energy storage solution; actual or threatened health epidemics, pandemics or similar public health threats; ability to obtain financial assurances for our projects; risks relating to whether renewable energy technologies are suitable for widespread adoption or if sufficient demand for our offerings do not develop or takes longer to develop than we anticipate; estimates on size of our total addressable market; barriers arising from current electric utility industry policies and regulations and any subsequent changes; risks relating to the cost of electricity available from alternative sources; macroeconomic uncertainty and market conditions; risk relating to interest rates or a reduction in the availability of tax equity or project debt capital in the global financial markets and corresponding effects on customers' ability to finance energy storage systems and demand for our energy storage solutions; reduction, elimination, or expiration of government incentives or regulations regarding renewable energy; decline in public acceptance of renewable energy, or delay, prevent, or increase in the cost of customer projects; severe weather events; increased attention to ESG matters; restrictions set forth in our current credit agreement and future debt agreements; uncertain ability to raise additional capital to execute on business opportunities; ability to obtain, maintain and enforce proper protection for our intellectual property, including our technology; threat of lawsuits by third parties alleging intellectual property violations; adequate protection for our trademarks and trade names; ability to enforce our intellectual property rights; risks relating to our patent portfolio; ability to effectively protect data integrity of our technology infrastructure and other business systems; use of open-source software; failure to comply with third party license or technology agreements; inability to license rights to use technologies on reasonable terms; risks relating to compromises, interruptions, or shutdowns of our systems; changes in the global trade environment; potential changes in tax laws or regulations; risks relating to environmental, health, and safety laws and potential obligations, liabilities and costs thereunder; failure to comply with data privacy and data security laws, regulations and industry standards; risks relating to potential future legal proceedings, regulatory disputes, and governmental inquiries; risks related to ownership of our Class A common stock; risks related to us being a "controlled company” within the meaning of the NASDAQ rules; risks relating to the terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws; risks relating to our relationship with our founders and continuing equity owners; risks relating to conflicts of interest by our officers and directors due to positions with continuing equity owners; risks related to short-seller activists; we depend on distributions from Fluence Energy, LLC to pay our taxes and expenses and Fluence Energy, LLC's ability to make such distributions may be limited or restricted in certain scenarios; risks arising out of the Tax Receivable Agreement; unanticipated changes in effective tax rates or adverse outcomes resulting from examination of tax returns; risks relating to improper and ineffective internal control over reporting to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley Act; risks relating to changes in accounting principles or their applicability to us; risks relating to estimates or judgments relating to our critical accounting policies; and other factors set forth under Item 1A."Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2024, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC”) on November 29, 2024 and in other filings we make with the SEC from time to time. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all such risk factors, nor can we assess the effect of all such risk factors on our business or the extent to which any factor or combination of factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements made in this press release. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of the particular statement, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur, or which we become aware of, after the date hereof, except as otherwise may be required by law.