Matrikon announces Q4 2007 results

November 08, 2007
MatrikonOPC
News

Summary

Revenue was $18.44 million with a net loss of $0.25 million. Matrikon restructures management and separates two business units. CTO takes sabbatical.

- Revenue of $18.44 million in Q4-07- Net loss of $0.25 million; earnings per share of ($0.01) in Q4-07- Fiscal year revenue of $73.50 million- Fiscal year net loss of $0.22 million or $0.01 per share- Gross margin of 51% for the fourth quarter and 55% for the fiscal yearEdmonton, AB - November 8, 2007 - Matrikon reported financial results for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ended August 31, 2007.Matrikon's president & CEO Nizar J. Somji commented on the quarter: "In contrast to our historic track record of growth and profitability, fiscal year 2007 has been a disappointment. Our poor performance is inexcusable given the continued strength of our resource industry end markets and given that our technology is becoming a necessity in our clients' businesses." "We undertook a thorough evaluation of the structure of our business in order to improve operations and profitability. We began the process of rationalizing and refocusing our business in the last half of the fiscal year.""The outcome of this process is a new strategy and a fundamental change in how we are organized: the separation of our Products and our Solutions businesses. We started this transition in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year and we have made significant progress. The senior management team has been restructured to put the right people in the right place to achieve our vision. We have defined expectations and accountability for each business unit." "To ensure that our products maintain their technology leadership, we are completing a technology assessment, developing a roadmap for future product development priorities and increasing our investment in R&D. Two of our industry applications, Mobile Equipment Monitor and Well Performance Manager, are gaining traction. As they do, we are increasing our investment in sales and marketing as well as technology development to increase our market penetration.""We are beginning to see incremental improvements in our expenses as a result of some of the early steps we took to bring our cost structure into alignment with our revenue. Excluding one time costs, operating expenses have trended down in the last half of the fiscal year.""Internally, there is a renewed energy and sense of excitement for the future. We will continue to transition over the next few months and build our business pipeline under our new Products|Solutions model.""We thank our investors for their patience and understanding as we redefine Matrikon and build for a stronger future."Quarter Highlights:

We began the process of separating the products and solutions businesses in the fourth quarter. This transition resulted in a decrease in product sales while sales personnel were being refocused or transitioned to new positions within the company.

Support revenue was a record $1.92 million in the quarter and consulting revenue was the second highest in a quarter period, although the quarter had 14% fewer consulting staff than the record quarter (Q4-2006). Weak software license fees and equipment revenue contributed to an overall decrease in revenue compared to Q3-2007 and Q4-2006.

Gross margin was 51%, with 91% gross margin on support revenue, 37% on consulting revenue, 93% on software license revenue and 12% on equipment revenue. Gross margin was reduced by 5% in the fourth quarter due to provisions for bad debt of $1.00 million.

Deferred revenue was $9.58 million, which includes $4.24 million in deferred support revenue and $5.34 million in unearned software license and equipment revenue. Support revenue is recognized equally over the life of the support contract. Software license revenue on multi-element arrangements is recognized as contractual obligations are met.

Overhead expenses (excluding stock-based compensation) were 50% of revenue in the fourth quarter compared to 58% in the third quarter of 2007 and 44% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006. Fourth quarter expenses included $0.20 million for one-time severance charges ($1.50 million in Q3-2006).

Cash provided by operations was $0.31 million in Q4-2007 compared to $0.05 million in Q3-2007. Executive ChangesSubsequent to the quarter, Dave Shook (Matrikon's chief technology officer) announced that he plans to take a sabbatical from Matrikon to teach at the University of Alberta, beginning in January. Dr. Shook will continue to be a resource to Matrikon on a part-time basis. Prior to his departure, he will lead the technology assessment and product roadmap development.OutlookWe are committed to separating our products and solutions businesses. While many aspects of separating these two business units have been completed, it may take additional time and attention to complete the transition. Through the first half of fiscal year 2008, we will continue to ramp up and build the business pipeline. The objectives we will report on throughout the year are as follows:

Improve profitability

Increase sales via Reseller Partners

Increase sales volume and value of off-the-shelf products (currently defined as Alarm Manager, Operational Insight and MatrikonOPC)

Continue to sell and deploy Industry Applications (including Mobile Equipment Monitor and Well Performance Manager)

Develop a product roadmap to plan next generation product development.

Improve employee retentionAnnual ResultsFull annual materials will be mailed and posted on SEDAR on or about November 27, 2007.Conference Call Wednesday, November 28 at 4:00 pm EasternA conference call will be held on Wednesday, November 28 at 4:00 pm Eastern time (2:00 pm Mountain time). To participate live, call 416-644-3414 in the Toronto area and 1-800-733-7571 for all other areas. A replay will be available until midnight on Wednesday, December 5, 2007. To access the playback service, please dial 416-640-1917 in Toronto or 1-877-289-8525 elsewhere, reservation number 21253211 followed by the pound sign.The conference call will also be webcast and podcast at www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/viewEvent.cgi?eventID=2091760Non-GAAP MeasuresIn this announcement, we refer to terms that are not specifically defined in the CICA Handbook and do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP. These non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. We believe that these non-GAAP measures are useful in assisting investors in understanding components of our financial results. The non-GAAP terms that we refer to in this analysis are defined below.Gross margin is our total revenue minus the cost of sales, divided by the total revenue and is expressed as a percentage. Gross margin is used to show the relative efficiency with which we earn revenue. Learn More

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