Seeing Machines Regulatory News (SEE)

Seeing Machines Limited

("Seeing Machines" or the "Company")

Half Year Results to 31 December 2015

Record revenue and profit results, driven by Caterpillar licensing deal

7 March 2016

Seeing Machines Limited (AIM: SEE) the AIM listed vehicle operator monitoring technology company, is pleased to release its unaudited financial results for the six months to 31 December 2015.

Key Points:

Financial

· Business revenue for the half year increased by 594% to A$29.3 million (December 2014: A$4.2 million) driven by the Caterpillar licensing fee of A$21.8 million

· Sales and service revenue increased by 76% (A$7.4 million compared to A$4.2 million for 2014)

· Mining industry sales increased by 6% to A$5.7 million, despite ongoing challenging market conditions

· Fleet revenue of A$681,484 for the half year

· Profit for the half year increased to A$11.2 million (December 2014 net loss of A$4.3 million), reflecting the one off Caterpillar licensing fee

· Cash at 31 December 2015 decreased to A$10.2 million (30 June 2015: A$14.2 million) mainly as a result of the increase in R&D activities and building out the working capital requirements for the fleet business.

Operational Highlights - Automotive

· As separately announced today, the Company has secured a follow on order to deliver a second generation driver monitoring system (DMS) to a global car maker, in partnership with Takata. This order follows the successful development of a first generation system for the same manufacturer, expected to launch this year in 2017 models. The second order is expected to deploy DMS technologies into more than ten, higher-volume, 2018 vehicle models.

· DMS technology is becoming a key component for semi-autonomous driving systems, with ongoing discussions at various stages with 13 other car makers.

· As previously announced, the Company is working on further strategic and commercial options to maximise the value of this very large market opportunity and capture more automotive business more quickly to maximise returns for our shareholders. This work has recently accelerated, with the Company appointing external advisors based in Palo Alto, USA, to advise the Board on how to optimise our structure and best fund and execute these plans. The Board and management also continue to take into account feedback and requirements from car manufacturers and the automotive supply market.

· Based on the strong market interest and advice we are receiving, the Board and management are currently working on a plan that includes developing and selling a propriety automotive hardware module containing the Company's driver monitoring engine software, rather than purely licensing its software. We believe this will enable the Company to capture a greater share of the revenue and margin in the automotive ADAS market.

· The Company is also investigating the option of executing these plans through a to-be established, separately-funded company, solely focused on the automotive industry.  If the Company pursues this option, we expect to retain a significant equity stake. The Company and its advisors are in discussions with potential investors and strategic partners for this opportunity. The Company has not entered any binding commitments in respect of these funding plans and there is no guarantee that these plans will be realised. The Company will keep shareholders informed if and when these activities result in binding agreements.

Other Operational Highlights

· Continued to execute our strategy of commercialising our technology in multiple global industries: mining and rugged off-road industries; commercial fleets; road vehicles; rail and aerospace.

· Secured a global product development, licensing and distribution agreement with Caterpillar. Caterpillar will market Seeing Machines' DSS and Fleet products for in-cab operator fatigue and distraction monitoring, across multiple industries (mining, construction, cement, quarry, forestry and marine). In return for exclusive rights to our technology in their fields, Caterpillar pays Seeing Machines a license fee of A$21.85 million over four years, all of which has been recognised as revenue in the current period, plus ongoing royalties.

· Caterpillar is currently working with Seeing Machines to develop their first Cat branded DSS product and are contracting Seeing Machines' DSS manufacturer to restock their DSS hardware inventory.

· Successful deployment of Fleet units to Insurance Underwriting Managers' commercial fleet customers in South Africa, and accelerating Fleet assessments in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the U.S.

· Plan to launch an enhanced Fleet Product in March which includes a Forward Facing Camera.

· Our in-cab operator fatigue and distraction technology is being trialled in locomotives by two rail customers in North America.

· Worked with Samsung to develop and demonstrate the world's first eye-tracking enabled heads-up-display (HUD) on a car windshield, on Samsung's transparent OLED display technology at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

· Agreement to sell our shares in our joint venture company in Chile back to our original distribution partners, as part of the transition of the DSS business to Caterpillar.

Commenting on the Results, Seeing Machines CEO, Ken Kroeger said:

"During this last half year we completed the successful transition of our DSS mining business to Caterpillar's global operations. This was a milestone event for Seeing Machines. We believe this partnership validates our approach of, first, seeding the market with our technology, then building brand recognition and proving out a successful business case for our customers, then finally transitioning to a licensing arrangement with a market leader who has better channels to market and the size to deploy our technology in volume.

The licence fee from Caterpillar, of A$21.85 million, is larger than any of the company's previous annual revenue results and has resulted in the company achieving our highest profit result for any period in the company's history.

Apart from the Caterpillar licence fee, we also increased our total product and services mining revenue over the same period last financial year, despite very challenging conditions in the global mining sector.

In mid 2015 we launched the fully functional version of the new product for the commercial fleet market. Our early sales of this product have ranged from positive in the Asia-Pacific region to slower in North America. Much of the effort of the Sales Team in the first two quarters has been spent in developing relationships with partners and potential distributors. The transition from an initial assessment to a commitment to install our systems in a customer's fleet is generally faster than we experienced in the mining industry with DSS. With this in mind we expect to see the outcomes of the current assessments bearing positive results in the 2nd half of the year. The information gathered from our customers in the assessment stage is proving invaluable and will lead us to deliver a better product with the next generation release. We have recently seen more momentum in the fleet market and we are confident of accelerating sales during the rest of 2016.

During the last half year a significant percentage of our engineering and business development focus was on the automotive industry. We have made strong progress in developing our first generation driver monitoring system for one of the world's largest car companies, and we have recently secured a larger follow-on order for a second generation system for the same company. Our momentum in this market is very encouraging, with many other car manufacturers evaluating our technology as part of their plans to develop semi-autonomous vehicles.

We are also continuing to make advances in the aviation industry. Building on our work with Boeing's Research and Technology group in Australia, we are in discussions with commercial airlines, logistics providers, helicopter training operators, air traffic controllers and aviation government agencies.

During this half year we continued to commercialise our technology in multiple global industries, consistent with the strategy we outlined almost 18 months ago. Our investment in these opportunities is reflected in increased expenses for R&D during this half year.

All of the one-off licence fee from Caterpillar is recognised as revenue in this half year, meaning revenue and profits are significantly higher than the same period last year. Stripping out the Caterpillar fee, other sales and service revenue for the half year was A$7.4 million, a healthy 76% increase over the same period last year.

For the full financial year ending 30 June 2016, the Directors expect total revenue will be significantly higher than last year due to the Caterpillar license fee. Excluding this revenue, other sales and service revenue may be marginally lower than the last full year, depending on how quickly current assessments for the Fleet product convert to larger deployments. We are building a strong pipeline of Fleet sales across several regions, driven by a number of assessments and opportunities as outlined in our recent quarterly Fleet update. We are also confident of increased activity and sales through Caterpillar across their broad target markets.

Our Board and management thank shareholders for their support and we look forward to updating the market on our continued progress over the coming months."

The half year financial report is available at http://www.seeingmachines.com/investors/financial-reports/ 

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 and results of operations

Financial Results

The first six months of trading in the 2015 financial year was an improvement over the corresponding period in the previous financial year. The Company's business revenue for the half year to 31 December 2015 was A$29,320,940 (2014: A$5,867,061) from the sale of goods and services and licence fees. This increase was primarily driven by the licence fee of A$21,850,452 from Caterpillar for the licence of the DSS technology.

The Company made a net profit before tax of A$11,174,353 for the period, a significant turnaround from a net loss of A$4,310,464 for the period to 31 December 2014, again driven by the Caterpillar licence revenue. We continued to invest heavily in our capability and resources to commercialise our technology in six global industries, with particular R&D focus on automotive and business working capital requirements for the fleet business.

Rounding

The amounts contained in the financial report have been rounded to the nearest A$1 (where rounding is applicable) where noted ($) under the option available to the Group under ASIC Class Order 98/100. The Company is an entity to which the class order applies.

Operational highlights for the half-year include:

Caterpillar industries

· In September 2015 the Company signed a global product development, licensing and distribution agreement with Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar takes over responsibility for manufacturing, marketing and sales of Seeing Machines' existing DSS rugged off-road product and have distribution rights for Seeing Machines Fleet product, exclusive within agreed industries (mining, construction, quarry, aggregates, cement, marine, forestry).

· Caterpillar will pay Seeing Machines A$21,850,452 over four years as well as royalty fees for DSS hardware, software licensing, monitoring and analytics services.

· Responsibility for servicing current DSS customers has transitioned to Caterpillar from 1 January 2016.

· Seeing Machines will continue to support Caterpillar, and develop new products based on a fee for service.

Automotive

· During this half year the Company continued to work with automotive safety company Takata to develop driver monitoring systems (DMS) for automotive customers, with the first order from one of the world's largest car companies. The first generation DMS system is expected to launch this year in 2017 models.

· As separately announced on 7 March 2016, the Company has secured a follow on order to deliver a second generation driver monitoring system (DMS) to a global car maker, in partnership with Takata. This order follows the successful development of a first generation system for the same manufacturer. The second order is expected to deploy DMS technologies into more than ten, higher-volume, 2018 vehicle models.

· DMS technology is becoming a key component for semi-autonomous driving systems, with ongoing discussions at various stages with 13 other car makers. Seeing Machines and Takata continue to engage closely with most of the world's car manufacturers. Program discussions continue with fourteen manufacturers of which nine are currently performing validation tests using Seeing Machines' DMS evaluation product as they seek driver monitoring technologies for their upcoming product lines.

· As previously announced, the Company has been working on further strategic and commercial options to maximise this very large market opportunity, in order to capture more automotive business, more quickly, with the best returns for our shareholders. This work has recently accelerated, with the Company appointing Woodside Capital Partners based in Palo Alto, USA, to advise the Board on how best to fund and execute these plans. Rudy Burger, one of Seeing Machines' Non-Executive Directors, is a Managing Partner and Managing Director of Woodside Capital. The Board and management are also taking into account feedback and requirements from car manufacturers and the automotive supply market.

· Based on this strong market interest and advice, the Board and management are currently working on a plan that includes developing and selling a propriety automotive hardware module containing the Company's driver monitoring engine software, rather than purely licensing its software. We believe this will enable the Company to capture a greater share of the revenue and margin in the automotive ADAS market. The Company is also investigating the option of executing these plans through a to-be established, separately-funded company, solely focused on the automotive industry. If the Company pursues this option, we expect to retain a significant equity stake. The Company and its advisors are in discussions with potential investors and strategic partners for this opportunity. The Company has not entered any binding commitments in respect of these funding plans and there is no guarantee that these plans will be realised. The Company will keep shareholders informed if and when these activities result in binding agreements.

Commercial Fleets

· In mid-2015 the Company launched a new fatigue and distraction monitoring product for trucks and buses. During the half year we achieved strong sales through our distributor Insurance Underwriting Managers in South Africa, and continued to build a pipeline of assessments and larger deployments in Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Sales in North America have been slower than expected, with a longer transition from an initial assessment to an implementation across a customer's fleet.

· The Company has recently enhanced its product offering by integrating a forward-facing camera into the fleet product, making our solution the first preventative solution to provide 360-degree situational awareness (in front of the truck as well as facing the driver; this product will be launched this month.

· Our client assessments are progressing rapidly with several new assessments commencing after the end of the half year. We have also continued a number of assessments with major fleet operators with commercial negotiations now well advanced.

Other industries

· Aviation: continued progress during the half year. Building on our work with Boeing's Research and Technology group in Australia, we are in discussions with commercial airlines, logistics providers, helicopter training operators, air traffic controllers and aviation government agencies.

· Rail: our in-cab operator fatigue and distraction technology is being trialed in locomotives by two rail customers in North America, in partnership with Electro-Motive Diesel.

· Consumer Electronics: Worked with Samsung to develop and demonstrate the world's first eye-tracking enabled heads-up-display (HUD) on a car windshield, on Samsung's transparent OLED display technology at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2016.

· Joint Ventures: Agreement to sell our shares in our joint venture company in Chile back to our original distribution partners, as part of the transition of the DSS business to Caterpillar.  

Financial Results

In the half year to 31 December 2015 the Company achieved business revenues of A$29,320,940 (2014: A$5,867,061) from sale of goods and services and license fees. Including other income, the total revenue for the period was A$31,684,263 (2014: A$9,437,346). Of the revenue from sale of goods and services, A$4,120,417 was from the sale of goods and A$1,746,644 was from providing services. Revenue for the half year for the DSS, Fovio and Fleet product lines, the Caterpillar license fee, and Other Income compared to the same period last year is shown in the following table:

DSS revenues were A$27,615,471 for the six months to 31 December 2015, reflecting a significant increase over A$3,793,666 achieved for the six months to 31 December 2014. Included in this amount is a one off licence fee of A$21,850,452 for the exclusive license of the DSS technology to Caterpillar. This licence fee is payable over four years but is all recognised as revenue in this half year.

During the half year we continued to work closely with Cat Safety Services to ensure a smooth transition of the business and to grow sales in the mining industry, as well as broadening our activities with Caterpillar into their other industry sectors.

Cost of sales at A$4,238,008 (2014: A$2,597,468) was higher due to upfront tooling, setup and freight costs incurred in preparation of the commercial fleet product setup at our contract manufacturer, as well as the expansion of the Company's logistics facilities in Australia and the USA.

Indirect expenditure for the half-year was A$16,180,494, up from A$10,552,654 for the period to 31 December 2014. The increase was mainly for the planned increased investment in automotive research and development. Also included in this expense is an amount of $4,178,271 for the revaluation of the Fleet product to the net realisable value; this revaluation is based on Fleet 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.

Cash reserves at 31 December 2015 were A$10,162,560 compared to A$14,221,615 at 30 June 2015 and A$21,185,430 at 31 December 2014. The decrease in cash reserves from June to December 2015 was due to the company making a cash loss from operations of $802,656 and a cash investment in relation to the development costs for near term revenue generating projects in the automotive sector, the costs of which were capitalised, consistent with previous practice. The difference between the cash loss from operations and the operating profit mainly relates to the timing of the cash receipts related to the CAT license fee, which was recognised in full as revenue during this period. As at 31 December 2015, A$8,911,160 of non-current trade receivables within the Company's balance sheet relate to the CAT license fee.

Summary and Outlook

The Board expects the Company's revenue sources to continue with the recent change of DSS business revenue to a Caterpillar royalty fee for DSS and the increase in our Fleet direct to market business. Other revenue streams include engineering services in the automotive space in the short term but this will also move to an annuity stream from the sale of our technology into newly manufactured passenger vehicles.

For the full financial year ending 30 June 2016, the Board expects that total revenue will be significantly higher than last year due to the Caterpillar license fee of A$21,850,000. Excluding this revenue, other sales and service revenue may be marginally lower than the last full year, depending on how quickly current assessments for the Fleet product convert to larger deployments. We are building a strong pipeline of Fleet sales across several regions, driven by a number of assessments and opportunities as outlined in our recent quarterly Fleet update. We are also confident of increased activity and sales through Caterpillar across their broad target markets of mining, construction, cement and quarry and forestry.

With the transition from a direct-to-market mining business to a royalty arrangement with Caterpillar, the Company has refocussed its efforts toward the Automotive, Fleet, Aerospace and Rail markets and technologies. 

The Directors remain committed to delivering significant growth in shareholder value and we look forward to reporting on our continued progress during this year.

Interim Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

The above interim consolidated statement of financial position should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

Interim Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

The above interim consolidated statement of comprehensive income should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

Interim Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

The above interim consolidated statement of changes in equity should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

Interim Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

The above interim consolidated statement of cash flows should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.