Catch the Wind Reports First Quarter Financial Results for 2012
Operating expenses reduced 75%
Catch the Wind Ltd. (TSX-V: CTW), providers of Vindicator® Optical Control Systems (OCS), reported its financial results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2012. All figures are in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise stated.
“In the first quarter we completed several milestones. All of our shipments for the quarter were manufactured by Sanmina. In addition, improvements in our manufacturing infrastructure allowed us to ship customer product within one week of order receipt, and be fully operational within one month. These operational improvements, coupled with ongoing reductions in our cost structure, position the Company for rapid revenue growth” said Jo Major, Interim President and CEO of Catch the Wind, Inc. “Our engineering team has made a number of technical achievements with the OCS product during the quarter, including reducing production costs by approximately 50%, enhancing the product’s turbine control features and dramatically improving the uptime of our product. Our technical engagement with customers has grown steadily, laying a solid engineering foundation for strong follow-on orders.”
Select Q1 2012 Financial and Operational Highlights
- Signed the Company’s first follow-on order by way of a multi-unit sales agreement with enXco, an EDF Energies Nouvelles Company, for the purchase of five additional OCS units to outfit wind turbines at multiple North American wind farms, installation to occur during the second quarter of 2012.
- Signed a sales agreement with Saturn Power to equip all wind turbines at its Gesner wind farm in Ontario, Canada with the OCS. The installation of the OCS will be in parallel with the construction of the new turbines, without modification of the warranty agreement.
- Completed the transfer of OCS manufacturing to Sanmina-SCI, a tier 1 engineering and manufacturing solutions partner. All Q1 shipments were made by Sanmina-SCI.
- After 45 days of testing, results of the first ever deployment of the OCS in AXYS Technologies Inc.’s WindSentinel™ offshore buoy were an unprecedented success; providing wind profile information from the Great Lakes to wind resource researchers and analysts at Grand Valley State University, University of Michigan, the Weather Service and Michigan State University. Similar data collection success was achieved off the US east coast and a second Great Lakes deployment has begun.
- Decreased operating expenses by 75% from the corresponding period last year.
Highlights Subsequent to Quarter-end
- Continued to expand our patent portfolio, now up to seven issued patents and 14 pending patent applications.
- Signed an agreement for a collaborative project with the TechnoCentre éolien to install an OCS on one of its REpower MM-92 2.05 MW wind turbines in Québec for evaluation and R&D purposes, particularly in extremely cold climates and complex terrains.
Financial Performance
Catch the Wind recognized revenue of $200,000 for the three-month period ended March 31, 2012, compared to recognized revenue of $390,500 for the three-month period ended March 31, 2011.
Operating expenses for Q1 2012 were $2.0 million, down 75% from $7.9 million for the corresponding period last year. The reduction in operating expenses is highlighted below.
Cost of sales for the three-month period ended March 31, 2012 was $151,000 compared to $783,000 for the same period last year. The decrease in cost of sales is mainly due to replacement of Optical Air Data Systems LLC (“OADS”) labour that was used in the first quarter of last year with growth of the Company’s internal engineering capability and the outsourcing of manufacturing of the OCS to Sanmina. Cost of sales for the first quarter of 2011 included OADS labour charges of $333,000 related to installation and customer support charges, whereas there were no OADS labour charges in the current quarter. The Company utilized its own personnel for installation and customer support in the first quarter of 2012.
General and administrative expense for the three-months ended March 31, 2012 were $293,000, down from $853,000 for the same period last year. The decrease in general and administrative costs, when compared to the same period last year, is primarily due to a reduction in travel and travel related expenses as well as repairs and maintenance costs associated with the Falcon 50 aircraft. Travel and travel related expenses were $33,000 for the current quarter compared to $473,000 for the same quarter last year. Expenses associated with repairs and maintenance of the Falcon 50 aircraft, owned by Falcon Fifty LLC, of which CTW had a 75% membership interest until October 22, 2011 when it withdrew from the LLC, were $0 in the first quarter of 2012 compared to $244,000 for the first quarter of 2011.
Research and development expense was $56,000 for the three-month period ended March 31, 2012, down from $1.5 million (OADS labour) for the three-month period ended March 31, 2011.
Catch the Wind recorded a net loss for Q1 2012 of $1.8 million or $0.01 per share, compared to a net loss $7.5 million or $0.09 per share for Q1 2011.
As of March 31, 2012, Catch the Wind had cash and cash equivalents of $3.0 million, compared to $6.0 million at December 31, 2011.
Catch the Wind has filed its financial statements for the three-months ended March 31, 2012, and related Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) with securities regulatory authorities. Catch the Wind’s financial statements, MD&A and related documents are available via SEDAR as well as through the Company’s website, www.catchthewindinc.com.
This release is also available on the company's website.
