According to prelims, FY22 revenue grew 30% yoy to € 86m to 91m, a sign that SINGULUS is still working off a strong order backlog of € 112m from the end of FY21. The company expects a positive FY22 EBIT of € 4.0-6.0m which would be a significant improvement over FY21 (€ -12 to -16m). Our takeaways:

• EBIT turned positive. FY22 EBIT is expected between € 4.0-6.0m. This includes a € 10-12m positive one-off from the sale of Fürstenfeldbruck facility, which was merged with the facility in Kahl am Main, providing annual cost savings of € 1-2m. The underlying EBIT is expected to be negative (€ -5m, eNuW), revealing sub-scale operations, in our view. Still, the underlying performance is a significant improvement from FY21 of € -12 to -16m, supported by economies of scale (30% yoy sales growth).
• Creditors still in the game. The company aims to acquire long-term financing to support working capital requirements for larger projects, and (finally) receive the unqualified audit opinion in 2020 and 2021 accounts. Despite the lack of audited numbers, the creditors continue to extend their financial support to SINGULUS, highlighting the business’ probability of survival as a going concern.
• Solid order intake, improvements expected in 2023. FY22 order intake fell by 49% to € 57m from the FY21 highs of € 112m. Yet, SINGULUS expects to procure numerous orders, especially within the Solar segment. By H123, SINGULUS sees potential to receive further orders (€ 20-30m, eNuW) from Enel, which is looking to expand in the USA. Mind you, the company already won an order for Enel’s Sicily plant (3 GW, eNuW) in April 22. This, coupled with targeted Semi order intake of € 10-20m in H1’23e, provides good visibility on SINGULUS’ target FY23 order intake of € 50-100m.

Solar – some ray of hope for SINGULUS. The EU added a record-breaking 41.4 GW of solar power in 2022, a 47% yoy growth. It plans to install 320 GW by 2025 and 600 GW by 2030. This comes as a positive news for SINGULUS, an established global player for cutting-edge machinery and technology for production of thin film and crystalline solar technology.

Missing audits for 2020 and 2021 are seen to remain a drag on sentiment. SINGULUS expects to publish audited numbers before the end of February. With an available gross cash balance of c. € 18m (Dec ’22), the audit requirements of ‘sufficient liquidity at hand’ to deem SINGULUS as a going concern are still being assessed. We keep the stock under review until the audit materializes.