Coda Octopus Group Q1 2025 Earnings Report $6.24 +0.28 (+4.70%) As of 04:00 PM Eastern Earnings HistoryForecast Coda Octopus Group EPS ResultsActual EPS$0.08Consensus EPS $0.03Beat/MissBeat by +$0.05One Year Ago EPSN/ACoda Octopus Group Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$5.21 millionExpected Revenue$6.35 millionBeat/MissMissed by -$1.14 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/ACoda Octopus Group Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2025Date3/17/2025TimeBefore Market OpensConference Call DateMonday, March 17, 2025Conference Call Time10:00AM ETUpcoming EarningsCoda Octopus Group's Q2 2025 earnings is scheduled for Tuesday, June 10, 2025, with a conference call scheduled on Wednesday, June 11, 2025 at 10:00 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCODA ProfilePowered by Coda Octopus Group Q1 2025 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMarch 17, 2025 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 8 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good morning. Welcome to Koda Octopus Group's First Quarter Fiscal twenty twenty five Earnings Conference Call. My name is Sherry, and I will be your operator today. Before this call, Coda Octopus issued its financial results for the first quarter ended 01/31/2025, including a press release, a copy of which will be furnished in a report filed with the SEC and will be available in the Investor Relations section of the company's website. Joining us on today's call from Coda Octopus are its Chair and CEO, Ann Marie Gale its Interim CFO, Gale Jardine and its President of Technology, Blair Cunningham. Operator00:00:42Following their remarks, we will be opening the call for questions. Before we begin, Jeff Turner from our Relations team will make a brief introductory statement. Jeff, please proceed. Speaker 100:00:53Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Coder Octopus' first quarter fiscal twenty twenty five earnings conference call. Before management begins their formal remarks, we would like to remind everyone that some statements we're making today may be considered forward looking statements under securities law and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. As a result, we caution you that there are a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those described in the forward looking statements. For more detailed risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to our forward looking statements, please see the disclosures in our earnings release and public filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Speaker 100:01:46We disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update forward looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward looking statements are made, except as may be required by law. We refer you to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for detailed disclosures and descriptions of our business as well as uncertainties and other variable circumstances, including but not limited to risks and uncertainties identified in our Form 10 ks for the year ended 10/31/2024, and Forms 10 Q for the first quarter of our fiscal twenty twenty five year. You may get Coda Octopus Securities and Exchange Commission filings free by visiting the SEC website at www.sec.gov. I would also like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded and will be made available for replay via a link in the Investor Relations section of the Codor Octopus website. Now I will turn the call over to the company's Chair and CEO, Ann Marie Gale. Speaker 100:02:57Annemarie? Speaker 200:02:58Thanks, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our first quarter fiscal year twenty twenty five earnings call. Despite the challenging global policy environment, our revenue in the first quarter twenty twenty five increased by 16.8% and I believe that we've delivered a solid set of results including increasing our operating income, net income and earnings per share. I would like to now provide some of the key highlights relating to our financial results for the first quarter fiscal twenty twenty five. For those who are new to the Coda Oxford story, our business is made up of three discrete business operations: the marine technology business, the engineering businesses and our recently added acoustic sensors and material business units. Speaker 200:04:06Now turning to highlights relating to the Marine Technology business. This business sells its products and solutions worldwide. In the first quarter, we were confronted with significant headwinds internationally, which we believe is related to the uncertainty around the policies of the new U. S. Administration as it moves to rebalance its trade relations through the application of tariffs and rethink major policies such as energy transition and more broadly geopolitical alignment and its foreign policy. Speaker 200:04:49As part of this, the new administration has suspended offshore renewable permits and many leading U. S. Developers such as Shell, Orsted, BP and Total Energy have either reduced or halted their U. S. Offshore renewables programs. Speaker 200:05:11We believe that these factors have resulted in a weak demand for our solutions across all sectors, which caused a decrease in revenue from our marine technology business. Notwithstanding the change in The U. S. Policy on renewables, its new policy on prioritizing domestic energy production of oil and gas also favors our products and solutions. And we believe that this new policy will in the foreseeable future offset any reduction of revenue from U. Speaker 200:05:52S. Offshore renewables. Furthermore, a key part of our strategy as a group relies on defense spending. Although the policy of the new U. S. Speaker 200:06:06Administration is to reduce defense spending by 8% over a number of years, its foreign policy on defense has also seen Europe, including United Kingdom, committing to significantly increase spending on defense. For example, Germany is expecting to spend about $428,000,000,000 on defense over the coming years in addition to creating a special fund of $535,000,000,000 for infrastructure spending over the next ten years. The leaders of the European Union member states have also agreed to allow the member states to exceed the debt ceilings that are in place to allow these countries to borrow for defense investment. We therefore believe that despite the short term disruption caused by an uncertainty around critical policies relating to trade, defense spending and foreign policy, we believe that these changes will favor our business in the medium to long term. Now turning to highlights relating to the engineering business. Speaker 200:07:28In the first quarter, our engineering business revenue increased by 77%. This business unit is reliant on receiving funding on the defense programs and therefore it is likely to experience delays in receiving orders until there is more clarity on the new U. S. Administration's spending priorities. Now turning to highlights relating to the newly acquired business unit, Precision Acoustics Limited. Speaker 200:08:03In the first quarter, this newly added business unit contributed 25.2% to our consolidated revenue and 33.3 to our operating income. As we navigate the broader headwinds relating to the global policy environment, this new business, which is less reliant on defense spending, has added to our diversification and resilience of our revenue structure. Despite these broader headwinds, we continue to make it our priority to focus on sowing the seeds to grow our business and in the first quarter twenty twenty five, we continued to make progress around our growth pillars, Echoscope and David. Blair Cunningham, our President of Technology, who is the market maker for our technologies, will today be providing a broad overview of some of our activities under these programs during our first quarter. Blair will also be available to answer any questions you may have on our technologies, so please use the opportunity to raise such questions during the quick Q and A session if you have any. Speaker 200:09:26I will now turn the call over to Blair Cunningham, where he will give a short overview of our core technologies around which we are postulating our growth agenda. Speaker 300:09:38Thank you, Ann Marie, and good morning, everyone. I'll keep my remarks very concise on this call to allow for questions. As Ann Marie mentioned, due to uncertainty around critical policies such as trade and defense foreign policy, we saw reduced momentum on several of our defense programs. Notwithstanding, we continue to invest in the advancement of our growth pillars. We continue to believe that our most promising opportunities for growing our business are around our defined growth pillars, the Echoscope technology and the DAVID technology. Speaker 300:10:13We also believe the addition of Precision Acoustics positions us nicely to compete for larger defense contracts. For those who are new to the CodeOptiva story, our DADA technology is an advanced augmented reality display technology designed to enhance diverse safety, performance and situational awareness, especially in low visibility and technically challenging environments. It seamlessly integrates real time data, on demand information and EchoSote three d sonar imagery projecting these onto the diverse field of vision through the DAILED augmented reality head up display. Developed under a three year future naval capabilities contract with ONR and NAVSEA, this fully developed augmented reality system is commercially available. The David Tevered System is currently operational across nine naval commands within the U. Speaker 300:11:13S. Navy. The David untehered system presents the largest market opportunity for the technology. And as we have stated previously, this is going through adoption evaluation both by the U. S. Speaker 300:11:27Navy and a foreign Navy under the Dust Hardening Program. This variant employs the same augmented reality display technology, but is used by divers wearing dive masks, operating at shallower depths and not physically tethered to a surface mothership for air supply. These divers are typically military divers performing Special Forces operations. As I reported on our last earnings call, in our fiscal year twenty twenty four, we made significant progress under this program and delivered amongst other things our Gen four David head up display in fiscal year twenty twenty four. This next generation technology platform boasts a more compact design, a 200% increase in resolution and an expanded visual field of view. Speaker 300:12:20These enhancements significantly improve compatibility with specialized dive helmets and masks, unlocking new possibilities for previously underutilized markets. This accomplishment represents a major milestone in the success of the dust hardening program. In the first quarter, we also reached another pivotal milestone under the program, receiving our first order for approximately 800,000 for 16 dust systems. These systems, once delivered, will be integrated into the Mark 16 Underwater Breathing Apparatus, the UBA system for spec war and EOD applications, as well as for the pre adoption of the DUS systems within the untethered diving naval community. This program delivery will include several key enhancements, such as the tight integration of the March 16 UBA system, operations and status directly into the Gen four David head up display. Speaker 300:13:24Additionally, the supported dive masks for David will expand to include the Intraspiro AGA Mark 20 full face mask and the Kirby Marvin M48 Mod one half mask. I think this is a pivotal milestone for the adoption of the technology. Our Navy customers continue to emphasize the politicality of this technology for future operations and we believe this program will continue full steam ahead despite the uncertain policy environment. In the current quarter, we also started to work directly with the foreign navy who is participating in the dust hardening program and their divers were able to perform a full five day trial, which we believe was very successful and we received positive feedback. We continue to believe that the DUS system represents the largest addressable market for data technology. Speaker 300:14:20For example, the U. S. Navy with approximately 4,000 active divers, seventy five percent of these divers use full face mask untethered systems, which aligns with the DUS solution. Similarly, the majority of public safety and law enforcement divers in The U. S. Speaker 300:14:40And estimated 10,000 divers use the same full face mask dive systems. I want to wrap up my briefing on the DAFID technology by stating that I am truly excited by this technology. In the quarter, we made significant progress under the program and as I mentioned, received our first order for 16 untethered systems, which is pivotal for the broader adoption of the technology in the defense community. Turning to the Echoscope technology, another of our growth pillars. To remind those who are new to the company, our company is the home of the Echoscope, which is the world's first and highest resolution real time volumetric three d imaging sonar for underwater applications. Speaker 300:15:29This is a single sensor for multiple undersea applications. We are well established in the commercial offshore sector and our Ecoscoop solutions have revolutionized subsea operations and inspections for decades, delivering significant time savings, cost reductions and enhanced operational efficiency in the most challenging conditions. The ECOSOPE sonar is utilized globally across a wide range of applications in the commercial, offshore and subsea markets and continues delivering game changing economies of scale to customers. The breakwater market is a good example of where we have moved the market from placing only four blocks per day up to two sixty blocks. A significant percentage of our consolidated revenue quarter on quarter is from the commercial marine market. Speaker 300:16:25Due to the acquisition profile of the defense market, our growth strategy is therefore centered around increasing the number of defense programs into which our Echoscope technology is included. We hope by this strategy to receive multiple recurring sales under defense programs. The new generation of undersea vehicles is fueling growth for smart sensors like the Echoscope and we continue to work to increase the number of defense programs that our technology is written into. Although there is a shift in global policy on offshore renewables, our technologies are also crucial for oil and gas applications and more broadly underwater monitoring. A critical area currently is undersea cables monitoring, which the Echoscope, a technology widely used and adopted for real time three d monitoring, has a key role to play once the global stakeholders have agreed on a comprehensive approach to monitoring these underwater cables, which are the backbone of our nation's daily existence. Speaker 300:17:33We also believe that although The U. S. Budget for defense is reported to be subject to 8% cut, We believe that from the areas specified as the new administration's priorities, these favor our business. Moreover, with Europe's defense rearmament budget, we also believe that in the medium to long term, these present significant opportunities for our business. In this quarter, as part of the DAVID trials with the foreign navy, the Echoscope was part of these trials and we believe will be part of the navy's adoption plan. Speaker 300:18:10In summary, we continue to develop opportunities for our Echoscope technology within global defense programs, which have recurring long tail revenue associated with them. We believe we are making progress and that this is a key part of our strategy to grow the business. Finally, the acquisition of Precision Acoustics into our group also strengthens the group. And as we said in our last earnings call, the addition of their renowned acoustics expertise positions us to compete for larger defense contracts. We believe with the seismic shift in defense as a priority, with the European Union removing fiscal rules on defense spending and more budget becoming available in the short to medium term in Europe, this is a significant opportunity for our business. Speaker 300:19:02I will turn the call over to Ann Marie, and I will be available to take your questions during the Q and A session. Speaker 200:19:08Thank you, Blair. Let me now turn the call over to our interim CFO, Gail Jardine, to take you through our financials for the first quarter twenty twenty five before I provide my closing remarks. Gail? Speaker 400:19:25Thank you, Anne Marie, and good morning, everyone. Let me take you through our first quarter fiscal twenty twenty five financial results. All figures are in U. S. Dollars. Speaker 400:19:37Starting with revenue. In the first quarter of twenty twenty five, we recorded total revenue of $5,200,000 compared to $4,500,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four, an increase of 16.8%. The marine technology business or products business generated revenue of $2,300,000 compared to $3,500,000 representing a 35.8% decrease over the first quarter of twenty twenty four. Our Acoustic Sensors and Materials business, which was added to our group in October 2024, recorded revenue of $1,300,000 Our Marine Engineering business or Services business generated revenue of $1,600,000 compared to $900,000 representing a 7.6% increase over the first quarter of twenty twenty four. As discussed earlier, our total consolidated revenue increased in the first quarter by 16.8%. Speaker 400:20:40The increase is due to the addition of our Acoustics, Sensors and Materials business in our revenue mix. As Anne Marie mentioned in our previous earnings call, we were anticipating a weak quarter for our core business, the Marine Technology business, where we saw reduced demand, which we believe is due to the uncertain global policy environment. Moving on to gross profit and margin. In the first quarter of twenty twenty five, we generated gross profit of of $3,400,000 compared to $3,100,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four. Consolidated gross margin was 65.8% versus 69.2% in the first quarter of last year. Speaker 400:21:23In our Marine Technology business, gross margin increased to 73.1% in the first quarter of twenty twenty five compared to 72.5% in 2024, reflecting changes in the mix of sales and a reduction in commission costs in the period. The Acoustic Sensors and Materials business realized gross margin of 61.7% and we expect on an annualized basis this to be between 5761% depending on the mix of sales. Our marine engineering business gross margin increased to 58.9 in the first quarter of twenty twenty five versus 56.4% in the first quarter of twenty twenty four, again reflecting the mix of engineering projects during the first quarter of this year. Now moving on to operating expenses. Total operating expenses for the first quarter of twenty twenty five increased to CAD2.8 million compared to $2,500,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four. Speaker 400:22:25And this is largely due to the addition of the new business unit into the group, which added 13.5% to our operating costs. We expect to remain at this level on an annualized basis. Included in operating expenses are selling, general and administrative costs in the first quarter of twenty twenty five totaled $2,200,000 an increase of 8.7% from $2,000,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four, again reflecting the addition of the new business unit into the group. As a percentage of revenue, our selling, general and administrative costs for the first quarter of twenty twenty five were 42.7%, reducing from 45.8% in the first quarter of twenty twenty four. Operating income in the first quarter of twenty twenty five was CAD 700,000.0 compared to CAD 600,000.0 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four, an increase of 19.2%. Speaker 400:23:24Operating margin was 12.7 compared to 12.4% in the first quarter of twenty twenty four, which we attribute to the increase in revenue resulting primarily from the addition of the new business unit. Income before taxes in the first quarter of twenty twenty five was $930,000 compared to $800,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four. Net income after taxes in the first quarter of twenty twenty five was CAD0.91 million or CAD0.08 per diluted share compared to CAD0.6 million or CAD0.06 per diluted share in the first quarter of twenty twenty four. Moving now to our balance sheet. As of 01/31/2025, we had $22,540,000 in cash and cash equivalents on hand and no debt. Speaker 400:24:13This represents an increase of CAD 60,000.00 from 10/31/2024, with a comparable figure of CAD 22,480,000.00. Finally, to summarize the financial impact in the current quarter of the introduction of our new Acoustics Sensors and Materials business, it contributed 25.2% of group revenue. Gross margin was $800,000 margin of 61.7% and on a standalone basis, it generated operating income of $500,000 and net income of $600,000 That completes my financial summary. So let me turn the call back over to Anne Marie for her closing remarks. Speaker 200:24:58Thank you, Gail. I first want to touch on tariffs. As of today, we are not directly impacted by tariffs. However, to the extent that these may result in a weakening of the global economy, we may be affected. Furthermore, some of our products are manufactured in The United Kingdom and should the new administration change its policy vis a vis The United Kingdom, if our products are within the items that are subject to tariffs and these are imported into The U. Speaker 200:25:35S, we would be impacted. However, as I said, we are not directly impacted at this moment in time. Despite the challenges we're seeing in the global economy, I am very pleased with our first quarter twenty twenty five results. We continue to work to create stable long term shareholder value and execute against our strategy to increase the number of defense programs that our technologies are embedded in with the goal of securing recurring sales of multiple units under these programs. We believe that many of the new global policies favor our business such as increased defense spending in Europe. Speaker 200:26:30We are also very pleased with reaching another pivotal milestone milestone under the David on TevaT System hardening program where we have received our first order for $800,000 for 16 David on Tebbit Systems. We will also continue to prosecute our M and A strategy and in fiscal year twenty twenty five subject to the satisfactory completion of due diligence and the settling of the global policy environment, we anticipate completing another acquisition into the group. Through our strategy, we aim to pivot the revenue model of the marine technology business to a multi year, multi sales model as we have started to see with the David products line. To conclude, we would like to thank our shareholders for their continued support. We are now happy to answer any questions. Speaker 200:27:42Operator? Operator00:27:44Thank you. Our first question is from Brian Kinstlinger with Alliance Global Partners. Please proceed. Speaker 500:28:13Great. Thanks so much for taking my questions. My first question is what do you think Anne Marie needs to happen from a macro or micro point of view for investors to reasonably expect the marine products to materially recover from the first quarter results? Or should we expect demand could remain depressed for a few quarters until there's more global certainty? Speaker 200:28:37Thank you, Brian, for that. So what we are seeing in we've got a good pipeline of opportunities, but what we are really seeing is that customers are on standstill. And I think that's generally the principle of standing still until I know what's going to happen. So I think I would anticipate that Q2 will be quiet for business just because I think until the policy environment is a little bit more settled, customers are holding out. So but I think based on what I see in the pipeline, I think that our revenues will be back ended this year. Speaker 200:29:26So I think we should see a robust Q3 and Q4 and a softer Q2. Speaker 500:29:36Okay. By the way, that was in regards to Marine Products, is that right? I mean, obviously, we also talked about defense engineering business until the budgets are more mature they get past the budget cycle, that's the unknown there as well. Speaker 200:29:53That's correct. Yes, that is overall, I would expect that we'll have a softer Q2, but a more robust Q3 and Q4. Speaker 500:30:07Yes. It's great to see the 16 unit $800,000 order and then there was also the dust hardening program, I think you said was completed. Can you help frame for investors a timeline going forward for tethered and untethered markets, especially as it relates to revenue or maybe share some targets for the short and medium term? Speaker 200:30:31So I think Blair will talk a little bit more about that. But just to say that let's see, David, tethered system is, as you know, operational. So I think if last year in terms of David, we did around $1,500,000 in revenues. This year, we're targeting $4,500,000 in revenues for DAVID. So a huge jump in DAVID revenues. Speaker 200:31:03So I would expect and what I'm excited about on the David revenue side on the operate the Cabot systems that we have that are operational, we're seeing new commands putting in for acquisition budgets and therefore the product is moving forward. The biggest barrier to adoption at scale is really when the technology falls into disuse. But what we're really seeing is an expanding footprint for the Tebbit system. And as I said, last year, we did 1,500,000.0 in David sales. This year, we're targeting and feel pretty good about $4,000,000 4 million dollars to $4,500,000 for David sales. Speaker 200:31:48And a large part of that will be made up of the TevaD system, for example. And just to talk a little bit more about that also, Brian, what I'm excited about is we're seeing consistently pull through sales for the Echoscope. When so when we get a requisition for David, we're seeing automatically a bundle of Echoscope sales. So that's the sort of programs we've been targeting and I feel we're seeing that now maturing. So for this year then, as I said, we expect to see for the David system, for the tethered variant, we expect to see new orders for new commands. Speaker 200:32:30For the untethered system where we've just received 800,000 for 16 systems, that's a pre adoption that is really crucial for the full scale adoption. So I think really these systems will be which has 200% more resolution and a smaller form factor, which means for us it opens the technology significantly. And on the back of that excitement with the user community, we've seen the first orders for the 16 systems free adoption. And I think in terms of Blair, can you talk a little bit about the roadmap for broader adoption following the delivery of the 16 systems? Speaker 300:33:36The 16 systems, yes. Thank you, Anne Marie. Yes, so thank you, Brian, for the question. And yes, I think as Anne Marie pointed out, it was disappointing for us internally to not see more of the momentum continuing on the programs financially, I should say. It's certainly not for demand from the operational context. Speaker 300:33:56I should absolutely point that out. So as Ami mentioned, the UBA or the untethered variant of David, it's very closely aligned to the tethered system, but that taking on with the EOD and the special warfare community, that's a whole new group of users who are work in close ally with the tethered divers, but are themselves a separate unit. So the tethered system, as Amari pointed out, is already operationally fielded, but there's been demand from the fleet for more systems, upgrades to systems, etcetera. And critically, I think of all of the core teams, they're now either all using Echoscope as part of their day to day operations or have requested Echoscope as part of the day to day operation. So this feels like we're settling into the new norm there. Speaker 300:34:47In addition, that's within The U. S. Context, but within the foreign navies, that's been a significant advancement, I would say, in Q1 for sure for us and the engagement with the foreign navies and several foreign navies and they themselves are now looking at their investment plans as we move forward. So I think as Amari said, we feel very comfortable with the growth level that we've set and there's certainly operational demand within the community. The untethered system that we delivered hopefully going through kind of Q2, Q3, that will be a complete product in its own right. Speaker 300:35:29So that will have the legs to be able to take into other operational use cases. And also as Anne Marie mentioned, this is really not quite a pilot program, but this is basically like a pre fleet deployment, but it's a large scale investment. The prior investment we had on the dust hardening program was for eight systems split between The U. S. And the foreign Navy. Speaker 300:35:50This is now a further 16 systems, but specifically targeted for the EOD and the SEC WAR community. Speaker 500:35:58And just one follow-up on that $4,500,000 is that largely U. S. And U. S. Navy or maybe is there a big component outside of The U. Speaker 500:36:08S? Speaker 200:36:10No, it is within The U. S. And so 20% of that number is foreign and the remainder in The U. S. Speaker 500:36:21Great. And then, I guess I'm wondering if the market conditions and uncertainty impacts demand at acoustic solutions if in any way? Speaker 200:36:35Well, it's very difficult to I mean, the most we can go by is the pipeline and level of inquiries that we see. I think it's not immune to what's going on. But look, their sensors are used, for example, I mean, to for ultrasounds for pregnant women. So I think that women will continue to be pregnant and continue to need their ultrasounds and their measurements to be done. So not to be trite, but I think that that market like the medical sector is less exposed than the other sectors that we work in. Speaker 200:37:16So we're not seeing any kind of slowdown for precision acoustics. That feels very stable at the moment. So I feel that will also operate as some diversification of our revenues in the short run. Speaker 500:37:35Great. My last question is related to M and A. You commented at the Anne Anne Marie about a potential target that you've been, I assume, in discussions with the negotiations with. Has there anything changed again based on global uncertainty, whether it's pricing, their fundamentals? I guess I'm just wondering again how that might be impacted? Speaker 200:37:59No, it's not impacted, but I think it is wise for everyone to wait until the policy environment settles. So I mean, one cannot pivot in a direction of unknowns. So I think for as a significant investment for our business, we've deliberately slowed down the acquisition only to see where the global policy environment, which direction of travel that is going. So at the moment, we're still working on this. We're still very excited and we still see it as an opportunity. Speaker 200:38:38But as I said, I definitely think we want to just understand the global policy environment a little bit more before closing the transaction. Speaker 500:38:49Great. Thank you. Speaker 200:38:51Thank you, Brian. Thank you. Operator00:39:00Our next question is from John Deysher with Pinnacle Value Fund. Please proceed. Speaker 600:39:06Hi, good morning. Just to follow-up on the acquisition possibility. You mentioned, I think that you were doing due diligence. Do you have a definitive agreement and you're doing further due diligence or you're doing due diligence in anticipation of a possible definitive agreement? Speaker 200:39:30The latter. Speaker 600:39:32Okay. So you're doing okay, good. And that's one target. Are there other targets that you're working on? Speaker 200:39:41Well, for this year within our pipeline, we're focused on one target this year. We are very, very much in close contact with the sellers of that business and we have a good relationship. I think it's not going away, But as I said and we're still doing low level work short of signing any agreement at this point. We just need to understand a bit more the global policy environment before we move forward. Okay. Speaker 600:40:14That makes sense. Is it related to any of the businesses you already own? Or would it be a new business like the acoustics business? Speaker 200:40:22It's a new business, but also plays very well into the defense space also. So I mean, our vision is to grow the business to become, if you like, a mid tier defense contractor, where we are offering we have bigger defense contracts that we can respond to. I think that the skills and expertise that we would have as a group would really make us a formidable supplier into that market. Speaker 600:41:01Okay, good. That's exciting. When will you know whether it's go or no go for this possible transaction? A couple of months, six months? What do you think is the timing there? Speaker 200:41:16Well, it's a global policy environment. I or until that's settled, we're not going to really move forward. So I think we need to see the market settling a little bit more, clear policies, are these tariffs going to stick? There are lots and lots that we need to sort of unpack to make this decision for our business. So until that happens, that's the precursor to moving forward with the transaction. Speaker 200:41:49In the meantime, the business, the target is doing very well. So we're keeping very close, if you like, relationship with the targets at the moment. But I think it is wise and prudent that we understand the environment that we're working with before closing such a significant transaction for a group. Speaker 600:42:10Okay. We agree. Thank you very much. Speaker 200:42:14Thank you. Operator00:42:23Our next question is from William Bremer with Vanquish Capital Partners. Please proceed. Speaker 700:42:30Good morning, Anne Marie. Speaker 200:42:33Good morning, Bill. Speaker 700:42:35Hey, congratulations on the untended order. Sizable 800,016 being deployed. I'm just curious if this occurred during the quarter, it seems that it's quite material, either on product development, something that we've been waiting for on tethered for quite some time, as well as dollar amount. I mean, it equates quick math, over 15% of the quarterly revenue. I'm just curious why a press release wasn't released during the quarter on such a material event? Speaker 200:43:17Well, you are assuming, Bill, that we received this very early in the quarter. In fact, we received this very, very late in our quarter. So we knew we were doing this call, so it seemed appropriate at this. I mean, I think we received this order a week ago or so. And there are certain protocols we have to follow before we release a press, make a press release. Speaker 200:43:42So we knew this call was coming up, so it would make sense then we report it at this point. And in fact, most times we're not allowed to release, make announcements because we've got to get the customer's approval. So this is also a problem for our business because of the sensitivity. So we, for example, can't give you the customer's name. Speaker 700:44:09I understand. Okay. Thank you very much. Speaker 500:44:12You're Speaker 200:44:16welcome. Operator00:44:16At this time, there are no further questions. This will conclude our question and answer session. I would like to turn the call back over to Ann Marie Gao for closing remarks. Speaker 200:44:28Thank you, operator. Thank you for your continued interest in CODA OxPres and thank you for attending this call today. Have a great day. Thank you. Operator00:44:40Thank you. This will conclude today's conference of Coda Octopus. You may disconnect at this time.Read moreRemove AdsPowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallCoda Octopus Group Q1 202500:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xRemove Ads Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) Coda Octopus Group Earnings HeadlinesWhy Coda Octopus Group (CODA) Declined Last Week?April 1, 2025 | msn.comCoda Octopus reports $1.3M engineering services orderMarch 26, 2025 | markets.businessinsider.com[Action Required] Claim Your FREE IRS Loophole GuideThis shouldn't surprise anyone who's been paying attention, but... Pres. Trump may be about to unleash the biggest "dollar reset" since 1971.April 9, 2025 | Colonial Metals (Ad)Coda Octopus Group Reports $1.3m Engineering Services OrderMarch 26, 2025 | globenewswire.comThe Consensus EPS Estimates For Coda Octopus Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CODA) Just Fell A LotMarch 23, 2025 | finance.yahoo.comWhy Coda Octopus Group (CODA) Is Declining This Week?March 18, 2025 | msn.comSee More Coda Octopus Group Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Coda Octopus Group? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Coda Octopus Group and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Coda Octopus GroupCoda Octopus Group (NASDAQ:CODA), together with its subsidiaries, develops, sells, and rentals underwater technologies and equipment for real time 3D imaging, mapping, defense, and survey applications in the Americas, Europe, Australia, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The company operates through two segments, Marine Engineering Business and Marine Technology Business. The company's solutions include geophysical systems; GNSS-aided navigation systems (attitude and positioning systems); real time volumetric imaging sonar products; and diver augmented vision display systems. It also offers GeoSurvey, a software and hardware package for acquisition and processing of sidescan sonar and sub-bottom profiler data in oil and gas companies; DA4G, a geophysical hardware; and Survey Engine, a software product that provides post-processing solutions for sidescan sonar and sub-bottom profiler data. In addition, the company offers 3D/4D/5D/6D imaging sonar technology under the Echoscope and Echoscope PIPE name; diving technology under the CodaOctopus DAVD; and operates as a sub-contractor for defense contractors, as well as supplies sub-assemblies for broader mission critical defense systems. It markets and sells its technology solutions for the subsea and underwater markets. Coda Octopus Group, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.View Coda Octopus Group ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles Lamb Weston Stock Rises, Earnings Provide Calm Amidst ChaosIntuitive Machines Gains After Earnings Beat, NASA Missions AheadCintas Delivers Earnings Beat, Signals More Growth AheadNike Stock Dips on Earnings: Analysts Weigh in on What’s NextAfter Massive Post Earnings Fall, Does Hope Remain for MongoDB?Semtech Rallies on Earnings Beat—Is There More Upside?These 3 Q1 Earnings Winners Will Go Higher Upcoming Earnings Bank of New York Mellon (4/11/2025)BlackRock (4/11/2025)JPMorgan Chase & Co. (4/11/2025)Progressive (4/11/2025)Wells Fargo & Company (4/11/2025)The Goldman Sachs Group (4/14/2025)Interactive Brokers Group (4/15/2025)Bank of America (4/15/2025)Citigroup (4/15/2025)Johnson & Johnson (4/15/2025) Get 30 Days of MarketBeat All Access for Free Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools. Start Your 30-Day Trial MarketBeat All Access Features Best-in-Class Portfolio Monitoring Get personalized stock ideas. Compare portfolio to indices. Check stock news, ratings, SEC filings, and more. Stock Ideas and Recommendations See daily stock ideas from top analysts. Receive short-term trading ideas from MarketBeat. Identify trending stocks on social media. Advanced Stock Screeners and Research Tools Use our seven stock screeners to find suitable stocks. Stay informed with MarketBeat's real-time news. Export data to Excel for personal analysis. Sign in to your free account to enjoy these benefits In-depth profiles and analysis for 20,000 public companies. Real-time analyst ratings, insider transactions, earnings data, and more. Our daily ratings and market update email newsletter. Sign in to your free account to enjoy all that MarketBeat has to offer. Sign In Create Account Your Email Address: Email Address Required Your Password: Password Required Log In or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google Forgot your password? Your Email Address: Please enter your email address. Please enter a valid email address Choose a Password: Please enter your password. Your password must be at least 8 characters long and contain at least 1 number, 1 letter, and 1 special character. Create My Account (Free) or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google By creating a free account, you agree to our terms of service. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
There are 8 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good morning. Welcome to Koda Octopus Group's First Quarter Fiscal twenty twenty five Earnings Conference Call. My name is Sherry, and I will be your operator today. Before this call, Coda Octopus issued its financial results for the first quarter ended 01/31/2025, including a press release, a copy of which will be furnished in a report filed with the SEC and will be available in the Investor Relations section of the company's website. Joining us on today's call from Coda Octopus are its Chair and CEO, Ann Marie Gale its Interim CFO, Gale Jardine and its President of Technology, Blair Cunningham. Operator00:00:42Following their remarks, we will be opening the call for questions. Before we begin, Jeff Turner from our Relations team will make a brief introductory statement. Jeff, please proceed. Speaker 100:00:53Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Coder Octopus' first quarter fiscal twenty twenty five earnings conference call. Before management begins their formal remarks, we would like to remind everyone that some statements we're making today may be considered forward looking statements under securities law and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. As a result, we caution you that there are a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those described in the forward looking statements. For more detailed risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to our forward looking statements, please see the disclosures in our earnings release and public filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Speaker 100:01:46We disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update forward looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward looking statements are made, except as may be required by law. We refer you to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for detailed disclosures and descriptions of our business as well as uncertainties and other variable circumstances, including but not limited to risks and uncertainties identified in our Form 10 ks for the year ended 10/31/2024, and Forms 10 Q for the first quarter of our fiscal twenty twenty five year. You may get Coda Octopus Securities and Exchange Commission filings free by visiting the SEC website at www.sec.gov. I would also like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded and will be made available for replay via a link in the Investor Relations section of the Codor Octopus website. Now I will turn the call over to the company's Chair and CEO, Ann Marie Gale. Speaker 100:02:57Annemarie? Speaker 200:02:58Thanks, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our first quarter fiscal year twenty twenty five earnings call. Despite the challenging global policy environment, our revenue in the first quarter twenty twenty five increased by 16.8% and I believe that we've delivered a solid set of results including increasing our operating income, net income and earnings per share. I would like to now provide some of the key highlights relating to our financial results for the first quarter fiscal twenty twenty five. For those who are new to the Coda Oxford story, our business is made up of three discrete business operations: the marine technology business, the engineering businesses and our recently added acoustic sensors and material business units. Speaker 200:04:06Now turning to highlights relating to the Marine Technology business. This business sells its products and solutions worldwide. In the first quarter, we were confronted with significant headwinds internationally, which we believe is related to the uncertainty around the policies of the new U. S. Administration as it moves to rebalance its trade relations through the application of tariffs and rethink major policies such as energy transition and more broadly geopolitical alignment and its foreign policy. Speaker 200:04:49As part of this, the new administration has suspended offshore renewable permits and many leading U. S. Developers such as Shell, Orsted, BP and Total Energy have either reduced or halted their U. S. Offshore renewables programs. Speaker 200:05:11We believe that these factors have resulted in a weak demand for our solutions across all sectors, which caused a decrease in revenue from our marine technology business. Notwithstanding the change in The U. S. Policy on renewables, its new policy on prioritizing domestic energy production of oil and gas also favors our products and solutions. And we believe that this new policy will in the foreseeable future offset any reduction of revenue from U. Speaker 200:05:52S. Offshore renewables. Furthermore, a key part of our strategy as a group relies on defense spending. Although the policy of the new U. S. Speaker 200:06:06Administration is to reduce defense spending by 8% over a number of years, its foreign policy on defense has also seen Europe, including United Kingdom, committing to significantly increase spending on defense. For example, Germany is expecting to spend about $428,000,000,000 on defense over the coming years in addition to creating a special fund of $535,000,000,000 for infrastructure spending over the next ten years. The leaders of the European Union member states have also agreed to allow the member states to exceed the debt ceilings that are in place to allow these countries to borrow for defense investment. We therefore believe that despite the short term disruption caused by an uncertainty around critical policies relating to trade, defense spending and foreign policy, we believe that these changes will favor our business in the medium to long term. Now turning to highlights relating to the engineering business. Speaker 200:07:28In the first quarter, our engineering business revenue increased by 77%. This business unit is reliant on receiving funding on the defense programs and therefore it is likely to experience delays in receiving orders until there is more clarity on the new U. S. Administration's spending priorities. Now turning to highlights relating to the newly acquired business unit, Precision Acoustics Limited. Speaker 200:08:03In the first quarter, this newly added business unit contributed 25.2% to our consolidated revenue and 33.3 to our operating income. As we navigate the broader headwinds relating to the global policy environment, this new business, which is less reliant on defense spending, has added to our diversification and resilience of our revenue structure. Despite these broader headwinds, we continue to make it our priority to focus on sowing the seeds to grow our business and in the first quarter twenty twenty five, we continued to make progress around our growth pillars, Echoscope and David. Blair Cunningham, our President of Technology, who is the market maker for our technologies, will today be providing a broad overview of some of our activities under these programs during our first quarter. Blair will also be available to answer any questions you may have on our technologies, so please use the opportunity to raise such questions during the quick Q and A session if you have any. Speaker 200:09:26I will now turn the call over to Blair Cunningham, where he will give a short overview of our core technologies around which we are postulating our growth agenda. Speaker 300:09:38Thank you, Ann Marie, and good morning, everyone. I'll keep my remarks very concise on this call to allow for questions. As Ann Marie mentioned, due to uncertainty around critical policies such as trade and defense foreign policy, we saw reduced momentum on several of our defense programs. Notwithstanding, we continue to invest in the advancement of our growth pillars. We continue to believe that our most promising opportunities for growing our business are around our defined growth pillars, the Echoscope technology and the DAVID technology. Speaker 300:10:13We also believe the addition of Precision Acoustics positions us nicely to compete for larger defense contracts. For those who are new to the CodeOptiva story, our DADA technology is an advanced augmented reality display technology designed to enhance diverse safety, performance and situational awareness, especially in low visibility and technically challenging environments. It seamlessly integrates real time data, on demand information and EchoSote three d sonar imagery projecting these onto the diverse field of vision through the DAILED augmented reality head up display. Developed under a three year future naval capabilities contract with ONR and NAVSEA, this fully developed augmented reality system is commercially available. The David Tevered System is currently operational across nine naval commands within the U. Speaker 300:11:13S. Navy. The David untehered system presents the largest market opportunity for the technology. And as we have stated previously, this is going through adoption evaluation both by the U. S. Speaker 300:11:27Navy and a foreign Navy under the Dust Hardening Program. This variant employs the same augmented reality display technology, but is used by divers wearing dive masks, operating at shallower depths and not physically tethered to a surface mothership for air supply. These divers are typically military divers performing Special Forces operations. As I reported on our last earnings call, in our fiscal year twenty twenty four, we made significant progress under this program and delivered amongst other things our Gen four David head up display in fiscal year twenty twenty four. This next generation technology platform boasts a more compact design, a 200% increase in resolution and an expanded visual field of view. Speaker 300:12:20These enhancements significantly improve compatibility with specialized dive helmets and masks, unlocking new possibilities for previously underutilized markets. This accomplishment represents a major milestone in the success of the dust hardening program. In the first quarter, we also reached another pivotal milestone under the program, receiving our first order for approximately 800,000 for 16 dust systems. These systems, once delivered, will be integrated into the Mark 16 Underwater Breathing Apparatus, the UBA system for spec war and EOD applications, as well as for the pre adoption of the DUS systems within the untethered diving naval community. This program delivery will include several key enhancements, such as the tight integration of the March 16 UBA system, operations and status directly into the Gen four David head up display. Speaker 300:13:24Additionally, the supported dive masks for David will expand to include the Intraspiro AGA Mark 20 full face mask and the Kirby Marvin M48 Mod one half mask. I think this is a pivotal milestone for the adoption of the technology. Our Navy customers continue to emphasize the politicality of this technology for future operations and we believe this program will continue full steam ahead despite the uncertain policy environment. In the current quarter, we also started to work directly with the foreign navy who is participating in the dust hardening program and their divers were able to perform a full five day trial, which we believe was very successful and we received positive feedback. We continue to believe that the DUS system represents the largest addressable market for data technology. Speaker 300:14:20For example, the U. S. Navy with approximately 4,000 active divers, seventy five percent of these divers use full face mask untethered systems, which aligns with the DUS solution. Similarly, the majority of public safety and law enforcement divers in The U. S. Speaker 300:14:40And estimated 10,000 divers use the same full face mask dive systems. I want to wrap up my briefing on the DAFID technology by stating that I am truly excited by this technology. In the quarter, we made significant progress under the program and as I mentioned, received our first order for 16 untethered systems, which is pivotal for the broader adoption of the technology in the defense community. Turning to the Echoscope technology, another of our growth pillars. To remind those who are new to the company, our company is the home of the Echoscope, which is the world's first and highest resolution real time volumetric three d imaging sonar for underwater applications. Speaker 300:15:29This is a single sensor for multiple undersea applications. We are well established in the commercial offshore sector and our Ecoscoop solutions have revolutionized subsea operations and inspections for decades, delivering significant time savings, cost reductions and enhanced operational efficiency in the most challenging conditions. The ECOSOPE sonar is utilized globally across a wide range of applications in the commercial, offshore and subsea markets and continues delivering game changing economies of scale to customers. The breakwater market is a good example of where we have moved the market from placing only four blocks per day up to two sixty blocks. A significant percentage of our consolidated revenue quarter on quarter is from the commercial marine market. Speaker 300:16:25Due to the acquisition profile of the defense market, our growth strategy is therefore centered around increasing the number of defense programs into which our Echoscope technology is included. We hope by this strategy to receive multiple recurring sales under defense programs. The new generation of undersea vehicles is fueling growth for smart sensors like the Echoscope and we continue to work to increase the number of defense programs that our technology is written into. Although there is a shift in global policy on offshore renewables, our technologies are also crucial for oil and gas applications and more broadly underwater monitoring. A critical area currently is undersea cables monitoring, which the Echoscope, a technology widely used and adopted for real time three d monitoring, has a key role to play once the global stakeholders have agreed on a comprehensive approach to monitoring these underwater cables, which are the backbone of our nation's daily existence. Speaker 300:17:33We also believe that although The U. S. Budget for defense is reported to be subject to 8% cut, We believe that from the areas specified as the new administration's priorities, these favor our business. Moreover, with Europe's defense rearmament budget, we also believe that in the medium to long term, these present significant opportunities for our business. In this quarter, as part of the DAVID trials with the foreign navy, the Echoscope was part of these trials and we believe will be part of the navy's adoption plan. Speaker 300:18:10In summary, we continue to develop opportunities for our Echoscope technology within global defense programs, which have recurring long tail revenue associated with them. We believe we are making progress and that this is a key part of our strategy to grow the business. Finally, the acquisition of Precision Acoustics into our group also strengthens the group. And as we said in our last earnings call, the addition of their renowned acoustics expertise positions us to compete for larger defense contracts. We believe with the seismic shift in defense as a priority, with the European Union removing fiscal rules on defense spending and more budget becoming available in the short to medium term in Europe, this is a significant opportunity for our business. Speaker 300:19:02I will turn the call over to Ann Marie, and I will be available to take your questions during the Q and A session. Speaker 200:19:08Thank you, Blair. Let me now turn the call over to our interim CFO, Gail Jardine, to take you through our financials for the first quarter twenty twenty five before I provide my closing remarks. Gail? Speaker 400:19:25Thank you, Anne Marie, and good morning, everyone. Let me take you through our first quarter fiscal twenty twenty five financial results. All figures are in U. S. Dollars. Speaker 400:19:37Starting with revenue. In the first quarter of twenty twenty five, we recorded total revenue of $5,200,000 compared to $4,500,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four, an increase of 16.8%. The marine technology business or products business generated revenue of $2,300,000 compared to $3,500,000 representing a 35.8% decrease over the first quarter of twenty twenty four. Our Acoustic Sensors and Materials business, which was added to our group in October 2024, recorded revenue of $1,300,000 Our Marine Engineering business or Services business generated revenue of $1,600,000 compared to $900,000 representing a 7.6% increase over the first quarter of twenty twenty four. As discussed earlier, our total consolidated revenue increased in the first quarter by 16.8%. Speaker 400:20:40The increase is due to the addition of our Acoustics, Sensors and Materials business in our revenue mix. As Anne Marie mentioned in our previous earnings call, we were anticipating a weak quarter for our core business, the Marine Technology business, where we saw reduced demand, which we believe is due to the uncertain global policy environment. Moving on to gross profit and margin. In the first quarter of twenty twenty five, we generated gross profit of of $3,400,000 compared to $3,100,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four. Consolidated gross margin was 65.8% versus 69.2% in the first quarter of last year. Speaker 400:21:23In our Marine Technology business, gross margin increased to 73.1% in the first quarter of twenty twenty five compared to 72.5% in 2024, reflecting changes in the mix of sales and a reduction in commission costs in the period. The Acoustic Sensors and Materials business realized gross margin of 61.7% and we expect on an annualized basis this to be between 5761% depending on the mix of sales. Our marine engineering business gross margin increased to 58.9 in the first quarter of twenty twenty five versus 56.4% in the first quarter of twenty twenty four, again reflecting the mix of engineering projects during the first quarter of this year. Now moving on to operating expenses. Total operating expenses for the first quarter of twenty twenty five increased to CAD2.8 million compared to $2,500,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four. Speaker 400:22:25And this is largely due to the addition of the new business unit into the group, which added 13.5% to our operating costs. We expect to remain at this level on an annualized basis. Included in operating expenses are selling, general and administrative costs in the first quarter of twenty twenty five totaled $2,200,000 an increase of 8.7% from $2,000,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four, again reflecting the addition of the new business unit into the group. As a percentage of revenue, our selling, general and administrative costs for the first quarter of twenty twenty five were 42.7%, reducing from 45.8% in the first quarter of twenty twenty four. Operating income in the first quarter of twenty twenty five was CAD 700,000.0 compared to CAD 600,000.0 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four, an increase of 19.2%. Speaker 400:23:24Operating margin was 12.7 compared to 12.4% in the first quarter of twenty twenty four, which we attribute to the increase in revenue resulting primarily from the addition of the new business unit. Income before taxes in the first quarter of twenty twenty five was $930,000 compared to $800,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four. Net income after taxes in the first quarter of twenty twenty five was CAD0.91 million or CAD0.08 per diluted share compared to CAD0.6 million or CAD0.06 per diluted share in the first quarter of twenty twenty four. Moving now to our balance sheet. As of 01/31/2025, we had $22,540,000 in cash and cash equivalents on hand and no debt. Speaker 400:24:13This represents an increase of CAD 60,000.00 from 10/31/2024, with a comparable figure of CAD 22,480,000.00. Finally, to summarize the financial impact in the current quarter of the introduction of our new Acoustics Sensors and Materials business, it contributed 25.2% of group revenue. Gross margin was $800,000 margin of 61.7% and on a standalone basis, it generated operating income of $500,000 and net income of $600,000 That completes my financial summary. So let me turn the call back over to Anne Marie for her closing remarks. Speaker 200:24:58Thank you, Gail. I first want to touch on tariffs. As of today, we are not directly impacted by tariffs. However, to the extent that these may result in a weakening of the global economy, we may be affected. Furthermore, some of our products are manufactured in The United Kingdom and should the new administration change its policy vis a vis The United Kingdom, if our products are within the items that are subject to tariffs and these are imported into The U. Speaker 200:25:35S, we would be impacted. However, as I said, we are not directly impacted at this moment in time. Despite the challenges we're seeing in the global economy, I am very pleased with our first quarter twenty twenty five results. We continue to work to create stable long term shareholder value and execute against our strategy to increase the number of defense programs that our technologies are embedded in with the goal of securing recurring sales of multiple units under these programs. We believe that many of the new global policies favor our business such as increased defense spending in Europe. Speaker 200:26:30We are also very pleased with reaching another pivotal milestone milestone under the David on TevaT System hardening program where we have received our first order for $800,000 for 16 David on Tebbit Systems. We will also continue to prosecute our M and A strategy and in fiscal year twenty twenty five subject to the satisfactory completion of due diligence and the settling of the global policy environment, we anticipate completing another acquisition into the group. Through our strategy, we aim to pivot the revenue model of the marine technology business to a multi year, multi sales model as we have started to see with the David products line. To conclude, we would like to thank our shareholders for their continued support. We are now happy to answer any questions. Speaker 200:27:42Operator? Operator00:27:44Thank you. Our first question is from Brian Kinstlinger with Alliance Global Partners. Please proceed. Speaker 500:28:13Great. Thanks so much for taking my questions. My first question is what do you think Anne Marie needs to happen from a macro or micro point of view for investors to reasonably expect the marine products to materially recover from the first quarter results? Or should we expect demand could remain depressed for a few quarters until there's more global certainty? Speaker 200:28:37Thank you, Brian, for that. So what we are seeing in we've got a good pipeline of opportunities, but what we are really seeing is that customers are on standstill. And I think that's generally the principle of standing still until I know what's going to happen. So I think I would anticipate that Q2 will be quiet for business just because I think until the policy environment is a little bit more settled, customers are holding out. So but I think based on what I see in the pipeline, I think that our revenues will be back ended this year. Speaker 200:29:26So I think we should see a robust Q3 and Q4 and a softer Q2. Speaker 500:29:36Okay. By the way, that was in regards to Marine Products, is that right? I mean, obviously, we also talked about defense engineering business until the budgets are more mature they get past the budget cycle, that's the unknown there as well. Speaker 200:29:53That's correct. Yes, that is overall, I would expect that we'll have a softer Q2, but a more robust Q3 and Q4. Speaker 500:30:07Yes. It's great to see the 16 unit $800,000 order and then there was also the dust hardening program, I think you said was completed. Can you help frame for investors a timeline going forward for tethered and untethered markets, especially as it relates to revenue or maybe share some targets for the short and medium term? Speaker 200:30:31So I think Blair will talk a little bit more about that. But just to say that let's see, David, tethered system is, as you know, operational. So I think if last year in terms of David, we did around $1,500,000 in revenues. This year, we're targeting $4,500,000 in revenues for DAVID. So a huge jump in DAVID revenues. Speaker 200:31:03So I would expect and what I'm excited about on the David revenue side on the operate the Cabot systems that we have that are operational, we're seeing new commands putting in for acquisition budgets and therefore the product is moving forward. The biggest barrier to adoption at scale is really when the technology falls into disuse. But what we're really seeing is an expanding footprint for the Tebbit system. And as I said, last year, we did 1,500,000.0 in David sales. This year, we're targeting and feel pretty good about $4,000,000 4 million dollars to $4,500,000 for David sales. Speaker 200:31:48And a large part of that will be made up of the TevaD system, for example. And just to talk a little bit more about that also, Brian, what I'm excited about is we're seeing consistently pull through sales for the Echoscope. When so when we get a requisition for David, we're seeing automatically a bundle of Echoscope sales. So that's the sort of programs we've been targeting and I feel we're seeing that now maturing. So for this year then, as I said, we expect to see for the David system, for the tethered variant, we expect to see new orders for new commands. Speaker 200:32:30For the untethered system where we've just received 800,000 for 16 systems, that's a pre adoption that is really crucial for the full scale adoption. So I think really these systems will be which has 200% more resolution and a smaller form factor, which means for us it opens the technology significantly. And on the back of that excitement with the user community, we've seen the first orders for the 16 systems free adoption. And I think in terms of Blair, can you talk a little bit about the roadmap for broader adoption following the delivery of the 16 systems? Speaker 300:33:36The 16 systems, yes. Thank you, Anne Marie. Yes, so thank you, Brian, for the question. And yes, I think as Anne Marie pointed out, it was disappointing for us internally to not see more of the momentum continuing on the programs financially, I should say. It's certainly not for demand from the operational context. Speaker 300:33:56I should absolutely point that out. So as Ami mentioned, the UBA or the untethered variant of David, it's very closely aligned to the tethered system, but that taking on with the EOD and the special warfare community, that's a whole new group of users who are work in close ally with the tethered divers, but are themselves a separate unit. So the tethered system, as Amari pointed out, is already operationally fielded, but there's been demand from the fleet for more systems, upgrades to systems, etcetera. And critically, I think of all of the core teams, they're now either all using Echoscope as part of their day to day operations or have requested Echoscope as part of the day to day operation. So this feels like we're settling into the new norm there. Speaker 300:34:47In addition, that's within The U. S. Context, but within the foreign navies, that's been a significant advancement, I would say, in Q1 for sure for us and the engagement with the foreign navies and several foreign navies and they themselves are now looking at their investment plans as we move forward. So I think as Amari said, we feel very comfortable with the growth level that we've set and there's certainly operational demand within the community. The untethered system that we delivered hopefully going through kind of Q2, Q3, that will be a complete product in its own right. Speaker 300:35:29So that will have the legs to be able to take into other operational use cases. And also as Anne Marie mentioned, this is really not quite a pilot program, but this is basically like a pre fleet deployment, but it's a large scale investment. The prior investment we had on the dust hardening program was for eight systems split between The U. S. And the foreign Navy. Speaker 300:35:50This is now a further 16 systems, but specifically targeted for the EOD and the SEC WAR community. Speaker 500:35:58And just one follow-up on that $4,500,000 is that largely U. S. And U. S. Navy or maybe is there a big component outside of The U. Speaker 500:36:08S? Speaker 200:36:10No, it is within The U. S. And so 20% of that number is foreign and the remainder in The U. S. Speaker 500:36:21Great. And then, I guess I'm wondering if the market conditions and uncertainty impacts demand at acoustic solutions if in any way? Speaker 200:36:35Well, it's very difficult to I mean, the most we can go by is the pipeline and level of inquiries that we see. I think it's not immune to what's going on. But look, their sensors are used, for example, I mean, to for ultrasounds for pregnant women. So I think that women will continue to be pregnant and continue to need their ultrasounds and their measurements to be done. So not to be trite, but I think that that market like the medical sector is less exposed than the other sectors that we work in. Speaker 200:37:16So we're not seeing any kind of slowdown for precision acoustics. That feels very stable at the moment. So I feel that will also operate as some diversification of our revenues in the short run. Speaker 500:37:35Great. My last question is related to M and A. You commented at the Anne Anne Marie about a potential target that you've been, I assume, in discussions with the negotiations with. Has there anything changed again based on global uncertainty, whether it's pricing, their fundamentals? I guess I'm just wondering again how that might be impacted? Speaker 200:37:59No, it's not impacted, but I think it is wise for everyone to wait until the policy environment settles. So I mean, one cannot pivot in a direction of unknowns. So I think for as a significant investment for our business, we've deliberately slowed down the acquisition only to see where the global policy environment, which direction of travel that is going. So at the moment, we're still working on this. We're still very excited and we still see it as an opportunity. Speaker 200:38:38But as I said, I definitely think we want to just understand the global policy environment a little bit more before closing the transaction. Speaker 500:38:49Great. Thank you. Speaker 200:38:51Thank you, Brian. Thank you. Operator00:39:00Our next question is from John Deysher with Pinnacle Value Fund. Please proceed. Speaker 600:39:06Hi, good morning. Just to follow-up on the acquisition possibility. You mentioned, I think that you were doing due diligence. Do you have a definitive agreement and you're doing further due diligence or you're doing due diligence in anticipation of a possible definitive agreement? Speaker 200:39:30The latter. Speaker 600:39:32Okay. So you're doing okay, good. And that's one target. Are there other targets that you're working on? Speaker 200:39:41Well, for this year within our pipeline, we're focused on one target this year. We are very, very much in close contact with the sellers of that business and we have a good relationship. I think it's not going away, But as I said and we're still doing low level work short of signing any agreement at this point. We just need to understand a bit more the global policy environment before we move forward. Okay. Speaker 600:40:14That makes sense. Is it related to any of the businesses you already own? Or would it be a new business like the acoustics business? Speaker 200:40:22It's a new business, but also plays very well into the defense space also. So I mean, our vision is to grow the business to become, if you like, a mid tier defense contractor, where we are offering we have bigger defense contracts that we can respond to. I think that the skills and expertise that we would have as a group would really make us a formidable supplier into that market. Speaker 600:41:01Okay, good. That's exciting. When will you know whether it's go or no go for this possible transaction? A couple of months, six months? What do you think is the timing there? Speaker 200:41:16Well, it's a global policy environment. I or until that's settled, we're not going to really move forward. So I think we need to see the market settling a little bit more, clear policies, are these tariffs going to stick? There are lots and lots that we need to sort of unpack to make this decision for our business. So until that happens, that's the precursor to moving forward with the transaction. Speaker 200:41:49In the meantime, the business, the target is doing very well. So we're keeping very close, if you like, relationship with the targets at the moment. But I think it is wise and prudent that we understand the environment that we're working with before closing such a significant transaction for a group. Speaker 600:42:10Okay. We agree. Thank you very much. Speaker 200:42:14Thank you. Operator00:42:23Our next question is from William Bremer with Vanquish Capital Partners. Please proceed. Speaker 700:42:30Good morning, Anne Marie. Speaker 200:42:33Good morning, Bill. Speaker 700:42:35Hey, congratulations on the untended order. Sizable 800,016 being deployed. I'm just curious if this occurred during the quarter, it seems that it's quite material, either on product development, something that we've been waiting for on tethered for quite some time, as well as dollar amount. I mean, it equates quick math, over 15% of the quarterly revenue. I'm just curious why a press release wasn't released during the quarter on such a material event? Speaker 200:43:17Well, you are assuming, Bill, that we received this very early in the quarter. In fact, we received this very, very late in our quarter. So we knew we were doing this call, so it seemed appropriate at this. I mean, I think we received this order a week ago or so. And there are certain protocols we have to follow before we release a press, make a press release. Speaker 200:43:42So we knew this call was coming up, so it would make sense then we report it at this point. And in fact, most times we're not allowed to release, make announcements because we've got to get the customer's approval. So this is also a problem for our business because of the sensitivity. So we, for example, can't give you the customer's name. Speaker 700:44:09I understand. Okay. Thank you very much. Speaker 500:44:12You're Speaker 200:44:16welcome. Operator00:44:16At this time, there are no further questions. This will conclude our question and answer session. I would like to turn the call back over to Ann Marie Gao for closing remarks. Speaker 200:44:28Thank you, operator. Thank you for your continued interest in CODA OxPres and thank you for attending this call today. Have a great day. Thank you. Operator00:44:40Thank you. This will conclude today's conference of Coda Octopus. You may disconnect at this time.Read moreRemove AdsPowered by