Ballard Reports 2008 Operating Achievements and Provides 2009 Outlook
27 Januar 2009 - 5:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
VANCOUVER, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ballard Power Systems
(TSX: BLD; NASDAQ: BLDPD) announced its operating achievements for
the year ended December 31, 2008 and provided an outlook for 2009
today. All amounts are in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise noted.
"2008 was a successful year for Ballard, both in terms of solid
operating results and transformational progress," said John
Sheridan, President and CEO. "Given this progress, our outlook for
2009 is for strong commercial growth, despite the challenging
macro-economic conditions. We expect this to be driven primarily by
sales of our FCgen(TM) products for backup power in India and the
EU, and FCvelocity(TM) products for material handling in the USA".
2008 Achievements Transformational Progress
------------------------- - Completed strategic re-positioning with
the closing of the automotive transaction on January 31, recording
a $97 million gain. - Strengthened financial position by further
reducing operating cash consumption(1), and by augmenting cash
reserves with the closing of the non-dilutive financing transaction
with Superior Plus on December 31, with net cash proceeds of
approximately $34 million. - Accelerated fuel cell product adoption
as evidenced by the high volume supply agreement with ACME Tele
Power announced on October 9, and the extended supply agreement
with Plug Power in tandem with the Central Grocers full fleet order
for 220 GenDrive(TM) units announced by Plug on December 11. Solid
Operating Results ----------------------- - Product shipments
exceeded Ballard's 2008 target of 1,700 units, with a total of
1,855 units shipped. - Revenue met revised guidance, ending the
year at approximately $59 million (unaudited), achieving
approximately 15% growth over prior year's revenue on a pro-forma
basis, adjusting for automotive engineering development. -
Operating cash consumption(1) met full year guidance at
approximately $29 million (unaudited), down 24% from 2007, despite
a $3 million negative impact in 2008 from FX losses resulting from
mark to market adjustments on Canadian monetary assets. - Cash
reserves of approximately $85 million. Please note that the 2008
financial results are unaudited and Ballard expects to release its
audited 2008 year-end financial results on March 4, 2009. 2009
Outlook - Growth in total product shipments to 4,000 units, more
than double the 2008 level - Material Handling - 1,000
FCvelocity(TM)-9SSL units; - Backup Power - 2,500 FCgen(TM)-1020
and FCgen(TM)-1300 units; and - Residential Cogeneration - 500
FCgen(TM)-1030 units. - Revenue growth of 15% to 30% ($68 million
to $78 million). - Operating cash consumption(1) reduction of 7% to
40% ($17 million to $27 million). The operating cash consumption(1)
outlook reflects a year over year improvement in product and
service margins and significant reductions in operating expenses
and working capital requirements, partially offset by increased
expenditures of approximately $3 million for FCgen(TM)-1300 product
development and approximately $5 million for increased production
capacity for projected 2010 volume growth. Conference Calls Ballard
will hold a conference call to discuss its 2008 operating
achievements and provide an outlook for 2009 on Tuesday, January
27, 2009 at 8:00 a.m. PST (11:00 a.m. EST). Access to the January
27th, call may be obtained by calling the operator at
+1-604-638-5340 before the scheduled start time. A playback version
of the call will be available for 24 hours after the call at
+1-604-638-9010. The confirmation number to access the playback is
6325#. The simultaneous audio web cast can be accessed at
http://services.choruscall.com/links/ballard090127.html and will be
archived for replay. Ballard will also hold a conference call to
discuss its 2008 fourth quarter and year-end financial results on
March 4, 2009. Further details will be announced closer to the
date. About Ballard Power Systems Ballard Power Systems (TSX: BLD;
NASDAQ: BLDPD) is recognized as a world leader in the design,
development, manufacture and sale of clean energy fuel cell
products. Ballard's mission is to accelerate fuel cell product
adoption. To learn more about what Ballard is doing with Power to
Change the World(R), visit http://www.ballard.com/. As per NASDAQ
rules, for a period of 20 trading days following the effective date
of the plan of arrangement with Superior Plus Income Fund, the
company will trade on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol
"BLDPD" to notify the market that the company has gone through a
substitution listing event. Beginning on February 2, 2009, the
company will trade again under the usual symbol of "BLDP". This
release contains forward-looking statements, including the
estimated product shipments, revenue and operating cash
consumption(1), which are provided to enable external stakeholders
to understand Ballard's outlook as at the date of this release and
may not be appropriate for other purposes. These forward-looking
statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of Ballard's
management and reflect Ballard's current expectations as
contemplated under section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. Such assumptions relate to Ballard's financial forecasts
and expectations regarding its product development efforts,
manufacturing capacity, and market demand, and include matters such
as generating new sales, producing and delivering the expected
number of units, and controlling its costs. These statements
involve risks and uncertainties that may cause Ballard's actual
results to be materially different, including, without limitation,
the rate of mass adoption of its products, product development
delays, changing environmental regulations, its ability to attract
and retain business partners and customers, its access to funding,
increased competition, its ability to protect its intellectual
property, changes in its customers' requirements, foreign exchange
impacts on its net monetary assets and its ability to provide the
capital required for product development, operations and marketing.
For a detailed discussion of these risk factors and other risk
factors that could affect Ballard's future performance, please
refer to Ballard's most recent Annual Information Form. Readers
should not place undue reliance on Ballard's forward-looking
statements and Ballard assumes no obligation to update or release
any revisions to these forward looking statements, other than as
required under applicable legislation.
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Endnotes: --------- (1) Operating cash consumption is a non-GAAP
measure used to assist in assessing Ballard's financial
performance. Non-GAAP measures do not have any standardized meaning
prescribed by GAAP and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to
similar measures presented by other companies. Operating cash
consumption measures the amount of cash required to fund the
operating activities of Ballard's business and excludes financing
and investing activities except for additions to property, plant
and equipment. Ballard, the Ballard logo and Power to Change the
World are registered trademarks of Ballard Power Systems Inc.
DATASOURCE: Ballard Power Systems Inc. CONTACT: or to arrange an
interview with a Ballard spokesperson, please contact Amy Harada
Bradley at telephone number (604) 412-7913 or on e-mail .
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