Good day and welcome to the NX Filtration 2022 results conference call and webcast. Following today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. If you are listening to the call over the webcast and you wish to ask a question, you will need to dial in over the phone and to press star one on your telephone keypad. This meeting is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to hand the call over to Michiel Staatsen, CEO. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you. Also on behalf of Eric and Marc, I welcome you all to NX Filtration's 2022 results webcast. As you know, we are successfully working on some major themes for our planet in a very dynamic water market. Last summer, we've seen many examples of lowering groundwater levels impacting nature, human life, and economic development. We saw fast increasing awareness about pollution threatening the environment and our scarce water resources with, for an example, PFAS, medicine residues, pesticides from wastewater streams. This puts more and more emphasis on our sustainable solution for these challenges. That's exactly why we have so much traction with our global growing customer base, and why we have grown so fast in 2022, and why we'll continue this path in 2023. What does it mean for NX Filtration?
It means having real and measurable ESG impact, and that we invested in our organization, in our pilot program, in our production capacity in 2022. We'll tell you all about this in this webcast. We'll cover the key highlights, strategic progress and momentum, financials. I'm gonna start with the highlights. What we see on this slide is that we showed strong growth last year, driven by globally increasing challenges around water scarcity and quality. We showed real ESG impact and strong top-line growth, more than doubling our revenues at a healthy growth margin. The real important achievement lies in the ramp-up of our organization and in the number of pilot projects around the world that, as you know, are the basis for our future revenues.
We commissioned a second spinning line in our current facilities and started construction of our new mega factory with anticipated startup in the first half of 2024, needed to meet expected demand from our rapidly developing pipeline of opportunities. All in all, this transferred NX Filtration in a truly global business, well-positioned for further growth. We made a strong start in 2023, and the outlook for this year is EUR 18 million-EUR 20 million, EUR 22 million euro revenues. As mentioned, we more than doubled our revenues, driven by an increasing number of full-scale projects resulting from pilot trajectories, expanding our international sales force, repeat projects from existing customers, and a growing number of OEM partners. Both our business lines in municipal and industrial water showed strong growth.
Our industrial water business line grew with 140%, driven by end users who are looking for ways to reduce their water footprints in the textile and food and beverage industries in a sustainable way. Our municipal water business benefited from various projects in Asia, primarily. The focus in Europe and North America remains on pilot projects that all have clear visibility on large, full-scale projects with leading players such as Veolia, Aqualia, and SUEZ. Concerning other income, it's important to realize that the rental income for our pilots more than doubled from a growing number of those pilots. We're very proud to see increasing traction for our breakthrough technology with blue chip customers around the globe. Besides existing customers, with whom we further strengthened cooperation, you will also notice new customer names with whom we are working closely.
These customers are all looking to address their water challenges in a sustainable way. We're making continuous progress with global big players such as Veolia, SUEZ, and Acciona, both for drinking water as well as wastewater challenges, with opportunities for full scale applications behind those pilots. We saw repeat projects from customers such as Agua de México, Aquapax from Belgium, and Aquarius H2O from India. Of course, this webcast is about 2022, but I want to take a moment to look at 2023 as well. We already received orders for full scale applications to be delivered in 2023 from new partners, such as, for instance, Hydroflux, the fastest-growing water technology company in Australia. A new partnership that shows the effectiveness of our commercial rollout model, as both...
As this relationship started with commercial pilot that took Hydroflux and their customers through the technology adoption phase. We received yet another important order to be delivered in 2023 from Indonesia-based PT. Bayu. Especially worth mentioning is the fact that after a number of drinking water projects by PT. Bayu, they are now also going to treat wastewater with our DNF membranes. Now I would like to hand over to Erik to elaborate on ESG.
Thank you, Michiel. I'm very happy to continue. Yes, my name is Erik Roesink. I'm the CTO and founder of this company. I want to start here by reminding you that our IPO in 2021 was the first Dark Green IPO worldwide. 95% of our business was labeled Dark Green, which was based on our innovative, sustainable hollow fiber nanofiltration membrane technology.
C0 was the external certifying organization. We are proud to announce that we now extended our external rating by Sustainalytics, where we came out as best 13% in our peer industrial group. Further, we have set our science-based CO₂ reduction targets at NX Filtration. NX Filtration aims for 42% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030. We have also installed an independent supervisory board, ESG committee. On the next slide, you see here it's about making impact, and I'm very proud on the achievements of our team over the year 2022. This is exactly why I founded NX Filtration, and this was only 7 years ago. Now already, this very positive global impact and contributing so strongly to the global water transition.
Already now in 30 countries, we are producing high-quality water all from river water, all from industrial or municipal wastewater. We have all seen last year again, the dramatic effects of the global water crisis caused by climate change. Rivers are drying up, groundwater levels are lower as never before, That means that we need to hurry up with the water transition. Water transition is dealing with water scarcity and water pollution, It forces us to fully focus on water reuse and the use of other water sources than groundwater, like wastewater and, if available, surface water. Next to the water crisis, we do have an energy crisis. To minimize the CO₂ footprint, we do need green, energy-friendly technology. That is exactly what NX Filtration offer its customers. Here's an example.
With the membrane module sales in 2022, we could produce 263 billion liters of water, which saves 82 GWh of energy, again, 3,600 tons of CO₂, compared to existing traditional water technology. Please, Marc, take over for the next slide.
Thank you, Erik. As Erik explained, the challenges around water is a global issue. This slide shows you that with our breakthrough technology, we are responding as a global company to address these issues and provide sustainable solutions to drive the water transition. During 2022, we have expanded our global footprint, which is reflected in our 2022 revenue with strong growth across all regional clusters. We've expanded our local sales presence in additional countries during 2022 and further strengthened our regional clusters. We further shaped our global sales organization to position as well for the growth ahead of us and play a significant role in the water transition. On the right part of this slide, you see that we are able to expand our global sales presence and currently have 34 FTEs in our regional clusters.
We are very proud that during 2022, we have significantly strengthened our regional sales organizations and were able to attract industry hires to lead these regional clusters. We are pleased to have Mr. Tsunenobu Katsura on board. He's the former chairman of Hydranautics, one of the leading membrane manufacturers in the world, and heading our business in the Asia Pacific region. In our headquarters in the Netherlands, we further strengthened our organization to facilitate the growth from a technological and operational perspective. We were able to grow our technology and operations team to 101 FTEs with excellent young talents and some very experienced industry leaders who are actively driving the growth today. One name I would like to highlight, Geert-Henk Koops, former global technology leader of 3M, moved from Canada to the Netherlands to further strengthen our technology team.
Being able to attract young talent and strong industry leaders is a great testimony to the breakthrough technology we provide, the impact we make with our products, and the great place to work we offer to our employees. Thank you.
Thank you, Marc. That's how we make it all possible. This picture will be familiar to you. Our commercial rollout model that always starts with a commercial pilot project. We initiated significantly more pilot projects than the year before. What I really want to point out today is that the recurring part of our business is playing an important role more and more. With a large number of repeat orders from existing customers, orders for projects that are also increasing in volume. A very first I can share with you today is that we received our first DNF recurring replacement order for one of our first full-scale applications from 2019. This type of recurring business is an integral part of our business model and will become more and more important for us in the years to come.
To support the traction with our pilot program, we've invested in further building out our fleet of pilot systems. These pilot systems are being deployed all over the world. We will keep focused on deployment of our pilot fleet in 2023 also. On the left, we see the fast increasing number of pilot projects initiated around the globe in 2022. On the chart on the right, we see the number of pilot systems with our containerized full-scale Mexpert pilots and our lab scale Mexperience pilots. In the second column from the right, you see that we already had a fleet of 162 pilot systems in total at the end of 2022.
In the far right column, you see that we are now working towards a total of 190 pilot systems, including systems that we've ordered already to be delivered this year. We are very much on track towards our medium-term objective of 200 pilot systems. Thanks, Michiel. Yes, to be in line with the increasing market demand, we need a bigger factory. On this picture, you'll see an artist's impression of our new mega factory. This factory will be built in Hengelo, and it's close to where we are now with our production locations. Also here, practice what you preach. Production and reuse our own process water, but also heat recovery, say, reuse of energy where possible, and solar panels on the roof.
We have earlier announced that our new factory would have a membrane module production capacity of approximate 80,000 modules per year. However, based upon positive experiences with our second spinning line, we learned that we can, and we will realize a higher output per spinning line. Also, based on this strong market demand and to be prepared for much higher volumes in the future, we have decided to build a larger facility, which is more floor space. We proactively create room to further expand to more than 120,000 modules per year. Yes, this comes with a higher CapEx than foreseen at the IPO. However, despite our Q and fuse on cost, our estimated CapEx per module capacity remains exactly in line with previous estimates.
Yes, construction started already, and completion is anticipated in the first quarter of 2024, and start of the membrane module production in the first half year of 2024. NX Filtration was founded with a strong ambition to introduce a green solution for the global water transition, producing pure and affordable water with the lowest possible CO₂ footprint. Yes, in that, we are very successful, as we have explained already in this webcast. This was made possible based upon our breakthrough membrane technology. In the picture here in the middle, you can see the heart of our technology. The bluish, greenish nano layers on the porous membrane support represent the core of a hollow fiber nanofiltration technology. We are continuously working on improving our intellectual property position here, and we've obtained a new patent family on aqueous phase separation processes.
Dutch research institute KWR confirmed excellent results on PFAS removal of a hollow fiber membrane technology. In a European research project with partners Eurecat and Xylem, we are working on a total solution for elimination of emerging pollutants as PFAS. In our longer-term research program, we are working on membranes that can deal with brackish water, a new application for NX Filtration that will further enlarge our addressable market. Our direct nanofiltration technology is strongly recognized by the industry. In Sweden, our membrane technology is integrated in a municipal treatment plant, and this project is rewarded as the wastewater project of the year by Global Water Intelligence. BlueTech Research is giving us the highest score on our innovative, disruptive membrane technology.
You can imagine that you see here a very proud CTO, since NX Filtration is also included in the Euronext Tech Leaders and is here the only water technology company out of 100 plus tech companies. I'll hand over to Marc for the financial outlook.
Thank you, Erik. In the next two slides, I will provide an overview of the financials for the year 2022, starting with the profit and loss. In 2022, we see a strong revenue growth in both addressable business lines and significant growth in rental in-income due to our successful rollout of the pilot strategy. The revenue grew from EUR 4.1 million in 2021 to EUR 8.4 million in 2022. The growth of 105% is the result of an increasing number of full-scale and repeat projects. We see a growing number of OEM partners, which strongly relates to the expansion of a global sales organization. We are pleased to see that our gross margin has increased from 55% in 2021 to 57.2% in 2022.
This increase is largely the result of the efficiencies achieved from the ramp-up of our second spinning line in our existing production location and partially due to a positive product mix effect. Increase in personnel costs from EUR 3.8 million in 2021 to EUR 8.4 million in 2022 is the result of our ahead of the curve expansion of our organization. It makes me proud to attract 66 FPE in the last 12 months in all areas and layers of our organization. They are key to further shape our organization and to position as well for the growth ahead of us. The strong revenue growth is not only supported by the growth of our organization, but also by the EUR 12.7 million investments we made during 2022. We invested in the ongoing capacity expansion in the existing locations.
We further expanded our pilot fleet to respond to the increasing market opportunities, purchased the land, and make significant steps in the build of the equipment and development of the buildings and installations required for the startup of a new mega factory in Hengelo. The development of our working capital is mainly the result of the growth we are currently experiencing. With the growth of sales, our trade receivables has increased compared to 2021, and we are also gearing up for the expected growth ahead of us with increased inventory levels on raw materials and finished goods. I would like to hand over to Michiel, who will lead you to the final part of our webcast.
Yes. Before going to Q&A, let's look ahead.
As explained perfectly by Erik, we see major developments in the water transition around water quality and water scarcity increasing around the globe. These trends are increasingly emphasizing the need for a real water transition. We have the breakthrough membrane technology to address those challenges, to play an important role towards a more sustainable way of producing water and protecting the environment. That's why we're so committed to growing NX Filtration and driving our strategic agenda. In 2023, we will remain focused on developing our global organization and our people on the commercial rollout, on the ramp-up within our current facilities, and on the new mega factory, which will enable significant production efficiencies and unlock further growth opportunities.
Concerning ESG, we will continue to make real impact by providing technology to produce pure and affordable water while saving energy and chemicals with our customers, and of course, with continued internal ESG efforts also related to our new mega factory. Finally, our revenue forecast is EUR 18 million-EUR 22 million for 2023 based on our order backlog, expected other income, and our weighted pipeline of orders for full-scale projects and repeat business in 2023. That brings me to the end of the presentation. I'd like to hand over to the moderator for any questions you might have.
Thank you, sir. As a reminder, to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one. Please make sure the mute function on your phone is switched off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. A reminder for those who are listening to the call over the webcast, you will need to dial in over the phone line and to press star one. Our first question comes from Henk Veerman from Van Lanschot Kempen. Please go ahead, your line is open.
Hi. Good morning, Erik, Michiel, Marc, and the rest of the team. Congratulations with the results. Thank you for taking my questions. We'll go through them one by one. The first question is on pricing. Based on the annual report, I see that you sold about 1,200 membranes in the second half of the year. This implies a price per membrane of about EUR 3.5 thousand, which is up a lot versus about EUR 2.5 thousand in the first half of 2022 and in 2021. I appreciate the mix is improving towards nanofiltration membranes. If I remember correctly at the time of the IPO, you said that pricing per DNF module would be about EUR 2.5K-4K per membrane.
Can you give me any color on where this pricing for direct nanofiltration membrane stands today? What will be the pricing per membrane approximately in 2023? That's my first question.
Yeah. Thank you, Henk, for this question. I think the math you're doing is correct. We did see a shift towards the DNF membranes in the second half of the year, resulting in a higher margin. Part of our sales is of course also reflecting headers, other parts to serve these membrane modules. The overall pricing you're mentioning is correct. For the second half of the year, indeed a bit higher than the first half.
Yeah. Henk, I think still we remain, let's say if you talk about us during the IPO, the range between 2,500, to 2,500 and 4,000 is still valid.
Yeah.
We don't, we don't see that there is a sharp increase or decrease on that on that guidance. We continue with that range. Yes, it also had to do with a bit of a mix impact moving towards DNF and also a bit of MF. There you see that we are a bit up in the second half of 2022, but the range for 2,500-4,000 is still valid.
Okay, great. Second question is on the ramp up of the Hengelo facility in the first half of 2024. You now state that, well, we should expect a gradual ramp up in the first half of the year. Do I then assume correctly that you will still do that with the full 50K and capacity, and as such, this 50,000 production capacity will be available in the second half?
Yeah. I think, Henk, you're right. What we also announced during the let's say the half year results of 2022, that we will build a bigger factory with initial capacity of 50,000, that it at the start, let's say already. We see the market traction. We see, let's say, the whole water transition is coming alive with all the issues we have around the globe. We really require the initial capacity, and that will be available during 2024.
A follow-up question on that is, you have at some point in 2024, you have this 50,000 capacity available, how does that compare to the number of orders you already see for this period? I know it's a bit hard to estimate from where we stand today?
Very difficult.
... do you already know to what extent you will utilize this 50K capacity in 2024?
I think what you see is that we are a very successful pilot strategy. I say for us, it's about planting the seeds already in 2022, and we continue to do that in 2023. Pilot trajectories are very successful, and I think, it's therefore we see also with all the things that are happening around the world with the water transition and also moving into larger scale projects that we expect that we need that capacity in order to fulfill the market demand. It's for us, it's very hard to say, okay, which one. We see all the circumstances that are very positive. Yeah, we are already moving towards the medium-term goal objective of 200 pilot systems around the world, and we see them to be very successful.
We believe that we require the initial capacity of 50,000.
An important step we made in 2022 is about building the not only building the international sales organization and providing with the tools such as the pilot fleet, but we also implemented the CRM system. That really helps us looking ahead, looking at the opportunities when they are coming. We are very committed in 2023 to keep ramping up production to make sure that we not only supply customers but also build some stocks. In 2024, we'll see a regular ramp up of factory which as Marc indicates perfectly, we really believe we need in 2024.
The good thing about those pilot trajectories is that all pilots start with a parent or business opportunity. I think that gives us the visibility of the larger scale projects that are ahead of us.
Right. That's, that's clear. Last question before I move back into the queue is on EBITDA in 2023. If I take all your comments on sales, pricing, expansion of the personnel base, it seems that according to my calculations, the EBITDA loss in 2023 in a base case scenario will be somewhat similar to 2022 at approximately a high single digit negative level. Do you agree this is a good base case scenario for this year, or am I missing something in the costs?
As I say, what we see is the traction, and what we see is the growth. I think that gives us a very, I say we are very confident that also what we announced during the IPO, that we have a medium-term objective to become EBITDA and cash flow positive when we build and ramp up the factory. That, I think is the guidance we can give you. I don't believe that we really see other circumstances that will impact either positively or negatively. We are on track. I think that gives us the confidence, also that we are fulfilling, as I say, the promises we did during the IPO.
Okay. Clear. No, let's say large government grants that will come in in 2023 that did not come in in the second half or no large positive or negative one-offs.
You know, we are a technology company. We continuously invest in R&D. Also we are also engaging with the appropriate parties in order to look for grants to support our technology development.
Okay. Greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Edward Bottomley from Berenberg. Please go ahead.
Hi, Erik, Michiel, and, sorry, Marc.
Marc.
Thank you. Sorry. Hope you guys are doing well. Thanks for taking my questions, and congrats on the numbers. I guess a few questions on my side. The first one being on if we're looking at pilot projects, you've rapidly increased the number of pilot projects you're doing. How have you seen the conversion to full-scale installation vary? Are you still seeing conversion at a very high rate, or has that started to come down as you do more pilot projects?
Thank you. Thank you, Ed. Actually, what we have always stated, I can reiterate that we still see a very high...
Conversion rate.
conversion rate for these pilots. There's timing involved. Sometimes it takes a pilot takes only a short period, a few weeks, maybe, or months. Sometimes it takes several years, after which we go with the customer into a design phase and commissioning phase. Some of these pilots we've initiated earlier and we've initiated in 2022, have already converted into projects. Some are still in the design stage or tendering phase. Only few we have not seen convert either to, we took a technical risk looking at water that was very challenging and decided it was not economically viable or sometimes something happens at the site of customer, making them decide to postpone the project. Still very high conversion rate.
What's also interesting to see that a big share of that is also more and more in the repeat order segment, where customers go to second and third, and sometimes fourth or more projects with our pilots and sometimes their own pilots to win these demo or full scale convert to demo and full scale plans. As I mentioned in the presentation also, it was, we're very proud to see the first actual recurring replacement order in 2022, proving that part of our recurring business model as well.
Okay, thanks. Just on that, replacement order, how many years ago did that, you know, original order come in? How long did it take for the membranes to need to be replaced?
Yeah. On average, we've always mentioned it will take three to five years to replace. An example, I stole from Erik. It's similar to driving a car. If you always drive really fast and you two corners, your tires will wear down sooner. This was an industrial application from 2019. Roughly four or five years.
4 years replacement. About 4 years, yeah.
Four years.
Closer to 4.
Yeah.
Okay, cool. Thanks. If we're looking at your commercial team, you've done a lot of good hiring through 2022, are there any areas in particular you think you still need to build out? Do you think you're happy with how it stands for the moment and we're not going to see a huge build-out of the commercial team, from here on out?
Yeah. No, I think we that's an excellent question, Ed. As we mentioned, we really invested ahead of the curve in our commercial organization in 2022, so we're really well set up now in the geographies we're looking at. Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, with, as Marc mentioned in the presentation, really well-experienced people, young talent with us. We provided all the tools in the form of pilots and a good working CRM system. We'll really start benefiting from that in 2023 and beyond.
For super talent, we also place, Ed.
Of course. The last question from me would be on regulation. You know, what do you make of the PFAS proposals being put forward to the EU over the past month, and maybe if there are any other specific regulatory tailwinds out there for you at the moment that you think are worth highlighting and keeping in mind?
Yeah. It's, it's a good point, Ed. Indeed, you know, we mentioned PFAS several times in our presentation, but the bigger picture of the water transition, water pollution, water scarcity, and certainly in Europe, PFAS is a very dominant substitute which is mentioned. The overall tendency in Europe is to go to a stop of production of PFAS, which I can imagine and I welcome that. I think it's very important to notice and to mention that even if that happens overnight, then the next decades at least, will deal with polluted surface water, groundwaters, et cetera. We still need a more strict regulation in the water quality regulation, et cetera.
I think to see that it's also popping up, it's not yet affected or net regulated. The awareness, also what Michiel mentioned in his introduction, is getting, I would say every week, better and better. We need to do something there. I can also mention that there is a lot of traction also in the industry. Now, we in the Netherlands, we are now teaming up with Vitens for seeing whether we can make water based on surface water, which is for Vitens, typical groundwater station and a breakthrough. Also the PFAS is very important. We cannot drop all the names, but some industries, which also working with PFAS, as I have mentioned and are testing with our product.
We do expect quite a traction to see there also in the coming period, absolutely.
Maybe to add on that, Erik, the interesting thing is that our technology can be used on both sides of the PFAS challenges we face. Both on the wastewater side, we can help prevent the discharging of PFAS.
Of course. No, yeah.
On the drinking water side.
Perfect.
...prevent PFAS from coming in the drinking water.
We have seen also in the slide on technology with development. Our Dutch KWR has really demonstrated as an external research institute how good our retention rates are, our removal rates are for PFAS. It's also we've been highlighted also that in a big European project with companies like Acciona, with a big impact in the water market. Xylem, big impact. We're working closely together to get a total solution for getting rid of PFAS. Really we spot on that application.
Hey, brilliant. Thanks very much for your time, guys.
Okay.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Eric Wilmer, from ABN AMRO ODDO, please go ahead.
Good morning, gentlemen, and thanks for taking my questions. I got a few remaining. First one, I wanted to drill a bit deeper on your gross margin. I think you've been able to show a pretty remarkable step-up in your gross margin in H2 versus H1 to roughly 59%. You mentioned mixed effects and scale, I think as key reasons. Could you provide kind of a split of these two? How do you see gross margin evolve in H1 this year? What part of that 400, roughly 400 basis points sequential increase, do you feel is sticky? Thanks.
Thank you, Erik. I think also during the webcast, I think we're very pleased with the efficiency we now achieve in our second spending line, and also the scale up of our production volume, that we are able to manage out the inefficiencies we had. We are really benefiting from the larger scale. We are now continuously at work, also working with our supplier base in order to optimize our inbound supply and our raw materials and really see that effect of becoming a larger player in the market. I think that's a thing we'll see continue to grow and to profit because our focus is always on to improving those margins. I think, and as you well explained, it's partly also mix effects.
What you see in the MF for example, we are already in the replacement business. Replacement business is, of course, in the membrane, there is the true value added of a product. That's where we really see our product come alive and also contribute to the bottom line P&L. That's what we will also see, let's say, evolving in our DNF proposition. The first replacement order is already in. What we will see on the one hand is greater efficiencies, larger scale, but on the other hand, it's also that we are also working now with bigger players, with larger systems, bigger projects. On the downside, you will always have some pricing pressure on that as well.
That said, we will continuously focus on improving our gross margins. As I say, it's our key apart from helping the water transition and helping our OEMs, it's also key for us to further improve our, as I say, our gross margins.
That's very helpful. Thanks for that. My next question is on your pilot systems. I think you had 162 pilot systems at the end of 2022. If I'm not mistaken, you guided for 168 at H1. I mean, I realize it's only, it only concerns six systems, but I was just wondering about the dynamics, wanted to understand them. Is this, is this supply chain driven? Is this related to timing and clients, or am I wrong with that number? Thank you.
Yes. Thank you again. That's, that's simply timing. If you look at the number including the pilots we already ordered, we're already going towards 119. And if you look at the number you mentioned, 168, which we mentioned during the first half year webcast, that's including pilots orders. Some of them also had the delivery time in 2023. So we're well on their way, and there are no hiccups worth mentioning in the supply of those pilots.
Understood. As a follow-up, you mentioned-
We've already mentioned-
Sorry.
Okay, go ahead, Erik.
You mentioned you're going towards 190. That sounds that you're actually an awfully lot close to the 200 already, pretty soon. Am I getting a little bit ahead?
Yeah. With the pipeline of outstanding orders for pilots, we're going to 190 at, so we're getting close to our medium-term goal. Also the focus will shift more from building the fleet towards, really deploying them effectively with our customers, generating opportunities for full-scale projects.
Okay. Thank you. That's helpful. My last question then concerns your CapEx. I think it was materially lower than expectations in 2022, at least materially lower than what we expected. Seems largely driven by spacing of your CapEx towards 2023. Can you give us some sense on CapEx for this year and perhaps on the step-up in H1 this year versus H2 last year? Thanks.
Yeah, Erik. What we will see and also what we feel explained. During 2022, our main goal was to build the pilot fleet and also ramp up and enlarge the existing capacity. We already made some investments for the new mega factory in Hengelo, but the peak of those investments will be in 2023. You're right, it's partly has to do with some timings and some shifting towards from 2022 to 2023 on the greenfield. That's the main priority for 2023 and also the major part of our investments. We still are enlarging our pilot fleet, but that will also be in the first half of 2023.
We also still are investing in our existing locations because they are also the base for our future as well. We already have the 10,000 capacity available and that's something which we are also happy with.
Thanks very much, gentlemen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We'll now take our next question from Thomas Martin from BNPPE. Please go ahead.
Morning, everyone. Just a quick one from me, I think. Have there been any developments in the marketplace, with regards to any additional visibility on competitors, perhaps, developing products, hollow fiber membrane products, which might be getting closer to delivering the types of performance that your products are able to deliver? Thanks.
No, thank you for that question. Here, Erik Roesink, CTO. I think roughly you can say that the status is still as you can read in our prospectus. We then identified some products which could be mentioned as coming relatively close, but not a product similar as we offer to the market, hollow fiber nanofiltration, which is capable of removing all the micropollutants, including PFAS residual medicines. There with having a tool which really is, yeah, the instrument of the water transition, making on a very sustainable way drinkable water quality. There is a product from the company Pentair, which is suitable for removing color from river water, but not suitable for removing micropollutants.
We see some developments as also mentioned in our prospectus in the Singapore region, smaller startups from the Singapore universities, but we never came across these products in the market in real life. Mind you that of course, we also keep a very strict eye on our competitive field. The simple question is not any difference as we already highlighted in our prospectus, Thomas.
That's great. Thank you very much for the update.
As there are no further questions in the queue, I'd like to hand the call back over to Michiel Staatsen for any additional or closing remarks.
Yes, thank you. Thanks everybody for joining the webcast. As you have noticed, both Erik, Marc, and myself are still committed and dedicated to the whole water transition. We're really happy to welcome you again in our the webcast for the half year results for 2023, in August. So far, thanks for all your questions. Thanks for dialing in, and good luck everybody, including ourselves with the water transition.
Yes, thank you.
Thank you.
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. Ladies and gentlemen, you may now disconnect.