Plug Power Inc. reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2011. According to the company, this new year marks a fresh start for its scope of business. Unlike years past, 2011 marks the first year the company is entirely committed to its GenDrive® product line. According to Plug Power, which claims to be the only hydrogen fuel cell manufacturer to offer customers a complete product suite enabling full-fleet conversions, the company has captured over 85% of the fuel cell-powered material handling market today.
Plug Power saw its most successful quarter in the company’s history during the first quarter of 2011, primarily based on the unprecedented number of commercial orders it received. Order ramp-up, year over year, has legitimized the GenDrive business for Plug Power, and helped illustrate the commercial traction driving the company toward profitability. Plug Power closed out 2010 with a total of 543 GenDrive orders. In just the first quarter of 2011 alone, the company has already exceeded full year totals for prior years, accumulating 555 GenDrive unit orders.
Plug Power’s current backlog of 938 orders represents approximately $19M in future revenue; the company expects roughly 65% of these orders to ship throughout the remainder of 2011. With this increase in orders, and engineering improvements that utilize common components across product lines, Plug Power expects to drive down material costs by 30 to 40%. Implementation is currently underway and Plug Power expects these improvements to begin to impact its financial results by the end of 2011.
Plug Power’s customer list continues to grow with new adopters and repeat customers who are implementing GenDrive-powered fleets at multiple facilities within their organization. Specifically, Plug Power has seen an upswing in the food distribution market.
"The continued commercial growth of our GenDrive business is a result of the business-altering benefits experienced by our customers in the material handling space," said Andy Marsh, CEO at Plug Power. "Early adopter customers are now realizing results, and speaking to superior performance and reliability of hydrogen fuel cells in their operations."
Net loss for the first quarter of 2011 was $7.2 million, or $0.05 per share on a basic and diluted basis. This compares with a net loss of $10.6 million, or $0.08 per share, for the first quarter of 2010.
Total revenue for the first quarter of 2011 was $6.0 million, comprised of $5.0 million for product and service revenue, $0.8 million for research and development (R&D) contract revenue, and $0.2 million for licensed technology revenue. This compares to total revenue of $4.4 million in the first quarter of 2010, which was comprised of $3.2 million of product and service revenue and $1.2 million of R&D contract revenue.
The company shipped 144 units during the first quarter of 2011 compared to 104 units in the first quarter of 2010.
Total cost of revenue for the first quarter of 2011 was $8.0 million, comprised of $6.7 million for product and service cost of revenue and $1.3 million for R&D contract cost of revenue. This compares to total cost of revenue of $5.2 million in the first quarter of 2010, which was comprised of $3.3 million of product and service cost of revenue and $1.9 million for R&D contract cost of revenue.
R&D expenses for the first quarter of 2011 were $1.1 million compared with $5.5 million for the first quarter of 2010. The overall decline in R&D expenses is related to our corporate restructuring plan, and our transition from a development stage enterprise focused on research and development to a company focused on the commercial production of our products.
Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses were $3.6 million for the first quarter of 2011 compared with $3.9 million for the first quarter of 2010. Additionally, $0.6 million was expensed for amortization of intangible assets during the first quarter of 2011 compared to $0.6 million for the first quarter of 2010.
