Roger Almond
Analyst · Newland Capital. Please go ahead
Thanks Jeff. I will begin with a review of our fiscal fourth quarter and full year 2016 financial results and then conclude with a discussion of our fiscal 2017 guidance. Total net revenues for the fourth quarter were $19.1 million, representing a 24% year-over-year growth. Our revenue performance in the quarter was driven predominantly by strong growth in license fees related to our new NFS Ascent implementations. Total net revenues for fiscal year 2016 reached a record $64.6 million, up 26% from $51 million in the prior year, reflecting strong growth in license fees and service revenues. Total license fees for the fourth quarter were $4.2 million, compared with $1.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. Our strong performance in the quarter reflects increased license fees from our NFS Ascent implementation in the U.K., and the 12-country, $100 million Ascent contract. For the year, license fees were $8 million, up 26% from $6.3 million in the prior year, driven by our entire portfolio of solutions. Maintenance fees for the fourth quarter of 2016 were $3.8 million, up 13% from $3.4 million in the prior year period. Maintenance fees for the full fiscal year were $13.7 million, up 9% year-over-year, driven by the start of new maintenance agreements from customers who went live with our product during the latter part of fiscal year 2015 and into fiscal year 2016. Our services revenues were $11 million for the fourth quarter, up approximately 4% from $10.6 million in the prior year period. This was driven by new systems implementations, as well as existing client enhancements and change order requests. For the full year, services revenues increased 34% to $42.9 million, driven by NFS Ascent implementations, NFS implementations, as well as additional services provided to existing customers for customizations and enhancement requests. Moving forward, with implementation of new NFS Ascent projects, we continue to anticipate our services revenue to increase more compared to the license fees. Total cost of revenues were $8.8 million for the fourth quarter, a decrease of approximately 16% from the fourth quarter of 2015. The decline in cost of revenues was predominantly driven by lower depreciation and amortization expense, as some products became fully amortized as well as lower consulting costs. For fiscal year 2016, cost of revenues were $33.7 million or 52.3% of total net revenues, up slightly from $33.6 million or 64.8% of total net revenues in the prior year. Gross profit for the fourth quarter more than doubled to $10.3 million or 53.9% of total revenues from $5 million or 32.2% of net revenues in the prior year period. For the year, gross profit increased 76% to $30.8 million or 47.7% of total net revenues from $17.5 million or 34.2% of net revenues last year. Operating expenses for the fourth quarter were $7.3 million, an increase of 38% from $5.2 million in the same period last year, driven primarily by higher general and administrative expenses related to strategic hires and higher selling and marketing expenses. For the full fiscal year, total operating expenses were $24.5 million, up 8% from $22.6 million last year. The increase was due primarily to higher selling and marketing expenses related to increases in salaries and commissions, expanded business development programs to market and sell NFS Ascent globally, as well as higher G&A expenses, which were partially offset by lower depreciation and amortization expenses. GAAP net income attributable to NetSol for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2016 was $2.1 million or $0.19 per diluted share compared with a net loss of $707,000 or a loss of $0.07 per share in the prior year period. Net income for the full year was $3.4 million or $0.32 per diluted share compared with a net loss of $5.5 million or a loss of $0.57 per share in fiscal 2015. The increase in our revenues and operating income in fiscal 2016 were partially offset by higher losses from foreign currency exchange transactions, lower other income, and higher net interest expense. Moving to our non-GAAP metrics, adjusted EBITDA more than doubled year-over-year to $4.1 million for the fourth quarter or $0.38 per diluted share. For the full fiscal year 2016, our adjusted EBITDA was $10.1 million or $0.96 per diluted share. This compares to adjusted EBITDA of $3.3 million or $0.34 per share in fiscal year 2015. As we discussed in our earnings press release today, beginning with the fourth quarter, we have revised our calculation of adjusted EBITDA to exclude the portion of adjusted EBITDA that is attributable to our subsidiaries that have a minority interest. We believe this supplemental disclosure provides additional insights to measure the operational performance of our business. Please see the schedules contained in our earnings press release for our revised calculations of adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended June 30, 2015 and 2016. At June 30, 2016, cash and cash equivalents were approximately $11.6 million compared to $14.2 million at June 30, 2015. During the year, we purchased 1.374 million shares of NetSol PK common stock for approximately $767,000, resulting in an overall increase in our ownership to 67%. Turning now to our fiscal 2017 guidance. As discussed on today's call, we're optimistic about the year ahead, given the strength of our new business pipeline and multiple expansion opportunities. In fiscal 2017, we will continue to make investments in our solutions, our service delivery model, and in our people, in order to deliver even greater value to our customers. And we will continue to invest in our sales and marketing platforms to drive increased awareness and acceptance of our products. With respect to Britain's decision to move away from the European Union, the immediate impact on NetSol will be the recent decline in the British pound versus the U.S. dollar. While it is still too early to determine the longer term impacts of Brexit, we're carefully monitoring this situation and remain in constant contact with our customers and we will inform the market as the year progresses and we know more about the potential impacts of this development. For fiscal year 2017, we currently expect to generate net revenues of $73 million to $75 million, representing growth of 13% to 16% year-over-year and adjusted EBITDA of $13 million to $14 million, representing a growth of 28% to 38% year-over-year. With that, I will now turn the call back over to Najeeb for some closing remarks.