Artificial Intelligence
FLYHT Reports Third Quarter 2020 Results
— Strong Cost Control Contributes to Increase in Cash Balance
— Company Advances Strategic Re-focus on Recurring Software with Two Launch Partners for Actionable Intelligence
— SaaS Revenue Represented 86% of Total, Driving 69% Gross Margins
CALGARY, Alberta, Nov. 05, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd. (TSX-V: FLY) (OTCQX: FLYLF) (the “Company” or “Flyht”) today reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2020.
“We are encouraged that our customers have started a slow recovery from the May 2020 lows, with consistent increases in the number of flights and hours month over month, even as the aviation industry continues to suffer from a historic reduction in passenger travel resulting from COVID-19,” remarked Bill Tempany, Interim CEO. “Our business continued to feel the impact with revenue categories well below average and far below last quarter in most cases. Despite the unprecedented pandemic induced headwinds, we strengthened our cash position compared to the first two quarters of the year due to prudent cash management, strong collections and helpful government support programs. We also saw a sequential recovery of our SaaS revenue, which now represents 86% of our total revenue with gross margins approaching 70%.”
Tempany continued, “Downsizing costs will become an even higher priority for airlines in the era of curtailed demand, and the challenging environment is accelerating our strategic re-focus on our software-first strategy. To date we have signed up the first two launch partners for our Actionable Intelligence suite of SaaS applications, which is uniquely suited to help the global aviation industry improve operations and profitability. Our tools bring substantial cost savings to airlines and highly profitable recurring revenue to Flyht.”
Concluded Tempany, “We are well positioned to help our customers as their businesses recover, with the right team in place to use the new technologies to deliver on the industry stated goals of using digital technology and artificial intelligence to assist in recovery. Our efforts in recent months to refocus, retrain and return to our roots as a value added SaaS provider to the airlines will be the linchpin to our success as our customers recover and people’s lives return to normal.”
Third Quarter 2020 Financial Overview
Total revenue decreased by 63% to $1,918,410 compared to the third quarter of 2019. This decrease was seen across all revenue categories, including SaaS -38% to $1,652,001, Hardware -93% to $137,137, Licensing -85% to $86,033, and Technical Services -54% to $43,239. While down over last year, SaaS increased sequentially by 27% and now represents 86% of revenue.
Other income of $0 in the third quarter of 2020 compared to $623,544 in the third quarter of 2019. The last of the reconciling items from the October 2018 asset acquisition of Panasonic Weather Solutions was recognized in the second quarter of 2020.
Gross margin was 69.2% of revenue, compared to 48.5% in the third quarter of 2019. The increase in gross margin was due to a favorable overall mix shift toward higher margin SaaS revenue.
Operating expenses decreased by 31% from the third quarter of 2019. A 70% decrease in Distribution expense was partially offset by modest increases in Administration (9%) and Research and Development expenses (8%). COVID-19 governmental funding of $823,291 recognized in the quarter contributed significantly toward the year over year decrease, with the remainder of the decrease reflecting cost containment efforts.
EBITDA¹ loss totaled $1,079,873 in the quarter compared to a loss of $460,907 in the third quarter of 2019.
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¹ EBITDA: defined as earnings before interest, income tax, depreciation and amortization (a non-GAAP financial measure).
Net loss was $1,647,249, compared to net loss of $460,907 in the third quarter of 2019.
Balance Sheet and Liquidity
Flyht’s balance sheet ended the quarter with a cash balance of $4,107,483, an increase compared to the second quarter of 2020 balance of $3,702,824 and approximately even with 2019 year-end’s balance of $4,127,648.
Trade and other receivables decreased from 2019 year-end by $1,608,598, or 32%, reflecting strong collections of outstanding customer balances.
The balance sheet also shows an increase in Property and Equipment, with a corresponding increase in Lease Liability, as Flyht brought a new building lease for its Calgary headquarters onto the balance sheet, having taken possession of the space in March 2020.
Total basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding for the three months ended September 30, 2020 were 26,663,861.
Conference Call Information
Flyht will host a live conference call to discuss its third quarter results on Friday, November 6, 2020 at 7 am MDT (9 am EDT, 6 am PDT). The conference call will include a brief presentation from FLYHT’s CEO Bill Tempany and CFO Alana Forbes followed by a question and answer session. To access the conference call by phone within Canada and the U.S.A., the toll-free number is 1-800-319-4610. Outside Canada and the U.S.A., dial 1-604-638-5340. Callers should dial in 5 to 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time.
Management will accept questions by telephone and e-mail. Individuals wishing to ask a question during the call can do so by pressing *1. Questions can be emailed in advance or during the conference call to [email protected]. An archive of the conference call will be posted on Flyht’s website as soon as it is available from the conference call provider.
Additional Information
Flyht’s Q3 2020 Report, which contains more detailed information including the CEO’s Message, Management Discussion and Analysis and Financial Statements, has been posted to the Company’s website at http://flyht.com/financial-reports/. The MD&A and Financial Statements have also been filed with SEDAR, accessible at www.sedar.com.
About FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd.
Flyht provides airlines with Actionable Intelligence to transform operational insight into immediate, quantifiable action, delivering industry leading solutions to improve aviation safety, efficiency and profitability. This unique capability is driven by Flyht’s patented aircraft certified hardware products including AFIRS™, a satcom aircraft interface device which enables real-time streaming of flight information, cockpit voice and black box data streaming and TAMDAR™, which aggregates and streams airborne weather data in real-time. Flyht is headquartered in Calgary, Canada with an office in Littleton, Colorado, and is an AS9100 Quality registered company. For more information, view our latest presentation here, or visit www.flyht.com.
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Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Artificial Intelligence
Tencent Announces Winners of Flagship CarbonX Program to Combat Climate Change
SHENZHEN, China, May 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Tencent (00700.HK) is awarding 13 exceptional teams that won the first phase of its groundbreaking CarbonX Program, which is aimed at boosting promising new climate technologies. The winners, which emerged from a pool of 30 finalists and more than 300 initial applications, will receive a total of around RMB 100 million (US$14 million) in financial support from Tencent. It showcases the company’s commitment to driving sustainable social innovations in the fight against climate change.
CarbonX was launched in March 2023 to advance the next generation of low-carbon technologies. Tencent has committed RMB 200 million (US$28 million) in catalytic funding over the next three years to innovative ideas that might otherwise languish or fail to gain traction.
CarbonX’s first phase focused on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), as well as technology-based carbon removal. These solutions were chosen for their unique ability to curb emissions from hard-to-abate industries such as steel and cement, mitigate the continued reliance on fossil fuels, and reduce legacy emissions created from decades of industrialization.
Backed by Tencent’s mission of Tech for Good and an alliance of like-minded industry partners, CarbonX aims to help these cutting-edge technologies make the leap from the research or early startup stage to commercial scale. The ultimate goal is supporting them in making a significant impact toward the targets outlined in the Paris Agreement, which includes a 45 percent reduction in emissions by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
Dr. Hao Xu, Tencent’s Vice President of Sustainable Social Value and Head of Tencent’s Carbon Neutrality Lab, said: “Technology innovation serves as the driving force to accelerate our progress toward achieving carbon neutrality. CarbonX program is aimed at fostering the growth of these technologies, driving positive impact across society, and laying the groundwork for a more sustainable future.”
Professor Jerry Yan, Chair Professor of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Co-chairman of the CarbonX expert committee, said: “To pave the path for a greener economy, we must champion the development of cutting-edge low-carbon technologies. Just as solar and wind power were nurtured in their infancy, emerging solutions like CCUS and tech-based carbon removal demand our early support.”
The program assembled a panel of experts from academia, industries, and the investor community as the jury, and welcomed submissions from diverse participants across three distinct tracks:
CarbonX Lab: Designed to incubate research institutions, universities, or labs that bring in game-changing climate solutionsCarbonX Accelerator: Designed to accelerate the growth of climate-tech startups that exhibit commercialization potentialCarbonX Infrastructure: Designed to support capacity building to facilitate industry developmentThe finalists comprise four projects from the Lab track, six from the Accelerator track, and three from the Infrastructure track. These projects explore innovative solutions, such as using steel slag to capture and store carbon directly from furnace exhaust, converting CO2 into sustainable aviation fuel and valuable chemicals through electrochemical reactions or microorganisms, and employing new approaches to directly capture CO2 from the atmosphere with the hope of slashing the cost to less than US$150 per ton.
Meanwhile, Tencent is also collaborating with Tsinghua University to develop a comprehensive system of Measure, Reporting and Verification (MRV) tools to accurately gauge progress toward decarbonization.
Aside from receiving financial and advisory support, several projects will also have the opportunity to collaborate with industry partners and test their research beyond the laboratory setting.
Building upon the success of the first phase, Tencent is poised to launch the second iteration of CarbonX globally as early as later this year in pursuit of early-stage climate tech innovation.
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/tencent-announces-winners-of-flagship-carbonx-program-to-combat-climate-change-302153596.html
Artificial Intelligence
NEXCOM Delivers Exceptional Performance in Edge AI Video Analytics
TAIPEI, May 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — NEXCOM, a leading supplier of network solutions, published AI and storage performance test results of its NSA 7160R: high-performance Edge server. NSA 7160R is powered by dual Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors for high computing, and enhanced with DDR5 memory, high-bandwidth PCIe Gen5 LAN modules, and high-capacity NVMe storage modules. The test results show the efficiency of the NSA 7160R in processing edge video server workloads and were explained in the accompanying paper.
Edge AI Is the Future
With the rise of smart cities, processing data from cloud to the edge is becoming increasingly critical. Imagine the surge of visual data from ubiquitous security cameras – that information needs real-time analysis right where it’s collected. This is just the tip of the iceberg. As artificial intelligence permeates our lives, certain AI tasks will also need edge computing for efficient, lightning-fast performance. The key is to avoid bottlenecks in the data center by keeping things localized and streamlined.
Your Turnkey Solution Awaits
When it comes to Edge video servers, you need top-notch hardware and software that can handle all the “heavy lifting”. To speed up the total solution bringing up Intel comes in with their Intel® Edge Video Infrastructure (Intel® EVI) reference design. NEXCOM ran a bunch of tests using this design to evaluate its NSA 7160R for essential tasks including storage, image retrieval, and AI features such as inference and feature matching.
After conducting all tests, the results have shown that NSA 7160R meets all performance expectations with outstanding results. For a detailed breakdown of the solution description, test configuration, and results, please refer to the accompanying paper.
Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries.
About NEXCOM
Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, NEXCOM integrates its diverse capabilities and operates six global businesses, including the Network and Communication Solutions (NCS) unit. NCS focuses on the latest network technology and helps to build reliable network infrastructure, by delivering professional design and manufacturing services for customers all over the world. NCS’s network application platform is widely adopted in Cyber Security, Load Balancing, 5G uCPE, SD-WAN, SASE, Edge Computing, OT Security, Storage, NVR, and other network applications for businesses of all sizes.
Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WlO8fyWnu4
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/nexcom-delivers-exceptional-performance-in-edge-ai-video-analytics-302153555.html
Artificial Intelligence
Qiming Venture Partners Promotes Alex Zhou to Managing Partner
SHANGHAI, May 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Qiming Venture Partners, a global-leading venture capital firm, is pleased to announce the promotion of Alex Zhou to Managing Partner.
As a Qiming home-grown Managing Partner, Alex first joined the firm in 2014 as a Vice President and has since emerged as one of the most active investors in frontier technologies, especially in the field of artificial intelligence. Alex will join fellow Managing Partners Duane Kuang, Nisa Leung and William Hu in managing Qiming’s operations.
In the past few years, Alex has actively participated in or led investments in many outstanding technology companies across the artificial intelligence, robotics, semiconductors, new energy vehicles, and software sectors. Notable among these include Roborock, UBTech, Unisound, Biren Technology, ROX Motor, VIEWTRIX Technology, Zhipu AI, Mech-Mind Robotics, Axera, HyperStrong, DeepWay, etc.
“I am deeply grateful for the guidance and trust I received from Qiming over the past 10 years.” Alex said. “We are at the forefront of a new wave of technological revolution. This era will undoubtedly bring about many bold innovators who will shape the future. Together with all the Managing Partners and colleagues at Qiming, I am excited and fully committed to seize the opportunities, embrace any potential challenges, explore new possibilities and build a better Qiming.”
Since its inception 18 years ago, Qiming has always committed to upgrading its institutional capabilities and team development in order to stay ahead in an ever-evolving technological and market landscape. The success achieved in the fields of healthcare, mobile internet and frontier technology is a testament to this strategic approach. Alex’s promotion to the most senior position in the firm demonstrates Qiming’s continued confidence in the future of technology innovation.
About Qiming Venture Partners
Qiming Venture Partners was founded in 2006. Currently, Qiming Venture Partners manages eleven US Dollar funds and seven RMB funds with $9.5 billion in capital raised. Since our establishment, we have invested in outstanding companies in the Technology and Consumer (T&C) and Healthcare industries at the early and growth stages.
Since our debut, we have backed over 530 fast-growing and innovative companies. Over 200 of our portfolio companies have achieved exits through IPOs at the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX, Shanghai Stock Exchange, or Shenzhen Stock Exchange, or through M&A or other means. There are also over 70 portfolio companies that have achieved unicorn or super unicorn status.
Many of our portfolio companies are today’s most influential firms in their respective sectors, including Xiaomi, Meituan, Bilibili, Zhihu, Roborock, Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals, Tigermed, Zai Lab, CanSino Biologics, Schrödinger, APT Medical, New Horizon Health, Sanyou Medical, AmoyDx, Berry Genomics, SinocellTech, UBTech, Yuanxin Technology, Caidya, Belief BioMed, WeRide, among many others.
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/qiming-venture-partners-promotes-alex-zhou-to-managing-partner-302153306.html
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