Good morning, everyone. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to Biokey International's 2024 Third Quarter Conference Call. During management's prepared remarks, all participants will be in listen-only mode. Afterwards, listeners will be invited to participate in a question and answer session. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, Friday, November 15, 2024. I will now turn the call over to Bill Jones, Investor Relations. You may proceed.

Thank you, Wyatt. Our host today is Biokey's Chairman and CEO, Mike DePasquale, and its CFO, Ceci Welch.

As a reminder, today's conference call and webcast and answers to investor questions include forward-looking statements, which are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual realized results to differ materially from those currently expected. Words such as anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, plan, and project, or similar words, typically express and identify forward-looking statements. These statements are made based on management's beliefs and assumptions, using information currently available as of today, pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For a complete description of these and other risks that may affect future performance of the company, please see risk factors in the company's annual report as filed on Form 10-K with the SEC. Listeners are also cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of today. BioKey undertakes no obligation to revise or disclose any revisions to these statements to reflect circumstances or events that may occur after today. Now I will hand the call over to Mike to begin. Mike?

Thanks, Bill. Good morning, and thank you all for joining today's call. After my prepared remarks, I will turn the call over to Ceci for a brief financial overview, and then we will open the call to investor questions. BIO-key reported a solid Q3 performance with revenue increasing 18% compared to Q3 last year, to $2.1 million, which is a $1 million improvement sequentially from last quarter. Importantly, high-margin license revenue rose 52% to $1.4 million in Q3 2024, which is a significant improvement. We also received, subsequent to the close of the quarter, a number of large orders, one from a leading foreign defense ministry, as well as the province of British Columbia and Williamsburg, Virginia. Again, as I mentioned, after the quarter end, we closed a large order from a long-time foreign banking and financial service customer for secure in-person identity, a portion of which will be reflected in this quarter or Q4 results and the balance in 2025. This customer has utilized BioKey technology to enroll the biometrics of more than 25 million of its banking customers over the past few years as part of their Know Your Customer (KYC) process, and they have been using our fingerprint technology to verify customer identities against the bank card, account number, or ID number prior to processing any transactions. They are now in the process of upgrading its system to BIO-key's far more robust fingerprint-only ID solution, which allows them to positively identify the customer by matching solely their fingerprint against the biometric record securely stored in the cloud. This, what we call one-to-many matching solution, requires greater sophistication and IT resources than matching a biometric to a known account or ID number. As a result, the customer plans to host our solution entirely on the Amazon Web Services…

As you know, we issued our earnings release and filed our 10-Q last evening. So let me review some of the highlights, keeping in mind that our year-over-year comparisons are to the restated 2023 results, as filed in our Form 10-K. BioKey's revenues increased 18% to $2.1 million in Q3 2024 from $1.8 million in Q3 2023 and $1.1 million in Q2 2024. The increase is driven by higher software license fees and hardware revenue as several long-term customers expanded their BioKey deployments. Partially offsetting the gains were declines in recurring and non-recurring service revenues. For the nine months ended September 2024, revenues were $5.5 million compared to $5.9 million for the first nine months of 2023, as license fees and hardware gains were more than offset with the loss of large recurring software agreements and one large customization customer from a prior year period. To provide more background, we agreed to exit our civil secure civil agreement in Europe in Q2 as it had proved to be challenging and fairly low-margin business did not justify the resources required. While the termination of the agreement provides some revenue headwind in the near term, this action should substantially benefit our blended gross margin moving forward. Our overall gross profit and gross margin comparisons improved significantly in Q3 2024, primarily due to a $1 million hardware reserve that was taken in Q3 2023, a higher portion of licensee revenue in Q3 2024, lower cost of support deployment, and lower license fees for third-party software included in BioKey's full secure offerings. We trimmed our operating expenses by $46,000 in Q3 2024 versus Q3 2023, due to reductions in headquarters expenses, sales personnel costs, and marketing show expenses, partially offset by an increase in professional services primarily related to the company's financing activities. Also,…

We will now begin the question and answer session. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. The first question comes from Jack Vander Aarde with Maxim Group.

Okay, great. Good morning, guys. I appreciate the third-quarter update. Thank you for taking my questions, Mike. Great to see the revenue pickup in the third quarter, which I believe is a typically seasonally soft quarter, at least in Europe. I guess some of it probably has to do with that large order that slipped into the third quarter. I think you announced last quarter that there's this large $450,000 order that may have slipped in there, but just give me your thoughts on where the upside was this quarter, and I do think it is typically a weaker quarter.

Yeah. Thank you, Jack. Good morning. Yes, you are absolutely correct. Typically, the Q3 business is softer than any of the other three quarters in the year, mostly again, as you say, because of the international described in my prepared remarks for some existing customers. And so we are seeing a really, really positive trend in the adoption, I will call it the expansion of our solutions in some of our larger customer accounts. And that's a testament to the stickiness and the quality and the value of what we bring to the table. So this was a very productive and a really good quarter for us.

Excellent. Well, great to see that. You know, another question, kind of a follow-up, is with regard to a specific order. You press released it as well. It was on September 10th. It was a leading international defense ministry, a $500,000 follow-on order that was announced on September 10th. So did that whole order get recognized in the third quarter? Or just curious there if you have that off the top of your head.

Yes. Okay. So that, yeah, that was recognized in the quarter.

Okay. And then this large, much larger order from a long-term financial services customer for $910,000, that came subsequently after the quarter end. So will that all get recognized in the fourth quarter?

Yeah. As I mentioned, first of all, that was not in the third quarter. That was in the fourth quarter, as you are accurate with that. A portion of it, about $250,000 or so, will be recognized in the fourth quarter. And the balance will be in Q1. They are an annual subscription customer, and they doubled the size of their deployment. So their annual subscription, I believe, renews in February. So now that will be part of their newer and updated subscription starting next year. So about $250,000 this quarter and the $650,000, whatever in round numbers, in Q1.

Okay. Fantastic. And then are you implying that there are further orders related to that customer after the renewal in February? Or is this a part of that?

No. There will be additional opportunities and expansion, but their annual now recurring revenue contract size will be in the $1.4 million range, so significant. That will be one of our larger subscription contracts.

Okay. Great. I appreciate the color there. That's great to hear. And then questions, just a couple of questions on the outlook, and then I'll hop back in the queue. But so you expect 2024 revenue to meet or exceed 2023 revenue of $7.75 million. So this implies, it looks like, you expect at least Q4 revenue of at least $2.3 million at a minimum, basically, which is above where I was. So that's good to see. Do you expect the fourth-quarter revenue to be mostly license revenue similar to the third quarter?

Yes. Yes, we do. Okay. Yes, and we expect to have a good solid Q4.

Yes. Okay. Great. And you know, and maybe a question for Cece as well if she wants to chime in here. The operating expenses in the third quarter, it looks like all in almost $2.3 million. So a nice kind of reduction from the prior two quarters. So it looks like you have been pretty effective with cutting some costs here. Is this a good baseline looking at the I can't quite recall. Is the fourth quarter, is there a seasonal uptick in OpEx at all, or is this a good run rate going forward?

It's a fairly good run rate. We've done some, as we've said, some financing, so it's a little heavy right now. So we are looking long-term to just cut some of those types of expenses. But I would say, you know, the $2.3 million is a good number or less, obviously.

Okay. That's very helpful. So that sets you up, that sets you guys up for a fairly reasonable breakeven revenue target, I imagine, as we move forward here in 2025. You know, Mike, with your license installed base and subscription installed base kind of ramping up here, it has been ramping up. Do you feel like you're at the point or getting close to the point where you have enough visibility just to kind of introduce formal guidance at some point? I'm just curious to get your thoughts on when you might, what needs to happen for you to have that level of visibility and confidence? Thanks.

I think as we get into 2025, I think we will be able to do that. You can see that more and more of our business is subscription. We have really migrated, especially the PortalGuard base, where we're getting we have visibility into some larger opportunities. And I think we're getting close there. I think we're also, look, our goal and objective, obviously, Cece and I, want to get this company to breakeven into profitability. We're moving very aggressively in that direction right now. So I hope that we'll be able to do that as we get into 2025, Jack.

Okay. Great to hear. Well, I guess that's all the questions I have for you. I appreciate the time, and good luck. Record a cracking story.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Dan Kamas, a Private Investor. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. Good quarter. I'm wondering about do you have any kind of estimate for the recurring revenues you expect from the Defense Ministry going forward?

The Defense Ministry is not subscription revenue. They are still our, I'll call it, one of our larger perpetual customers. We do have a subscription element in the agreement, but it's for support and maintenance. But the Defense Ministry is just continuing to expand. We're up to 33,000 or so users now. There's a long, long way to go. A lot of runways ahead there. So that business is going to continue to be significant over the coming two to three years, and it'll be in the ranges that we've seen in the past, right, where typically spent somewhere between a million or so, a million to a million and a half a year, sometimes more, sometimes a little bit less.

I see. What's the maintenance on that? Is that, like, ten percent?

Well, it's for support. So it's for support. Dollar-wise, I can't say it's dependent on the user count. Right? So it's generally at twenty percent of the typical contract value of the software.

Is there any recurring revenue on the British Columbia deal or is that also a subscription?

No. That's a subscription.

Is there any estimate on the recurring revenue on that?

Yes. It's a subscription, yes.

No, no. But how much recurring revenue do you expect?

Oh, I don't. Dan, I don't know. Okay. I don't have that off the top of my head. I don't know how I don't even know the size of that order, quite frankly.

You mentioned that the improvement, I mean, the gross margins were pretty high as was related to the hardware reserve. Does that mean that you sold some of the old hardware inventory that was reserved?

We have. And we continue to sell the hardware, and we expect to see more significant orders for that this quarter and beyond. So the answer to that question is yes. But also, we're very, very focused on higher-margin licensed sales. And we're also, we've been razor-focused on, especially in our European operation, we had a large software maintenance agreement that was negligible in the context of margins. And we decided not to renew that agreement. So it's going to have a very positive impact on our overall blended gross margins. It's giving us an opportunity to focus more, especially with our resources, on the biokinetics products that are much higher gross margins, which are in the, our software is in the 80%, 90% range. So that's another reason why you're seeing an increase in the gross margin. So overall, this is going to have a much, much better impact on our financials, and it's going to create a shorter pathway to getting to breakeven and profitability.

I see. Well, I think that's good news. Are you saying that these kind of gross margins you expect to continue?

Yes. And we've been exclusive of the write-down, especially over the last year, year and a half on the hardware, our gross margins have been in that range. They've been in the 70s. We've been holding in that range, and we expect that to absolutely continue.

Okay. Can you give some kind of number to how much hardware you sold in the third quarter?

Cece, I think you can.

We reduced the inventory by about $100,000 just last quarter. We expect at least double or a lot bigger based on the contract that we expect to come in this quarter.

Well, we've already sold some this quarter, and we have again. Yes, and I think I've spoken to this openly. We've been waiting on a very large order for a significant project, and it appears that that is going to happen this quarter. So we're thinking this is pretty positive for us. As you know, we've written down the entire inventory, and so it's all cash, and it all goes to the bottom line. It's a very, very positive impact on the financials.

Yeah. Absolutely. This is in Africa, is it?

You mean is the project in Africa?

Yeah. It's an international project.

So I think, yes, at least $2.4 million in the fourth quarter.

And you said that was mostly licensing. Right? I think you answered that question already.

Yeah. And it'll be, and some of this hardware as well, which again carries even a higher margin than the software.

I see. Yeah. Absolutely. Right. I mean, it's Yes. Yes.

Yeah.

How much in one-time financial costs are you gonna have in the fourth quarter? And will that be the end of it? Or are they done already? From the financings and

I'm not sure I understand that. I think what Cece was saying is SG&A expense, meaning legal and interest, that kind of thing. Is that what you're referencing?

No, I'm talking about I think you did a, you raised capital with a loan, and then you had to warrant. I'm just wondering if there's the one-time cost there that you'll be taking the fourth quarter.

We are always working on things, so I expect it to continue, but not at the rate it's been.

I'm saying that they're usually financing costs, right, associated with the warrants and the loans, and I'm just wondering what those costs are. Just find it. The one-time cost. For the financings.

Well, for the first three quarters, it's been close to probably $200,000 between auditors and legal folks.

Okay. Were there any costs to the I think you did the warrants in the fourth quarter in October, right? So are there any significant costs, financing costs for that warrant deal?

So we had some associated costs to that, of course. Yes.

Just trying to get a feel for how much? If you can.

Also, by the way, I think the warrant is due was done in the third quarter, if I'm not mistaken. Cece, wasn't that September?

Yes, it was.

That was the third quarter, Dan. So it's already disclosed in

Oh, okay. My mistake. Sorry. Yeah. Got it.

No. It's already disclosed. It's already there.

So then shouldn't be too much for the fourth quarter then.

Well, I think that's what Cece is intimating.

I see. I got it. Okay. Got it. This, okay. So you exited the civil service market. That's you're talking about the European operations. Right?

Yeah. When you say civil service, I didn't

No. No. No. I said services agreement. We had a service or support agreement with Swivel Secure Limited. And that agreement again was, we really put that in place to be able to support, have a little more control over support of the product. But, again, with the amount of resources that were required and the margins on the contract, it just didn't make any sense for us to continue.

Did that change your relationship with Swivel? Or I'm not quite sure. Is this BioKey personnel that were

No. No. I mean, we always had, remember, we have a reseller agreement. We had a reseller agreement in place with Swivel. Where the margins on what we sold out of that product in the European markets was 50%. Our own products obviously carry a higher gross margin. It was always our goal, right, over time, we negotiated that contract about two years ago. Ultimately morph those customers into the PortalGuard solution, which is a much higher margin product. And so this is kind of a, I'll call it the evolution of that business arrangement. And again, it just didn't make any sense anymore. For the thin margins to continue to operate with that agreement. Just pretty straightforward.

Alright. So your accounts receivable are at $1.9 million. I know that's pretty large. When do you expect to be able to collect those sums?

We've collected the majority of it. We just happen to ship a lot of things in September. So but most of it's been collected already.

In the fourth quarter?

Go ahead.

Okay. Good. Alright. Well, it sounds good, guys. Thank you.

You're welcome. Thanks, Dan.

At this time, showing no further questions. I'll ask Mike DePasquale for closing remarks.

Thank you, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to join our call today. Look for us at the Gartner IAM conference in December. And as always, we'll continue to update you via regular press releases. Feel free to reach out to our IR team whose contact information is listed in our press release if you have any questions regarding this call or any other items. Thank you very much, and have a great day and a great weekend.

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.