Greetings all InderesTV viewers. Canatu published its H1 results today, and we have Canatu CEO Maximilian Slawinski with us here. Welcome to this interview. I think it has now been something like one hundred days, and there's been a lot of changes happening in the leadership structure, and today Canatu also published new updated strategy and financial targets, so could you go through the key changes since you have taken over?

Of course, as mentioned. We have a new leadership structure. We have now an executive management team, and that opened the opportunity to gain some pretty experienced top executives from Germany, both from the semiconductor industry. One from the equipment industry, the other from the device and robotics industry. That new structure will support a focus on top-line growth and productization. What we started in the end, of course, they also bring good experience in developing teams, in developing people, also to increase our skills and pipeline in that area, and I think that is a pretty strong foundation for what we then execute in a new strategy: a company which is reducing its complexity, is focusing on the most promising opportunities, which puts value for the customer in the center of its decisions and of course the related business cases, and then I'm pretty optimistic. I see also, of course, with the tailwind of yesterday's further reactor order, that we will succeed.

But looking at your growth and financial targets, you're still very ambitious with the growth rate, but the profitability target was removed. So, why so?

So when you look at the Canatu business, it is inherently profitable, and we just want to underline first of all the focus on the revenue growth. We also have introduced new KPIs like the revenue per employee by 2030 as well as the growth of 2030 and beyond. And I think when you compare that to EBITDA, from my point of view, targets are always the output of an equation where you put a lot of parameters in. But on the revenue per employee and on the revenue itself, you really as management have a big impact, and I think the product profitability or the revenue profitability of Canatu has never been the issue. The issue is to get the revenue in time and with a very good growth trajectory.

The profitability will be good if you're able to achieve the revenue targets. So let's then go to the first half of the year. How did it go for Canatu?

I think the highlight, of course, was yesterday. The reactor order, because that finally solidified the effort of the team, which I have seen as a remarkable team in the last one hundred days. I think I also feel a lot of positive energy in the company due to the changes. I think the changes I was able to trigger maybe for the team reinforce Canatu has a very strong, young and agile team, and I think we changed in a short amount of time. I would say a reasonable amount of things that show how agile the company can act, and I was also able to visit some customers, and I think it is remarkable what kind of customers Canatu is working with. It is not normal that companies of that size like Canatu have direct customer access to this kind of world-class player, and that shows the engagement, shows the opportunity, and we have now to catch it, finishing product development, engaging deep with the customers, and then I'm ready optimistic about our future.

Still about the H1 revenue. It was quite low compared to the previous year and maybe some analyst expectations, so especially on the semiconductor side, what was the reason for this low revenue?

The order came just later, so there was in the past an order missing, and we had inventories in the inspection membrane part. The inventory is a part of product we deliver, which is performing better in the way that it is more reliable than formerly anticipated. That lowers a little bit the consumption rate, and also then there were some smaller orders, but these inventories are working down. And I think when you look in the history what the semiconductor business was already able to achieve, the history shows its potential, and I think with having now a new order and having in the future inventories lower in the inspection membrane part, it is only a matter of time and then we will come back to our growth trajectory. And my next question.

was about the second reactor order from Efesto. In the big picture, if you think, has this customer developed as you have expected? What else can you say about this customer?

So first, short answer is: Yes, it has developed as expected. I think even when I compare to our plan, the reactor order came a little bit earlier, which is a good sign. So it's not fundamentally changing things, but the good sign is also that one customer is ordering already a second reactor, which is behind expanding the manufacturing capacities of our customer. Obviously, good reasons to believe having a strong demand in the foreseeable future. So that is in all aspects a fantastic sign, and that makes me pretty confident.

And when do you expect to get recurring revenue from those first two reactors?

That is of course the part which is then not fully in our hands. That is in the hands of the customer, not only when it will qualify CNT-based pellicles, but then also use them in high-volume. So that is the uncertainty we have, but of course with having three reactors then at one customer, the likelihood is pretty high to get recurring revenues and also in a foreseeable time.

And how about your second reactor customer? The asset process is still ongoing there, so what's the situation overall with that customer?

I think the team progressed well. There are still some things on the to-do list to fulfill by both sides. That is, how should I say, they sometimes go longer, sometimes they are shorter here, but also here we made progress, and I think we will of course achieve our goal, and getting the asset is only a matter of time.

And do you think this customer is happy with your technology, or is there something that you still need to change so that things are going forward?

The customer is engaging a lot with our reactor, of course. When you engage deep, you also always have feedback, and the team has to come back on certain points, but overall. I think this customer is still pretty serious about the reactor, and I'm optimistic about that.

Right, you also delivered now a new outlook for this year, and Canatu is expected now that the revenue will decline significantly compared to last year. So you still remain optimistic. What are the key drivers behind that?

So of course when you get, for example, a reactor order, not everything is monetized the next day. Things have a certain timeline, and as you know, the results of today and also of this year, many things are still of course a monetization of the year before, 2025, so in our industry. It's not so easy to change. Short term, the top line within a low amount of time. What is important is, and that is there, Canatu has a good cash position to have the time and not to lose trajectory for the important target of 2030. So we didn't lose anywhere. We are in our industrial segment still ahead, and then the things will come. We have a good cash position, we have not a short-term issue here, and then I think like many other technology companies. We are well positioned.

If you then think about the CNT pellicle market. How do you see the long-term demand outlook has developed for that this year?

So I think the CNT pellicle market is connected to the device market, and there are two trends which support the CNT pellicle market. First of all, DRAM, memory and CPU markets are growing massively. The semiconductor market in total is reaching roughly a little bit below one thousand billion dollars. This year it is now projected to one point seven trillion by 2030, and the major drivers are memory, CPU, GPU used at advanced nodes where EUV is used and where the potential of CNT pellicles lies. What is the driving force to move from metal silicides to CNT is the technological aperture and the number of layers, and the fact that the market by itself is not only growing, but at the same time the structure size is going on to be smaller, so below 2 nanometers. That are good driving technological trends for the change from metal silicides to CNTs because they will require either more number of layers or a higher numerical aperture, or both. To improve the supports is what is changing, and that is exactly what CNT as a material is addressing and wants to improve compared to metal silicide. So the trend is that the market by itself is growing, and we know from the results for companies like Samsung they have a lot of money, so they are able to invest. It is a rich industry, which by itself has the cash to invest in the new technologies, so that's fantastic.

Compelling emerging market. So how do you see? Canatu's competitive position has developed in this market?

This year, this again with the reactor order. This is pretty good, and then of course with now saying that we are an equipment supplier. I hope that some further customers could come to Canatu because there might have been customers in the past who were not certain about Canatu as a competitor maybe in the future, and being careful with engaging with us. And I hope our new strategy is for these customers an invitation to maybe engage even stronger with Canatu, and then I would say our position is improving, yes.

Thank you, Max, for these answers and.

You're welcome.

Great rest of the year.

Yeah, thank you a lot.