Preliminary unaudited results

RNS Number : 3167A

Transense Technologies PLC

28 September 2015

 

28 September 2015

Transense Technologies plc

("Transense" or the "Company")

Preliminary unaudited results for year ended 30 June 2015

Transense Technologies plc (AIM: TRT), the provider of sensor systems for the transportation and industrial markets, is pleased to announce its preliminary results for the year ended 30 June 2015. The audited accounts will be published as soon as reasonably practicable.

Financial highlights

·    Revenue* of £1.2m (FY14: £3.4m) in line with revised expectation

·    Overheads* maintained at £2.4m (FY14: £2.5m)

·    Adjusted EBITDA* loss of £1.6m (FY14: profit of £0.0m)

·    Loss before taxation* of £1.8m (FY14: £0.1m)

·    Loss on discontinued activity (IntelliSAW) after taxation of £1.0m (FY14: £1.0m)

·    Net closing cash balance £0.5m (FY14: £3.1m)

·    Post year-end fund raise of £2.5m (net of expenses) through placing and offer for subscription

* denotes from continuing operations and before bad debt charge

EBITDA is the Earnings Before Interest, Taxation, Depreciation & Amortisation, and is calculated by taking operating loss and adding back depreciation & amortisation.

Overheads are calculated by taking Administrative Expenses and deducting depreciation & amortisation

Operational highlights

·    Increased iTrack market penetration in major geographic markets

·    Launched lease rental financing option for iTrack customers

·    Created wholly owned sales and service support centre for Latin American region

·    Signed up new iTrack channel partner in Australia

·    Post year end discussions are ongoing with potential new partners in the USA and Japan

·    SawSense entered MoU with GE for multiple applications

·    Discussions regarding the Sale of IntelliSAW are ongoing

For further information, please contact:

Transense Technologies plc Graham Storey, Chief Executive	Tel: [phone]
finnCap Ed Frisby, Giles Rolls (Corporate Finance) Tony Quirke, Alice Lane (Corporate Broking)	Tel: [phone]
IFC Advisory Tim Metcalfe, Graham Herring, Heather Armstrong	Tel: [phone]

About Transense Technologies

Based in Oxfordshire, UK, Transense has developed patent-protected sensor systems and supporting technology for use in a variety of diverse high growth markets. Transense's Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) wireless, battery-less, sensor systems offer significant advantages over legacy wireless sensor systems. Transense is targeting the transport and mining industries, and the global torque, temperature and pressure sensing markets, via its trading divisions, Translogik and SAWSense, respectively.

Transense's sensors are also being used in the wind turbine monitoring industry. The Company is part of a consortium of nine companies ("IntelWind") that has begun development on a major EU funded project to improve the efficiency and reliability of wind turbines.

Transense's shares are admitted to trading on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange (AIM: "TRT").

www.transense.co.uk

Chairman's statement

Transense is pleased to report results in line with the revised expectations set out towards the end of a challenging year for the Company.  As previously stated, these results were disappointing, with revenues reducing significantly compared with the prior year.  Whilst we broadly maintained overheads at a steady level in order to continue developing products and sales channels, inevitably this led to an increase in operating losses.

Financial results and condition

Revenue from continuing activities reduced to £1.2m from £3.4m in the prior year, and the loss before taxation from continuing activities (before bad debt) was £1.8m (FY14: £0.1m).

The total loss attributable to shareholders was £3.1m (FY14: £1.0m) resulting in a loss per ordinary share of 1.06 pence (FY14: 0.38 pence).  The board do not recommend payment of a dividend.

Net cash balances at 30 June 2015 were £0.5m (30 June 2014: £3.1m).

In July 2015, we were encouraged by shareholder support when the company raised £2.5m (net of attributable expenses) by a placing and offer of ordinary shares at a price of 1.5 pence each.

Accordingly, the Company now has access to adequate financial resources to consider future investment in further product development, opening of new sales channels, and offering more flexible financing solutions to customers.  Our goal is to ensure that our existing business activities become financially self-sufficient in the near term, and that investment in longer term projects with high levels of potential return is provided from internal resources.

Market conditions

As we have previously reported, there was a sharp downturn in demand for commodities and consequent contraction in capital expenditure in the mining sector in the early part of the financial year. This had an adverse effect on revenues for iTrack, which came after such promising momentum had been generated in the prior year.  

We have now repositioned the sales proposition and offer a lease rental solution for customers, allowing them to achieve a short payback when lease rental costs are measured against the savings in operating costs and increased production yields that iTrack delivers.

Throughout the year commodity prices have been falling and this weakness has continued into the new financial year , and the effect on mining companies has been well documented.  We continue to have confidence that gains in productivity and reductions in overall operating costs offered by iTrack provide a compelling case when the marginal profitability of mining operations falls under close scrutiny.

Our Translogik tyre related products are primarily delivered into the automotive aftermarket through a range of OEM tyre producers, channel partners, and value added resellers.  This sector has until recently been relatively conservative in the adoption of new technology, but there are signs of a more progressive approach by a number of leading companies within our current reach.

Meanwhile, our key markets for surface acoustic wave ("SAW") sensor technology in industrial, automotive and green energy have shown steady growth, and our focus is on gaining traction for market acceptance of new volume applications in these areas.

Disposal of IntelliSAW

The company is in discussions with a preferred bidder regarding the possible sale of IntelliSaw. A further announcement will be made in due course.

Board composition

Following seven years of service to the Company as Chairman and then Deputy Chairman, David Kleeman decided to step down from the Board on 31 December 2014. I would like to take this opportunity to thank David for his contribution to the Company during his time as a Director which was much appreciated.

In July 2015, Nigel Rogers joined the board as Non-Executive Deputy Chairman.  Nigel began his career as a Chartered Accountant, and has had many years experience as CEO of AIM listed industrial companies.  We welcome him to the Board, and look forward to working together on the development and implementation of our commercial strategy.

Prospects 

We anticipate that market conditions in mining will continue to be challenging in the current financial year.  As a result our sales proposition into this sector is now closely aligned with the pressing need to maximise output and minimise costs. We have continued to see successful implementation of our equipment in response to these pressures as companies seek  optimal deployment of assets including mine trucks. Our initial focus will be to increase penetration of geographical markets in which we have an established presence, namely Chile, Australia and Southern Africa.   We believe, however, that the strong relationships we are building in these markets can act as a bridgehead into new territories in which our current customers are already active.

We also aim to build on the progress made with the new probe products and the launch of our new Passenger Car Audit System (PCAS) into the passenger car tyre inspection market. Entry into this large new market presents new opportunities and we believe we are adopting the right strategy of partnering with companies that already have a strong presence in this market.

SAWSense's many projects are progressing well, with one particular industrial partner expected to launch a commercial torque solution product in 2016. It is anticipated that going forward, income received from the commercialised torque project and other ongoing engineering work should start to exceed the division's costs.

Overall, the board is satisfied with the progress made in recent months having overcome some difficult challenges. The company has developed valuable technology, a growing reputation, and an enviable customer base across multiple geographic and industry sectors.  With the financial resources now available, we believe that the company is well placed to capitalise on these exciting opportunities and we view the future with renewed confidence.

David M Ford
Group Chairman
28 September 2015

Chief Executive's Report

After a difficult 2014 and early 2015 due to the continuing downturn in the global mining industry, a key market for Translogik's iTrack Mining Tyre Monitoring System, a positive market response to the systems new finance lease and rental pricing models has resulted in the aggregate sale or rental of 131 iTrack systems during the last six months of the financial year and a further 47 ITrack systems due to be despatched.

Additionally, the emergence of a valuable new market for the division's range of tyre inspection probes in the passenger car space,  offers new opportunities for updated versions of the tyre inspection probe, and a complementary new software system built around it, that we refer to as Passenger Car Audit System (PCAS).

Translogik

iTrack

Australia

The first success with the new iTrack pricing model was a contract win through our Australian distributor, Brownfield, to supply 23 iTrack mining tyre monitoring systems for large haul trucks to the Glencore Ravensworth mine and its entire fleet of Caterpillar vehicles. It is of additional significance that this win was achieved after iTrack was selected as the preferred system against those offered by Translogik's competitors. This confirms our belief that the iTrack system has several significant advantages over competing products. Glencore is one of the largest miners in Australia and we look forward to their use of iTrack expanding further during the coming years.

In August, Translogik secured a second contract in Australia, with agreement  to supply 47 iTrack systems to the Saraji coal mine in the Bowen Basin, Queensland, owned by the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA). The contract includes the sale of equipment on a finance lease. In addition to the sale there will be income from service and rental for a minimum period of two years. The important role of tyre monitoring as part of a total safety and performance monitoring strategy within the mining sector is an increasingly major focus in Australia as the large mining companies seek to extract the maximum possible productivity from their existing asset base.

Chile

In April we secured a contract to supply iTrack to the entire fleet of 46 large haul trucks at the Spence copper mine in Chile, owned by BHP Billiton. This deployment was supported by Translogik's new Chile based technical sales staff. Chile is a key market for iTrack, with over 2,000 large haul trucks currently operating. Having local technical sales expertise available to provide rapid customer support has been very important in building strong client relationships with the major mining and mine service companies and has been a significant factor in closing this deal with BHP Billiton.

iTrack was deployed much more rapidly at the Spence mine than we have seen achieved previously, with in excess of forty trucks fitted in a month, as BHP were keen to start gaining the proven benefits of ITrack. BHP have several large mine fleets in the region and we are hopeful that the productivity and safety benefits provided by having real-time tyre data will open up further opportunities for us.

Another large mine in Chile, maintained by Otraco, is now operating more than 100 live iTrack systems. It has taken approximately twelve months to deploy this number of systems as vehicles are fitted as they come in for maintenance and servicing. This mine is continuing to expand and adding further large mine haul trucks.

Probes

As well as targeting the mining and commercial vehicle tyre markets, Translogik is now directly addressing the much larger passenger car tyre market through a variety of new automated inspection systems that use the Translogik tyre inspection probe as their key component.

The Opti-Tread system developed by Translogik's North American partner, Squarerigger Software, is being marketed in the USA by Snap-on Equipment through its John Bean brand. An initial order of 220 systems was supplied to Snap-on Equipment to serve as product demonstrators and initial inventory for its North American sales network and early feedback is that the system has been well received. However, follow-on orders have not yet been received, although Squarerigger remain confident that they will materialise later this year.

In May Translogik had its Wireless Tyre Inspection Probe integrated into the new 'Connected Workshop' system from Bosch Automotive Service Solutions. The system was launched at the Automechanika Show in Germany. The cloud-based, tablet driven system, has two components, 'Entrance Check' and 'Connected Repair', which are linked to allow vehicle information and test results to be shared across workshop equipment, workshop users and the customer. The probe will be used at the 'Entrance Check' level, a 5-minute vehicle health check which includes tread depth and tyre pressure measurements. The system supports OEM and Aftermarket customers globally.

In March Translogik signed an exclusive agreement to supply its tyre inspection probe to Rema Tip Top Holdings UK Limited ('Rema') for use in Rema's new passenger car tyre inspection system, 'Tip Top Tread'. The system is based on Translogik's proprietary tyre probe technology, provides a quick, efficient and accurate wireless car tyre inspection system to the tyre sales and fitment industry.

Rema's exclusivity applies only to use of the probes in conjunction with the Tip Top Tread system, which is focused on the passenger car market and is contingent upon achieving agreed, rising quarterly minimum levels of UK sales totalling at least £1.1m in aggregate over the next three years.

Rema have a powerful market position both in the UK and in Europe.  We believe their established sales network and market expertise is capable of driving probe sales into the car tyre market much faster than would otherwise be achievable, and supports our strategy of diversifying into the substantial passenger vehicle market.

Translogik recently launched its own Passenger Car Audit System (PCAS). This system uses the the existing tyre inspection probe in conjunction with our new proprietory software system for desktop and iOS to offer a complete rapid car tyre inspection system to the tyre retail and car servicing market.

SAWSense

A major recent development, is the signing of a memorandum of understating with GE, a provider of products to the global Power and Water, Oil and Gas, Energy Management, Aviation, Healthcare, and Transportation industries. It is developing new instrumentation applications utilising its core wireless, passive Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) measurement technology in association with SAWSense. This development aligns the Transense SAW technology expertise with GE's proficiency in large scale production and product delivery, to open up new global opportunities.

Working with an industry leading developer of world-class technology applications is exactly the right platform for Transense's SAW technology to enter the commercial environment. We look forward to working further with GE to strengthen their product offerings, bringing the benefits of our technology to the infrastructure markets GE serves.

Progress continues in partnership with one of the largest European industrial electronic system manufacturers on a SAW application as part of a condition monitoring system. The project has been underway for two years developing prototypes with SAWSense providing paid engineering support. The customer has started the industrialisation process with production expected to follow in the first half of 2016. The customer has a global interest in SAW technology for multiple applications.

The two existing automotive flexplate projects continue to progress, and have recently been joined by a further US based automotive OEM, taking the total number of projects to three.

We have recently received initial EU funding (Horizon 2020) to assess the feasibility of torque sensors for tidal power generation. Work continues on a diverse range of applications of Transense's SAW technology for measuring torque (electric power assisted steering and driveline), temperature and pressure with new companies. This entails different periods of paid engineering support and application development work and the Board is hopeful that in a number of cases this will lead in the medium term to industrialisation with the consequential grant of intellectual property licences by the Company, subject to the satisfactory conclusion of commercial discussions in each case.

Graham Storey

Group CEO

28 September 2015

Finance Director's Report

The financial results for the year ended 30 June 2015 may be summarised as follows:

Year	2014/15	2013/14
	£000	£000
Revenue *	1,248	3,370
Gross Profit *	839	2,510
Gross margin % *	67%	74%
LBT **	(1,770)	(118)
Loss from Discontinued Operations	(1,041)	(993)
EBITDA Adjustments:
Net Interest	(74)	(62)
Depreciation *	67	42
Amortisation	160	162
EBITDA **	(1,617)	24
Share-based payments	8	8
Adjusted EBITDA **	(1,609)	32
Loss per Share	1.06p	0.38p
Adjusted Loss per Share **	0.58p	0.02p
Bad Debt Charge	357	0
*  Excludes Discontinued Operations
** Excludes Discontinued Operations and bad debt charge

Results for the year

Revenue (excluding Discontinued Operations) reduced by 63% compared with the prior year as core mining markets contracted sharply during the summer of 2014.  Approximately 69% of revenues in the prior year were derived from the sale of iTrack equipment in large individually significant contracts based on capital expenditure by our customers.    During the period under review, equipment was also offered on more flexible lease rental terms, which generated some £0.06m of revenues in the current year.  This arrangement involves an increased working capital commitment by the company to fund the initial outlay, but offers the benefits of accelerating market penetration and giving greater visibility of future revenue streams.  

Gross margins reduced from 74% in 2014 to 67% . The reduction is due to the change in mix of Sales being heavily weighted to iTrack Kit Sales as referred to above. Going forward the mix will change further as the rental income stream grows and as this income has no Cost of Sales charge as the costs of rented kit is capitalised and depreciated over the asset life (the depreciation charge being included in Overheads).

As a result of the reduced level of activity, gross profit reduced to £0.83m (FY14 £2.5m), and the board carefully considered the approach to maintaining overhead spend at previous levels in order to support product and sales channel development. Overheads were generally stable over the two years at £2.4m (excluding Discontinued Operations and Bad Debt charge) (FY14 £2.5m).

The resulting loss before taxation from continuing activities and before exceptional item amounted to £1.8m (FY14 £0.1m).   Underlying adjusted EBITDA was a loss of £1.6m (FY14 profit £0.0m), and it is the aim of the group to generate underlying profits against this measure as soon as practicable.

After taking account of the bad debt charge, taxation and the loss on discontinued activity, the total loss attributable to shareholders was £3.12m (FY14 £1.03m), equivalent to 1.06 pence per share (FY14: 0.38 pence).  The loss attributable to shareholders from continuing activities before the exceptional bad debt charge was 0.58 pence per share (FY14: 0.02 pence).

Taxation

The group had UK tax losses carried forward at 30 June 2015 of approximately £17.7m.

Certain elements of development expenditure undertaken by the company are eligible for enhanced Research and Development tax relief which generally relates to salary costs of technical staff. As a result of claims in 2014 and 2013 the Company has received Tax Credits of £0.07m and £0.06m respectively.

Cash flow and financial position

There was a net cash outflow of £2.61m (FY14 £1.09m inflow) during the year, most of which was the result of losses set out above.

At 30 June 2015 the group had net cash balances of £0.47m (FY14 £3.08m) and had embarked upon a fundraising exercise resulting in the raising of £2.5m of additional equity capital (net of attributable expenses) in a placing and offer for subscription approved by the shareholders on 27 July 2015.

The financial position of the group has been strengthened significantly as a result of the successful fund raising.

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

for the year ended 30 June 2015

			Year ended		Year ended
			30 June		30 June
			2015		2014
					Restated*
			£000		£000
Continuing operations
Revenue			1,248		3,370
Cost of sales			(409)		(860)
Gross profit			839		2,510
Administrative expenses			(3,040)		(2,690)
Operating loss			(2,201)		(180)
Financial income			74		62
Loss before taxation			(2,127)		(118)
Taxation			48		75
Loss from continuing operations			(2,079)		(43)
Discontinued operations
Loss from discontinued operation			(1,041)		(993)
Loss for the year			(3,120)		(1,036)
Basic and fully diluted loss per share (pence)			(1.06)		(0.38)

 

Consolidated Balance Sheet

at 30 June 2015

						Year ended			Year ended
						30 June			30 June
						2015	2015		2014	2014
						£000	£000		£000	£000
Non current assets
Property, plant and equipment						316			153
Intangible assets						806			906
							1,122			1,059
Current assets
Inventories						584			738
Corporation tax						45			136
Trade and other receivables						1,323			2,087
Cash and cash equivalents						472			3,082
						2,424			6,043
Assets held for sale						307			-
							2,731			6,043
Total assets							3,853			7,102
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables						(418)			(638)
Current tax liabilities						(48)			(44)
Total liabilities						(466)			(682)
Liabilities held for sale						(79)			-
							(545)			(682)
Net assets							3,308			6,420
Equity
Issued share capital							9,779			9,724
Shares to be issued							-			249
Share premium							16,523			16,329
Accumulated loss							(22,994)			(19,882)
Total equity							3,308			6,420

 

Statement of Changes in Equity

	Share		Share		Shares to		Warrant		Cumulative		Total
	Capital		premium		be issued		reserve		losses		equity
	£000		£000		£000		£000		£000		£000
Balance at 1 July 2013	9,102		13,144		-		378		(19,232)		3,392
Loss for the year	-		-		-		-		(1,036)		(1,036)
Shares and warrants issued and share premium	622		3,185		249		-		-		4,056
Transfer between reserves	-		-		-		(378)		378		-
Share based payments	-		-		-		-		8		8
Balance at 30 June 2014	9,724		16,329		249		-		(19,882)		6,420
Loss for the year	-		-		-		-		(3,120)		(3,120)
Transfer between reserves	55		194		(249)		-		-		-
Share based payments	-		-		-		-		8		8
Balance at 30 June 2015	9,779		16,523		-		-		(22,994)		3,308

 

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

for the year ended 30 June 2015

		Group
		Year ended 30 June 2015	Year ended 30 June 2014
		£000	£000
Loss before taxation		(2,127)	(118)
Adjustments for:
Financial income		(74)	(62)
Depreciation		88	58
Amortisation of intangible assets		160	162
Share based payment		8	8
(Loss)/profit on discontinued operation		(1,041)	(993)
Operating cash flows before movements in
working capital		(2,986)	(945)
Decrease/(increase) in receivables		764	(1,647)
(Decrease)/increase  in payables		(216)	150
Decrease /(Increase) in inventories		154	(423)
Cash used in operations		(2,284)	(2,865)
Taxation recovered		139	(7)
Net cash used in operations		(2,145)	(2,872)
Investing activities
Interest received		74	62
Acquisitions of property, plant and equipment		(251)	(74)
Acquisitions of intangible assets		(60)	(79)
Assets/Liabilities held for sale		(229)	-
Net cash used in investing activities		(466)	(91)
Financing activities
Proceeds from issue of equity share capital and warrants		-	4,056
Net cash from financing activities		-	4,056
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents		(2,611)	1,093
Cash and equivalents at the beginning of year		3,082	1,989
Cash and equivalents at the end of year		472	3,082

 

Basis of Preparation

·     The financial information in this report for the year ended 30 June 2015 was authorised for issue in accordance with a resolution of the Directors on 26 September 2015.

·     The financial information in this report does not include all notes of the type normally included within a full annual financial report and therefore cannot be expected to provide as full an understanding of the financial performance, financial position and financing and investing activities of the consolidated entity as the full financial report.

·     The accounting policies and methods of computation are the same as those to be adopted in the annual financial report for the year ended 30^th June 2015.

·     IntelliSAW has been treated as a discontinued operation in these accounts

 

END

 

 

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