BURLINGTON, Ontario, March 01, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Evertz Technologies Limited (TSX:ET), the leader in Software Defined Video Network (“SDVN”) technology, today reported its results for the third quarter ended January 31, 2018.

Third Quarter 2018 Highlights

• Third quarter revenue of $99.6 million, up 9% from the prior year
• US/Canada revenue up 23% to $69.7 million for the quarter
• Net earnings of $14.7 million for the quarter, inclusive of a foreign exchange (“FX”) loss of $3.8 million
• Fully diluted earnings per share of $0.19 for the quarter, up 46% from prior year

Revenue
For the quarter ended January 31, 2018, revenues were $99.6 million, up 9% or $8.5 million as compared to revenues of $91.1 million for the quarter ended January 31, 2017. For the quarter, revenues in the United States/Canada region were $69.7 million, up 23% or $12.9 million as compared to $56.8 million in the same quarter last year. The International region had revenues of $29.8 million, compared to $34.3 million in the same quarter last year.

Gross Margin
For the quarter ended January 31, 2018 gross margin was $56.0 million as compared to $51.1 million in the same quarter last year. Gross margin percentage was approximately 56.2% as compared to 56.1% in the quarter ended January 31, 2017.

Earnings
For the quarter ended January 31, 2018 net earnings were $14.7 million as compared to $9.7 million in the corresponding period last year.

For the quarter ended January 31, 2018, earnings per share on a fully-diluted basis were $0.19 as compared to $0.13 in the corresponding period last year.

Operating Expenses
For the quarter ended January 31, 2018 selling and administrative expenses were $15.8 million as compared to $15.5 million for the quarter ended January 31, 2017.

For the quarter ended January 31, 2018 gross research and development expenses were $20.3 million as compared to $18.5 million for the quarter ended January 31, 2017.

Liquidity and Capital Resources
The Company’s working capital as at January 31, 2018 was $277.6 million as compared to $264.6 million on April 30, 2017.

Cash and cash equivalents were $98.2 million as at January 31, 2018 as compared to $54.3 million on April 30, 2017.

Cash generated from operations was $50.7 million for the quarter ended January 31, 2018 as compared to $25.9 million for the quarter ended January 31, 2017. Before taking into account taxes and the changes in non-cash working capital and current taxes, the Company generated $12.9 million from operations for the quarter ended January 31, 2018 compared to $13.4 million for the same period last year.

For the quarter, the Company generated $2.6 million from investing activities which was principally driven by proceeds from disposal of property, plant and equipment of $6.1 million partially offset by the purchase in capital assets of $3.6 million.

For the quarter ended, the Company used cash in financing activities of $8.9 million which was principally a result of the payment of dividends of $13.8 million, partially offset by the issuance of Capital Stock pursuant to the Company’s Stock Option Plan of $4.9 million.

Shipments and Backlog
At the end of February 2018, purchase order backlog was in excess of $76 million and shipments during the month of February 2018 were $20 million.

Dividend Declared

Evertz Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend on March 1, 2018 of $0.18 per share.

The dividend is payable to shareholders of record on March 9, 2018 and will be paid on or about March 16, 2018.

Forward-Looking Statements

The report contains forward-looking statements reflecting Evertz’s objectives, estimates and expectations. Such forward looking statements use words such as “may”, “will”, “expect”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “plan”, “intend”, “project”, “continue” and other similar terminology of a forward-looking nature or negatives of those terms.

Although management of the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward‑looking statements are reasonable, all forward-looking statements address matters that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Accordingly, there are or will be a number of significant factors which could cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results to be materially different from any future results performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward‑looking statements.

Conference Call

The Company will hold a conference call with financial analysts to discuss the results on March 1, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. (EDT). Media and other interested parties are invited to join the conference call in listen‑only mode. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 647-794-1827 or toll‑free (North America) 1-888-297-0356, access code 2589625.

For those unable to listen to the live call, a rebroadcast will also be available until March 31, 2018. The rebroadcast can be accessed at 647-436-0148 or toll‑free 1-888-203-1112. The pass code for the rebroadcast is 2589625.

About Evertz

Evertz Technologies Limited (TSX:ET) designs, manufactures and markets video and audio infrastructure solutions for the television, telecommunications and new-media industries. The Company’s solutions are purchased by content creators, broadcasters, specialty channels and television service providers to support their increasingly complex multi-channel digital, and high and ultra-high definition television (“HDTV” and “UHD”) and next generation high bandwidth low latency IP network environments and by telecommunications and new-media companies. The Company’s products allow its customers to generate additional revenue while reducing costs through efficient signal routing, distribution, monitoring and management of content as well as the automation and orchestration of more streamlined and agile workflow processes on premise and in the “Cloud”.

For further information please contact:

Anthony Gridley
Chief Financial Officer

(905) 335‑7580
ir@evertz.com