3 days Ago
Cubic Telecom, the Irish internet-of-things software developer, saw adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) – before a share-based payment charge – more than double last year to €12.6m from €6.1m.
The company’s directors – including CEO Barry Napier – have described 2023 as “an earnings transformation point” that is expected to continue this year. It made a €7.2m operating loss last year, compared with a €6m loss in 2022, newly-filed accounts show.
Cubic Telecom’s software is used in the automotive and broader transportation industry. This time last year, Japan’s SoftBank bought a 51pc stake in the company for €473m, putting a valuation of more than €900m on the Irish firm. “The partnership will aim to pioneer software-defined high-value assets globally, and to capture a greater share of the rapidly growing connected car market with an estimated 95pc of new vehicles sold in 2030 being connected,” noted Cubic Telecom of its deal with SoftBank.
Cubic Telecom’s software connects more than 20 million vehicles around the world, and processes more than one billion transmissions every day in more than 190 countries. Its products allow vehicle manufacturers to monitor, manage and update multiple aspects of a vehicle or a device in real-time, all over the world, via mobile connectivity. Its customers include car makers such as Audi, Porsche, Harley-Davidson, Seat, Volkswagen and Skoda.
The accounts for the company show that turnover rose last year to €66.2m from €56.3m in 2022.
Its operating loss, before interest, was €7.2m last year compared with €5.3m in 2022.
“The gross margin percentage of 77pc has increased by 10 percentage points from prior year reflecting the continued trend towards Platform as a Service (PaaS) revenue and less reliance on airtime revenue,” the directors note in the accounts. Cubic hit a milestone of 18 million devices connected through its platform in March 2024, adding approximately 450,000 vehicles per month in 2023. The accounts note that this year, Cubic Telecom addressed a lending agreement inked with the European Investment Bank (EIB) in 2019.
That provided for finance of up to €23.5m, of which €7m had been drawn down. A put option gave the EIB the right to require Cubic to repurchase warrants associated with the finance contract at a price equal to the then-current fair market value of the underlying shares.
In March this year, the EIB exercised its put option and received a price equal to €19.8m. The warrant liability was paid in full.
.
