Steve Brown
Analyst · Benchmark. Your question please
Thank you Caren and good afternoon everyone. I’ll start the financial overview with a summary of top-line results and then provide more details by product end market. STAAR achieved record sales of $20.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2015, an increase of 26% over the $16.6 million of sales reported in the fourth quarter of 2014. In constant currency sales increased 27%, the total currency impact on sales from the strengthening U.S. dollar against the euro and the yen was approximately $900,000 in the quarter. For our ICL product line total sales were $14.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2015, increasing by 57% from the prior year period with units increasing 60%. Sales increased in each of our regional markets with strong unit growth in EMEA and Asia-Pacific. EMEA ICL sales were $4.9 million during the fourth quarter, an increase of 19% compared to the prior year period with unit growth of 16%. Sales in Germany more than doubled over the prior year period due to the conversion of the market former distributor to direct selling and units increased 21%. The conversion plus other price increase as beginning in the fourth quarter offset over 90% of the $780,000 impact on EMEA sales from the weakening of the euro against the U.S. dollar. In other key markets in EMEA unit sales were similarly strong with Spain up 32% and the Middle East up 22%. Asia-Pacific ICL sales were $8 million during the fourth quarter, an increase of 118% compared to the prior year period with unit growth at 118% as well. Korea ICL sales tripled over the prior year period when sales were impacted by negative LASIK media coverage and some orders were delayed from the fourth quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of 2015. Korea sales ended the year up 23% in revenue and units compared to 2014. China ICL sales nearly tripled as well in both revenue and units in the fourth quarter as market penetration of the CentraFLOW technology introduced in December 2014 continued. North America ICL sales were $1.3 million during the fourth quarter up 5% from the year period with unit growth down 4%. For our IOL product line, total IOL sales were $4.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2015 and down 11% from the prior year period with units down 14%. The decline was due to planned hold on sales in Germany due to distributor to direct conversion, a planned phase out of sales in China and continued softness in the United States and the impact of the weakness of the yen and euro against the U.S. dollar. However, unit sales grew 7% in Japan were we have over half of our IOL business and 21% in France, our third largest market. Turning discussion now to margins and the spending. Our gross margin improved 13.6 points to 70.3% compared to the prior year period of 56.7%. This improvement resulted from favorable geographic and product mix of 5.9 points, lower average unit costs of 2 points, higher average selling prices including the fourth quarter price increase and exclusive of the impact of the weaker euro on price of 1 point and lower other cost of sales of 6.6 points, primarily due to recording an inventory reserve last year for Toric ICL inventory that had been built up in Switzerland anticipation for a U.S. launch. The impact of the euro was unfavorable by 0.9 points. Fourth quarter operating expenses increased 12% to $14.7 million from $13.1 million in the prior year period due to increased expenses for quality system improvements of $600,000, increased selling cost in Germany of $500,000 as a result of the conversion to a direct sales force in that market and higher headcount cost of $500,000. General and administrative expenses was $4.9 million and $600,000 higher than the prior year due to bonuses and stock-based compensation, partially offset by lower recruiting and consulting costs. Marketing and selling expense was $5.9 million and $200,000 higher than the prior year, due to the cost of direct selling in Germany partially offset by optimization of North America’s selling and promotional costs. Research and development expense, which includes remediation and other FDA expenses was $4 million and approximately $700,000 higher in the prior year due to increased validation and project related spending partially offset by lower remediation expense. Remediation expense for the year was on budget. Turning our attention to the bottom-line the net loss for the fourth quarter of 2015 was $800,000 or $0.02 per share compared with the net loss of $2.5 million or $0.07 per share for the prior year period. The lower net loss in the fourth quarter 2015 versus the prior year period was primarily due to higher gross profit from sales volume and improved margins as discussed above and somewhat higher other income partially offset by higher operating expense and an increased tax provisions. On a non-GAAP basis, adjusted net income for the fourth quarter of 2015 was $537,000 or $0.01 per diluted share compared with an adjusted net loss of $1.2 million or $0.03 per share for the prior year period. These adjusted figures exclude non-recurring expenses such as FDA remediation, gains and losses on foreign currency transactions and stock-based compensation costs. The GAAP net loss for the full fiscal year of 2015 was $6.5 million or $0.17 per share compared to a net loss of $8.4 million or $0.22 per share for the prior year. On a non-GAAP basis, adjusted net income for the full year was $1.7 million or $0.04 per diluted share versus adjusted net income of $779,000 or $0.02 per diluted share for the prior year period. Now turning to the balance sheet, cash and cash equivalents at January 1, 2016 totaled $13.4 million compared to $16.1 million at the end of the third quarter of 2015 and $13 million at year end 2014. The company used $2.7 million in cash during the fourth quarter of 2015, which includes $1.8 million used in operating activities and $800,000 for purchases of property and equipment. The cash used in operating activities is attributable to an increase in accounts receivable of $2.9 million primarily due to December sales. I want to conclude with a few comments about 2016. As Caren said earlier, our goal is to increase ICL units by double digits and to expand our gross margins. Building on those remarks, we expect ICL unit growth to build sequentially through the year. We anticipate gross margin for full year 2016 to be higher than our fourth quarter 2015 exit by virtue of the positive mix shift we get from those higher margin ICL unit sales. Also as Caren described in her comments, 2016 will be another year of investment spending. We anticipate full year 2016 operating expense as a percentage of sales to be a little above the rate for full year 2015. Please be aware we only pay tax on our ex-U.S. business, which we estimate as 40% on ex-U.S. before tax profits. These profits are expected to be in the mid-single digits as a percentage of ex-U.S. sales. Finally, as discussed earlier in the call, STAAR filed an 8-K on February 18th regarding 25% change of control provision in our 2003 on Omnibus stock plan. As a result of the accelerated vesting of all unvested equity awards outstanding under the plan. We anticipate recording a non-cash expense of approximately $6.9 million in the first quarter of 2016. Had there been no accelerated vesting the company would have recognized approximately $3.7 million for stock-based compensation during fiscal year 2016. This concludes my comments. And with that we’re ready to take your questions. Operator, please open the line for questions.