Sangoma Technologies Corp

TSX:STC

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q4

[Operator]

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Sangoma investor conference call. [Operator Instructions] And the conference is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Samantha Reburn, Chief Legal Officer. Please go ahead, Ms. Reburn.

[Samantha Reburn, executive]

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Sangoma's Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2023 Investor Call. We are recording the call and we'll make it available on our website for anyone who is unable to join our slides. I'm here today with Norm Worthington, Chairman of Sangoma Board of Directors; Charles Salameh, Chief Executive Officer; Jeremy Wubs, Chief Operating Officer; Jamie Minner, Chief Revenue Officer; and Larry Stock, Financial Officer, to take you through the results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2023, which ended on June 30, 2023. We will discuss the press release that was distributed this afternoon, together with the company's financial statements and MD&A, which are available on SEDAR, EDGAR and our website.

As a reminder, Sangoma reports under International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS, and during the call, we may refer to terms such as adjusted EBITDA and adjusted cash flow that are not IFRS measures, but which are defined in our MD&A. Before we start, I'd like to remind you that the statements made during the course of this call that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements regarding the company or management's intentions, estimates, plans, expectations and strategies for the future. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are discussed in the accompanying MD&A, our annual information form and in the company's annual audited financial statements closed on SEDAR, EDGAR and our website.

With that, I'll hand the call over to Norm.

[Norman Worthington, executive]

Thank you, Sam, and good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining us. During today's call, we will provide you an overview of our fourth quarter developments. As well as details on our financial performance during fiscal 2023. But first, there are a couple of important introductions I'd like to share with you. Over the past month, as you may have seen, we announced 2 new members of our leadership team, both of which I'm very pleased to tell you more about. On September 1, Charles Salameh officially became Sangoma's Chief Executive Officer. Charles is a seasoned technology executive with an extensive background in transforming businesses through revenue reinvigoration and a laser focus on customer satisfaction and engagement.

Two weeks ago, we also announced the appointment of Jeremy Wubs as Sangoma's Chief Operating Officer. Jeremy, most recently was SVP of product, marketing and professional services at Bell, Canada, [indiscernible] is responsible for a multibillion-dollar P&L across various technology domains, including voice, collaboration, contact center, cloud computing, networking, cybersecurity and Internet of Things focused on the small, medium and enterprise segments. As COO, Jeremy is stepping into a newly created position that will play a pivotal role in driving the company's transformation growth and success in a rapidly evolving cloud communications landscape.

You'll certainly hear more from these 2 in the weeks and months ahead. But I'd like to take a moment now and allow each of them the opportunity to introduce themselves personally. Charles?

[Charles Salameh, executive]

Thank you, Norm, and thanks to everyone for joining us today. Let me start by saying how thrilled I am to be here and to roll up my sleeves as Sangoma's CEO. I'd also like to take this opportunity to personally extend my gratitude to the Board for the confidence and the trust they placed in my ability and vision to lead this company.

When I first learned about the CEO position and began to dig into the business, what became clear very quickly with the size of the opportunity that lies ahead for Sangoma once it begins to perform to its full potential. I saw that potential during my due diligence of the firm. It was one of the most significant factors in making my decision to join the company.

Sangoma's strong foundation developed over the years, combined with the changing requirements of the SMB market, presents an extraordinary opportunity. In the past 5 years, we've witnessed an unprecedented increase in understanding and recognition of the crucial role technology plays, in enabling businesses to stay relevant to their customers.

The SMB sector, in particular, has rapidly grasped this concept and is generating substantial demand for user-friendly, easy-to-consume products and cloud-based services that assist them in navigating the consistently evolving market dynamics.

Sangoma possesses all of the essential elements to meet this demand effectively. Our value proposition uniquely positions us to cater to this growing need. That's an exciting and huge opportunity for the company, for the management team around this table.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge the hundreds of Sangoma employees and partners around the globe. Thank you for your commitment and focus during this period of transition. We have an incredible team of committed people at Sangoma. And I look forward to building the company to be a world leader in technology and communication services.

Lastly, to the investment community. I look forward to the opportunity to meet with all of you soon. For the next few weeks, I would appreciate your patience as I settle in and deepen my understanding of the key priorities that will frame my agenda for the remainder of this fiscal year. However, as you will see in the weeks and months ahead, I do plan to increase our engagement with this community and strengthen the partnerships between Sangoma leadership and its very important stakeholder group. I'm excited to be here leading the employees at Sangoma. And while it's only been a few short weeks, our transition plans are already underway as we build our agenda within the first 100 days of my role being here. A key proponent of this transition is our new COO, Jeremy Wubs.

With that, I'm going to hand it over to Jeremy to help explain the situation. Jeremy.

[Jeremy Wubs, executive]

Thanks, Charles, and thank you, Norm, for the opportunity. Charles touched on his excitement for the opportunity that lies ahead for Sangoma. I very much share that same excitement. When I think about the ingenuity, the breadth of our products and services and frankly, the value proposition we represent against the size of the market we address, it's a great place to be. There's absolutely no question. We have some work that needs to be done. But that's our opportunity. And I can already see pretty clearly what's on the other side of that work. We're already diving in and building the work plan and programs required to lead the evolution of Sangoma. I'll leave it there for now, but I very much look forward to getting to know all of you in the weeks and months ahead.

I'll now hand it back to Norman.

[Norman Worthington, executive]

Thank you, gentlemen. In the short time, Charles and Jeremy have been on the job, I've been able to witness firsthand, their drive, their deep industry expertise, results-oriented leadership styles and a contagious optimism for Sangoma's future. On behalf of the Board, I'd like to extend a sincere welcome to both of you.

On a personal note, I was pleased to hand the CEO reins over to Charles earlier this month and resume my role as Chairman of the Board. Our search for the right CEO to lead Sangoma into the future was exhaustive and focused on driving value for our shareholders as well as our extended Sangoma family. Even with all that effort, though, it was difficult to know with any certainty that the right choice is made until we got to work. Having now had the opportunity to work with Charles, especially with regard to his plans and vision for the critical first 100 days, I can tell you all without hesitation that we made the exact right choice in Charles. I'm confident and excited by this next step in the evolution of Sangoma.

Before I can do that, though I do have one final deliverable. While I'm pleased that our Q4 revenue of $63.7 million propelled us to a fiscal 2023 record revenue of $252.5 million. The slight [ decrease ] in services revenue, largely coming from pricing pressures in the wholesale trunking service was disappointing. This slight decrease was offset by a stronger than anticipated revenue quarter for our product portfolio. However, the revenue mix did lead to lower gross profit margin than we expected. Yet, I remain confident in the long-term strategy and transformational initiatives that Charles will be bringing in the months ahead.

So let's take a look now at how our fourth quarter and fiscal year came together. And for that, I'll hand the call over to our CFO, Larry Stock.

[Lawrence Stock, executive]

Thank you, Norm. Before I get into our financials, I'd like to extend my own appreciation and gratitude to the Sangoma family. Transitions are challenging for all organizations and the past few months have served as a keen reminder to me, the dedication and focus of our team members.

I'd also like to echo Norm's welcome to Charles and Jeremy. I've been impressed by their expertise and vision in the short time that they've been on board, and I'm excited and invigorated by the leadership team we now have in place.

Now let's turn to the results. Total revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal '23 was $63.7 million, down 4% compared to the same period a year ago and up about 1.5% sequentially. Full year total revenue was $252.5 million, surpassing the $250 million mark for the first time in the company's history and grew at a healthy 13% year-over-year.

Services revenue for the quarter was $50.2 million, up 2% from the fourth quarter of fiscal '22 and down less than 1% on a sequential basis. This is the third quarter in a row in which we exceeded $50 million in services revenue in the quarter. While services as a percentage of total revenue dipped 2 percentage points sequentially to 79%, it remains nicely above our historical range.

Going forward, we remain committed to driving towards the 10% annualized organic growth in services as we have discussed over the last several quarters. For the full year, services revenue totaled $198.5 million, up 25% on a year-over-year basis.

Product revenue for the quarter was up 11% sequentially to $13.5 million but slowed from $17.2 million a year ago and a return to more historical pre-pandemic levels.

In addition, ongoing sensitivity to capital expenditures, macroeconomic uncertainty and unfavorable U.S. dollar exchange rates can service headwinds on some international order flow.

On a full year basis, product revenue came in at $54 million versus $65.7 million in the prior year. Cost of sales for the 3 months ended June 30 decreased by 2% to $21.4 million compared to $21.8 million a year earlier.

Gross profit for the 3 months ended June 30 totaled $42.2 million, down 5% from $44.5 million a year ago and $44.4 million sequentially. Gross margin for the fourth quarter of fiscal '23 was approximately 66% of revenue. Our fourth quarter gross margin is down to a greater mix of lower-margin offerings, particularly product sales which represented 21% of total sales for the fourth quarter versus 19% in the immediately preceding third quarter. On a full year basis, gross profit increased 10% year-over-year to $172.8 million.

Fourth quarter operating expenses, consisting of sales and marketing, research and development, general and administration and foreign exchange were $43.7 million versus $45.7 million during the equivalent period a year ago, representing a 4.4% year-over-year decline due to the realization of cost savings driven by various cost initiatives. The primary driver of the decrease was the decline in general and administrative expenses due to lower noncash expenses, including share-based compensation as well as amortization and depreciation.

The engineering expenses incurred and the development costs amortized during the fourth quarter of fiscal '23 were $9.3 million. This was lower than the $9.8 million incurred in the same quarter last year, mostly as a result of higher capitalization of labor costs and development products -- projects but no change as a percentage of revenue at approximately 15%. The engineering expenses incurred and the development costs amortized during the fiscal year ended June 30, '23 were $37.5 million compared to $34.2 million in the same period last year.

The increase year-over-year was a result of the additional development staff from NetFortris being included for the full year as well as the company's ongoing investment in innovation.

On a full year basis, operating expenses totaled $175.7 million, up 8% year-over-year well below the full year top line growth rate of 12.6%, demonstrating our focus on expense discipline and the meaningful operating leverage in our business. This improvement translated to a 300 basis point expansion in our operating margin on a year-over-year basis to 30.4%.

Adjusted EBITDA during the 3- and 12-month periods ended June 30, totaled $10.86 million and $44.4 million, respectively. While down slightly year-over-year on a quarterly basis, full year adjusted EBITDA grew just over 5%. The primary drivers of our year-over-year adjusted EBITDA growth or top line growth and operational expense discipline. We continue to remain committed to our core tenet of delivering growth with profitability.

Net loss for the fourth quarter was $23.6 million, and for the year, it was $29 million, both significantly affected by a onetime noncash goodwill impairment charge of $22.5 million. This goodwill impairment resulted primarily from, among other factors, a significant increase in the discount rate as a result of macroeconomic factors, which other companies in our industry sector have also experienced during the latter months of fiscal '23.

And now let's discuss a few balance sheet items as well as our cash flow. Inventory at quarter end totaled $18 million, flat on a year-over-year basis, but down meaningfully from $20 million at the end of the third quarter. This reduction in inventory reflects our ongoing focus on balance sheet management to drive our inventory to appropriate levels, prudent inventory purchases, appropriate build schedules and advanced planning.

Trade receivables totaled $16.1 million at quarter end, slightly below the $17 million at the end of the third quarter as we continue to focus on accounts receivable collections and overall cash conversion. The company closed the fourth quarter with $11.2 million in cash compared to $8 million at the end of the third quarter, a significant increase in our cash balances. The company also used a portion of its cash to continue paying down debt associated with its most recent acquisitions, and investment in capitalized development costs.

We finished the quarter and the fiscal year with net cash provided by operating activities of $10.9 million and $26.5 million, respectively, on June 30, '23, reflecting a strong quarterly progression of cash flow throughout fiscal '23.

These significant increases in operating cash flow illustrate the strides we've made and our focus on balance sheet management and prudent spending.

Before we open the call to questions, I want to touch on our current approach to financial guidance. As you're all aware, forward guidance has been a mainstay of our quarterly earnings release for quite a while, but it was not included in our disclosures this quarter. The company will be suspending the issuance of forward-looking earnings guidance for fiscal '24. This decision comes as part of our strategic transformation led by the company's new CEO, Charles Salameh, to position Sangoma for long-term success and sustainable growth.

Sangoma remains fully committed to providing transparency to our investors, and we'll continue to disclose our financial performance through regular quarterly and annual financial reports as well as conference calls and other investor communications. You will also hear updates on the progress of our transformation journey in future quarterly earnings calls directly from Charles and the executive team as appropriate.

We fully intend to resume our pre-existing guidance practices for fiscal '25. Furthermore, as our fiscal first quarter [ nears ] its close, I'd like to hand the call to Jamie Minner, our Chief Revenue Officer, for a few words on how Q1 is shaping up. James?

[Jamie Minner, executive]

Thank you, Larry, and hello, everyone. As you've heard today, we saw some services headwinds in terms of pricing pressure in Q4 within our wholesale trucking service, which, as many of you know, is a traffic-based lease cost routing construct. We're seeing that business stabilize and rebound nicely, and I'm pleased to share that our revenue and gross margin trends have -- by and large, falling in line with our internal projections for Q1 to date.

Thank you, everyone, for your time and attention. Operator, we are now ready to take some questions.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Mike Latimore with Northland Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

[Mike Latimore, analyst]

Congratulations, Charles and Jeremy on your new positions here. I know it's early in the kind of strategic analysis phase of the year here. But when you talk about a transformative journey, should we think about kind of cloud communications and UCaaS still being central to that? Or are you envisioning -- evolving into something broader? .

[Charles Salameh, executive]

The company -- when I came into the company, there are several significant asset pieces here, both the communication platform. There are some managed services applications that are best suited towards a small and medium enterprise client. I think the idea of this transformation is to better assemble the components of the assets that we have that are best suited towards capitalizing on what we're seeing as a dynamic shift in the way the small medium market is buying. And the idea when you think about transformation and think about it as more assembling of the company for scale to the composition of bringing some of these solutions together to drive higher value.

[Mike Latimore, analyst]

And then on the -- in terms of just bookings trajectory, how have bookings played out kind of over the summer and through the first quarter here and maybe new MRR in particular?

[Jamie Minner, executive]

Yes. Thanks for the question. We are starting to see bookings continue to grow, more so on the new logo side than expansions. And for us, the land and expand is our key kind of go to market. Go a little bit wide, go a little bit deeper with that base of customers. And we're starting to see that trend continue as we did from Q3.

[Operator]

The next question comes from David Kwan with TD Securities..

[David Kwan, analyst]

I guess maybe a question for Charles. You kind of talked about obviously the company not performing to its potential at this point. How long do you think it will take to get the company to where it is achieving its potential in that EDC unit? And maybe at that time, like what kind of like the growth and margin profile look like?

[Charles Salameh, executive]

I wish I could give you all that information right now, my friend. It's been 3 weeks that I've been here. I'm in a deep state of dissecting and understanding all elements of the business as well as getting to know the management team. We've just positioned Jeremy and I'm on the team already. Give me some time to really get into understanding the company dynamics and I can answer that question far more clearly in a few more months.

[David Kwan, analyst]

On the margin side, they came back this quarter, which was a surprise and I think it was part driven by the services revenue mix. But how should we look at it? Obviously, absent of the guidance you talked about on the services revenue side, trying to get to that kind of 10%-ish annual growth. But from a margin standpoint, kind of -- you look at the last couple of years, it's been around the 19% level. And even last quarter, we go over that it was 17.5% for the year. Like should we expect that your margins should pick up this year?

[Lawrence Stock, executive]

Yes. So this is Larry. The decrease in gross margin tracks closely to the mix of services revenue and product revenue. Cloud service is typically higher margin, right? So as we see changes to that split, you see a change to the margin with that as well as sort of the growth in the MSP services, which have a different margin profile, right? Can have some impact on that. But what I can tell you is that as we continue to see our margins, we've seen stability in what they are other than the mix this year.

[David Kwan, analyst]

That's helpful, Larry. Last question. I think, Charles, you're just kind of talking about kind of strategy and as it relates to kind of better assembling your suite of solutions to address the needs of SMBs. Is that -- I guess that's historically where the company is focused. I know more recently, kind of looking to target more of the enterprise segment. Is the strategy now to kind of go back targeting kind of the small to midsized companies versus trying to compete in the enterprise?

[Charles Salameh, executive]

No. Well, first of all, I don't know. Because I think the breadth of portfolio that I've seen in the company thus far, which is what I said in my remarks, it's an exciting opportunity for us to assemble these pieces. I think the range now can be opened in terms of what markets we can go to with the portfolio that we had. The SMB continues to make up the majority of the market that we focus on for our services revenues. And I think the opportunity in the coming months and quarters ahead of us is, can we open up new buying channels, new markets up or down market with the portfolio that exists here, which I think is the exciting opportunity for the company. .

[Operator]

The next question comes from Gavin Fairweather with Cormark.

[Gavin Fairweather, analyst]

Welcome to the call, everyone. Maybe just to start out, it sounds like you're also aiming for 10% services organic growth, it's good to hear. I know product is a bit more volatile and more macro exposed. You've kind of seen that revenue line decline alongside the macro a little bit. Curious if you think you can kind of hold the line on product sales given what's going on in the macro?

[Lawrence Stock, executive]

Well, Gavin, I think there's a couple of things to that. What we have said is that we've seen that be close to historical pre-pandemic levels as we move forward. And that's kind of our visibility right now to that. As it relates to that, I think the dip relative to the wholesale trunking is what you saw in the fourth quarter. And as Jamie mentioned, when he spoke, how that has stabilized.

So it's probably the best I can give you right now, but that's kind of how we see it.

[Gavin Fairweather, analyst]

Okay. And then my quick scan of the MD&A. It looks like supply chain maybe on product is also a bit of a headwind. Are you seeing more challenges there, that's impacting the profit gross margin as well as [indiscernible]?

[Lawrence Stock, executive]

I wouldn't say more headwinds. I think some things are individually specific as it relates to that. We've done a really good job inventory-wise as well. I think that for product in particular, in that portfolio at time of year and the types of sales, all impact how you can go to supply chain on that. But nothing new in terms of that though.

[Operator]

This concludes the question-and-answer session and today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.