Tonner Drones Answers Questions From Shareholders
Tonner Drones Answers Questions From
Shareholders
Schiltigheim, February 21th 2025 8:00,
Tonner Drones (’the Company’) today publishes the answers to
questions it has received from shareholders in the past
period.
Tonner Drones meets the wishes of shareholders
for good information provision. This is important, especially
because so many changes have taken place in the past 2 years. The
company hopes to be able to better clarify the state and future of
the company with each publication. This Q&A follows the
shareholder letter that the CEO wrote on
10-10-20241.
-
Is Tonner Drones still a Drone Company?
Yes, currently the core business of
Tonner Drones is still the development of Drones. In particular:
The Countbot. However, the former company (Delta Drone) has burned
a lot of money in the past. Therefore, Tonner Drones made a clear
decision to reduce costs and only pursue projects that are viable
and could quickly contribute to profitability.
Our Countbot solution is therefore the product we are most
committed to. The warehouse industry is a multi billion market and
there is a strong trend in this industry to use more and more
automation and robotics. The Countbot is the most advanced and
closest to the production and commercialization phase. Because we
still have stock, we could deliver a few Countbots. This will
directly contribute to strengthening our cashflow. We notice a very
clear interest in the Countbot and are therefore enthusiastic about
the future. However, we can only provide certainty once an order is
confirmed and we will only be able to inform the market at that
time.
Our patents for «the inhibitor» are valuable. TonnerDrones
will continue to search for partners who are willing to develop the
product. Which has a specialized technique to stabilize the recoil
of Drones.
- You have saved a lot of costs. For example, Tonner
Drones headquarter is only an administrative address. How can you
still produce revenue and grow the business?
We indeed communicated about striving to a
maximum of €20.000 of monthly operational costs. Which is the
absolute minimum for a listed company. This was essential in this
phase of the company. We now have created an ideal situation to
grow again. The company is no longer in distress, and because of
the low costs we can wait for the right opportunities.
For the Countbot, we work closely together with
the founder of the project. As you can imagine, he is committed to
succeed with this project. We spend a bit of money on this project,
but by having this collaboration, we can also generate cash flow by
selling inventory that was still in stock. In case we are starting
to sell the Countbot solution, the project will immediately become
profitable.
Shareholders need to understand that the people who are managing
TonnerDrones now, have always been entrepreneurs and successful
investors. They are used to earning money for their own companies,
not to lose money or spend it on worthless projects.
The CEO and President of the board has invested significantly in
TonnerDrones since June 2023. He is now running the business as he
has always done with his own companies. Van den Ouden is now the
biggest shareholder and is aligning himself with the interest of
the other shareholders. He will do whatever it takes to make Tonner
Drones successful.
- Tonner Drones has communicated about a new strategy of
investments and consultancy. What do you mean by this and how does
this differ from the investment strategy that Delta Drone already
knew?
It is true that Tonner Drones,
formerly known as Delta Drone, already had an investment strategy.
There are a few main differences.
1) Current management is highly experienced in making investment
decisions. Their careers were and are depending on it. The CEO has
invested heavily in the project and will not take any risk by
making wrong investing-decisions. A big difference from the past.
There was less expertise, and only money from external shareholders
was spent that was raised with variable price financing.
2) An important change is the shift in focus towards listed
companies. An investment in a listed company has more liquidity
than a private company. This will lower the risk substantially.
The investments that were made in the past, were in other Drone
companies, of which most of them were private companies. Current
management decided to depreciate the worth of these companies
because the value of a private company is hard to evaluate. But
even now that these companies are now valued at a low valuation on
the balance sheet, Tonner Drones still has expectations to generate
value and cash flow from them. The investments in Donnecle,
Elistair and Diodon are now hidden values. The hope is that the
value in the future can surprise positively.
Shareholders have now approved resolutions to widen the mandate of
these investments. The people who are currently running the company
are successful investors with years of experience in the financial
markets.
They have always made investments themselves. Management of Tonner
Drones is convinced it will be much more successful with this
strategy than Delta Drone was in the past. New investments need to
offer interesting returns against low risks. Investments most
likely will only be made in other listed companies, while the
liquidity of these investments will lower the risk
significantly.
In addition to these investments, management of Tonner Drones is
offering consultancy services to other listed companies. Already
resulting in a first order in November 2024, which led to an
invoice of €61.000 that was paid in early January. Even while
€61.000 is not a huge amount, compared to the lowered operational
costs, it will help the company forward. The income from the
consultancy business and investment strategy can support the
Company to cover its operating costs.
- What is the main change in the Company since there was
a change of management?
There have been many changes. But the main shift
is with mentality. Current management is determined to create value
for our shareholders and stop burning money. They feel a huge
responsibility towards all shareholders, and they want to build a
successful story on the stock exchange. In many cases on the stock
exchange, management is putting their own interests at first. For
example with generous salaries. Current policy of Tonner Drones is
the opposite. The CEO will not receive any compensation in 2025.
The total compensation for the other 2 board members has been set
at a maximum of €24,000 for each of them. The philosophy is that
performance must be delivered first. Tonner Drones wants to lead by
example, and change the French Financial industry. Self-enrichment
and financial excesses have come to an end.
- The CEO and President of the board has bought 8% of
the outstanding shares in the market. What are his
intentions?
D.M. van den Ouden has invested
significantly since june 2023. Initially mainly in debt. He felt
that he, as the CEO and President of the board, should become the
reference shareholder of the company. This allows the company to be
managed properly. He also wanted to align his interests more with
the other shareholders. Van den Ouden has always been an investor
and shareholder in his own and other listed companies. By being the
largest shareholder of Tonner Drones, he expresses confidence in
his own policy, and 'puts his money where his mouth is.'
- TD communicated about partnerships and RTO-candidates,
especially seen the carry-forward losses of more than €50M that can
be activated. Is there any interest?
Tonner Drones has had and is
still having, multiple conversations with interested parties. Both
from parties in the Drone sector and from outside.
We are now in the process of selecting the right party to continue
discussions with for a period of exclusivity.
It needs to be very clear that an investment, partnership or RTO
needs to bring value for our current shareholders.
D.M. van den Ouden is the CEO, largest shareholder and main
debt-holder of the company. He will only agree to a deal which will
benefit the shareholders of Tonner Drones. Meaning that a partner
needs to be fairly valued, well financed and needs to create value
for all Tonner Drones shareholders.
While management strongly believes in its own strategy for the
longer term, a large transaction with a partner or RTO-candidate
can provide great value creation in the short term. For example,
when an agreement can be made with a company that has multi
millions of revenue, the nature of the TonnerDrones entity will
immediately change.
When a significant agreement / decision needs to be made,
shareholders will be asked for their approval.
Tonner Drones is now in a great position, because it is betting on
multiple horses for a promising future.
- Seeing the rough history of Delta Drone, what is the
current situation of the company?
During the year of 2024, the new CEO and President of the
board has been able to increasingly put his mark on the company's
policy. The company is noticing that this is restoring trust among
partners. Management still needed to solve some issues from the
past. This sometimes entails unexpected costs, but because these
are one-off costs, it does not hurt the future of Tonner
Drones.
In the balance sheet there are still amounts
included for past litigations. Tonner Drones expects that
these provisions will be sufficient to cover these cases. These
cases are incidents from the past and happened before the current
management was in charge. As time passes since the 'change of
management', the chance that major problems from the past will
resurface is diminishing.
Tonner Drones understands that shareholders would like to move
forward more quickly. But the company needs some time to build up
trust, so that it can start building from a stable foundation.
Since the costs have been brought down so much, the Company has the
time to build. Especially because Tonner Drones has the full
support from its CEO and President of the board and its supporting
shareholders who are willing to continue to invest in the future of
the company.
Tonner Drones is now focusing on the sale of the first Countbot.
Certainty about this cannot yet be given, but the product can be a
game changer for the company. At the same time, if the interest
does not lead to orders, the strategy for this product will be
reconsidered.
Tonner Drones wants to generate cash by selling
assets. In particular its holdings in French private drone
companies. Because these companies are listed on the balance sheet
for low amounts, this can contribute positively to the cashflow and
the results. The funds generated by this can be reinvested in the
Countbot project or in new investments.
Finally, the discussions with interested parties
in the stock exchange listing are very interesting. This strategy
can create the most value for shareholders in the short term. It is
up to management to choose the right party. As soon as these
discussions become more concrete, Tonner will publish about
this.
- What is your vision regarding variable price
instruments and dilution?
You could say that the Tonner Drones project is
a matter of honor. The CEO has always been an investor, and is
already for years fighting against variable price financing. To now
lead one of the companies that has used equity lines for many
years, is a great challenge to show that it can be done differently
and better. Management has shown that it was able save the company
from bankruptcy and at the same time stop all variable dilutive
products. Tonner Drones is convinced that this will restore
confidence in the company and that it can be an example for other
companies in France.
Tonner Drones has no plans to dilute shareholders. TonnerDrones has
rewarded BSAs to all shareholders, and shareholders therefore have
the opportunity to finance the company themselves and accelerate
developments. This construction is a measure born of strength, and
not of weakness.
This BSA is listed at Euronext Paris: ISIN FR001400RIB4 / TDBS. The
main characteristics are as follow: for 3 BSA, 2 new shares can be
bought against €0,0125 until august 2027.
- What do you see as the main risk for shareholders?
Fundamentally and regarding the stock price.
In terms of sentiment, and technical
factors about the stock price, it is always difficult to comment.
While Tonner Drones is listed, general sentiment can influence the
price of the stock negatively. Also it is hard to predict if
investors will look towards the future or still judge the company
by the past. Tonner Drones still needs to publish the annual
results, and seeing the problems Tonner Drones still had in
2024, nobody should be surprised that the results will probably not
be very good yet. Even when the results will be much better than
2023, Tonner Drones is still in a turnaround situation.
In general, when sentiment in the markets will be more negative,
people tend to be less willing to invest in such companies.
Because of the outstanding debt, a shareholder in Tonner Drones is
exposed to leverage. When results are positive, it is likely that
the stock price will perform very well. But when results are less
positive, shareholders are more exposed.
Finally, the situation has calmed down a lot in the recent months.
But reckoning with the past will take some time. In our annual
accounts, there is an item for litigation for matters from the
past. It is still unclear how those cases will evolve. Although
possible setbacks from the past are unpleasant, the current
management is convinced that matters from the past will not have a
lasting impact on the future business operations.
- The market is still sceptical, what is your feeling
about that?
Seeing the history of the Company,
we can not blame people for thinking like that. Management can only
change this by performing well, to execute what they promise and
being transparent in everything they do.
We are already noticing that sentiment has changed among our
partners, and we are convinced that we will be able to achieve the
same with our shareholders.
Some results have been delivered already, but it is not strange
when more time and results are needed before trust in the company
will return.
Luckily, nobody is forced to invest in Tonner Drones, everybody
needs to make their own investment-decisions. On the bright side,
the more people are sceptical now, the less people own shares yet.
This lowers the risk of current shareholders, and will increase the
potential, because there is a larger group of potential buyers
still on the sidelines. The CEO is betting largely on himself, it
is up to investors to choose whether to follow him or not.
-
https://tonnerdrones.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/ENG_Shareholder-letter_PR.pdf
End of Press-Release.
About Tonner Drones:
Tonner Drones develops technologies for the logistics sector.
Tonner Drones holds valuable stakes in some promising French drone
manufacturers. Tonner Drones' strategy is to increase the value of
its interests in these companies through active asset management. A
sale to generate cash flow is also a possibility. Additional
revenues can be achieved through royalties from patents held by
Tonner Drones. Tonner Drones does not plan on owning a factory;
however, it is determined to retain R&D for its products and
systems in France.
Tonner Drones’ shares are listed on Euronext
Growth Paris (ISIN code: FR001400H2X4).
More information at www.tonnerdrones.com /
contact@tonnerdrones.com
Communication financière
investors@tonnerdrones.com
Warning
Regarding the merits of any transaction or the
making of any investment decision. It does not constitute or
include any confirmation or commitment by Tonner Drones (or any
other person) regarding the present or future value of Tonner
Drones ' business, its securities, its subsidiaries or any other
assets of Tonner Drones .
This press release contains forward-looking
statements based on current beliefs and expectations regarding
future events. These forward-looking statements may include
projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions,
statements regarding plans, objectives, intentions and/or
expectations regarding future financial results, events, operations
and services. and product development, as well as statements
regarding performance or events. These statements are generally
identified by the terms "expect", "anticipate", "believe",
"intend", "estimate", "plan", "project", "may", "should" or the
negative form of these and other similar expressions. These
statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject
to inherent risks, uncertainties and assumptions regarding Tonner
Drones and its subsidiaries and investments, trends in their
businesses, future capital expenditures and acquisitions,
developments relating to contingent liabilities, changes in global
economic conditions or Tonner Drones ' principal markets,
competitive market conditions and regulatory factors. The
realization of these events is uncertain; their outcome could turn
out to be different from that envisaged today, which is likely to
significantly affect the expected results. Actual results may
differ materially from those anticipated or implied in these
forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements
contained in this press release are made as of the date of this
press release. Except as required by applicable law, Tonner Drones
undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking
statements, taking into account new information or future
events.
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https://tonnerdrones.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/ENG_Shareholder-letter_PR.pdf
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