Westport Fuel Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:WPRT) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Dan Sceli: Yes, we’re getting — obviously, we’re getting regularly informed by Volvo of the volumes they need of those components. We don’t see any changes from what we’re building today. We’re in fact hoping to help them move even more product. That’s one of the goals of this joint venture. But the volumes will not change from what we’re shipping today. [Multiple Speakers] Of course, I mean, over time, that’s going to grow, but immediately it’s a pretty steady state.

Eric Stine: Sure. I’m just trying to get a sense here of the near term as you kind of get into that changeover. Maybe, I know you called out or Bill called out lower HPDI volumes in Q4. I mean, just curious, does that have anything to do with the joint venture timing? Is that more the model change or how should we think about that?

Bill Larkin: Yes. No, the volumes aren’t driven by the JV activities. Our goal is to have a seamless transition so there is no disruption in delivering components and systems to our JV partner, to our customer. And so, that’s what we’re focusing on. We will go through a transition period, but ultimately, we expect one of the outcomes of entering into the JV is to drive higher volumes, which for our business, volumes solve a lot of issues in terms of driving top line growth [indiscernible]

Eric Stine: Yes, understood. Okay. And then lastly, just on the LPG programs, good that you started those in Q1 here. Can you just remind us, I know that it’s the Euro 6 and the Euro 7, it’s over the next four to five years. You called out to — I believe EUR255 million. Can you just give a brief reminder on how that kind of should break down, at least as your expectations are today.

Dan Sceli: When you say breakdown, do you mean by period?

Eric Stine: Yes, by period. I mean, obviously, it starts in 2024, probably heavier in 2025. Just some high level discussion of that.

Bill Larkin: Yes. I think we’re going to see clearly a ramp up this year in delivering components to our OE customer, and we expect that increase to continue in 2025. And then we get the — and then we start seeing just slight increases from there, but we will see a big jump this year, a big jump next year, and then somewhat stabilizing beyond 2025.

Dan Sceli: That’s a pretty quick ramp up into their capacity numbers and then it will run.

Eric Stine: Okay. Thank you.

Dan Sceli: Thanks, Eric.

Operator: Thank you. Next question will be from Chris Dendrinos at RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Chris Dendrinos: Good morning. Thank you.

Dan Sceli: Good morning.

Chris Dendrinos: I wanted to go back to Amit’s question here just on the priorities and then the objectives to kind of improve that operational excellence. And I guess maybe just a bigger picture question, but maybe looking out 12 to 18 months, like how do you envision this? How does this company look then versus today? Are there sort of big changes that we see, or is it more of like this kind of gradual progression and just kind of want to get your perspective on what you foresee with Westport in the future? Thanks.

Dan Sceli: Sure, sure. Over the next 12 to 18 months. I mean, we’re going to be instituting things like harmonized metrics across the operations to drive performance. We’re going to be trying to optimize our capital — sorry, capacity utilization. We’re going to be looking at balancing overhead costs to the businesses. It’s just what I call operational excellence drive to go into every corner of our operations and put in place a discipline that will drive performance. And it takes time, it’s not a next week, next month thing. And there’s a lot of really good things that we want to optimize and continue, and there’s some things that we need to fix. And we will drive those in a manner that it can be executed without causing any issues to customers or supply. And that’s kind of my approach. It’s my theory of operational excellence and driving it across the business.

Chris Dendrinos: Got it. Okay. And then I guess, follow-uping on that, is there an opportunity to consolidate some of the — I guess the manufacturing footprints? I think you mentioned capacity utilization and then are there leases or anything like that that sort of, I guess, maybe slow that transition? Thanks.

Dan Sceli: Yes, as I said in my earlier talk, nothing is off limits. We’re going to be looking across the entire enterprise for areas to become more efficient and consolidation is always on that list that we look around and figure out what’s the best setup and footprint for the long haul and we’ll be evaluating that.

Chris Dendrinos: Got it. Okay. And then maybe just separately, as far as the marine opportunity goes, can you just provide a bit more color on what is going to be, I guess, tested and sort of where this opportunity falls within the marine segment? Is it commercial applications? Is it more like a residential or retail, I guess, opportunity?

Dan Sceli: No, no. It’s commercial applications and it’ll follow — these are diesel engines and it’ll follow a similar path to the engine development we would do for any mobility customer. You’re taking our HPDI technology which can be developed for various types of diesel engines. And these things take some time, obviously, working with the customer for design development and then trials. So it’s going to develop over the next couple of years.