Option reports full year 2014 results

Leuven, Belgium – March 12, 2015 – Option N.V. (EURONEXT Brussels: OPTI; OTC: OPNVY), a global leader in smart wireless M2M Solutions, today announced its results for the full fiscal year ended December 31, 2014. 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.

 

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FULL FISCAL YEAR 2014

For a detailed report on the consolidated Income Statement and Balance Sheet, we refer to the financial report below.

The highlights of the consolidated results include the following (in thousands EUR):

 

Full year revenues:    

5 230

Gross profit:               

2 281

Operating expenses:

(13 467)

EBIT:    

(11 020)

Result before taxes:  

(12 822)

Net result:      

(12 856)

 

Total revenues for 2014 decreased by 44% to EUR 5 230k, compared with EUR 9 393k in 2013.

Gross profit for 2014 decreased by 32% compared to 2013 to an amount of EUR 2 281k. This resulted in a gross margin for the full year 2014 of 44% on total revenues, compared with gross margin of 36% in 2013. An increase is due to a higher share of M2M in total sales.

The operating expenses for the full year 2014, including depreciation, amortization and impairment charges were EUR 13 467k compared to EUR 14 425k for the previous year. This represents a decrease of 7%.

Normalized impact 2013 (in thousands EUR):

  
   

Operating expenses:                    

(14 425)

IPR reversal:                               

(3 229)

Impairment R&D:

103

Redundancy and closure:   

1 207

Recoverable professional taxes:

(476)
   

Normalized operating expenses 2013:

(16 820)

Normalized impact 2014:     

(13 467)

 

This decrease of 20% for an amount of EUR 3 353k is due to an effective cost control.

During 2014, EBIT was EUR (11 020k), compared to EUR (11 054k) in 2013. Normalized EBIT for 2013 was EUR (13 449k), which implies an improvement of 18%.

The group carried a negative financial result of EUR (1 802k), compared to EUR (625k) in 2013. The financial costs are mainly related to interests on the convertible bond loans of EUR 1 435k.

The net result for the full year 2014 amounted to EUR (12 856k) or EUR (0.15) per basic and diluted share. This compares to a net result of EUR (11 703k) or EUR (0.14) per basic and diluted share during 2013. Normalized net result for 2013 was EUR (14 098k), which implies an improvement of 9%.

During 2014 an amount of EUR 3 500k of the convertible loans is converted to equity.

The cash burn of EUR 12 000k in 2014 is in line with the cash burn of 2013. This decrease was covered by a new convertible loan of EUR 12 000k in April 2014.

 

Frank Deschuytere, CEO of Option: 

“The results of 2014 reflect the slow ramp-up of the Internet of Things (IoT) market. The time between application design wins, the granting of a contract and high volume deliveries has proven longer than estimated. 

I am very satisfied that a growing number of partners embrace the CloudGate platform.

In Q4, 2014 we signed a distribution agreement with Mitsui Electronics (http://www.mbel.co.jp) in Japan; in Q1, 2015 we have added TESSCO (http://www.tessco.com ) as an additional distribution partner in de US; in cooperation with ABB (Asea Brown Boveri: http://www.abb.com ) we developed a smart grid/home automation application and with operators such as AT&T and Deutsche Telecom we  defined and developed multiple end-2-end solutions. In 2014, the CloudGate platform was further expanded which translates into significant growth prospects for 2015.

In light of these prospects the main bondholders and a number of new parties have committed to continue their financial support. This allows us to continue deploying the new business approach this year. The majority of our business is in the US and we will focus on further strengthening the US sales & support organization.

As OPTION has transformed itself in a very dynamic and continuously evolving market, I am aware that this requires more in-depth clarification for shareholders and stakeholders. To this end, I will initiate the required actions.

 

BUSINESS UPDATE 

  • In 2014 OPTION finalized its transformation to a business model fully focused on the “Internet of Things (IoT)”. This immature market is in full expansion and not clear cut. Continuously new segments are created, each with their own applications, services and products. This means that there are enormous opportunities for first entrants such as OPTION, but it required OPTION to re-invent itself as a start-up in many domains. The execution of this transformation requires substantial investments that OPTION can only bear thanks to the continued support of a strong industrial network in Flanders.
  • The Business model, the organization and the positioning of OPTION have completely been adapted to the dynamics of the IoT market. In this market OPTION differentiates itself as a solution provider that, in addition to its CloudGate platform, offers applications and engineering services.
    The dynamics and complexity of the IoT market require a completely new go-to-market strategy. This strategy was first fine-tuned and executed in the US in close cooperation with our partner GetWireless. The strategy has been communicated to the market through presence at trade-shows, targeted customer communications and a completely new website. In addition, the quality and reach of our sales channels increased dramatically. 
    In the US an OEM agreement was signed with US Robotics and in addition multiple development projects were started and will be finalized in Q1. Also in Q1, 2015, TESSCO (http://www.tessco.com), a significant provider of wireless communication solutions, has been added to the US sales channel.
    In Europe, the distribution channel was strengthened by the addition of AVNET and SPHINX as distribution partners. In Japan Unidux/AVNET and Mitsui Electronics (http://www.mbel.co.jp) were added as important new partners.
  • An important part of our efforts went to tapping into a completely new customer base and the continued growth of the CloudGate ecosystem. The ecosystem is a collection of technology partners, IoT start-ups, operators or system integrators that use CloudGate as the basis of their solutions or technology. Within this ecosystem tens of end-2-end solutions were developed and OPTION has brought these to market in cooperation with its partners. As an example, OPTION has developed a complete smart meter/home automation solution in cooperation with ABB (Asea Brown Boveri: http://www.abb.com)
  • The partnership with the most important operators in our core markets (f.i. Deutsche Telecom, AT&T, Verizon, …) was intensified and the end-2-end applications mentioned above are the core and the starting point of this renewed cooperation. This already resulted in the delivery of applications for the wireless management of street lighting, the remote management of industrial assets such as generators, heating installations and HVAC’s. In close cooperation with local mobile operators, applications have been developed and deployed providing WIFI connectivity in busses and taxis.
  • In 2014 the CloudGate platform was functionally completed. OPTION certified CloudGate for the most important operators in North and South America, Europe and Japan. CloudGate universe 2.0 was released. CloudGate Universe is a cloudbased service remotely and automatically managing CloudGate gateway configuration software & . The product range was further extended with an LTE variant and the flexibility of the platform was further increased by adding multiple interface cards. These allow CloudGate to be targeted for solutions ranging from transport & logistics applications, management of industrial assets, smart grid/smart city applications, environmental monitoring through intelligent wireless sensor networks to applications for medical domestic monitoring.