Sylogist Q3 Fiscal 2019 Financial Results and Governance Update, Increased Dividend Declared

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CALGARY, Aug. 13, 2019 /CNW/ - Sylogist Ltd. (TSXV:SYZ) ("Sylogist" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce its unaudited financial results for the third quarter of the 2019 fiscal year, ended June 30, 2019.

Q3 2019 Summary (Comparisons are to Q3 2018, unless otherwise noted)

• Revenues were $9.8 million, compared to $11 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2018.
• Gross Profit was $7.4 million, compared to $7.7 million in the same period last year.
• Gross Profit Margin of 76%, was an increase of 9% over the third quarter of 2018.
• Reported earnings were $2.7 million, compared to $3.2 million in Q3 2018.
• Earnings per fully diluted common share were $0.12 per share, compared to $0.14 per share.
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ was $4.5 million, or $0.20 per fully diluted common share, compared to $4.9 million or $0.22 per share.
• Adjusted EBITDA Margin⁽¹⁾ was 46%, compared to 45%.
• Cash from operating activities (before non-cash changes in working capital) totalled $3.3 million ($0.15 per share), compared to $4.1 million ($0.18 per share) in Q3 2018.
• The Company paid regular dividends to shareholders totalling $2.1 million during the quarter.
• Adjusted Working Capital⁽¹⁾ was $49.5 million, or $2.09 per share, compared to $1.48 per share in Q3 2018.
• Combined tax pools at the end of the third quarter 2019 were approximately $14 million (CAD).
• The Company's Board of Directors has approved an increase in the quarterly dividend to $0.10 per common share for shareholders of record as at August 30, 2019 to be paid on September 11, 2019, which is treated as an eligible dividend under the Income Tax Act (Canada).

Nine months of fiscal 2019 (Comparisons are to the nine months of fiscal 2018, unless otherwise noted)

• Revenues were $28.7 million, compared to $29.1 million.
• Gross profit margins improved to 75% of revenue, compared to 73%.
• Reported earnings were $7.7 million ($0.34 per share) compared to $8.7 million ($0.39 per share).
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ was $13.2 million ($0.59 per share), compared to $13.6 million ($0.61 per share).
• Adjusted EBITDA Margin ⁽¹⁾ was 46%, compared to 47%.
• Cash from operating activities (before non-cash changes in working capital) was $10 million ($0.45 per share), compared to $12.8 million ($0.57 per share).
• The Company paid regular dividends to shareholders totalling $6.3 million during the first nine months of fiscal 2019.

Jim Wilson, President & Chief Executive Officer of Sylogist, commented, "In the first nine months of fiscal 2019, Sylogist made steady progress building and expanding its recurring revenue business.  Repeatable revenue grew 8% compared to the same period in fiscal 2018. Within the sources of recurring revenue, SaaS (software as a service) demonstrated strong organic growth, up 29%, as new customers adopted SaaS implementations and existing customers switched from on premises to SaaS delivery. To accommodate the SaaS growth, Sylogist is expanding its data centre capacity.  Licensing revenue, largely associated with international clientele where SaaS is not yet an available option due to limited connectivity, grew 65%. Lower margin professional services revenue decreased by 10% and product revenue was down by 92%, as a large hardware sale in Q3 of fiscal 2018 skewed comparable results. Overall, total revenues for the first nine months were slightly lower, while total margins were higher than the comparable period last fiscal year.  During the first nine months the Company incurred one-time expenses related to our rigorous operational review, mostly lease terminations and severance costs, of $152 thousand.

During Q3, employees and directors exercised stock options, adding $15 million to the Company treasury and increasing the cash position to $47.6 million or $2.01 per share.  The current cash position along with solid operating cash flow allows Sylogist to pursue larger acquisition candidates than those previously considered. 

With a strong forward financial picture impacted by the events update below, the Board of Directors has increased the quarterly eligible dividend to $0.10 commencing with the September 11, 2019 payment."

Financial and Governance Update:

1. As previously advised, Barry Foster was appointed to the Board in June.   At its meeting July 17, 2019, the Board appointed Mr. Foster to its Audit and Compensation Committees, both of which are entirely comprised of independent directors;
2. Over the past three months Sylogist's Compensation Committee has met with a number of institutional shareholders to solicit their views on equity and executive compensation.  The independent board members are in the process of reviewing and drafting compensation alternatives that align with current views on governance and shareholder value creation.  The Compensation Committee is targeting a completion date for new equity and executive compensation agreements, to replace existing agreements, by mid-September with implementation effective by October 1, 2019, being the start of Sylogist's 2020 fiscal year.
3. The exercise of options by senior executives and directors in May 2019 resulted in the increase of cash in treasury by $15 million.   As of June 30, 2019, the Company had $47.6 million of cash;
4. The Company's pay-per-use payroll platform was rolled out to partners and end users in June.  We are pleased to advise that over 5,000 employees are already enrolled and being paid through this new system with another 26,500 committed and being enrolled within the next 60 days;
5. All of the Company North Carolina legacy customers have signed support agreements with us, the vast majority being for 3-year terms representing a total contracted revenue of $14.2 million. These contracts more than double the annual run-rate support revenues from this business and, along with significantly reduced costs, the commitments materially enhance profitability for the foreseeable future.  Concurrently, the Company has offered its legacy customers its modern certified K12 solution as an immediate upgrade. The K12 solution is an alternative to RFP selected competitive solutions which are still in the planning and development stages and years from completion;
6. The Company is pleased to advise that it is in the process of finalizing the previously announced contract extension with a large not-for-profit customer for professional services revenues exceeding Cdn $2 million, which services are commencing in Q4 to run through spring 2020; and
7. Sylogist has experienced increased demand for cloud services from customers who historically used an on-premises version of our public sector software.  To meet this demand, the Company has invested in a 3-fold expansion of its data centre capacity. 

About Sylogist

Sylogist is a software company that, through strategic acquisitions, investments and operations management, provides comprehensive, mission-critical enterprise resource planning ("ERP") solutions, including fund accounting, grant management and payroll to public service organizations.  Sylogist's public service customers include local governments, nonprofit organizations, non-governmental organizations, educational institutions and government agencies, as well as public compliance driven and funded. Our Company delivers highly scalable, multi-language, multi-currency software solutions, which serve the needs of an international clientele.

Full financial statements together with Management's Discussion and Analysis are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The Company's stock is traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SYZ. Information about Sylogist can be found at http://www.sylogist.com.

Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements in this news release may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws and regulations.  These statements typically use words such as expect, believe, estimate, project, anticipate, plan, may, should, could and would, or the negative of these terms, variations thereof or similar terminology. Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements with respect to the Company's quarterly dividend for shareholders of record as of August 30, 2019 to be paid on September 11, 2019, the Company's intention to complete new equity and executive compensation alternatives that align with current views on governance and shareholder value creation by October 1, 2019, the Company's expansion of its data centre capacity to accommodate increased demand for its cloud services, the Company's plans to pursue larger acquisition targets with its increased cash position following stock option exercises in May 2019, the enrollment of employees of customers on the Company's pay-per-use payroll platform, the Company's significantly reduced cost structure in its North Carolina customer base to materially enhance its profitability for the foreseeable future and the Company's new customer contract that is being finalized this fiscal year. By their very nature, forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific in nature.  It is therefore possible that the beliefs and plans and other forward-looking expectations expressed herein will not be achieved or will prove inaccurate.  Although Sylogist believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it provides no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Additional information regarding some of these risks, uncertainties and other factors may be found under in the management's discussion and analysis for the period ended June 30, 2019, and other documents available on the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.  Material assumptions and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include Sylogist's ability to attract and retain customers and to realize on its investments. Although Sylogist believes that the material assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur. Sylogist disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

Certain information set out herein may be considered as "financial outlook" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The purpose of this financial outlook is to provide readers with disclosure regarding Sylogist's reasonable expectations as to the anticipated results of its proposed business activities for the periods indicated. Readers are cautioned that the financial outlook may not be appropriate for other purposes.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

(1) Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin and Adjusted Working Capital are non-GAAP financial measures: Adjusted EBITDA is defined as: profit for the period before stock based compensation, foreign exchange gains or losses, interest expense, bargain purchase price on acquisition, income taxes, acquisition-related costs, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA Margin refers to Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue. Adjusted Working Capital is defined as current assets less current liabilities adjusted for deferred revenue. 

This news release makes reference to certain non-GAAP measures.  These measures are not recognized measures under Canadian GAAP, do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by Canadian GAAP and are therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. These measures are provided as additional information to complement measures under GAAP by providing further understanding of the Company's expected results of operations from management's perspective. Accordingly, such measures should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of the Company's financial information reported under Canadian GAAP.

Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin and Adjusted Working Capital are provided to investors as alternative methods for assessing the Company's operating results in a manner that is focused on the Company's ongoing operations and to provide a more consistent basis for comparison between periods. These measures should not be construed as alternatives to net profit (loss) or cash flow from operating activities determined in accordance with GAAP as an indicator of the Company's performance.

- Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release-

SOURCE Sylogist Ltd.

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