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Research Frontiers Incorporated (REFR)

Q4 2014 Earnings Call· Thu, Mar 12, 2015

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Research Frontiers Investor Conference Call to discuss Results for 2014. [Operator Instructions] This conference is being recorded today. A replay of this conference call will be available starting at 12 PM on March 13, 2015 in the Investor Relations Section of Research Frontiers website at www.smartglass.com and will be available for replay for the next 90 days. Please note that some of the comments made today may contain forward-looking information. The words expect, anticipate, plans, forecasts and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions that are part of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements reflect the company's current beliefs and a number of important factors could cause actual results for future periods to differ materially from those expressed. Significant factors that could cause results to differ from those anticipated are described in our filings with the SEC. Research Frontiers undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect new events or uncertainties. The company will be answering many of the questions that were e-mailed to it prior to this conference call, either in the presentation or as a part of the Q&A session at the end. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Joseph Harary, President and Chief Executive Officer of Research Frontiers. Please go ahead, sir.

Joseph Harary

Analyst

Thanks Andrew, and good afternoon everyone, and thanks for participating in today's conference call. Joining me today is Seth Van Voorhees, is our CFO and also Head of the VariGuard Division. I think that the numbers are well explained in the 10-K and our cash position in our balance sheet excel. So I'll focus today in more detail on what's happening in each industry using our SPD-SmartGlass technology. Seth and I will answer questions either in the course of my presentation or afterwards when we'll have time for some Q&A. Our business strategy has been simple and straightforward from the beginning. SmartGlass whether it's our or others is a premium glass products that is in-turn used in a premium product such as high-end car, aircraft, yacht or home or office. We don't buy cheap materials in a premium product. We focus on quality and performance. We don't go to cheap [indiscernible], in a Rolls Royce or better sit in a Mercedes-Benz. Our approach is similar. We work with the best performing technology, we surround ourselves with the best companies to bring into the market and we show the world how smart their glass can be. And we recreate what is like to operate a smart window across its larger base of people as it’s practically possible. Let them feel control or feel the magic if you will. 2015 marked the year end the most number of people in history who will be able to operate first hand an SPD-Smart Window or in fact the Smart Window of any kinds. This started with tens of thousands of cars that are on the road today that have SPD-SmartGlass in the roof of their Mercedes vehicle. It started with Roadster and now has it has moved to Coupe and Sedan's making the number…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Greg Marsh of Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Greg Marsh

Analyst

As always you told very, very exciting story.

Joseph Harary

Analyst

Lot of exciting things to talk about this time as you could tell.

Greg Marsh

Analyst

Yes. I guess the concern that the shareholders have and myself as a long time shareholder and follower to stock is, we have piled up almost $100 million in losses so far. We have got $1.6 million of revenues last year over the last dozen or so years we have given lot of stock options and stock – officers and directors and the stock price is just languished in single-digit build having them as high as the thirty to one point many, many years ago. How much longer do shareholders have to wait to see a return on their investment and the story is always good, it is exciting, the technology, it is exciting, its got displays of it everywhere, it goes into buildings, planes, trains, automobiles but people want to know when can they expect to see their investment first recover to where they own it and ultimately have a profit, plus we really have one manufacturer of the SPD film in Hitachi if anything goes wrong there where are we?

Joseph Harary

Analyst

Those are excellent questions Greg, let me address both of them. First when will the stock move, we were in the 2013 during the dotcom era and it didn’t take much to move any stocks. I think correctly though, the market is waiting for one thing and one thing only. Revenues and profits from Research Frontiers and we have laid out I think a very clear rollout schedule for the markets that are getting – are going to get it there and I think you can probably sense from the greater level of specificity that we are able to give this year versus last year versus the year before about for example Mercedes plans or what is happening in the aircraft market and now you are seeing major architects basically take out a different technology and replace it with ours because of the performance. I think it is beginning to validate that we are very much on the right track here in terms of generating those sales. And you know this because you've seen SmartGlass, you have operated it, that is a key part and making people aware of what - how amazing this technology really is and how it is can best be used. The other question was about single source of film supply. We have several companies that are licensed to make film, so far the only company that has announced commercial production has been Hitachi that doesn’t necessarily mean that our other existing licensees are not actively pursuing this, and surprise it to say, I think you know me long enough to know, I am a very conservative guy, we definitely have backup plan. So all I can show them on an open conference call where competitors or even licensees might be listening we do have a plan for that but it is a good question.

Greg Marsh

Analyst

Part of what you - when you were talking about the World's Fair, some of the things that you mentioned describing the cost and the underwriting of that cost by companies which you think problem being that it’s too expensive architectural type of or just not practical from a financial standpoint, because of the architectural uses?

Joseph Harary

Analyst

It’s because the USA Pavilion is not funded by any government money the other 139 countries all get funding. So basically the mantra the USA pavilion, you got to be self-sufficient. They've raised money from some of these other companies and they’re paying us for the glass. We're also contributing by subsidizing a bit of it, but we’re getting paid up a substantial amount. Remember its 10,000 square feet of glass. This is bigger - this roof is bigger than a football field.

Greg Marsh

Analyst

I believe you talk about it going into a building like an office building, commercial building, wouldn’t that be tremendous amount of glass as well?

Joseph Harary

Analyst

Yes, but as you - I mean it’s a fairly well-known phenomenon that, as your production experience doubles your cost go down by about 20% so that's why almost every new technology. Consider the new technology, because remember the high-volume S-Class even hasn't come out yet. So we’re talking about based solely on the backs of the Roadsters and the Coupe and the Maybach which is not a very high volume car, you still have had fairly dramatic cost reductions in the cost of the technology. Now imagine what would happen when large volume variants of the S-Class come out when more planes come out with it, the standard equipment when the architectural market comes out with this, imagine what happens to cost. So this is a fairly typical path that almost every technology follows and we happened to be blessed and this was actually confirmed pleasantly by few of our competitors at the SmartGlass conference in Santa Clara both Sage and View said, we would kill to have the automotive market that standard sizes and high volumes like Research Frontiers' has would be amazing. So we're - I’d rather be meeting them let me put it that way.

Greg Marsh

Analyst

All right. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from Michael Kay from Kay Associates. Please go ahead.

Michael Kay

Analyst

It's tremendous that we're going to ask again to showcase as for these and along there. Is it correct - am I correct though so what you say that, there will not be any fee income related to the 10,000 square feet?

Joseph Harary

Analyst

I didn't say that. I don’t know if it’s going to be accretive, because remember it depends on what the licensees other sales are in the year when the payment is made so but yeah we’re getting paid.

Michael Kay

Analyst

That's good to hear but maybe you meant that the licensees are contributing free of charge to the Pavilion and is not funded by tax paid?

Joseph Harary

Analyst

I think if you listen to the replay, you’ll see that I said that USA Pavilion is making a fairly substantial payment for the glass. So we’re all doing our part to make that less of a payment for them, it's CREMA, Hitachi, Research Frontiers roles doing out bit here, but they’re also stepping up to the place, because they really wanted this. And they were very keen. They realized this was a order of magnitude as to put it as the architect did better than what they are considering. So we’re happy to be there, we’re happy to be in front of 25 million people. Lot more cost effective than the super ball ad and I’d like a super ball ad we could actually touch this operate it from a touch screen and really experience what it’s like. One other thing that's got amazing it what they’re doing is they're going to have some pre-program messages and things in the roof because as the architect put it, this is the largest video display in the entire Milan Expo, because if you think that this is a video display with 312 individually addressable pixels, you can do some really incredible stuff. So in addition to the normal light and heat control that the glass is providing in all sets of multi-media aspects as well, it could be very cool and I really invite anyone that can if you’re going to go to a World's Fair, go to this one, this is going to be really, really, really amazing and when I was on the job site last week walking around with the hard heart and work loads, you really get to see the enormity of this building that as Jim Biber said, it has to go up, it has to be able to accommodate 25 million people, it has to be taken down in six months. I mean just think of the engineering and the architectural challenges. And the other thing that I think is really nice is CREMA should get away from what it calls the closed box look of most World's Fair Pavilion. They are enclosed structures with a lot of video streams and you walk around a treadmill or a pathway and then you walkout similar to like, what Disney World is to be like, years and years ago in the 70s. You just try to get away from that and has a much more open environment and SmartGlass works perfectly for that because what better way this bring light and airiness into a space and to flip it switch or touch the touch screen and control your roof.

Michael Kay

Analyst

And will it be - reason about for a shareholders to assume that, it will be say third or fourth quarter of 2015, when we’ll see the results in terms of fee income as the consequence of the increased volume with the different place of Mercedes Benz and the wider roofs and everything and, you think excellent will show up in the accounting?

Joseph Harary

Analyst

If you make the assumption of S-Class high volume variant is coming out in the fourth quarter, you’d probably see the revenues from slightly come to us either in the beginning of the fourth quarter or somewhere in the third quarter. So you probably start to see the beginning of that and may be as soon as the third quarter but you never know.

Michael Kay

Analyst

Okay. Thanks so much Joe and continue success.

Joseph Harary

Analyst

Thanks a lot.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from [Kenneth Errol], Private Investor. Please go ahead.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Just a quick one, can you tell us is DuPont still a licensee and so would you define them as an active one?

Joseph Harary

Analyst

They are still a licensee and I don't view them as active right now. There are sponsors that exhibition, who knows.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Okay.

Joseph Harary

Analyst

Maybe I will take some ideas.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

That's it, thank you. Everything else keep doing, what you’re doing, you’re doing a great job, you and everybody else.

Joseph Harary

Analyst

Thanks a lot Ken, pleasure to have you with us. I'd like to make some closing remarks, I think that was the last question that I see in the queue.

Operator

Operator

That is correct, that was the last question. Yes sir.

Joseph Harary

Analyst

Okay, great. And if anyone finds that their questions haven't been answered to their satisfaction, just email us after the conference call and we'll do our best. So in closing I just want to say that, you put the switch or you touch your phone and as if by magic you control this into your glass. We all invested in Research Frontiers because we knew that this was special. We knew that there were large markets out there for a SmartGlass technology. We knew that this remarkable technology was beneficial to society and makes people safer, more comfortable and allows them to save energy. And we set out to make it work and then tell the world about it and we did. And we knew that the best way to experience is, was to see it and touch it. As recently as four short years ago, only a handful of people knew what this was or what it was like the press hit button and controllers into to their glass. As of last year, tens of thousands of people could enjoy this experience in their cost primarily but also in aircraft, boats, museums and in their homes and offices. And in 2015, a thousands times as many people, where tens of millions of people will have this opportunity. They will finally see what we all know, how smart their homes, offices and vehicles can be. I thank everyone for your support, your participation in our success, and in today’s conference call. Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

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