Autostore surprises with order intake of 183 million dollars in the first quarter

Early on Thursday morning it was AutoStore’s turn to present the results for the first quarter. Most of the focus of the analysts ahead of the report was directed at the order intake, which says a lot about the momentum in the company.

For the first quarter, order intake ended at 183 million dollars. In advance, the analysts estimated an order intake of 168 million dollars, according to consensus estimates obtained by AutoStore among ten brokerage houses.

In comparison, order intake was 163.9 and 151.7 million dollars in the fourth and third quarter, respectively.

– AutoStore continues to do well. In the first quarter of 2024, we were satisfied with generating 183 million dollars in new orders, an increase of 12 percent, and the third consecutive quarter with a sequential improvement in order intake, says CEO Mats Hovland Vikse in the message.

According to the report, the growth in order intake stems from a positive development in the so-called automated Micro Fulfillment Centers (MFC), with a “large share” of orders from new customers.

WATCH LIVE: Webcast from the quarterly presentation at 8.00 am

Earned less than expected

As for the turnover in the quarter, this item landed at 138.1 million dollars, down from 176.3 million dollars in the fourth quarter, and 149.2 million dollars last year.

In advance, the analyst corps had expected a turnover of 162 million dollars.

– Turnover was down 7.4 per cent compared to the first quarter of last year as expected, due to the installation time for projects in the backlog, says Vikse in the report.

The analysts had also expected a result after tax of 34 million dollars, but the fact showed that the bottom line landed at 20.6 million dollars in the first quarter. It is still somewhat up from the result in the first quarter of last year, which landed at 19.9 million dollars.

Operating profit fell at the same time from 63.1 million dollars in the fourth quarter to 46.2 million dollars in the first. The operating result was 45 million dollars in the first quarter of last year.

Increased investments

According to the report, the gross profit in the quarter was NOK 101 million, while the gross margin increased to 73 per cent compared to 67 per cent in the same period last year.

– The solid start to the year has led to an expansion of our backlog to 492 million dollars, which combined with our healthy pipeline and comprehensive roadmap for product development, puts us in a very good position for continued growth, says the AutoStore manager.

Furthermore, the robotic warehouse company had an operating cash flow of $53.4 million in the first quarter, compared to $43.8 million in the first quarter last year, driven by increased investments.