VICTORIA, British Columbia, Nov. 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Carmanah Technologies Corporation (TSX: CMH) (“the Company” or “Carmanah”) today reported its third quarter financial results for the period ended September 30, 2018.  Currency amounts are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted and are for Carmanah’s continuing operations which exclude the operating results from the Company’s Power Division segment which was divested by way of two separate transactions in 2017.

In the third quarter of 2018, Carmanah generated overall revenues of USD $12.9 million, down USD $1.6 million or 11.3% over the third quarter of 2017 revenues of USD $14.5 million.  Of overall revenues, the Company’s Signals segment declined USD $2.1 million or 15.1% in the quarter while the Company’s Illumination segment increased by USD $0.5 million or 68.3% on a comparative basis.

The third quarter 2018 Signals segment revenue varied as follows:

• The Company’s Germany based Sabik Offshore division incurred a decrease in revenues primarily due to offshore wind project delays in Europe. Some projects previously expected to complete in 2018 are now slated for 2019.
• The Company’s Finland based Sabik Marine division also incurred a decline in revenues despite very strong order activity.  We currently have an exceptionally high backlog of orders to be fulfilled in the fourth quarter and beyond.  As well, Sabik Marine is still experiencing less than optimal production of Vega products, which are now being produced in Europe. It is expected that order backlogs will return to normal levels during the first quarter of 2019.
• Traffic division revenues were largely unchanged in the third quarter of 2018 as compared to the prior period.  On a sequential basis, our Traffic revenues continued to rebound following the resumption of Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (“RRFB”) approvals by the Federal Highways Administration earlier this year.
• Airfield Lighting and Aviation Obstruction revenues were largely unchanged in the third quarter compared to the prior period; however, both businesses had higher levels of orders in the quarter leading to a higher than normal backlog at period end.
• Carmanah’s Telematics division continued to experience growth in both orders and revenues during the third quarter with a growing backlog that is expected to normalize by year end.

Gross margins in the third quarter of 2018 were 41.4%, up from 37.4% in the same period in 2017.  Gross margins in the third quarter of 2017 were reduced by a USD $0.8 million inventory write-down in our Illumination segment as legacy products were made obsolete by the development of the new EverGen product offering.    

Core operating expenditures in the third quarter of 2018 were USD $4.9 million, up from USD $4.6 million in the third quarter of 2017.  The increase was due to increased amortization relating to acquired assets as well as increased research and development costs.

Net loss in the third quarter of 2018 was USD $0.6 million which was down from net income of $0.3 million for the same period in 2017.

Carmanah management relies on Adjusted EBITDA¹ (a non-IFRS measure) to gauge financial performance. In the third quarter of 2018, the Company generated Adjusted EBITDA of USD $1.5 million, down 40.7% from USD $2.4 million in the same period in 2017. A table reconciling net income and Adjusted EBITDA is included in this release.

“Our third quarter was a mix of disappointment and encouragement”, said John Simmons, CEO. “We are disappointed that some of the offshore wind projects in which we expect to participate are being delayed into the future, but we look forward to serving these customers as their projects come online.  At the same time, we are encouraged by the remainder of our Signals segment’s new order flow in the quarter which resulted in significant backlog growth and sets us up for a good final quarter in 2018.”

Highlights for the quarter are provided below: 

Financial Condition at September 30, 2018 compared to December 31, 2017

• Cash and cash equivalents of USD $12.5 million, up USD $0.7 million from USD $11.8 million. 
• Working capital of USD $22.9 million, up USD $1.7 million from USD $21.2 million

Complete set of Financial Statements and Management Discussion & Analysis

A complete set of the third quarter ended September 30, 2018 Financial Statements and Management’s Discussion & Analysis are available on Carmanah’s corporate website.  To view these documents, visit: https://carmanah.com/company/financial-reports.  Both documents are also filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).  The financial information included in this release is qualified in its entirety and should be read together with the audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2017, including the notes thereto.   

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA¹

About Carmanah Technologies Corporation

Carmanah designs, develops and distributes a portfolio of products focused on energy optimized LED solutions for infrastructure. Since 1996, we have earned a global reputation for delivering durable, dependable, efficient and cost-effective solutions for industrial applications that perform in some of the world’s harshest environments. We manage our business within two reportable segments: Signals and Illumination. The Signals segment serves the Airfield Ground Lighting, Aviation Obstruction, Offshore Wind, Marine, Traffic and Telematics markets.  The Illumination segment provides solar powered LED outdoor lights for municipal and commercial customers.

Contact
Carmanah Technologies Corporation:
Evan Brown, (250) 380-0052
Chief Financial Officer/Corporate Secretary
[email protected]

This release may contain forward-looking statements. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “expects,” “estimates,” “could,” “will” or variations of such words and phrases. Forward-looking statements or information in this news release relate to, among other things: revenues, and revenue growth, for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2017; order backlogs; gross margins and estimates of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Carmanah or Sabik to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: our ability to become a worldwide leader in the marine aids to navigation industry, the potential growth of the off-shore wind safety market or our ability to participate in any growth and other general uncertainties that may impact actual outcomes. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs but given the uncertainties, assumptions and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements or information. Carmanah disclaims any obligation to update, or to publicly announce, any such statements, events or developments except as required by law.

 For additional information on these risks and uncertainties, see Carmanah’s most recently filed Annual Information Form (AIF) and Annual MD&A, which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company’s website at www.carmanah.com. The risk factors identified in Carmanah’s AIF and MD&A are not intended to represent a complete list of factors that could affect Carmanah.

                                                       
¹ NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES: EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA. This news release presents information about EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA, both of which are non-IFRS financial measures, to provide supplementary information about 2017 operating performance.  Carmanah defines EBITDA as net income or loss before interest, income taxes, amortization, and non-cash stock based compensation.  Adjusted EBITDA removes unusual or non-operating items from EBITDA, such merger and acquisition costs, restructuring charges, asset write offs, and foreign exchange gains and losses.  Carmanah uses these non-IFRS measures internally to make strategic decisions, forecast future results and evaluate its performance.  EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not intended as a substitute for IFRS measures.  A limitation of utilizing these non-IFRS measures is that the IFRS accounting effects of the non-recurring items do in fact reflect the underlying financial results of Carmanah’s business and these effects should not be ignored in evaluating and analyzing Carmanah’s financial results. Therefore, management believes that Carmanah’s IFRS measures of net loss and the same respective non-IFRS measure should be considered together. Non-IFRS measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Readers should refer to the “Definitions and Reconciliations” section of the Company’s most recently filed MD&A for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2017 for a more detailed discussion of these measures and their calculation.