Zaptec manufactures and sells electric vehicle chargers as well as related application/software solutions. The company was recently listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, but its origins date back to 2012.
Zaptec has a solid market share in the Norwegian market. The market share covers 50% of the corporate market and approximately 15% of the total Norwegian market. The company has future plans to expand throughout Europe and globally. Ålandsbanken estimates that Zaptec’s revenue will grow by 55% next year and 40% in 2022 (detailed and other figures in the first post). The company stands out from others with its unique charging method (video).
The company’s products are driven by many modern megatrends, including green energy, technological development, and the fight against climate change. The market and necessity for electric vehicle chargers are expected to grow at a rapid pace, further accelerated by various agreements striving for clean energy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA4FS-a-h40
A few highlights from the company presentation:
And from the concise financial overview:
That’s an interesting note! They’re even making a profit! Norway seems to be far ahead of Finland when it comes to electric cars. Even over 2/3 of new cars there are all-electric/plug-in hybrids. I think I’ll buy it for my portfolio with next month’s monthly savings. I still need to get to know the company better. The valuation also seems reasonable based on a quick estimate, so there could very well be potential for my portfolio.
Thanks @Winston for the good find. The company seems very interesting.
The product and concept have been nicely proven in Norway, international sales have gained good momentum, it’s well-positioned in the value chain, finances are in order, megatrends strongly support it, and the valuation level is also reasonable considering the growth rate and the fact that it can still be done profitably. In addition, after the offering and listing, there are about 15 funds among the top 20 owners, which speaks to the confidence in the company.
It’s crazy how Norway/Sweden just keeps producing these high-potential growth companies like mushrooms after the rain.
This looks like a good case, I’ll have to grab a small opening position, and it doesn’t seem like the price has gotten completely out of hand yet either!
There are huge growth opportunities here if they can get into international markets. A lot depends on whether the software is unique enough and offers exceptional advantages compared to competitors.
At least Alfen, Garo, Ensto, Schneider Electric, Defa and probably many others are doing the same business in the Nordic countries and Europe. Will each of them succeed in becoming a leading supplier of charging stations? After all, stock prices are pricing in rapid growth for all (listed) electric car infrastructure manufacturers.
Zaptec is certainly a good company, but internationalization is no walk in the park in a very competitive industry. My own competence is not enough to assess whether Zaptec’s product is better than its competitors, but to my knowledge, the design, manufacture or maintenance of charging stations is not rocket science. So these boxes will also be a bulk commodity in a couple of years.
Excellent point. The risk here is that there isn’t much of a significant moat available, at least not yet. On the other hand, the market is growing strongly, so there’s enough room for several players at this stage. And at some point, a consolidation phase will begin. Of course, it’s impossible to predict – at least for me – who will be the strongest, but Zaptec has a strong track record from its home country, where competition has certainly been fierce, and also from its internationalization efforts. This is somewhat similar to, say, Kamux. They’ve been excellent in their home country, but will they succeed in internationalizing into highly competitive, mature markets?
“The charging station works for all car types…”
This sentence from the video caught my ear, and I was wondering if different car brands have slightly different quality standards, or am I wrong?
From Ålandsbanken’s analysis: “The company is increasing its investment in the private market by bringing the Zaptec Home Charger to sale at the beginning of next year. In this market, the company stands out from its competitors with its significantly lower prices.”
Zaptec Columns, i.e. charging columns, of which there are three different models (flex, standard and premium, more detailed information on these can be found on the company’s website)
Zaptec Portal, where you can manage charging stations and monitor their functions and status.
"ZAPTEC Portal is the brains behind our smart charging infrastructure. It continuously monitors, balances and optimises the load between the various charging stations.
Installers and owners of charging installations can easily keep track of their installations in the ZAPTEC Portal. Here you can add charging stations, read charging history and do updates, monitoring, configurations and more."
Zaptec APM, which enables smart charging with a power distribution function. For example, it regulates the current used for charging according to the building’s power needs.
"ZAPTEC APM measures the power consumption for the entire building and automatically allocates more power to EV charging when the building uses less. The certified ZAPTEC power meter is installed in the main board. Through it, ZAPTEC Portal continuously receives measurement data from the building and adapts the charge current to the EV charging stations.
Smart charging with ZAPTEC APM: Utilise all available capacity."
News from last Friday about conquering Denmark with the help of Danish company Spirii Here are a couple of interesting excerpts. While waiting for the interim report, to be published on November 13th.
Lima is responsible for launching ZAPTEC’s products across Europe. He says that ZAPTEC managed to quickly gain ground in Denmark and that several hundred charging stations have already been installed there as of September 2020.
Spirii has already established itself as an important player in the Danish market and we intend to grow and expand into the rest of northern Europe. We will do this through strong partnerships and solutions for which there is demand in the market, says Harritshøj.
I wrote yesterday about buying this in the buy/sell thread, but I could try to explain my decision more here in the company’s own thread (so we can get others from the forum involved too ;).
In my opinion, electric cars and their charging is a rapidly growing but still future-oriented industry, where Zaptec is in an advantageous position as one of the first movers. The products seem to be of very high quality, save electricity, and generate continuous cash flow for the company. International expansion is already well underway (share of revenue ~25% in 2020, compared to 10% in 2019), which also partly validates the technology. I also particularly like the company’s plans to expand into higher-margin sectors next year.
In addition, it’s quite exceptional that a significant amount of money is already left over at the bottom line. The risk is therefore on a completely different level than in most early-stage technology companies. I get very strong Plejd vibes from this company, except the price tag is more than half cheaper. One can only hope that the story after the listing proceeds in the same way.
The stock has fallen so much in recent days without news that it’s probably just correcting upwards now.
@Jippe, you made some good points! I also thought of this as a case similar to Plejd. It’s easy to see with common sense how much growth potential both have. If we use Finland as an example, the government’s goal is to have 800,000 electric cars by 2030. Then when you look around, there are still incredibly few charging points. The same is true almost everywhere in Europe. In 10 years, we will see an incredible project as housing associations, businesses, private individuals, etc., get their charging infrastructure in order. Of course, several companies will be sharing that market, but there’s always competition, although I don’t know about North Korea It will be really interesting to follow how Zaptec’s international business progresses
So far, the revenue comes mainly from the sale of charging systems and charging stations (and installations?). These are for private use and for larger communities (and a third sector/version is planned for next year). In addition, through the Charge365 payment system acquired a year ago, 15% of the money moving through it stays in the company’s pockets. Charge365 is an application designed for housing companies or even parking garages, which makes it easy to transfer the costs of car charging to end-users. This only accounts for a few percent of the turnover, but as the number of charging points grows, it may form a large revenue stream.
Certainly many factors affecting the stock: recently listed, old highs were only broken today, volume was initially large and has now leveled off, target prices have an impact, and earnings are probably already being anticipated. It must be remembered that the company is already profitable. Interesting to see at what stage the expansions are!
That looks good. It seems it didn’t manage to add at a cheap price, even though I hoped for it. Revenue growth of 30%, all from international markets (international share of revenue 29% vs 10% last year). Operating profit is at the same level as last year, but this is due to the temporary high demand for Zaptec Home, the lowest-margin product (which, according to the report, will be replaced by a more cost-effective solution next year ). Really strong promises for the coming years:
“Our guiding for annual revenue growth is 35-50% for the next 3 years
Our guiding for EBITDA margin is 20% in 2023” (Q3/2020 EBITDA margin was just over 11%)
After all, stock prices are pricing in rapid growth for all (listed) electric car infrastructure manufacturers.
Here are a couple of interesting excerpts. While waiting for the interim report, to be published on November 13th.
It will be really interesting to follow how Zaptec’s international business progresses 
). Really strong promises for the coming years: