Eltek Ltd. Q4 FY2025 earnings call

首先介绍业务概述，2025年收入增长反映了公司的战略加速投资计划，该计划尚处于初期阶段。期间面临若干运营挑战，包括设施内机器和生产线上的重新分配以准备安装新电镀线，招聘员工困难，留存高经验人员挑战，以及美元显著贬值，对以美元计价的盈利能力产生约220万美元的不利影响。在投资计划方面，两条新电镀线中的核心部分，首条于2026年初到货，处于组装阶段，受以色列当前紧张局势影响。同时一直在推进招聘额外员工，尤其是工程师，以支持设备基础扩展和管理生产重分配带来的运营复杂性，还经历了部分高知名员工离职。此外，延长了制造设施的租赁协议至2039年底，收到的款项将摊销以适度降低年租金费用。

2025年全年收入达51.8百万美元，较2024年增长11%。2025年毛利为8百万美元，而2024年为10.3百万美元，毛利率从22%降至15%。2025年营业利润为2.3百万美元，2024年为4.4百万美元。2025年净利润为0.8百万美元，每股0.12美元，2024年净利润为4.2百万美元，每股0.63美元。第四季度2025年收入为13.2百万美元，2024年第四季度为10.8百万美元；第四季度2025年毛利为1.2百万美元，2024年第四季度为1.9百万美元；第四季度2025年净亏损为0.3百万美元，每股0.05美元，2024年第四季度净利润为2.3万美元。

预计2026年中期完成新电镀线的安装与整合，之后将进行广泛的认证流程，预计2026年剩余时间完成认证，生产流程稳定后毛利率将改善。增加销售额预计将对盈利能力和毛利率产生显著积极影响。定价系统已立即更新以反映美元贬值，新订单将体现新汇率，预计4-5个月后可看到毛利率改善。

运营方面存在设施内机器和生产线重新分配以安装新电镀线的困难，招聘及留存高经验员工的难题，美元贬值导致约220万美元的盈利影响，以及以色列当前紧张局势可能延迟新电镀线的安装。

Q: Hello, guys. The first question I have, the gross margin for this quarter was really low, like 9%, if I collected correctly. So when do you expect to see some improvements of this result? Because revenue was pretty okay, but the gross margin was really low. So how do you see the situation?

A: Hi, Mark. As we previously reported, we expected to complete the integration and installation of the new plating line, which arrived at the beginning of 26 by mid-26. The line is expected to streamline the core manufacturing processes and expand the production capacity. Following the completion of the installation, we will begin the qualification process, and it's expected to continue through the remainder of 2026. During this period, we plan to qualify product families and gradually basis, enabling you the phase transition of the production to the new line until fully comply and full qualification for all company products is completed. We also expect that that time our production process will be stabilized. We should contribute to the improvement of the gross margin. And as we noted in the past, each additional dollar of revenue contributes meaningful to the gross profit and, of course, to the net income. Therefore, the answer to your question is increasing our sales volume is expected to have significant positive impact on the profitability and improve the gross margin.

Q: Yeah, but I'm trying to understand that even before you had the gross margins of 27% to 29%. And now I understand the dollar situation and everything, but why such a sharp drop on the margins even now, even before those lines are installed?

A: Mark, hi, this is Rony. So on the first quarter, you know, the depreciation of the U.S. dollar continued, and this caused a significant additional NIS report, NIS-denominated expenses to be dollar reported, amounts to increase. In addition, you know, the same as was in prior quarters, we have issues with efficiency in production, and we expect that, as Eli said previously, once we will achieve increased sales volume, a gross margin will return to its positive prior margins.

Q: And can you guys speak a little bit about the pricing dynamic? Because everyone saw this USD depreciation, but I was also today on PCB calls, and they said they are raising prices now to adjust this depreciation to work on normal gross margin. So how do you see the pricing dynamic going forward?

A: The pricing dynamic is that we immediately update our pricing system to reflect the new depreciation and the new exchange rate of the dollar. But as I mentioned before, we have quotations on the way that was based on long-term proposals, that was based on dollar to NIS ratio that is higher than today, and we will... get these purchase orders and we will have some of our basket in the future is going to be below the expected volume of our proposals today. And Mark, it is not just quotation. We have actually orders that were given and received in a higher dollar rate. So in these orders, we expect a lower margin then anticipated for new orders to be received in the next month.

Q: So if you will adjust those orders to the new USD exchange rates, then do you expect to see some improvement of this adjustment in the next quarter, in Q1 or in Q2?

A: You know, as we told before, usually we have a one to two quarters backlog. And we didn't wait until this call. We already updated our pricing system. So we expect to see it within four to five months to see some increase.