exactEarth Ltd. (“the Company”), a leading provider of Satellite AIS (“S-AIS”) data services, announces its financial results for the three-month period ended January 31, 2018. All financial figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.

exactEarth Ltd. (CNW Group/exactEarth Ltd.)

Q1 2018 Financial Highlights

  • Revenue was $2.8 million
  • Subscription-based revenue was 88% of total revenue
  • Subscription-based revenue in the Commercial market increased 6% from Q1 2017
  • Revenue backlog was $25.5 million at quarter-end
  • Order Bookings were $2.3 million
  • Adjusted EBITDA* was ($1.1) million
  • Net loss was ($1.6) million, or $(0.07) per share
  • Cash balance was $7.0 million at quarter-end

“Q1 saw continued progress on building-out our second-generation constellation and creating market awareness for exactView RT, our real-time Satellite AIS service,” said Peter Mabson, CEO of exactEarth. “Just last week, another nine exactView RT payloads went live, bringing the total number of these high-performance payloads in operation to 27. As we have said in the past, we expect to be at, or very near, real-time capabilities by the time we have 30 exactView RT payloads operational and complemented by our first-generation satellites. With the progress we have seen to-date, we believe that we are on track to reach that milestone by the end of Q2, or early in Q3.

In addition, last week also saw the successful deployment of our EV8 AIS payload onboard the Spanish radar satellite, Paz, operated by Hisdesat. We expect that payload to come into service in Q3 providing a unique opportunity for high-performance Satellite AIS data to be fused with radar satellite images, creating the potential for a number of new advanced maritime surveillance applications.”

Financial Review

Total revenue in the three-month period ended January 31, 2018 (“Q1 2018”) was $2.8 million compared to $3.3 million in the three-month period ended January 31, 2017 (“Q1 2017”). The year-over-year change in revenue was primarily due to $0.62 million of non-cash revenue generated in Q1 2017 from an Asset Transfer Agreement with Communitech (“Asset Transfer Agreement”) related to the EV9 satellite transfer. As of January 31, 2017, the Company had recognized, in full, all of the non-cash revenue from the in-kind sale of these datasets. Excluding the Q1 2017 non-cash revenue associated with the Asset Transfer Agreement, total revenue increased 4% in Q1 2018.

Order bookings in Q1 2018 were $2.3 million compared to $8.9 million in Q1 2017. Order bookings will fluctuate on a quarter-to-quarter basis reflecting the timing to complete new customer agreements. Revenue backlog at January 31, 2018 was $25.5 million compared to $26.0 million at October 31, 2017.

Subscription Services revenue in Q1 2018 was $2.5 million compared to $3.0 million in the same period last year. For Q1 2018, exactEarth generated nil in non-cash Subscription Services revenue, from the Asset Transfer Agreement, compared to $0.62 million in the same period last year. Excluding the Q1 2017 non-cash revenue associated with the Asset Transfer Agreement, Subscription Services revenue increased by 4% in Q1 2018.

Subscription Services revenue in Q1 2018 represented 88% of total revenue compared to 91% in the same period last year. Subscription Services revenue from commercial customers rose 6% in Q1 2018 compared to the same period last year. Excluding the Q1 2017 non-cash revenue associated with the Asset Transfer Agreement, Subscription Services revenue from government customers increased 1% in Q1 2018.

Data Products revenue in Q1 2018 was $0.08 million compared to $0.21 million in the same period last year. Other Products & Services revenue in Q1 2018 was $0.25 million compared to $0.09 million in the same period last year. 

Gross margin in Q1 2018 was 25% compared to 42% in the same period last year. Gross margin was lower in Q1 2018 primarily due to costs related to the second-generation constellation and costs related to the exactTrax small vessel deployment in South Africa. These were offset, in part, by lower satellite leasing and data processing costs.

Selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expense in Q1 2018 was $1.3 million compared to $1.9 million in the same period last year. SG&A decreased year-over-year due primarily to the reversal of certain bad debt provisions, lower stock option expense, and moving expenses that were incurred in Q1 2017.

Product development and research and development (“R&D”) expense in Q1 2018 was $0.5 million compared to $0.4 million in the same period last year. The increase is due primarily to the re-allocation of labour from project-related work to product development.

Adjusted EBITDA for Q1 2018 was $(1.1) million compared to $(0.6) million in the same period last year. The decrease in Adjusted EBITDA was primarily due to lower revenue and higher cost of sales, offset in part by lower SG&A expense. (Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS measure and is defined below)

Net loss for Q1 2018 was ($1.6) million, or ($0.07) per share, compared to ($2.0) million, or ($0.09) per share, in the same period last year. Net loss improved in Q1 2018 due primarily to lower SG&A and depreciation and amortization expense, which was offset in part by lower revenue and higher cost of sales.

exactEarth used $0.9 million of cash in operations in Q1 2018 compared with $2.1 million of cash used in operations in Q1 2017. The Company’s cash balance at January 31, 2018 was $7.0 million compared to $8.1 million at October 31, 2017.

As at January 31, 2018, the Company had 21,614,120 shares outstanding. 

Nominees for Board of Directors

exactEarth is pleased to announce that the nominees for the Board of Directors (the “Board”) to be elected at the Corporation’s shareholders’ meeting on April 26, 2018 will include Eric Zahler, Dennis Kloske, Mac Evans, Miguel Angel Panduro Panadero, Migual Angel Garcia Primo, Peter Mabson and Harvey Rein. Maria Izurieta will not be standing for re-election to the Board and as announced on January 25, 2018, Pui-Ling Chan will also not be standing for re-election. All of the proposed nominees for the Board are currently on the Board other than Harvey Rein.

Mr. Rein has over 30 years of experience in the defense and space industries. From 2008 to 2013, Mr. Rein was the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Loral Space & Communications Inc., a global satellite communications services provider and a manufacturer of commercial satellites. From 1979 to 2008, Mr. Rein held varying senior level management positions at Loral and its predecessor companies. Prior to 1979, Mr. Rein was an audit supervisor for a public accounting firm. Mr. Rein holds a Graduate Diploma in Public Accountancy from McGill University and a Bachelor of Commerce from Concordia University. Mr. Rein is also a Certified Public Accountant in New York and Canada. Mr. Rein currently provides consulting services, assisting clients in accounting, financial and SEC reporting, and business issues. It is expected that Mr. Rein will be the chair of the audit committee upon his election to the Board.

“We are very pleased that Harvey Rein has agreed to join our Board,” said Eric Zahler, Chairman of the Board of exactEarth. “He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge about both the space industry and financial reporting, and we look forward to his counsel and guidance as we continue to roll-out our enhanced maritime surveillance capabilities and advanced analytics, through our next generation, real-time, satellite-AIS constellation. I’d like to thank Maria for having played an active role on our board since the Company went public in February 2016. We are grateful and appreciative of the contributions she has made, including her work as chair of the audit committee, and we wi
sh her continued success in the future.”

Update on Review of Strategic Alternatives

As previously announced on January 25, 2018, exactEarth’s Board has commenced a process to explore and evaluate potential strategic alternatives focused on maximizing shareholder value and has formed a Special Committee of the Board to explore these alternatives. The Special Committee has engaged National Bank Financial to provide financial advice in connection with the strategic review. In addition, the Special Committee is now comprised of Eric Zahler (Chair), Mac Evans and Dennis Kloske, with Mr. Kloske having replaced Maria Izurieta.

The Company’s Board is committed to fully evaluating appropriate strategic alternatives while concurrently supporting management and employees in their delivery of services and products to customers. The Board believes that this course of action is in the best interests of the Company and its stakeholders. The Board has not set a timetable for this process nor has it made any decisions related to any strategic alternatives at this time. There can be no assurance that the exploration and review of strategic alternatives will result in a transaction. The Company does not intend to provide announcements or updates unless or until it determines that further disclosure is required by law.

Conference Call

The management of exactEarth will host an investor conference call to discuss these results in greater detail.  All interested investors and analysts are invited to participate.

Date: 

Thursday, March 8, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. E.S.T.

Dial-in: 

647-427-7450 or 1-888-231-8191

Webcast:  

To access the live webcast: http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=1618115&s=1&k=9FF3B851216EC8A21249C3DE93D80078 or visit the exactEarth website for more details. The webcast will be archived for 30 days.

Replay: 

Encore Toll Free Dial-In Number: (855) 859-2056 

Encore Password: 1458899

Dial-In Replay Availability: 08/03/2018 11:30 ET – 22/03/2018 23:59 ET

About exactEarth Ltd.

exactEarth is a leading provider of global maritime vessel data for ship tracking and maritime situational awareness solutions. Since its establishment in 2009, exactEarth has pioneered a powerful new method of maritime surveillance called Satellite AIS (“S-AIS”) and has delivered to its clients a view of maritime behaviours across all regions of the world’s oceans unrestricted by terrestrial limitations. exactEarth has deployed an operational data processing supply chain involving a constellation of satellites, receiving ground stations, patented decoding algorithms and advanced “big data” processing and distribution facilities. This ground-breaking system provides a comprehensive picture of the location of AIS equipped maritime vessels throughout the world and allows exactEarth to deliver data and information services characterized by high performance, reliability, security and simplicity to large international markets.  For more information, visit exactearth.com.