Four straight quarters of improved financials

TERAGO Retains and renews mmWave Spectrum Licences, Removing Uncertainty

TORONTO, Aug. 7, 2024 /CNW/ – TERAGO Inc. (“TERAGO” or the “Company”) (TSX: TGO) (https://terago.ca/), today reported financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024.

“Revenue, ARPU and Gross Margin continue to increase combined with optimized operating expenses driving Adjusted EBITDA growth over my first four quarters as CEO. Our smart growth strategy includes a disciplined approach to capital expenditure, substantially improving profitability. The improvements during these four quarters compared to the prior four quarters have resulted in:

• Increased cumulative Adjusted EBITDA¹ by $706K;
• Cumulative positive cashflow generated from operations¹ of $4.2M; and
• Decreased use of debt facility by $7.6M.

In addition to the strong financials reported, ISED’s announcement in May 2024 ensures TERAGO retains and renews its mmWave spectrum licences”, said Daniel Vucinic, CEO of TERAGO. “This Decision provides certainty and clarity on our licences allowing TERAGO to continue to drive competition, innovation and increased investments in its next generation wireless connectivity offerings for Canadian businesses.

Our comprehensive strategy is enhancing value for our clients, employees and shareholders, delivering exceptional results. As we move forward, our primary focus will be on accelerating revenue growth as Canadian businesses demand an alternative managed service provider who focuses on customer experience, carrier diversity and being agile and nimble.  TERAGO’s revived narrative is getting positive reception from the investor community as the business progresses.”

Financial Highlights and Key Developments

(in thousands of dollars, except with respect to gross profit margin¹, loss per share, backlog MRR¹, and ARPU¹)

• Total revenue increased by 0.9% to $6,577 for the three months ended June 30, 2024 compared to $6,516 in the same quarter in the prior year period. For the six months ended June 30, 2024, total revenue marginally increased by 0.2% to $13,049 compared to $13,025 in the same period in the prior year. The increase in revenue in both periods is the result of higher bookings¹ and lower churn¹ in the current year period.
• Adjusted EBITDA¹ for the three months ended June 30, 2024 increased by 88.2% to $941 as compared to an Adjusted EBITDA¹ of $500 for the comparative period in 2023. Adjusted EBITDA¹ for the six months ended June 30, 2024 increased by 41% to $1,871 as compared to $1,327 for the comparative period in 2023. The increase is a result of higher revenues combined with overall lower operating expenses in the current period compared to same periods in the prior year.
• Net loss for the three months ended June 30, 2024 was $3,212 compared to a loss of $3,988 in the same period in 2023. The decreased net loss position is the result of lower salaries and other operating expenses, partially offset by higher long-term debt interest costs due to additional drawdowns in the prior and current year period. For the six months ended June 30, 2024, net loss was $6,759 compared to a loss of $6,537 in the same period in 2023 resulting from higher long-term debt interest costs.
• ARPU¹ for the connectivity business for the three and six months increased by 8.7% to $1,200 and by 6.8% to $1,179, respectively, compared to $1,104 and $1,104, respectively, for the same periods in 2023. The improvement in ARPU¹ is a result of changes in customer base and product mix and a new pricing strategy implemented in the last quarter of the prior year.

• Churn¹ for the connectivity business for the three ended June 30, 2024 decreased to 1.0% compared to 1.2% for the same period in 2023. Churn¹ for the connectivity business for the six months ended June 30, 2024 decreased to 0.9% compared to 1.2% for the same period in 2023. The decrease in customer churn¹ was due to the continued execution of the Company’s value creation strategy to focus on mid-market and large-scale customers, as well as implementing new strategies for customer renewals and retention.
• Backlog MRR¹ in the connectivity business decreased year over year to $46,584 as of June 30, 2024, compared to $85,471 for the same period in 2023. The decrease in backlog MRR¹ was due to a combination of onboarding of new customers with faster installations and the Company’s focus on profitable revenue generation.

Conference Call

Management will host a conference call on Thursday, August 8, 2024, at 10:00 AM ET to discuss these results.

To access the conference call, please dial 877-545-0523 or 973-528-0016 and use conference ID 405002 if applicable. Please call the conference telephone number 15 minutes prior to the start time so that you are in the queue for an operator to assist in registering and patching you through. An archived recording of the conference call will be available through Thursday, August 22, 2024. To listen to the recording, call 877-481-4010 or 919-882-2331 and enter passcode 50983# if applicable.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Comparison of the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023

(in thousands of dollars, except with respect to gross profit margin¹, loss per share¹, backlog MRR¹, churn¹ and ARPU¹) 

⁽¹⁾Non-IFRS Measures

This press release contains references to “Cost of Services”, “Gross Profit Margin”, Salaries and Related Costs”, “Other Operating Expenses”, “Adjusted EBITDA”, “Backlog MRR”, “Churn” and “ARPU” which are not measures prescribed by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Cost of Services consists of expenses related to delivering service to customers and servicing the operations of our networks. These expenses include costs for the lease of intercity facilities to connect our cities, internet transit and peering costs paid to other carriers, network real estate lease expense, spectrum lease expenses and lease and utility expenses for the data centres and salaries and related costs of staff directly associated with the cost of services.

Gross Profit Margin % consists of gross profit margin divided by revenue where gross profit margin is revenue less cost of services.

Salaries and related costs includes regular payroll related expenses, commissions and consulting fees.  All share based compensation, restructuring, other related costs are excluded from Salaries and related costs.

Other operating expenses includes sales commission expense, advertising and marketing expenses, travel expenses, administrative expenses including insurance and professional fees, communication expenses, maintenance expenses and rent expenses for office facilities. All restructuring and other related costs are excluded from other operating expenses.

Adjusted EBITDA – The Company believes that Adjusted EBITDA is useful additional information to management, the Board and investors as it provides an indication of the operational results generated by its business activities prior to taking into consideration how those activities are financed and taxed and also prior to taking into consideration asset depreciation and amortization and it excludes items that could affect the comparability of our operational results and could potentially alter the trends analysis in business performance. Excluding these items does not necessarily imply they are non-recurring, infrequent or unusual. Adjusted EBITDA is also used by some investors and analysts for the purpose of valuing a company. The Company calculates Adjusted EBITDA as earnings before deducting interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, foreign exchange gain or loss, finance costs, finance income, gain or loss on disposal of network assets, property and equipment, impairment of property, plant, & equipment and intangible assets, stock-based compensation and restructuring costs. Investors are cautioned that Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as an alternative to operating earnings (losses), or net earnings (losses) determined in accordance with IFRS as an indicator of our financial performance or as a measure of our liquidity and cash flows. Adjusted EBITDA does not take into account the impact of working capital changes, capital expenditures, debt principal reductions and other sources and uses of cash, which are disclosed in the consolidated statements of cash flows. 

A reconciliation of net loss to Adjusted EBITDA is found below and in the MD&A for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024. Adjusted EBITDA does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS/GAAP. TERAGO’s method of calculating Adjusted EBITDA may differ from other issuers and, accordingly, Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers.

The table below reconciles Adjusted EBITDA¹ to net loss for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023.

Backlog MRR – The term “Backlog MRR” is a measure of contracted monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from customers that have not yet been provisioned. The Company believes backlog MRR is useful additional information as it provides an indication of future revenue. Backlog MRR is not a recognized measure under IFRS and may not translate into future revenue, and accordingly, investors are cautioned in using it. The Company calculates backlog MRR by summing the MRR of new customer contracts and upgrades that are signed but not yet provisioned, as at the end of the period. TERAGO’s method of calculating backlog MRR may differ from other issuers and, accordingly, backlog MRR may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers.

ARPU – The term “ARPU” refers to the Company’s average revenue per customer per month in the period. The Company believes that ARPU is useful supplemental information as it provides an indication of our revenue from an individual customer on a per month basis. ARPU is not a recognized measure under IFRS and, accordingly, investors are cautioned that ARPU should not be construed as an alternative to revenue determined in accordance with IFRS as an indicator of our financial performance. The Company calculates ARPU by dividing our total revenue before revenue from early terminations by the number of customers in service during the period and we express ARPU as a rate per month. TERAGO’s method of calculating ARPU has changed from the Company’s past disclosures to exclude revenue from early termination fees, where ARPU was previously calculated as revenue divided by the number of customers in service during the period. TERAGO’s method may differ from other issuers, and accordingly, ARPU may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers.

Churn – The term “churn” or “churn rate” is a measure, expressed as a percentage, of customer cancellations in a particular month. The Company calculates churn by dividing the number of customer cancellations during a month by the total number of customers at the end of the month before cancellations. The information is presented as the average monthly churn rate during the period. The Company believes that the churn rate is useful supplemental information as it provides an indication of future revenue decline and is a measure of how well the business is able to renew and keep existing customers on their existing service offerings. Churn and churn rate are not recognized measures under IFRS and, accordingly, investors are cautioned in using it. TERAGO’s method of calculating churn and churn rate may differ from other issuers and, accordingly, churn may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers.

About TERAGO

TERAGO provides managed wireless and wireline connectivity and private 5G wireless networking services to businesses operating across Canada. As Canada’s biggest mmWave spectrum holders, the Company possesses exclusive spectrum licences in the 24 GHz and 38 GHz spectrum bands, which it utilizes to provide secure, dedicated SLA guaranteed enterprise grade performance that is technology diverse from buried cables ensuring high availability connectivity services. TERAGO serves over 1,900 Canadian and Global businesses operating in major markets across Canada, including Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Ottawa and Winnipeg, and has been providing wireless services since 1999. For more information about TERAGO, please visit www.terago.ca.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond TERAGO’s control. Forward-looking statements may include but are not limited to statements regarding the further developing our 5G Fixed Wireless Access program, consistently executing across all fronts of the business, success in providing Canadian enterprises with managed services and the 5G fixed wireless trials being conducted by the Company. All such statements constitute “forward-looking information” as defined under, applicable Canadian securities laws. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical facts constitute forward-looking information. The forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s views with respect to future events and is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those risks set forth in the “Risk Factors” sections in the annual MD&A of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2023 available on www.sedar.com under the Company’s corporate profile. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially include the inability to consistently achieve sales growth across all lines of TERAGO’s business including managed services, inability to complete successful 5G technical trials, the results of the 5G trials not being satisfactory to TERAGO or any of its technology partners, regulatory requirements may delay or inhibit the trial, the economic viability of any potential services that may result from the trial, the ability for TERAGO to further finance and support any new market opportunities that may present itself, and industry competitors who may have superior technology or are quicker to take advantage of 5G technology. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as several factors could cause actual future results, conditions, actions or events to differ materially from the targets, expectations, estimates or intentions expressed with the forward-looking statements. Except as may be required by applicable Canadian securities laws, TERAGO does not intend, and disclaims any obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether in words, oral or written as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE TeraGo Inc.

Featured image: DepositPhotos © Peshkova

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