The first US formality, building a small structure in a controlled setting, has been completed. Over the next few weeks, the building of real house walls will begin as part of a demonstration for 3 US building companies in Florida.

With a little luck, this will win eyeballs in the USA, and with significantly more luck, CRH Ventures will see enough industry interest to be convinced that it should fund a US joint entity - for the production of further robots to become a 'walls on call' building contractor.

https://www.fbr.com.au/view/investor-centre

Disc: I own shares IRL.

FBR halted on Thursday for an institutional share placement announced today of $12m. The discount was 20%. Bell Potter scored $720,000 for their pain and suffering.

This leaves FBR with cash balance of $16m explicitly to see them through to the anticipated exercising of joint venture option with CRH Ventures. It brings on board some (presumably US-based) international shareholders.

The shares will be tradable on 9 August.

I’ve heard people describe FBR as a story stock. Well, this is a very interesting chapter.

Mike, the CEO, is a good salesman when he gets going and he does in this interview. He’s transparent that he doesn’t know exactly what the next chapter will look like. 

https://www.therobotreport.com/advancing-the-world-of-construction-robotics/

Time stamps:

23:40) Background, technology, benefits to builder of locking in a price and time for his walls, hopes and dreams for global adoption.

56:20) Upcoming Florida demo builds of 10 houses in the next 4 to 8 weeks for 3 well known building names, to be witnessed by industry and US investors.

‘From there some decisions are going to made…we are going to gauge the interest…

…The question is: If this machine was available, if you could order your walls from a service provider at a known time and price, would you use it?

If the answer is yes, then we will put things in place to order the first 20 machines.’

My take:

This is the end of the beginning for FBR. I think the odds are favourable that the technology will find a partner or a taker. US google searches for FBR are just ticking up.

P.S. One quirk of the way this robot lays blocks or bricks which it took me some time to grasp - at present, the walls need rendering after (because adhesive is applied to the tops and bottoms of blocks, but not the sides, and perhaps the adhesive drips). In Florida, rendered ‘stucco’ block walls are the standard.

You also need space for a truck within 30m of the walls. I’d be glad to hear if someone spots anything else, I am not a builder.

FBR have one month of cash left and are exploring their raise options, including non-dilutive. The quarterly notes ‘for the avoidance of doubt, this process remains ongoing and incomplete’. They also have some RnD grant funding that they get an advance loan on.

Meanwhile the market cap has doubled. Obviously, this is because their situation is ‘interesting’ rather than ‘dire’. They have many solid stakeholders who want them to succeed, including Brickworks, CRE Ventures as a US construction industry partner and Liebherr as the presumptive manufacturer and service centre operator.

They need economies of scale to operate their ‘wall-as-a-service’ business concept (which is why they could not find a partner in Aus). Florida’s home builder market is a bit different, they can have large development sites. So Florida is FBR’s chosen launching ground and they have a couple of demo hoops to jump through before CRE Ventures considers going 50/50 with them on their US adventure.

I am operating on very basic reasoning as I HODL. Management appear better at inventing and engineering than on managing a listed entity. However, their invention could be a game-changer. They have recently taken on a new board member with experience at relevant OEMs including Liebherr and Hitachi, and at Bisalloy Steel.

FBR has listed on OTCQX in the USA. Not entirely sure what that means for the SP but it's setting the stage for something.

I know this company is basically a gangly teenager, but it looks to me like they do have some coordination skills.

Note that their next big event will be a demo build in Florida, and their manufacturer, Liebherr, has a service centre in Florida.

https://www.fbr.com.au/upload/pages/20240228091001/2687507-half-year-accounts.pdf

There's a state-of-play at the top of the financial report.

They are waiting on delivery of their second-generation robot (from Germany, I think), to be attached to a US truck chassis and sent to Florida to demo-build the walls on 5 to 10 residential houses. Timing is unclear but as soon as possible.

They have already built the walls on 15 or so residential houses in Perth.

They have a binding agreement with CRH, a construction entity in the USA and Europe. Successful completion of the Florida builds would trigger the ordering of 20 truck-mounted robots at $40 million.

I just hope this is real and that the patents are solid. But since Brickworks are a significant shareholder, I am tagging along for what could be an interesting ride.

I don't know what the value should be, but I can't help imagining more than $100 million if the story is legit and developers like the product.

It would be good to hear from any home builders about first impressions and any practical considerations. There are some videos on fbr.com.au and youtube.