Saietta board optimistic despite deepening losses
By Josh White
Date: Monday 25 Sep 2023
(Sharecast News) - Saietta Group reported a 40% rise in turnover in a trading update on Monday, reaching £6m for the 12 months ended 31 March.
The AIM-traded firm, holding its annual general meeting, said gross profit jumped 35% year-on-year to £2.3m.
Its adjusted EBITDA loss came in at £9.9m, excluding exceptional losses of £6.4m from discontinued activities.
That was more than double the loss of £4.4m in 2022.
A statutory loss before tax of £23.8m was recorded, widening from an £11.3m loss in 2022, factoring in all write-downs and discontinued ventures.
Saietta ended the period on 31 March with cash reserves of £7.3m - a considerable drop from £18.4m a year earlier.
As of the end of August, the cash reserves were down to £1.2m.
Despite that, with additional sums expected from crucial clients and joint venture partners, the board said it was confident in funding the company's current AFT eDrive production plan.
Looking ahead, Saietta said it was undergoing a significant strategy shift.
The company transitioned from multi-segment product development to focus primarily on eDrive manufacturing.
Its board was optimistic and expected to announce new production contracts and specific advancements in the coming weeks.
Additionally, it said a comprehensive shareholder update would be made after publishing its accounts for the year ended 31 March.
"Saietta has reached the point of inflection as we expect to go into series production at our manufacturing plants in Sunderland, UK and our all-new facility in Delhi, India," said executive chair Anthony Gott.
"We are focused very heavily on our core target market of lightweight electric vehicles (LEVs), which offers the biggest, nearest and most certain commercial opportunities.
"We have therefore restructured our operations in the heavy-duty eDrive and marine divisions, reducing expenditure and allowing all resources and management time to be allocated into products for LEVs."
Gott said he saw "strong evidence" that Saietta was placed to succeed in securing a large market segment and generating meaningful long-term recurring revenue streams.
"This achievement has only been possible due to the combination of our team's world-class innovation with cutting-edge production and quality standards.
"I look forward to updating shareholders further once we have published our report and accounts."
The board said the annual report and accounts for the year, which had seen a delay in preparation, were set for release on 29 September.
Saietta said the postponement allowed time for an impact assessment following the discontinuation of Retromotion activities, the updated contractual arrangements with Consolidated Metco, and the suspension of the marine product commercialisation.
At 1331 BST, shares in Saietta Group were down 18.01% at 35.26p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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