Vertical Aerospace Ltd. Stock Price: Quote, Forecast, Splits & News (EVTL)

Perplexity Finance

EVTL

Vertical Aerospace Ltd.

EVTL

NYSE

Market Closed

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

$5.58

+$0.22

4.1%

At close: May 20, 4:00:02 PM EDT

$5.50

-$0.08

1.43%

After hours: 8:04:35 AM EDT

Change

+$0.22

4.1%

Financial Profile

Prev Close

$5.36

Market Cap

$471.80M

Day Range

$5.07 - $5.61

Open

$5.39

P/E Ratio

-0.1

52W Range

$2.76 - $15.99

24H Volume

$1.70M

Dividend Yield

0.00%

EPS

-49.07

Earnings

Report Date

—

Rev Estimate

—

Avg 1d Change

—

Report Period

Q1 2025

EPS Estimate

—

Implied Move 1d

—

Transcript

9m 29s

My name is Carly, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Vertical Aerospace Q1 twenty twenty five Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Charlotte, Please go ahead. Hello, everybody. Good morning. I'm Charlotte Cowley, director of finance at Vertical Aerospace, and I'm delighted to welcome you to our q one twenty twenty five earnings call today. Before we get started, I would like to remind you that during today's call, we'll be making forward looking statements. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward looking statements. Forward looking statements we make on this call are based on assumptions as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events. Posted an accompanying slide deck to the Investor Relations section of our website at investors.verticalaerospace.com which contains information and cautionary warnings on forward looking statements.

10m 50s

For a more complete discussion about these risks and uncertainties, we've also filed a six ks with the SEC this morning. Now I would like to hand you over to Stuart.

10m 59s

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to our Q1 call. I'm Stuart Simpson, the CEO of Vertical Aerospace. I'm gonna cover three things. Firstly, to remind you why we believe we are set to succeed. Secondly, I'll update you on our progress during the quarter. And thirdly, to give you some color around the big announcement we weighed yesterday at our hybrid program. Hybrid aircraft with a range of a thousand miles. This represents a huge additional market opportunity for us, across defense and wider commercial operations, all incremental to our base flight plan 20 that has already been communicated. Given it is all about having the right capacity for moving people and things, this hybrid gives us an incredible opportunity the largest dimensions of our tiltrotor pairs and this puts us in a brilliant position to be able to dominate this space. Then doctor Limhai Somerville at director of engineering, will discuss our battery technical details and progress made on hybrid to date. I'll then touch on where we closed the quarter in terms of financials, we open the call for questions. [indiscernible] In November, we launched our flight path twenty thirty business strategy.

12m 19s

Setting a clear road map to lead the eVTOL sector by the end of the decade. We established transparent financial and operating metrics for '25, '28, 2030, and beyond. Including a credible timetable for certification. As you will hear today, we have already made meaningful progress towards achieving these targets. Further strengthening our belief that Vertical is going to be a winner in the sector. We have a best in class aircraft in terms of safety. Capacity for both people and luggage and comfort. We are the only eVTOL player positioned to serve the full global market by certifying to the highest aviation standards. We are moving at pace through the certification process with all phases of piloted flight tests on track to be completed in 2025. We have a highly capital efficient approach, a clear path to profitability, spending approximately 75% less than our peers for a superior product And we have a lean and highly experienced team that has certified 30 plus aircraft and propulsion systems. Turning to our progress since the start of the year. Quarter of significant momentum. And I'm pleased to share several key developments as we advance our mission to bring electric flight to customers.

13m 43s

Starting with our test program, where we have achieved a number of important technical milestones building on our completion of thrust borne testing earlier this year. Most notably, we delivered record breaking piloted high speed taxi tests, which our VX four demonstrator. These tests validated key systems under real world conditions and are a major step our next wing borne flight, we we anticipate starting in q two. Completing piloted wing borne incredibly significant moment for us. Only will this make us in the top two OEMs industry for piloted flight tests, but a UK based aerospace business, where unlike other jurisdictions, the burden of safety is shared with a regulator. Having a joint liability with the company. As such, each phase of testing can only occur with specific approvals from the UK Civil Aviation Authority. As you can imagine, we incredibly closely with them to achieve this next step. To this end, we have submitted around 20,000 pages of documentation to the CAA extend our permit to fly to encompass piloted wing borne flight. CAA's approval of this test will serve as a strong signal of their confidence safety, design, and ability the VX four aircraft to operate public airspace.

15m 19s

We expect to advance to this stage over the next few months. I would like to address one topic that has arisen in recent days. We are aware a claim was made that the UKCAA will be aligning their certification standards to those of the FAA. As you would expect, we have very frequent interaction with the CIA our home regulator. Both at the working level and with the most senior levels of its executive management team. Since that claim was made, the CAA's management confirmed the following to us [indiscernible] The CAA's position on certification of eVTOL aircraft is set out transparently in its certification of eVTOL aircraft publication. Available on its website. This document confirms the CAA will use [indiscernible] as the certification basis for eVTOL aircraft in The UK. SCVTOL includes the safety requirement that these aircraft demonstrate a catastrophic failure rate of 10 to the minus nine. There has been no change to this published certification standard for eVTOLs. The CAA is working with other authorities including both the FAA and the ARSA towards international harmonization of eVTON certification. Based on this written confirmation, clear to us that The UK safety objectives remain unchanged. Any such change would require due process which includes a public consultation. [indiscernible] we have said for several years, we welcome attempts between global regulators to harmonize certification standards.

17m 9s

We do not believe this should or will be at the expense of passenger safety. We firmly believe that passengers will expect these aircraft to be as safe as commercial airliners know our customers share that view. Safety is nonnegotiable. We remain confident that by certifying our aircraft to the highest commercial aircraft safety standards globally. Will be uniquely positioned in the industry. With the only offering capable of serving all jurisdictions around the world. This brings me to another important point. These aircraft are being designed to carry passengers and will be certified as such. Which is why we maintain it is absolutely critical conduct a piloted test with one of our experienced test pilots in the cockpit under real world conditions. All the data we have from previous flight tests hours of modeling, and numerous simulations us total confidence in the capability of our aircraft and the success of our upcoming piloted wing ball flight test. In terms of our operational goals for 2025, we are on track to complete all phases of our piloted flight test program by the end of the year. Including transition flight the final stage of testing, giving us even more confidence in our certification timeline.

18m 31s

The team's discipline and execution continue to prove we have the right approach to certification and development. That the VX four is one of the most advanced eVTOL aircraft under development today. And as you know, do all our development with a pilot on board to ensure that we get not just digital feedback and data, but information from our test pilot. Real world insight from some of the world's most experienced test pilots. This ensures the final aircraft will meet our customer expectations for safety, comfort, quality. Importantly, as we continue to progress on our priorities, are on track to double our airborne test fleet capabilities this year. As we complete the assembly of the identical twin prototype aircraft which has already been moved to our flight test center at Cotswolds Airport for finalization of the assembly. This will also unlock further learnings as we install hybrid powertrain referred to earlier in the call. Moving on to partnerships. We have made significant progress both commercially and strategically. Just last week, we finalized a key decision to advance our production plans. Specifically, we formalized and expanded our partnership with Honeywell flight controls and aircraft management systems certification and production aircraft.

19m 56s

In addition, we have chosen Honeywell for Anceptors to make VX four easier and safer pilots to fly. And the use of Honeywell's leading systems will unlock the efficiencies and speed necessary for Vertical to lead the industry bringing the safest and most scalable product to market. Contract of some significant value, worth approximately a billion dollars over the next ten years. Honeywell has been and will continue to be a fantastic partner. Delighted we afford such a close working relationship over the last six years. And can see this lasting long into the future. We are also supporting the acceleration of a global wide industry charging infrastructure. By adopting the combined charging standard, CCS for the VX four. The same as Beta and Archer. We believe a unified approach to charging is a for the industry to be successfully globally. It will help ensure seamless integration for OEMs, operators, and infrastructure providers, which reducing costs and accelerating the adoption of electric aviation. Using the CCS fast charging standard will allow Vertical's VX4 to achieve quick turnaround times, including rapid battery charging, conditioning for shuttle operations. Ultimately, our adoption of CCS will enable immediate interoperability with all CCS charges of this standard, including Beta's growing network.

21m 24s

Finally, we've announced the addition of three new directors to our board, building on the steps we took earlier in the year with Donal Slattery rejoining as chair and Eamon Brennan joining as a board adviser. Three new directors are Chris Haber, JK Brown, and Carsten Szendovat. With these appointments, we continue to strengthen our governance and strategic leadership with deep [indiscernible] particularly in industrial scale up and all three have phenomenal capital markets expertise. Chris, amongst other roles, has been the COO of Investcorp, and Advent International. JK was a founding partner at Oxf Capital Management, Ad Carsten is currently co chief investment officer for sustainable investing at Bridgewater Associates and a board adviser to GIC. Their combined insights and expertise will be invaluable as we enter our next phase of development. I will hand over to doctor Limhai Somerville. Director of engineering. To provide some detail on our success in battery development. The team he has been leading for the last six years. It is the strength of the innovation and capability within this team that has enabled us to unveil details of our well advanced hybrid program yesterday. It is tremendously exciting and unlocks new, multibillion dollar market opportunities for us.

22m 48s

This aircraft will have a range of over a thousand miles opening up additional use cases specifically within defense, cargo, emergency services, and long range where it is all about moving people and things. As I said before, airframe is of a greater scale than peers, so we feel we are well placed in this space. All represent upside opportunities to the targets we shared in flight path twenty thirty. The hybrid powertrain will be integrated into our next generation VX four variant with flight testing planned to start next year. Within flight path twenty thirty, it is worth remembering that our battery systems will be replaced more frequently than the air itself. One to two times a year depending on how our customers fly and use the aircraft. Something akin to the razor razor blade model. This means into the twenty thirties, Vertical's revenues will reach a fifty fifty split of aircraft to battery. A very healthy gross margin of greater than 40% from the battery. In addition, there are most likely second life applications such as marine or CTOL for example, which will provide an additional source of revenue for the business again, not included in the base case flight plan 2030.

24m 8s

I'm incredibly proud to say that Limhai is due to present the Royal Society of London later this month. The Royal Society is The UK's National Academy of Sciences, and Limhai has been invited to give a presentation to this prestigious institution of Vertical's battery capability how Vertical is set to lead the industry. That presentation will highlight the incredible promise of our proprietary battery technology. Over to you, Lem [indiscernible] Thanks, Stuart. Hello.

24m 41s

My name is doctor Lim Hai Somerville.

24m 43s

I've been at Vertical Aerospace for six years. Became director of engineering. I used to lead our powertrain before that, battery teams. Which is why I will speak to you today. Some information about me before I start. I previously worked on battery systems at Jaguar Land Rover. And at Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago before that. Also spent five years chairing the Urukai Electrical subgroup one of working group one one two. Leading on many of the existing certification standards accepted by EASA as part of the SCV toll means of compliance for battery and electrical system certification.

25m 19s

So what I will share with you today. First, our battery system team capabilities and manufacturing approach are world class. Second, we have evidence of this. Having now achieved significant milestones that derisk our path to a category enhanced certification, And third, we're open for business. Ready to sell our advanced battery systems to the world. Finally, I will touch on the last eighteen months of development. On our hybrid program and give you an insight on our quiet confidence in this area. Let's fly through it now. One, world class battery team, systems, capabilities, manufacturing. Our lithium ion battery systems are the cornerstone of our aircraft. Backed by more than six years of development. Here's what sets our battery apart. Team is comprised of a perfect blend of aerospace, automotive, and control electronics experience. This has not happened by chance and gives us the right blend of performance, focus, and certification rigor.

26m 14s

Energy power, density, and performance. Our battery packs achieve a four to one cell to pack ratio delivering more than 200 watt hours per kilogram dependent on cell choice, including electronics, controls, sensors, and wiring. Cycle life and durability. Our cells deliver more than 800 full cycle equivalents with approximately 90% capacity retention. Ensuring lower maintenance costs and reliable performance over the aircraft's life. Cost efficiency for life of the vehicle. Our battery systems will be replaced much more frequently than the airframe. This means over time, battery costs drive a much higher proportion of the long term high margin revenue. Our battery systems have been designed to allow replacement of the cells with minimal cost fast charging and cooling through millions of cell module and full pack cycle hours in proprietary testing rigs our system can be optimized to charge fast, getting the balance between turnaround time, lifetime, and performance precisely how the customer wants it. Highest certification standards. We have designed our system from the very beginning to comply with the EASA and the CAA stringent SCV toll regulations, which is the highest levels of safety in aviation. Software integration, We utilize a proprietary battery management and control system that is designed to the highest assurance level.

27m 37s

Achieving sensor redundancy, software optimization, excellent prediction of remaining power [indiscernible] Our business uses a capital light and efficient operating model precertification whilst ensuring we have the intellectual know how and capability to scale up when we're ready. I've seen firsthand the risks associated with early industrialization, Not only does it often consume millions in purchase of equipment is unsuitable, but, ultimately, it can also force poor decisions on the designs that now legacy manufacturers equipment is considered nonnegotiable design hard points. Two, development's derisking EASA SCV toll certification. Our advancements significantly derisk our path to the CAA and the ASA SCV toll certification. Targeted for 2028. The SCV toll framework sets rigorous and clear safety and performance standards that we can show compliance against with our technology. The key developments include, we're on our eighth iteration of battery design since vertical aerospace, this capability in house. We have been using our own batteries to power the VX four prototype flight test for years. And we're on the eleventh battery Our latest design is the safest lightest, and most capable yet, and we haven't finished. With two more development cycles in the next twelve months before locking down the final battery our production aircraft.

29m 1s

Let me give you an example of the benefits coming from each iteration. Between aircraft one and our current prototype, we save more than 100 kilograms. That's 10% of our battery system mass whilst also improving thermal drop, and power performance. We've been developing the technology in our battery systems for years. Our first propagation and drop tested battery pack was in 2020, with both EASA and the CAA in attendance. On April ninth of this year, we passed a 15.2 meter full pack drop test, which is comparable to the fuel tank drop test on a traditional rotorcraft. To be clear, we passed the same drop test on our battery system in 2020. Five years ago. According to the requirements defined by EASA with an SUV toll, we continue to optimize the design to reduce mass significantly. And then pass this test again this year. Passing that test is comparatively easy Passing that test with all functionality present at the energy and power density we have is tough. And we've done it. Battery system propagation testing. We've completed nearly 200 propagation tests to date across multiple different battery iterations, aiming to not only meet the SCV toll means a compliance three standard, also understand our performance against them.

30m 19s

April 29, of this year, we passed our latest full scale thermal one way propagation on a subpack from our VX four aircraft. We have two further optimization rounds to go as we continue to test and optimize the battery system further. And ensure we understand and can pass all of the nuanced edge conditions that are possible. What this means is that in line with the SSSCV toll requirements, if a battery fire were to occur on one of our vehicles in flight, we'd be able to continue safe flight and landing either to the destination or to an alternative landing port with full maneuverability of the aircraft. Disembowel from the aircraft, all of this whilst ensuring the complete safety of the occupants, and the aircraft itself. Whilst there cannot be any guarantees on timeline to certify, have taken industry leading certification standards, applied them rigorously, and iterated multiple times until we pass them using a battery that is exceptionally high in energy and power for the mass at a cost that makes the business profitable in the future. Three, we're open for business. We're selling our battery systems and new opportunities. One of our most significant investments of Vertical has been on the development of our hardware software, and mechanical battery systems.

31m 32s

We believe we have one of, if not the best battery teams in the world. We're now ready to tell the world about. What they've achieved Because they've achieved it. We've used this exact same approach of technology development on battery. As we have on our hybrid program. It's very quietly, make progress on the difficult technological work to show it works, and that's a performance point we think is commercially viable. Then share that with the world. For the last eighteen months, we've been working on a hybrid powertrain system. Our aircraft has a segregated electrical architecture for redundancy. And to comply with the category enhanced requirement that means we can continue safe flight and landing after any single failure. Capability allows us to take off and land in all electric configuration. Cruise with the turbine operating when noise is less impactful, and charging all the batteries, if it's needed and then land again in an all electric configuration. Obviously, this significantly impacts the range capability of our vehicle. As Stuart has just made clear. The first hybrid generation used a combustion engine and the second generation will be a gas turbine. We are so far developed in this that we are planning to incorporate it into our third prototype aircraft star flight testing in 2026.

32m 49s

I really want to be clear on the technical significance of what we have done so far We have proven the capability of a single engine to provide power to a multiple electrically independent systems, including under edge case failure conditions. Is one of the most technically complex parts of development, critical to being able to operate under category enhanced type certificate. Now we have done that, will incorporate it onto the prototype aircraft for flight testing. Coupled with our best in class battery systems, and start testing in 2026. This is also where our larger aircraft and cabin is beneficial. Because the volumetric limitations on a smaller airframe would stop us from making such a change without consuming the available cabin space. And thus invalidating its value or requiring a completely new or significant change to the type certificate. In our case, the range payload benefits of hybrid can be gained by consuming the luggage compartment and a minor encroachment available cabin space. Is very spacious in an all electric configuration. Of course, unpiloted configurations, there would be no need to encroach on that. Available volume at all. I hope you found that informative. I'll now hand back to Stuart.

34m 4s

Thank you, Lip Hai. As you've heard, we're advancing across every dimension. Technology, commercial traction, strategic positioning. Remain focused on achieving our certification goals, progressing towards production, and building long term value for our shareholders. In terms of our finances, we to demonstrate sector leading capital efficiency, while investing appropriately for the continuing successful execution of our plans. Net cash used in operating activities for Q1 twenty twenty five approximately 30,000,000, And our guidance for the spend for the year as a whole is unchanged at approximately hundred and 10 to a hundred and 25,000,000. We closed the quarter with approximately $90,000,000 cash and cash equivalents on hand. As I highlighted on the full year call in March, each time we report, there will be a non [indiscernible] financing movement, relating to our outstanding convertible loan notes. This is highly volatile driven by a calculation relative to the prevailing stock price. For q one, this was a £396,000,000 credit to the p and l. And just to be clear, noncash. Just starting to wrap up. To remind you again of what we have set out achieve operationally this year, you can see the points on the slide and we are on track to achieve all of them.

35m 29s

And in addition, we have announced our new hybrid aircraft. Before turning over to q and a, I would like to remind you we believe we are set to become one of the winners in the sector. [indiscernible] a clear plan for '25 and beyond, with a clear route to certification in 2028. We have a best in class aircraft set to be certified at the highest safety standards to be able to support our customers across all geographies with a capacity for both luggage and passengers unmatched sector. We have announced our advanced hybrid program creating an aircraft with over a thousand miles capability and opening up further multibillion dollar opportunities. And we have an incredibly focused and highly capital efficient business model. We focus on where we, as Vertical, can make a real difference and then working with world class partners efficiency and effectiveness. Thank you again for joining us today. We'll now open the line for questions.

36m 40s

At this time, I will now turn the call over to Charlotte for questions.

36m 45s

So we just thought we would raise one question that we got quite a few people asking us yesterday on the back of the hybrid. So this is to ask Stuart, what is the impact on our cash spend and our cash [indiscernible] Going forward given the hybrid announcement yesterday?

37m 2s

No. Thank you for the question. Think the first point to to note is we've been working on this hybrid powertrain for some eighteen months. So all of that development that Limhai and the team have done was within the cash spend that we've talked about over the prior years. We've done a huge amount of the hard work in terms of getting the battery to talk to the motor, to talk to our EPUs. All of that was in the cash envelope we've already had. Demonstrating the incredible capital efficiency by being really, really focused on what we're doing. So as of today, no change to our guidance for this year. The cash spend for this year remains projected to be in the range hundred and 10,000,000 to a hundred and $25,000,000.

37m 51s

Thanks, Stuart. So back over to you, operator, polling for the q and a, but we just wanted to address that as we've had a lot of incoming yesterday. Thank At this time, I would like to remind everyone, in order to ask a question, press first question comes from Savi Syth with Raymond James. Hey. Hey. Good afternoon. Sorry. I was wondering if I could ask [indiscernible] a little bit more on the certification front for the high bid retail you know, just is that a supplemental type certification? Or would you have to start from scratch with EASA? And just along that, if you kinda go down the path of [indiscernible] [indiscernible] Is there kind of a pathway to revenue generation before EOS certification?

39m 4s

So morning, Savi. Thank you for the question. In terms of the hybrid product, it goes within our current airframe. So everything that we're doing there, we're on track with. And to be clear, nothing that we've announced on a hybrid distracts us from the core underlying electric BX4 aircraft, which is well on track for certification in 2028. The hybrid will be certified as a separate aircraft. Likely in and around the same time as the electric VX four, maybe slightly delayed because we're you know, we haven't fitted it in an aircraft yet. That being said, we will have a full scale piloted hybrid aircraft flying in q two next year. It's incredibly, incredibly excitement exciting moment for us. In terms of, you know, earlier revenue opportunities, we've we've been in deep discussions for several months with various potential customers. We can't really say any more than that. And in terms of short term changes to cash flow guidance, etcetera. I'm sorry I can't go into detail on that, but thank you for the question, Savi.

40m 9s

Just to clarify, does does Defence have different requirements? Is that a fair assumption?

40m 15s

It does depending on what the use cases are. Yes. So there are potentially ways that this could be certified earlier, but don't wanna get into that at a minute. As I say, we're just incredibly excited to put this aircraft out there having been working on it for eighteen months.

40m 33s

Makes sense. I I realized that was a multipart question, so I'll get back on the queue.

40m 36s

Thanks.

40m 36s

No problem. Thanks, Savi.

40m 41s

Your next question comes from Austin Moeller Canaccord.

40m 47s

Hi, good morning. Just my first question here. So will the hybrid powertrain be integrated into one of the two existing airframes that you have, to conduct testing next year? Or would there be a third airframe that you would be, integrating that into?

41m 5s

So morning, Austin. Thank you for the question. The hybrid will be going into the airframe that is well under construction at the minute. We've done a huge amount of the build work on that. We'll be tidying that up over the next three months, four months, First of all, we'll be flying it as a electric aircraft. As I've mentioned before, we continue to drive the v x four program to completion certification in 2028. We will then retrofit the hybrid powertrain to that aircraft and we'll have that flying in q two next year, q two twenty twenty six. Hopefully, that clarifies it, Austin.

41m 44s

Okay. That's helpful. And just a follow-up. So on the EASA certification process, I think it mentions in the shareholder letter that you expect to complete the flight test program this year. But presumably, would be additional flight test testing with additional aircraft units in in the out years here as you work towards your type certificate? Or how should we be thinking that?

42m 11s

Yeah. Good good question, Austin. What we're referring to there is going through the four phases, of flight test expansion. We're going into Wingborn over the next couple of months, an incredible moment for us as a company. As you know, there's joint liability with our regulator. And when we do WingBorn, we will be into public air So it's a huge vote of confidence. In us that our aircraft will be flying in public airspace. It's basically a huge sign from the regulator that they believe we're on the right track and are happy to say the aircraft is safe to fly in public airspace. Later this year, we'll then do the full transition so incredibly excited about that. That completes the four phases We then will have two aircraft capable of repeating that multiple times to generate more and more test information. Feed into our models and to continue develop our understanding of the v x four. So, hopefully, that explains it. We will be doing a lot more flying.

43m 19s

Excellent.

43m 20s

Looking forward to it. Thank you for the clarification.

43m 23s

Thanks, Austin.

43m 26s

Your next question comes from Jesse Sobolton with D. Borel Capital.

43m 34s

Hey, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions here. The first one I have is just it's a little bit of just a detail oriented item here. With the testing on the fully electric aircraft, I just wanna make sure we're 100% to fully understanding expectations for wing borne testing. When you say it's in 2Q twenty twenty five, is this phase beginning in this quarter or is it expected to be completed in this quarter?

43m 58s

It will be beginning in this quarter. And as I just said, this is an incredible moment for us we have a a huge high bar to climb. To be able to fly in public airspace.

44m 9s

It it really does set us apart. It's an moment for the company when that happens. We are absolutely targeting that in q two twenty twenty five.

44m 21s

Great. Great. Thank you very much for the clarification there. And then I did want to touch upon the hybrid announcement. I think it's very interesting. With respect to commercial opportunities, how does the introduction of a hybrid electric propulsion system expand Vertical's capabilities from maybe focusing just on urban air mobility to expanding into regional air mobility? Is it possible that airlines could be purchasing this for use for short regional flights in the future?

44m 46s

Yeah. Great great question, Jesse. The capability of this ad aircraft is utterly transformational. 'll have a range of over a thousand miles. It will have a payload capability of over 1,100 kilograms, and this is all because we have the best air in the industry. We always knew from day one that defense and longer range commercial opportunities would be opened up by a hybrid powertrain. So 've had this working for a long time in the knowledge that this would come along and be an opportunity. And, of course, having the biggest airframe, means will be the most capable in this sector. More people and more things over a longer distance.

45m 30s

Great.

45m 30s

Thanks for taking my questions.

45m 32s

Thanks, Jesse.

45m 36s

Your next question comes from Laura Lee with Deutsche Bank. Hey, thank you for taking my question and congrats on all the progress. So my question is about the battery business that you talk about. So how will that business model look like? Is that like a direct sales or like as a service And also any color on the timeline, like, when you expect it to start generating revenue?

46m 3s

Laura, thank you. That's great great question. I'll do a short intro and then hand it over to Lim Hai. You know, the battery our battery capability led by Lim Hai and now by the the wider team is incredible. I am so proud to be able to work with these people. What they've done is incredible. We see huge opportunity here as you look forward, both selling our battery and powertrain capabilities but also the second life So we take the batteries off the aircraft, off the VX four, then opening up a new opportunity to sell those again for different applications. Whether that's marine, sea toll, etcetera. With that, Limhai, maybe if you wanna add a little bit of color commentary around that, Yeah. Thanks, Stuart. And Laura, for the questions. So really, it's it's predominantly been around making progress against the battery system and and trying to prove that we could do the things that we both said, and and we were required in terms of the technology itself. So kind of the bit that we've hit. We've been contacted for years now. To battery systems of individuals interested, and we've we've rejected a number of them because of the focus that we're putting both on that and the right opportunities were not coming along.

47m 22s

And I suppose this is us sort of everyone that we will start accepting some of those. We will start looking into some of those now. And and and certainly in the coming weeks and months ahead. You know, I'd expect to hear more about that precisely because we were getting really good good values. We're getting we're seeing great performance. And and and we're kind of hitting lots of of points that are quite difficult and and problematic to be able to hit at a really good energy and power density.

47m 49s

So hopefully, that answers your question. At least give some color that Stuart was referring to.

47m 54s

Yeah. Thanks, Lim. Hi. And, Laura, just to remind you, every airframe that we sell there is an underlying amazing battery business here for us. Every airframe we sell will get one to two batteries a year. At a greater than 40% margin. So within a few years after launch, we'll be 50% revenue from batteries, 50% from the airframe. And it's a fantastic ongoing business, the razor razor blade model. So really exciting part for us.

48m 23s

Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. I appreciate the color.

48m 27s

Thanks, Laura.

48m 30s

Your next question comes from Amit Dayal with H. C. Wainwright.

48m 36s

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Great presentation today. With all the color.

48m 41s

Just with respect to certification in other jurisdictions, how should we think about what is taking place for The U. S. Market, the EU, and other opportunities or other jurisdictions you are pursuing?

48m 55s

Great. Morning, Amit. Thanks for the question. In terms of certification, as you know, our home regulator is the CAA. They are linked to EASA in terms of standard they've set. They're both very, very clear. They're using the 10 to the minus nine. The same as a large passenger carrying jet. We believe this is what market wants. Believe this is what customers want. Safety should be nonnegotiable. Now that is the the most challenging standard in the industry. We know how to hit it. We can hit it. Because it's a little bit higher than others, we will be working with all the regulators around the world passport the aircraft into those markets. You know, we're extremely excited about getting to The US. Getting to The Middle East, getting to Asia. Huge opportunities for us there. In terms of certification, we'll do it in The UK, working hand in hand with them as our home regulator at the same standard as EASA who we're also working incredibly closely with. Hopefully, that gives a bit of a feel for it, Amit.

50m 1s

Yes. No. I appreciate that. Thank you. Just one more for me. How are you building you know, sort of customer relationships at this point? I know it's still early, you know, given that you're testing and going through all the certification stuff. But in terms of facing customers and showing them the product, etcetera, what kind of feedback are you getting? Any color on that side of the process would be helpful. Thank you.

50m 27s

Yeah. Great. Really, really good question. I think this is something that sets us as a business. We have an incredible order book. We're very proud to have American Airlines, Bristol, Babcock, Japan, Kakao, [indiscernible] mean, phenomenal customer base. All across the world. And and that's underpinned by our certification standard at 10 to the minus nine. In terms of how we manage the relationships, we've been listening and working with our customers from day one. In terms of what the aircraft capabilities need to be. And that's one of the reasons we have the best airframe. We start six full scale business class passengers, and really importantly, they can take luggage right. So we launched with four people, plus 20, 30 kilograms of luggage capacity. No one else can do this. Can quickly expand within the same airframe. No big certification hurdle to six passengers. And how we maintain this relationship twice a year, we bring our customers to us in Bristol, They spend two, three, four days with us twice a year and we walk through, okay. How the aircraft's evolving, get them to meet the team, but most importantly, understand their use cases, how they want to deploy it, and help them model out how we bring this to market in a way that's incredibly successful and profitable for them.

51m 49s

And we can provide them with the aircraft that they need. So we're we're very proud of all our customers.

51m 57s

You, Stuart. That's all I have.

52m 2s

Next question Your next question comes from David Zazula with Barclays.

52m 9s

Hey, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question.

52m 13s

Can I just follow-up on that? I think there had been an announcement from [indiscernible] significant UK airline that they were considering looking at another platform Is that something you're hearing from any of your other customers that they're looking around? Or do you feel like you have the home market pretty well under control?

52m 35s

Yeah. David, great question. I think one of the things I inherited when I took over as CEO was an order book that been closed for a couple of years. Now it's one of the things we are going to open up that order book this year as we deepen and expand our customer base over the coming months and year. So we will absolutely be having conversations, not just in The UK, all across the world as we look to further bolster that order book. As we're getting closer to certification, we've got a confirmed date in terms of when we're gonna certify. We know we can hit it. Now is a great time to really start opening up ad order book again. Across the world. So, hopefully, that gives you a bit of color commentary without going into specifics, David.

53m 20s

That is helpful. And then For 200 watt hours per kilogram seems like you are trying to push performance. So I guess, one, would would you agree that, that is a fair characterization of the choices that suppliers are making on the battery side? And where do you fall, if so, on that sort of spectrum? In your battery design?

53m 57s

So, David, I'll just take that and then hand to him high. Just to be clear, safety is paramount for us, nonnegotiable. So we are doing everything, and I think we are the world leaders in this. What Remai and the team have done is remarkable. We will have a battery certified to 10 to the minus nine. Absolutely the best in the industry. So we we must put that at the front of it. I think with that, Lemay, if you wanna comment on David's other points about power density, etcetera, Yeah. Thanks, Stuart, and thanks for the question, David.

54m 30s

Fundamentally, you know, to come back to Stuart's point, that really is the the goal always is we have to be able to show that we're we're safe. And if you take Yasuo as an example, they gave an excellent talk a couple of years ago. Of basically what looked like a a battery onion as they went through the different layers of safety that they expect. In order to be able to clarify that at the Rotus conference. That's essentially the same goal that we've gone from gone for. But to give you an example, we went from our aircraft one to our aircraft two, the only thing that changed was actually or or the primary thing that changed, not the only thing that changed, but the primary thing that saved us mass was an optimization of the plastics that we were using. And so we were pretty good before, but not great. We optimized and we went through the plastics that we were using, both the selection material selection, and essentially mechanically how it's structured. And so that's where this the the unit comes from. It doesn't impact safety in that respect. In fact, the safety got better because we moved more towards self extinguishing materials and plastics and And so from that respect, you know, to come back to Stuart's point, that really is the baseline.

55m 38s

There's there's no way around that. You've got to achieve that. Everything that we're doing is achieving that whilst trying to optimize and make make us know, better in terms of performance. Hopefully, that answers your question.

55m 51s

Super helpful. If I could just squeeze one more in, Stuart. Mean, I didn't see anything maybe missed it on EPU and anything to announce there or any preview you can give us on how you're thinking about the So nothing we can announce other than current ones we have are doing an incredible job. They're out on every dimension. We've got a handful of options as we look to move forward through the certification. And put in place a certification contract and production contract So nothing to announce as yet, but we're really confident in that space. And we've got incredible EVUs on our current current aircraft.

56m 32s

Awesome. So much. I'll hop back in the queue. With you.

56m 40s

There are no further questions at this time. I'll now turn the call back over to Stuart for closing remarks.

56m 47s

Thank you. First of all, thanks, everyone, for joining. Really, really appreciate you taking the time. This has been an incredible past few months for Vertical. Absolutely transformational for the business starting in December where we restructured the balance sheet. From that point on, raising the $90,000,000 in January, the flight test progress this year, has been incredible, and we are so close to WingBorn flying. As we said, we'll be doing that within the next couple of months, certainly in q two. Absolutely fantastic. We'll really set us apart versus other people because we're doing this under the auspices of a regulator that is validating our aircraft to be safe to fly in public airspace. We've signed our certification and production contract with Honeywell. We have strengthened our board and really importantly, the announcement of the hybrid. You know, we've been working on this for some time. We are so proud to be able to bring it to market today. A range of a thousand miles, capacity of 1,100 kilos, low noise signature, it really does open tremendous, tremendous opportunity for us across defense and other commercial markets. So I don't think we've ever been better placed for success.

58m 3s

So thanks again for joining. Really appreciate all the questions. I look forward to updating you hopefully, pretty quickly on some further news. So thank you very much.

58m 16s

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

Key Insights

Vertical Aerospace announced significant progress in Q1 2025, including record-breaking piloted high-speed taxi tests and preparations to begin piloted wing-borne flight tests in Q2 2025, keeping the company on track for full certification of the electric VX4 aircraft by 2028.
The company unveiled a new hybrid aircraft program with a range of over 1,000 miles and payload capacity of 1,100 kg, targeting additional multibillion-dollar market opportunities in defense, cargo, emergency services, and regional air mobility; flight testing of the hybrid variant is planned for 2026.
Vertical continues to demonstrate sector-leading capital efficiency, with Q1 net cash used in operating activities of approximately $30 million, closing the quarter with $90 million in cash and cash equivalents, and maintaining unchanged full-year cash spend guidance of $110–$125 million.
The proprietary battery business is expected to become a major revenue driver, with batteries replaced 1–2 times per year per airframe at >40% gross margin; management projects a 50/50 revenue split between airframes and batteries within a few years post-launch, following a razor/razor-blade model.
Strategic partnerships were expanded, notably with Honeywell for flight controls and management systems (a contract valued at ~$1 billion over 10 years), and the board was strengthened with three new directors; Vertical also adopted the CCS fast-charging standard to support industry-wide charging infrastructure interoperability.

Recent Transcripts

Announced hybrid aircraft program, expanding market potential and maintaining strong capital efficiency.

Vertical Aerospace secures funding through 2025, targets certification in 2028 with capital-efficient model.

Mar 11

Q4 2024

Certification Timeline

2028 Target

Funding Secured

Through 2025

Income Statement

Revenue

	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Revenue	£87K	£132K	£0	£0	£0
Cost of Revenue	£44K	£64K	£0	£0	£0
Gross Profit	£43K	£68K	£0	£0	£0
Gross Profit %	49%	52%	0%	0%	0%
R&D Expenses	£10M	£24M	£49M	£65M	£60M

Cash Flow

Net Income

	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Net Income	-£12M	-£245M	-£94M	-£60M	-£781M
Dep. & Amort.	£682K	£942K	£2.2M	£2.7M	£2.7M
Def. Tax	£4K	£112M	£0	-£23M	£45K
Stock Comp.	£96K	£102M	£23M	£8.8K	£7.5M
Chg. in WC	-£1.3M	£35M	-£33M	£4.4M	-£10M

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Net Income

-£12M

-£245M

-£94M

-£60M

-£781M

Dep. & Amort.

£682K

£942K

£2.2M

£2.7M

Def. Tax

£4K

£112M

£0

-£23M

£45K

Stock Comp.

£96K

£102M

£23M

£8.8K

£7.5M

Chg. in WC

-£1.3M

£35M

-£33M

£4.4M

-£10M

Balance Sheet

Cash

	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Cash	£839K	£213M	£63M	£49M	£23M
ST Investments	£0	£0	£60M	£0	£0
Cash & ST Inv.	£839K	£213M	£123M	£49M	£23M
Receivables	£0	£0	£0	£0	£0
Inventory	-£2.8M	-£6.1M	-£72M	£0	£0

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Cash

£839K

£213M

£63M

£49M

£23M

ST Investments

£0

£60M

£0

Cash & ST Inv.

£839K

£213M

£123M

£49M

£23M

Receivables

£0

Inventory

-£2.8M

-£6.1M

-£72M

£0

Go Deeper

Financial information provided by Financial Modeling Prep. Options data provided by Unusual Whales. Live transcripts provided by Quartr. Reported revenue and EPS data from Earnings powered by FinChat.io. All data is provided for informational purposes only, and is not intended for trading purposes or financial, investment, tax, legal, accounting or other advice.

Market Cap: $472M
IPO Date: 11/2/20
CEO: Mr. Stuart Simpson
Fulltime Employees: 350
Sector: Industrials
Industry: Aerospace & Defense
Country: GB
Exchange: New York Stock Exchange

Peers

EHang Holdings Limited

Terran Orbital Corporation

Rolls-Royce Holdings plc

Watchlist

Earnings

Report Date

—

Rev Estimate

—

Avg 1d Change

—

Report Period

Q1 2025

EPS Estimate

—

Implied Move 1d

—

Transcript

9m 29s

10m 50s

For a more complete discussion about these risks and uncertainties, we've also filed a six ks with the SEC this morning. Now I would like to hand you over to Stuart.

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My name is doctor Lim Hai Somerville.

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36m 40s

At this time, I will now turn the call over to Charlotte for questions.

36m 45s

37m 2s

37m 51s

39m 4s

40m 9s

Just to clarify, does does Defence have different requirements? Is that a fair assumption?

40m 15s

40m 33s

Makes sense. I I realized that was a multipart question, so I'll get back on the queue.

40m 36s

Thanks.

40m 36s

No problem. Thanks, Savi.

40m 41s

Your next question comes from Austin Moeller Canaccord.

40m 47s

41m 5s

41m 44s

42m 11s

43m 19s

Excellent.

43m 20s

Looking forward to it. Thank you for the clarification.

43m 23s

Thanks, Austin.

43m 26s

Your next question comes from Jesse Sobolton with D. Borel Capital.

43m 34s

43m 58s

It will be beginning in this quarter. And as I just said, this is an incredible moment for us we have a a huge high bar to climb. To be able to fly in public airspace.

44m 9s

It it really does set us apart. It's an moment for the company when that happens. We are absolutely targeting that in q two twenty twenty five.

44m 21s

44m 46s

45m 30s

Great.

45m 30s

Thanks for taking my questions.

45m 32s

Thanks, Jesse.

45m 36s

46m 3s

47m 22s

47m 49s

So hopefully, that answers your question. At least give some color that Stuart was referring to.

47m 54s

48m 23s

Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. I appreciate the color.

48m 27s

Thanks, Laura.

48m 30s

Your next question comes from Amit Dayal with H. C. Wainwright.

48m 36s

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Great presentation today. With all the color.

48m 41s

48m 55s

50m 1s

50m 27s

51m 49s

And we can provide them with the aircraft that they need. So we're we're very proud of all our customers.

51m 57s

You, Stuart. That's all I have.

52m 2s

Next question Your next question comes from David Zazula with Barclays.

52m 9s

Hey, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question.

52m 13s

52m 35s

53m 20s

53m 57s

54m 30s

55m 38s

55m 51s

56m 32s

Awesome. So much. I'll hop back in the queue. With you.

56m 40s

There are no further questions at this time. I'll now turn the call back over to Stuart for closing remarks.

56m 47s

58m 3s

So thanks again for joining. Really appreciate all the questions. I look forward to updating you hopefully, pretty quickly on some further news. So thank you very much.

58m 16s

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

Key Insights

Vertical Aerospace announced significant progress in Q1 2025, including record-breaking piloted high-speed taxi tests and preparations to begin piloted wing-borne flight tests in Q2 2025, keeping the company on track for full certification of the electric VX4 aircraft by 2028.
The company unveiled a new hybrid aircraft program with a range of over 1,000 miles and payload capacity of 1,100 kg, targeting additional multibillion-dollar market opportunities in defense, cargo, emergency services, and regional air mobility; flight testing of the hybrid variant is planned for 2026.
Vertical continues to demonstrate sector-leading capital efficiency, with Q1 net cash used in operating activities of approximately $30 million, closing the quarter with $90 million in cash and cash equivalents, and maintaining unchanged full-year cash spend guidance of $110–$125 million.
The proprietary battery business is expected to become a major revenue driver, with batteries replaced 1–2 times per year per airframe at >40% gross margin; management projects a 50/50 revenue split between airframes and batteries within a few years post-launch, following a razor/razor-blade model.
Strategic partnerships were expanded, notably with Honeywell for flight controls and management systems (a contract valued at ~$1 billion over 10 years), and the board was strengthened with three new directors; Vertical also adopted the CCS fast-charging standard to support industry-wide charging infrastructure interoperability.

Earnings

Report Date

Rev Estimate

Avg 1d Change

Report Period

EPS Estimate

Implied Move 1d

Transcript

Key Insights

Recent Transcripts

Income Statement

Cash Flow

Balance Sheet

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Recent Transcripts

Earnings

Report Date

Rev Estimate

Avg 1d Change

Report Period

EPS Estimate

Implied Move 1d

Transcript

Key Insights