Seeing Machines Regulatory News (SEE)

Seeing Machines Limited

Final Results for the year ended 30 June 2015

and Publication of Annual Report

21 September 2015

Seeing Machines Limited (AIM: SEE) the AIM listed technology company with a focus on operator monitoring and intervention sensing technologies and services, is pleased to announce its audited financial results for the year to 30 June 2015 and the publication of its 2015 Annual Report. 

The 2015 Annual Report is available for download from the Company's website, at www.seeingmachines.com/investors .

Key Points:

Financial

· Revenue increased 20% to A$21.2 million (excluding foreign exchange gains), a record for the Company (FY2014: A$17.7 million).

· Increase of more than 70% in the number of products shipped, to 1,828 units, another record for the Company (FY2014: 1,059 units).

· Revenue largely from DSS mining product and services, with some revenue from initial sales of the new Seeing Machines Fleet product.

· Investment in systems and infrastructure to enable growth resulted in increased expenses for R&D, sales and marketing and corporate activities.

· Operational expenses increased to A$24.3 million (FY2014: A$13.2 million).

· Net loss increased to A$10.2 million (FY2014: loss of A$2.7 million), reflecting planned increase in R&D activities and investments in sales and marketing resources.

· Completed a capital raising of A$10.8 million (after costs). Cash reserves at 30 June 2015 were A$14.2 million (30 June 2014: A$22.7 million). At 30 June 2015 the Company had trade debtors of A$7.3 million (30 June 2014: A$5.5 million).

Operational

· Executing our strategy to commercialise our technology in six global industries: mining; commercial fleets; road vehicles; rail; consumer electronics; and aviation and simulators.

· Dramatic advances in automotive and aviation technologies.

· Continued increase in sales from DSS products and services, despite challenging conditions in the global mining industry. DSS revenue includes A$6.2 million from Seeing Machines Latin America, the Company's joint venture in Chile established in August 2014.

· Extended our exclusive global alliance with Caterpillar, first announced in May 2013, by signing DSS distribution agreements with additional Caterpillar dealers. In March 2015 we signed a marketing and licence agreement for Caterpillar Safety Solutions to provide 24/7 monitoring and analytical services to their global customers using Seeing Machines' DSS products.

· Developed and launched Seeing Machines Fleet, a new product for the commercial road transport market. Signed several distribution agreements and received first product orders.

· Strategic alliance agreement signed with TK Holdings Inc., the Americas subsidiary of Takata Corporation, an automotive industry leader in the supply of advanced driver safety systems (ADAS). Through Takata, the Company secured a contract to develop driver monitoring systems for a global car maker.

· Successful research collaboration with Boeing Research & Technology - Australia, providing the eye tracking technology that monitors and measures a pilot's situational awareness. A jointly developed solution was installed in a Boeing Flight Services 737 Flight Simulator at the Brisbane International Airport.

· Strategic agreement signed with Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. (EMD), a Caterpillar Company, related to in-cab operator fatigue and distraction monitoring systems for use in locomotives and other railway vehicles.

· Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Samsung Electro-Mechanics Corporation to facilitate joint development of face and eye tracking technology for the consumer electronics industry.

· Ended the financial year with a strong balance sheet and strong pipeline.

· Management confident in ongoing strategy and growth delivery.

Developments after the end of the Financial Year

· In September 2015 we further extended the Caterpillar alliance by signing a global product development, licensing and distribution agreement, for Caterpillar to take over responsibility for manufacturing, marketing and sales of the DSS off-road product. Caterpillar will also have distribution rights for Seeing Machines Fleet product, exclusive within agreed Caterpillar industries (mining, construction, cement and quarry, paving, forestry, marine and industrial operations) and nonexclusive outside these industries. Caterpillar will pay Seeing Machines US$17.5 million over four years as well as royalty fees for DSS hardware, software licensing, monitoring and analytics services. The Company expects that in the 2016 financial year, all of the US$17.5 million payment will be recognised as revenue, and US$9 million of it will be received as cash. Current DSS customer agreements will be transitioned to Caterpillar and supported by Caterpillar dealers. 

· As part of this transition, Caterpillar will also purchase existing inventory of DSS units plus spare parts, for an agreed lump sum. This inventory includes some surplus DSS units which had been allocated to a customer in Zambia under an order announced on 20 July 2015, where the scope of the order has recently been reduced. This has meant a reduction in hardware revenue from the Zambian order, but a larger total revenue from the lump sum sale to Caterpillar. This DSS inventory gives Caterpillar a solid base to accelerate the transition of DSS sales and supply.

Commenting on the Results, Seeing Machines Chairman, Terry Winters said:

"Seeing Machines set ambitious goals for the 2015 year. While the significant downturn in global mining markets meant that we didn't achieve the upper level of our growth objectives, we still shipped a record number of products, achieved record full year revenues and better than budgeted net income results for the year ended 30 June 2015.

Strong demand continued for the Company's DSS products and services for the global mining sector. Our DSS sales performance has been aided by our strong relationship with Caterpillar and our growing relationships with the Caterpillar Global Dealer Network and the increased reach these Dealers bring to our distribution capabilities.

We were also very pleased to see manufacturing commenced and the first new lower cost road fleet products shipped into this new and very large market segment. We are very excited about the level of interest we are receiving from long distance fleet transport operators and note that this market is larger than the mining segment by orders of magnitude.

The company's clear leadership in designing and developing driver monitoring systems (DMS) technology has led to a very significant contract to supply our technology to one of the largest global car manufacturers and substantial interest from other leading global car producers.

We delivered revenue growth on our 2014 results of 20% to A$21.2 million (excluding foreign exchange gains). With our planned increase in operational costs in order to execute our business plans in several industry sectors, the Company made a net loss of A$10.2 million for the 2015 financial year, compared to a net loss of A$2.7 million for the previous year.

Your Company ended the financial year with a strong balance sheet and a significant pipeline of opportunities that are expected to lead to further revenue growth in the 2016 financial year."

Enquiries:

About Seeing Machines

Seeing Machines, (AIM: SEE) is focused on operator monitoring and intervention sensing technologies and services. With more than 15 years of experience, Seeing Machines uses advanced detection and prevention safety assistance technologies to track eye and facial movement in order to monitor fatigue, drowsiness and distraction events, such as microsleeps, texting and cell phone use as they occur, while providing for a real-time intervention strategy, which improves operator, driver and environmental safety, preserves assets, and reduces risk. Seeing Machines' technology is used worldwide across the automotive, mining, transport and aviation industries; as well as many of the leading academic research groups and transportation authorities. Seeing Machines is headquartered in Australia and has offices in Tucson, Arizona, Mountain View, California and Santiago, Chile. The Company counts Caterpillar, BHP Billiton, Freeport, Electro Motive Diesel, Boeing, Takata, SEMCo and Eye Tracking Inc among its customers or partners.

Directors' Report

Review of Operations

Financial Results

The Company's total revenue and other income for the financial year (excluding foreign exchange gains and finance income) was A$21.2 million, an increase of A$3.7 million, or 20%, over the 2014 revenue of A$17.6 million. This represents the highest revenue the Company has generated in any financial year.

This record revenue was based largely on sales of the Company's DSSTM products and services to the mining industry, with early sales of the Company's new Fleet product towards the end of the financial year. In the year to 30 June 2015 the Company shipped 1,828 units, across the mining and Fleet products (FY2014: 1,059 units), another record for the Company.

The Company achieved sales revenues of A$18.9 million, of which A$13.0 million was from the sale of goods and A$6.0M from providing services. This represents a 13% increase over 2014. As in previous years, sales revenue was weighted towards the second half of the financial year, with revenue of A$13.1 million (69% of the total) coming in the second half.

Revenue for the year for the Company's product lines, as well as Other Income compared to the last financial year, is shown in the following table.

Other income was primarily due to the recovery of R&D tax offsets refund from the Australian Government. Finance income was attributable to the interest earnings due to increased cash holdings resulting from the capital raises conducted during the year.

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) increased A$3.7 million (55%) to A$10.4 million (2014: A$6.7 million) due mainly to: upfront tooling, setup and freight costs incurred in preparation of the commercial fleet product; change in the mix of sales to include the Fleet product, with a lower margin than the DSS product and the expansion of the Company's logistics facilities in Australia and the USA.

Operational expenses increased by 85% to A$24.3 million (2014: A$13.2 million). This increase is a result of the Company executing its plans for entry into an extended set of industry sectors, and reflects the Company's planned investment in research and development as well as supporting the significant growth in revenue through additional customer fulfilment and support infrastructure and personnel.

The Company made a net loss of A$10.6 million for the 2015 financial year, compared to a net loss of A$2.7 million for the previous year.  Included in this result is foreign exchange gains of A$3.0 million. The unrealised foreign exchange gain (A$2.7 million) relates to the Company holding its cash and a portion of the trade receivables and payables balances in AUD, USD and GBP.

This loss was a result of planned investments to implement the Company's business strategy outlined in mid-2014. During this year we invested significantly in our capability and resources to commercialise our technology in our global target industries: mining; commercial fleets; road vehicles; rail; consumer electronics; and aviation and simulators. This investment is reflected in increased expenses for R&D, sales and marketing and corporate activities.

The key financial results for the year are shown in the table below: 

The other sectors in the table above represents the Seeing Machines FleetTM and Core technology integration services business.

During the year the Company completed a capital raising realising A$11.4 million less transaction costs of $0.6 million. Cash reserves at 30 June 2015 were A$14.2 million compared to A$22.8 million at 30 June 2014. The lower cash balance was due to a significant payment for the initial order placed for the commercial fleet product as well as the overall loss incurred. At 30 June 2015 the Company had trade debtors of A$7.4 million compared to A$5.5 million in the previous year.

Operational Highlights

During the previous financial year the Company released its six-sector, transport focused, operator monitoring and safety intervention strategy. The strategy targets the global sectors of mining, commercial road transport, rail, automotive, aviation and consumer electronics. During this financial year the Company began executing this strategy, including the following operational highlights.

Mining & Caterpillar Industries

The Company continued to increase sales from its DSS driver monitoring products and services, with full year revenues from DSS of A$15.4 million, 7% higher than last year, despite challenging conditions in the global mining industry. This revenue comprises a mix of product and services fees, including:

· sales of DSS units;

· software licensing;

· installation services;

· maintenance and support fees;

· field support services; and

· DSSiTM information reporting services including event classification.

This revenue figure includes A$6.2 million of revenue from Seeing Machines Latin America, the Company's joint venture in Chile established during this financial year. The joint venture generates revenue by providing DSS products and services to customers in Latin America.

DSS products are now installed across the world - in North and South America, Europe, Middle-East and Africa, Australia and Asia-Pacific - with some of the world's leading resource companies, including BHP Billiton, Freeport, Teck Coal, Peabody, Newmont and Vale.

Sales into the mining sector were driven by the Company's exclusive global alliance with Caterpillar, first announced in May 2013. During the year the Company and Caterpillar continued to strengthen this alliance. The Company signed DSS distribution agreements with a number of additional Caterpillar dealers, including the world's largest (Finning International). As at 30 June 2015 the Company had signed agreements with 18 Caterpillar dealers to sell and service the DSS product.

As one of the agreed phases of the Caterpillar alliance, in March 2015 the Company signed a marketing and licence agreement for Caterpillar Safety Solutions to provide 24/7 monitoring and analytical services to their global customers using Seeing Machines' DSS products. Caterpillar Safety Solutions (CSS), in tandem with global Cat dealers and Seeing Machines, offers customers an end-to-end fatigue risk management solution. The integrated solution combines technical consulting and change management services with a technology suite that incorporates Seeing Machines' DSS in-vehicle protection and 24-hour DSSi operator monitoring service provided through Caterpillar's Condition Monitoring Centres.

Where the first phase of the Caterpillar alliance focused on the mining sector, this new offering is available across Caterpillar's broader industries, including construction, aggregate and quarry and forestry, and is accessible through Caterpillar's global network of approximately 185 dealers.

After the end of the financial year, the Company has further strengthened its alliance with Caterpillar, by signing agreements under which Caterpillar will take over responsibility for manufacturing, marketing and sales of Seeing Machines' existing DSS rugged off-road product.

'ADAS' for Road Vehicles

One of the Company's six target markets is the automotive sector. The opportunity in this market is to integrate the Company's technology into passenger cars as part of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, or "ADAS". ADAS is an industry term for systems developed to automate, adapt and enhance vehicle systems for safety and better driving. ADAS systems include safety features designed to avoid collisions and accidents by offering technologies that alert the driver to potential problems, or to avoid collisions by implementing safeguards and taking over control of the vehicle. ADAS technology can be based upon vision/camera systems and sensor technologies that monitor the driver and the external environment.

In August 2014 the Company signed a strategic alliance with TK Holdings Inc., the Americas subsidiary of Takata Corporation, a Tier 1 supplier of automotive safety systems to major global automotive manufacturers. The alliance is mutually exclusive in passenger and commercial vehicle OEM applications including cars, trucks and buses but excludes aftermarket solutions. Revenues to Seeing Machines will be a combination of minimum licence fees and royalties. 

Through Takata, the Company secured a contract to develop driver monitoring systems for a global car maker. During the 2015 financial year the Company generated revenue of A$0.55 million from the core technology services provided to Takata in the development of this product for this first automotive customer. This work was a major focus of the Company during this financial year, and successfully delivering this project will be a high priority for the Company during the 2016 financial year.

While the Takata airbag recall is restricting short-term opportunities with some automotive OEMs, in parallel with our continuing work with Takata, the Company is progressing relationships with a number of global automotive OEMs, including by supplying a PC-based variant of our automotive technology that allows the automotive manufacturer to easily map Driver Monitoring capability to their ADAS and autonomous vehicle technology road maps and to input into their technology packaging strategy for new vehicles, model range interiors and dashboards.

The Company believes the automotive sector presents many opportunities to successfully commercialise the Company's technology. During the 2016 financial year the Board and Management will continue to develop and pursue strategic alternatives and commercial models to maximise these opportunities.

Commercial Fleets

During the 2015 financial year the Company leveraged its existing rugged off-road DSS product, to develop and build a new lower cost on-road product for commercial fleets. This new product, Seeing Machines' FleetTM, was launched in late April 2015 at the annual conference of the U.S. National Private Truck Council. 

Seeing Machines' Fleet is a driver monitoring system designed specifically for trucks, buses and other commercial fleet vehicles. It provides drivers and supervisors with real-time notification when drivers are fatigued or distracted. Other similar products in this market only allow for fatigue risk mitigation as a post event intervention.

In June 2015 the Company received its first order for 750 units of the Fleet product, from its distributor Insurance Underwriting Managers (IUM) in South Africa. IUM is a leading South African insurance underwriter that focuses on the commercial fleet market. IUM is offering the Fleet product to its customers with an expectation that driver behaviour will improve, reducing accidents and associated insurance costs. 

The Fleet product is being manufactured by Seeing Machines' outsourced manufacturing partner in China. While the Company is selling the Fleet product directly to end user companies through our international sales team, the Company has also appointed a number of distributors in various regions, including IUM in Africa, FleetSafe in New Zealand, Convoy Technologies in the USA, and Caterpillar at a global level for their key fields of operation. The Seeing Machines Fleet product will also be distributed in Chile by Seeing Machines' Latin American joint venture. We are also in the process of establishing Fleet sales partnerships in other large markets. This activity will continue during the 2016 financial year.

Aviation, Simulators & Consoles

The Company believes there are significant opportunities for its technology to be deployed in the aviation sector. During the year we evaluated the industry and discussed these opportunities with a range of leading aviation companies, regulators and other stakeholders. 

During the year the Company engaged in a successful research collaboration with Boeing Research & Technology - Australia, providing the eye tracking technology that monitors and measures a pilot's situational awareness. The jointly developed solution was installed in a Boeing Flight Services 737 Flight Simulator at the Brisbane International Airport. Using Seeing Machines' commercial gaze-tracking technology, combined with Boeing's data handling and analytics software, the system provides real-time evaluation of a pilot's instrument scan and flight deck interaction. This analysis enables the automatic detection of performance breakdowns regarding the pilot's interaction with the flight deck, which can be relayed to the instructor in real time using a wireless tablet PC. Preliminary results obtained from a study conducted with operational pilots and check captains from an Australian national airline has proven to be very successful. 

After the end of the financial year the Company signed agreements with Boeing to deliver three more gaze tracking units for use at various Boeing facilities in Australia and overseas.

Other Markets - Rail and Consumer Electronics

In September 2014 the Company signed a strategic agreement with Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. (EMD), a Caterpillar Company, related to in-cab operator fatigue and distraction monitoring systems for use in locomotives and other railway vehicles. This exclusive agreement, with an initial term of three years, allows Seeing Machines and EMD to develop and adapt Seeing Machines' technology for the rail industry. The Company has been working with EMD to agree the specific product development and marketing program for the rail sector, and to conduct trials with early customers. 

Also in September 2014, the Company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Samsung Electro-Mechanics Corporation (SEMCo) to facilitate joint development of face and eye tracking technology for the consumer electronics industry. Under this program, SEMCo and Seeing Machines will each appoint dedicated engineering teams to a collaborative R&D program, and assign business development resources tasked with supporting key markets. At this stage the Company's investment of resources in this market is modest, but it remains an attractive target market given the large size of the consumer electronics market and the potential for consumer devices to reach into other markets over time.

Other Highlights

· In August 2014 the Company entered into a collaboration with a long time distributor, Chilean company GTD Ingenieria de Sistemas, to form Seeing Machines Latin America. This will enable the highest levels of service to mining customers and local Caterpillar dealers. Seeing Machines owns a majority 55 percent of the new company, which is based in Chile and employs 25 staff.

· In October 2014 the Company also formed another new company, NuCoria Pty. Ltd., with The Australian National University to commercialise TrueField Analyzer (TFA) Intellectual Property. Leveraging Seeing Machines' patented IP, technical expertise, and ANU's technology transfer & commercialisation successes, NuCoria will be dedicated to bringing revolutionary medical devices to market. Seeing Machines owns 18 percent of the equity in NuCoria and has the right to receive future royalties.

· During the financial year the Company established FOVIOTM as its technology platform for research based interest and opportunities (replacing the FaceLAB & FaceAPI product lines) and in August 2014, appointed Eye Tracking, Inc, as the Company's distributor for the eye-tracking research market.

Outlook for Financial Year 2015-2016

2015 has been another significant year in the Company's history with another record revenue result. This healthy revenue growth, in challenging market conditions, is driven by our leadership in the mining industry though our own efforts and in partnership with Caterpillar Global Mining.

During the year we broadened our business base by transitioning from a mining focus to other transport specific industries. The launch of our commercial fleet product allows the Company to enter a very large market (much larger than the mining market) with a solution to address a significant problem within that sector. 

We have started the process of moving to a broader range of revenue streams from both direct and indirect sales, from hardware sales to a wider range of products and services, including recurring license and service fees.

We continue to accelerate the commercialization of our technology across a focused range of industry sectors. A foundation has been set with the expansion of our business development teams, customer support services and infrastructure required to scale quickly.

This focus and approach has seen Seeing Machines execute on its strategic alliance with the world's leading manufacturer of mining equipment, Caterpillar, and gives the Board confidence in another year of revenue growth from the mining sector.

We continue to work with our automotive partner, TK Holdings to deploy driver monitoring technology for a major global automotive manufacturer. Our first product in this market will be delivered during the 2016 financial year, and with ongoing discussions with major automotive customers we are confident that this sector will become a significant contributor to our business.

The successful execution of these two major alliances, combined with our existing sales pipeline, provides the Board with confidence of continued strong revenue growth in 2016.

The Company's key activities during the 2016 financial year will include:

· Revenue: continuing to drive strong revenue growth, from a broader range of markets, particularly the commercial fleet market;

· DSS: complete the transition to Caterpillar of existing DSS mining customers and future sales and services; support Caterpillar to drive increased sales through its global dealer network, into the broader Caterpillar industries (not just mining);

· Automotive: work with Takata to deliver our driver monitoring product to the first automotive customer; engage with other automotive OEMs; develop and pursue strategic alternatives and commercial models to maximise automotive opportunities;

· Commercial Fleets: drive sales of the Seeing Machines Fleet product, through direct and indirect sales channels; continue to reduce product cost and enhance features and performance;

· Aviation: further collaborations with Boeing stakeholders, international airlines and flight training schools; implement several operational solutions and prototypes;

· Rail: work with Progress Rail and EMD to trial our technology with rail customers and begin to develop a rail specific operator monitoring solution;

· Operations: extract cost while improve the customer experience with our supply chain; leverage the capabilities of our business information systems to support commercial decisions; complete accreditation of our Quality Management System.

The Board and Management look forward to reporting to shareholders on these activities during the coming year.

(The financial statements from the Annual Report are extracted below. Please refer to the full Annual Report, available at www.seeingmachines.com, for the Notes to the accounts.)

Statement of Financial Position

Statement of Comprehensive Income

Statement of Changes in Equity

Statement of Cash Flows