Certicom Completes First Profitable Year In Its History

For the fourth quarter, Certicom reported revenues of US$2.6 million, up 8% compared with the fourth quarter last year, and up 23% compared to the third quarter of 2004. For the full year, Certicom reported net income of US$17.2 million, or $0.50 per basic share and US$0.48 per diluted share, compared to a loss of US$4.9 million, or US$0.15 per basic and diluted share in its last fiscal year ended April 30, 2003. Full Year Financial Review For the fiscal year 2004, Certicom reported revenues of $34.5 million, which include $24.9 million in revenue recognized from the companys NSA licensing contract, compared to $10.4 million for fiscal year 2003. Operating expenses, including cost of sales and excluding depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation expense, were flat at $13.7 million compared to a year ago. For the year, EBITDA* was $20.8 million, compared with a loss of $3.2 million last year. This improvement in EBITDA is due primarily to the one-time impact of the NSA contract. The company posted net income on a GAAP basis of $17.2 million, or $0.50 per basic share and $0.48 per diluted share for the fiscal year 2004, compared with a net loss of $4.9 million, or $0.15 per basic and diluted share last year. As a result of fiscal 2004 being a profitable year for the company, a bonus of $1.4 million was distributed to all employees. Cash(xx) totaled $36.9 million at year-end, compared to $8.8 million at year-end 2003. Cash at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2004 was $38.5 million. Fourth Quarter Financial Review Operating expenses, including cost of sales and excluding depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation expense, were $3.9 million compared with operating expenses of $3.2 million in the same period last year, representing a 20% increase. Operating expenses in the third quarter of fiscal 2004 were $3.0 million. The fourth quarter expenses included a year-end bonus expense of $0.5 million. Expenses in the fourth quarter were slightly higher than previously provided guidance of between $3.4 and $3.7 million for the period. The increase relates primarily to the investment in the companys evolving IP business. The company posted an EBITDA loss of $1.3 million, compared with a loss of $0.8 million in the fourth quarter last year. In the third quarter of fiscal 2004, the companys EBITDA loss from its business was $0.9 million. The net loss on a GAAP basis for the quarter was $1.7 million, or $0.04 per basic and diluted share, compared with a net loss in the same period last year of $2.0 million, or $0.06 per basic and diluted share. In the third quarter of fiscal 2004 the company posted a net loss on a GAAP basis of $1.8 million, or $0.05 per basic and diluted share. Both the EBITDA loss and the net loss on a GAAP basis for the quarter included a fiscal year-end bonus expense of $0.5 million. Excluding the bonus expense, the EBITDA loss for the quarter was flat compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003, and the net loss on a GAAP basis for the quarter improved by $0.8 million compared to the same period in fiscal 2003. Fourth Quarter Operational Highlights - Signed a total of six new customer contracts, including Unisys Corporation, which licensed Certicoms Security Builder toolkits to embed ECC in its document processor families. The highly-optimized implementations of ECC, found in the Security Builder toolkit, enable Unisys to digitally sign more than 10,000 images per minute and address the security requirements of Check 21 (Check clearing for the 21st Century Act) image exchange. - Announced the launch of the companys new growth strategy for its IP licensing business. This will extend its business of embedded security to include the licensing of its extensive ECC-based patent portfolio. Certicom is now pursuing IP licensing opportuni