Ocean Power Technologies reports record backlog, lands $6.5M DHS contract

Welcome back inside our proactive newsroom and joining me now is Philip Strapman he is the CEO of ocean power technologies and filipants great to see again how are you doing well good to be owning and Steve yeah so I know you've dropped your third quarter numbers

ending January 31st 2026 and and the numbers show a lot of different things and let's begin sort of with one that really jumped out and that's this record backlog and maybe you can kind of explain what that means to everyone and really why that's so significant in the numbers.

Yeah absolutely you know the record backlog is this is for contracted purchase orders that we have in hand so this is you know these are contracts that will convert to revenue when performance obligations under the contracts are met I think you know we're very excited that a large part of that is also the multi-system order that we've got for the Department of Homeland Security for you know immediate delivery for Coast Guard for for deployment you know but it's it's

just testament to the fact that there is true demand out there in the market and this isn't hypothetical demand the system on where people are willing to work with us and are signing contracts for us to deliver systems into their operations.

And you're working full steam had to try and convert that inventory as well to get those ones out as quick as possible.

Absolutely you know the vessel is under contract for the installation for the for the Homeland Security Coast Guard project so you know we're talking days before the first system starts leaving New Jersey and starts making its way across to the west coast you know we're talking weeks before the installation starts so this is like immediate conversion

of the backlog into then performance obligations being met and then into revenue generation so you know we're super excited about that.

Yeah are you looking at trying to get more inventory in house so you're you're ready to go on these type of things is that something that you would work on as a as a company as a whole.

Yeah absolutely I think it is critical for us to have the inventory available so then when people call us up and saying I have a job in you know Houston and I need an autonomous vehicle I need it for a two week survey job that we have the inventory available and in house to respond to them in a matter that allows them to start a job a week later.

And equally on the booze side we started pre building the booze for Homeland Security.

I will say probably two plus months or so before we got the purchase order and that's enabled us to turn around and going okay yes you gave us the purchase order at a later stage that we had expected because of the government shutdown we've now got it in hand we're converting it we're going to ship this out ASAP that's critical for us and I think the next level of that that you're going to start seeing is without international.

International expansion is pre staging inventory into the region is where we have the biggest demand and the best conversations with our partners and customers so that we can fulfill their needs without needing to wait for you know shipping space to become available to move it across the ocean.

Yeah you mentioned a couple of markets you're looking at the Middle East I know is one that could be very important for the company and obviously there's some tension going on there right now.

Talk to me about your team everyone everyone safe there and and really about what's the strategy moving forward.

Yeah team in the UAE is safe appreciate you asking and so you know so are the partners that we work with there and we have assets in country already you know we speak spent the last year talking about what we've pre stage where we've done demonstrations with various customers.

And we're ready and willing to support you know operations when it comes to port safety when it comes to shipping lanes shipping inspections all those kind of efforts and there's ongoing discussions we're having in the region right now and you know it's it that sort of helped us.

By being over there already having people and assets in in country and in region so that enables us to help them get back to doing their day to day operations as quickly as possible to maintain energy flow to the rest of the world.

And lastly Philip just what should people take from from these financial numbers the numbers were very strong and obviously the backlog is is going to be worked on with the company as well but what should people take away from this.

I think what the backlog shows that demand numbers that might be out there aren't hypothetical you know we we are converting our pipeline into backlog.

And that backlog is being converted to revenues and we're going to continue seeing that growth increase and we're very excited about further growth but the Indian defense and security but also still on the commercial side and just continuing to expand the strategy we set out is working and it's translating into real numbers.

And I think that is what's important to see alright we'll leave it there Philip thanks so much great update is always will talk soon okay appreciate thanks on me honesty.

Alright they're still upstabbing the CEO of ocean power technologies.