Richard L. Soloway
Analyst · Singular Research
Thanks, Peter. Before we get into the details, I'd like to first acknowledge that today's Veterans Day and we appreciate and respect the service men and women of our country who protected and are protecting our country and people in their -- in our lives. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining NAPCO's quarterly conference call to discuss the financial results for the 3 months ending September 30, 2013. We delivered excellent results for our fiscal 2014 first quarter, a quarter which has historically been the slowest of our quarters due to seasonality. We generated our highest first quarter revenue level in 5 years with 13% growth year-over-year. In addition, this growth was broad-based with improvements coming from all 4 major business divisions: NAPCO Security & Fire, Alarm Lock Electronic Access Control Locking, Marks USA Architectural Locking and Hardware and Continental Enterprise-Class Access Control. We're pleased with the revenue growth we had, while down sequentially from our seasonally strongest fourth quarter which ended on June 30, as we said in the press release issued earlier today, it was our highest level in a Q1 in 5 years. We believe this momentum reflects the depth and breadth of our product lines and strong and accelerating demand for our newest products, including those which generate recurring monthly revenues. Developing these products has been a strategic focus for us over the last 18 months. Our efforts are gaining traction, and we expect that as recurring monthly revenues accelerate and become a larger part of our revenue stream, the seasonality of our quarterly results will mitigate over time. In addition to our positive result -- revenue results for the quarter, gross margin improved 200 basis points to 29.2% for the quarter from the same period a year ago. Our top line results contributed favorably to the bottom line demonstrating the strong business model we always speak to. This was due in part to our careful management of SG&A expenses, which were 27.7% of revenues compared to 29.8% of revenues in the year-ago period, and was also due in part to a decrease in interest expense which resulted from lower interest rate and lower debt levels. We generated our year-over-year quarterly net income of $123,000, a positive swing of more than $550,000 from the net loss of $434,000 in the year-ago period. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter increased by $640,000 to $725,000 from $85,000 in the year-ago quarter. Please see our press release issued earlier today to review the reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA financial metrics. These financial metrics demonstrate the traction of our comprehensive product line, and we're excited about our positioning as a technology leader with new products out in the marketplace. Our focus on diversifying our product line and developing sophisticated products that are scalable and interoperable to deliver one-stop shopping experience is resonating with our dealers and integrator network. Let me spend a moment speaking to one of our newer solutions of which I am especially proud, our StarLink product line. As a reminder, these are products which enables wireless monitoring of a security system. Many younger families do not have hardwire home phones. They are using their cell phones instead, and too often sophisticated criminals are cutting phone lines to test if a house has a monitored security system, or as a way to prevent the security system from alerting law enforcement. Our StarLink eliminates this vulnerability. StarLink recurring revenue for the quarter increased 110% as compared to last year and grew sequentially by 13%, as demand for this solution continues to accelerate. The launch of the next generation Starlink3, a 3G/4G Wireless Communicator has been enthusiastically embraced by our dealer integrated network. In fact, the newest StarLink product set a company record for initial subscription activations for a product in this class. The Starlink3 use a different carrier and type of communications technology, which provides wider range of coverage, so consumers can be assured of reliability in remote, distant or fringe areas. In addition, it has universal capability and will be upgradable to, and including as example 10G technology when these future telecommunications technologies become available. And as copper lines continue to disappear and younger homeowners choose not to have landlines, this wireless solution will become even more attractive. We know from talking to dealers and integrators that many of the cell towers were knocked out of service by Superstorm Sandy and then rather than reactivate the older 2G systems again, they waited for our 3G/4G wireless communications product to become available. Orders are again accelerating driving higher quarterly revenue levels and contributing to increases in our recurring revenues. We saw that in September -- in the September quarter and we're also seeing it early on here in the December quarter, our second fiscal quarter. Our new sophisticated technology does require additional training and we have expanded our free residential and commercial system training classes, on-site and online, to support our dealer and integrated network as they sell and deliver our systems. We are educating our dealers and integrators to tap into home automation demand because again, early adopters and younger people currently buying homes want connected homes that they can control on their smartphone or tablet. And because many of the cable companies and large security firms are heavily advertised in connected home options, we feel that all boats will rise on this momentum, and NAPCO can deliver the best prices and best technology for home automation in the marketplace. Our SaaS subscription-based product lines such as iBridge, Connected Home Services and iSee Video, Remote Video Services continued to build solidly. These products generate recurring monthly revenues, which ones -- which again will also smooth out some of the seasonality we see in our business. Sales from within our -- the Marks brand of door-locking products grew 23% compared to last year representing the fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth in this unit. Marks is really starting to come into its own as a division. It was geographically concentrated when we bought it, but we've integrated this division into our company, expanded its offerings and introduced it to our National Dealer network. Today, factors such as school security, the rebound in the construction industry and our anti-ligature product, which addresses managed liability and accidents, suicide prevention in behavioral health facilities and detention areas are driving significant national growth. In May, we announced the $1.7 million order to supply a major university campus with over 1,700 network wireless locks. This is the largest single order that our Continental Access Control division has been awarded for its Networx line. We shipped a significant portion of these best-in-class wireless technology devices during our fourth fiscal quarter and completed this order in the September quarter. In today's world, schools are currently going into lock down with alarmingly -- with alarming frequency. Unfortunately and tragically, school shootings are becoming all too common and as a result of the heightened security and increased sensitivity, other events such as bomb threats or suspicious packages are resulting in lockdown situations. As a result of this, school administrators and school boards are beginning to search for answers to threats and violence. They are looking for best practices regarding how to safeguard children, staff and workers. Unfortunately, there is no TSA-type agency for school safety that suggests best practices. We have heard from school boards, they don't know where to turn and are inundated with security options, which may not work effectively or are too expensive or don't address modern threats. They are looking for answers. NAPCO is taking an industry leadership role in communicating best practices. We don't offer solutions for every need, for example, we don't make bulletproof glass, so we are creating a program called Project LocDown, which will be an industry association that helps to identify best practices, including those offers as well as solutions from providers in adjacent product lines. This initiative will include solutions from all of our divisions for representation, and is our attempt to create what is essentially a vulnerability index of Access Control for K through 12 schools, universities, public facilities, where attacks by active shooters are a threat. We launched the School Access-Control Vulnerability Index, or S.A.V.I., an audit and dealer certification process to the industry and educational community. The program aims at an industry-wide initiative to help a school quantitatively measure its overall facility security level. This will help educational facilities identify and address vulnerability in access control points and will provide administrators an authoritative comprehensive recommendation for appropriate security systems. Our Marks USA LocDown intruder locks, Alarm Lock's network wireless locks and Continental Access Control card access systems and software, provide a unique end-to-end access control and lock-down solution to the education market, and we look forward to working with providers in adjacent product lines to advance this important and potentially life-saving initiative. During the quarter, we announced other situations in which our solutions are protecting people. Our Gemini security system is protecting the Comcast Theater in Hartford, Connecticut. This popular indoor-outdoor amphitheater has a venue capacity of 30,000 people. NAPCO's Gemini security system and Keypad are used daily to protect this entertainment venue, because of its ease-of-use, reliability and built-in business management features such as open-close reporting, time scheduled auto arming and maintenance-free operation. Notre Dame high in Sherman Oaks, California, alma mater to many celebrities, has used Alarm Lock Trilogy locks security and access control for over 7 years, and this has been so successful that Notre Dame's system now includes the next generation of Networx Trilogy Networx wireless models. Notre Dame is part of the company's growing list of educational institutions using advanced technology locks for their convenient ID card or pin code access control to doors inside and out. Of increasing importance today is that Alarm Lock can also offer classroom lockdown from portable key fobs up to 500 feet away to protect students, facilities and staff in an emergency or active shooter event. The new global functioning Networx locks models have capacity to lock down an entire school or campus from any one lock or from the school server in under 10 seconds. McCormick Place Chicago has been a NAPCO customer since 1996. The site, which boasts 2.5 million square feet of exhibition space, trade show and meeting facilities space, has recently upgraded its security system to NAPCO's Continental Access CA3000 enterprise software version 2.9. Our comprehensive robust scalable solution has been able to integrate more options into the McCormick Place well-equipped security operations, as their needs have changed and expanded. Our newest Continental Access 2.9 version software integrates with multiple video management systems, which eliminates having to run multiple programs and makes CardAccess 3000 a complete security solution. In addition, the software release supports Continental's new Accelaterm 8-16 door controllers, which control twice the number of doors completing full downloads of firmware and data in less than 5 minutes for tens of thousands of badges. This is a crucial feature as McCormick hosts nearly 3 million visitors per year. And finally, I want to mention that our net debt this quarter dropped to under $10 million. Debt is now lower than before we bought Marks. We reduced debt by $3.4 million during the quarter which we were able to do because of our strong cash flow. Throughout our history, we have used debt as a low cost way to acquire businesses, which were a good strategic fit for NAPCO to round out our product offering and grow our sales. Then we used the strong free cash flow from our businesses to reduce the debt. This model is on display as it relates to Marks, which we acquired in 2008 for $25 million. Today, Marks is playing a key role in growing our sales and expanding our free cash flow. We have done all this without diluting shareholders. Net cash increased 141% to $3.8 million, as compared to $1.6 million a year ago. I'd now like to turn the call over to Kevin to give us a brief overview of the financial details. Kevin?