Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Aetherion Technologies Q3 2026 conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Ashley Nuell.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Aetherion Technologies' conference call regarding its third quarter 2026 financial and operational results. This call is being held to coincide with the press release containing Aetherion's financial results issued yesterday after market close. On today's call, speaking on behalf of Aetherion will be CEO and Director Dan Sceli and Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Owens. Attendance on this call is open to the public, but questions will be restricted to the analyst community. You are reminded that certain statements made on this conference call and our responses to certain questions may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. and applicable Canadian securities laws.
Forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Please refer to Aetherion's filings for a more complete discussion on these risks. With that, I will turn the call over to Dan.
Thank you, Ashley, and good morning, everyone. Westport Fuel Systems is now Aetherion Technologies, a new name for the purpose that brought us together, reducing the emissions from the engines that move the world. Our new identity reflects our sharpened focus on heavy-duty transportation and the opportunities where our technology and expertise can create the greatest value. We are continuing to focus our portfolio and align our resources with this strategy. At the same time, we are retaining the specialized technical and commercial talent needed to advance our high-pressure CNG solution for the North American heavy-duty market. Please follow us at our new ticker on both the TSX and Nasdaq, AETR. Our priorities are clear: build on Cespira's commercial momentum, expand HPDI's reach, and advance toward break-even with disciplined capital management. First, real-world fleet acceptance of HPDI continues to grow.
Cespira delivered 85% product revenue growth in Q3, supported by stronger fleet demand. As the installed base expands, aftermarket activity adds another source of growth. That growth is consistent with what we are seeing from our partner, Volvo. in a press release on September 24, Volvo indicated that 2025 was their best sales year ever for natural gas-powered trucks, and they expect 2026 will be even stronger, supporting continued demand for Cespira's systems. The quality of that growth matters. Revenue continues to outpace overhead growth, support costs remain controlled, and investment is focused on strategic priorities. Together, these trends strengthen operating leverage and support a more self-sustaining business.
Second, the platform is advancing, and we are expanding its reach. Cespira's HPDI 3.0 fuel system is scheduled to enter production in Q4 2026, with the first equipped vehicles expected on the road in early 2027.
Alongside HPDI 3.0, we are advancing high-pressure CNG and renewable natural gas solutions for North America. Our goal is to bring fleets practical alternatives that preserve performance and support attractive operating economics. Across these opportunities, our approach is consistent: build on proven technology and pursue practical pathways to lower-emission heavy-duty transportation. Third, Cespira's progress reinforces our expectation of break-even in 2027. Revenue has grown quarter-over-quarter since inception, and net loss has significantly decreased, nearing break-even. Both trends we anticipate continuing. That said, there may be some ups and downs as Cespira works to kick off production of HPDI 3.0 in Q4. The momentum we have seen in demand, combined with improving operating leverage as volumes scale, strengthens our confidence in the path ahead.
What we are hearing and seeing in the market is demonstrated fleet demand for LNG heavy-duty trucks, supported by favorable fuel price differentials relative to diesel and tightening emissions regulations. In September, Reinert Logistics announced an order for 500 Volvo LNG trucks, the largest single order to date, with delivery over two years beginning in 2027. The order follows its experience operating 50 Volvo gas-powered trucks in everyday service. The significance goes beyond the order's size. A fleet tested the technology, assessed performance and fuel economics, and committed to a much larger deployment. That is commercial acceptance translating into repeat demand.
Renewable fuels are also gaining traction. Polish carrier SIS Trans ordered 100 Volvo bio-LNG trucks, reinforcing the role of LNG and bio-LNG in heavy-duty transportation. To support anticipated demand in 2027, Cespira is evaluating targeted capacity increases, with investment timing and scale aligned to customer requirements.
Our planning assumes these capacity investments would be self-funded without additional capital contributions from the parent companies for those investments. More broadly, progress toward break-even, stronger operating leverage, and disciplined costs could reduce Cespira's future funding needs from its parents. The priority is to turn higher demand into stronger performance and greater financial self-sufficiency. Finally, we entered into a $25 million committed equity facility with Roth Principal Investments to provide additional working capital for ongoing operations and strategic priorities. We remain focused on balancing growth investment with careful capital management and financial discipline. With that, I'll turn the call over to Elizabeth for a closer look at our financial results.
Thank you, Dan. Our third quarter financial results have demonstrated meaningful progress. Since Cespira's beginning, we have driven quarter-over-quarter revenue growth. In Q3 2026, product revenue grew by 85% to $20.7 million. In fact, year to date, to the end of the third quarter, Cespira has delivered more product in 2026 than for the entire 12 months of 2025. As Dan mentioned, Cespira's growth is influenced by the favorable price differential between diesel and natural gas, and government regulation support in markets like Europe. Aftermarket revenue was $4.9 million compared to $3.6 million, also driven by the increase in sales volumes. Service revenue was $2.7 million compared to $4.6 million in Q3 2025, primarily driven by the milestones achieved. Service revenue is allocated to projects as milestones are achieved.
One of Cespira's significant long-term engineering service revenue projects is nearing its end, with substantial completion expected in Q4 2026, prior to the anticipated launch of HPDI 3.0. Gross profit was $3.7 million compared to a gross loss of $1 million in Q3 2025. Cespira had a net loss of $0.3 million, a 95% improvement over the $6 million loss in Q3 2025, as they meaningfully increased their product revenue and lowered their cost base as they continue to grow and scale the business. Year to date, we have seen our capital contributions to Cespira decrease, a trend that we see continuing, as Dan mentioned, as they move towards an expected breakeven next year. Turning to our operating segment, Q3 2026 revenue for our High-Pressure Controls business was $2.6 million compared with $1.6 million for Q3 2025.
The increase in revenue was primarily driven by a higher volume of sales in the quarter compared to prior year, which was impacted by the transition of operations to our manufacturing facilities in China and Cambridge, Ontario. As production and shipment levels normalized, we achieved higher shipment volumes during the current quarter, resulting in increased sales. Turning to our bottom line, net loss per share improved to $0.13 in Q3 2026 from $0.60 in Q3 2025.
This improvement was driven primarily by growth at Cespira, where higher product revenue and a lower cost base reduced losses, and in turn, our share of those losses. We broadly expect this trend to continue as Cespira scales, and we remain confident in the longer-term trajectory. As at the end of September, our cash and cash equivalents position stood at $14.5 million compared to $23.9 million at June 30th, 2025.
Or pardon me, 2026. The decrease in cash was primarily driven by our operating losses, funding of the Cespira JV, and debt repayments. In the quarter, our capital contributions to Cespira decreased to $2.8 million from $11 million in Q3 2025, reflecting the improvement of Cespira's financial performance. We anticipate this number will continue to decrease in the coming year as Cespira continues to drive volume growth. We also paid $1 million in debt repayments, which represented our final payment to EDC.
Following the end of the quarter, we received an early payment of approximately $2.4 million in relation to outstanding escrow amounts as a result of our light-duty transaction that closed in 2025. These amounts were originally anticipated in early 2027. Strengthening our financial position remains a core priority. Our equity facility of up to $25 million provides additional financing flexibility while we continue to manage capital carefully.
On costs, our underlying corporate run rate is in a good position when we exclude spending related to our CNG solution in North America and other one-time items. We distinguish those underlying costs from targeted investment in future opportunities so that we can maintain discipline while progressing our strategic priorities. Spending related to our CNG solution in North America is directed towards unlocking a significant opportunity as we continue to assess that investment. With that, I will pass the call back to Dan.
Thank you, Elizabeth. To close, our focus is clear: build on Cespira's commercial momentum, advance its path towards self-funding, and progress our high-pressure CNG solution for North America while maintaining financial discipline. Our transition to Aetherion Technologies brings that focus into sharper view. We are aligning our portfolio, technical capabilities, and investment with the opportunities where we believe we can deliver the greatest long-term value. Thank you, and we welcome your questions.
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. One moment for questions. Our first question comes from Chris Dendrinos with RBC Capital Markets. You may proceed.
Yeah. Good morning, and thanks for taking the question.
Good morning.
I wanted to follow up on Cespira here, and I guess specifically just around the investments that might get made to expand capacity. Can you just comment broadly on where capacity was and maybe how much are you all thinking about taking that up? Then second to that, I think the comment was it is being self-funded. So, should we interpret that to mean that contributions into the JV continue to go lower, broadly? Thanks.
Yeah. So, our plan is to double capacity this year, and it will be self-funded, i.e., the cash generated in the business in Cespira is going to be able to pay for that. So, there will be no need for contributions from the parents for that capital investment. The cash calls are reduced dramatically, and so we are quite pleased about that growth.
Okay. Then maybe just on the High-Pressure Controls business, and just trying to get a feel for how you all are thinking about that opportunity long-term, and if you could maybe just speak to the outlook to that and where you see the kind of opportunity over time. Just trying to think through the investments that you are making there from an R&D perspective and how you think about it.
Yeah. So, that business is continuing to be strong from a technical perspective. We are the leader in that market. We have some R&D development going on that is funded by some customers, some high-end automotive customers. And the real priority is the North American CNG opportunity. Our technology from High-Pressure Controls will be key in delivering our smart storage system for CNG in North America that will be applied with our HPDI 3.0.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Amit Dayal with H.C. Wainwright. You may proceed.
Hey. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for—
Hey. Good morning, Amit.
Hey, Dan. This current run rate at Cespira, is that representing roughly close to full utilization of available capacity?
We're not at full utilization yet, but we're approaching it, and we're going to double that capacity this year.
Okay. Thank you. This is coming from one or two customers right now, right? This level of revenues basically. Is that correct?
No, it's actually quite. I mean, we've highlighted a couple because they're unique large purchases, but it's across the board. I think we're in 35 or 36 countries now. We're seeing the demand grow across the markets for natural gas trucks.
Understood. I was just trying to see if there was any concentration. It looks like there is not.
No, there's no concentration. It's pretty broad-based acceptance of the product. We're well beyond the question of, is the technology reliable and functional? There's no question about that now. We're well into over 12,000 trucks on the road, and the products are working fantastic. It's just the economics now are also the solution for a lot of these fleets to deal with the economics of diesel, and of course, the regulatory environment is helping as well.
So, I guess maybe this is a little too early, but I'm posing it anyway. Is there a future for Cespira as a public company potentially?
That is a really good question. We haven't had that discussion with our partner. Our goal right now is to build it out and get the business completely self-sustainable financially. We're getting very close to that. We haven't had the conversation, and we'll see. It's something that I suspect we'll be talking about at some point.
Thank you. Just last one. For the High-Pressure Controls, what are the channels you are using right now, and are more of those distribution channels coming online?
Do you mean the industrial markets for fuel cells in forklifts? Is that kind of what you're referring to?
Yeah, I'm just trying to see where the High-Pressure Controls are being sold and how they're being sold today, and then what are the paths for that to scale in the future?
Sure. The significant portion of our revenue today is in the industrial world. It is all the High-Pressure Controls for the fuel cells that run forklifts, as an example. It is a pretty big market. We also have a light-duty business there that is developing products for fuel cells for that market. It is a bit of a mix.
Okay, understood. That is all I have, Dan. I will take my other questions offline. Thank you.
Okay. Thanks, Amit.
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone. Our next question comes from Eric Stine with Craig-Hallum Capital Group. You may proceed.
Good morning, Eric.
Morning, everyone. Morning. Hey, just coming back to the CNG back-of-cab solution. I mean, obviously, that is an offering that you have been very optimistic about here for some time, but it does seem like you have kind of leaned in a little bit to it becoming more of a near-term opportunity. First of all, am I reading that right? Second of all, when I think that, I think that what would really enable that would be Volvo HPDI North America. Just maybe an update on where that stands.
Sure. Yes, the target is certainly with Volvo and the Cespira HPDI technology. I mean, the focus right now is launching HPDI 3.0 with Volvo on their new engine. The work running parallel to that in North America is we are building out the technology. We are working on additional demonstration models that will be announced when they get organized. Volvo is working their business case, right? This is a standard practice in the OEM world. They have to go through their entire business case analysis and approve it for moving forward. That is moving, that is happening, and so we are very excited that the market is going to pull this system into the North American fleets. It is just a matter of timing.
Yep. No, that is great. Then you talked about, obviously, trends in Cespira are quite good, but also you talked about there could be some choppiness because of HPDI 3.0 and the timing there. I mean, in that context, how should we think about Q4? Are there any indications you can give, such as pre-orders or anything that you can point to? Obviously, you are doubling capacity, so it seems quite positive.
It is. Yeah, we put that cautionary note on launching. Anytime you launch a new engine system, you are going to be managing startup issues. But so far, everything has been going fine, and Volvo is rolling out their new engine with our new HPDI 3.0 on it. I think just the underlying fact that we need to double capacity, you just look at the last two years and the rate of growth we have had, right? That is the theme that we are living to.
Yep. Okay, last one for me. I think, obviously, Volvo is the lion's share, but you have talked about a second OEM, a 200-truck trial. Just curious if you can update on second level of field trials and potential plans going forward.
Sure. We have been in detailed conversation with quite a number of OEMs over the last six months. The second OEM doing the truck trial, that is still ongoing, but we are talking to other OEMs beyond that as well, because I think what the trucking world is seeing is that the economics of natural gas are superior and making a lot of sense in today's environment. We expect to keep moving those forward and at some point bring on a second or third OEM. That has been the goal from day one, is to bring on second and third OEMs, and we are going to continue to drive that mission.
All right. Thank you.
Thanks, Eric.
Thank you. I would now like to turn the call back over to Dan Sceli for any closing remarks.
All right. Well, thank you. Thank you for your time today, everybody. We appreciate your continued interest in Aetherion, and we will now end the call. Thank you.
Thank you. This concludes the conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.