LEAGUE CITY, TX--(Marketwired - Apr 16, 2014) - ERF Wireless Inc. (OTCQB: ERFB), a leading provider of enterprise-class wireless and broadband products and services, announced today that the Company has filed its Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission reporting results for the year ended December 31, 2013.
The Company's revenues and gross profits declined slightly in 2013 as compared to the prior fiscal year ended December 31, 2012. Financial highlights are as follows:
- The Company reported revenues of $7,156,000 for the year ended December 31, 2013, as compared to revenues of $7,328,000 for the prior year ended December 31, 2012; a decrease of $172,000 or 2%.
- We reported gross profit of $2,997,000 for the year ended December 31, 2013, compared to $3,353,000 for the sprior year ended December 31, 2012, a decrease of $356,000 or 11%.
- The Company reported total comprehensive loss of $7,264,000 for the year ended December 31, 2013, as compared to a total comprehensive loss of $4,821,000 for the prior year ended December 31, 2012; an increase of $2,443,000 or 51%.
- The Company's Energy Broadband, Inc., subsidiary reported revenues of $4,311,000 for the year ended December 31, 2013, as compared to revenues of $4,642,000 for the same prior year ended December 31, 2012; a decrease of $331,000 or 7%.
- The Company reported an increase of $558,000 or 8% in operating expenses in the year ended December 31, 2013, as compared to the same prior year ended December 31, 2012. The increase is primarily related to employment and professional services expenses.
- The Company reported $2,550,000 of net cash used by operating activities during 2013.
- Lastly, the Company invested $346,000 in cash during the year ended December 31, 2013, primarily for the purchase of assets in its Energy Broadband, Inc. subsidiary for the continued expansion of networks and infrastructure.
R. Greg Smith, CFO of ERF Wireless, commented, "Calendar 2013 was a challenging year for ERF Wireless and included expenses totaling in excess of $1,481,000 for legal, accounting, consulting and technical professional services. After some nearly three years of legal battle with Schlumberger to protect our interest in exclusive reseller agreements for all of North America, we were obviously disappointed in the ruling by the panel of arbitrators as reported in our SEC 8-K filing on September 11, 2013. Despite this ruling and substantial expenses associated with the arbitration process, we managed to achieve respectable gross profit margins of 42% on consolidated revenues of $7,156,000 while executing on the first year of a two-year restructuring plan aimed at reaching profitability and positive cash flow from operations in calendar 2014. We have put this chapter behind us and are aggressively focused on driving market share increases and associated revenue growth in this primary objective to reach profitability and positive cash flow from operations."
Dr. H. Dean Cubley, CEO of ERF Wireless, commented, "During 2013, we continued to receive strong demands for the turnkey communications solutions provided by our Energy Broadband subsidiary that now represents 60% of our consolidated revenues in the oil and gas sector as we delivered reliable, cost-effective high-speed bandwidth to an industry that has traditionally been served by low bandwidth VSAT providers only. As we move forward, we anticipate that with continued expansion of the U.S. oil and gas exploration and production in 2014 we will continue to maintain and grow this level of activity. We have a number of specific key objectives planned for 2014 that we believe will be extremely beneficial to our shareholders. We will be announcing a number of these new objectives in a series of press releases beginning next week that will provide more detail on each of these objectives that are intended to restore the value to our common stock and move the company forward into profitability.
Additional Highlights and Recent Events
The Company continued progress with its strategic business plan in 2013 and continuing on into early 2014 as evidenced by the completion and announcement of numerous agreements and business developments. Some of these are:
- The Company appointed Tim Maxson as Chief Operating Officer in January 2013 to lead an overall restructuring effort aimed at reaching profitability and positive cash flow from operations in 2014.
- The Company appointed R. Greg Smith as CFO and Wesley Sherer as Controller in March 2014 to lead its financial operations as the Company prepares to execute on an aggressive acquisition strategy as a component of moving from a bulletin board traded stock to a nationally listed exchange.
- The Company welcomed an experienced CPA, CFO and tax specialist, Rick Zachardy, as an independent Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee to its Board of Directors.
- The Company continued expanding and improving its high-speed wireless broadband network in the Eagle Ford Shale region of South Texas and the Permian Basin covering major oil and gas drilling and production areas.
About ERF Wireless
ERF Wireless Inc. is a fully reporting public corporation located in League City, Texas, and is the parent company of Energy Broadband Inc., ERF Enterprise Network Services, ERF Bundled Wireless Services, ERF Wireless Messaging Services and ERF Network Services. The company specializes in providing wireless and broadband product and service solutions to enterprise, commercial and residential clients on a regional, national and international basis. Its principals have been in the wireless broadband, network integration, triple-play FTTH, IPTV and content delivery business for more than 40 years. For more information, please visit our websites at www.erfwireless.com, www.energybroadband.com and www.erfwireless.net or call 281-538-2101. (ERFBG)
Forward-Looking Information
The information in this release may contain forward-looking statements relating to anticipated or expected events, activities, trends or results. Forward-looking statements, can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology such as "believes," "suggests," "expects," "may," "goal," "estimates," "should," "likelihood," "plans," "targets," "intends," "could," or "anticipates," or the negative thereof, or other variations thereon, or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy or objectives. Because forward-looking statements relate to matters that have not yet occurred, these statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this release include, without limitation, the Company's expectations of continued expansion into oil and gas markets and of our terrestrial broadband networks, along with other performance results. These statements are made to provide the public with management's current assessment of our business, and it should not be assumed that that the forward looking statements will prove to be correct. Security holders are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained in this release only as of the date hereof, and we expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to report any updates or revisions to any such statement to reflect any change in management's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. Certain factors may cause results to differ materially from those anticipated by some of the statements made in this release. Please carefully review our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission as we have identified many risk factors that impact our business plan.