Blink Pulls Back on Full-Year Guidance

Blink Charging has had a fluctuating 2024, and the roller coaster doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. The company’s third-quarter results revealed that while service revenue was up 30% for the quarter compared to last year, overall sales of $25 million were down 32% from a year earlier.

The culprit came from Blink’s product sales, which came in at $13.4 million, a significant drop from $35 million in Q3 ’23. The reduction was primarily driven by fewer sales of DC fast chargers, particularly to automotive dealerships.

The drop wasn’t completely unexpected by Blink leaders. This spring, CEO Brendan Jones first noted the company had seen lower bookings and that executives were “closely monitoring” the market. In August, Jones said that the trend had “persisted” during the second quarter, largely driven by the slowdown in EV sales.

“We believe the pressure on EV sales is a short-term factor but nonetheless, expect to see some impact to our revenue as we move through the balance of this year,” he said during an Aug. 7 conference call.

Now, that impact has resulted in an official guidance reduction. Rather than the previously targeted $165 million to $175 million in full 2024 revenue, Blink executives now expect a range from $125 million to $135 million.

The revenue reduction, similarly to the sales drop,  doesn’t mean profits will completely plummet; quarterly operating expenses dropped by $26 million and cash burn reduced by half. The latter was largely driven by Blink laying off 14% of its workforce earlier this year, a move that is expected to save the company $9 million annually.

Jones also said Blink is working to improve its sale mix by selling to other customer groups.

“We have been replacing dealership sales by focusing on other sales verticals such as multifamily dwellings, commercial fleet, local and state governments, offices, hospitals and schools, which provide Blink with a more profitable and sustainable revenue stream,” he said.

That effort has been visible since before the earnings report, with Blink making several headlines for big-dollar deals and agreements:

• The company landed a $2 million grant from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to install chargers at five locations across the state.
• Through its subsidiary, Envoy Technologies, it has added Lucid Air sedans to its luxury car-sharing program and teamed up with UNLMTD Real Estate and FIAT House to become the first residential development to offer an on-site fleet of all-electric FIAT 500e vehicles.
• Blink teams have collaborated with Stable Auto to optimize its charging network, leading to a 34% improvement in efficiency, according to COO Mike Battaglia.
• In collaboration with Axxeltrova Capital, the company spearheaded the launch of a £100 million fund that will target projects eligible for subsidies through the United Kingdom’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) program.
• Blink has partnered with ChargeHub to connect its chargers to the ChargeHub e-mobility service providers app, giving more than 1 million users access to the chargers and streamlining the payment process.

Shares of Blink (Ticker: BLNK) have been on a general downward trend over the past six months. The company reported earnings after the bell on Nov. 7 and its share price dropped 16% to open at $1.67 per share the following day. The price has since dropped further to $1.58, cutting the company’s market capitalization to about $160 million.