Press release Detail Sirit Reports Third Quarter 2009 Financial...

Press release Detail

Sirit Reports Third Quarter 2009 Financial Results

Revenue Growth and Improved Margins Compared to Prior Year

Toronto, ON-11/10/2009- Sirit Inc. (Sirit) (TSX: SI), a leading provider of radio frequency identification (“RFID”) technology, reports its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009. All amounts are stated in Canadian Dollars unless otherwise noted.

Q3 2009 Financial Results

Bolstered by increasing sales in Latin America during the third quarter of 2009, Sirit continues to withstand the current weak economic environment achieving revenue growth for the third consecutive quarter in comparison to prior year quarterly results. For the third quarter of 2009, the Company is reporting revenue of $4.4 million (US$4.0 million) representing a 16% quarter over quarter improvement when compared to the $3.8 million (US$3.7 million) reported for third quarter of 2008.

For the first three quarters of 2009, total revenue has reached $15.2 million compared to $12.9 million in the first three quarters of 2008, an improvement of almost 18%. The largest component of the 2009 revenue growth has been from toll related applications across North and South America in accordance with Sirit’s strategy to focus on the AVI market. The Company now has its passive toll technology installed in five countries across Latin America, adding Argentina and Colombia during the third quarter. The Company is focusing on adding to this growing list over the next several months.

Ongoing efforts to manage cash spend at Sirit have yielded strong results during the third quarter of 2009. In US Dollars, the Company achieved a cash neutral position beginning and ending the quarter with a cash balance of US$2.5 million. In Canadian Dollars, the reported cash balance of $2.7 million represents a small decline of $0.2 million for the quarter, due solely to a change in the exchange rates during the quarter. This does not impact daily operations as Sirit completes nearly all its business in US Dollars. As the Company has controlled its cash spend during these tough economic times, we expect continued progress as the economy starts to improve and revenue levels increase.

AVI applications contributed $3.2 million or 73% of the reported $4.4 million revenue for the third quarter of 2009. This reflects a $0.5 million or 19% increase compared to AVI related revenue in Q3 2008 of $2.7 million. During the first three quarters of 2009, AVI applications generated revenue of $11.0 million compared to $9.3 million in the first three quarters of 2008.

RFS applications contributed the remaining $1.2 million or 27% of the total third quarter 2009 revenue. This is comparable to the $1.1 million reported in Q3 2008 when RFS related revenue represented 29% of the total quarterly revenue. Year-to-date 2009 total RFS related revenue has reached $4.2 million compared to $3.6 million in the first nine months of 2008.

Sirit has managed the business effectively, achieving a US Dollar cash neutral quarter during some of the toughest economic conditions in recent history. Our efforts to match current revenue and expense levels have been successful in generating this positive result for the Company. We are looking towards Q4 2009 to be the strongest of the year as we continue to strengthen our overall financial condition, commented Anastasia Chodarcewicz, Chief Financial Officer, Sirit.

Sirit reports an improved gross profit for the third quarter of 2009 of 39.2% up from 33.1% reported in the third quarter of 2008. For the first three quarters of 2009, gross profit is reported at 35.7% compared to 30.0% in the same nine month period in 2008. The improvement in margin experienced in 2009, particularly in the third quarter, has resulted from efforts to reduce manufacturing costs of key products as well as higher margin sales.

Cash operating expenses, consisting of selling, general and administrative as well as development costs are $1.9 million down from $2.5 million in Q3 2008 and $2.1 million in Q2 2009. The lower levels of cash operating expenses during 2009 result from temporary salary cutbacks by staff at all levels as well as a company-wide commitment to controlling discretionary spending. The remaining expenses including stock compensation, amortization and foreign exchange, all non-cash expenses, were $0.8 million during the third quarter of 2009 compared to $0.6 million in the third quarter of 2008. The Company will closely manage operating expense levels with the intention of achieving recurring operating profits.

For the third quarter of 2009, net loss is $1.0 million compared to $2.0 million reported in Q3 2008. For the first three quarters of 2009 net loss is reported at $2.9 million, a significant improvement from the $5.5 million reported in the first nine months of 2008.

Q3 2009 Corporate Highlights

The following highlights some of Sirit’s successes during the third quarter of 2009:

• Sirit announced the first installation of its electronic toll collection (“ETC”) system in Cartagena, Colombia with its partner Simplexity, one the largest system integrators of Toll Solutions in Latin America. The system utilizes Sirit’s IDentity 5100 (“ID5100”) readers and ISO 18000 6C passive tags. The ETC system will cover a 17 mile, 4 lane urban highway with a total of 5 toll plazas connecting industrial areas in the south with downtown Cartagena and the Port of Manga.

• Sirit received approval from Autopistas Urbanas S.A. (“AUSA”) to install Sirit’s ETC system in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The system will utilize 90 ID5100 readers which will support the AUSA legacy tags.

• Sirit‘s long-standing customer, the Bay Area Toll Authority (“BATA”), placed a renewal toll transponder order valued at US$6.6 million over the next fifteen months. The order includes two options to purchase up to US$1.7 million in additional toll transponders. Under this order, Sirit will deliver its traditional sealed Title-21 based toll transponders including packaged tags available at retail locations. BATA began taking transponders under this order in late September 2009.

• Sirit introduced the latest addition to its ‘IDentity’ series of high performance, fixed position, UHF RFID readers, the IDentity 5200 (“ID5200”). The ID5200 is a ruggedized, multi-protocol RFID reader, providing increased flexibility in configuration options with similar performance to Sirit’s leading ID5100 reader.

• Sirit was honoured with the 2009 North American Award for Competitive Strategy Leadership by Frost & Sullivan. Sirit’s superior performance, innovation, technological advancement and sound business strategies have enabled the Company to evolve into the perfect choice for automotive vehicle identification application solutions, including vehicle asset tracking, congestion pricing and electronic vehicle registration.

“We have been executing on our strategy of directing our sales and development efforts on AVI and AVI related market opportunities globally. We have demonstrated success with this strategy through the deployment in five countries across South America of Sirit’s passive RFID technology. During the third quarter alone, we announced Argentina and Colombia utilizing Sirit’s ID5100 and passive tag technology,” noted Norbert Dawalibi, President and CEO, Sirit. “With the economy showing signs of recovery, Sirit is poised for increasing growth from our traditional customers recovering from the recession as well as much larger opportunities, such as electronic vehicle registration, starting to be deployed around the world” added Mr. Dawalibi.

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Anastasia Chodarcewicz
Sirit Inc.
416.367.1897 x227
[email protected]