퓨얼 테크(FTEK) 2026년 3분기 실적 발표회: 매출 16% 증가, 수주 잔고 확대

핵심 요약

• 퓨얼 테크(Fuel Tech)의 2026년 3분기 매출은 대기오염 방지(APC) 매출 38% 증가와 FUEL CHEM 매출 3% 증가에 힘입어 전년 동기 대비 16% 증가한 870만 달러를 기록했습니다.
• 매출총이익률은 주로 APC 프로젝트 및 제품 믹스가 악화되면서 49%에서 45%로 하락했습니다.
• 당기순손실은 26만 7,000달러(주당 0.01달러)로, 전년 동기 순이익 30만 3,000달러(주당 0.01달러)에서 적자 전환했습니다. 조정 EBITDA 역시 22만 8,000달러 흑자에서 24만 9,000달러 손실로 돌아섰습니다.
• 분기 말 수주 잔고는 2026년 6월 30일 대비 230만 달러 증가한 1,660만 달러를 기록했습니다. 최근 수주한 330만 달러 규모의 APC 계약을 포함한 추정(pro forma) 수주 잔고는 약 2,000만 달러입니다.
• 퓨얼 테크는 부채 없이 2,780만 달러의 현금 및 투자 자산과 주당 1.19달러에 해당하는 3,720만 달러의 주주 지분을 보유하며 분기를 마감했습니다.
• 경영진은 핵심 시장 성장, 상업적 실행력 강화, 엄격한 비용 통제, 목표 인수에 초점을 맞춘 전사적 전략을 수립하고 있습니다. 이 계획은 내년 초 이사회에 제출될 예정입니다.

주요 재무 데이터

판관비(SG&A)는 주로 인건비 관련 비용과 전문 용역 수수료 증가로 인해 45만 달러 늘었습니다. 여기에는 지난 8월 라메시 누기할리(Ramesh Nuggihalli) CEO 임명과 관련된 비반복적 일회성 비용 약 17만 5,000달러가 포함되었습니다.

사업 및 운영 실적

APC 부문은 수주 잔고 개선세와 함께 이번 분기에 진입했으며, 산업, 전력 및 데이터 센터 애플리케이션 전반에서 기회를 모색하고 있습니다. 경영진은 최근의 APC 수주 결과가 고객들이 퓨얼 테크 제품의 차별화된 가치를 인정하고 있음을 보여주며, 이는 프리미엄 가격 책정을 뒷받침할 가능성이 있다고 설명했습니다.

FUEL CHEM 부문은 기존 고객사 및 고객 시범 운용을 통해 지속적으로 성과를 내고 있습니다. 해당 사업 매출은 여전히 발전소 가동률 및 전력망 전력 공급량과 연동되어 있습니다.

DGI 수처리 기술 플랫폼은 현장 실증 단계를 거쳐 수처리 및 양식업 분야의 상업적 도입 단계로 진행 중입니다. 퓨얼 테크는 파일럿 프로그램을 상업용 제품으로 전환하기 위해 타깃 고객들과 협력하고 있습니다.

다만 경영진은 양식업 분야에서 DGI 도입이 예상보다 더디게 진행되었음을 인정했습니다. 회사는 수처리 부문의 R&D 지출을 재검토하고, 양식업 분야 외에 보다 빠른 도입이 가능한 애플리케이션을 평가하고 있습니다.

퓨얼 테크는 공정 노하우를 내부적으로 유지하면서 보다 엄격한 자원 배분, 공급망 역량 강화, 잠재적 외주 활용을 통해 프로젝트 실행력을 개선할 계획입니다. 목표는 납기 속도, 마진 및 고객 경험을 향상시키는 것입니다.

경영진 전망

경영진은 분기 실적이 프로젝트 비중이 높은 APC 사업과 마진이 더 높은 FUEL CHEM 사업 간의 믹스에 지속적으로 영향을 받겠지만, 전반적인 마진은 안정적으로 유지되거나 개선될 것으로 예상된다고 밝혔습니다.

회사는 전략 및 운영 개선과 관련된 일회성 비용과 지출에 따라 변동될 수 있으나, 올해 남은 기간 판관비(SG&A)가 당해 분기 및 전년도 수준에서 크게 벗어나지 않을 것으로 예상하고 있습니다.

퓨얼 테크는 지속 가능한 수익성 있는 성장에서 역산하여 필요한 매출, 마진, 투자 및 역량을 산출하는 목표 성과 중심 방식으로 2027년 예산을 수립하고 있습니다. 예산에는 진행 중인 대형 프로젝트 입찰도 고려되지만, 경영진은 2027년에 대한 정량적 전망치는 제시하지 않았습니다.

회사는 내년 초 이사회 검토를 위해 전략 계획 수립 프로세스와 M&A 플레이북을 완료할 것으로 기대하고 있습니다. 잠재적 인수 대상은 제품, 시장, 채널 및 비즈니스 모델 공백뿐만 아니라 전략적 적합성, 재무적 수익성, 통합 가능성을 기준으로 평가될 예정입니다.

리스크 및 주시 영역

• 매출총이익률은 APC 프로젝트, 제품 및 FUEL CHEM 매출 믹스에 따라 변동될 수 있습니다.
• FUEL CHEM 수요는 고객사의 발전소 가동률 및 발전 활동과 연동됩니다.
• 양식업 분야에서 DGI 상업화는 경영진이 예상했던 것보다 더디게 진행되었습니다.
• 고객 파일럿, 진행 중인 입찰 및 대형 프로젝트 기회가 매출로 전환될지 여부는 여전히 불확실합니다.
• 인건비 증가와 전문 용역 수수료 상승으로 판관비가 늘어났으며, 매출총이익률 악화가 3분기 조정 EBITDA 적자 전환에 영향을 미쳤습니다.
• 경영진에 따르면 전략적 및 운영상 변혁에는 시간이 걸릴 것이며, 보다 일관된 상업적 실행력과 비용 통제에 달려 있습니다.

애널리스트 Q&A 주요 내용

전력 수요 및 핵심 사업: 경영진은 전력 인프라에 대한 지속적인 투자가 APC 배출가스 제어 시스템과 FUEL CHEM 효율성 솔루션 모두에 기회를 창출할 것이라고 밝혔습니다. 추가 전력 설비가 확충되고 기존 화석연료 발전소가 더 집약적으로 가동됨에 따라 이들 사업이 수혜를 볼 것으로 기대합니다.

가격 책정 및 마진: 최근 APC 수주는 고객사가 경쟁사 대비 퓨얼 테크의 입찰안을 평가한 후 최종 결정되었습니다. 경영진은 이러한 수주를 차별성과 프리미엄 가격을 뒷받침할 수 있는 능력의 증거로 보았습니다. 그럼에도 불구하고 발표되는 마진은 사업 믹스에 따라 계속 달라질 것입니다.

M&A 우선순위: 퓨얼 테크는 잠재적인 인수 대상을 선정하기 전에 먼저 제품, 시장, 비즈니스 모델의 공백을 파악하고 있습니다. 경영진은 보다 정형화된 독립형 제품군을 구축하기 위한 한 가지 가능 영역으로 서비스 및 장기 서비스 계약을 꼽았습니다. 인수 거래는 주당순이익 증대(accretion), 실행 요구사항, 시너지, 통합 역량을 기준으로 평가될 예정입니다.

실적 발표 전화회의 전체 녹취록

전체 실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 녹취록

경영진 발표

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Fuel Tech, Inc. 2026 Third Quarter Financial Results Conference Call and webcast. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Devin Sullivan, Managing Director of the Equity Group. Thank you. You may begin.

Devin Sullivan

Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Fuel Tech's 2026 Third Quarter Financial Results Conference Call. Yesterday, after the close, we issued a press release, a copy of which is available at the company's website, www.ftek.com. Our speaker for today will be Ramesh Nuggihalli, President and Chief Executive Officer. Ellen Albrecht, the company's Chief Financial Officer, will also be on today's call to answer questions. After prepared remarks, we will open the call for questions from our analysts and investors.

Before turning things over to Ramesh, I'd like to remind everyone that matters discussed on this call, except for historical information, are forward-looking statements as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and reflect Fuel Tech's current expectations regarding growth, results of operations, cash flows, performance and business prospects and opportunities as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to our company's management.

Fuel Tech has tried to identify forward-looking statements by using words such as anticipate, believe, plan, expect, estimate, intend, will and similar expressions, but these words are not the exclusive means of identifying forward-looking statements. These statements are based on information currently available to Fuel Tech and are subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, but not limited to, those discussed in Fuel Tech's annual report on Form 10-K under Item 1A under the caption of Risk Factors and subsequent filings under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended, which could cause Fuel Tech's actual growth, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, performance and business prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by these statements.

Fuel Tech undertakes no obligation to update such factors or to publicly announce the results of any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect future events, developments or changed circumstances or for any other reason. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in the company's filings with the SEC.

With that said, I'd now like to turn the call over to Ramesh Nuggihalli. Ramesh, please go ahead.

Ramesh Nuggihalli

Thank you, Devin. Good morning, and thank you all for joining today's call. I'm joined this morning by our Chief Financial Officer, Ellen Albrecht. We issued our financial results after the close yesterday afternoon. Rather than repeat the numbers, I'll take a moment to provide some highlights. However, my focus this morning is more on our priorities that lie ahead.

Third quarter 2026 revenues increased 16% to $8.7 million, driven by 38% growth in the Air Pollution Control segment and a 3% increase in FUEL CHEM revenues. Consolidated gross margin declined to 45% from 49%, primarily reflecting lower APC gross margin due to project and product mix. Our operating expenses rose to [indiscernible]. In addition to higher cost of sales, SG&A expenses increased by $450,000. This was largely due to higher employee-related costs and professional fees, including a nonrecurring expense of about $175,000 related to my appointment as CEO in August. Net loss for the quarter was $267,000 or $0.01 per share compared to net income of $303,000 or $0.01 per share in the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $249,000 compared to positive adjusted EBITDA of $228,000.

Backlog continued to improve, and we ended the quarter with backlog of $16.6 million, a $2.3 million improvement from June 30, 2026. Including our recent APC contract award of $3.3 million, pro forma backlog as of today is approximately $20 million. Finally, we ended the quarter with $27.8 million in cash and investments, no debt and stockholders' equity of $37.2 million or $1.19 per share.

Since joining Fuel Tech in August, I have spent significant amount of time listening and learning. I have met with colleagues and investors, engaged with Board members and visited with a number of our partners and vendors. Those conversations have validated why I chose to join Fuel Tech and reinforced several important conclusions. We have talented, motivated people, technically capable teams, innovative technology that solves some of our customers' toughest environmental challenges, a global footprint and exposure to attractive growth-oriented end markets. We also operate in an industry with real purpose. Whether we are reducing pollutants, improving industrial process efficiency or treating water, we help customers operate more efficiently while supporting their environmental goals.

As reflected in our Q3 results, our air pollution control business is building on a multiyear high backlog and pursuing expanding opportunities in industrial, power and data center applications. FUEL CHEM continues to demonstrate the value of its technology through strong performance at established accounts and promising customer trials. And DGI, an emerging technology platform serving the water and wastewater industry, is advancing from successful field demonstrations towards broader commercial adoption in water treatment and aquaculture. We are continuing our conversation with a set of targeted customers to convert pilot programs to commercial offerings. We have a solid foundation in technologies that serve growing end markets, which excites me. The opportunity now is to capitalize on these great strengths, drive more consistent commercial execution and deliver sustainable above-market growth and profitability.

We are going back to the basics and developing a holistic strategy for the company consisting of organic and inorganic growth initiatives. This strategy will be designed to extend our expertise in solving customers' toughest environmental challenges by strengthening our core businesses, applying our project management and engineering capabilities to expand into growing adjacent markets and deploying our strong balance sheet to pursue targeted acquisitions that offer clear synergies and fill gaps in our product portfolio, channel capabilities or both. Our approach is built around 3 interconnected priorities: strengthening our core markets, building a more sales and commercially driven organization and maintaining cost discipline.

The opportunities associated with the build-out of data centers are significant, and we continue to believe that Fuel Tech can play an important role in helping customers meet the emission control requirements of power infrastructure supporting this growth. At the same time, we continue to see significant untapped opportunities in our traditional markets and recognize that capturing them all requires a more focused, coordinated approach to market development and customer engagement. To support this effort, we are aligning resources and strengthening accountability for sales growth across the organization with the goal of implementing these changes on a cost-neutral basis.

We have launched a strategic planning process with a cross-functional team of employees, and we have engaged external advisers with whom I have worked in the past to broaden our thinking on growth in both our served and unserved markets. Together, we are testing past assumptions, mapping adjacent growth markets and developing a focused executable plan that leverages our technical expertise to drive growth, differentiate our customer value proposition and create shareholder value. We expect to complete this work and present it to the Board early next year. Internally, we talk about not only achieving growth leadership, but also cost leadership, appropriately allocating our resources, both human and capital, to create the foundation for our capital deployment program.

With respect to growth, we are focusing on markets and applications where our technical expertise, broad IP portfolio provide a genuine advantage. These include expanding our footprint from power to diversified industrial, where we can leverage our product offering in mitigating various pollutants, expanding the CHEM tech business from core fossil power applications to industrial and potentially water applications. And finally, looking at our Water Technology business holistically and evaluating our options to go beyond aquaculture to other larger segments of the water market. We will become more systematic and proactive in how we identify opportunities, engage customers, articulate value, price our offerings and convert our pipeline into revenue, which are all part of being a commercially savvy company.

We also see an opportunity to become a better operating company by allocating our internal resources, whether it be R&D or engineering, to projects and initiatives that will lead to improved commercial offerings and enhance productivity with the goal of expanding our margin profile. We are reviewing R&D spending in our water segment with our internal team and external partners to ensure our investment is focused on the most promising path to commercialization. While our DGI technology is advanced and patent protected, adoption in aquaculture has been slower than anticipated. As part of this review, we are evaluating applications beyond aquaculture where we may be able to leverage our existing technology and development investment to achieve faster market adoption.

Our goal is to allocate R&D resources more effectively and improve the return on the investment we have already made. While our investment in this segment is modest, every dollar matters. And this review reflects the discipline we are applying across all segments to maximize the return on our invested capital. We will evaluate all types of business models, including outsourcing, to increase speed of delivery while keeping the process knowledge in-house and strengthening our supply chain team, all in an effort to enhance margin during project execution and improve the customer experience. When it comes to both commercial and operational excellence, we are taking a disciplined approach to refining our internal operating mechanism, differentiating our offerings and improving processes and commercial approach where needed rather than reinventing them for every customer.

As a complement to our organic growth initiatives, we will selectively pursue M&A opportunities that strengthen our competitive position and expand our long-term growth potential. Our focus will be on businesses that add complementary technologies and products, broaden our channel capabilities or both, by enhancing our ability to serve new customers in attractive markets. As we build out our enterprise-level strategy, we will create an M&A playbook where we implement processes to evaluate each opportunity against rigorous strategic and financial criteria with an emphasis on value creation and focus on successful integration. Equally important, we will prioritize opportunities where we bring operational synergies, ensuring we have the resources and capabilities to capture the expected benefits without disrupting execution across our existing businesses.

Strategy determines where we are going. Our operating rhythm determines how we get there. To execute more consistently and profitably, we will implement an operating system that focuses on delivering consistent results with measurable metrics. We will strengthen our talent base with more focus and investment on commercial resources, institute rigorous processes for managing our business to set goals and objectives, evaluate all new and existing R&D programs against clearly defined deliverables and time lines and build a set of metrics and KPIs that will help the company achieve its stated goals.

As we enter the final quarter of the fiscal year, our immediate responsibility is establishing a measurable and accountable path towards delivering on our commitment and while continuing to lay the foundation for the future. For the balance of the year, our priorities are clear: complete the strategy planning process and the M&A playbook and prepare to review and seek approval with the Board early next year; build an achievable but appropriately ambitious 2027 budget, factoring in some of the megaprojects bidding that are ongoing; continue engagement with our customers, partners, vendors to showcase our capabilities, drive new sales opportunities and encourage actions on outstanding bids; establish the operating rhythm, performance metrics, business review processes that will build a culture of accountability, improve core business processes and remove waste that limit speed, effectiveness and profitability.

As we develop the 2027 plan, we will use a right-to-left approach. We will begin with the outcome we need to achieve sustainable and profitable growth and work backwards to identify the revenue, margins, investment, capabilities and actions required to deliver it. Our budget, resource allocation and individual objectives must align with that outcome. I remain highly encouraged by Fuel Tech's people, technical depth, technology portfolio and market opportunity. This transformation will take time, but the direction is clear. Fuel Tech will focus on the markets where we can lead, compete where we have a differentiated advantage and build the operating discipline needed to deliver more consistent long-term growth, profitability and shareholder value.

With that, I will return the call back to the operator to open the floor for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Amit Dayal with H.C. Wainwright.

질의응답

Amit Dayal

So, Ramesh, just touching on some of the things you highlighted, especially on the growth side. So with growth for energy sort of now part of the macro picture, can we expect the APC and FUEL CHEM business to be a beneficiary of higher plant utilizations, et cetera? Or are customers already running at full capacity and revenue should be expected to be sort of more stable rather than growing in an accelerated fashion?

Ramesh Nuggihalli

Let me take a step back and paint a picture on the power side. We all read the same newspaper, the sustainability of the economy and the growth that's needed for the nation needs to be backed by the infrastructure. All the investment, the CapEx that's going on today, it is not going to happen unless we have the electrons or the power of electricity to power them.

If you look at the projections that the nation has made in terms of all the things that needs to get built, to the power that's required, we are way behind. If you look at a country like China, it's got 2x the capacity of what we have just to sustain that economy. So if you look at our own needs, the power sector, it is going to continue to grow, irrespective of how the AI infrastructure is going to get built. And as the power sector gets built, we will have an opportunity to participate in that. All the emission controls and even some of the efficiency improvements in the traditional fossil power plant, that is going to be a positive momentum for both our APC and the chemical technology business.

Amit Dayal

Okay. Understood. And then, just moving on to the operational side. I know margins have historically fluctuated between 45%, 50%. Is that still the case? Or because of this demand, are you in a position to maybe get better pricing on the margin front? And then on the SG&A side, is this Q3 level sort of what we should be expecting going forward outside of the onetime type expenses?

Ramesh Nuggihalli

So let me touch on the pricing and the margin fluctuation, and then I'm going to hand over to Ellen to talk a little bit on the SG&A and how these things have played out in the past. The mixture between project heavy versus our traditional FUEL CHEM business has some impact on the variations of the gross margin, and it kind of keeps changing. But as we continue to see the momentum building up, the recent projects that we won on the air pollution control side, these are projects that are coming back where the customer has taken some time, evaluated our bids, compared it against other people, and then they came back and placed an order.

That goes to tell there is ability to have premium pricing because we bring something unique to the table. So that kind of for me, checked the box on our uniqueness when it comes to the project side. The chemical technology side kind of varies depending on the timing and how they are putting the power to the grid and how much of the plant is being utilized for which it is directly correlated to the chemicals that we supply. But overall, the margin is going to be stable or growing. I'm going to hand it over to Ellen as well. She's got some thoughts based on some historical perspective.

Ellen Albrecht

So just on our overall product segment, we will continue to try and maintain or improve our margins per your earlier discussion. On the OpEx side, from an SG&A perspective, we do expect our SG&A in line with current quarter and prior year given irrespective of any onetime charges that we are taking just as we continue to work on our strategy and just some overall operational improvements throughout the remainder of the year.

Amit Dayal

Understood. Maybe just last question, I guess, on the M&A side, I know it's early, Ramesh, but obviously, you have that mandate to see if you can find any attractive acquisitions. What segments are you looking at? Is it going to be sort of around products you already have right now? Or could you be entering new markets through these types of transactions? Any color on what your thought process is for, on the M&A front?

Ramesh Nuggihalli

We're looking at it systematically. M&A doesn't happen on its own. We have a team that's working out the strategy for the whole company. And as we are continuing to work on that strategy, we are identifying product gaps. We're identifying market gaps, channel gap, business models that are going to enhance the capabilities that we already have. That is paired up with another smaller team because of the confidential nature, where we're methodically and systematically going and identifying potential targets that could fill the gap.

And then, the third leg of the stool for me is to what's the right approach for some of those transactions. It's the size and what do we bring to the table, how accretive and where do we make a difference, our ability to execute and if it's auction, win the auction or if it is an exclusive negotiation to get closer to them and then bring the synergies, integrate them and grow profitably. So they're all going hand in hand. And it's not one thing, but it's clearly, we are starting with the product gap. Next is the market gaps. And then the third one is the business model gap.

And the third one is also very important for us because as we continue to grow and think smart about where do we want to deploy our capital, there are areas where we know we can be a clear winner. For example, you're looking at service as an offering. Today, it's a little bit informal within our portfolio, but that could be a self-standing business with the right kind of focus. Below the radar screen, we won't be competing with the big boys in this. But certainly, we can carve ourselves out a good business franchise and bring in some target that can help us. And when we go into conversation like offering long-term service contract. That is something that customers are asking. We're doing it informally, but that's a business model discussion. So we're having some really good conversation. And when it comes together, the strategy and the M&A playbook, for me, it is a strategic approach to inorganic growth as opposed to we just want to go acquire some companies.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] We have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the floor back over to Ramesh for closing comments.

Ramesh Nuggihalli

Thank you all for joining us and for your thoughtful questions. I appreciate the opportunity to introduce our strategy, discuss our priorities and continue our dialogue with investors. Our focus is now on execution, advancing our organic growth initiatives, managing costs with discipline and evaluating outside opportunity to strengthen the business. We recognize that earning your confidence will depend on delivering results and communicating candidly about both our progress and our challenge. On behalf of our entire team, thank you for your interest in the company. We look forward to updating you on our progress in the next quarter.

Operator

This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation, and have a wonderful day.