Sono Group N.V. (NASDAQ:SEV) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Laurin Hahn: As we inform the public, of course, we also inform our suppliers. And of course, as I mentioned earlier, with the funding that became more complicated, as Torsten described it over the last couple of months, we have made the decision that we presented today to move our SOP from the second half of 2023 into the first quarter of 2024. So we did, of course, this in concert with suppliers. And we do not expect any dramatic impact from delaying our SOP with any supplier. Can never rule it out. But specifically with Valmet Automotive, it’s a very good partner. So, no, we do not expect from that campaign in the announcement today anything but the delay we just mentioned.

Eric Stine: Let’s say at the end of the 50-day campaign, you realize that maybe you need to push that a little further. Is that something that €“ I would assume you’ll be kind of having conversations ongoing with your suppliers, so that they’re aware of the situation. But is it fair to say that that wouldn’t cause a great disruption and that is something that you can start up again or get back on that timeline pretty easily if you’re able to do so.

Torsten Kiedel: Well, we want to act now and to try not to drag it out endlessly. So we have been successful in the past with the 50 days, raising those €53 million in payment commitments. Now we have doubled the amount of community members. We have so much more visibility in the market. We grew to such a big corporation by now, so that we are very confident that we can make it.

Eric Stine: Just on the good news on the PO signed with the large OEM, just curious, with financing top of mind, any thought or any interest from some of those large partners potentially in some sort of strategic investment to kind of help alleviate that. I know you’re probably limited as to what you can say, but anything along those lines might be helpful.

Thomas Hausch: We have some kind of confidentiality limitations here. But of course, we would be foolish not to speak to potential OEMs or to OEMs out there about a potential strategic investment. And of course, those who receive or are currently looking into our solar technology would be the ones most likely to invest. But you also know how it works. With big OEMs or big corporates, it does take time. So for us, it’s great to see there’s interest in technology. We take this as a first step and we believe, once we have proven the technology works, yeah, then, consequently, conversations will continue.

Operator: . We will take our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Andres Sheppard from Cantor Fitzgerald.

Andres Sheppard: Congrats on all the milestones. I wanted to maybe clarify a little bit on the funding strategy. So, I see you’ve mentioned you’ve raised €70 million. You expect to raise an additional €134 million. And so, I just want to make sure I understand this correctly. €40 million of that is expected to be a new capital raise or debt. €10 million will be from the ATM and then the rest is from the community down payments. I guess if there’s any issues or delays in the community down payments, then would that change the amount that you expect ?

Laurin Hahn: I’m sorry.

Andres Sheppard: I just want to get more color on the capital funding strategies, particularly in regards to ATM and to the community down payments. Anything you can say there? Particularly given where the maybe the stock is trading, is the ATM €“ do you still expect to use that?