Beth Jantzen
Analyst · Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead
Thank you, Clay. Good afternoon, everyone and thank you for joining us today. I will review our consolidated financial results for our 2019 fiscal fourth quarter, and then Dr. Hayward will summarize the company's achievements in the year and outline key initiatives for the company in fiscal 2020. Clay will then rejoin us to provide you with commentary on our IP portfolio. Jim will then conclude the call with some final remarks before opening the call to your questions. Starting with the statement of operations, total revenues for the period increased 40% to approximately $1.7 million from approximately $1.2 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 and decreased 19% compared to $2.1 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2019. Product revenues increased 109% to $1.3 million from $597,000 in the prior year, and increased 218% or approximately $858,000 from $393,000 in the third quarter of 2019. This year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter increases in product revenues were primarily attributable to an increase in revenues from shipment of DNA concentrate to protect the cotton supply chain. Fourth quarter service revenues decreased 29% to $423,000 from $598,000 for the same period in fiscal 2018, and decreased 75% from $1.7 million on a sequential basis. The sequential decrease in service revenue was primarily due to the recognition in the third quarter of fiscal '19 of $1 million of revenue under our now terminated cannabis licensing agreement. Cost of revenue as a percentage of product revenue in our fiscal fourth quarter of 2019 improved to 26% as compared to 42% for the year ago period and 69% on a sequential basis. The year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter decrease is due to product sales mix as Q4 product sales were primarily comprised of textile sales that are at a higher margin. Total operating expenses decreased 27% to $3.2 million in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2019 compared with $4.4 million for the same period in the prior fiscal year and was flat on a sequential basis. The decrease on a year-over-year basis is due to reduced payroll expenses of $231,000 as a result of a realignment of the sales force and reductions in overall headcount. The decrease was also related to a decrease in stock based compensation expense of $954,000. These decreases were partially offset by increases in legal and professional fees and R&D expenses. Our net loss for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 narrowed by 65% on a year-over-year basis to $1.2 million from $3.5 million, and by 17%, from $1.5 million for the fiscal third quarter of 2019. The improvement reflects both higher revenues and lower expenses. As a reminder, we implemented a 1-for-40 reverse stock split on November 1, 2019. As a result, all share and per share information contemplates the retroactive effect for the reverse stock split. Weighted average shares outstanding for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2018 are 1,062,896 [ph], and 752,802,000 [ph] respectively. Net loss per share for the fourth quarter of 2019 improved to $1.44 compared to a net loss per share of $4.62 per share for the same period in fiscal '18 for a 69% improvement, and a net loss per share of $1.60 to the third quarter of fiscal '19 for a 10% improvement. Excluding non-cash expenses, adjusted EBITDA decreased to a negative $1.6 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2019 as compared to a negative $2.2 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2018 and increased from a negative $1.2 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2019. Now turning to our balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents totaled approximately $559,000 at September 30, 2019. Subsequent to the quarter ended, we received approximately $12 million in gross proceeds through a follow on offering of stock and warrants. Under the public offering, we sold 2.285 million shares of common stock. Each share of common stock was sold together with one warrant to purchase one share of common stock at a combined offering price to the public of $5.25 per share and the accompanying warrant. On the liability side at September 30, we had 629,000 of deferred revenue. This deferred revenue balance is comprised primarily of milestones and/or phased payments under certain of our research and development pre-commercial projects that are being recognized to revenue over time on a cost-to-cost basis. Total debt comprised of our secured convertible notes was $1.5 million at quarter end. During the quarter, we converted an additional $2.2 million in notes to equity as part of our plan to regain compliance with the NASDAQ's listing requirements. This conversion was offset by additional convertible notes issued during July 2019, totaling $1.5 million. I will speak more on our compliance plan in a moment. Our average monthly cash burn rate for fiscal 2019 was $465,000 compared to 601,000 for fiscal '18, an improvement of 23%. The decrease in monthly burn rate for fiscal '19 is due to higher cash receipts and lower operating expenses, as well as the timing of certain payments. Including the net proceeds from our secondary offering, our cash position at November 30 was approximately $9.6 million. Before I turn the call over to Jim for his remarks, for the benefit of our shareholders, I would briefly like to recap the aggressive strategy we put in place to regain compliance with the NASDAQ's requirements for the continued listing of our common stock. As you are undoubtedly aware, our efforts proved fruitful, and we regained compliance with NASDAQ on November 25 for continued listing on the exchange. By way of background, we received formal notification for our non-compliance in January. Our two deficiencies were stockholders equity of $2.5 million at a minimum and $1 minimum bid price. Following the expiry of the first 180-day grace period afforded us under NASDAQ rules, we submitted a detailed compliance plan to the NASDAQ listing review panel on September 19. In that meeting, we had detailed that we had; first, converted $2.2 million of outstanding convertible notes into equity at $0.54 per share. That was at the time well above the market price of our stock. Management and insiders represented 72% of this amount. Second, we completed a private placement for $418,000 here as well, management and insiders represented 52% of the funds raised. And third, we filed an S1 registration statement to conduct an equity offering to raise new funds and enable us to meet the minimum stockholders' equity requirement. We were granted an extension by the panel until December 31, 2019. With all of our plans laid out, we moved into the execution phase of our plan. Reverse stock split approved by stockholders went into effect on November 1st. And after 10 trading days, with a minimum bid price above $1, we had cured the minimum bid price requirements. On November 12th, we closed in upsized $12 million offerings that cured the minimum stockholders equity requirements. And we announced that we have regained compliance on November 25th. That concludes my prepared remarks. Thank you for joining us today. And I would now like to turn it over to Jim for his comments.