Earnings Labs

Acorn Energy, Inc. (ACFN)

Q2 2016 Earnings Call· Mon, Aug 15, 2016

$17.80

-1.17%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to Acorn Energy second quarter conference call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Michael Barth, the CFO of the company. Please go ahead.

Michael Barth

Analyst

Thank you for joining us on today's call. With me are Jan Loeb, Acorn's CEO; and Walter Czarnecki, President and CEO of OmniMetrix. Before we begin, please remember that many of the statements made on today's prepared remarks or responses to your questions are forward-looking. These statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties. In particular, the performance of our businesses in 2016 and future years is subject to various risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with executing Acorn's new operating strategy; meeting performance milestones; risks associated with conducting business with government customers, including possible cost overruns on fixed-price projects; and success in driving growth in the company's core business. Such forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs as well as assumptions made based upon information currently available to management pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There is no assurance that Acorn or its operating companies will be able to achieve its goals for growth in 2016 and future years. The company also undertakes no obligation to disclose any revision to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date made. A complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties which may affect Acorn Energy and our subsidiaries is included in the risk factors in the company's Form 10-K filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. And with that, I'll hand the call over to Jan Loeb, Acorn's CEO. Jan?

Jan Loeb

Analyst

Thank you, Michael, and thank you all for joining today's call. I will begin by reviewing highlights of the quarter, including progress on our strategic repositioning, our second quarter financial results and where we see the company moving forward. Previously, we announced initiatives we were taking to streamline and focus our operations, capital and resources on growth areas of the business, and our second quarter results are a reflection of such initiatives. During the second quarter, we partnered our DSIT sonar solutions business with a leading Israeli defense firm, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, through the sale of approximately 50% of our ownership interest in DSIT for gross proceeds of $4.9 million, plus a potential earn-out. Proceeds from the DSIT sale were used to repay short-term debt and enhance our financial position. We believe this partnership better positions DSIT for growth and success under the wings of a much larger and more diversified defense company while also allowing Acorn to retain a 41.2% ownership interest in DSIT. Accordingly, we view our DSIT stake as a key strategic asset with significant value-creation potential. Subsequent to the close of the second quarter, we succeeded in selling the assets of our GridSense subsidiary to Franklin Fueling Systems, a subsidiary of publicly traded Franklin Electric Co., for a gross sales price of $1 million. GridSense had generated persistent operating losses, and so its divestiture will immediately improve our operating results and significantly reduce our cash burn. As most of GridSense assets had previously been written down to 0, we expect to record a gain of approximately $1 million on this sale in the third quarter of this year. As the largest GridSense creditor, we also expect to receive some portion of the $1 million proceeds as determined by an independent liquidation officer in the coming…

Michael Barth

Analyst

Thank you, Jan. Given the strategic changes we have made to the business, our financial reporting has changed significantly. Effective April 22, 2016, we no longer consolidate the results of DSIT, which has the effect of reducing our reported revenue to just those of our OmniMetrix business from that day forward, and it also impacts the comparability to prior period results. Focusing first on OmniMetrix. Our revenues grew 10% to $761,000 in the second quarter after giving effect to a negative revenue adjustment of $130,000 with respect to a previous understatement of deferred revenue. The required adjustment was made following an in-depth analysis by members of our new accounting staff at OmniMetrix, which was brought on to strengthen that function. Excluding the adjustment, OmniMetrix second quarter revenue would have increased 29% to $891,000 and first half revenue would have increased 27% to approximately $1.7 million. The revenue improvement is driven by overall business strength, but specifically by increased hardware sales. Importantly, increased hardware sales directly feed into our ongoing maintenance revenue base, supporting a stable and growing revenue base. We have indicated on prior calls that we expect 25% annualized growth in this business, and that continues to be an achievable target. Turning to DSIT. We previously mentioned that DSIT is no longer being consolidated in Acorn's financial results following the April 2016 of a portion of our holdings, which reduced Acorn's ownership in DSIT to below 50%. Nonetheless, DSIT is the largest asset on Acorn's balance sheet and is therefore very important -- and is very important to Acorn. So let's look at DSIT's overall performance, recognizing that Acorn now owns 41.2% stake. On an enterprise basis, DSIT achieved significant growth in the second quarter, with revenues increasing 16% to $3.9 million from $3.4 million in the second quarter…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from Jack Meyer [ph], a private investor.

Unknown Attendee

Analyst

As we speak right now, August 15, is OmniMetrix, as a stand-alone, operating profitably?

Jan Loeb

Analyst

It is not. I think we've said in prior calls that it is our goal that by year-end, it should be at operational breakeven.

Unknown Attendee

Analyst

Okay. And that would be excluding any corporate overhead at the Acorn level?

Jan Loeb

Analyst

Yes.

Unknown Attendee

Analyst

Okay. Are you willing, at this point, to give us any sense of how far away from breakeven you are?

Jan Loeb

Analyst

About 4.5 months.

Unknown Attendee

Analyst

No, not in time, in dollars.

Jan Loeb

Analyst

No.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] It appears that we have no further questions at this time. This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to management for any closing remarks.

Jan Loeb

Analyst

Thank you all for your interest in Acorn. I'm eager to speak with shareholders and potential investors who have questions or would like to get to know management and our goals. As I'm frequently on the road, I ask that you please coordinate such calls with our Investor Relations team. Their contact information is on today's press release, and they are available to assist shareholders with most issues. And with that, operator, we will end today's call. Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

This conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.