Seeing Machines Regulatory News (SEE)

Seeing Machines Limited

("Seeing Machines" or "the Company")

Final Results for the year ended 30 June 2016 and Publication of Annual Report

3 October 2016

Seeing Machines (AIM: SEE), the AIM-listed 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 2016 and the publication of its 2016 Annual Report.

The 2016 Annual Report is available for download from the Company's website: www.seeingmachines.com/investors 

Key Points:

Financial

· Revenue increased 161% to A$33.6 million (excluding foreign exchange gains and R&D tax grant income), a new record for the Company (FY2015: A$12.8 million).

· Revenue largely from license fees to Caterpillar Inc. for licensing of the mining product, DSS. (A$21.8 million). Consequently, revenue from DSS dropped by 29% compared to the prior year (FY2015: A$9.3m).

· Caterpillar royalty revenue stream of A$728,000 received from the first 6 months of operations

· Transition into the commercial fleet market gaining momentum with revenue from sales of the Guardian product totaling A$3.3m - up 29% on the prior year (FY2015: A$2.6m).

· Operational expenses increased to A$32.6million (FY2015: A$23.3 million).

· Net loss from continuing operations decreased to A$1.6 million (FY2015: loss of A$10.2 million), due to the one-off Caterpillar license fee offset by the increased spend of research & development. This net loss was better than market expectations.

· Completed a placing of A$12.8 million (after costs) from strategic investor, V S Industry Berhad (VSI).

· Cash reserves at 30 June 2016 were A$16.9 million compared to A$14.2 million at 30 June 2015.

Operational

· The Company continued to execute its multi-sector strategy whilst investing heavily in the core intellectual property that defines Seeing Machines and continues to deliver its competitive advantage. Significant validation of core technology from major automotive manufacturers and a number of significant fleet telematics providers.

· Licensing of Seeing Machines' DSS product to Caterpillar for A$21.85 million plus ongoing royalties on sales.

· The Company is poised to capture significant value from the automotive and commercial fleet markets with the market for Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS) forecast to grow from US$0.6B to US$13.3B by 2022 (Strategy Analytics).

· The Company and automotive partner, Takata, secured a major follow-on order for their 2nd-generation DMS from the same major automotive manufacturer for over 15, high-volume 2018/2019 vehicle models.

· The Company worked to capitalise the automotive business opportunity and drive value for shareholders, signing a non-binding term-sheet with a US-based investment firm.

· Completion, post year-end, of a proprietary System in Package (SiP) hardware module containing driver monitoring engine (DME) software for automotive customers and embedding into future products.

· Rebranding of the commercial fleet product to Guardian™ by Seeing Machines and building of a robust sales pipeline.

· Expanded into Asian and Middle Eastern markets with the appointment of Guardian South East Asia Pte. Ltd (Guardian SEA) and Technologica Information Technology, LLC (Technologica) as distributors.

· The Seeing Machines Aviation Group secured an engagement with a major global air-freight carrier delivering a successful proof-of-concept.

· Commenced engagement with a leading Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP) and other aviation training related entities to understand the impact of objective measurement of situational awareness and pilot scan patterns.

· Collaborated with Samsung Electro-Mechanics Corporation (SEMCo) to develop and demonstrate the world's first eye-tracking enabled heads-up-display (HUD) on a car windshield.

· The Company was awarded a competitive grant from the Australian Government (A$2.25 million) for the joint research and development of the next generation of Guardian product.

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

"Seeing Machines has made significant progress in growing its core IP leadership advantage which enables the Company's technology to successfully operate across all real-world light levels vs. competitors whose capability is constrained to controlled light levels indoors. We successfully licensed Seeing Machines' DSS mining product to Caterpillar - resulting in a significant one-off revenue boost for the company year in the ended 30 June 2016.

Strong investment in our fleet-focussed product, branded Guardian, is beginning to show signs of success with revenue growth of 29% for the business unit in FY2016. As a result of significant marketing and sales efforts globally, Q1 FY2017 is expected to deliver more units sold than the full FY2016. A key feature of this business unit is its Product as a Service (PaaS) recurring (annuity-type) revenue and the multiplier effect this will generate for the company in future years.

The Company has cemented itself as the market pioneer and leader of driver monitoring system (DMS) technology by securing a follow-on order from a major US automotive OEM, and has received strong levels of interest for developing programs with several major European automotive OEMs as they seek to adopt DMS for their semi-autonomous capable vehicles.

A pivotal achievement for Seeing Machines has been the development of its System in Package (SiP) - essentially a very cost-effective chipset that runs Seeing Machines' core algorithms that power all of our applications.

We delivered revenue growth on our FY2015 results of 161% to A$37.3 million (excluding foreign exchange gains). With a deliberate planned increase in operational costs in order to execute our business plans across several industry sectors, the Company made a net loss of A$1.6 million for the 2016 financial year, compared to a net loss of A$10.2 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 growth in the 2017 financial year and beyond."

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. FOVIO is Seeing Machines' stand-alone automotive business. Seeing Machines is headquartered in Australia and has offices in Tucson, Arizona and Mountain View, California. The Company counts Caterpillar, Electro Motive Diesel, Progress Rail, Boeing, Takata, SEMCo, and Eye Tracking Inc among its partners.

Review of Operations

Financial Results

The Company's total revenue from continuing operations for the financial year (excluding foreign exchange gains and finance income) was A$33.6 million, an increase of A$20.8 million, or 161%, over the 2015 revenue of A$12.8 million.

These revenue figures exclude revenue from our joint-venture (JV) company in Chile which we sold back to our original distribution partners, as part of the transition of the DSS business to Caterpillar. The results of these operations are required to be excluded from results from continued operations under Accounting Standards. For details of the share sale and the results of the discontinued operation refer to note 8.

These revenue figures also exclude the research and development tax incentive received from the Australian government which is reported in 'Other income'. This incentive - which is received as a cash refund based on eligible R&D expenditure - totalled A$2.3 million for FY16 (FY15 A$2.2 million).

This full year revenue is the largest revenue year ever achieved by the Company. The revenue was earned from the sale of goods and services and license fees. Included in the license fees is an amount of A$21.8 million from Caterpillar Inc., which was on signing a global product development, licensing and distribution agreement.

This was a year of transition for the Group as during September 2015 the Company signed a global product development, licensing and distribution agreement with Caterpillar Inc. At that point, Caterpillar took over responsibility for manufacturing, marketing and sales of Seeing Machines' existing DSS rugged off-road product and have distribution rights for Seeing Machines' Guardian fleet product, exclusively within agreed industries (mining, construction, quarry, aggregates, cement, marine, forestry). Responsibility for servicing current DSS customers also transitioned to Caterpillar from 1 January 2016. Consequently, revenue from DSS product dropped compared to the prior year by 29%. Instead, the company received ongoing royalties on sales of the DSS ruggedized product by Caterpillar as well as the one-off license fee of $21.8 million. This license fee is to be received in instalments with US$9 million received during FY16 and balance to be received in future years with the last instalment of US$1.5 million due on 1 January 2019).

Revenue from sales of the Guardian product totalled $3.3 million for the year - up 29% on the prior year. Revenue from core technology integration services totalled $1.1 million up 11% on the prior year figure of $980,000.

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 receipt of the R&D tax incentive grant from the Australian Government. Finance income has increased as the Caterpillar receivable was initially measured at its present value with the discount unwinding over time and being recognised as finance income.

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) decreased A$0.9 million (12%) to A$6.3 million (2015: A$7.1 million) due to lower product sales but was also affected by a change in the mix of sales to include the Guardian product which has a lower margin than the DSS product.

Indirect expenditure for the year was A$32.6million, up from A$23.3million for the year to 30 June 2015. The increase was mainly due to the increased investment in automotive research and development. Also included in this expense is an amount of $5.2 million for the revaluation of the Guardian inventories to the net realisable value; this revaluation is based on Guardian sales to date together with the Board's assessment of the likely unit sale price across our target markets in the short and medium term.

The Company made a net loss from continuing operations of A$1.6 million for the 2016 financial year, compared to a net loss from continuing operations of A$12.0 million for the previous year. The significantly improved result is due to the one-off Caterpillar license fee of $21.8 million offset in part by the increased spend on research and development. This net loss was better than market expectations.

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.

 During the financial year the Company raised A$12.8 million from a placing with a new strategic investor, VS Industry Berhad (VSI) through its wholly owned subsidiary V S International Venture Pte. Ltd. (VSIV), a leading integrated electronics manufacturing services provider. A total of 129,654,000 new ordinary shares in the Company were placed with VSIV, at an issue price of 5.199 pence per share, which was a premium of 20% to the Company's 30-day volume-weighted average market price ended 16 March 2016. VSIV's interest in 129,654,000 shares represents a stake of 12% in the Company's issued share capital.

Cash reserves at 30 June 2016 were A$16.9 million compared to A$14.2 million at 30 June 2015.

Operational Highlights

During the 2016 financial year the Company continued to execute the multi-sector strategy with increasing focus on the transportation sectors of mining (rugged off-road) industries, commercial road vehicles, automotive, rail and aerospace. Investing heavily in the core intellectual property and capabilities that define Seeing Machines, the Company is positioned to capture significant value from all of these sectors and has p--ioneered the industry of driver monitoring.

Mining & Caterpillar Industries

In September 2015 the Company signed a global product development, licensing and distribution agreement with Caterpillar. In return for exclusive rights to Seeing Machines' DSS product in their fields, Caterpillar pays Seeing Machines a license fee of A$21.85 million over four years, plus ongoing royalties on sales. This licence fee from Caterpillar - all of which has been recognised as revenue in the 2016 financial year - is larger than any of the Company's previous annual revenue results.

Seeing Machines' DSS rugged off-road product, under license to Caterpillar, will be available exclusively through Cat® Dealers across Caterpillar's broader industries; including mining, construction, quarry, aggregates, cement, and forestry.

During the second half of the financial year the Company completed the transition of its "ruggedized" product business to Caterpillar, for Caterpillar to manage the supply chain for this product and take over full responsibility for sales and after sales support. During the second half of the year the Company started to receive royalties based on Caterpillar's sale of these products and services - with over 170 units sold and multiple assessments underway or completed, Caterpillar is developing a healthy pipeline for DSS, it being central to their safety service offering.

Caterpillar are investing in their own product improvement. They are seeking to incorporate the latest algorithmic improvements into their product as well as seeking to reduce the manufacturing cost of the product, while maintaining the exacting specifications that the CAT brand has become synonymous with.

OEM Automotive Market

The automotive industry is going through massive technological change driven by powerful dynamics of disruption. The global adoption of ride-sharing platforms is changing the economics of car ownership and the advancements in autonomous vehicle capability is fundamentally altering the act of driving. These various stages of autonomy were highlighted by Seeing Machines' co-founder and CTO, Tim Edwards, in last years' annual report. The opportunity for Seeing Machines' core technology in semi-autonomous vehicles as part of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) is staggering. Strategy Analytics estimates that the market for Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS) will grow from US$0.6B to US$13.3B by 2022.

In 2014 the Company signed a mutually exclusive 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. Through Takata, in 2014 the Company secured a contract to develop driver monitoring systems (DMS) for a global car maker.

In March 2016 the Company and Takata secured a major follow-on order for their 2nd-Generation DMS from the same automotive manufacturer. This second order is expected to see the companies' DMS technologies integrated into more than fifteen, higher-volume, 2018 and 2019 vehicle models. This second program expands the DMS offering across a number of the manufacturer's international car brands as DMS become part of the brands' ADAS offering.

During the financial year the Company continued to engage closely with over 13 of the world's car manufacturers, including by supplying a PC-based variant of its automotive technology that allows the automotive manufacturer to easily map DMS 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. All the major OEMs are targeting semi-autonomous vehicles on their roadmaps with several automotive analysts predicting that DMS technology will be mandated within 5-10 years.

The Company continues to work on strategic and commercial options to maximise the value of this substantial market opportunity, with the aim of capturing more automotive business more quickly to maximise returns for the Company's shareholders.

The Company announced the signing of a non-binding term sheet with a US-based investment firm to focus on commercialising Seeing Machines' technology in the automotive market. The Company and its advisors continue to work to capitalise the automotive business opportunity and drive value for shareholders.

Post year end the Company completed development and launched a proprietary automotive hardware module containing the Company's driver monitoring engine software, with the intention of selling this hardware module to automotive customers and embedding in future products. The Board and Management believe this will enable the Company to capture a greater share of the revenue and margin in the automotive and commercial fleet markets. In September 2016 the Company announced the appointment of Mike McAuliffe as CEO of our automotive business, now named FOVIO.

Commercial Fleets

In 2015 the Company launched a new lower-cost product for the commercial fleet market to bring driver fatigue and distraction detection to truck drivers. Throughout FY2016, the Company invested in sales, marketing, operations and product development. Rebranding the product to Guardian™ by Seeing Machines, introducing an integrated forward-facing camera, and developing a healthy sales pipeline with significant distribution agreements were the most significant achievements of FY2016.

The Company has focussed on building a solid pipeline and engaging with Enterprise Level accounts (Companies with over 1000 vehicles). At the close of the financial year the Company has in place 34 assessments in 10 countries, addressing a total potential fleet size in excess of 100,000 vehicles. Additional Sales resources have been hired in North America bringing in specialised fleet and telematics expertise to the team. Sales for FY2016 were 1,666 units.

In June 2016 the Company appointed Guardian South East Asia Pte. Ltd. (Guardian SEA) as a non-exclusive distributor to market, sell and service the Seeing Machines' Guardian solution in Singapore and Malaysia. As part of the agreement, Guardian SEA purchased 1,000 Guardian units, the Company's single largest sale of Guardian units to date. Guardian SEA is wholly owned by V S Industry Berhad (VSI), a leading integrated electronics manufacturing services provider, and a strategic investor in Seeing Machines. Guardian SEA and VSI bring extensive regional knowledge and industry relationships to accelerate market penetration of Seeing Machines' Guardian solution into the South-East Asian region.

Seeing Machines is close to appointing Technologica Information Technology, LLC (Technologica) as its exclusive distributor for Guardian in the UAE and Gulf States. Technologica brings a wealth of expertise in integrating technology solutions into client environments, particularly in the UAE. Technologica is representing Seeing Machines in two large opportunities; Dubai Taxi Company and the Dubai Public Transport Authority. Both opportunities are subject to the outcomes of a tender evaluation process.

In 2014 the Company entered into a collaboration with Chilean company GTD Ingenieria de Sistemas to form Seeing Machines Latin America, in order to provide local support for mining customers and Caterpillar dealers. During the 2016 financial year, as part of the transition of the DSS business to Caterpillar, the Company sold its 55% stake in Seeing Machines Latin America back to our original distribution partners. We continue to work with our partners in Chile under a revised distribution agreement for our Guardian fleet product.

In March 2016 the Company launched an enhanced product rebranded as Guardian by Seeing Machines which includes an integrated Forward-Facing Camera. Unlike competitors' products, which purely record events for later analysis, the Guardian solution combines the activity in front of the vehicle with the state of the driver at the time of a critical event. Seeing Machines is also progressing with the next generation Guardian product which will enable ready integration with telematics products.

During the year the Company engaged with multiple fleet telematics providers to develop an integrated driver monitoring and safety product, combining Seeing Machines' technology and partner telematics features. These active discussions and commercial negotiations continued after the end of the financial year.

Aviation

Over the last 12 months the Seeing Machines Aviation Group has continued to increase Seeing Machines' market presence in the global aviation industry: validation of market demand in core sectors, and early-stage product development with major aviation customers and partner engagements, including the following:

· Engagement with a major freight carrier - globally recognised as a leader in Fatigue Risk Management - successfully delivered a proof-of-concept for a solution to objectively measure pilot attention and alertness during critical phases of flight

· Maturation through technical readiness levels with a major Aircraft Manufacturer to develop an Aircrew Training Tool using eye (gaze) tracking as a key measurement of situational awareness and effective instrument scanning

· Advanced technical and commercial relationship with another major Aircraft Manufacturer to evaluate a flight-deck installation into an operational wide-body aircraft to support the measurement and identification of pilot incapacitation

· Commenced a new engagement with a leading Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP) to develop a multi-sensory solution to understand and monitor the operational state of air traffic controllers

· Undertaking an installation of eye-tracking technology into another ANSP training facility to enhance their training and debriefing function, and supply air traffic control instructors with an objective insight into their trainee situational awareness and scan patterns

· Working closely with multiple carriers to leverage our capability to understand and address the global requirements for training of pilots in Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT)

· Finalising an initial engagement with an Air Force to support and supplement ab-initio (initial) pilot training, and to provide evidence based training data through eye tracking to support more effective streaming decisions

Seeing Machines offers the aviation industry best-in-class sensors and data to ensure their aircrew and air traffic controller personnel are trained to the highest standards based on evidence, and are enabled to perform and maintain vigilance and alertness in demanding and complex operational environments.

Other Markets - Rail and Consumer Electronics

During the 2016 financial year the Company and EMD conducted trials of the Company's technology with three major rail customers in North America. The trial results were positive and the Company continues to work with EMD to develop the specific product development and marketing program for the rail sector. During the year EMD responded to a request for tender from a major urban transit authority, with the Seeing Machines' fatigue and distraction capability as part of the EMD solution. The outcome of this tender process will be confirmed during the 2017 financial year. This work was undertaken as part of the initial three-year exclusive agreement with Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. (EMD), a Caterpillar company, signed in September 2014.

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. For the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016 in Las Vegas, Seeing Machines worked with Samsung to develop and demonstrate the world's first eye-tracking enabled heads-up-display (HUD) on a car windshield.

Current Trading and Outlook

Significant investment has continued in this new financial year in the development of the FOVIO automotive business working with global tier 1s and OEMs, together with investment in other areas of the business including fleet, rail and aviation. Revenue in FY16 benefitted from full recognition of the CAT licensing revenu leading to a record year. Expected revenues in FY17 will show growth year on year in all target markets, however there will not be another large license fee from CAT. Going forward, Seeing Machines' CAT revenues will consist of royalties on both DSS hardware sales and the growing compounded monthly monitoring annuity fees as well as contracted engineering revenues in further support of CAT customer solutions. Revenues from fleet, Guardian, sales will continue to grow as subscriptions for connected vehicles gains momentum. Automotive royalties on the company's first production car in North America and China will begin to accrue. Other income will include automotive engineering income supporting multiple manufacturer's pre-production prototype and R&D programs, together with certain expected aviation and rail income.

Statement of Financial Position

Statement of Comprehensive Income

Statement of Changes in Equity

Statement of Cash Flows

The information communicated in this announcement is inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation 596/2014.