Leuven, Belgium – March 13, 2014 – Option N.V. (EURONEXT Brussels: OPTI; OTC: OPNVY), a global leader in wireless connectivity, security and experience, today announced its results for the full fiscal year ended December 31, 2013. The financial information reported in this release is presented in Euros and has been prepared in accordance with the recognition and measurement criteria of IFRS as adopted by the European Union. The accounting policies and methods of computation followed in the attached financial statements are the same as those followed in the most recent annual financial statements.
Business Update
- In the last few years Option has been transformed into a company executing a new business model targeting the big “Internet of Things” market opportunity. Option starts with a clean sheet, has kept in house all core competences acquired over the years and has the ambition to become a global player again in the enterprise-grade “Intelligent Gateway” solutions market’. As such during 2013 Option further evolved from a B2C to a B2B model focused on the Machine to Machine (M2M) market.
- In 2013, the sales focus has been to increase Option’s geographical reach in the M2M market. In the geographical markets of Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific, the sales focus has been directed at 5 key market segments:
- Utilities
- Industrial Telematics
- Environmental monitoring
- Secure Financial transactions
- General connectivity
- The development focus for CloudGate has been directed at two areas. The first focus was to enrich the product offering by developing extension cards and by improving the application scope of the software platform in key market segments. This resulted in the launch of several additional expansion cards, the deployment of CloudGate Universe, Option’s cloud based platform, and added support for the most important industrial protocols. The second focus was on the expansion of the eco-system by increasing the types of supported devices (sensors, industrial assets, etc.) and by supporting the major third party applications in the M2M space allowing Option’s customers to fully leverage the versatility of the CloudGate platform.
- In the M2M market, the sales cycles are typically long with lengthy pilot programs before final acceptance. This shows the importance that customers place on reliability and product quality when selecting an M2M gateway and this plays directly to Option’s strengths as a company. Following final acceptance existing customers generate repeat sales with healthy margins for years to come.
- To minimize strain on the company’s financial resources, the cost structure of the organization was further reduced while preserving the company’s core competences.
- The new business environment is characterized by lower volumes and fewer channels. Therefore, the logistical organization has been simplified by transferring operations from Cork, Ireland to Leuven, Belgium.
- In August 2013 Christine Pollie joined as the CFO of the company and in October 2013 Frank Deschuytere was appointed as Option’s CEO while Jan Callewaert was named Executive Chairman. The new executive team will continue to implement the company’s strategy of becoming a leading player in the buoying M2M market worldwide
Frank Deschuytere, CEO Option commented:
“CloudGate, Option’s intelligent M2M gateway, is uniquely positioned to capture the opportunities in the key M2M markets defined. The solution is highly competitive. Looking at the number of partners that have adopted the CloudGate solution, looking at the opportunities in our sales funnel and looking at the speed at which the sales cycles mature, I feel confident that this will result in a healthy top line growth in line with our plans.”
Financial Highlights of the full fiscal year 2013
- Total revenues for the full year 2013 were EUR 9.4 million compared with EUR 40.8 million realized in 2012. Product related revenues decreased from EUR 13.1 million to EUR 9.2 million, while software and license revenue decreased from EUR 27.7 million to EUR 0.2 million. Due to the expiration of the license agreement with Huawei, there are no more revenues reported in 2013 under this agreement (2012: EUR 27.0 million of revenues for the full year).
- Gross margin for the full year 2013 was 35.9% on total revenues, compared with a gross margin of 63.4 % for the comparable period in 2012 which was positively impacted by the revenue received from the license agreement with Huawei.
- Compared to the full year 2012, total operating expenses for 2013 decreased from EUR 22.3 million to EUR 14.4 million as a result of downsizing the Group, additional savings and a correction on the incentives received from the Belgian government agency for salaries of research personnel. The normalized operating expenses amount to EUR 16.8 million for 2013 compared to EUR 26.0 million in 2012. The one-offs for 2013 generated some extra income such as recovered professional taxes (EUR 0.5 million) and reversal of IPR (EUR 3.2 million – against 7.3 million in 2012). The one-offs as cost are redundancy and restructuring costs (EUR 1.2 million) and impairment on R&D (EUR 0.1 million – against 3.6 million in 2012).
- Financial costs increased significantly, mainly due to the interests to be paid on the convertible bond that was issued at the end of the first quarter 2013.
- The 2013 EBIT and net result amounted to respectively EUR (11.1) million and EUR (11.7) million compared to EUR 3.6 million and EUR 3.4 million during the corresponding period 2012.
- The Group’s balance sheet includes EUR 1.6 million in cash. The trade and other receivable position decreased from EUR 3.2 million to EUR 1.3 million and the inventory levels from EUR 4.0 million to EUR 3.4 million by the end of 2013. The intangible assets, impacted by a negative impairment of EUR 0.1 million, decreased from EUR 4.9 million in 2012 to EUR 4.0 million in 2013. The trade and other payable position decreased to EUR 8.9 million in 2013 from EUR 11.9 million by lowering our IPR accrual. The financial debt increased to EUR 8.1 million due to the issue of the convertible bond recognized at net present value.
- At the end of the first quarter 2013, Option secured EUR 9.0 million via the issue of a convertible bond. The funding was subscribed by 5 partners: the Flemish investment company PMV for EUR 2.0 million, Athos Investments for EUR 1.0 million, Life Science Research Partners for EUR 0.5 million, Mondo N.V. for EUR 0.5 million and Jan Callewaert for EUR 5.0 million.
- The convertible bond has a term of 5 years and matures in March 2018. The bonds can be converted into 31,034,483 new shares of Option N.V. The convertible bond has an annual interest rate of 5% with an initial conversion price of EUR 0.285 which is the average share price during the 30 days prior to the issuing of the convertible bond.
- Option has generated a negative cash flow from operations during the full year 2013, putting pressure and reducing the group’s liquidity and overall financial position.
- Should the overall revenue generation not accelerate in the near future then the Company will be confronted with further liquidity problems which will jeopardize its going concern. Moreover, due to the losses in 2013 as described above, additional financing in the near term is required to finance these losses.
- No deferred tax asset was recognized.
For the entire press release, including tables, click on the link below.