EHang Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:EH) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Conor Yang: Yes. Regarding to the – our operating expenses, which composed of sales and marketing and G&A and also research and development. As we ramp up our – let me ramp up our revenue. So you can see that the first quarter 2013, for example, we have reached revenue of RMB56 million with a year-on-year growth rate of 250%. So, when the revenue grow as such the – our adjusted operating expenses at fourth quarter last year was 113% of total revenue. Not compared to one year ago the – adjusted operating expenses was 466% of revenue. So you can see the rapid drop of OpEx that’s due to rapid increase in our revenue. So, we believe that our growth on revenue will continue, to grow at a very high growth rate in the next several years. So, we hope that we can manage that our adjusted operating expenses in three years’ time dropped from currently 113%, of revenue dropped to about 40% of total revenue in three years’ time. Thank you.

Unidentified Analyst: Okay. Thank you very much for your answer. And thank you for all of your company starts, to help us the low-altitude economy in China’s development in future. So, that’s my all questions and thank you, all of you, and have a nice weekend. Thank you.

Conor Yang: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. We will now take the next question – coming from the line of Ting Song from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Ting Song: Thank you, for taking my question. So, EHang has announced the launch of UAM operation demonstration center with Shenzhen government in December. So my question is, do we expect to see any revenues from UAM operation this year, besides the sales revenues from shipment of EH216-S? Thank you.

Xin Fang: Yes, as Mr. Hu mentioned earlier, the company plans, to kick off the commercial operations this year. We see that there are many companies that are planning to kick it off. We expect to see some revenues from our operation service area, but it may not be significant this year. In the current initial stage, our majority of our revenue will still come in from the sales of our EH216 series, for the time being. But looking forward, as we expand fly services to more areas, recurring revenues such as operational revenues will grow gradually. So, we can have the receiving. We have a cab receiving orders of domestic and overseas. And we also receive a lot of requests from our customers that to form joint venture for the future operation. So, we expect that next year and going forward, the revenue coming out from our operation, will gradually increase the percentage of our total revenue. Thank you.

Ting Song: Thank you. So – another question is about overseas revenues. So, I see the company has a partnership with a partner with overseas companies in Dubai and also some government in European countries. So, do we expect any progress in overseas market this year, or next year? Thank you.

Conor Yang: Yes, after we obtain TC, we also receive a very strong demand from overseas markets. As we have announced that, we have a form of strategic relationship and also received orders from UAE customers, Wings Logistics that, they intend to purchase 100 units. And actually, we start to deliver the first batch in the first quarter of this year. As of – for example, as of fourth quarter last year, we also sold our product, 216, to many places like Colombia, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. And we also performed our drone live shows in Japan and Spain. So in first quarter last year, the revenue we derived from overseas markets was 26% of our total revenues. And this year, we also that – expect there will be fairly good amount of revenue will be coming out from the overseas market. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Yu Chen from Haitong Securities. Please go ahead.

Yu Chen: Okay. Thank you, management. I have two questions. And the first one, following the previous one. We would like to know the detailed progress regarding the overseas TC uptation, because if we need to enter the overseas market, we think that the first step is to obtain the overseas TC first. And the second one is, about our production capacity. We would like to know the capacity regarding EH216 this year, and in the following three years, as well as the new vertical of VT-30. That’s two questions. Thank you.

Xin Fang: Yes. Regarding to overseas TC, we have, as I mentioned earlier, we have seen strong demand from overseas markets, especially in the Middle East, South Africa, and ASEAN countries. And so, for those places that, we will rely on our local partner, to obtain the local TC. So, have you already obtained the TC from CAAC? So, when we apply the overseas TC, we can do a streamlined process we call validation of TC, validation of Type Certificate, with the overseas aviation authorities. And this is expected to be a simplified procedure. Consequently, this approach enables us, to expedite market entry and expansion in these countries. And in terms of the order and the production, we’re currently receiving a substantial number of orders and pre-orders, which will be fulfilled according to our customers’ specific requirements.

And typically, that the government and customers commit to pre-orders, or customers, or intentional orders, for example, up to 100 units, and with an initial purchase of five to 10 units for trial operations at local sites. As their operations expand and demand increase, then they will acquire additional products. So, the favorable policies surrounding the low-altitude economy, has provided us an attractive environmental growth. So, consequently, we anticipate a substantial increase in delivery volume throughout 2024. First quarter, we have given our guidance at RMB58 million, slightly increase from quarter-over-quarter, because the first quarter is the Chinese New Year. Typically, there’s a long vacation during the quarter. But so far, we look forward that we have seen very strong demand for orders for this year.

Currently, our production in Yunfu facility has an annual capacity of 600 units of EBITDA. And we are exploring opportunities to establish other facilities to further support our production capacity as market expand – as market demand grows. Thank you.