In releasing its preliminary report for 2023, Highcon said it has opened 2024 with a system backlog of $7m and expects to reach cash breakeven in the second half of 2024.
The company published preliminary financial results for 2023 with $8.4m in revenues and a loss of $26.9m, including $5m related to inventory and fixed assets write offs and impairments.
“2023 was a challenging year for Highcon as the global economy slow down, negatively impacted new order intake,” commented Shlomo Nimrodi, CEO. “R&D costs increased as the company invested in the development of the new product platform for the corrugated market. While making good progress on this development, which resulted in multiple commitments from new customers to purchase the future product, the impact was that the company faced a cash crunch.”
“Following multiple attempts to recover from the downturn, the company announced a series of actions in October 2023 that will result in a reduction of more than $10m in 2024 operating expenses compared with 2023,” said Alon Bar-Shany, Chairman of the Board of Directors. “These actions included: an injection of new capital by existing and new shareholders, restructuring of bank debt and significant reductions in activities and related headcount. In addition, the company was able to secure strategic relations with BHS Corrugated. With the combination of these steps Highcon is back on track and with drupa around the corner and the building relations with BHS we are cautiously optimistic about the future.”
“In anticipation for drupa, we are pleased with the strong focus on folding carton we have seen in the last 12 months with ~$8 million in order taking, all of which are in the folding carton space. Coupled with the consistent strong growth of >30% per year, demonstrated by our customers in both folding carton and corrugated, we feel this puts us in a good position to approach such a critical event for us, drupa 2024,” said Simon Lewis, SVP of Marketing, Strategy and Business Development.
