Haivision Systems Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
September 12, 2024

There are 7 speakers on the call.

Operator

Hello and thank you My name is Regina, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the HyVision Systems Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. I would now like to turn the conference over to Amir Kawika, President and CEO.

Operator

Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Regina, and good afternoon. And thank you, everyone, on the call for joining us today to discuss our Q3 and our 9 month year to date results for our fiscal year 2024, which ended in July 31. As we get closer to the end of our fiscal 2024, which is, I'll remind everybody, only 6 weeks away, we will have completed our 2 year strategic plan as promised back in 2022 for a major EBITDA and profitability transformation. And as a result, we will deliver a significant increase in our adjusted EBITDA performance between 2022 2024. Our adjusted EBITDA percentage performance back in 2022 was 6%.

Speaker 1

We are now delivering as promised in adjusted EBITDA in the mid teens. We also promised that 1 quarter will be knocking on the door of 20%, which will obviously be our current Q4. So all in all, an amazing 2 year performance and a plan well executed. But we're not stopping there. We have already been working on our new 2 year strategic plan for fiscal 2025 and 2026, which will complete our overall transformation of our business and return HiVision to double digit revenue growth.

Speaker 1

Now that we have the house in check for OpEx and gross margins and EBITDA and cash generation, the main focus will be higher revenue growth. So, let me share a few thoughts on what we have been doing and what to expect from us during fiscal 2025 to prepare for this growth and to demonstrate the business scalability we have been talking about. Now, we have 2 major fundamental business models taking shape this year and that will continue to affect our revenue in 2025. Number 1 is the move away from being an integrator to a manufacturer in the control room market. Number 2 is a long term rental or LTR as we call it business in a transmitter live market event.

Speaker 1

Now, we are continuing our control room business transformation to a higher margin manufacturer and I like to say scalable model from the bespoke hard to grow integrator model. As mentioned last quarter, this major business transition has exceeded our expectations and is progressing much quicker than previously planned. However, it's a long road to complete and we're about halfway through until we can begin to see a net revenue increase in our overall business. And we have always said that this transformation will be at the expense of our top line, very similar to when we decided to transition out of the House of Worship market. However, what is left is our proprietary high margin business, which is great business.

Speaker 1

This is something we have been planning for and working towards all year. The good news is that we have already seen positive results within the 1st 9 months of 2024. We always expected this to be an 18 to 24 months transition. It looks like we will complete the full business transition during the second half of next fiscal year. Our partners and resellers globally are very happy to see us embracing the partner model to scale this business and moving away from being an integrator and basically seen as a competitor to the AV channel.

Speaker 1

And HiVision has always supported and believes in a strong partner model to scale globally. Now, this time next year, our revenue growth in this important market segment will be more apparent together with the solid and consistent high gross margins we have already been delivering. And we expect to be training and preparing many of our global AV partners on the new C360 fully scalable platform by the end of this calendar year in preparation for a full blown professional training rollout during next year. As we have been saying all along, our control room, scalability and the overall revenue will begin to show higher growth once we roll this out globally. Now on the LTR or as we call it long term rental program transformation, we are building a SaaS like recurring revenue model for our 5 gs transmitter business, which is a much better long term profitable business.

Speaker 1

We are already seeing several large multimillion dollar opportunities and several competitive replacements with our Pro Series 5 gs transmitters. Our 5 gs technology has been very busy during the Paris Olympics, as I will discuss later. These deals replace one time revenue heads from a multi year recurring revenue that will build over time and increase the profitability going forward. Most of these initiatives will see net revenue growth in 2026 and beyond. And that's the kind of business we all want.

Speaker 1

Now, I would like to highlight the many exciting and noteworthy events and projects that we have been working on that will significantly and positively affect our long term revenue growth as our new 2 year revenue plan unfolds. And many of these you have seen in the previous couple of weeks through press releases. So let's start big. Our high vision MCS, our Mission Critical Systems Group announced earlier last week that it's been awarded a significant 5 year production agreement by NAFSEA, the Naval Sea Systems Command, with an estimated total value of around CAD 82,600,000. Now, this prestigious agreement positions HiVision at the forefront of delivering cutting edge combat visualization and video distribution systems to the U.

Speaker 1

S. Navy's surface combatant fleet. Under this new production agreement, Hybriq MCS will provide to the US Navy a comprehensive suite of ultra high performance video processing hardware and software for mission critical display, along with video transcoding, storage and distribution components. Now these systems will be integral to the Navy's combat information centers across various surface combatant vessels, enhancing situational awareness and mission planning capabilities. The advanced visualization technology is designed to support the Navy's future combat systems, including those planned for the Asia destroyers, the aircraft carriers, amphibious ships, frigates, littoral combat ships, and the next generation United States Coast Guard cutters, among other critical applications.

Speaker 1

HiVision's next generation systems will play a pivotal role in supporting mission critical applications by delivering these superior situational awareness throughout the ships. Now, interesting enough, this award builds upon HiVision's ongoing success with the U. S. Navy's Consolidated Afflode Network and Enterprise Services Program in the past 7 years, which already leverages high vision's state of the art real time video encoding, transcoding, recording and playback technology for ship wide video distribution. The award also highlighted the strength and reliability of HiVision's core technologies that demonstrates the valuable synergies achieved through the acquisition of SINAMASIK in 2021 in the integration of Command 360 Collaborative Visualization Platform into high vision technology offerings that significantly enhance the company's capability to deliver these innovative solutions for complex defense applications.

Speaker 1

Let's talk about another area, the Airbus Defense and Space, next generation 5 gs development. So, last week, we also announced that HiVision joined a multi company consortium led by Airbus Defense and Space to develop new technologies for rapid, secure, reliable communications, representing a multi year and multimillion dollar development contract. As part of the Air 5 gs project, Hikvision will develop 5 gs transmitters that provide connectivity in mission critical situations where normal communication lines are disrupted or unavailable. And this consortium is building land and sea based tactical 5 gs communication systems that support mission critical operations during emergencies, when network infrastructure is compromised or absent. The Air 5 gs project aims to develop a deployable 5 gs private network for fixed deployment in a command center on land or in naval flagship providing 5 gs network access to supporting teams or fleets over wide radius.

Speaker 1

Teams in the field such as first responders, military units, naval assets can connect to the network and send, receive voice, video, data ensuring priority performance and security. The project is built on a 5 year timeline to achieve volume deployments of the solution. Now, an important note is that HiVision was selected as the sole technology provider tasked with developing the wireless video and audio streaming technology at the heart of the project. And we should see some groundbreaking products begin to be delivered from this initiative in late 2025. Now, on August 26, we also announced that HiVision is partnering with Shield AI, a leading defense technology company whose mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems.

Speaker 1

We actually showcased the AI integrated technology at the AUVSI Pathfinder Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama a couple of weeks ago. Now, this partnership brings together trusted ISR solutions for full motion video with AI object detection for defense and ISR applications. And HiVision's Kraken is a video processing solution for mission critical defense and ISR applications. In software base, the Kraken and Co's transcode streams full motion video alongside metadata in real time across all types of communication links. Shield AI's Sentient tracker software automatically detects and tracks objects within full motion video streams using a field proven artificial intelligence technology.

Speaker 1

Now with this partnership, Shield AI Kestrel can now fully be integrated with HighVision's Kraken and deployed across a wide range of air, land and sea based platforms. By integrating Shield AI's Kestrel object detection technology within our Kraken video processing platform, our customers are now able to apply full artificial intelligence to where the video is being captured and processed, enabling quick and life saving decision making. We are the standard low latency edge transcoding delivery platform in the defense market and a market leader in this AI driven approach. And we expect Kraken AI to drive many long term defense projects and increase our footprint within the global defense space. Now, HiVision at the Olympics, let's talk about some serious excitement here.

Speaker 1

I mean, HiVision was extremely busy at the Paris Olympics. And once again, HiVision technology was widely used across many events and our broadcast partners used well over a 1000 high vision Makita encoders and decoders, SRT gateways and our Pro Series 5 gs transmitters and all the main events and venues during the Paris games, including some really cool areas, This was a surfing competition in Tahiti, right? We had the high vision 4460 transmitters that were used by France Television to provide engaging behind the scenes video with maximum freedom of camera movement. And in the Paris venues, including Stade de France and the Bercy Arena, HiVision Pro 460 mobile video transmitters were used to capture live video from events, including the gymnastics, athletics, providing unmatched glass to glass 80 millisecond latency for seamless production with other sources. There was extensive use of Hydrogen Makita X40000000000 encoders and decoders as well as the SRT gateways to facilitate distribution of content to European and other rights holders around the world, ensuring that audiences across Europe could experience the excitement and watch the games live.

Speaker 1

By including some of these cool stuff is the many first that were ever at any Olympics. I'll list them a few of them. The first ever private 5 gs was used. The largest ever temporary private 5 gs deployment. The lowest latency ever delivered over bonded cellular, the 1st ever seed based private 5 gs network, the 1st ever HDR 4.22 10 bit streaming for mobile devices, the 1st ever use of remote mobile device camera management, And finally, which is the coolest, the largest ever mobile device live contribution for the opening ceremony, right.

Speaker 1

We saw 90 bullets configured with over 200 Samsung phones running our Mojo Pro software The high dynamic range, the HDR live HD video feeds from Mojo Pro were transmitted to HiVision StreamHub receivers using a private 5 gs network, which was set up with 12 5 gs cells mounted on the historic bridges that traverse the river. The StreamUp software provided multi view monitoring and master control to the incoming mobile camera feeds. And these live feeds were then used to distribute the live content to the specific country content holders, simply amazing and a first. And this kind of the first of its kind live contribution has also made us a finalist for the prestigious IBC Innovation Award to be presented end of this week. Interestingly enough, we happen to have won last year's IBC Innovation Award for the private 5 gs streaming of the King's Coronation in London in conjunction with the BBC.

Speaker 1

So being listed as a finalist this year is an amazing acknowledgment and testament to our continued innovation and technology. And I would just add, finally, we also won a multimillion dollar deal by 1 of the largest broadcasters in the world who chose HiVision for their global IP video distribution delivery. As a result, they will deploy 100 of our SRT gateways to replace the entire global satellite network. Very exciting project, which was also highly competitive, but won by HiVision based on our innovative and groundbreaking technology. Now, let's get back a little bit to the numbers.

Speaker 1

As demonstrated by the results we announced today, our business fundamentals just keep getting stronger. We have been telling you and everybody that we will significantly increase our operational efficiency and adjusted EBITDA throughout the past 18 months and our Q3 performance continues in that direction. Let's come up with the highlights. Our Q3 gross margins were significantly higher than last year's already impressive Q3, which went from 72.3% to 75%. We've been saying all along that we would deliver increased gross margins and once again we continue to deliver what we said we would.

Speaker 1

Now, this Q3 enjoys very high gross margins, mainly boosted by the major sale of a large broadcaster I mentioned, our software based SRT gateways, meaning we don't need to provide the Dell servers, resulting in pure margin. This is another example where we give up the higher revenue in exchange for higher margin business. Now, additionally, our Kraken ultra low latency transcoder using mission critical defense applications has also been successfully deployed on virtual machines within the U. S. Military, further enhancing our gross margins.

Speaker 1

It's also noteworthy to mention that our Q3 performance, despite the lower revenue of last year, maintains our 12 month trailing adjusted EBITDA at a strategic $20,100,000 level, another impressive metric. I can safely say that we are well on our path and delivering on our promise of a 2 year adjusted EBITDA performance, growing dramatically from the $8,000,000 derived in fiscal 2022 to over $20,000,000 that will be derived in 2024. And not many tech companies can say that these days. And just to finish quickly, our 9 month year to date operating margin now stands at 14.5%, compared to last year's 9 month operating margin of 8.7%. And our 9 month year to date adjusted EBITDA is already at $14,400,000 which is 58.2% higher than last year's 9 month adjusted EBITDA performance of $9,100,000 As we have been saying over and over, we are delivering on our promise to significantly increase the profitability and operational efficiency of HiVision.

Speaker 1

It should not be obvious that we will deliver the promised mid teens adjusted EBITDA performance for the entire year and finish fiscal 2024 with a higher than 20 $1,000,000 trailing 12 months of adjusted EBITDA for the full year. We couldn't be happier with our performance thus far. And Dan will go through the financials in detail, but let me reiterate our annual guidance we gave back in January, delivering adjusted EBITDA in the mid teens is well on target, while delivering higher margins and growth in operational performance is also well on target. Now considering our planned transformation of the control room business is moving quickly, Together with the delays in federal spending, our top line will be lower than we anticipated a year ago. But all of our profitability metrics are significantly higher and well on track.

Speaker 1

This has been our main focus and the most important metric for this fiscal year. The better than expected transformation of our controlling business will set us up for a much healthier and profitable business in the future. And finally, we believe that HyVision has a much brighter future ahead as we have now delivered, not just promised, but delivered a trailing 12 month adjusted EBITDA of $20,000,000 for 2 quarters in a row and will soon deliver a third. That cannot be taken away from us. It is no longer a promise.

Speaker 1

It's our actual running performance. We are committed to maximizing long term value for all of our shareholders. We are confident in our ability to execute on our strategic plan and deliver continued growth. Thus, I trust that the investment community will agree that we are still undervalued despite the recent run up of our shares in terms of both revenue multiples and on our EBITDA multiples, not to mention the exciting future ahead of us. After all that, Dan, please continue with the detailed finance.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Mirko. Let me see if I can bridge the discussion of our financial performance to date with the opportunities that are in front of us. So let's start. Revenue for the Q3 of fiscal 2024 was $30,600,000 That was a decrease of $4,300,000 from the previous year comparative period. And revenue for that 9 months that ended July 31 was $99,400,000 a modest $4,700,000 decrease from the prior year comparative period.

Speaker 2

Again, there's quite a bit more about this revenue story. As an example, year over year comparisons are impacted by our decision to exit the House of Worship vertical in April of 2023. And last year as an example, year to date revenue included House of Worship revenues of $3,500,000 There were no such revenues this year. Further, on our last call, we discussed 2 significant initiatives that Milko highlighted in his discussion and that they will impact our short term revenues, but enhance our profitability and enable us to scale the business more quickly. The first is our transition from systems integrator in the control room space to that of a manufacturer as is the case with the rest of our products.

Speaker 2

The second is the introduction of the long term rental program initially focused in the transmitter market. So let's focus a few minutes on this control room transition from the spoke systems integrator to manufacturer of proprietary products. At the risk of being redundant, historically MCS provided bespoke solutions to customers that included low margin third party components like displays, 3rd party electronic components and even ancillary items like cables, racks, mounts and the like. This approach certainly created additional complexity in managing inventory and resulted in delays from the initial sale to the conversion of cash as we were not only responsible for the procurement of such components, but the eventual delivery of individual items and the resulting implementation. Just to give you a small sense of the complexity, we have already identified well over 250 inventory items that are better suited for our channel partners to provide and are no longer part of our offering.

Speaker 2

Let's also not lose sight of the fact that certain of those SKUs may have been in support of a single customer or may be subject to quick obsolescence as new models are generally announced annually for screens and the like. Because of this custom approach to serving customers, this integrator approach made scaling the business much more complicated, particularly in the public safety, enterprise and international markets. It also created a bit of conflict with our channel partners in that same public safety and enterprise verticals that sold high vision legacy products and desired to represent high vision in the control room space. This transition has already attracted the attention of channel partners wanting to partner with iVision and we expect to see more opportunities as these channel partners have added have the added incentive by the enhanced margin dollars they can derive from providing those 3rd party components. But what does this really mean in terms of top line revenue?

Speaker 2

It's certainly a difficult question as all our product families are offered to solve our customer workflow challenges. But here are a couple of observations that illustrate the point. In fiscal 2022 as an example, these 3rd party components represented about 40% of a customer's bill of materials. And in some cases, these 3rd party components could represent as much as 75% of the bill of materials. In fiscal 2023, we saw those percentages decline modestly about 20%.

Speaker 2

And then on a year to date basis, we have seen that same percentage fall again by another 50%. Thus, our earlier statements that the transition to a manufacturing model is happening even faster than we expected. Now, let's turn our attention to the transmitter business and the long term rental program. When we acquired AbbVie West, our objective was to grow the transmitter market by bringing the product family to North America. To that end, we introduced a competitive long term rental program to the market.

Speaker 2

This initiative enables our customers to recognize an ongoing operating expense rather than a capital expense and it also enabled them to future proof their purchases as they would have access to the newest technologies when available. The fact of the matter is that our competitors offer such a program in the transmitter space and those sales may not be otherwise available to us if we didn't offer a program that is very competitive to those of our competitors. However, for HiVision, there are additional benefits. 1st, it enables us to increase our reoccurring revenue posture, which has always been a key focus for us and enables us to drive higher gross margins over the life of these agreements. We have seen our global direct rental business increase 87% quarter over quarter and 76% year over year.

Speaker 2

And almost 2 thirds of that growth is the result of successes in North America. We know that our offering is compelling and we know we've gotten the attention of our competitors. Although still in its infancy, the rental business increased year over year by about 700,000 dollars but revenue will trail as revenue is being recognized over the entire rental period. For this quarter, gross margins were 75%, a significant improvement from the 72% realized the prior year, a 300 basis point improvement. And gross margins on a year to date basis of 73.1% compared to 69.1% in the prior year comparative period.

Speaker 2

That's a 400 basis points improvement. We may continue to see some forming variations of gross margins related to the seasonality of certain product families, although the gross margin differences between our product families are dissipating. There is a component of COGS that is relatively fixed in nature that can be leveraged across higher revenue And we are seeing steady increases in the uptake of software only options or virtual machine deployments, which as Mirko mentioned have a higher gross margin than our typical software offerings that have traditionally been installed on service and sold as an appliance. On a year to date basis, we've seen a 55% increase in these types of sales. And for the last quarter, we actually saw a 98% increase in the sales of software only options.

Speaker 2

Total expenses for this quarter were $21,900,000 That's a decrease of $3,800,000 when compared to the same period in the prior year. Last year, we did incur a restructuring cost of $1,500,000 dollars which represent about 40% of the year over year decrease. Approximately half of the remaining decrease can be attributed to compensation related expenses, which was the focus of our recent restructuring efforts. The remaining year over year differences can be attributed to decreases in amortization and depreciation expenses, professional services and technology and communication as our back office continues to become more efficient. We did have increased reimbursements for shred credits and R and D credits, much of which were related to our participation in the Airbus consortium.

Speaker 2

We are now using foreign currency derivatives contracts to mitigate the impact of changes in the Canadian dollars impact on U. S. Dollar denominated assets and liabilities. And you'll note that just the impact on OpEx related to exchange rates had a difference of about $300,000 in the quarter. On a year to date basis, total expenses were $67,400,000 a decrease of $7,000,000 when compared to the prior year comparative period.

Speaker 2

The reason for the year to date decreases are similar. Compensation related expenses decreased by $3,000,000 $3,100,000 actually, while the remaining decreases were related to non recurring restructuring costs, amortization and depreciation, technology and telecommunications and other development costs like prototyping and the like. The results of higher gross margins and lower expenses was an adjusted EBITDA for the quarter of $4,100,000 and for the 9 months ended July 31, our adjusted EBITDA was $14,400,000 again a $5,300,000 or 58% improvement from the same prior year period. The adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter was 13.5%, a notable improvement when compared to the 12.4% in the last prior year comparative period. And on a year to date basis, our adjusted EBITDA margin was 14.5%, an even more impressive improvement from the 8.7% experienced in the same prior year period.

Speaker 2

Our adjusted EBITDA margins have been securely in the mid teens for the last 4 quarters as we promised over a year ago. And as Mirko mentioned, our trailing 12 month adjusted EBITDA is 20,100,000 dollars It should become evident that there is consistency in gross margins and adjusted EBITDA margins and that should be well received by the investment community. And given our profitability, we are building a valuable business that still may not be fully reflected in today's stock price. Operating profit for this quarter was $1,100,000 That's a $1,600,000 improvement from the same prior year period. And on a year to date basis, operating profit was $5,300,000 an even more impressive $7,700,000 improvement over the same prior year comparative period.

Speaker 2

And just to finish up the P and L a bit, the net income for the quarter was $400,000 that was a $1,300,000 when compared to the net loss of $900,000 in the prior year period. And on a year to date basis, net income was $2,600,000 a $6,400,000 improvement when compared to the net loss of $3,800,000 in the prior year period. This is our 4th consecutive quarter with positive net income and positive earnings per share, and it's our 7th since being a public company, for those of you who are counting. With respect to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with cash balances of $13,900,000 that represents an increase of $5,600,000 from the end of fiscal 2023 and an increase of $2,900,000 from prior quarter end. We also still have a revolving credit facility in place for $35,000,000 of which only $3,400,000 remains outstanding and the revolving facility may still be increased by another 25,000,000 dollars Total assets at July 31 were $140,200,000 That's a decrease of $3,900,000 from the end of last fiscal year.

Speaker 2

And the decrease could be attributed to a reduction in our net intangible assets, the result of ongoing amortization expense. We have been working on reducing our inventories and we have reduced our inventories by $3,300,000 dollars from the end of last fiscal year. And on a side note, inventories have declined by $6,000,000 since peaking in the Q2 of fiscal 2023. We saw reductions in trade and other receivables and we've seen reductions in the right of use assets as a result of ongoing rent payments. Now these decreases were obviously offset by the increase in cash and increase in investment tax credit receivables related to R and D activities in Canada, France and the United States.

Speaker 2

Total liabilities were 45,100,000 dollars That was a decrease of $4,800,000 from prior fiscal year end. We saw decreases of $3,500,000 in trade payables and other accruals. We saw $1,600,000 decrease in lease liabilities and principal payments on term loans. Those were loans that we acquired as part of the Abby West transaction. We also saw a decrease in the line of credit.

Speaker 2

Now these decreases were offset by $1,100,000 increase of income taxes payable. So let's talk a little bit about guidance for fiscal 2024 and beyond. But before let's touch on a couple of key announcements that were recently made and how they may impact financial performance. First, the $61,000,000 purchasing agreement with the U. S.

Speaker 2

Navy. That purchasing agreement translates to over CAD 82,000,000 at current exchange rates. High Vision has supplied products to the U. S. Navy in the past particularly the CAMES program to a fulfillment partner.

Speaker 2

This purchase agreement covers combat visualization and video distribution systems that are adjacent to our existing work. It does not cannibalize our existing relationship. It is a direct contract with the Naval Sea System Command, a contract we would otherwise not be able to enter into if it weren't for our high vision MCS security posture. We are now in the base year of the contract, a ramp up year for which revenue recognized for fiscal 2025 will be more modest than the run rate and largely focused in the second half of fiscal twenty twenty five. The exact delivery schedule for the remaining implementation is still to be finalized, but we expect the real impact of this purchasing agreement to be in fiscal 2026 and beyond.

Speaker 2

Whereas our public safety, enterprise and international market for command centers are really conducive to this manufacturer model in the command center space, sales to the government may likely include the integrator model. This purchasing agreement, which has been worked on for years is such an example. And given the scale, margins although still sound will not be as frothy as for the rest of the business. I do want to mention that although purchasing agreement governs 5 years, there is an opportunity for significant follow on business with the existing customer and with customers in other friendly countries. 2nd, AI innovations and our partnership with ShieldAI AI.

Speaker 2

This initiative will enable our defense customers to benefit from improved situational awareness to detect or to track objects more efficiently than is possible by the human eye. This in turn will allow our customers to monitor our video feeds and enable quicker life saving decisions. Our advanced stream processing capabilities will be demonstratable in our Kraken release scheduled for October, which will be generally available in early calendar 2025. And we have a significant installed base that could benefit from this enhanced functionality. Lastly, the Air 5 gs Consortium Agreement with Airbus Defense and Space.

Speaker 2

It is a development agreement approved by what they call the Important Project of Common European Interest, IPCEI which aims at enabling research and development of innovative and resource efficient technologies and components. This consortium which is being managed by Airbus Defense and Space includes 6 entities in the areas of private 5 gs solutions, beamforming antenna solutions, mobile private networks, communication terminals, compute solutions and of course, HiVision as the provider of private 5 gs transmitters. HiVision will benefit from being one of just a few participants on the leading edge of the next generation of secure and reliable communications. This development initiative has always been very consistent with our own development roadmap. And to put an exclamation point on that statement, although the formal consortium agreement was executed fairly recently, work against this initiative began well over a year ago and we expect to see our first derivative products resulting from this development effort in fiscal 2025.

Speaker 2

Lastly, we will also be the recipient of certain enhanced R and D grants and favorably priced development loans as a participant in this initiative. In terms of expectations for fiscal 2024, we did revise our guidance for the full year based on the transition to a manufacturing model. But the delay in the approval of the U. S. Federal budget, the long term rental program and this transition that is happening much faster than had otherwise has adjusted our thinking.

Speaker 2

So, we are now projecting revenues for this fiscal year to be between $134,000,000 $136,000,000 for the reasons which have already discussed. We still anticipate adjusted EBITDA margins in the mid teens as has been our guidance the entire year. And we are still anticipating seeing our Q4 to be knocking on the door of our long term adjusted EBITDA margin goal of 20% as our cost structure is well in place. With our operational restructuring behind us, our focus going forward is on revenue growth. Today, we discussed a number of significant growth initiatives that should translate to double digit revenue growth for fiscal 2026 and beyond.

Speaker 2

However, we will still be dealing with some of the revenue growth headwinds cited earlier during this call. Don't get me wrong, these recent revenue decisions are ultimately setting the stage for a more efficient, more profitable operation, but we may not see the full benefit of that until late in fiscal 2025 and beyond. Thus for, we are projecting revenue for fiscal 2025 to be $140,000,000 or better with an adjusted EBITDA margin between 102 100 basis points higher than what we are seeing today. And with some of our recent announcements of our technology advances and of course the Navy production contract, we expect to be seeing double digit revenue growth for fiscal 2026 and beyond. We will be providing more specific guidance at our next earnings call in January when we announce our full year results.

Speaker 2

So that's the end of my prepared remarks. I'm going to pass the microphone back to you, Mirko. Mirko, are you still there?

Operator

Mirko's line is still connected. Mirko, you may have muted.

Speaker 1

Yes. No, I didn't mute. Let's open up for questions. Thank you.

Operator

And our first question will come from the line of Nick Corcoran with Acumen. Please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. And Nick, just my first question is you mentioned a couple of headwinds to revenue in the quarter. Can you maybe rank them in order of what's causing the biggest headwind?

Speaker 2

Well, okay, that's a fairly complicated question because there are interdependencies between the two. But I would say that delays in the procurement process in the defense market based on the delays in the federal budget and that as our transformation, they probably went rank about equal, how they impacted our financial results. And then I would say the long term rental program be a distant second.

Speaker 1

That's helpful. And significant

Speaker 3

contract win with the U. S. Navy. Can you maybe give a little bit color on how long the sales cycle for a contract like that is?

Speaker 2

Well, we knew of the deal when we acquired Cinamassive or we knew that it was a possibility. But I think we may have put a discount on it on whether we're going to see it or not. And what we've been led to believe is that they had been working on that contract for a couple of years prior to our acquisitions of Centimeters Asset. So we're really talking about more than 3 years, probably less than 6.

Speaker 3

And was one of the hurdles to get that contract, the security clearance?

Speaker 2

Well, certainly because of the nature of what we were doing, that was the Navy would prefer a vendor that had a security clearance.

Speaker 1

And a security facility.

Speaker 3

And maybe last question for me. You mentioned there's a significant broadcast deal with the customer switching from satellite to SRT. Is that a one time purchase or is it a recurring sale?

Speaker 1

Yes. No, that's a one time purchase, pure software running on their own instances and or servers. And so we would benefit from recurring support revenue on that, which would be significant going forward.

Speaker 3

And maybe one follow on question. Is there a shift from satellite to SRT?

Speaker 1

Absolutely. I mean, there's a massive shift just getting off of satellite period. I think SRT is by far the de facto standard being used everywhere on the planet. So it has created that ability for compatibility, but ease of transition. So pretty much used by all companies, cloud companies, video guys, broadcasters, you name it.

Speaker 1

So, SRT is by far the most adopted protocol for IP delivery and streaming.

Speaker 3

Thanks. That's good color. I'll pass it on. Great. Thanks.

Operator

Our next question will come from the line of Daniel Rosenberg with Paradigm. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Good morning, Niko and Dan. Thanks for taking my question. The first one comes around the guidance. When you guys say 100 basis points to 200 basis points higher than today, the 24 basis points guidance suggests a step up in margin profile for Q4. So all that to say, should we read that language to mean mid to high teens for adjusted EBITDA next year?

Speaker 4

Or again, knocking on that 20% door? If you could provide any detail there, it would be appreciated.

Speaker 2

Okay. We do expect to see higher EBITDA margins in our Q4 and that's going to result in an EBITDA margin in the mid teens for 2024. And we expect for all of 2025, we should be able to see a 100 basis point to 200 basis point improvement from the run rate where we are today. Because there's seasonality in our business and because we see 4th quarter having higher revenues, we are not suggesting that every quarter is going to have that 100 basis point or 200 basis point improvement to the quarter prior year quarter. But overall, for the entire year, we expect to see that benefit.

Speaker 4

Okay. Appreciate that. And then I want to speak to the U. S. Navy contract.

Speaker 4

Congrats on an impressive win. I was wondering how that win might affect you securing additional contracts like that. Are there any synergies to be had? And any color on the pipeline that you have in delivering that kind of solution?

Speaker 1

Well, let me take that one. I mean, I think that's a great question. Let me just say this. The first one is always the most difficult one, right? So this has been with the acquisition of CineMassive and setting up, obviously, the whole secured facility with a U.

Speaker 1

S.-based posture, we are actually investing heavily in MCS, which we call high vision mission critical systems. I would expect that we would see further contracts in the future, none that we can talk about, nothing that I would say is in the pipeline in the short term. But this was all of our focus. This took a lot of efforts, quite a few years, and I'm glad we finally made it. But it's going to be a lot easier now that we've won and we're going to start delivering to for us to go after a lot of other projects.

Speaker 1

So definitely a much easier road to success going forward.

Speaker 4

Okay. Good to hear. And then talking about growth, could you speak to just the visibility you have today? And then when you talk about double digit growth in the longer term, does that relate around the initiatives you just mentioned around the MCS solution?

Speaker 1

Well, the double digit growth Yes, definitely.

Speaker 2

Go ahead, Michael.

Speaker 1

Yes. No, I was just going to mention that I think the things that we I kind of started off and I spent a lot of time explaining that will help our double digit growth going forward really is the control room space, which I think is a very exciting market and a growth market. Our defense posture given the Navy deal, absolutely, that's going to be a significant piece, mainly starting, I would say, 2026. And of course, a lot of our AI Kraken AI initiatives, which is a whole open up a whole new market for us. So, those 3 alone are pretty significant areas that are going to increase our revenue.

Speaker 1

And then, of course, I believe the true 5 gs cellular bonded wireless use in live sports, we're just scratching the surface. And I believe us leading in that area is going to help grow that market for us We deal in live broadcast, live events, live sports. So, what we just did at the Olympics has honestly never been done before. We're going to be seeing at the next Olympic, it's going to go to a whole different level and we're seeing it all other major world sporting events, just like FIFA World Cup is going to be better. So, everybody is getting excited about 5 gs cellular bonded private 5 gs networks.

Speaker 1

So, I believe us leading in that is going to be a growth factor in 'twenty six, 'twenty seven, 'twenty eight and beyond. So, those are the nuts. Dan, you got something else to add? Well, I just

Speaker 2

want to mention that even work with the consortium where we're helping to build the next generation of secure robust communication systems in the public safety space is going is a huge initiative as well. Again, we'll see start seeing that benefit in 2026 and beyond. So all of those initiatives are demonstrating our technology prowess, demonstrating the potential of what we can be doing and we'll eventually contribute to the top line growth.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thank you for taking my questions. I'll pass the line.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Robert Young with Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

I've been told, Robert, drop off the line.

Speaker 5

Oh, I'm here. I'm here.

Speaker 1

Oh, okay.

Speaker 5

Sorry about that. No, no, I've got a couple

Speaker 4

of quick ones. Most of

Speaker 5

my questions are covered in the prepared remarks. But

Speaker 2

the reduction in

Speaker 5

the guidance and the push out in the U. S. Already covered a bit of this. Like how comfortable are you that the programs you're on are durable through the election cycle? Like the other side of presidential elections or any of these subject to cancellation or change or anything like that?

Speaker 5

Maybe just talk about how durable you feel that business is with King's and with the additional Navy contract?

Speaker 1

It's a very good question. I mean, from the new Navy contract, I mean, what we're told, I mean, it's obviously not only been approved, but the budgeting has been secured by Congress and it's committed. It is not subject to change of administration. So, from that, it's a high priority project that's been fully funded and approved. So, we don't see any disruption.

Speaker 1

That and that specific project that we're told. From a Cain's perspective, that's been going on for 7 plus years. It is starting to wind down. We have seen budget discussions and problems that have moved deals left to right. So, that one would be affected potentially by an administration change or elections.

Speaker 1

But it's to a much lesser extent because we're kind of nearing the end of that program. So, I'm not as concerned. But the big deal and let's not forget that our base year for this new contract, which we thought would have been this year because it's taken us we actually thought that this was going to close back in January, February, March. It just closed. So, it just took a long time for the close.

Speaker 1

The base year is actually in 2025. So, and that's what we're already planning that that's going to be a small amount. The real intent is really where it really ramps up is 26 and then 27, 28. So, I would expect that no matter what happens with the elections, it's not going to be much of an effect on this deal. I guess, I would be more concerned if what happens with the elections and if there's a government shutdown, that could be a whole different discussion, right?

Speaker 1

But at this point, none of these programs seem to be affected.

Speaker 2

Yes. Robert, I think that if we look at both the Canes project and for that matter, the Navy project, both of them represent technology refreshes. In the Canes project, this is their 3rd we're in the middle of our 3rd technology refresh with the Navy and that will continue. That's not a contentious kind of issue. And even our the technology refresh related to this U.

Speaker 2

S. Navy deal is a technology refresh. Again, it's not contentious. It's not a new program. It's not a large program.

Speaker 2

It's part of the ongoing refurbishment of these boats that happen all the time.

Speaker 1

Okay.

Speaker 5

That's great to hear. And last little one, just the new Navy contract, is that an IDIQ or a Maxim authorization? Or is that actual revenue do you expect to receive over the life of the contract? Then I'll pass the line. Thanks.

Speaker 2

That is all actual revenue over the life of the project.

Speaker 5

Okay. Thank you very much.

Speaker 1

Super. Thanks.

Operator

And we have no further questions at this time. I'll hand the call back to Mirko for any final remarks.

Speaker 2

Oh, wait a minute. Ben has got a question.

Operator

Yes. We do now have a question from yes, we do have now have a question from Venkata. Please go ahead with your question.

Speaker 6

Yes. Thanks, Dan and Mirko for taking my questions. Yes, I just have one question as questions related to most of I mean operations have been covered. This is about your share buybacks you have been doing over the course of last quarter. So just want to know like the timeline, do you have plans to continue or what criteria do you have in mind before pursuing this program?

Speaker 6

Thanks a lot.

Speaker 2

Very good. Well, the NCIB is in place for a year. I don't see why we wouldn't want to renew the program. I believe the basis for the decision to go down this path is that we believe that stock was not reflective of the value. And as long as the stock was cheap, we are going to support it.

Speaker 2

We'll continue to support the stock. At what level, we have yet to determine. But we do have this automatic share purchase plan in place during our blackout periods. And so that is in place and we'll continue to operate for the remainder of the year and we will make adjustments as necessary.

Speaker 6

Okay, perfect. Sounds good. Thanks.

Operator

And with that, I'll hand the call back over to Mirko.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Mirko. I just want to thank all of our shareholders and analysts on the line today and for the continued support of HiVision and look forward to speaking with everyone in mid January when we're going to discuss our full 2024 results and give a little more color to our guidance for 2025 at that time. So thank you again and speak to everybody in January.

Operator

That will conclude today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

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Key Takeaways

  • HiVision delivered on its 2-year strategic plan by boosting adjusted EBITDA margin from 6% in FY2022 to the mid-teens, with Q4 2024 approaching 20% and full-year guidance of mid-teens adjusted EBITDA margin on $134–136 M revenue.
  • The control room transformation from a bespoke integrator to a scalable manufacturer model is ahead of schedule, with the transition expected to complete in H2 FY2025 and drive visible revenue growth as channel partners ramp up.
  • HiVision is building a long-term rental SaaS model for its Pro Series 5G transmitters, achieving an 87% increase in global rentals and laying the groundwork for multi-year recurring revenue that will ramp in 2026 and beyond.
  • The company secured a CAD 82.6 M five-year production agreement with the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command to supply combat visualization and video distribution systems, underpinning defense revenue growth from FY2026 onward.
  • Strategic partnerships and marquee deployments include HiVision’s role as sole 5G streaming provider in the Airbus-led Air5G consortium (products due late 2025), AI integration with Shield AI for the Kraken platform, and deployment of cutting-edge 5G/low-latency tech at the Paris Olympics, earning an IBC Innovation Award finalist nod.
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Earnings Conference Call
Haivision Systems Q3 2024
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