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Nordic Semiconductor — Investor Presentation 2020
Feb 7, 2020
3680_rns_2020-02-07_f3e7e0c2-76a6-415c-9ed8-49bcc069f244.pdf
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Quarterly Presentation Q4 2019
February 7, 2020

CITCH CHICK CLE CLAIM TEACH CHAIN THE T
Disclaimer
The following presentation is being made only directed at, persons to whom such presentation may lawfully be communicated ("relevant persons"). Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this presentation or any of its contents.
This presentation does not constitute an offering of securities on inducement to any person to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire securities in Nordic ASA (The Company). The release, publication of this presentation in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law, and therefore into which this presentation is released published or distributed should inform themselves about, and observe, such restrictions.
This presentation includes and is based, internation and contains statements regarding the future in connection with The Company's growth initiatives, profit figures and objectives. All forvard-looking information and statements in this presentation are based on current expectations, estimates and probal economic conditions, the economic conditions of the regions and industries that are major narkets for The Company. These and projections are generally dentifiable by statements containing words such as "expects", "believes", "estimates" or similar expressions.
Important factors may lead to actual profits, results and deviating substantially from what has been expressed or implied in such statements. Although The Company believes that the presentation are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that those expectations will be achieved or that the actual results will be as set out in the presentation.
The Company is making no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, as to the acuracy, reliability or completeness of the presentation, and nether The Company nor any of its directors of employees will have any liability to you or any other persons resulting from your use.
This presentation was prepared in connection with the Q4 results released on February 7, 2020. Information contained herein will not be updated. The following slides should also be read and connection with the information given orally during the presentation.
Record Quarter- strong order backlog
Q4 2019
| Revenue, | Gross margin | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USDm 83.1 |
51.6% | ||||
| +36.0% y-o-y |
+1.2% g-o-a |
+0.6%p y-o-y |
+1.8%p q-o-q |
- All time high revenue of USD 83.1m (+36%)
- Gross margin of 51.6%, supported by product mix
- = Bluetooth revenue of USD 65.5m (+63%)
- Order backlog of USD 107m (+52%)
Tier 1 customers fuel backlog development
Backlog (USDm) 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Q4 2014 Q4 2015 Q4 2016 Q4 2017 Q4 2018 Q4 2019
- Order backlog of USD 107m, +52% compared to Q4 2018
- Strong year-on-year development reflecting increased Bluetooth Tier 1 business
- Tier 1 customers typically offer more predictable production and longer order backlog horizons
Continued high certification leve
Bluetooth Low Energy end-product certifications*

End-product certifications, Nordic Q4 19 136 39% mkt share +2% -19% у-о-у q-o-q
Working to excite developers
Kit shipments

Total kit shipments +34% in 2019
Shipped 49,600 kits in H2 2019
Significant contribution from nRF52840 development kits
Cellular gaining traction with Nordic Thingy:91 attracting attention
Total nRF9160 development kit shipments increased to 5,600 in H2 2019 from 2,700 in H1 2019
H1 ■H2
Broad range of new product launches in Q4

| Tile | APS Detector | Colgate | Meshtech | Actinius |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nRF52811 | nRF52840 | nRF52832 | nRF9160/nRF52811 | nRF9160 |
| Asset tracking | Asset tracking | Electronic toothbrush | Asset tracking | Development kit with firmware as a service", |
Well positioned in the Smart Home universe
- Nordic has the largest pool of multiprotocol customers in the broad market
- Attractive partner to ensure connectivity and interoperability for the platforms

Connecting the Smart Home Keys: Interoperability - coexistence - security

Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP)
- Working group initiated in December 2019 to develop a new open-source connectivity standard for smart home products
- Aims to make it easier for device manufacturers to build compatible devices and to deliver benefits to consumers faster
- Leveraging technology from market leaders Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Google Weave
- Nordic's broad range of multiprotocol SoCs supporting both Thread and Bluetooth LE will be compatible with the new standards

Complete solution from board to cloud
A scalable software framework for next generation IoT devices
- Higher scalability in software development
- Supports advanced multi processor devices
- Platform for devices, cloud, tools and services
- Improves partner engagement by enabling partner contribution
- Strong fundament for . AI/ML development

Unifying
- Support for all Nordic ICs
- Support for all Nordic wireless technologies
- Complete solution from board to cloud
Modern
- RTOS integration for complex designs
- Open source when and where it makes sense
- · Modern development and distribution model
Scalable
- For low and high complexity applications
- For single core and multi-core SoCs
- Allow customer to focus on application
Value
Broad product range maximizes customer value

Recent product launches expand our position
nRF5340 high-end multiprotocol SoC

- " The world's first wireless SoC with two Arm® Cortex®-M33 processors
- Bluetooth LE 5.2, Thread, Zigbee, NFC, Bluetooth mesh
- ▪
- 105°C extended operating temperature
- 1.7-5.5 V supply voltage range
Application examples: professional lighting, advanced wearables, and other complex loT applications
nRF21540 RF Front End Module

- Nordic's first power amplifier/low noise amplifier product
- Enables range extension of up to 16x for Nordic's nRF52 and nRF53 Series
- · Highly complementary to our short-range business natively supported in our SW solutions
Application examples: asset tracking, smart home and industrial use cases
Nordic products recognized globally

Alliance Award
Most Respected Emerging Semiconductor Company for the second year running
Annual Tech Award for the 'cutting-edge' technical development of the nRF9160 SiP for cellular IoT applications
2019 Norwegian
Technology Award
技术创新奖 | OT 开 发 工 具 / 套 件 / 云 平 台 联网原型开发平台Thingy:91 2020 China loT Innovation Award
Technical Innovation Award for the Nordic Thingy:91 cellular loT prototyping platform
Positive reception for Nordic's cellular products

- Q4 firmware release well received by customers
- Reached milestone of 10 000 units shipped of nRF9160 development kit and Nordic Thingy:91
- Market acknowledgement of disruptive lead on power consumption
Expanding footprint of certifications
Carrier certifications
Regulatory certifications
Q3 2019 Verizon
Deutsche Telekom Q4 2019
Vodafone Q1 2020
In addition to carriers requiring only GCF/PTCRB and local regulatory certification

Ongoing projects across a variety of verticals

Environmental monitoring & disaster prediction
Energy savings enabled by cellular connectivity
The 'Apricity Ara'
- · Water heater controller for real time. demand-driven utility load management
- Lowers peak power usage across the utility grid
- Saves money and the environment
- Uses both the cellular nRF9160 SiP and the short-range nRF52840 SoC
- Cellular connectivity via nRF9160 and wireless mesh via nRF52840
- Unique mesh network fallback in low cellular signal environments


Financials Pål Elstad, CFO

Record high revenue
Quarterly revenue (USDm)

- 36% y-o-y growth .
- Bluetooth growth accelerating to 63%
- Proprietary reported 7% decline
- Cellular IoT revenue USD 0.2m, still in early stages of commercialization
- Strong y-o-y growth partly driven by weak Q4 2018
- · Increased revenue contribution from Tier 1 customers in Q4 2019
- Weak end-customer demand and inventory reductions impacted revenues in Q4 2018
Revenue development - Group and markets
| Group | Consumer Electronics |
Building/ Wearables Retail |
Healthcare | Others | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| . USDm . . USDm . . . . . . . . . . . 83.1 33.8 . . . . . . . . . . . |
. . . . . . USDm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
. . . . USDm 16.6 . . |
USDm : : . . 5.0 : : : : |
. . USDm . . . 10.4 . . . . . |
|
| +36.0% y-o-y q-o-q |
. . . . . . +35.5% -9.2% : : у-о-у : : a-o-a . . . . . . . |
. . . . . . . :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: +72.1% +15.9% . . y-o-y : : q-o-q . . . . . . |
. . . : : : +66.7% +18.5% y-o-y :: a-o-a . . . . |
. -9.2% - - - - -1.9% : : y-o-y a-o-q . |
. . +31.2% -1.6% : : y-o-y a-o-a : : . . . |
- Wearables positively impacted by nRF52 Series design wins, especially in the high-end Chinese domestic market
- Building and retail driven particularly by Home Automation, such as smart lighting, alarm systems, smoke detectors and smart locks
Solid gross margin
Gross margin (%)
54%

Strong gross margin of 51.6%
- Favorable product mix, with a higher share of more complex high-margin SoCs
- Improved cost on newly introduced products
- Gross margin expected at ~50% in Q1 2020
- Reiterating medium-term gross margin range of 48%-50% for the short-range business
Operating model performance Q4 2019
| Gross margin 51.6% |
Q4 2019* | Q4 2018 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R&D short-range 14.4% |
Revenue | USD 83.1m | |||
| R&D | Gross margin | 51.6% USD 42.9 |
51.0% USD 31.2 |
+0.6pp Favorable product mix in the quarter | |
| cellular lot 8.4% |
R&D short- range |
14.4% USD 12.0m |
21.5% USD 13.1m |
-7.1pp | Continued investments to capture growth opportunities |
| SG&A 13.4% |
R&D cellular loT | 8.4% USD 7.6m |
8.2% USD 5.0m |
+0.2pp High spending during commercialization stage | |
| SG&A | 13.4% USD 11 1m |
18.0% USD 11 Om |
-4.6pp | Continued cost focus | |
| EBITDA 14.7% |
EBITDA | 14.7% USD 12.2m |
3.4% USD 2.1m |
+11.3pp | Positive operating leverage enables profitable growth |
Cash operating expenses*
Salary:
- Number of employees increased by 12.0% during the year, from 685 to 767
- Growth in customer facing teams, both within R&D and Sales
- Continued favorable FX development
Other opex:
▪ Driven by introduction of new products
Overall cash cost increase of 4.8% in Q4 shows continued cost discipline
Cash Opex (USDm)

EBITDA lift-up during the year
EBITDA (USDm) and margin (%)

EBITDA-margin excluding cellular back above 20% for third consecutive quarter
Capex development

- Capex of USD 5.3 million final build of new R&D lab
- Q1 2020 guidance of USD 4-5m
- Annual capex to remain around current levels in absolute terms for the next years
Maintaining cash
Cash Flow Q4 2019 (USDm)

Maintaining cash in growth quarter
- USD 3.9m in cash inflow during Q4 2019
- NWC/LTM revenue at 24.3% at year-end (22.6% year-end 2018)
Continued disciplined cash strategy
▪ Tight cash management and optimized cash generating ability
Summary & Q&A Svenn-Tore Larsen, CEO

Strong Q4 - uncertainty for Q1
Q1 2020 guidance
| Revenue | Gross margin | |
|---|---|---|
| USDm 64-71 |
~50% | |
| +22 to 35% -15 to -23% y-o-y g-o-q |
-1.0%p -1.6%p y-o-y q-o-q |
Strong Q4
- Revenue and gross margin above guidance
- Cost discipline and positive cash flow Wide revenue range for Q1
- Uncertainty due to the coronavirus outbreak in China
- Received push-outs of some orders
Unchanged medium-term outlook
- 20%-30% annual growth for Bluetooth low energy and multiprotocol solutions
- 48%-50% gross margin for short-range
- Continued investments in R&D
