Evertz Technologies Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
June 24, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Evertz reported record annual sales of CAD 515.8 million, with full-year revenue up 2.8% and fourth-quarter sales up 3% year over year.
  • Positive Sentiment: Software and services remained a major growth driver, rising 8% for the year to CAD 240.7 million and making up 47% of total annual revenue.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Gross margin stayed strong at 59.3% for both the quarter and the year, which management said remains within its target range despite component cost pressures.
  • Positive Sentiment: International sales were a standout, increasing 16% for the year to CAD 148 million, driven mainly by project deliveries in Western Europe.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management highlighted growing momentum in government, defense, and aerospace, saying related sales were over CAD 50 million for the year and more than 10% of revenue, with new partnerships and U.S./Canada capacity investments supporting that push.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Evertz Technologies Q4 2026
00:00 / 00:00

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Speaker 2

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Evertz Q4 investor conference call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require music assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on June 24th, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Brian Campbell, Executive Vice President of Business Development. Please go ahead.

Operator

Thank you, John. Good afternoon, everyone, welcome to Evertz Technologies conference call for our 2026 fourth quarter and year-ended April 30th. With Douglas Moore, Evertz Chief Financial Officer, myself, Brian Campbell. Please note that our financial press release and MD&A will be available on SEDAR on the company's investor website. Doug and I will comment on the financial results, then open the call to your questions. Turning now to Evertz results, I'll begin by providing a few highlights, then Doug will provide additional details. First off, we had record annual sales in excess of a half a billion dollars, coming in at CAD 515.8 million for the year. This includes revenue in the international region of CAD 148 million, up 16% from the prior year. Reoccurring software services and other software revenue increased percent year over year, totaling CAD 240.7 million the year.

Operator

Margin rates remain consistently strong, coming in at 59.3% versus 59.5% prior year, and 58.8% two years ago. Total margin dollars were CAD 306 million. Net earnings were at CAD 64.4 million, resulting in a fully diluted earnings per share of CAD 0.83. Our sales base is well diversified, with the top 10 customers accounting for approximately 44% of sales, with no single customer accounting for more than 10% on a full-year basis. In fact, we had 87 customer orders of over CAD 200,000. Turning to the fourth quarter, sales were up 3% year over year to CAD 131.6 million. Reoccurring software services and other software was CAD 55.8 million, an increase of 17% from the prior year. Gross margin in the quarter was CAD 78.1 million versus CAD 78.9 million in the fourth quarter previous year. Net earnings in the quarter were CAD 15.2 million as compared to CAD 13 million in the corresponding period last year.

Operator

Fully diluted earnings per share were CAD 0.20, up from CAD 0.17 in the previous fourth quarter. Operational highlights for the quarter included Evertz' stellar presence at the National Association of Broadcasters, NAB Show in Las Vegas, where Evertz won prestigious Future Best of Show Awards distributed across the primary industry publications presented by TV Tech. The BRAVO Best of Show recognized for expanding multi-program live production capabilities for single event. Our ENX, an innovative media core specifically for hybrid IP and SDI facilities. X-CALIBER, a high-density encoding platform engineered for scalable media transport. The MMA and NUCLEUS product won in the AV technology area for IPMX certified, IP gateway solution built to bridge pro AV and broadcast environments with seamless IPMX and ST 2110 integration. At the end of May, Evertz' purchase order backlog was more than CAD 237 million. Shipments during the month of May were CAD 33 million.

Operator

We attribute the strong financial performance and robust combined shipments and purchase order backlog to channel and video services proliferation, increased global demand for high-quality video anywhere and any time, the ongoing technical transition to IP, IT, and cloud-based architectures in the industry, and specifically to the growing adoption of Evertz IP-based software-defined video networking solutions, Evertz IT and cloud solutions, our immersive 4K, 8K ultra high-definition solutions, our state-of-the-art DreamCatcher IP replay and live production with BRAVO Studio, featuring the iconic Studer audio. Today, Evertz' Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of CAD 0.205 per share, payable on or about July 13th. I'll now hand over to Douglas Moore, Evertz' Chief Financial Officer, to cover our results in greater detail.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Brian, and good afternoon. Looking at revenues, despite a relatively slow start to the quarter, sales were CAD 131.6 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, a 3% increase compared to the CAD 127.8 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025. While for the year ending April 30th, 2026, sales were CAD 515 million, up CAD 14.2 million or 2.8% from the prior year. Quarterly hardware revenue was CAD 65.7 million. That's a decrease from CAD 71.7 million the prior year, while software and services revenue increased to CAD 65.8 million by CAD 56.1 million in the prior year. For the year, I'm sorry, actually, revenue from software and services represented approximately 50% of the total revenue in the quarter. For the year, hardware revenue declined 1% to CAD 275.1 million, while revenues from software and services increased 8% to CAD 240.7 million from CAD 222.6 million in the prior year.

Speaker 1

Annually, software and services revenue represented 47% of total revenue versus 44% in the prior year. Looking at regional revenues, quarterly revenues in the U.S.-Canadian region were CAD 94.2 million. That's a decline compared to CAD 106.5 million in the prior year. However, this was more than offset by a CAD 16 million increase in quarterly revenues in the international region, which were CAD 37.4 million compared to CAD 21.3 million in the prior year fourth quarter. The international segment represented 28% of total sales in the quarter as compared to 17% in the same period last year. For the year ended April 30th, 2026, revenues in the Canadian-U.S. region were down 2% to CAD 367.8 million, while international revenues increased CAD 20.8 million or 16% to CAD 148 million. The increase in the year was driven by increased project deliveries in Western Europe in particular.

Speaker 1

For the year ending April 30th, international sales represented 29% of total sales, compared to 25% in the same period last year. Gross margin for the quarter was 59.3% compared to 61.7% in the prior year. It's worth noting the prior year comparative quarter was higher than typical, and the current quarter is more in line with their target range of 56%-60%. For the year, the gross margin was 59.3%, which was also within the company's 66%-60% target range. Turning to selling and administrative expenses, S&A was CAD 20.7 million in the fourth quarter. That's relatively consistent with the same period last year. S&A expenses as a percentage of revenue were approximately 15.7% as compared to 16.2% for the same period last year. Sequentially, selling and admin expenses were up approximately CAD 2 million from Q3.

Speaker 1

That increase was driven by increased trade show and travel costs, which in turn was driven by our participation at the NAB Show in the fourth quarter. For the year ending April 30th, selling and admin expenses were CAD 77 million, or 14.9% of sales. That's compared to CAD 75.9 million or 15.1% of sales in the prior year. Research and development expenses were CAD 37.7 million for the fourth quarter. That represents an increase of CAD 1.2 million the prior year. As a percentage of revenue, R&D expenses were 28.7% compared to 28.6% in the prior year. For the year ending April 30th, R&D expenses were CAD 148.1 million or 28.7% sales. That's compared to CAD 146.8 million for the same period last year, an increase of approximately 1% year-over-year.

Speaker 1

Foreign exchange for the fourth quarter resulted in the gain of CAD 400,000 as compared to a loss for the fourth quarter last year of four and a half million. During the fourth quarter of the current year, U.S. dollar versus Canadian dollar declined modestly from 1.38 to 1.37 to 1, as opposed to the fourth quarter last year, where the U.S. dollar declined more significantly from 1.44 to 1.4 to 1. For the year ending April 30th, foreign exchange resulted in a loss of CAD 0.4 million compared to a gain of CAD 0.2 million last year. Turning to the discussion of liquidity of the company, cash as of April 30th was CAD 19.1 million. That's a decline compared to cash of CAD 111.7 million as of April 30th, 2025.

Speaker 1

The decline was primarily driven by the CAD 136 million in dividends we distributed during the year, including the CAD 75.5 million in special dividends that we paid during the third quarter. Working capital was CAD 131.7 million as of April 30th, 2026, compared to CAD 206.9 million at the end of April 30th, 2025. Looking now at cash flows for the quarter. For the three months ended April 30th, cash from operations were CAD 18.4 million. That's compared to CAD 33.3 million generated during the three months last year. If you exclude the changes in non-cash working capital and current taxes, cash from operations were CAD 19.1 million for the fourth quarter this year, compared to CAD 17.7 million for the same period last year. In the quarter, the company used CAD 3.9 million for investing activities. That's particularly for the acquisition of property, plant, and equipment.

Speaker 1

For the quarter, the company used CAD 17.1 million for financing activities, CAD 15.4 million of which was for the payment of dividends during the quarter. For the year, the company generated cash from operations of CAD 76.2 million, which is a net of a CAD 10.2 million change in non-cash, working capital, and current taxes. If the effects of that change were excluded from the calculation, the company generated CAD 86.4 million in cash from operations during the year. The company used cash of CAD 17.8 million for investing activities, which is principally driven by the acquisition of property, plant, and equipment of CAD 18.7 million, including the land and building we purchased outside Pennsylvania. The company used cash and financing activities of CAD 147.1 million, which, as previously noted, was principally driven by dividends paid. Finally, looking at our share capital position as of April 30th, 2026.

Speaker 1

Shares outstanding were approximately CAD 75.6 million, and options and shares based RSUs outstanding were approximately CAD 4.2 million. Weighted average shares outstanding was CAD 75.5 million, and weighted average fully diluted shares were CAD 76.8 million. This concludes the review of our financial results and position for the fourth quarter and year-end. Finally, I would like to remind you that some of the statements presented today are forward-looking, subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, and refer you to the risk factors described in the annual information form in the official reports filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators. Brian, back to yourself.

Operator

Thanks, Doug. John, we're now ready to open the call to questions.

Speaker 2

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press star followed by one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a prompt if your hand has been raised. Should you have a question, please press star one. Should you wish to decline for the polling process, please press star followed by two. If you're using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. Our first question comes from the line of Thanos Moschopoulos from BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Hi, good afternoon. There was a nice acceleration in the growth rate for your software business this quarter. Is there anything in particular that you would call out in that regard, or just sort of the ongoing trends and drivers that we've talked about in prior quarters?

Speaker 1

I could call out, there was a couple larger project milestones that we met in the quarter that would've caused the CAD 7 million, CAD 8 million additional software and services revenue that was released from deferred revenue. There's ongoing releases and deferrals throughout the year, but that's a bit more substantial than typical. If I had to call it something, there's two projects that made up between CAD 7 million and CAD 8 million worth of software and service revenue releases.

Speaker 5

Okay. Would that be one-time revenue or is that recurring revenue that's now been coming online?

Speaker 1

It would be more of a project-based one-time milestone.

Speaker 5

Okay, that's helpful. With respect to the hardware side of the business, obviously a lot of price inflation happening with components. We can see consistent margins this quarter. Going forward, how should we think about that dynamic? Would you expect to be able to pass through those costs and maintain margins? What do you think on the component side?

Speaker 1

We are seeing some challenges of course, in bringing in parts and the increased costs, especially with memory particular and other aspects. The target range remains the same, the 56%-60%. We manage pricing how we need to, but I can't directly say everything would be passed along, but our target range remains the same and doing our best to mitigate those cost increases.

Speaker 5

Sure. Last one from me. Brian, any update of note with respect to your government and Defence opportunities on your side of the border?

Operator

Yeah. We are very encouraged by the U.S. international and domestic opportunities that we see for Evertz. Much of it dual purpose technologies, where we have decades of domain knowledge and expertise demonstrated in the live news, sports at the highest level. Those technologies, common criteria certified, NIAP listed for installation in secure facilities. We have routing platforms that can handle the top secret and other levels, as well too. We're very well-positioned to be able to grow with that area. It's something that we do have significant experience in some high-profile locations that we can't necessarily speak to. What we have done is increase our emphasis and awareness domestically and also internationally. We've opened up an Evertz office in Colorado Springs, and we have one in Ottawa as well too.

Operator

You may have seen that we participated with a Canadian delegation that included the Canadian Secretary of State for Defence Procurement and CEO of DIA into the SAHA Defence and Aerospace Exposition in Istanbul. That was quite a large event and contingent and we were front and center there. Those initiatives we're continuing to work on very strongly, and I'll pass it over to Doug to add a little bit more color to that financial color.

Speaker 1

I think from a quantification perspective, we don't separately disclose sales to government and military in our financial statements. I could comment that over the past year, sales to government and military aerospace customers combined to be over CAD 50 million in the year and also over 10% of revenue. Just to give you some kind of context for the scope.

Speaker 5

That's very helpful. I appreciate it. I'll pass along. Thank you.

Speaker 2

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

Speaker 4

Hi. Great to hear the context around the defense sector. I was wondering if you could go a little bit deeper there just to talk about how you're going to market. Are you doing that with a partner? Are you building out any partner relationships specific to defense, or are you pursuing any specific opportunities in defense currently with partners? Can you talk about the go-to market?

Operator

The answer is yes to all of the above. We have in the past done so like that. Many of the large installations that we have in the U.S. or NATO areas have been through U.S. or international large prime contractors. Evertz providing very meaningful subsystems and solutions in secure environments. There's more public context around that. You may have seen recently that Evertz joined ATHORA as a foundational partner advancing sovereign Canadian defense interoperability. This is led by Thales and Evertz brings real-time operational infrastructure, secure networking, data transport, and data transport expertise to these next generation defense modernization opportunities that we're seeing domestically in Canada. Similarly, Evertz has joined Babcock's Team INSPIRE to provide next generation strategic communications for the Canadian Armed Forces. Babcock is a U.K.-based prime contractor that we have experience with as well too.

Operator

Those are a couple of the recent public domain relationships that we're very much leaning into and are significantly contributing to these opportunities.

Speaker 4

Okay, great to hear about all those efforts. That CAD 50 million revenue number you shared, how would that compare with the last five years, for example? Are you seeing a meaningful increase in opportunities or any increase in deal size or anything to put context around how much of that defense spend or defense opportunity is new and how much has already been a part of Evertz business?

Operator

That would be roughly a 12% increase over the prior year. It's been lumpy because of big projects in the past, and we would foresee it to be like that in future. We are looking at large programs. Those don't happen instantaneously. As you know, you often go through a RFI stage RFP and then contracting. It definitely takes time, but we're really encouraged by the opportunities we see in front of us.

Speaker 4

Maybe the last question from me would be around the CUSMA renegotiations. I think you still manufacture the bulk of your product in Canada, and I'm curious about what you might have done to prepare for any change in that. I know the North American revenue base has declined the last two quarters, and I'm curious if that's a function of upcoming CUSMA or if there's some other factor, then I'll pass on.

Speaker 1

I can comment that we continue to ramp up capacity outside Pittsburgh there. Now during the year, we spent between CAD 7 million and CAD 8 million, and I think CAD three or four million was associated with land and building, also additional equipment, leasehold improvements to ramp up our ability to manufacture in, just outside Pittsburgh there in Indiana. Currently, the vast majority of what we're selling is USMCA compliant and not being subjected to tariffs. It's something we'll have to monitor and address, as of this time, it's not a huge, at least a clear impact.

Speaker 4

I guess the question I'm trying to ask is, if the negotiations were to yield an end to that agreement, how should investors be thinking about how well Evertz is prepared?

Speaker 1

We will have to additional capacity to our United States facility, we will have six months to fully address those plans properly.

Speaker 4

Okay, thanks.

Speaker 2

Your next question comes from the line of Paul Treiber from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Hi, Shane. Thanks for the detail on the defense business. Just another one, if I may, on defense is, defense revenue, is it skewed more towards hardware or recurring software, or does it match the mix of the entire company?

Operator

It would be more skewed towards hardware. Software is a large component of the modernization issues. It is part of those sales to that sector. We do not have the analysis to tell you currently what the product mix is. We're not disclosing that at this time.

Speaker 3

Okay. That's helpful. The second question is just on the international revenue growth. You mentioned there's a degree of lumpiness due to project timing. Was it related to those, I think those are two projects, milestones that you hit. Were those in Europe?

Operator

No, actually they were in North America. They're not correlated in this case. This is just project deliveries that happen to be in Q4 in international regions. Yeah, they're not related in this case.

Speaker 3

Okay. When you look forward to international, do you see that momentum, that growth in international sustained? Is that segment going through a period of stronger growth here?

Operator

We did significantly. We had an improvement in Western Europe for sure. There's still a fair amount of political unrest in certain jurisdictions. Year-over-year, there was definitely improvement in U.K. and in Western Europe.

Speaker 3

Just lastly, just during the quarter, obviously there's the conflict in the Middle East. There's also the World Cup in North America. With all those large events going on, did the conflict have any impact on procurement discussions, what you've seen through the quarter? Conversely, there's the World Cup. Was there a benefit from the World Cup in the quarter?

Operator

Benefit for the World Cup would happen in prior quarters as infrastructures updated their facilities well in advance of the actual events. Similar to the way the Olympics and other events happen. Not directly to Q4.

Speaker 3

There's no late catch-up of those deployments.

Operator

No, there's nothing.

Speaker 3

Okay. Thanks for taking the questions.

Speaker 2

There are no further questions at this time. I would now turn the call over to Brian Campbell. Please continue, sir.

Operator

Thank you, John. I'd like to thank the participants for the questions and to add that we are pleased with the company's performance during fiscal 2026, which saw record sales of CAD 515.8 million, including CAD 240.7 million in software and services revenue, solid gross margins of 59.3% for the year, which together with Evertz's disciplined expense management yielded earnings per share of CAD 0.85. We are entering into fiscal 2027 with significant momentum, fueled by over CAD 33 million of shipments in May, with a combined purchase order backlog plus shipments totaling in excess of CAD 270 million.

Operator

By the continued operation or adoption of and successful large-scale deployments of Evertz IP-based software-defined video networking and cloud solutions by the largest broadcast new media service providers and enterprises in the industry, by the continuing success of DreamCatcher BRAVO and our state-of-the-art IP replay suite. We're very encouraged by the opportunities in the government, defense, and aerospace sector. With Evertz significant investments in software-defined IP, IT and cloud technologies, the over 600 industry-leading SDN deployments, and our capabilities of the staff, Evertz is poised to build upon our leadership position in the sector. Thank you and good night.

Speaker 2

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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