Icron Reports 2nd Quarter Results
BURNABY, B.C., August 9th, 2007 - Icron Technologies Corporation
(TSX Venture: IT), the developers of ExtremeUSB, today released
financial results for the second quarter ending June 30, 2007.
Highlights:
- Posted record Q2 2007 revenues of $2,179,357, representing
a 45.8% increase over Q2 2006;
- 2007 year-to-date revenues at record $4,218,233, representing
a 45.5% increase over the same six-month period in 2006;
- Recorded our third consecutive profit of $6,340 in Q2
2007 as compared to a loss of $39,747 in the same period
of 2006;
- Started shipments of WiRanger Cable Free USB 2.0 Hub;
- Gefen announces version of Cable Free USB based on Icron
design;
- Showcased the world’s first USB 2.0 over Power Line
solution using HD-PLC Technology from Panasonic at the Panasonic
booth at Computex in Taipei;
- Appointed Julian Elliott to the Board of Directors;
- The Corporation was named on to the PROFIT 100 list, which
ranks Canada's Fastest-Growing Companies by five-year revenue
growth.
Management's Comments:
“We are very pleased with the second quarter results,
as even with the 6.5% devaluation of the US dollar during
the quarter, which negatively impacted our top line revenue,
we experienced excellent revenue and volume growth while maintaining
profitability,” commented Robert Eisses, President &
CEO. “The continued strong growth of wired solutions
in our core markets of industrial, medical and enterprise
solutions accounted for bulk of this growth. Additionally
while initial shipments of the WiRanger’s toward the
end of the quarter made up a small amount of the growth, we
expect more substantial volumes for wireless coming in Q3
and growing through Q4 as more partners like Gefen continue
to pick up the product.”
Other activities of note in the quarter involved the demonstration
of a PC to TV Home connectivity solution with a Chinese partner
at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair in April, which is our first
real entry into the home connectivity space and is potentially
a very large market for Icron’s technology. Icron was
also invited by Panasonic to participate at Computex to show
a prototyped USB over power line solution using Panasonic’s
HD-PLC, which is also an exciting market opportunity as this
technology matures to higher data rates and lower costs of
implementation. Both these initiatives are focused on our
USB beyond the desktop concept for simplified home connectivity
solutions for the consumer markets.
As outlined in the previous quarter, the company has increased
R&D expenditures as it continues its focus on its cost
reduction program by evolving the ExtremeUSB platform to a
more extensible IP Core for its own ASIC and for other implementations.
The company expects to maintain this level of R&D spending
for the remainder of the year and anticipates seeing the real
benefit from this investment starting in 2008.
Financials:
Revenue amounted to $2,179,357 for the three months ended
June 30, 2007, compared to $1,494,896 in the same period of
2006, an increase of 45.8%. It should be highlighted that
the increase in the value of the Canadian dollar had a significant
impact in the Company’s revenue. Using the average exchange
rates from the first quarter of 2007 revenue for the quarter
would have been in excess of $2,300,000. USB 1.1 sales were
strong during the quarter as they increased 43.4%, to $1,453,298
from the $1,013,724 recorded in the second quarter of 2006.
This increase can be attributed to strong sales of the Company’s
Rover and Core product lines, which increased 103.5% and 64.7%
respectively. Sales of USB 2.0 products increased by 83.7%
to $557,615 from the $303,548 reported in the same period
of the prior year, due to the strong growth of four port and
Fiber based USB 2.0 extenders, which increased by 391.4% and
98.8% respectively.
Sales of the Company’s new wireless WiRanger product
totaled $70,297. Initial production delays at our overseas
manufactures postponed shipments until the later part of the
quarter. While the shipped volume was lower than expected
for Q2, we see good order flow and demand for such a new product
and have subsequently increased shipments already in Q3.
Gross margin amounted to $992,211 in the second quarter of
2007, compared to $707,779 in the same period of 2006. Our
gross margin percentage decreased to 45.5% for the three months
ended June 30, 2007, compared to 47.3% of revenue in the same
period of 2006. The decrease in overall margins is mainly
attributable to an increase in sales of Rover based products,
which are also currently being cost-reduced to provide better
margins. The benefits of these Rover cost reductions will
start to be seen in the third quarter.
Our net earnings amounted to $6,340 or $0.00 per share, in
the three months ended June 30, 2007, compared to a net loss
of $39,747, or $0.00, in the same period of 2006.
For complete financials please visit www.sedar.com.
or www.icron.com.
Conference Call / Web-cast: Thursday August 9th, 2007, 4:30
PM ET, 1:30 PM PST
Icron Technologies will host a conference call to discuss
the Company's year-end financial results on Thursday August
9th, 2007 at 4:30PM EST, 1:30PM PST. Participants are asked
to call either 1-800-591-7539 or 416-646-3096 (Toronto).
The conference will also be broadcast live over the Internet
and archived through the following link: http://www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/viewEvent.cgi?eventID=1970320
Click on this link or copy to your web browser to listen
online.
About Icron Technologies Corporation
Icron Technologies Corporation’s patented ExtremeUSB®
technology extends the range of USB in wired environments
and enables wireless USB over any RF technology. ExtremeUSB
is the only USB-IF compliant extension solution and is deployed
globally in a wide range of applications including: industrial
automation, medical device, aerospace, KVM and computer networking.
ExtremeUSB technology is available in a variety of formats
including technology licenses, OEM modules, developer kits,
as well as branded and private-label products.
Icron is a publicly traded corporation and trades under the
symbol "IT" on the TSX Venture Exchange. For more
information on the company and its products, please visit
www.icron.com.
Contact Information
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: Except for statements of historical
fact, all statements in this news release -- including, without
limitation, statements regarding financial estimates and future
plans and objectives of Icron -- are forward-looking statements
that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be
no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate;
actual results and future events could differ materially from
those anticipated in such statements.
|
