Is it okay to speculate?
I watched the webcast, and one thing caught my eye and stayed with me. In the 2027 goals, “cash flow positivity” had changed to “financial independence,” and the CEO commented on this a bit.
The point is that if the market really gains momentum now, as it seems to him, the company wants to maintain strategic flexibility to invest more if needed, when the game is about market leadership and maintaining it. (Approximately like this, from memory)
But what could “financial independence” mean in practice vs. the previous “cash flow positivity”? If it’s not “cash flow positivity,” it must mean that despite negative cash flow, there is firepower to invest in growth and maintaining/strengthening market leadership without worrying about an immediate upcoming need for financing.
In my own thinking, “cash flow positivity” is linked to operations similar to what we’ve seen so far, where the cash position has been patched up periodically with small directed share issues until at some point (target 2027) it would no longer need to be replenished.
What does “financial independence” refer to? In practice, I think this would mean significant equity financing (unless the company is sold and delisted). A strategic investment from a larger company comes to mind here.
The CEO has said that from the customer’s perspective, it would be best if scanners, image processing software, and AI could be purchased as a single product. He has seen that we are heading toward this kind of consolidation over some timeframe. He said again that AI is what brings the added value from the customer’s point of view – so at this stage, as I understand it, Aiforia could be a sought-after partner to fill that part of the offering. It has been said that regarding the US market, the FDA can currently only grant approval for a package that includes the scanner, image processing software, and AI.
Could it be then that Aiforia has started discussing a form of strategic involvement and large-scale financing with a larger player? If that were the case, I would suspect that player to be Siemens Healthineers.
A strategic investment could be a path toward a possible acquisition in a few years’ time.
From Siemens’ perspective, I think this would be a “win.”
From Aiforia’s perspective, I was left wondering that since growth is needed and desired, they probably wouldn’t want to limit AI sales to only certain scanners/software providers.
For organizing US sales and FDA approvals, this type of cooperation would sound like quite a win-win solution for all parties.