D-BOX Technologies Q1 2027 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
August 13, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Recurring revenue grew 25% year over year to a record CAD 5.0 million, offsetting a 7% decline in system sales and lifting total revenue 3% to CAD 13.4 million.
  • Positive Sentiment: Profitability continued to improve, with gross margin rising to 59% and adjusted EBITDA increasing to CAD 4.3 million, or a 32% margin, compared with roughly 26% a year earlier.
  • Positive Sentiment: The active screen base grew 17.8% year over year to 1,233 screens, supported by new partnerships with B&B Theatres, Marcus Theatres, and Malco Theatres; management highlighted global penetration of less than 1% as a substantial runway.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Management said system sales are inherently lumpy and cited normal cyclicality in exhibitor spending and near-term moderation from simulation and training OEM partners, while declining to provide fiscal 2027 screen-addition guidance.
  • Negative Sentiment: Share-based compensation increased sharply, with Q2 expense of CAD 943,000 versus CAD 52,000 a year earlier; management expects most of the current executive-related grants to be reflected in fiscal 2027, though additional awards remain possible.
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Earnings Conference Call
D-BOX Technologies Q1 2027
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Good day, and welcome to the D-BOX Technologies' first quarter of fiscal year 2027 results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, President and CEO of D-BOX Technologies, Naveen Prasad. Please go ahead.

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. This is D-BOX's first public earnings call and represents an important milestone for the company. Over the past year, we've introduced a clear new strategy and maintained a strong focus on execution. Today marks another step forward as we begin engaging with the investment community on a more regular basis, and we have a lot to share. We delivered a strong first quarter. We continue to make real strategic progress. Importantly, we're seeing the operating leverage in our business model translate into stronger profitability. You'll hear more about each of those areas today. Joining me is David Reid, our Chief Financial Officer, who will take you through the quarter's financial results in more detail before we open the call to your questions. A quick reminder on our disclaimer before we begin.

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

This presentation contains forward-looking information about our future plans, strategy, and financial performance. It involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from what we discuss today. We also refer to non-IFRS measures, including adjusted EBITDA, which has no standardized meaning under IFRS and may not be comparable to measures used by other companies. Full detail is in our MD&A and continuous disclosure filings on SEDAR+. With that, let's turn to the business. At our core, D-BOX is a haptic motion technology company. For more than 25 years, we've been engineering immersive motion experiences across cinema, simulation, and entertainment. Here's three things I want to highlight. We are the fastest growing premium theatrical format in the world by screen count. Our royalty revenue is growing even faster than our footprint.

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

With CAD 17.8 million of cash as of June 30th, we have a strong balance sheet and the flexibility to invest in our growth. We are exactly where we said we would be. Since this is our first earnings call, let me take a minute to explain our business and how the pieces fit together. We serve three distinct customer groups on one common technology platform. Theatrical is our largest and most established business, with D-BOX premium motion seats in 1,233 active screens across more than 40 countries as of June 30th. Simulation and training serves defense and industrial customers where precision and realism are mission-critical. Our sim racing business expands our platform into gaming, esports, and experiential entertainment through both commercial sim centers and personal rigs globally. The important point is these are not three separate businesses.

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

They share the same core motion technology, engineering talent, manufacturing, and supply base. That gives us genuine economies of scale without duplicating R&D or infrastructure. Each market makes the other two more efficient. Three end markets, one platform. With that context, let me show you how we make money. We do that through three interconnected steps. First, hardware sales. We sell our proprietary motion systems to cinema exhibitors and simulation customers around the world. Each installation brings D-BOX into a new venue and establishes the foundation for everything that follows. Second, haptic code design. For every new film released in D-BOX, we work with our studio and distributor partners to design the motion profile that synchronizes our seats to the action on screen. This is skilled proprietary work. And third, and most important to long-term value, is royalty revenue.

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

Every time a D-BOX-enabled title plays in a D-BOX-enabled auditorium, we earn a royalty. It is recurring, high-margin revenue, and it compounds with every screen we add. That is the engine of this business. Last year, we introduced a shift in our corporate strategy designed to position D-BOX for sustainable, profitable growth. One year later, we now have the benefit of results: continued screen growth, expanding recurring revenue, margin improvement, and stronger profitability. Those results give us confidence in the strategic framework we've established. A clear, actionable roadmap for capital allocation, growth, and value creation built on the unique strengths of our model. Let me take you through it. The framework rests on four pillars: white space potential, technology leadership, our recurring revenue engine, and profitability. The thesis is simple.

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

Expand our footprint in a significant under-penetrated market, protect that footprint with technology that is difficult to replicate, turn every new screen into a long-term royalty stream, and let a large fixed cost base convert revenue growth into outsized profit growth. All four show up directly in our Q1 results. Let me take each in turn. The most compelling part of the investment case is the scale of the opportunity still ahead of us. D-BOX is installed in 1,233 of the world's more than 200,000 cinema screens, less than 1% penetration. And in North America, our most proven market, we are in fewer than 2% of the more than 40,000 screens available to us. This is a proven product with a proven economic model in front of an extraordinary runway. Exhibitors are prioritizing premiumization, higher per-patron yield, differentiated offerings, and experiences audiences cannot get at home.

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

D-BOX delivers on all three. It is cost-effective, operationally simple, content-agnostic, and something consumers pay a premium to access. And we are seeing that translate into new relationships. Since our last earnings release, we've announced the addition of B&B Theatres and Marcus Theatres to our exhibitor network, two major U.S. exhibitors with strong regional footprints. Those wins are evidence that our renewed focus on theatrical is translating into results. And just last night, we announced another significant addition, Malco Theatres, one of the largest cinema circuits in the United States, with an initial deployment across 13 screens in four theaters. Taken together, we believe these wins demonstrate accelerating momentum. They broaden our exhibitor network, validate the business case for D-BOX, and create additional pathways to recurring royalty revenue. Underlying that growth is a strong competitive moat.

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

Our haptic motion technology is patented, proprietary, and the product of more than 25 years of innovation. Importantly, what protects our position extends well beyond the technology itself. It includes long-standing relationships with the major Hollywood studios, a growing library of encoded content, a large install base, and deep in-house engineering and content expertise. These are all difficult and time-consuming for a competitor to ever replicate. Our model also offers exhibitors a more capital-efficient approach. Unlike premium formats that require auditorium-wide renovations, D-BOX allows exhibitors to concentrate their investment in the highest occupancy, highest return seats. That lower, more targeted investment reduces upfront risk and allows exhibitors to deploy D-BOX across multiple auditoriums. Many of our complexes now reach up to six D-BOX auditoriums, and in certain networks, D-BOX is installing as much as 15% of the total screens. That is the flywheel.

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

More installations drive greater content availability, greater availability drives awareness and attendance, and attendance supports exhibitor returns and further deployment. Now to the most powerful financial characteristic of our business. Every theatrical installation represents a long-term royalty stream. Rights-for-use, rental, and maintenance revenues scale directly with the install base at margins structurally superior to hardware. This chart shows how durable that growth is. In fiscal 2025, North American box office declined 5%. Our royalty revenue still grew 27%. In fiscal 2026, box office grew 14% and our royalties grew 32%. In the first quarter, royalty revenues grew 25% year-over-year against 11.2% increase in North American box office, more than double the pace of the underlying market. Our three-year royalty CAGR is 19.6%. Whichever way the box office moves, our royalty revenue keeps compounding because every screen we add widens the base it is earned on.

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

This is not a spike. It is a structural shift towards higher margin, more predictable income. Because our cost base is largely fixed, each incremental royalty dollar flows through to adjusted EBITDA at a very favorable rate. Another important part of that recurring revenue engine is our content leadership. We believe that we lead premium theatrical formats in encoded content, and our content goes well beyond the blockbusters historically associated with D-BOX. In the first quarter, that included Disney's "The Devil Wears Prada 2", alongside the other major releases audiences expect from us. That breadth comes from relationships built with every major studio and distributor over more than two decades. Rentrak's recent announcement that D-BOX box office performance will now be reported independently from the rest of the auditorium is further evidence of that standing.

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

For the first time, exhibitors and studios can more clearly measure the performance of D-BOX as a premium offering. Content and footprint reinforce one another. More encoded content makes every screen more valuable, and a larger footprint makes every studio partnership more valuable. That brings us to profitability, where the impact of the strategy becomes very clear. Look at the progression of our adjusted EBITDA margin, 5% in 2023, 8% in fiscal 2024, 17% in fiscal 2025, and 27% for full fiscal year 2026. In absolute dollars, that's CAD 1.8 million going to CAD 15.4 million. That is not just incremental improvement. It is a fundamental re-rating of this business' profitability. The trend is continuing. In the first quarter, adjusted EBITDA was CAD 4.3 million at a 32% margin. This is a scalable, largely fixed cost platform.

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

As royalty revenues grow, the incremental cost to deliver it is minimal, and that operating leverage flows straight through to adjusted EBITDA. It also gives us flexibility to be creative, including offering sales financing to customers managing their own capital constraints without compromising our margin trajectory. The takeaway is clear. We are growing our footprint, expanding recurring revenue, and demonstrating that operating leverage inherent in this model. With that, let me hand it over to David to take you through the quarter's financials in detail.

David Reid
David Reid
CFO at D-BOX Technologies

[Non-English content]. Thank you, Naveen, and [Non-English content]. It's a pleasure to speak with you about what was, by any measure, a strong first quarter for D-BOX. I will cover four things over the course of this presentation: our income statement performance for the quarter, the continued expansion in gross margins and what is driving it, the strength and flexibility of our balance sheet, and how we are thinking about capital allocation going forward. Throughout, I will try to give you the why behind each number, not just the number itself. Now, let's look at the headline numbers for the quarter. Total revenues were CAD 13.4 million, an increase of 3% compared to CAD 13 million in the same period last year. We delivered that growth despite a 7% decline in system sales, which came in at CAD 8.4 million. Two factors explain that, and neither changes the outlook.

David Reid
David Reid
CFO at D-BOX Technologies

The first factor was a return to what we think is normal cyclicality in exhibitor capital spending. Keep in mind, this quarter is measured against Q1 of fiscal 2026, which was an off-cycle quarter for theatrical system sales. The second factor was some near-term moderation in demand from our simulation and training OEM partners. We want to remind you that hardware sales across this business are inherently lumpy quarter-to-quarter, but the long-term installation pipeline remains healthy. More importantly for our quarter, the system sales decline was more than offset by recurring revenues. Rights-for-use rental and maintenance revenues grew 25% year-over-year to a record CAD 5 million. That is really the story this quarter. We grew top line while shifting the revenue mix towards our highest quality revenue. This shift flowed straight through to the bottom line.

David Reid
David Reid
CFO at D-BOX Technologies

Gross profit was CAD 7.9 million, a gross margin of 59%, up from 56% the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA was CAD 4.3 million, a 32% margin, up from roughly 26% a year ago. Net profit and net profit before taxes increased to CAD 2.9 million from CAD 2 million, up 51% year-over-year or CAD 0.013 per basic share. Underpinning all this success is continued growth in the install base. As Naveen mentioned, we closed the quarter with 1,233 active screens globally, up 17.8% a year ago, with 32 net new screens added in the quarter alone. I will remind you, every one of those screens is a long-term recurring revenue asset, and that install base is the engine behind the recurring revenue of this business. Now shifting gears, I want to spend a moment on margins because this slide speaks to the quality of our earnings.

David Reid
David Reid
CFO at D-BOX Technologies

Gross margin in Q1 of fiscal 2027 was 59%. That is CAD 7.9 million of gross profit on CAD 13.4 million of revenue. For context, our full year fiscal 2026 gross margin was 53%, so we are running roughly 6 percentage points above our fiscal 2026 full year average. The driver of that increase is revenue mix. Rights-for-use rental and maintenance revenues carry a structurally higher margin than system sales because once a screen is installed, the incremental cost of earning a royalty is minimal. At CAD 5 million, that revenue represents a larger share of the total this quarter than it has in the past. One thing for you to keep in mind, quarterly gross margin will fluctuate with hardware timing. A large system sale quarter will pull the percentage down even as it adds gross profit and creates future royalty streams.

David Reid
David Reid
CFO at D-BOX Technologies

Look at the trailing 12-month trend rather than any single quarter. Our path ahead is clear. As the install base grows and royalty revenue scales, we expect this margin profile to remain structurally favorable. This is a trend we will keep highlighting for you each quarter. Returning to the balance sheet, which we think remains a real source of strength and optionality for the business, we ended the quarter with CAD 17.8 million in cash and cash equivalents, up slightly from CAD 17.6 million at fiscal year-end and total assets at period end of CAD 48.3 million.

David Reid
David Reid
CFO at D-BOX Technologies

Shareholders' equity increased by CAD 3.2 million in the quarter to CAD 37.9 million, driven primarily by our CAD 2.9 million net profit and now represents 78% of our total balance sheet. On the other side of the ledger, total liabilities decreased by CAD 1.4 million to CAD 10.5 million, reflecting the continued repayment of long-term debt and lease obligations.

David Reid
David Reid
CFO at D-BOX Technologies

Our effective interest rate on long-term debt at quarter end was nil, down from 3.29% a year ago. We are effectively debt-free today. Working capital increased by CAD 2.9 million to CAD 27.6 million. We also continue to manage liquidity actively. 88% of our cash was held in high interest savings accounts at June 30th, so the balance earned some passive income while it waits to be deployed. The takeaway here is simple. This is a clean, asset-light, debt-light balance sheet funded by our own operations. It gives us genuine optionality, investing in the screen network, supporting customers with financing or returning capital to shareholders. Knowing that capital allocation discipline is a core part of our strategic framework, let me share how we are deploying this balance sheet strength. First, cash generation that gives us flexibility to expand.

David Reid
David Reid
CFO at D-BOX Technologies

The CAD 17.8 million in cash on hand, along with the nearly CAD 4.1 million generated from operations before working capital items, give us significant strategic flexibility to fund growth, whether organic or opportunistic inorganic initiatives without straining the balance sheet. Second, footprint expansion that drives profitability. The 32 net new screens added this quarter, bringing our footprint to 1,233 active screens, each expand the recurring royalty base. This remains our highest return use of capital and is where we expect to direct the majority of our investment. Third, returning capital to shareholders. The TSX accepted our normal course issuer bid back in March of 2026, authorizing the repurchase of up to 21 million common shares. We were active under this program this quarter, repurchasing and canceling over 500,000 shares.

David Reid
David Reid
CFO at D-BOX Technologies

We see the NCIB as a tool to return value opportunistically, and it does not come at the expense of our growth investments. Fourth, our operating leverage is scalable. At 32% adjusted EBITDA margin this quarter, up from roughly 26% a year ago, demonstrates how scalable this asset-light model is. As recurring revenue grows against a largely fixed cost base, we expect to keep converting incremental revenue into margin at an attractive rate. With that, I will hand it back to Naveen to talk about our outlook, and then we will be happy to take your questions.

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

Thank you, David. The opportunity in front of D-BOX is significant. We have a proven technology, growing commercial momentum, and less than 1% global penetration. Every new screen expands our recurring royalty base. As that base grows against a largely fixed cost structure, the economics become increasingly powerful. We are already seeing that in our results, including a 32% adjusted EBITDA margin this quarter. We have a strong balance sheet that gives us the flexibility to continue investing behind that growth. The takeaway is clear: significant runway, a proven and scalable business model, and substantial value still to be created. Thank you for your time and your interest in D-BOX. Operator, we will now take questions.

Operator

We will now begin the question and answer portion of today's call. Questions have been submitted in advance. Our first question. Your fiscal 2026 year-end release said you expect system sales to normalize towards historical patterns. Net screen additions were 111 in fiscal 2024, 83 in fiscal 2025, and 189 in fiscal 2026. Which of those look normal to you for fiscal 2027?

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

Thanks very much for that question. The dip in fiscal year ending March 2025 is not what I would want anybody to expect from our theater growth. As we continue to add in new clients, which we just have three in this past 60 days, plus our continued growth with our existing partners, we hope that the trend continues at that higher end. That is what we have been working towards.

Operator

Thank you, Naveen. Our next question. How much share-based compensation should we expect for the full fiscal 2027? Q2 alone was CAD 943,000 versus CAD 52,000 last year.

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

Thank you. To answer that, we have gone through a shift in our company where I've come in, we have a shift in new executives coming in, and we needed to ensure that we were delivering compensation that was aligned to shareholder value. That was done. We have issued shares, those options, and other instruments, and we expect that to be pretty much all we'll see in this fiscal, but I wouldn't suggest that there may be a few more based on anybody who comes into the company. Again, it is all based on aligning executives to shareholder value.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question. With these new theatrical partnerships all having occurred in North America, as well as Cinemark deepening its commitment to D-BOX, how should investors be thinking about North America versus the rest of the world when it comes to geographic focus of theatrical partnerships?

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

Again, another great question. For North America, it is a very big market for us. There are still other partners that we will want to bring on board in North America. At that same time, we are talking to everyone. When I say everyone, we're talking globally. We're methodical in our approach. We're thinking about things such as local language. By all means, when we talk about growing our screen count, it is not just in North America. In tandem, we will be looking at the rest of the world and are active in those conversations.

Operator

Thank you. The other question is, over the last two months, D-BOX has announced three new partnerships with top 10 North America theater chains, which is terrific. What do you attribute the timing of these notable partnerships happening now versus in the many years that D-BOX has passed?

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

Well, we can attribute it to the shift in our focus. Historically, our company has been focused on more product than growing our royalty base. What we're seeing now is the results of the work that we've put in this past year, and we're quite pleased by it. It goes to show that our product has value in exhibition, and we believe that we're going to be able to grow that even further from where we are now.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question, which would be addressed to David. You highlighted creative sales financing for customers with CapEx constraints. Finance lease receivables went from CAD 1.3 million to CAD 1.7 million in the quarter. How much capital are you willing to commit to this per year, and what implicit rate are you charging?

David Reid
David Reid
CFO at D-BOX Technologies

Yeah, I don't think that we provide any guidance on how much capital, but as we mentioned, we have the financial flexibility to do many things at once, whether that be returning capital to shareholders or providing financing solutions for our customers in order to grow the footprint. We're looking to do all of these things and return the most value to shareholders as possible. Obviously, as we've mentioned, we feel that the financing solutions and growing the footprint or organic growth, as we call it, is the most important to us. We're looking to find those solutions as and when they come up.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question: Can you talk about the capital expense to an exhibitor involved in installing your seats into an auditorium for two business class rows? Can you compare that to 4DX, RPX, and IMAX?

David Reid
David Reid
CFO at D-BOX Technologies

Thank you for the question. The costs are believed to be significantly lower than those other whole auditorium conversions. It also depends on where the rows are going in. If they already have power to them insofar as they already have reclining seats, the costs are minimal as far as third-party setup costs. The ROI that the exhibitors see is, they all aim to make it as quick as possible, and that's what we're seeing some great success of lately.

Operator

Thank you. We have another question. Regarding the approximate 20% growth in screen count over the past year, how should we think about this 20% screen growth number each year going forward?

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

It is really going to be a reflection of how many new customers we bring in, as well as the continued deployment with customers that we already have. I would like to see that number continue to grow, but at the same time, it is going to be subject to the initial testing period by an exhibitor. All exhibitors will want to, while they hear everything anecdotally, that our seats perform very well for other partners of ours. There's a lot that goes into it. We take the time to work with our partners to make sure that we're maximizing occupancy rates. All this to say, we do believe that that number can be sustained and grow.

Operator

Thank you. Moving forward, I've seen some theaters, I'm sorry, which have last row box seat placements, which seems counterproductive. What degree of analytics, if any, do you have regarding seat usage based on placement with an individual auditorium, and how much say do you have regarding placement?

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

We work in tandem with our exhibitor partners. Surprisingly, in some markets, the back rows are actually the highest occupancy rows. Each auditorium is designed differently, whether it's large or small. But historically, theaters have been monitoring occupancy rate by the full auditorium and not to the granular level of seats. Now, in working with our partners, we are looking at heat maps, ensuring that the seats are placed in the most highest occupancy rows. It's a benefit for us, and it's an absolute benefit for our exhibitor partners. By all means, that is a key part of the analysis that we do.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question: Can you tell us what the average number of seats per new screen added has been?

David Reid
David Reid
CFO at D-BOX Technologies

Well, we don't disclose actual seat numbers, but as you can see, it all depends on the auditorium size. In larger auditoriums, those numbers will go significantly higher than the theaters that are smaller. As far as an average, it is something we don't disclose, but it is in line with each and every auditorium. We look at it at the scope.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question: Do you plan to use AI to code haptic motion in films versus the current manual human approach?

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

Well, thank you for that question. It's a very good question, first of all. Artificial intelligence is not really where you'd want to consider calling it. What we do already use is, having a history of encoding and designing for films, the ability to take soundtracks and speed up the process. I want to be very clear. AI will never replace the design work that our designers do. It is critical. It is artistry. We value our designers, and at no point do I believe AI will take over for that.

Operator

Thank you. This is our last question. Can you give us a range of what you expect for new screen additions in fiscal 2027?

Naveen Prasad
Naveen Prasad
President and CEO at D-BOX Technologies

We don't provide that guidance. As we said in our presentation, there is some lumpiness to system sales for theatrical. When you're talking about, as well, taking account our sim racing business and simulation and training, our hope is that we can smooth out that lumpiness as best as we can. At the end of the day, exhibitors want to be putting in their seats at low periods and want to be taking advantage of high periods of blockbusters. You will look at seasonality of films as probably the biggest guide.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's Q&A session. Thank you to everyone who took the time to join us today.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect.

Executives
    • Naveen Prasad
      Naveen Prasad
      President and CEO
    • David Reid
      David Reid
      CFO
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