Blink Charging Co. — FY2023 Form 10-K
Reporting period: Fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, compared with FY2022. This is an annual filing; it does not provide standalone fourth-quarter results. Unless noted otherwise, financial amounts below are in millions of U.S. dollars.
Business context
Blink manufactures and sells EV chargers, operates charging stations and a cloud-based charging network, and provides related services, including car sharing. Its models range from host-owned equipment sales and network services to Blink-owned stations that require greater upfront investment but can generate recurring charging revenue. At year-end, Blink reported 89,825 chargers sold or deployed; 72,418 were in its network, including 20,704 pending commissioning. Blink owned 5,150 networked chargers.
Financial performance and liquidity
| Metric | FY2023 | FY2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $140.6 | $61.1 |
| Gross profit / gross margin | $40.2 / 28.6% | $14.8 / 24.2% |
| Operating loss | $(199.7) | $(89.3) |
| Net loss | $(203.7) | $(91.6) |
| Operating cash flow | $(97.6) | $(82.4) |
| Cash and cash equivalents at year-end | $121.7 | $36.6 |
| Working capital at year-end | $152.0 | $49.0 |
- Revenue rose 130%, led by product sales, up 138% to $109.4 million. Company-owned charging service revenue increased 128% to $15.6 million; network fees rose 71% to $7.5 million. Growth reflected higher charger sales, network utilization and charger counts, as well as Envoy, acquired in April 2023.
- Cost of revenue increased 117% to $100.4 million. Compensation expense rose 53% to $92.7 million, including approximately $22.0 million of non-cash compensation and disclosed non-recurring executive-related costs. Operating expenses also included $89.1 million of goodwill impairment and $5.1 million of intangible-asset impairment.
- Cash used in investing activities was $13.2 million, including $4.7 million for Envoy, $7.6 million for charging stations and other fixed assets, and $1.0 million in capitalized engineering costs. Financing activities provided $197.3 million, principally from equity offerings, partly offset by debt and lease repayments.
- The filing reports debt of $38.1 million in its liquidity table. Separately, the balance sheet lists $6.8 million of current notes payable and $49.4 million of consideration payable; investors should review the debt and acquisition-payment classifications and maturities in the notes.
- FY2023 basic and diluted net loss per share was $3.21, versus $1.95 in FY2022. Year-end shares issued and outstanding were 92.8 million, up from 51.5 million.
Material changes and unusual items
- Envoy Technologies was acquired in April 2023. Reported consideration was $30.9 million, including cash, notes and stock consideration; Envoy contributed $2.7 million in revenue and a $2.6 million net loss from acquisition through year-end.
- Blink raised equity through a February 2023 public offering and its at-the-market program. The company sold 30.9 million ATM shares during 2023 for approximately $114.3 million in net proceeds. After year-end, it sold another 8.2 million shares for $25.1 million net proceeds.
- A decline in the share price triggered impairment testing. Blink recorded $89.1 million in goodwill impairment and $5.1 million in intangible-asset impairment; the auditor identified the impairment analysis as a critical audit matter.
- The former CEO’s separation included approximately $6.0 million in cash compensation, stock and accelerated vesting of equity awards. Compensation expense also included approximately $5.5 million of stock-based compensation associated with accelerated vesting and an approximately $11.5 million total of disclosed non-recurring executive-related expenses.
- In August 2023, Blink amended the deferred SemaConnect acquisition payment terms. The remaining balance was subject to increased 9.5% interest and a revised due date of April 1, 2025; Blink disclosed that it repaid the remaining $31.3 million after year-end.
Outlook, risks and contingencies
- Management’s strategic plan targets positive adjusted EBITDA by December 2024. This is a target, not a guarantee; the filing does not provide a specific revenue or margin forecast. Management expects operating cash outflows to continue and says year-end cash is expected to fund operations for at least 12 months after issuance of the financial statements, while also warning that further financing may be needed.
- Key risks include sustained losses, cash burn and dependence on capital markets; EV adoption and policy incentives; intense competition; charger reliability and utilization; supply-chain and vendor concentration; and acquisition integration. Blink also cited privacy, cybersecurity, foreign currency, regulatory and geopolitical risks.
- Blink disclosed a July 2023 SEC subpoena seeking information concerning, among other matters, executive departures, related-party transactions and certain disclosures. The company is cooperating and said it could not predict the investigation’s timing or outcome.
- A securities class action remains pending. In November 2023, the court dismissed some claims and allowed others to proceed; trial was scheduled for February 2025, with mediation scheduled for April 2024. Blink recorded no accrual, concluding a loss was not probable or estimable. Related derivative actions were stayed or otherwise ongoing as described in the filing.
- Management and the auditor concluded that internal control over financial reporting was ineffective at December 31, 2023. Material weaknesses involved financial-system change-management and access controls, and management review controls over goodwill and intangible-asset accounting. Remediation was expected during 2024. The auditor gave an adverse opinion on internal controls but an unqualified opinion on the financial statements.
- Purchase commitments were approximately $21.7 million, expected to be fulfilled over the following 12–24 months. The company does not anticipate paying cash dividends in the foreseeable future.
Most important facts for investors to verify
- Whether the positive adjusted EBITDA target for December 2024 remains achievable, and what operating-cost reductions and revenue assumptions support it.
- Cash burn, cash runway, future financing needs and the effect of continued ATM share issuance on dilution.
- The composition, interest, security and repayment schedule of reported debt and consideration payable, including post-year-end SemaConnect repayments and Envoy obligations.
- Progress in commissioning the 20,704 chargers reported as pending, and evidence that network growth is translating into utilization, recurring revenue and improved margins.
- Goodwill and intangible-asset valuation assumptions, the adequacy of warranty reserves, and remediation and testing of the disclosed internal-control weaknesses.
- Developments in the SEC investigation and pending litigation, including any change to loss-contingency assessments.