REE Automotive, an automotive technology company and provider of full-by-wire electric trucks and platforms, reported its financial results and operational highlights for the three months ending March 31.
According to the results, the first quarter Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), calculated by subtracting total expenses from total revenue, narrowed by 29% quarter on quarter (QoQ) to $25.2 million compared to $35.2 million in Q4 2023 and narrowed by 12% year-over-year (YoY) compared to $28.6 million in Q1 2023. REE said the YoY decrease was mainly driven by operational efficiencies implemented, which reduced payroll and related costs and other operational expenses, as well as lower share-based compensation expenses. These decreases were partially offset by losses from remeasurement of warrants and financial expenses related to convertible notes as well as an increase in income tax expenses. The decrease compared to the previous quarter was mainly attributed to the increased non-recurring engineering development costs in Q4 2023.
REE also said it ended Q1 2024 with liquidity of $77.5 million comprised of cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments, inclusive of a $15 million credit facility.
During the first quarter, the company said it raised approximately $15 million (gross) in proceeds through a public offering of ordinary shares priced at $6.50 per share. The equity raise was led by M&G Investment Management Limited, REE’s largest shareholder. In addition, from January through May, the company issued 54,938 Class A Ordinary Shares under the At the Market Offering Agreement with H.C. Wainwright & Co. for total gross proceeds of approximately $300,000.
The company said that during Q1, Penske began to offer REE EVs to its customers. REE said it delivered to Penske a P7-C upfitted with a 16-foot Wabash DuraPlate body for demos and orders across North America. U-Haul also received and is evaluating a REE class 5 electric platform as the first solution to support the electrification of its fleet. Airbus selected the Powered by REE vehicle for a fully autonomous program based on REE’s full by-wire capabilities, as well.
“We started 2024 with strong momentum and catalytic milestones, from achieving U.S. certification to starting to deliver trucks against our order book as part of our demo program with our dealers across North America. These demos are used by dealers to generate orders from their fleet customers, potentially further growing our order book value, which recently crossed $50 million,” said Daniel Barel, REE’s co-founder and CEO. “As our dealer network is now sufficiently built to properly cover North America, we are pivoting to focus on adding fleet orders to our order book and to serve some of the largest fleet companies in the world, including Penske Truck Leasing (Penske) and U-Haul International, Inc. (U-Haul). We are excited to partner with Penske and have them offer our electric trucks to their customers and we are proud to be the first electrification partner for U-Haul which we believe both demonstrates our leadership in the industry and the value our technology delivers.”
