Sonic Foundry Announces Fiscal 2018 Second Quarter Financial Results

Sonic Foundry Inc (NASDAQ:SOFO), a leader for video creation and management solutions announced consolidated financial results for its fiscal 2018 second quarter ended March 31, 2018.

Total revenues of the company were $8.5 million as compared $8.6 million in the second quarter of 2017. The company’s gross margin were $5.9 million or 70 percent of the sales as compared $6.1 million or 71 percent of sales in the second quarter of 2017.

As quoted in the press release:

• Net loss of $(1.4) million, or $(0.32) per share compared to $(1.5) million, or $(0.33) per share in the second quarter of 2017

• Billings totaled $8.5 million in the second quarter of 2018, a decrease of 7% compared to the same period last year

• Unearned revenue decreased to $11.6 million as of March 31, 2018. The Company reduced unearned revenue for a China distributor by $1.5 million during the quarter due to an expectation that conversion to revenue would take an extended period of time and therefore was not fixed and determinable

• Reduced operating cash usage by approximately $1.0 million for the six-month period

Fiscal 2018 Second Quarter Review

Service billings, including support, hosting, events, and installs recorded an increase of 5% from prior year to a total of $5.7 million. The company expects to recognize $4.1 million of the current unearned revenue in the third quarter of fiscal 2018. Recurring revenue of $6.2 million was 74% of total revenue in the second quarter of 2018, up from $5.6 million, or 65% of total revenue in the second quarter of 2017.These increases were driven mainly by the strong demand for our cloud offerings.

Product billings were $2.8 million during the second quarter of fiscal year 2018, compared to $3.7 million last year and are $5.7 million year to date compared to $6.5 million last year.  Recorder units shipped increased 13% for the first half of the year compared to last year with shipments of our RL 220 and mini recorders showing an 80% growth.

The loss before income taxes decreased from prior year by $136,000 due in large part to efforts made by the company to reduce operating expenses, including certain headcount reductions made in the third quarter of 2017. Operating expenses were $7.2 million, down $150 thousand or 2% from the same period in 2017. The net loss of $1.4 million was comparable to the same period in 2017.

Sonic Foundry recently closed a financing round with Partners for Growth, a partnership that provides capital funding solutions to private and public technology and life science companies. The facility provides for up to $2.5 million of additional capital on terms similar to the last transaction completed with PFG, which was fully paid earlier this month.

“We are pleased to once again be working with PFG, a partnership that has shown consistent support for Sonic Foundry over the years. The funding, in combination with a recent equity transaction with an existing investor in the company, gives us the ability to make strategic investments to our data centers that enable us to support the increase in Mediasite Video Cloud usage by our customers and fund key strategic initiatives,” said Gary Weis, CEO of Sonic Foundry.

Weis continued, “In the second quarter, we saw our right-sized video solutions continue to extend the value of Mediasite product and services technologies to a broadening customer base. This allows customers to ‘mix and match’ capture solutions ranging from software-only to our most capable recorders. Our strategy to address low technology rooms and grow the market for our affordable hardware solutions is an area of increased interest from customers. The increase in recorder units shipped in the first half of fiscal 2018, along with a boost in Mediasite Video Cloud services, leaves us confident that we are on the right track to support our customers’ video strategies, increase our win-rate and ultimately drive revenues to higher levels.”

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