Earnings call transcript: Westport Fuel reports Q3 2025 revenue decline

Westport Fuel Systems Inc. (WPRT) reported its third-quarter 2025 earnings, revealing a significant decline in revenue and increased net loss compared to the same period last year. The company's revenue dropped to $1.6 million from $4.9 million in Q3 2024, while the adjusted EBITDA fell to -$5.9 million from -$0.8 million. Despite these challenges, the company highlighted improvements in gross margin and strategic shifts in its operations.

Key Takeaways

• Westport's Q3 2025 revenue decreased significantly year-over-year.
• The Sospira joint venture saw a 19% increase in revenue.
• The company reported a substantial net loss from continuing operations.
• Westport is shifting production facilities and focusing on alternative fuel solutions.

Company Performance

Westport Fuel Systems faced a challenging third quarter with a notable decline in revenue and increased losses. The company's focus on heavy-duty and alternative fuel systems positions it well in the market, despite the current financial setbacks. The Sospira joint venture, however, provided a bright spot with a revenue increase, highlighting potential growth areas within Westport's portfolio.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $1.6 million, down from $4.9 million in Q3 2024
• Adjusted EBITDA: -$5.9 million, compared to -$0.8 million in Q3 2024
• Net loss from continuing operations: $10.4 million
• Gross margin improved to 31% from 14% in Q3 2024
• Cash and cash equivalents: $33.1 million
• Outstanding debt: $3.9 million, maturing in September 2026

Outlook & Guidance

Westport Fuel Systems is focusing on strategic market expansion and technological leadership. The company is developing a new CNG solution for the North American market and relocating high-pressure controls production to Canada and China. With manufacturing facilities expected to be online by year-end, Westport aims to capture market opportunities in emerging regions like India and South America for HPDI trucks.

Executive Commentary

CEO Dan Sceli emphasized the company's strategic focus, stating, "We are in the process of evolving a new, more focused Westport that we can support and drive into a more sustainable transportation industry." Sceli also highlighted the affordability and growing infrastructure of natural gas, positioning it as a viable alternative to diesel.

Risks and Challenges

• Revenue decline: Continued revenue decreases could impact financial stability.
• Market competition: The alternative fuel market is competitive, requiring constant innovation.
• Legislative changes: Potential regulatory shifts in Europe could affect market dynamics.
• Supply chain transitions: Moving production facilities may pose operational challenges.
• Economic conditions: Global economic factors could influence demand for alternative fuel solutions.

Westport Fuel Systems is navigating a complex market landscape with strategic initiatives aimed at long-term growth, despite current financial challenges. The company's focus on innovation and market expansion remains central to its strategy.

Full transcript - Westport Fuel Systems Inc (WPRT) Q3 2025:

Conference Moderator: Good day, and welcome to Westport's Q3 2025 conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Ms. Ashley Nuell, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Ashley Nuell, Vice President of Investor Relations, Westport Fuel Systems: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Westport Fuel Systems' conference call regarding its third quarter 2025 financial and operational results. This call is being held to coincide with the press release containing Westport's financial results that was issued yesterday after markets closed. On today's call, speaking on behalf of Westport, will be Chief Executive Officer and Director Dan Sceli and Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Owens. Attendance on this call is open to the public, but questions will be restricted to the analyst and institutional investor community. You are reminded that certain statements made on this call and our responses to certain questions may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. and applicable Canadian securities laws, and as such, forward-looking statements are made based on our current expectations and involve certain risks and uncertainties. With that, I'll turn the call over to you, Dan.

Dan Sceli, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Westport Fuel Systems: Thank you, Ashley, and good morning, everyone. To start, I want to welcome Elizabeth Owens to her first conference call following her appointment as CFO at Westport. We are thrilled to have her at the helm, and for her first CFO conference call, I'm happy to have Elizabeth run through some financial details first, and then I'll cover some of our business and strategy updates afterwards. Over to you, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Owens, Chief Financial Officer, Westport Fuel Systems: Thank you, Dan. First, I want to say thank you for welcoming me to my first conference call as CFO of Westport. It's an honor to serve shareholders in this new capacity. Now, getting into the details of our Q3 results, Westport reported revenue of $1.6 million for the quarter. Our reported revenue this quarter reflects the expected decline from the $4.9 million reported in the same quarter of last year, based on some changes I'll address in a moment. On an upward trend, however, it was great to see Sospira increase its revenue by 19% over the same period last year to $19.3 million in the quarter. As you know, our heavy-duty segment was utilized to capture revenue generated by a transitional service agreement, or TSA, in place to facilitate the transition of Sospira to a standalone organization.

As intended, the TSA concluded in the second quarter of this year, and we therefore did not record any revenue related to it this quarter. Revenue this quarter was representative of our continuing high-pressure controls and systems segment, which produced $1.6 million in comparison to $1.8 million in the same quarter last year. Our adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was negative $5.9 million, as compared to the negative $0.8 million reported for the same quarter of last year. The change was primarily driven by lower gross profit related to the divestiture of the light-duty business, partially offset by lower operating expenditures. Our net loss from continuing operations included some extraneous items. The net loss from continuing operations of $10.4 million for the quarter is compared to a net loss from continuing operations of $6 million for the same quarter last year.

This was primarily the result of an increase in operating expenditures in research and development and SG&A, a decrease in profit of $0.2 million compared to the prior year, and a negative impact from a swing in foreign exchange impact by $3 million. Further on this topic, for the three months ended September 30, 2025, we recognized foreign exchange losses of $1.3 million, as compared to a foreign exchange gain of $1.7 million for the three months ended September 30, 2024. The loss recognized in the current period primarily relates to unrealized foreign exchange losses resulting from the translation of previous U.S. dollar-denominated debt in our Canadian legal entities. Additionally, this quarter, we incurred one-time costs of approximately $1 million for severance and restructuring.

Looking ahead, we expect more cost reductions on a relative basis in the near future as we adjust to become a smaller organization after the divestiture of the light-duty segment. Looking at our specific business units, high-pressure controls and systems revenue for Q3 of 2025 was $1.6 million, a slight decrease over Q3 of 2024. As Dan mentioned, we are in the process of moving these production lines from the facility in Italy that was part of the divestiture of the light-duty business to sites in Canada and China. Prior to the move, our team worked to increase inventories to ensure our customers experienced minimal impact from the move. Construction at these facilities is ongoing through the fourth quarter, with a majority of the capital spending to be wrapped up by the end of this year.

The facilities in China, as well as our Canadian site, are anticipated to be producing initial product late this year. Gross profit for this business was largely unchanged, increasing slightly as a percent of revenue was driven by the higher margin with respect to engineering services revenue. Moving on to Sospira, it generated $19.3 million in Q3 2025, up 19% from the same period last year, driven by higher volumes. Gross profit was negative $1.1 million for Q3 2025, as compared to negative $0.2 million in Q3 2024. Gross profit continues to be negative as Sospira needs higher volumes to achieve a positive margin on a per-unit basis for its systems sold. Regarding liquidity, as of September 30, 2025, our cash and cash equivalents total $33.1 million, with only the EDC term loan remaining, and reflects a significant increase in cash from the sale of our light-duty business.

Net cash used in operating activities from continuing operations was $4.5 million, a significant improvement over $11.7 million used in operations in the same quarter last year. The improvement is primarily a result of decreases in working capital, partially offset by an increase in operating losses. Proceeds from the sale of the light-duty business drove improvements in net cash provided by investing activities of continuing operations. We reported $14.5 million in Q3 2025, as compared to $9.4 million in Q3 2024. Capital contributions to the Sospira joint venture of $11 million were also made in the quarter. As a reminder, in Q4 2024, we received proceeds of $9.6 million from the sale of shares to Volvo related to the formation of the Sospira joint venture and from the sale of our investment in WageEye Westport Inc.

Net cash used in financing activities of continuing operations was $1 million, compared to $4.4 million in Q3 2024. Our outstanding debt currently sits at $3.9 million, with a maturity date of September 2026. To date in 2025, we have reduced our debt, we have strengthened our balance sheet, and helped to reduce the complexity of our corporate structure. Our business is focused on the right markets for us, and we are continually looking at ways to streamline our operations. With that, I will pass the call back to Dan.

Dan Sceli, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Westport Fuel Systems: Thank you, Elizabeth. As our CFO noted, our third quarter results reflect the continued execution of the transformation we began earlier this year, anchored by our commitment to sharpen Westport's focus, strengthen our financial foundation, and position the company for growth. The successful completion of the light-duty segment divestiture marked an important milestone in simplifying our business and concentrating on our core heavy-duty and alternative fuel systems. Operationally, our third quarter performance highlights the early benefits of our disciplined approach. While revenue declined as an expected outcome to the light-duty divestiture, we achieved a stronger gross margin of 31% in Q3 2025, compared to 14% in Q3 2024, driven by higher margin engineering services revenue, and we demonstrated tighter cost management year-to-date versus the prior year.

As noted by Elizabeth, adjusted EBITDA results were impacted by the light-duty divestiture, partly offset by decreased operating expenditures providing a more efficient and focused underlying business. We also remain disciplined in strengthening our balance sheet, ending the quarter with $33.1 million in cash and less than $4 million in debt, while keeping cost efficiency and operational agility at the forefront. This solid financial position enables us to execute our strategic priorities and engage more proactively with OEM and fleet partners who are increasingly seeking affordable, low-carbon solutions. The Sospira joint venture continues to play a central role in Westport's growth strategy. During the quarter, deliveries increased year over year, supported by aftermarket sales growth as supply chain constraints continue to ease. This progress reinforces our belief that Sospira provides a scalable, high-impact platform to accelerate the adoption of the HPDI systems in the key markets worldwide.

We continue to make progress on Westport's strategic transformation. Westport is taking the necessary steps to execute on a new, focused, and integrated competitive strategy. The divestiture strengthened our balance sheet and provided liquidity to begin to fund our growth through new system and related market expansions, including North America and our recently announced CNG solution when combined with the on-engine HPDI fuel system. We are in the process of evolving a new, more focused Westport that we can support and drive into a more sustainable transportation industry. We recognize that we're operating within an evolving macroeconomic environment, which is enabling us to capitalize on renewed market momentum, especially as it relates to the use of natural gas as a transport fuel in the North American market. CNG has gained acceptance as an alternative to diesel fuel for long-haul trucking in North America, driven by its affordability and abundant supply.

Westport's innovative and proprietary CNG solution hopes to set a new standard for high-efficiency performance while delivering superior economics. As I mentioned last quarter, Westport will be focused on the following key drivers: on-engine, Sospira is pursuing strategic market expansion via technological leadership in heavy-duty transportation and truck OEMs. Off-engine, high-pressure controls and systems complement the energy transition regardless of the powertrain, and a variety of financial initiatives. Westport's goal for Sospira is to deliver demonstrated volume growth over the coming year, driven by expanding into new geographies and adding new OEM customers. Sospira is seeing success here, delivering revenue growth of almost 20% in the third quarter and recently adding a second OEM customer in the form of a customer truck trial with a leading OEM utilizing Sospira's HPDI components.

The trial will include several hundred sets of key components and is designed to assess the market and viability of the direct injection system at certain heavy-duty trucking markets. It is also expected to form the basis upon which the OEM will decide whether to make a further investment toward commercializing the system. Regarding our high-pressure controls and systems business, we are currently developing components that are critical to performance and reliability. As a reminder, we are selling into three primary markets: China, Europe, and North America. Following the close of the light-duty transaction, we have focused on moving our manufacturing to Canada and China. Both facilities are in the final stages before start of production, and we anticipate both to be online at the end of the year. The global truck market continues to expand and is expected to reach 1.95 million units in 2025.

The long-haul truck market has historically struggled to decarbonize. Fleets around the world are focused beyond just reducing emissions and now prioritizing the total cost of ownership. Natural gas is affordable, infrastructure is ample, and R&G production is growing at a fast pace. We are ideally positioned for this. What sets Westport apart from competitors is our ability. We have solutions that can meet growing demand, delivering a total cost of ownership that is compelling to customers. We are optimistic about the company's future, as well as that of Sospira. We have strengthened our balance sheet through the sale of our light-duty business and made a strategic return to our roots by developing innovative new technology to transform the heavy-duty market.

In addition to new growth opportunities, we are making difficult economic decisions to enhance future shareholder value through planned reductions of 60% in CapEx and 15% in SG&A in 2026. Regardless of the unknowns or uncertainties ahead, we are paving our own path in the transportation industry that we believe will truly make a difference. Thank you to everyone who joined the call today. Your continued support is important to us. We continue to move through 2025 with purpose to create value for our shareholders. Thank you again.

Conference Moderator: I do believe we're ready to take questions. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, press star 11 again. One moment while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question will come from the line of Eric Stein with Craig-Hallum. Your line is open.

Elizabeth Owens, Chief Financial Officer, Westport Fuel Systems: Hi, Dan. Hi, Elizabeth. Good morning.

Dan Sceli, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Westport Fuel Systems: Hey, good morning, Eric.

Elizabeth Owens, Chief Financial Officer, Westport Fuel Systems: I'm just wondering, can we start on the new OEM development with Sospira? I mean, just if you could provide a little more detail there. I know that that OEM needs to go through a number of steps to make the decision about moving towards a development agreement and then beyond that, a commercial agreement. What are kind of the signposts that we should look for, whether it's over 2026 and beyond? How do you kind of envision this playing out as Volvo obviously wants more OEMs than just their use of HPDI?

Dan Sceli, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Westport Fuel Systems: Yeah, absolutely. I'll just remind everybody listening that in this industry, the OEMs are very, very protective of their commercial strategies. We are completely unable to talk about the who and any specifics. That's not going to change, unfortunately. We'd love to be able to talk about it, but that's the business we're in. This is a typical development, not unlike what we went through with Volvo originally, trialing the technology on trucks. The development programs going forward should be much shorter because it's almost 10,000 trucks in 31 countries. It is a development cycle that will follow their standard path in the industry. We think we're going to start to get some feedback from that OEM probably mid-2026.

We'll be talking about it at that point, I hope, that we're in a position to communicate that we're moving to the next phase.

Elizabeth Owens, Chief Financial Officer, Westport Fuel Systems: Got it. Yeah, that's what I was getting at. Is this typical? Also, because you've got Volvo in the market, is it something that potentially is shorter than what you've seen in the past? It sounds like yes. Okay. Maybe sticking with the joint venture, I mean, any thoughts on additional OEMs? Again, I know that the nature of this business is you can't give details, names, etc., but just maybe what that pipeline looks like. I also know that Volvo is looking at growth with their HPDI truck in other markets. I think you mentioned India, South America last quarter. Maybe an update on that as well.

Dan Sceli, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Westport Fuel Systems: Sure. We continue—excuse me—we continue to talk to all the OEMs about HPDI through Sospira. Clearly, volume is the key to getting this business to the place where we all want it to be. We've got the interest of many OEMs. I think we're at a point where we don't have to prove the technology anymore. It's simply, when does the timing fit for the OEM in terms of their specific markets and their business cases? The technology is proven, the performance is proven, and Volvo continues to expand its reach where they want these trucks. I did mention India and South America. Those are beachheads that are being opened up. We expect continued volume increases. At least that's what we're hoping for. One of the big tickets will be in Europe, the legislative changes to the system.

Biogas being credited for the emissions standards in Europe is a really big deal that we're hoping will come in the next year.

Elizabeth Owens, Chief Financial Officer, Westport Fuel Systems: All right, thanks. I'll jump back into the queue.

Dan Sceli, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Westport Fuel Systems: Thanks, Eric.

Conference Moderator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. That will come from the line of Rob Brown with Lake Street Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Elizabeth Owens, Chief Financial Officer, Westport Fuel Systems: Good morning, Rob.

Dan Sceli, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Westport Fuel Systems: Morning.

Elizabeth Owens, Chief Financial Officer, Westport Fuel Systems: Morning. On the Sospira joint venture, you made a capital contribution in the quarter. Does that sort of set you for a while, or what's the capital needs over the next sort of 12 months there?

Dan Sceli, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Westport Fuel Systems: Yeah. I think we've talked about this a number of times over the last, at least my 18 months here. There's always been a three-year build-out, setting this business up to be completely standalone. The joint venture was always structured to have about a three-year build-in of capital contributions to get it set to standalone. Obviously, we're in year two of that now. Yeah, there's additional capital that will be needed next year.

Elizabeth Owens, Chief Financial Officer, Westport Fuel Systems: Okay, thank you. In the high-pressure controls business, when do you expect to have the manufacturing fully moved out of Italy and under your operations?

Dan Sceli, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Westport Fuel Systems: Sure. It's all out of Italy now completely. We're in the process now of installing the equipment in both our Cambridge site and our Chinese plant site, Zhengzhou, and expect to have both those facilities up and running by year-end.

Elizabeth Owens, Chief Financial Officer, Westport Fuel Systems: Okay, great. Will you have a, I guess, lower revenue run rate during that period, or do you have stock that can carry you through?

Dan Sceli, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Westport Fuel Systems: No, it'll be a bit lower revenue. I mean, there is some stock, but it'll be a bit lower revenue. I mean, the underlying theme here is that we want further—the Chinese market is the biggest market for hydrogen components today. It was very important for us to manufacture it locally for a couple of reasons. One, geopolitically, it's just a lot easier to make it there for that market than it is to ship it in from Europe. Two, cost, right? We can be a lot more competitive out of a Chinese plant. Of course, the North American market is starting to turn on natural gases, as we've talked about. It's a pendulum swing that we're very excited about. We want to be in a position to take advantage of that market from a Canadian site.

Elizabeth Owens, Chief Financial Officer, Westport Fuel Systems: Okay, thank you. I'll turn it over.

Dan Sceli, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Westport Fuel Systems: Thanks, Rob.

Conference Moderator: Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 11. Our next question will come from the line of Chris Dendrinos with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Yeah, thank you and good morning.

Elizabeth Owens, Chief Financial Officer, Westport Fuel Systems: Morning.

I wanted to ask on the CNG solution announcement here. I think it was last week at this point. What's the timing look like for potential deployment there? Does your partner, Sospira, need to, I guess, move trucks over to the United States? Or, I guess, how does that sort of, I guess, timeline look for potential development?

Dan Sceli, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Westport Fuel Systems: Yeah, sure. The intention isn't for trucks to come from Europe to North America at all. We're developing a CNG solution that is what we call the off-engine side of the thing. The on-engine, the Sospira's HPDI on-engine stuff is fully developed and ready to go. What this CNG strategy in North America will do for Sospira is bring additional volume. What it does for Westport, what we call the back-of-cab system, the storage system for CNG, combined with our high-pressure controls and our AFS engine control system, it's a full package that can be deployed into North America. The initial steps are going to be demonstration fleets. We're going to have trucks built with these CNG systems that fleets are going to run and trial. Certainly, our anticipation is that they'll be screaming for commercialization.

Once we're through the demonstrations and have it proven out, we'll be working with the OEM to build out a commercialization plan. Again, the on-engine side is fully developed with HPDI. It's just a matter now of certifying a back-of-cab and doing the EPA certification, which is just simply miles on trucks.

Got it. Thanks. Maybe just shifting gears a little bit to the engineering revenue that you all recognized in the quarter. I mean, is that sort of an ongoing, I guess, revenue stream, or was this sort of a one-time, I guess, recognition this quarter?

In our high-pressure controls business, we are paid for a lot of development work for the hydrogen systems from our OEM customers. That is an ongoing thing. We will be spending R&D money over the next three years. The customer pays for it at start of production. Excuse me. We have a bit of a run here of cash out for R&D before we get the customer's payment to cover it. It is an ongoing part of this business. These are very complex components that the customers, the OEMs, look to us to develop the technology for them.

Got it. Thank you.

Conference Moderator: Thank you. I'm showing no further questions in the queue at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Dan Sceli for any closing remarks.

Dan Sceli, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Westport Fuel Systems: Thank you. It is a pleasure always to share our story with our investors and the market. Thank you for your participation, and have a great day.

Conference Moderator: This concludes today's program. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect.

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