- Net sales in the period amounted to MSEK 135 (152) and net sales in the third quarter amounted to 36 (57) MSEK.
- The gross margin for the period was 70 % (66) and gross margin for the third quarter was 77% (62). The gross profit for the period was MSEK 95 (100) MSEK and gross profit in the third quarter was MSEK 28 (35) MSEK.
- Earnings before depreciations and amortizations (EBITDA) in the period was MSEK -1 (-22) and EBITDA for the third quarter was MSEK 1(3).
- The result after tax for the period was MSEK -243 (-63) including a goodwill write- down of 230 MSEK and result after tax for the third quarter was MSEK -234 (-28) including the goodwill write down.
- Earnings per share for the period 2011 was SEK -1,89 (-0.49) and earnings per share for the third quarter was SEK -1,79 (-0,22).
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The cash flow during the six month period was MSEK -50 (-17) and cash flow for the third quarter was -21 (-15)
Comments from the CEO
The end of the beginning
As the inventor of the digital pen technology Anoto has gone through an evolution over the last 10 years working with more than 300 partners trying out different business models and applications. It has been a learning curve for a small company to understand how to prioritize and focus its resources. Anoto started off as a technology licensing company working through partners who paid royalties to develop and sell products based upon our technology leaving little influence to Anoto over channel strategy or applications. In 2008 we decided to climb the value chain and acquired Hitachi Maxell’s hardware platform to be able to deliver digital pens directly to our partners. Since then we have developed a portfolio of digital pens and digital pen components.
The 3rd quarter marked several important milestones for Anoto.
We initiated the first product development program together with our joint venture partner Pen Generations in Korea. The first product, DP601, will primarily be used within classroom education and is planned for release early in 2012. We are excited about the opportunity to combine our core competence and R&D skills in Sweden with a strong business and product development culture within electronics in Korea.
In the 3rd quarter we also acquired 51% of Destiny Wireless in the UK to be able to offer a software platform for digital pens and a complete data capture solution for business. This is the first step in a strategy to invite Anoto software platform providers to consolidate their resources with Anoto, realize synergies in development, and to remove technical and commercial friction in the value chain in order to be able to offer better packaged mobile data capture solutions for end users so that they can improve productivity, save time and money. Destiny Wireless was consolidated in our revenues from September 1st and will bring to Anoto a strong sales team with a scalable Software As A Service mobile data capture platform. Destiny Wireless currently processes more than 500,000 business forms per month on behalf of their customers. In the third quarter they won a 500kGBP contract with Capita Business Services for the management of outstanding road tax in the UK to be rolled out during the next 12 months.
Our partner Kayentis delivered a solution to the French Socialist Party’s election that was held in the beginning of October. Digital pens were used in more than 9,000 different sites to report voting results and to collect information from voters. This was the first election in history when digital pens were used. Our technology offers electronic voting solutions two significant benefits; real time reporting with direct input of data and the increased security of being able to retain a paper copy of the original voting form.
In September Objectif Lune won a contract to deliver 1,500 pens and a solution to Lewis Group, a leading retailer in South Africa.
Another important milestone in the 3rd quarter was to reach our operating cost target of 30 million SEK per quarter. In the coming months we will work hard to improve quality of our supply chain and utilize resources in our partner community to remove technical friction in the market. We will focus resources in sales, support and marketing on mobile data capture solutions were we see an increasing interest and momentum, especially within large market verticals healthcare, education and field service.
Technology Licensing was below expectations in the 3rd quarter. However after a weak second quarter in 2011 one of our largest Technology Licensing partners ordered 5,000 pens that were shipped in the 3rd quarter and 10,000 pens that will be shipped in the 4th quarter.
TStudy is actively marketing their classroom solution to the education sector world-wide and is expected to scale up business with the new pen DP601 which will be ready for delivery in January 2012.
After the close of the 3rd quarter we signed an extended license agreement with Livescribe. This new agreement allows Livescribe to sell their innovative note-taking applications to businesses users in addition to consumers.
Our subsidiary C Technologies experiecned disappointing sales in the 2nd and 3rd quarter. However after the close of the 3rd quarter C Technologies received a 10 MSEK order for products to be delivered in Q1 and Q2of 2012.
During the 3rd quarter we decided to write off Goodwill of 230 MSEK. The Goodwill stems from 2001 when C Technologies acquired Ericsson’s minority shareholding in Anoto in exchange for shares. The impairment test has been performed in line with IAS36. The balance sheet now better reflects the current status of the business.
Outlook
We expect improved cash flow as a consequence of the cost reductions we have implemented and we expect to see sales increase in the next two quarters. This is supported by orders for delivery in the next nine months, and the new products we have coming to the market in early 2012 and the increased we are witnessing within Business Solutions. Anoto’s cash position will be sufficient to support our business in the next year.
Stein Revelsby, CEO Anoto Group
Anoto Group AB may be required to disclose the information provided herein pursuant to the Securities Markets Act. The information was submitted for publication at 08.45 on October 28, 2011.
For complete report, see attached document.
A video presentation of the Q3 report will be available on www.anoto.com.
For more information, please contact:
Stein Revelsby, CEO
Phone: +46 733 45 12 05
Dan Wahrenberg, CFO
Phone: +46 733 45 10 19
