[SatNews] International Datacasting Corporation (“IDC”) (TSX:IDC) has announced its financial results for the first quarter ended April 30, 2013. All amounts in this release are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.
Financial Highlights for the First Quarter: (in thousands, except for gross margin (GM) and loss per share)
Total revenues for the first quarter of Fiscal 2014 were $5.4 million, a decrease of 45 percent or $4.3 million from the comparable prior period as a result of the completion of the first phase of the DTH Broadcasting project in Kenya with the Wananchi Group. Product revenues grew by 31 percent during the first quarter resulting in an improvement in gross margin to 50 percent vs 28 percent in Q1 FY’13. The margin improvement was largely due to a change in business mix, driven by increased Products revenue at higher margins.
Operating Expenses were $2.8 million, a decrease from $2.9 million in the first quarter of the prior year. When excluding $0.2 million of restructuring charges included in the first quarter of prior year, operating expenses increased by 4 percent during the first quarter of Fiscal 2014. This was due mainly to the new product launch of the STAR Pro Audio™ Solution and LASER™ Targeted Ad Insertion Platform at the National Association of Broadcasters Show in April 2013, and due to fees associated with the recruitment of the new CEO and VP of Research and Development.
IDC earned a lower Adjusted EBITDA of $64 thousand during the current quarter due to higher operating expenses, compared to $159 thousand in the comparable prior period. IDC’s consolidated balance sheet improved during the current quarter, with working capital ratio of 3.4 to 1 and liquid assets of $7.2 million at April 30, 2013.
“IDC is actively changing its business model to focus on selling higher-margin products which contribute significantly to our customer’s business growth, and reducing our emphasis on one-time projects.” said Doug Lowther, President and CEO of IDC. “This is a significant change and will take time to fully implement, however in the future we believe that this strategy will allow us to scale the business more effectively. We continue to see significant market interest in our STAR Pro Audio Solution, LASER Targeted Ad Insertion Platform, and Digital Tattoo DTH Over IP Gateway for multi-dwelling units.”