NASDAQ:REKR Rekor Systems Q1 2025 Earnings Report $1.03 +0.01 (+0.98%) As of 05/15/2025 04:00 PM Eastern Earnings HistoryForecast Rekor Systems EPS ResultsActual EPS-$0.10Consensus EPS -$0.08Beat/MissMissed by -$0.02One Year Ago EPSN/ARekor Systems Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$9.20 millionExpected Revenue$10.92 millionBeat/MissMissed by -$1.72 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/ARekor Systems Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2025Date5/14/2025TimeBefore Market OpensConference Call DateWednesday, May 14, 2025Conference Call Time4:30PM ETUpcoming EarningsRekor Systems' Q2 2025 earnings is scheduled for Wednesday, May 21, 2025Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfilePowered by Rekor Systems Q1 2025 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMay 14, 2025 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 8 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to today's Recor Systems Inc. Conference Call. My name is Matt, and I'll be your coordinator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. Operator00:00:17As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. Before we start, I want to read you the company's abbreviated Safe Harbor statement. I want to remind you that statements made in this conference call concerning future revenues, results of operations, financial position, markets, economic conditions, products and product releases, partnerships and any other statements that may be construed as predictions of future performance or events are forward looking statements. Such statements can involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. We ask that you refer to the full disclaimers in our earnings release. Operator00:00:56You should also review a description of the risk factors contained in our annual and quarterly filings with the SEC. Non GAAP results will also be discussed on the call. The company believes the presentation of non GAAP information provides useful supplementary data concerning the company's ongoing operations and is provided for informational purposes only. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Robert Berman, Interim President and CEO of Recor Systems. Operator00:01:23Thank you. You may begin. Speaker 100:01:26Thank you, Nat, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today to discuss Recor Systems first quarter twenty twenty five results. Normally, we begin our presentation by having our CFO, Eyal Henn, review the numbers. But as described in our last earnings call, we've been going through an extensive review and realignment of our operations since the end of last year. We anticipated that the market and the economy might face a period of uncertainty. Speaker 100:01:56For the long term benefit of our shareholders, we felt it would be less important concentrate on future projects at this point than it would be to emphasize the revenue potential of what we've already achieved. As you've been told repeatedly, RECORE has seen adoption of its tech and is now in the early stages of launching it into larger markets that are overdue for it. Competitors are racing to catch up, but everyone is meeting the current challenges in markets and the economy. So for now, we want to remain focused on exploiting the commercial potential of what we've already produced. So it's important to put the numbers Eyal discusses into perspective. Speaker 100:02:34As we began our review process, we prioritize steps that would immediately reduce our expenses. In some cases, this led to a temporary increase in expenses, but you'll see solid evidence of the success of these efforts. These expense reductions haven't been done blindly and they're not finished. But our overall objective was to position RECORE for stronger, more predictable and scalable growth moving forward. We've learned that our prior approach while visionary was not sufficiently grounded in the revenue driven execution our shareholders deserve. Speaker 100:03:08We spent too much time building a company in anticipation of growth rather than ensuring that our approach and leadership were structured toward delivering revenue, sustaining revenue against defined milestones. That was a mistake and it needed to be addressed. Beginning in Q2, RECORE is implementing a new general manager structure to sharpen our focus on customers and accelerate the adoption of our products in a way that produces a business with sustainable revenues. We've been in the process of evolving the structure over the last few months and expect you to see the benefits very shortly. Under this structure, each core business unit is led by a dedicated General Manager with clear profit and loss responsibility. Speaker 100:03:51By reorganizing into focused units, we aim to improve operational accountability, foster greater innovation and enhance our customer focus. This structure also positions RECORE to scale revenue more effectively as we expand our reach into domestic and international markets. Our new GM structure is anchored by experienced leaders who bring deep industry expertise and a global perspective to RECORE. One of these is Mark Phillips, a seasoned Roadway Technology Executive with significant international experience. Mark's global background at Q3 and elsewhere in scaling businesses will help position RECORE's solutions on a worldwide stage. Speaker 100:04:34He will leverage his international expertise to drive global market penetration and ensure that Recor's offerings meet the needs of customers across different regions. Mark's leadership is also expected to strengthen Recor's domestic presence, aligning our products with international opportunities and partnerships. Mark is both a talented business leader and a skilled electrical engineer. In the early 2000s, Mark founded a company that developed an innovative data logger used by DOTs around the world, which was later acquired by Qfree, a Norwegian technology company specializing in intelligent traffic systems. The company operates globally with offices in Europe, Asia, Australia and The Americas. Speaker 100:05:18And following the acquisition, he remained with Q3 to help establish a global distribution network. We expect the full scope of our organizational changes to be completed and as formally announced in Q2, Leaders will manage their respective business units with an entrepreneurial approach, enabling each unit to respond quickly and effectively to customers' needs. The GMs will be supported by shared services, including engineering, which is now led by Shobut Jain as Chief Product and Technology Officer. Shobut has held senior leadership roles at both Verra Mobility and HEAR Technologies. He served as Vice President of Product and Innovation for Government Solutions at Verra Mobility, a leading provider of smart mobility technology solutions for government agencies and commercial fleets. Speaker 100:06:06He was previously Head of Innovation at Here Technologies, a global leader in mapping and location based platform services. Under the GM structure, Recor's operations are now organized into dedicated business units centered around our customers' needs in each of our core solution areas. Each unit is empowered to focus on its product portfolio and customer base enabling more agility and specialized attention. By restructuring RECORE around these solution focused units each led by strong management, we can better serve the needs of each new and existing customer. Customer centricity is a core objective and each GM is tasked with staying close to the customer base and their domain and rapidly responding to feedback and tailoring offerings to solve specific problems for those user groups. Speaker 100:06:58The shift to a GM structure led organization is designed to deliver several strategic benefits. Greater accountability for each GM will be responsible to build a team that focuses on sustainable growth within their own segment. Enhanced innovation by giving them more control each unit will be able to concentrate on innovations that are most valuable to their customers on a near term basis. Top priority and product development will be given to customer value. Improved customer focus by concentrating more intensively on the needs of new and existing customers, our teams will be more focused on learning what their current needs are rather than imagining what their needs might be in the future. Speaker 100:07:41Scalable revenue growth. By concentrating on distinct product lines and regions, each unit can pursue growth opportunities more effectively. Mark Phillips' international expertise, for example, will help replicate successful go to market strategies across global markets. This focused approach lays the groundwork for scalable revenue streams as each business unit expands its market share. The new structure also makes it easier to integrate future acquisitions or partnerships directly into the relevant unit fueling further growth. Speaker 100:08:13We expect the structure to unlock new levels of performance resulting in a more agile company that can sustainably scale revenue and maintain a leadership role in our industry. So thank you for your continued support as we embark on this new chapter and we're confident that these changes will drive meaningful improvements in our operations and accelerate RECORE's growth trajectory on a global stage. Now I'll turn the call over to our CFO, Eyal Henn, for a deeper look at our financial results for Q1 twenty twenty five. Eyal? Speaker 200:08:47Thank you, Ruben, and thanks to all of you joining us today to discuss our first quarter of twenty twenty five results. We reported revenue of $9,200,000 for Q1 twenty twenty five, representing a 6% decrease compared to the same quarter last year. Despite this reduction, we achieved a $2,000,000 improvement in our adjusted EBITDA loss, thanks to meaningful reductions in our operating expenses. Revenue was impacted across all three of our business segments. Factors such as adverse weather conditions in the Southeast, delays in contract signings and budget constraints from DOTs and public safety agencies, largely due to the uncertainty surrounding the new administration, created significant headwinds to sales execution. Speaker 200:09:47That said, we did see stability in our recurring revenue, which totaled $5,100,000 for the quarter, making a modest 3% increase from Q1 twenty twenty four. Adjusted gross margin for the first quarter of twenty twenty five was 48.2%, up from 46% in the same period last year, primarily driven by higher mix of margin accretive offerings. Looking forward, we anticipate continued gross margin expansion, supported by growing share of SaaS based revenue and increased contributions from our pay for data contracts. Adjusted EBITDA loss was $7,400,000 significantly improved from $9,400,000 in Q1 twenty twenty four. This was a result of the efforts Robert mentioned to optimize our cost structure, which we started in November of twenty twenty four. Speaker 200:10:50Moving forward, we will continue to work towards steady declines in adjusted EBITDA losses as revenue grows, supported by an improving gross margin. It's worth noting that our cost optimization initiatives, which included targeted workforce realignment and voluntary compensation reductions in exchange for equity, were initiated to improve our cash flow and operational efficiency. By sharpening our focus and reducing expenses, we have been able to deliver tangible financial benefits. As a result, operating expenses in Q1 twenty twenty five were significantly lower than they would have been without these initiatives, contributing directly to our nowhere EBITDA loss. We remain diligent in managing our cost structure as we balance growth investments with path to profitability. Speaker 200:11:53Our first quarter in twenty twenty five was affected by seasonal and other factors that we do not expect to continue throughout the year. Looking ahead, we anticipate continued improvement in adjusted EBITDA as we progress through 2025. The combination of revenue growth and expanding gross margins give us confidence that our adjusted EBITDA losses will keep narrowing down in upcoming quarters. We expect gross margins to improve steadily, driven by an increasing mix of higher margin SaaS revenue and data services as well as efficiencies in our delivery of solutions. At the same time, our cost optimization efforts are ongoing. Speaker 200:12:44We will maintain the discipline that we established last year, ensuring that any expense growth stays well below our revenue growth rate. In practical terms, this means we plan to deliver sequentially better EBITDA results as the year unfolds, supported by both top line momentum and margin expansion. Our sales pipeline remains strong and remain encouraged by the traction we're seeing with State Department of Transportation and public safety agencies. As these opportunities convert into revenue, the incremental sales should flow through at higher contribution margin, further bolstering our profitability. We are also targeting additional operational efficiencies in 2025, which we expect will help offset inflationary pressures and sustain the trajectory of EBITDA improvement. Speaker 200:13:46Overall, our goal is to exit 2025 on significantly stronger financial footing than we entered. We are working towards achieving breakeven adjusted EBITDA in the foreseeable future. And each quarter, we intend to move closer to that milestone. The first quarter's results, while not where we ultimately wanted to be, show that we are making progress in the right direction. Before I conclude, I want to acknowledge our shareholders. Speaker 200:14:15We recognize that our Q1 performance came in below our expectations and likely below the expectation of some of you listening today. We do not take this lightly. Rest assured, the entire management team is focused on improving execution and delivering the results you expect from us. We have a clear plan in place to drive growth and margin improvement, and we are confident in our path forward. Importantly, we are grateful for the continued support and patience of our investors as we navigate these changes and strive to unlock Recor's full potential. Speaker 200:14:55Your support has been crucial as we implement necessary changes and invest for future success. We remain committed to building shareholder value and rewarding that trust through our actions and results in the coming quarters. Thank you for your attention and for your support. We are confident that the steps we've taken to optimize costs, strengthen our capital structure and drive growth will position Recall for improved performance throughout 2025. Now I'll turn the call back to Robert. Speaker 200:15:31Robert? Speaker 100:15:33Hey, Al. Thank you. I'd now like to open the call for questions from our shareholders. Operator? Speaker 300:15:45Great. Thank you. First question is from Mike Latimore from Northland Capital. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:16:17Hi. This is Aditi on behalf of Mike Latimore. Could you give some color on the pipeline for Scout and how are the bookings in one q for Scout? Speaker 100:16:33Hey, all. Speaker 200:16:38I'm sorry, I'm not clear with the question. Speaker 400:16:43So how has the pipeline been for Scout bookings? How are the bookings for Scout Speaker 100:16:50in think that's a fair question. We were just looking at Scout the other day. Since launching Scout in 2019, it's grown by more than 4,700 revenue. And frankly, we dropped the ball with it a bit in 2024. And part of this reorganization is getting back to Scout less on the law enforcement side and more on the commercial side, which is where the majority of our ARR is from Scout. Speaker 100:17:25So I think that you'll see a lot more activity with Scout as a product over the next, actually thirty to sixty days. Speaker 400:17:39Got it. And, are there any partnerships that you're working on just like Sound Thinking last year? Speaker 100:17:48We do have some that are actively in discussion that we just can't talk about because they're not concluded and it's nonpublic, but, we're always working on those and primarily with Scout for sure. But also with Discover now, having brought Mark Phillips on and changing a little bit the way we approach the sales methodology with Discover as a piece of technology that's fully productized that we can sell out of the box through distributors and others and markets that we've not penetrated yet. We're just entering now. Speaker 400:18:30All right. Got it. Thank you. Speaker 100:18:32Thank you. Speaker 300:18:36Next question is from Tim Moore from Clear Street. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:18:41Thanks. Just trying to build a bit more conviction, the possibility for maybe double digit organic sales growth drivers this year. I know there was weather issue and the election overhang in the March. I think the September was probably negative organic growth if you strip out the ATD acquisition contribution. So we know that many legacy transportation and monitoring device systems are inaccurate, they're not effective and they're pretty much simply obsolete. Speaker 500:19:10Can you provide us maybe a better sense of how the task order side, not big projects or new big wins, but the task order sides might backfill or help sales growth this year instead of waiting for a lumpy new sales state win. Are you expecting to roll out a lot of Discover and Edge units for repair on placement this year, Waves? Speaker 100:19:30That's a really good question. And I think as we said earlier in the call with regard to the reorg and the way we're structured now with this JAM structure, Discover is fully productized. It takes time to get governments to adopt technology. We're seeing broad adoption with Discover. And I think as we get deeper into this quarter, okay, and we announced the reorg, we'll be able to give you some clarity with respect to the growth in that. Speaker 100:19:57And I think you're going see substantial change with that because of a little bit of modification with our pricing structure on Discover and the go to market strategy with it. Look, we it's been a learning process, right? We're dealing with government. We're replacing legacy technology that they've been using for decades and decades. And to think that we were trying to push certain business models into the way governments do business maybe was a mistake on our part. Speaker 100:20:27And I think now that we understand more the way that the DOTs buy, think you're going to see a lot more growth with Discover. And it's a fantastic model because it's got strong ability to deliver a piece of a device that does provides a service, but also has strong recurring revenue and higher margins to it. So a little bit of a learning curve, right? Having launched in 2022 takes some time, but I think we're there. And I think you'll see more of that in the coming weeks. Speaker 500:20:57That's helpful to hear on that color. And just switching gears, as you mentioned, you narrowed the EBITDA loss by $2,000,000 despite the sales decline. That was pretty good. Just wondering, how much of the $15,000,000 annualized cost savings expense realignment have you implemented this year? And I was just wondering if that $15,000,000 figure from, I think it was November, is that dependent on a certain level of sales growth this year? Speaker 500:21:28Like you got to put up teens growth to achieve that? I'm just curious if you have any color on cost implementation. Speaker 100:21:33I think it's realizing that we've got things that are fully productized and we're focusing on those. We have a lot of expenses that were related to R and D of products that we can't tie revenue to in the near term. So it's changing our focus and looking at things that we can do today. And I think you're going to see more reductions. And I think as you see additional revenue, you're going to see incremental margin along with the reduction in cost. Speaker 100:22:04And Eyal, would you agree with that? Speaker 200:22:06Yes. Absolutely. That's true. And then as we said, the 15,000,000 will go along the year and not just the first quarter. So we'll see, as we mentioned, continued reduction in the cost improvement in the EBITDA as we go. Speaker 100:22:22Look, it's really good point you're raising. We're developing technology to replace decades old legacy tech and it's a learning curve and we had to get there and understand the customer. And I think now with the approach we're taking to, we get it. We don't need to do the R and D, the products there, it works. It's just delivering the product and not thinking about three years from now, it's about thinking about today. Speaker 100:22:49I think that's the big change here. And I think you'll see the incremental savings as well as the revenue growth come from that, which is going to give us margin to eliminate the burn and drive the company to profitability. Speaker 500:23:03That would be really good if you can come up with the $15,000,000 My last question is really a different question. I mean, you aggregate, I think more than 20,000,000,000,000 data points for Roadway Intelligence. Is there any other way to maybe monetize that or can you license some of that out to maybe a user fee to some cities that you don't have any contracts with? Speaker 100:23:23That's also a good question. I think I'm going to drop back and say, what we've realized is we've got three really healthy product platforms here, Discover, Command and Scout. Scout is the most mature obviously, it's been out there for a while. We're focused more on the commercial side now than on law enforcement. But with the Command and Discover, I think what I'm trying to say is we're going to stop where we are and sell what we have. Speaker 100:23:48And we've realized that that's what we need to do because there's demand for it. So, that's where we're going to stay focused. And the nice thing about the way that the technology is developed is that we can always import additional data and provide additional services, but that's not a necessity in driving revenue today and growth today and profit today. I think that was the mistake that we made historically. And as I said earlier, building a company for future growth and revenues as opposed to focusing and realizing what we have is, I hate to say good enough, but it is good enough. Speaker 100:24:24Okay. And there's demand for it and we're seeing adoption and that's what we need to focus rather than confusing customers, right, with just more and more and more and more. Speaker 500:24:34Understood. Thanks for that color and for answering my questions. That's it for my questions. Speaker 400:24:39Thank you. Speaker 200:24:40Thank you. Speaker 300:24:47Next question is from Noah Levitz from Blair. Please go ahead. Speaker 600:24:52Good afternoon, Robert and Nayal. Thanks for taking my questions. To start off, I thought it was interesting about your new GM structure, your particular hire of Mark. You noted that he has a lot of international experience in particular. And I'm curious if with the procurement environment being as difficult as it is in The U. Speaker 600:25:13S, are you already selling in international markets? Or do you see a particular the high level of demand there and opportunity there, that Mark, for example, could help RECOR take advantage of? Speaker 100:25:28Well, we do. Almost every developed nation uses some form of collection of data for planning, but also for traffic operations. And that's the thing about RECORD Discover, it does both. So it eliminates the need for multiple devices out on the roadway. And we do see demand and it's just, it's a subtle difference of classifications here in The U. Speaker 100:25:56S. We have 13 bins in places like Ireland, as an example, they have seven. Other countries have more or less, but they're all pretty much the same. It's just a matter of machine learning and training. And I think our customers understand that. Speaker 100:26:09Mark is actually in Europe right now, doing an installation for a pilot in another country. So we think there's demand for this product across the board. And that's our point about being box ready and the point about having the GM structure because we've got these products. They're proven. The adoption is there. Speaker 100:26:31And we need the ability for the people that are leading each one of these verticals to be able to control the P and L, be responsible for sales and make it happen. And I think we're shifting from this mentality of R and D for this tech, for this changing world that we're living into, hey, we've got some good stuff here, let's go sell it. And let's go from there. And I think that's where we are. Speaker 600:26:58That's great. Thank you. And then my last question is on your partnership for Plate Ranger with Sound Thinking. Can you just provide a little bit of color on the adoption of that system and whether or not you're currently recognizing any revenue or when you would hope to see that start to hit? Thanks. Speaker 100:27:17So we have a contract that was negotiated with Sound Thinking that gives us guaranteed revenue in 2025, '20 '20 '6 and 2027. They're out there selling and they're a great company. And I think law enforcement market is a market that they're built to operate in, a lot of blocking and tackling and so forth. So, you'll have to talk to them about that. But, we think they're going to be successful with it. Speaker 100:27:45And the early indications are that they will be. They've committed to it, put some dollars behind it. So we'll let them do that while we're working on the commercial side of it because that's what differentiates what Scout does from folks that are purely in law enforcement and doing LPR, right? And frankly, that's the majority of the ARR in Scout. And it's just that, you know, I said it earlier, we dropped the ball with it in 2024, having grown it from, you know, over 4000% of the figures. Speaker 100:28:21Mostly on the commercial side, we just dropped the ball and we're going back to that now. So, but I think sound thinking will do well with the product and I think their focus is there and you should chat with them about that. Speaker 400:28:41Did we lose you? Speaker 300:28:46Question is from Ray Yackel, a Private Investor. Please go ahead. Speaker 700:28:51Yes. Hi. Thanks for taking my call. A couple of questions. Actually, the last caller tapped into my question. Speaker 700:28:58I had mentioned a couple of quarters ago to David about overseas contracts and he mentioned there was enough revenue to be focused in U. S. But I saw, I believe you'll be attending the ITS European Congress May nineteen. Can we expect more of that? Speaker 100:29:15Yes, we're over there. And I think that's one of the things that we're trying to point out here. Once you have a technology that's productized, that's, let's call it, box ready, and you have the support materials necessary to sell that through channel partners, then you can go ahead and do that. And again, there are every developed nation does some form of account class and speech, just like we do here in The U. S. Speaker 100:29:43And they use that same data for traffic operations. And we have the ability to sell that product now internationally. And that's exactly what we're doing. Not that we've even penetrated the tip of the iceberg here in The US, but we're starting to see the adoption. Things take a little longer. Speaker 100:30:01We know we've talked about a lot of states and contracts and other things, but nothing's changed. We think those things are coming. But there's no reason for us not to be focused on the international market because there's demand for the product and we can send it there. So that's our plan. Speaker 700:30:20Thank you. And last quarter you mentioned a little over 15 proof of concept. And I would have thought maybe by this today's release of the revenue that we would have maybe heard one or two. Can we expect that flow drift to continue throughout the year or would they be a little bit of a quicker process? Speaker 100:30:43I can tell you that almost all of the states where we have proof of concept systems. New York, as an example, has actually acquired technology in the majority of the other states. When I say adoption, we're now seeing more orders. We're seeing larger contracts. And I think that to be frank about it, I think we had the sales approach and pricing in such a way that wasn't consistent with the way that these agencies procure. Speaker 100:31:19And if you think about how complicated it is, we needed to make sure that we configured the way we sell into the way they buy as opposed to swimming upstream. And I think we figured that out over the last few months and we made those changes and I think you'll see the results of that very Speaker 700:31:40In today's press release, you mentioned about the adverse weather conditions, but the slowdown in the revenue. With hurricane season not too far away, do you focus on planning on having more personnel in that area before that happens or? Speaker 100:31:56Well, you know, it's funny, but like in one of our customers in the most southern state, we actually had to get out there and help them in between the two hurricanes they had last year and the technology performed well. I don't think it's a question of having the personnel out there. I think it's the ability to have the product ready to be deployed as a technology company as opposed to being a contractor. And that's the difference. At the end of the day, RECOR is technology software data company, and not a construction company. Speaker 100:32:30And, that's why we've changed the model of the way we run the company and manage the company because we can deploy the technology and we don't necessarily have to do that work. And we can get the same revenue and recurring revenue from having others do it because the products are ready to be deployed that way. But it took a little bit of time to get it there. And now we're there. So I think it's not a question of how much manpower we have. Speaker 100:32:56I think it's a question of the demand for the product. And I think now that we've modified the way we're doing business, I think you're going to see the scale coming with that. That's frankly what we were hoping that's what we were hoping to do. Speaker 700:33:12And my last question is the I mentioned a couple of quarters ago to David and he said stay tuned, but is the QSR kind of a debt sector right now or are you still focused on that or revenue isn't high That's Speaker 100:33:27a good question. So I can tell you that the it's an interesting area because Scout started out as LPR, vehicle recognition. We produce a lot more data from Scout and hold a variety of patents on how to anonymize that data. So privacy information that goes out doesn't become a problem with respect to commercial customers not wanting the same information that let's say a law enforcement agency would have. And I think that sector is going to open up more for us. Speaker 100:34:01We've had success with it in the past with companies like Six Flags and others, casino companies that we've announced. And we see a lot more value to that data today than we did even six months or a year ago. And again, it's the way we were marketing and where we were focused. And I think we're turning our focus back towards commercial. So the answer is yes, QSRs are very much a part of that. Speaker 100:34:25Look, there's an article you guys can Google and go search it, Chick fil A was flying drones over their properties to look at the traffic flow coming in and out of some of their stores. So if you can just envision that and think about, and it's all on our websites, the data that we can produce from Scout for our customers, there's a lot of valuable data there for folks that are in retail businesses, whether it's a QSR, a big box store, a sports stadium, a casino, whatever it might be. And that's where our focus is now. And I think you're going to see more of that in the coming weeks and months. Speaker 700:35:04And you believe we're still on track then for profitability by the end of the year? Speaker 100:35:10I personally believe that we are on track for profitability before the end of the year. I want to commit to it, but I think we're going to get there. I think it's around the corner. And that's what we're doing. We're working to drive the company to scale revenue, become efficient, not just from the standpoint of being efficient, meaning cutting costs and overhead, but being able to deliver the product to the customer with less bureaucracy. Speaker 100:35:38And look, Recor was just overbuilt, okay, too bureaucratic for its size, with great products that there was demand for that we couldn't get out the door because we just had this process here that just didn't work. And we're going to fully announce the structural changes that are coming with this GM structure. And the Board is still out, look, actively looking. I'll stay here as long as it takes to make this work and hope to continue to stay on the board because I believe in the company, but we're going to find the right person to manage it and the right people to do what we're doing. And I think we have that structure in place now. Speaker 100:36:21And I think you're going to see the results of that and it's not going to take a long time. Speaker 700:36:25Okay. And will there be any update from Mexico? Speaker 100:36:31I can't speak to that right now because it's just again, it's non public stuff, but as soon as we have something to update we will. Speaker 700:36:40I understand. That's all I have. I appreciate your time. Speaker 400:36:43Yes. Thank you. Speaker 300:36:47This concludes the question and answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back to management for any closing comments. Speaker 100:36:53Yes. Thank you. And look, everybody, thanks again for your patience. Think every company has growing pains and I think RECORE is on the backside of ours because I think we realized some of the things that we were doing that were inhibiting the growth in the scale and the profitability in the margins. And look, the Board is fully involved in this. Speaker 100:37:16And we think we've come up with the right structure, the right plan. We think we have the right people as GMs in place. And again, we're going to be talking more about that in the coming weeks this quarter. And we'll also continue to look for, a permanent person to come here as an interim CEO, but not going anywhere until we make this work, right? And when we find the right person, we'll make those changes as well. Speaker 100:37:42But we're going to get through this. And I think you'll see that. It's not going to be quarters and quarters away. I think it's just a matter of weeks here. So, appreciate everybody's patience and thank you so much for staying with us. Speaker 300:38:05This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you again for your participation. Speaker 400:38:11Thank you.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallRekor Systems Q1 202500:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) Rekor Systems Earnings HeadlinesRekor Systems, Inc. (REKR) Q1 2025 Earnings Call TranscriptMay 14 at 10:01 PM | seekingalpha.comRekor Systems Reports First Quarter 2025 Financial ResultsMay 14 at 4:05 PM | globenewswire.comElon just did WHAT!?As you may recall, Biden and the Fed were working on a central bank digital currency, or CBDC. Had they gotten away with it, the Fed and U.S. banks could have seized control of our financial lives forever. But Trump stopped them cold on January 23rd, 2025, when he outlawed CBDCs… Paving the way for Elon Musk's secret master plan.May 16, 2025 | Brownstone Research (Ad)Rekor Systems (REKR) Projected to Post Quarterly Earnings on WednesdayMay 14 at 2:07 AM | americanbankingnews.comRekor Systems Q1 2025 Earnings PreviewMay 13 at 10:25 PM | msn.comRekor Systems to Announce First Quarter Fiscal 2025 ResultsApril 23, 2025 | globenewswire.comSee More Rekor Systems Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Rekor Systems? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Rekor Systems and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Rekor SystemsRekor Systems (NASDAQ:REKR), a technology company, provides infrastructure solutions for transportation, public safety, and urban mobility markets in the United States and internationally. The company's platforms include Rekor One, an AI-powered roadway intelligence platform; Rekor Command, a comprehensive cross-agency platform that offers various applications for traffic management centers, freeway service patrol, first responders, and maintenance crews; Rekor Discover, a platform that ingests data from its hardware and automates comprehensive analytics and actionable insights about the movement of objects across the roadway; and Rekor Scout platform, which automates previously manual processes with collaborative solutions that keep all stakeholders apprised of developing situations and accelerate reaction times to incidents and offenders. It also offers Rekor AutoNotice, a cloud-based financial management application that delivers a turnkey information and citation management solution for cities, states, and municipalities for primary and secondary offenses; and Rekor CarCheck, which allows its AI based vehicle and license plate recognition technology to be accessed for a range of commercial applications. In addition, the company offers Rekor Edge Max System, a fixed traffic data collection system that captures and transforms roadway data into holistic traffic insights; Rekor Edge Pro, a vehicle recognition solution that is used on a standalone basis or integrated into a network; and Rekor Edge Flex, a portable data collection system. Further, it provides traffic services, including traditional traffic studies, which delivers data and insights for planning and management of roadway infrastructure and commercial initiatives; innovative AI-driven traffic studies for traffic management; and traffic engineering services. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland.View Rekor Systems ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles D-Wave Pushes Back on Short Seller Case With Strong EarningsAppLovin Surges on Earnings: What's Next for This Tech Standout?Can Shopify Stock Make a Comeback After an Earnings Sell-Off?Rocket Lab: Earnings Miss But Neutron Momentum HoldsWhy Nearly 20 Analysts Raised Meta Price Targets Post-EarningsOXY Stock Rebound Begins Following Solid Earnings BeatMonolithic Power Systems: Will Strong Earnings Spark a Recovery? Upcoming Earnings Palo Alto Networks (5/20/2025)PDD (5/20/2025)Synopsys (5/20/2025)Home Depot (5/20/2025)Lowe's Companies (5/21/2025)Medtronic (5/21/2025)Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (5/21/2025)Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (5/21/2025)Snowflake (5/21/2025)TJX Companies (5/21/2025) Get 30 Days of MarketBeat All Access for Free Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools. Start Your 30-Day Trial MarketBeat All Access Features Best-in-Class Portfolio Monitoring Get personalized stock ideas. Compare portfolio to indices. Check stock news, ratings, SEC filings, and more. Stock Ideas and Recommendations See daily stock ideas from top analysts. Receive short-term trading ideas from MarketBeat. Identify trending stocks on social media. Advanced Stock Screeners and Research Tools Use our seven stock screeners to find suitable stocks. Stay informed with MarketBeat's real-time news. Export data to Excel for personal analysis. Sign in to your free account to enjoy these benefits In-depth profiles and analysis for 20,000 public companies. Real-time analyst ratings, insider transactions, earnings data, and more. Our daily ratings and market update email newsletter. Sign in to your free account to enjoy all that MarketBeat has to offer. Sign In Create Account Your Email Address: Email Address Required Your Password: Password Required Log In or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google Forgot your password? Your Email Address: Please enter your email address. Please enter a valid email address Choose a Password: Please enter your password. Your password must be at least 8 characters long and contain at least 1 number, 1 letter, and 1 special character. Create My Account (Free) or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google By creating a free account, you agree to our terms of service. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
There are 8 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to today's Recor Systems Inc. Conference Call. My name is Matt, and I'll be your coordinator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. Operator00:00:17As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. Before we start, I want to read you the company's abbreviated Safe Harbor statement. I want to remind you that statements made in this conference call concerning future revenues, results of operations, financial position, markets, economic conditions, products and product releases, partnerships and any other statements that may be construed as predictions of future performance or events are forward looking statements. Such statements can involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. We ask that you refer to the full disclaimers in our earnings release. Operator00:00:56You should also review a description of the risk factors contained in our annual and quarterly filings with the SEC. Non GAAP results will also be discussed on the call. The company believes the presentation of non GAAP information provides useful supplementary data concerning the company's ongoing operations and is provided for informational purposes only. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Robert Berman, Interim President and CEO of Recor Systems. Operator00:01:23Thank you. You may begin. Speaker 100:01:26Thank you, Nat, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today to discuss Recor Systems first quarter twenty twenty five results. Normally, we begin our presentation by having our CFO, Eyal Henn, review the numbers. But as described in our last earnings call, we've been going through an extensive review and realignment of our operations since the end of last year. We anticipated that the market and the economy might face a period of uncertainty. Speaker 100:01:56For the long term benefit of our shareholders, we felt it would be less important concentrate on future projects at this point than it would be to emphasize the revenue potential of what we've already achieved. As you've been told repeatedly, RECORE has seen adoption of its tech and is now in the early stages of launching it into larger markets that are overdue for it. Competitors are racing to catch up, but everyone is meeting the current challenges in markets and the economy. So for now, we want to remain focused on exploiting the commercial potential of what we've already produced. So it's important to put the numbers Eyal discusses into perspective. Speaker 100:02:34As we began our review process, we prioritize steps that would immediately reduce our expenses. In some cases, this led to a temporary increase in expenses, but you'll see solid evidence of the success of these efforts. These expense reductions haven't been done blindly and they're not finished. But our overall objective was to position RECORE for stronger, more predictable and scalable growth moving forward. We've learned that our prior approach while visionary was not sufficiently grounded in the revenue driven execution our shareholders deserve. Speaker 100:03:08We spent too much time building a company in anticipation of growth rather than ensuring that our approach and leadership were structured toward delivering revenue, sustaining revenue against defined milestones. That was a mistake and it needed to be addressed. Beginning in Q2, RECORE is implementing a new general manager structure to sharpen our focus on customers and accelerate the adoption of our products in a way that produces a business with sustainable revenues. We've been in the process of evolving the structure over the last few months and expect you to see the benefits very shortly. Under this structure, each core business unit is led by a dedicated General Manager with clear profit and loss responsibility. Speaker 100:03:51By reorganizing into focused units, we aim to improve operational accountability, foster greater innovation and enhance our customer focus. This structure also positions RECORE to scale revenue more effectively as we expand our reach into domestic and international markets. Our new GM structure is anchored by experienced leaders who bring deep industry expertise and a global perspective to RECORE. One of these is Mark Phillips, a seasoned Roadway Technology Executive with significant international experience. Mark's global background at Q3 and elsewhere in scaling businesses will help position RECORE's solutions on a worldwide stage. Speaker 100:04:34He will leverage his international expertise to drive global market penetration and ensure that Recor's offerings meet the needs of customers across different regions. Mark's leadership is also expected to strengthen Recor's domestic presence, aligning our products with international opportunities and partnerships. Mark is both a talented business leader and a skilled electrical engineer. In the early 2000s, Mark founded a company that developed an innovative data logger used by DOTs around the world, which was later acquired by Qfree, a Norwegian technology company specializing in intelligent traffic systems. The company operates globally with offices in Europe, Asia, Australia and The Americas. Speaker 100:05:18And following the acquisition, he remained with Q3 to help establish a global distribution network. We expect the full scope of our organizational changes to be completed and as formally announced in Q2, Leaders will manage their respective business units with an entrepreneurial approach, enabling each unit to respond quickly and effectively to customers' needs. The GMs will be supported by shared services, including engineering, which is now led by Shobut Jain as Chief Product and Technology Officer. Shobut has held senior leadership roles at both Verra Mobility and HEAR Technologies. He served as Vice President of Product and Innovation for Government Solutions at Verra Mobility, a leading provider of smart mobility technology solutions for government agencies and commercial fleets. Speaker 100:06:06He was previously Head of Innovation at Here Technologies, a global leader in mapping and location based platform services. Under the GM structure, Recor's operations are now organized into dedicated business units centered around our customers' needs in each of our core solution areas. Each unit is empowered to focus on its product portfolio and customer base enabling more agility and specialized attention. By restructuring RECORE around these solution focused units each led by strong management, we can better serve the needs of each new and existing customer. Customer centricity is a core objective and each GM is tasked with staying close to the customer base and their domain and rapidly responding to feedback and tailoring offerings to solve specific problems for those user groups. Speaker 100:06:58The shift to a GM structure led organization is designed to deliver several strategic benefits. Greater accountability for each GM will be responsible to build a team that focuses on sustainable growth within their own segment. Enhanced innovation by giving them more control each unit will be able to concentrate on innovations that are most valuable to their customers on a near term basis. Top priority and product development will be given to customer value. Improved customer focus by concentrating more intensively on the needs of new and existing customers, our teams will be more focused on learning what their current needs are rather than imagining what their needs might be in the future. Speaker 100:07:41Scalable revenue growth. By concentrating on distinct product lines and regions, each unit can pursue growth opportunities more effectively. Mark Phillips' international expertise, for example, will help replicate successful go to market strategies across global markets. This focused approach lays the groundwork for scalable revenue streams as each business unit expands its market share. The new structure also makes it easier to integrate future acquisitions or partnerships directly into the relevant unit fueling further growth. Speaker 100:08:13We expect the structure to unlock new levels of performance resulting in a more agile company that can sustainably scale revenue and maintain a leadership role in our industry. So thank you for your continued support as we embark on this new chapter and we're confident that these changes will drive meaningful improvements in our operations and accelerate RECORE's growth trajectory on a global stage. Now I'll turn the call over to our CFO, Eyal Henn, for a deeper look at our financial results for Q1 twenty twenty five. Eyal? Speaker 200:08:47Thank you, Ruben, and thanks to all of you joining us today to discuss our first quarter of twenty twenty five results. We reported revenue of $9,200,000 for Q1 twenty twenty five, representing a 6% decrease compared to the same quarter last year. Despite this reduction, we achieved a $2,000,000 improvement in our adjusted EBITDA loss, thanks to meaningful reductions in our operating expenses. Revenue was impacted across all three of our business segments. Factors such as adverse weather conditions in the Southeast, delays in contract signings and budget constraints from DOTs and public safety agencies, largely due to the uncertainty surrounding the new administration, created significant headwinds to sales execution. Speaker 200:09:47That said, we did see stability in our recurring revenue, which totaled $5,100,000 for the quarter, making a modest 3% increase from Q1 twenty twenty four. Adjusted gross margin for the first quarter of twenty twenty five was 48.2%, up from 46% in the same period last year, primarily driven by higher mix of margin accretive offerings. Looking forward, we anticipate continued gross margin expansion, supported by growing share of SaaS based revenue and increased contributions from our pay for data contracts. Adjusted EBITDA loss was $7,400,000 significantly improved from $9,400,000 in Q1 twenty twenty four. This was a result of the efforts Robert mentioned to optimize our cost structure, which we started in November of twenty twenty four. Speaker 200:10:50Moving forward, we will continue to work towards steady declines in adjusted EBITDA losses as revenue grows, supported by an improving gross margin. It's worth noting that our cost optimization initiatives, which included targeted workforce realignment and voluntary compensation reductions in exchange for equity, were initiated to improve our cash flow and operational efficiency. By sharpening our focus and reducing expenses, we have been able to deliver tangible financial benefits. As a result, operating expenses in Q1 twenty twenty five were significantly lower than they would have been without these initiatives, contributing directly to our nowhere EBITDA loss. We remain diligent in managing our cost structure as we balance growth investments with path to profitability. Speaker 200:11:53Our first quarter in twenty twenty five was affected by seasonal and other factors that we do not expect to continue throughout the year. Looking ahead, we anticipate continued improvement in adjusted EBITDA as we progress through 2025. The combination of revenue growth and expanding gross margins give us confidence that our adjusted EBITDA losses will keep narrowing down in upcoming quarters. We expect gross margins to improve steadily, driven by an increasing mix of higher margin SaaS revenue and data services as well as efficiencies in our delivery of solutions. At the same time, our cost optimization efforts are ongoing. Speaker 200:12:44We will maintain the discipline that we established last year, ensuring that any expense growth stays well below our revenue growth rate. In practical terms, this means we plan to deliver sequentially better EBITDA results as the year unfolds, supported by both top line momentum and margin expansion. Our sales pipeline remains strong and remain encouraged by the traction we're seeing with State Department of Transportation and public safety agencies. As these opportunities convert into revenue, the incremental sales should flow through at higher contribution margin, further bolstering our profitability. We are also targeting additional operational efficiencies in 2025, which we expect will help offset inflationary pressures and sustain the trajectory of EBITDA improvement. Speaker 200:13:46Overall, our goal is to exit 2025 on significantly stronger financial footing than we entered. We are working towards achieving breakeven adjusted EBITDA in the foreseeable future. And each quarter, we intend to move closer to that milestone. The first quarter's results, while not where we ultimately wanted to be, show that we are making progress in the right direction. Before I conclude, I want to acknowledge our shareholders. Speaker 200:14:15We recognize that our Q1 performance came in below our expectations and likely below the expectation of some of you listening today. We do not take this lightly. Rest assured, the entire management team is focused on improving execution and delivering the results you expect from us. We have a clear plan in place to drive growth and margin improvement, and we are confident in our path forward. Importantly, we are grateful for the continued support and patience of our investors as we navigate these changes and strive to unlock Recor's full potential. Speaker 200:14:55Your support has been crucial as we implement necessary changes and invest for future success. We remain committed to building shareholder value and rewarding that trust through our actions and results in the coming quarters. Thank you for your attention and for your support. We are confident that the steps we've taken to optimize costs, strengthen our capital structure and drive growth will position Recall for improved performance throughout 2025. Now I'll turn the call back to Robert. Speaker 200:15:31Robert? Speaker 100:15:33Hey, Al. Thank you. I'd now like to open the call for questions from our shareholders. Operator? Speaker 300:15:45Great. Thank you. First question is from Mike Latimore from Northland Capital. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:16:17Hi. This is Aditi on behalf of Mike Latimore. Could you give some color on the pipeline for Scout and how are the bookings in one q for Scout? Speaker 100:16:33Hey, all. Speaker 200:16:38I'm sorry, I'm not clear with the question. Speaker 400:16:43So how has the pipeline been for Scout bookings? How are the bookings for Scout Speaker 100:16:50in think that's a fair question. We were just looking at Scout the other day. Since launching Scout in 2019, it's grown by more than 4,700 revenue. And frankly, we dropped the ball with it a bit in 2024. And part of this reorganization is getting back to Scout less on the law enforcement side and more on the commercial side, which is where the majority of our ARR is from Scout. Speaker 100:17:25So I think that you'll see a lot more activity with Scout as a product over the next, actually thirty to sixty days. Speaker 400:17:39Got it. And, are there any partnerships that you're working on just like Sound Thinking last year? Speaker 100:17:48We do have some that are actively in discussion that we just can't talk about because they're not concluded and it's nonpublic, but, we're always working on those and primarily with Scout for sure. But also with Discover now, having brought Mark Phillips on and changing a little bit the way we approach the sales methodology with Discover as a piece of technology that's fully productized that we can sell out of the box through distributors and others and markets that we've not penetrated yet. We're just entering now. Speaker 400:18:30All right. Got it. Thank you. Speaker 100:18:32Thank you. Speaker 300:18:36Next question is from Tim Moore from Clear Street. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:18:41Thanks. Just trying to build a bit more conviction, the possibility for maybe double digit organic sales growth drivers this year. I know there was weather issue and the election overhang in the March. I think the September was probably negative organic growth if you strip out the ATD acquisition contribution. So we know that many legacy transportation and monitoring device systems are inaccurate, they're not effective and they're pretty much simply obsolete. Speaker 500:19:10Can you provide us maybe a better sense of how the task order side, not big projects or new big wins, but the task order sides might backfill or help sales growth this year instead of waiting for a lumpy new sales state win. Are you expecting to roll out a lot of Discover and Edge units for repair on placement this year, Waves? Speaker 100:19:30That's a really good question. And I think as we said earlier in the call with regard to the reorg and the way we're structured now with this JAM structure, Discover is fully productized. It takes time to get governments to adopt technology. We're seeing broad adoption with Discover. And I think as we get deeper into this quarter, okay, and we announced the reorg, we'll be able to give you some clarity with respect to the growth in that. Speaker 100:19:57And I think you're going see substantial change with that because of a little bit of modification with our pricing structure on Discover and the go to market strategy with it. Look, we it's been a learning process, right? We're dealing with government. We're replacing legacy technology that they've been using for decades and decades. And to think that we were trying to push certain business models into the way governments do business maybe was a mistake on our part. Speaker 100:20:27And I think now that we understand more the way that the DOTs buy, think you're going to see a lot more growth with Discover. And it's a fantastic model because it's got strong ability to deliver a piece of a device that does provides a service, but also has strong recurring revenue and higher margins to it. So a little bit of a learning curve, right? Having launched in 2022 takes some time, but I think we're there. And I think you'll see more of that in the coming weeks. Speaker 500:20:57That's helpful to hear on that color. And just switching gears, as you mentioned, you narrowed the EBITDA loss by $2,000,000 despite the sales decline. That was pretty good. Just wondering, how much of the $15,000,000 annualized cost savings expense realignment have you implemented this year? And I was just wondering if that $15,000,000 figure from, I think it was November, is that dependent on a certain level of sales growth this year? Speaker 500:21:28Like you got to put up teens growth to achieve that? I'm just curious if you have any color on cost implementation. Speaker 100:21:33I think it's realizing that we've got things that are fully productized and we're focusing on those. We have a lot of expenses that were related to R and D of products that we can't tie revenue to in the near term. So it's changing our focus and looking at things that we can do today. And I think you're going to see more reductions. And I think as you see additional revenue, you're going to see incremental margin along with the reduction in cost. Speaker 100:22:04And Eyal, would you agree with that? Speaker 200:22:06Yes. Absolutely. That's true. And then as we said, the 15,000,000 will go along the year and not just the first quarter. So we'll see, as we mentioned, continued reduction in the cost improvement in the EBITDA as we go. Speaker 100:22:22Look, it's really good point you're raising. We're developing technology to replace decades old legacy tech and it's a learning curve and we had to get there and understand the customer. And I think now with the approach we're taking to, we get it. We don't need to do the R and D, the products there, it works. It's just delivering the product and not thinking about three years from now, it's about thinking about today. Speaker 100:22:49I think that's the big change here. And I think you'll see the incremental savings as well as the revenue growth come from that, which is going to give us margin to eliminate the burn and drive the company to profitability. Speaker 500:23:03That would be really good if you can come up with the $15,000,000 My last question is really a different question. I mean, you aggregate, I think more than 20,000,000,000,000 data points for Roadway Intelligence. Is there any other way to maybe monetize that or can you license some of that out to maybe a user fee to some cities that you don't have any contracts with? Speaker 100:23:23That's also a good question. I think I'm going to drop back and say, what we've realized is we've got three really healthy product platforms here, Discover, Command and Scout. Scout is the most mature obviously, it's been out there for a while. We're focused more on the commercial side now than on law enforcement. But with the Command and Discover, I think what I'm trying to say is we're going to stop where we are and sell what we have. Speaker 100:23:48And we've realized that that's what we need to do because there's demand for it. So, that's where we're going to stay focused. And the nice thing about the way that the technology is developed is that we can always import additional data and provide additional services, but that's not a necessity in driving revenue today and growth today and profit today. I think that was the mistake that we made historically. And as I said earlier, building a company for future growth and revenues as opposed to focusing and realizing what we have is, I hate to say good enough, but it is good enough. Speaker 100:24:24Okay. And there's demand for it and we're seeing adoption and that's what we need to focus rather than confusing customers, right, with just more and more and more and more. Speaker 500:24:34Understood. Thanks for that color and for answering my questions. That's it for my questions. Speaker 400:24:39Thank you. Speaker 200:24:40Thank you. Speaker 300:24:47Next question is from Noah Levitz from Blair. Please go ahead. Speaker 600:24:52Good afternoon, Robert and Nayal. Thanks for taking my questions. To start off, I thought it was interesting about your new GM structure, your particular hire of Mark. You noted that he has a lot of international experience in particular. And I'm curious if with the procurement environment being as difficult as it is in The U. Speaker 600:25:13S, are you already selling in international markets? Or do you see a particular the high level of demand there and opportunity there, that Mark, for example, could help RECOR take advantage of? Speaker 100:25:28Well, we do. Almost every developed nation uses some form of collection of data for planning, but also for traffic operations. And that's the thing about RECORD Discover, it does both. So it eliminates the need for multiple devices out on the roadway. And we do see demand and it's just, it's a subtle difference of classifications here in The U. Speaker 100:25:56S. We have 13 bins in places like Ireland, as an example, they have seven. Other countries have more or less, but they're all pretty much the same. It's just a matter of machine learning and training. And I think our customers understand that. Speaker 100:26:09Mark is actually in Europe right now, doing an installation for a pilot in another country. So we think there's demand for this product across the board. And that's our point about being box ready and the point about having the GM structure because we've got these products. They're proven. The adoption is there. Speaker 100:26:31And we need the ability for the people that are leading each one of these verticals to be able to control the P and L, be responsible for sales and make it happen. And I think we're shifting from this mentality of R and D for this tech, for this changing world that we're living into, hey, we've got some good stuff here, let's go sell it. And let's go from there. And I think that's where we are. Speaker 600:26:58That's great. Thank you. And then my last question is on your partnership for Plate Ranger with Sound Thinking. Can you just provide a little bit of color on the adoption of that system and whether or not you're currently recognizing any revenue or when you would hope to see that start to hit? Thanks. Speaker 100:27:17So we have a contract that was negotiated with Sound Thinking that gives us guaranteed revenue in 2025, '20 '20 '6 and 2027. They're out there selling and they're a great company. And I think law enforcement market is a market that they're built to operate in, a lot of blocking and tackling and so forth. So, you'll have to talk to them about that. But, we think they're going to be successful with it. Speaker 100:27:45And the early indications are that they will be. They've committed to it, put some dollars behind it. So we'll let them do that while we're working on the commercial side of it because that's what differentiates what Scout does from folks that are purely in law enforcement and doing LPR, right? And frankly, that's the majority of the ARR in Scout. And it's just that, you know, I said it earlier, we dropped the ball with it in 2024, having grown it from, you know, over 4000% of the figures. Speaker 100:28:21Mostly on the commercial side, we just dropped the ball and we're going back to that now. So, but I think sound thinking will do well with the product and I think their focus is there and you should chat with them about that. Speaker 400:28:41Did we lose you? Speaker 300:28:46Question is from Ray Yackel, a Private Investor. Please go ahead. Speaker 700:28:51Yes. Hi. Thanks for taking my call. A couple of questions. Actually, the last caller tapped into my question. Speaker 700:28:58I had mentioned a couple of quarters ago to David about overseas contracts and he mentioned there was enough revenue to be focused in U. S. But I saw, I believe you'll be attending the ITS European Congress May nineteen. Can we expect more of that? Speaker 100:29:15Yes, we're over there. And I think that's one of the things that we're trying to point out here. Once you have a technology that's productized, that's, let's call it, box ready, and you have the support materials necessary to sell that through channel partners, then you can go ahead and do that. And again, there are every developed nation does some form of account class and speech, just like we do here in The U. S. Speaker 100:29:43And they use that same data for traffic operations. And we have the ability to sell that product now internationally. And that's exactly what we're doing. Not that we've even penetrated the tip of the iceberg here in The US, but we're starting to see the adoption. Things take a little longer. Speaker 100:30:01We know we've talked about a lot of states and contracts and other things, but nothing's changed. We think those things are coming. But there's no reason for us not to be focused on the international market because there's demand for the product and we can send it there. So that's our plan. Speaker 700:30:20Thank you. And last quarter you mentioned a little over 15 proof of concept. And I would have thought maybe by this today's release of the revenue that we would have maybe heard one or two. Can we expect that flow drift to continue throughout the year or would they be a little bit of a quicker process? Speaker 100:30:43I can tell you that almost all of the states where we have proof of concept systems. New York, as an example, has actually acquired technology in the majority of the other states. When I say adoption, we're now seeing more orders. We're seeing larger contracts. And I think that to be frank about it, I think we had the sales approach and pricing in such a way that wasn't consistent with the way that these agencies procure. Speaker 100:31:19And if you think about how complicated it is, we needed to make sure that we configured the way we sell into the way they buy as opposed to swimming upstream. And I think we figured that out over the last few months and we made those changes and I think you'll see the results of that very Speaker 700:31:40In today's press release, you mentioned about the adverse weather conditions, but the slowdown in the revenue. With hurricane season not too far away, do you focus on planning on having more personnel in that area before that happens or? Speaker 100:31:56Well, you know, it's funny, but like in one of our customers in the most southern state, we actually had to get out there and help them in between the two hurricanes they had last year and the technology performed well. I don't think it's a question of having the personnel out there. I think it's the ability to have the product ready to be deployed as a technology company as opposed to being a contractor. And that's the difference. At the end of the day, RECOR is technology software data company, and not a construction company. Speaker 100:32:30And, that's why we've changed the model of the way we run the company and manage the company because we can deploy the technology and we don't necessarily have to do that work. And we can get the same revenue and recurring revenue from having others do it because the products are ready to be deployed that way. But it took a little bit of time to get it there. And now we're there. So I think it's not a question of how much manpower we have. Speaker 100:32:56I think it's a question of the demand for the product. And I think now that we've modified the way we're doing business, I think you're going to see the scale coming with that. That's frankly what we were hoping that's what we were hoping to do. Speaker 700:33:12And my last question is the I mentioned a couple of quarters ago to David and he said stay tuned, but is the QSR kind of a debt sector right now or are you still focused on that or revenue isn't high That's Speaker 100:33:27a good question. So I can tell you that the it's an interesting area because Scout started out as LPR, vehicle recognition. We produce a lot more data from Scout and hold a variety of patents on how to anonymize that data. So privacy information that goes out doesn't become a problem with respect to commercial customers not wanting the same information that let's say a law enforcement agency would have. And I think that sector is going to open up more for us. Speaker 100:34:01We've had success with it in the past with companies like Six Flags and others, casino companies that we've announced. And we see a lot more value to that data today than we did even six months or a year ago. And again, it's the way we were marketing and where we were focused. And I think we're turning our focus back towards commercial. So the answer is yes, QSRs are very much a part of that. Speaker 100:34:25Look, there's an article you guys can Google and go search it, Chick fil A was flying drones over their properties to look at the traffic flow coming in and out of some of their stores. So if you can just envision that and think about, and it's all on our websites, the data that we can produce from Scout for our customers, there's a lot of valuable data there for folks that are in retail businesses, whether it's a QSR, a big box store, a sports stadium, a casino, whatever it might be. And that's where our focus is now. And I think you're going to see more of that in the coming weeks and months. Speaker 700:35:04And you believe we're still on track then for profitability by the end of the year? Speaker 100:35:10I personally believe that we are on track for profitability before the end of the year. I want to commit to it, but I think we're going to get there. I think it's around the corner. And that's what we're doing. We're working to drive the company to scale revenue, become efficient, not just from the standpoint of being efficient, meaning cutting costs and overhead, but being able to deliver the product to the customer with less bureaucracy. Speaker 100:35:38And look, Recor was just overbuilt, okay, too bureaucratic for its size, with great products that there was demand for that we couldn't get out the door because we just had this process here that just didn't work. And we're going to fully announce the structural changes that are coming with this GM structure. And the Board is still out, look, actively looking. I'll stay here as long as it takes to make this work and hope to continue to stay on the board because I believe in the company, but we're going to find the right person to manage it and the right people to do what we're doing. And I think we have that structure in place now. Speaker 100:36:21And I think you're going to see the results of that and it's not going to take a long time. Speaker 700:36:25Okay. And will there be any update from Mexico? Speaker 100:36:31I can't speak to that right now because it's just again, it's non public stuff, but as soon as we have something to update we will. Speaker 700:36:40I understand. That's all I have. I appreciate your time. Speaker 400:36:43Yes. Thank you. Speaker 300:36:47This concludes the question and answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back to management for any closing comments. Speaker 100:36:53Yes. Thank you. And look, everybody, thanks again for your patience. Think every company has growing pains and I think RECORE is on the backside of ours because I think we realized some of the things that we were doing that were inhibiting the growth in the scale and the profitability in the margins. And look, the Board is fully involved in this. Speaker 100:37:16And we think we've come up with the right structure, the right plan. We think we have the right people as GMs in place. And again, we're going to be talking more about that in the coming weeks this quarter. And we'll also continue to look for, a permanent person to come here as an interim CEO, but not going anywhere until we make this work, right? And when we find the right person, we'll make those changes as well. Speaker 100:37:42But we're going to get through this. And I think you'll see that. It's not going to be quarters and quarters away. I think it's just a matter of weeks here. So, appreciate everybody's patience and thank you so much for staying with us. Speaker 300:38:05This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you again for your participation. Speaker 400:38:11Thank you.Read morePowered by