Burnaby, BC – May 10, 2022 –– Tantalus Systems (TSX: GRID) (“Tantalus” or the “Company”), a smart grid technology company focused on helping build sustainable utilities for the future, is pleased to announce its financial and operating results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022.
“We are pleased with our financial results and operating performance despite navigating through a challenging business environment. Revenue contributions from our software and services business segment continue to improve our financial performance and increased to 36% of our total revenue profile in the quarter. Revenue from our Connected Devices and Infrastructure segment also grew as supply chain challenges began to stabilize throughout the quarter. Additionally, we witnessed our Gross Profit Margin increase to 48% as compared to 45% a year ago,” stated Peter Londa, President & CEO of Tantalus. “Beyond our financial results, the feedback we continue to receive regarding our acquisition of Congruitive is extremely favorable, as the combined capabilities deliver a differentiated and secure smart grid platform that empowers utilities to connect devices deployed at the edge of the grid, where people live and work, directly to mission-critical systems that utilities rely upon every day to deliver power. While the current business environment remains fluid, we continue to witness strong momentum as utilities seek to digitize distribution grids to improve their resiliency and prepare for the broad adoption of electric vehicles, solar installations and distributed storage.”
Consolidated Financial Highlights[1]:
- Revenue for the Company increased by 16% to $9.3 million as compared to the prior year, reflecting the momentum witnessed across Tantalus’ target market. Utility Software Applications and Services revenue increased by 28% to $3.4 million and represented 36% of total revenue as compared to 33% for the same period last year. The increase from software and services is tied to the increasing number of connected endpoints that drives software licenses and recurring maintenance and support agreements. Congruitive’s software and services contributed approximately $290,000 in the quarter. Connected Devices and Infrastructure revenue increased by 10% as COVID-19 pandemic restrictions subsided allowing utilities to accelerate deployments. A portion of delayed shipments in 2021 also materialized in the quarter.
- Gross Profit[2] Margin increased to 48% as compared to 45% for the same period last year. The Company was able to increase Gross Profit Margin despite inflationary pressures across its supply chain. The increase in Gross Profit Margin tied to the Company’s continued focus on expanding revenue contributions from software and services and managing its supply chain effectively. Moving forward, the Company initiated a price increase that went into effect on April 15, 2022, to further offset inflationary cost pressures.
- Adjusted EBITDA[3] was ($0.7 million) compared to $0.1 million in the prior year. The decline in Adjusted EBITDA was primarily due to targeted investments in research and development to accelerate key projects, integrating the team from the acquisition of Congruitive, bolstering sales and marketing activities given the continued momentum in the market, and the Company’s continued absorption of costs associated with going public.
- The loss for the period was ($1.8 million) compared to ($2.9 million) in the prior year, an improvement of 38%. The loss per share in the quarter was $0.04 compared to $0.08 in the prior year.
- The Balance Sheet remained strong with total assets amounting to $40.0 million, inclusive of $12.0 million in cash, compared to $31.0 million of total assets and $14.2 million in cash as at December 31, 2021. The cash balance remained strong despite investing $3.5 million of cash as part of the consideration in acquiring Congruitive on January 31, 2022.
- Adjusted Working Capital[4] was $9.0 million compared to $13.6 million as at December 31, 2021. The decline in Adjusted Working Capital is primarily due to the cash consideration of $3.5 million and corresponding fees and expenses incurred as a result of the acquisition of Congruitive.
Continued Strong Momentum
- Tantalus secured 5 new utilities in the quarter through its ongoing sales activity. Coupled with over 40 utilities within Congruitive’s user community, the combined business now supports over 250 utility customers, including several of the largest investor-owned utilities (“IOUs”) in the United States.
- The Company continues to anticipate growing revenue year-over-year by 20% to 25%, targeting approximately $38.6 to $40.2 million in 2022. This guidance includes revenue contributions from the recent acquisition of Congruitive.
- Tantalus is actively leading an effort to support current and prospective utility customers with the submission of applications to access funding across several programs being offered by the US Federal government, including the ARPA and BRIC programs. For more information, please go to the Company’s website (https://tantalus.com/resources/funding/).
“Due to our team’s ongoing commitment to adapt to changes and the continued execution of our plan, we are in the fortunate position to make prioritized investments in our next-generation TRUSense™ Fiber Gateway and our AI-enabled data analytics, both of which further position Tantalus as a market leader,” noted Mr. Londa. “The TRUSense Fiber Gateway will allow utilities to backhaul consumption and power quality data across a fiber network, gain direct access to and control of EV chargers and inverters for solar panels and battery walls deployed behind the meter, and deliver broadband services to customers. Coupled with the expanding portfolio of AI-enabled data analytics, this one-of-a-kind offering will propel Tantalus forward as a market leader to truly build sustainable utilities. We remain optimistic as market dynamics remain favorable and believe Tantalus remains well positioned for the future.”
The Company will hold a conference call and webcast to discuss the financial results on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 at 11:00 am Eastern Time.
Conference Call
Participant Dial In (Toll Free) 1-844-854-4410
Participant International Dial In 1-412-317-5791
Please ask to join the Tantalus Systems earnings call.
Webcast
https://services.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=5gmBWvNT
Replay Information
A conference call replay will be available until May 18, 2022. The webcast will be available until May 17, 2023 at the link set out above. To access the conference call replay, please see details below:
US Toll Free: 1-877-344-7529
International Toll: 1-412-317-0088
Canada Toll Free 1-855-669-9658
Replay Access Code 175061
Financial Statements and Management Discussion & Analysis
Please see the consolidated financial statements (“Financial Statements”) and related Management’s Discussion & Analysis (“MD&A”) for more details. The consolidated financial statements for the quarter ended March 31, 2022, and related MD&A have been reviewed and approved by Tantalus’ Audit Committee and Board of Directors. For a more detailed explanation and analysis, please refer to the MD&A that has been filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and is also available on the Company’s website at www.tantalus.com.
Non-IFRS and Other Financial Measures
This press release refers to the following non-IFRS measures:
“EBITDA” is comprised as income (loss) less interest, income tax and depreciation and amortization. Management believes that EBITDA is a useful indicator for investors, and is used by management, in evaluating the operating performance of the Company. See “Reconciliation of Net (Loss) / Income to Adjusted EBITDA” for a quantitative reconciliation of EBITDA to the most directly comparable financial measure. “Adjusted EBITDA” is comprised as income (loss) less interest, income tax, depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation, foreign exchange gain (loss) and other income / expenses not attributable to the operations of the Company. Management believes that EBITDA is a useful indicator for investors, and is used by management, in evaluating the operating performance of the Company. See “Reconciliation of Net (Loss) / Income to Adjusted EBITDA” for a quantitative reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to the most directly comparable financial measure.
“Gross Profit” is comprised as the Company’s revenues less cost of sales. Management believes that Gross Profit is a useful indicator for investors, and is used by management, in evaluating the operating performance of the Company. See “Gross Profit Reconciliation” for a quantitative reconciliation of Gross Profit to the most directly comparable financial measure. This press release refers to “Gross Profit Margin” which is a non-IFRS ratio. Gross Profit Margin is comprised of Gross Profit expressed as a percentage of the Company’s revenues. Management believes that Gross Profit Margin is a useful indicator for investors, and is used by management, in evaluating the operating performance of the Company.
“Adjusted Working Capital” is comprised as current assets less current liabilities exclusive of the Company’s bank loan. Management believes Adjusted Working Capital is a useful indicator for investors, and is used by management, for evaluating the operating liquidity to the Company. See “Adjusted Working Capital Reconciliation” for a quantitative reconciliation of Adjusted Working Capital to the most directly comparable financial measure.
Such non-IFRS measures and non-IFRS ratio do not have a standardized meaning under IFRS and may not be comparable to a similar measure disclosed by other issuers.
Gross Profit Margin Reconciliation
Reconciliation of Net (Loss) to Adjusted EBITDA
(a) Finance expense comprised of interest and related finance expense on bank loans and lease liabilities.
(b) Share-based non-cash compensation expense.
(c) Foreign exchange comprised of unrealized (gain) / loss from non-functional currency assets and liabilities.
(d) General and administrative expenses pertaining to the Company’s acquisition of Congruitive.
(e) Reverse acquisition listing expense comprised of excess purchase price over RiseTech net assets acquired and costs.
Adjusted Working Capital Reconciliation
About Tantalus Systems Holding Inc. (TSX: GRID)
Tantalus is a smart grid technology company that transforms aging one-way grids into future-proofed multi-directional grids that improve the efficiency, reliability and sustainability of public power and electric cooperative utilities and the communities they serve. Our solutions are purpose-built to allow utilities to restore power quickly after major disruptions, adapt to rapidly shifting consumer expectations and population shifts, innovate new solutions based on the adoption of distributed energy resources and evolve their grid infrastructure at their own pace without needless cost or complexity. All this gives our user community the flexibility they need to get the most value from existing infrastructure investments while planning for future requirements. Learn more at www.tantalus.com.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This news release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is generally identifiable by use of the words “believes”, “may”, “plans”, “will”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “could”, “estimates”, “expects”, “forecasts”, “projects” and similar expressions, and the negative of such expressions. Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements such as those relating to: continuing extremely favorable feedback regarding our acquisition of Congruitive, strong momentum going forward as utilities seek to digitize distribution grids to improve their resiliency and prepare for the broad adoption of electric vehicles, solar installations and distributed storage, growing revenue year-over-year by 20% to 25% and targeting approximately $38.6 to $40.2 million in 2022, the development of our next-generation TRUSense Fiber Gateway and our AI-enabled data analytics, both of which further position Tantalus as a market leader, and Tantalus being well positioned for the future.
To the extent any forward-looking information in this news release constitutes a “financial outlook” within the meaning of securities laws, such information is being provided because management’s estimate of the future financial performance of Tantalus is useful to investors, and readers are cautioned that this information may not be appropriate for any other purpose and that they should not place undue reliance on such information.
In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, Tantalus has made numerous assumptions, regarding, among other things: the expected impact of COVID-19, the expected impact of supply chain constraints, the expected impact of inflationary pressures on costs and the expected timing of new product introductions. While Tantalus considers these assumptions to be reasonable, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies. Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause Tantalus’ actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. A complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties facing Tantalus is disclosed under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Tantalus’ Annual Information Form dated March 23, 2022, as well as those risk factors included with Tantalus’ continuous disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities available at www.sedar.com. All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and Tantalus disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as required by law.
[1] Financial information is reported in United States dollars (“$”) unless otherwise stated and in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”). Unless otherwise stated Q1, 2022 results are compared to the same period in 2021.
[2] See “Non-IFRS and Other Financial Measures.”
[3] See “Non-IFRS and Other Financial Measures.”
[4] See “Non-IFRS and Other Financial Measures.”
