Latest news with #CreativeRealities
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
One Creative Realities Insider Raised Their Stake In The Previous Year
Looking at Creative Realities, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:CREX ) insider transactions over the last year, we can see that insiders were net buyers. That is, there were more number of shares purchased by insiders than there were sold. While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. This technology could replace computers: discover the 20 stocks are working to make quantum computing a reality. Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by CEO & Chairman of the Board Richard Mills for US$52k worth of shares, at about US$3.26 per share. That implies that an insider found the current price of US$3.43 per share to be enticing. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. We do always like to see insider buying, but it is worth noting if those purchases were made at well below today's share price, as the discount to value may have narrowed with the rising price. Happily, the Creative Realities insider decided to buy shares at close to current prices. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was Richard Mills. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction! Check out our latest analysis for Creative Realities Creative Realities is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of under-the-radar companies with insider buying. For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 11% of Creative Realities shares, worth about US$4.1m, according to our data. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. Whilst better than nothing, we're not overly impressed by these holdings. It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. But we don't feel the same about the fact the company is making losses. On this analysis the only slight negative we see is the fairly low (overall) insider ownership; their transactions suggest that they are quite positive on Creative Realities stock. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. At Simply Wall St, we found 3 warning signs for Creative Realities that deserve your attention before buying any shares. But note: Creative Realities may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
One Creative Realities Insider Raised Their Stake In The Previous Year
Looking at Creative Realities, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:CREX ) insider transactions over the last year, we can see that insiders were net buyers. That is, there were more number of shares purchased by insiders than there were sold. While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. This technology could replace computers: discover the 20 stocks are working to make quantum computing a reality. Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by CEO & Chairman of the Board Richard Mills for US$52k worth of shares, at about US$3.26 per share. That implies that an insider found the current price of US$3.43 per share to be enticing. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. We do always like to see insider buying, but it is worth noting if those purchases were made at well below today's share price, as the discount to value may have narrowed with the rising price. Happily, the Creative Realities insider decided to buy shares at close to current prices. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was Richard Mills. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction! Check out our latest analysis for Creative Realities Creative Realities is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of under-the-radar companies with insider buying. For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 11% of Creative Realities shares, worth about US$4.1m, according to our data. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. Whilst better than nothing, we're not overly impressed by these holdings. It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. But we don't feel the same about the fact the company is making losses. On this analysis the only slight negative we see is the fairly low (overall) insider ownership; their transactions suggest that they are quite positive on Creative Realities stock. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. At Simply Wall St, we found 3 warning signs for Creative Realities that deserve your attention before buying any shares. But note: Creative Realities may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data


Globe and Mail
15-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Creative Realities to Participate in Ladenburg Thalmann Innovation Expo
LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 15, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Creative Realities, Inc. ('Creative Realities,' 'CRI,' or the 'Company') (NASDAQ: CREX), a leading provider of digital signage, media and AdTech solutions, today announced that it will participate in the Ladenburg Thalmann Innovation Expo 2025, at Convene, 101 Park Avenue, New York on Wednesday May 21. One-on-one meetings will be available for institutional investors, and a general presentation will be held at 1pm Eastern. To schedule a meeting with CRI, contact Ladenburg Thalmann or use the following link: The 2025 Expo will feature presentations from the managements of approximately 40-50 companies that utilize AI in innovative and breakthrough ways. Ladenburg Thalmann is a US middle market diversified financial services firm. The firm is headquartered in New York and is engaged in investment banking, with a focus on fundraising, buyside & sellside M&A, high-yield debt and private equity access for public and private companies. The firm also provides equity research, institutional sales and trading, independent brokerage, advisory services, trust services and asset management. About Creative Realities, Inc. Creative Realities designs, develops and deploys digital signage-based experiences for enterprise-level networks utilizing its Clarity TM, ReflectView TM, and iShowroom TM Content Management System (CMS) platforms. The Company is actively providing recurring SaaS and support services across diverse vertical markets, including but not limited to retail, automotive, digital-out-of-home (DOOH) advertising networks, convenience stores, foodservice/QSR, gaming, theater, and stadium venues. In addition, the Company assists clients in utilizing place-based digital media to achieve business objectives such as increased revenue, enhanced customer experiences, and improved productivity. This includes the design, deployment, and day-to-day management of Retail Media Networks to monetize on-premise foot traffic utilizing its AdLogic TM and AdLogic CPM+ TM programmatic advertising platforms.

Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Q1 2025 Creative Realities Inc Earnings Call
Operator Good morning. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Creative Realities 2025 1st quarter earnings conference call. This call will be recorded, and a copy will be available on the company's website at following the completion of the call. The company has prepared remarks summarizing the interim results for the 1st quarter along with additional industry and company updates. Joining me on the call today is Rick Mills, Chief Executive Officer, George Sautter, Chief Strategy Officer, and Ryan Mudd, Chief Finance Officer. Mr. Mudd, you may begin. Thank you and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our earnings call for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that remarks today will include forward-looking statements. The words anticipated, will, believes, expects, intends, plans, estimates, projects, should, may propose and similar expressions or the negative versions of such words or expressions as they relate to us or our management are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such statements. Factors that could cause these results to differ materially are set forth in our Form 10k and other subsequent filings with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements that we make on this call are based on assumptions as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events. During this call, we will present both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures is included in our public filings and in our earnings release that was issued this morning. Investors are encouraged to review these materials. We believe the use of these non-GAAP measures, such as adjusted EBITDA and several other important KPIs, represent meaningful ways to track our performance. It is now my pleasure to introduce Rick Mills, CEO of Creative Realities. Thanks, Ryan. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for joining. I'll start by giving some details of our first quarter financials. We posted revenue of $9.7 million. This quarter versus $12.3 million in Q1 of 2024, as I previously discussed, this revenue decrease is a direct result of installation timing. On several large projects. We expect increased revenue as the year progresses. Gross profit was $4.5 million in the 2025 1st quarter versus $5.8 million last year. The gross margin was 46%, roughly in line with the prior year period. Annual recurring revenue or ARR was at a run rate of $17.3 million at the end of the quarter versus $16.8 million at the start of 2025. As we discussed on our last earnings call and similar to the 4th quarter deployment timing. It was expected to impact the Q1 results, particularly our revenue and gross profit level. However, our adjusted EBITDA of $0.5 million was nominally changed versus last year and the previous quarter due to our active management of underlying overhead cost such that the aggregate SG&A expenses. We're down 11% to $5.2 million this year versus $5.8 million in the first quarter of 2024. Operating costs were also down sequentially from $5.6 million in Q4. These reductions will improve profitability as revenue scales back for the balance of the year. And while our debt rose this quarter, it was largely due to the previously discussed settlement of our contingent liability. As a reminder, at December 301, 2024, CRI carried a contingent liability on its balance sheet of approximately $12.8 million from the merger with Reflex Systems Inc. In 2022 that was to become payable in February of 2025. We ultimately resolve the matter for $3 million in cash utilizing our credit agreement, a $4 million- and $0.30-month promissory note that includes a balloon payment in September of 2027 and the issuance of some warrants. We believe this settlement effectively provides us additional long term financial visibility and flexibility. We replaced some $12.8 million in contingent liability risk and roughly $13 million of debt. With $23.2 million of debt, which includes some short-term working capital increases as Ryan Mudd will review in a moment. We are now free to focus on growing the company but will also strategically use our cash flow to manage debt and optimize our capital structure in pursuit of commercial and perhaps strategic growth. We continue to work on an active pipeline of opportunities and are pleased with a win just recently announced. CRI was selected by a well-known upscale quick service restaurant chain with over 1,000 locations across more than 25 states. And to help lead the transformation of its indoor and outdoor menu boards. The restaurant chain is nationally recognized by its cook to order food, farm fresh ingredients, and excellent customer service. After a successful pilot, which will begin in select locations during the 3rd quarter of 2025, national rollout is expected to proceed. Through this partnership will play a key role in the chain's digital transformation strategy, shifting from static displays to dynamic, digitally driven customer engagement, including personalized messaging and real-time promotions. CRI will deliver a turnkey solution along with consulting, content strategy, hardware provisioning, deployment support, and ongoing day to service all powered by our proprietary CMS platform Clarity. It's a great win for CRI and underscores our growing leadership position leveraging digital applications to elevate a customer's experience and satisfaction. This leadership is not just a matter of our technology but demonstrates our subject matter expertise in the actual underlying business of a vertical such as quick serve restaurant, something our competitors do not bring at all. We'll help this client build a more agile, connected restaurant environment that meets guest expectations and provides flexibility for enhanced applications in the future. As stated last quarter, we remain on track for another year of record performance. We continue to expect revenue to accelerate beginning in Q2 and particularly in the second half of the year. And we are engaged in numerous opportunities that will lead to backlog growth, revenue predictability, and improved margins. Even as we look to make headway strengthening our balance sheet through debt reduction whenever possible, we also expect adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue to rise to 15% by year end. The introduction of our Ad Logic CPM platform has gone well, with more potential clients looking at the power it brings to the enterprise. As a reminder, this innovative solution provides customers with the tool to deliver targeted high performance campaigns at significantly reduced cost. Delivering programmatic capabilities within a self-serve interface that simplifies campaign execution, enhances targeting precision, and eliminates unnecessary intermediation fees. It positions CRI's unique one-stop shop for hardware deployments, an array of day 2 services, and the required ad tech solutions with new monetization models for the company and the customer. We will provide an update on this new innovation and the customers using it in the months to come. CRI remains at the forefront of improving the customer experience across a growing list of innovative clients and brands. We look forward to the year ahead, including growing revenue, expanding margins, solid cash flow, and debt repayment. In short, the future looks bright for CRI, and we appreciate our investors' continued enthusiasm and support. I'll turn it back over to Ryan Mudd to share some additional comments on our financials, Ryan. Thank you, Rick. An overview of our financial results for the first quarter of 2025 was provided in our earnings release in Form 10Q filed earlier this morning, which included the condensed consolidated balance sheet as of March 31, 2025, the statement of operations, and the statement of cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2025, and a detailed reconciliation of net income to EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, as well as the preceding four quarters. While Rick reviewed our operational results in detail, let me provide a couple points of context related to our balance sheet. As of March 31, 2025, the company had cash on hand of approximately $1.1 million versus $1 million at the end of 2024. As mentioned in prior calls, our consolidated balance sheets reflect minimal cash on hand as the company has set up a sweep instrument to apply against the revolving debt facility to further manage our interest expense. Our gross and net debt stood at approximately 23.2 million and 22.1 million respectfully at the end of the first quarter as compared to $13 million and $0.12 million dollars respectfully at the start of 2025. Our debt level rose, as Rick previously discussed by resolving a $12.8 million. Contingent consideration liability for $7 million which was satisfied with a $3 million dollar payment from our credit facility, the issuance of a $4 million promissory note, and some warrants. The additional $3.2 million dollar increase quarter to quarter reflects short term working capital uses. However, when reconstituting debt as it stood at December 31, 2024 to account for this contingent liability, there's an overall reduction of $2.6 million which is the net of the $5.8 million dollar reduction in the contingent liability through the settlement offset by the $3.2 million dollar increase for working capital needs as we ramp up for the new opportunities discussed herein. With an agreement now in place, we are returning to a strategy of optimizing capital structure and creating capacity on the balance sheet wherever possible. At the end of the first quarter, our leverage on a gross and net basis was 4.91% and 4.67% respectfully, up from 2.59 and 2.39 at the beginning of fiscal 2025. However, we see improvement going forward and remain dedicated to managing our debt as we continue to evaluate and mitigate to an optimized capital structure in support of our growth. I will turn it back to Rick for additional comments on our results and customer activities. Thanks, Ryan. Our engagement with potential customers and prospects is at an all-time high. We are pleased with the pipeline and the sheer number of discussions going on with potential prospects. Our sports entertainment team has also been expanded to facilitate our anticipated growth in this sector as we move into 2025. The company completed an NHL arena during the 3rd quarter of 2024, its largest deployment of this kind, and we have tremendous momentum in this market moving into the new year. In Q1 2025, we were awarded three MLB projects of varying sizes and types, and we have an additional 7 POCs or proof of concepts going on at other venues across the US. Now, let's talk about BCTV. The BCTV project continues to move forward at a slower pace in the first two quarters of 2025. All total we have completed 300 plus site installations to date and have recently received communication to move forward with the next 200 or so sites beginning in Q3. We would expect to install more than 50% of these locations through the balance of the year which would generate approximately $3 million in revenue. Another additional network we have previously announced is the Digi point Media Network. This is a retail media network on ice boxes across groceries and sea stores. It appears they are ready to move forward with deploying approximately 2000 sites beginning in the third quarter. Assuming this moves forward, and we install all locations in the second half of 2025, it would generate in excess of $4 million in hardware and installation revenue with additional SA revenue from our CMS and Ad tech software solution. Our cloud and software development teams have been working towards SOC to type 2 compliance. CRI achieved Sock 2 Type 1 compliance in Q1 of this year and expect to achieve Type 2 by year end. SOC2 compliance is a valuable credential that demonstrates the trustworthiness and the credibility of our products to enterprise customers. This is yet another indicator of our acceleration in the marketplace. One additional fact about 1, we revamped our operations and warehouse facilities. We transitioned to a larger space in the same building and significantly increased the capacity of our warehouse to process orders and projects. This significant increase in capacity came at a minimal increase in our cost. We are well positioned for the tremendous growth we expect in the second half of this year. With that, we'll now move to the Q&A portion of the call. Please go ahead, operator. Operator Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, you will need to press 11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your questions simply press 11 again. Please stand by while we compile the again roster. My first question coming from the line of Brian Kinstlinger with Alliance Global Partners. The line is now open. Great, thank you. You talk about the expectations as it relates to screen installs for your large QSR win maybe. That can have 25 and 2026 and then what percentage of franchisees have expressed interest in opting in. Brian Rick here, thanks, great question. So, it is our expectation that we've got POCs actively happening a couple of test sites literally this quarter POCs in Q3 and then beginning end of Q3 20 locations or more per month. As we announced they have over 1,000 locations and they have 600 of those locations have already indicated interest or signed up to convert to digital. So excited about that overall, we look at it as a 2-year project? Probably not, probably 3 years, so probably about 300 sites a year, ballpark ish. Great, that's helpful. And then you highlighted delays in the first quarter. Can you just give us some more detail of what led to those delays and is it broad based or is it, one or two clients? And have, has that reversed yet in the second quarter? We've started to see a reverse. It was actually 3 separate projects, okay? So, it's not across the board. Right, but we had 3 clients, 3 unique projects. Each had its own set of difficulties, and that's why we saw that back in Q3 of last year. And it's why we wanted to communicate crisply to you and the investor base that Q4 and Q1 were going to be like. We're through that period. We're on track and feel very comfortable on a go forward basis. Right Now, it's great to see the QSR win taking over the goal line. I know you've talked about a handful that were right there. Can you talk about the pipeline of the other large procurements that you've highlighted in recent quarters and with the global trade uncertainty, is that slowing decisions or are you still progressing with your discussions on some of the other large opportunities? We're still progressing, but with a number of opportunities. Again, our top 10 opportunities, the quality and size of the top 10 opportunities even versus 18 months ago, are significantly enhanced and improved. Okay, number one, so a very bullish on those. Opportunities #2. You talked about, global uncertainty and tariffs and those things. As of yet. Our industry, when I say industry, the specific signage, okay, market has not yet been terribly affected by tariffs. All the screen manufacturers product comes out of Mexico, right? So as long as the US and Mexico keeps open and doesn't go crazy, should not be an issue with screens. The other issue that we have concerns about are the mounts. Mounts are made of steel and the price of steel coming into the US could affect that. As of now, we don't have any customer that says, hey, I'm putting this project on hold because of tariffs. We have not had any of those conversations. However, I think we would all be cognizant. All of us are looking around and trying to understand the new normal landscape, which appears to be very uncertain with this tariff in play. Great, my last question, the company's Ad tech solution has gone through some significant upgrades and functionality. Can you talk about either how you're seeing any increased demand, how the tax rates maybe are improving, just any kind of progress or success you're seeing as it relates to that offering. Well, first off, the ad tech or what, let me back up. The market or ad tech is very much focused on is what we would use the term retail media networks, right? Retail media networks is very much in the early game. Okay. And why is that in the early game? Because retail media networks require significant capital outlay. Now, the benefit of an end user who is flipping their signage to a retail media network is it now becomes an income producing machine for the end user customer instead of an expense. So, everybody's interested, everybody's looking, everybody's testing. As you know from our pedigree, we have 10 significant large retail customers, we talk about Macy's, we talk about Verizon, Best Buy, etc. All of them are investigating media networks and so we are primed and positioned with a number of current customers and perspective customers to deploy retail media networks. We see our ad tech having significant impact. Significant potential impact from a revenue perspective in 2026 and 2027. Great. Thank you, Rick. Thanks, Brian. Operator Thank you. Now, next question coming from the lineup. Jason Craer from Craig Haum Capital Group. Your line is now open. Great, thank you. This is Cal on for Jason. So firstly, we can just revisit the large QSR win that you had, just curious. Why you won and if you believe that this win could also contribute to larger, additional large wins as you continue to validate your position in the market. Great question, Cal. So, number one, the answer is to the second half of the question is, will it give us credibility for additional wins? Absolutely. Yeah, it's a first-class brand and when you win first class brands, people sit up and take notice. Oho, maybe I need to be talking to those folks, right? That's #1. #2, this one was a unique circumstance. In that They actually went through two RSP processes over a 2-year period and due to some internal shuffle at the customer, we actually won the first time, and they decided to repeat the process using third party advisors and then we ultimately won again so we feel very comfortable that. That's a sign of how strong we have emerged in this vertical over the last 3 or 4 years. Great, and then maybe secondly, just curious, what are the things that you guys are doing today? You kind of alluded to some things, with the warehouse capacity, but just kind of curious the investments and, different changes that you're making today to position your company to kind of build on the second half of the momentum and and into 2026. Again, great question. Number one, we wanted to, we needed to reposition our facility a little bit. We had been in an older part of the building that hadn't been upgraded, remodeled. We took advantage to move to more space at a lower cost per square footage. It was nice upgrade from the administrative operational side of the business. From the warehouse side of the business we have effectively increased significantly. I'm not prepared to say that 50% or 100%, but our cubic storage to move pallets of product through is significantly increased. Why? Because that we believe we need that for the second half of this year. Other than that, investments that we make tend to be on our technology. We don't spend a lot of money on brick and mortar and the need for Enhanced machinery and and computer equipment all tend to be very de minimis in the overall scheme of things. So for us it's investing in our platforms and we continually invest in our platforms every month, but that's about it. Other than that, we don't anticipate any significant CapEx spends by any means. Great and then maybe just to kind of follow up on that one, you talked about the increased warehouse capacity kind of alluded to some of the tariff impacts earlier, but just curious if you're seeing anything as far as a pull forward in demand for signage or deployments given kind of some of the tariff uncertainty and and how things like expanded warehouse capacity can give you more flexibility to kind of adjust to any impact that you know the tariff kind of back and forth can can have on the business and customer demand. We have had some minor hardware pull forwards because people 3 months ago were concerned as the terrorists started to get implemented. Nobody knew the landscape and I think today nobody really knows the landscape at this moment on a go forward basis. So we had a couple smaller customers look at, hey. I'm going to go ahead and hedge my bet. They were relatively small, might be 200 screens here, 300 screens there. We do not have anybody that hedged the bets and said, I'm going to take 10,000 screens my next year, a year and a half, and put it in storage. We have not seen that at this point in time. If we do see that, we would see the use of a bonded warehouse type strategy to get the product in the country but avoid tariffs, etc. Great thank you so much for taking my question. Thanks Kal. Operator Thank you. And as a reminder to ask a question, please press star 11 on your touchdown telephone and wait for your name to be announced. And our next question in you coming from the line of Howard Halpern from Taco Brothers In line is now open. Good morning, guys. Good morning. Hey Howard, hi, could you talk a little bit more about the sports and entertainment vertical? You talked about you have 7 proofs of concepts coming down the road, but could you maybe discuss what's behind that and you know what type of appetite those type of customers have for spending and deploying your product? Great question. Number one, the answer is the sports entertainment vertical, has a high appetite to spend. And when we say high appetite to spend, everybody is looking at how can I upgrade my facility and make it more fan-friendly, right? That's #1. Number 2, as they make it more fan-friendly. They deploy digital, which then gives them a greater ability to generate income from those screens because remember, sports entertainment were the first vertical that generated income from screens, right? That's been doing that for a long time, so they're now all looking at enhancing theirs. So #1, 2, you tend to look at POCs and you do a POC and you tend to do that during your team's season so that once the offseason occurs, that's when you tend to upgrade the facilities. So for example, we had a lot of POCs in baseball because now they're all POCing. When the baseball season ends, we in theory could expect to see some POCs at the end of baseball in the fall go into we could have some wins. So you've got to think about the team or the sport and then when is its season. So we expect our goal is, and we're way out in front of that. We're engaged in probably 3 to 5 conversations with folks who have stadiums either under construction or B in the planning stages and the beauty of sports entertainment is we have the ability as we move into 2026. To sign some potential agreements that are a year and a half out that give us real predictability of revenue. Hope that helps or. If we could talk a little bit about, the, you mentioned the DG point, the icebox, is that. If that gets deployed like you expected to, is that going to be an incremental improvement in revenue and to day two services, especially on maybe the ad tech side or running some of the ad tech that might go on those go on the hardware. Spot on, the thing we really like about the that particular network is they've adopted our entire tech stack from top to bottom, so it would use our CMS, it would use a server, it would, it uses ours campaign planning management tool so it uses all three of the major points of our [SA] and ad tech software so that's, we're looking forward to getting that deployed and running. So that we can use that to show other retailers how it works when it's been deployed at scale at, several 1,000 locations across America. Okay, and one last one, how is the landscape looking in Mexico for opportunities down there? Actually, quite good. We have. what, I maybe not up to date. Literally, I believe it is next week we have a POC going in one of the TOP 3 convenient or C store chains in Mexico. It's supposed to install in May, and I think it's May 20th, so it's probably another week or two. So, there's that as a matter of fact, there's a call this week with. One of the TOP 5 major retailers in Mexico, to talk about a retail media network. So it's, we put our toe in the water, we've been steadily making progress, but for us, and by the way, we also have a couple stadiums that we are engaged in discussions with. We look at Mexico as really potentially adding revenue potentially in 2026. Okay, well, thanks guys and keep up the great work. Thanks Howard. Operator Thank you and I'm showing up for questions from the phone line, so I will not send it back to Mr. Ryan. Thank you. And before we make any closing remarks, I do want to take a moment to acknowledge we did receive some questions through our investor inbox. Rick, can I ask you to go ahead and take a moment to address those questions? Sure, happy to. So a couple of investors took time to send us some questions. Number one, there was some questions about bowling, and I think we've kind of clarified that, so I won't really talk about that. 2, somebody wanted an update on our, win rate and what does that look like, our success rate. And how many RFPs or competitive processes do we enter in a year? So Typically that number in the last 12 to 18 months realistically is between 30 and 40 per year. However, the main thing to understand is typically in a typical year 50% of those customers will not make a decision. It will push for 2 or 3 years just like we talked about the QSRON that took 2 years. So just cause we answer 30 to 40 RFPs, 50% of them never see the light of day, or I don't say see the light of day, 50% of them get pushed or rolled down the pike. Out of the others, we have a still healthy success rate. We've talked about a 70% win rate. Our track record shows that. However, Then once you've won, the customer has to make the decision to go ahead and deploy, and that may take a year or two for a capital cycle. So as we've always talked about our process tends to be long and drawn out. Another question about, is if this customer was one of the customers at the 1 inch line or 1 yard line. The answer is yes. That recent win is we have a couple more that we have been fostering for quite some time that we are very close and hopefully we look forward to making some significant announcements throughout the balance of the year. I think, is there, were there any others, Ryan, that that should look at? I'm showing no more, no, sir. All right. So let me, I guess, go ahead and let me conclude the call by thanking all the shareholders, clients, partners, and employees for their continuing effort, commitment, and support as we work together to transform creative realities into the leading brand in digital signage solution. We look forward to speaking with you and everybody again next quarter. Thank you. This can include today's conference call. Thank you all for your participation, and you may now disconnect. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data


Associated Press
14-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Creative Realities Reports Fiscal 2025 First Quarter Results
LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Creative Realities, Inc. ('Creative Realities,' 'CRI,' or the 'Company') (NASDAQ: CREX), a leading provider of digital signage, media and AdTech solutions, today announced its financial results for the fiscal first quarter ended March 31, 2025. Highlights: 'First quarter revenue continued to be impacted by near-term issues related to installation timing but, after the period, we announced a big win with a very well-known restaurant chain whereby we'll be transforming hundreds of locations across the U.S. – including deployment of indoor and outdoor menu boards – upon completion of a successful pilot program in the third quarter,' said Rick Mills, Chief Executive Officer. 'We're delivering a unique, turnkey solution, including consulting and content strategy, hardware, and ongoing support services, powered by our proprietary CMS platform – Clarity™. Contracts such as this underscore our growing leadership position in the market and, combined with other installations scheduled for the coming quarters, we remain on track for our best year ever. We continue to believe the second half of 2025 will show strong growth and momentum and, in conjunction with our prior settlement of the contingent consideration liability, we will once again focus on using cash flow to reduce debt and maintain an optimal capital structure in support of growth. Overall, we are in great shape for the remainder of this year and beyond.' *Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. A reconciliation is provided in the tables of this press release. 2025 First Quarter Financial Results Sales were $9.7 million for the fiscal 2025 first quarter as compared to $12.3 million in the same period in fiscal 2024. Hardware revenue was $3.4 million, versus $4.1 million in the prior-year period, while service revenue fell to $6.3 million from $8.1 million in fiscal 2024. Both hardware and service sales were lower year-over-year due to deployment timing. Consolidated gross profit was $4.5 million for the fiscal 2025 first quarter versus $5.8 million in the prior-year period, and consolidated gross margin was 45.7% versus 46.9% in the fiscal 2024 first quarter. Gross margin on hardware revenue was 32.1% in fiscal 2025 as compared to 22.9% in the prior-year period, primarily reflecting product mix. Gross margin on services amounted to 53.0%, versus 59.1% in the fiscal 2024 first quarter, due to a reduction in SaaS subscription services and the Company's prior exit from media sales effective October 1, 2024. The Company ended the 2025 first quarter with ARR of approximately $17.3 million. Sales and marketing expenses in the first quarter fell to $1.2 million, versus $1.5 million in the prior-year period, while general and administrative expenses declined to $3.9 million versus $4.4 million in fiscal 2024. The Company posted an operating loss of approximately $0.7 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 compared to $0.1 million in fiscal 2024. Including a pre-tax gain of $4.8 million on the settlement of the Company's contingent consideration liability, CRI reported net income of $3.4 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, in the quarter ended March 31, 2025, versus a net loss of $0.1 million, or $(0.01) per diluted share, in the prior-year period. Adjusted EBITDA (defined later in this release) was $0.5 million in the first quarter of 2025 as compared to $0.8 million in the prior-year period. Balance Sheet As of March 31, 2025, the Company had cash on hand of approximately $1.1 million, compared to $1.0 million at December 31, 2024. The Company's total debt, inclusive of the previously recorded contingent consideration liability settled during the first quarter of 2025 and the $4 million promissory note issued in the settlement, was approximately $23.2 million as of March 31, 2025 as compared to $25.8 million at the start of the fiscal year. The decrease during the quarter was the result of a $5.8 million reduction in the contingent liability through the settlement, offset by $3.2 million increase in short-term working capital needs as the Company mobilizes for new and anticipated customer deployments later in the calendar year. As of the end of the first quarter, the trailing twelve-month gross and net leverage ratios utilizing Adjusted EBTIDA were 4.91x and 4.67x, respectively, versus 2.59x and 2.39x at the beginning of 2025. Net debt is equal to the Company's outstanding debt less cash on hand. Conference Call Details The Company will host a conference call to review the results of the first quarter of 2025, and provide additional commentary about recent performance, on May 14, at 9:00 am Eastern Time, which will include prepared remarks and materials from management, followed by a live Q&A. The call will be hosted by Rick Mills, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, George Sautter, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Corporate Development, and Ryan Mudd, Interim Chief Financial Officer. Prior to the call, participants should register at Once registered, participants can use the weblink provided in the registration email to participate in the live webcast. An archived edition of the earnings conference call will also be posted on the Company's website later today and will remain available for one year. Use of Non-GAAP Measures Creative Realities, Inc. prepares its consolidated financial statements in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles ('GAAP'). In addition to disclosing financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP, the Company discloses information regarding 'EBITDA' and 'Adjusted EBITDA.' CRI defines 'EBITDA' as earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization of intangibles. CRI defines 'Adjusted EBITDA' as EBITDA excluding stock-based compensation, fair value adjustments and both cash and non-cash non-recurring gains and charges. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not measures of performance defined in accordance with GAAP. However, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are used internally in planning and evaluating the Company's operating performance. Accordingly, management believes that disclosure of these metrics offers investors, bankers and other stakeholders an additional view of the Company's operations that, when coupled with the GAAP results, provides a more complete understanding of the Company's financial results. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to net income/(loss) or to net cash used in operating activities as measures of operating results or liquidity. Our calculation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies, and the measures exclude financial information that some may consider important in evaluating the Company's performance. A reconciliation of GAAP net income/(loss) to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA is included in the accompanying financial schedules. For further information, please refer to Creative Realities, Inc.'s filings available online at including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2024 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. About Creative Realities, Inc. Creative Realities designs, develops and deploys digital signage-based experiences for enterprise-level networks utilizing its Clarity™, ReflectView™, and iShowroom™ Content Management System (CMS) platforms. The Company is actively providing recurring SaaS and support services across diverse vertical markets, including but not limited to retail, automotive, digital-out-of-home (DOOH) advertising networks, convenience stores, foodservice/QSR, gaming, theater, and stadium venues. In addition, the Company assists clients in utilizing place-based digital media to achieve business objectives such as increased revenue, enhanced customer experiences, and improved productivity. This includes the design, deployment, and day to day management of Retail Media Networks to monetize on-premise foot traffic utilizing its AdLogic™ and AdLogic CPM+™ programmatic advertising platforms. Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and includes, among other things, discussions of our business strategies, product releases, future operations and capital resources. Words such as 'estimates,' 'projects,' 'expects,' 'anticipates,' 'forecasts,' 'plans,' 'intends,' 'believes,' 'seeks,' 'may,' 'will,' 'should,' 'future,' 'propose' and variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results. They are based on the opinions, estimates and beliefs of management as of the date such statements are made, and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, many of which are outside of our control, that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these risks are discussed in the 'Risk Factors' section contained in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, and the Company's subsequent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Important factors, among others, that may affect actual results or outcomes include: our strategy for customer retention, growth, product development, market position, financial results and reserves, our ability to execute on our business plan, our ability to retain key personnel, our ability to remain listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, our ability to realize the revenues included in our future guidance and backlog reports, our ability to satisfy our upcoming debt obligations and other liabilities, the ability of the Company to continue as a going concern, potential litigation, supply chain shortages, and general economic and market conditions impacting demand for our products and services. Readers should not place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements. We assume no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Contacts Media: Christina Davies [email protected] Investor Relations: Chris Witty [email protected] 646-438-9385 [email protected] RECONCILIATION OF GAAP NET LOSS TO ADJUSTED EBITDA (in thousands, unaudited) A non-GAAP financial measure is generally defined as one that purports to measure historical or future financial performance, financial position, or cash flows, but excludes or includes amounts that would not be so excluded or included in the most comparable U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ('GAAP') measure. Earnings before interest, depreciation, and amortization ('EBITDA') and adjusted EBITDA ('Adjusted EBITDA') are non-GAAP financial performance measures we believe offer a useful view of the overall operations of our business. These non-GAAP financial performance measures, which may not be comparable to, and may be defined differently than, similarly titled measures used or reported by other companies, should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for the related GAAP measures and should be read together with financial information presented on a GAAP basis. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not measurements of financial performance under GAAP. We use non-GAAP financial performance measures to supplement our GAAP results in order to provide a more complete understanding of the factors and trends affecting our business. We believe these non-GAAP financial performance measures are helpful in identifying trends in our day-to-day performance because the items excluded have little or no significance on our day-to-day operations. These measures provide an assessment of core expenses and afford management the ability to make decisions which are expected to facilitate meeting current financial goals as well as achieve optimal financial performance. Our management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide additional information useful for investors, shareholders and other stakeholders of our Company in gauging our results of operations on an ongoing basis. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA have limitations as analytical tools. They should not be viewed in isolation or as a substitute for net income (loss) or any other measure of performance derived in accordance with GAAP. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA exclude certain expenses that we believe may not be indicative of our business operating results. EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to net (loss) income as an indicator of performance or as an alternative to cash flows from operating activities as an indicator of cash flows, in each case as determined in accordance with GAAP, or as a measure of liquidity. EBITDA does not take into account changes in certain assets and liabilities as well as interest and income taxes that can affect cash flows. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA excludes stock-based compensation, fair value adjustments and both cash and non-cash non-recurring gains and charges. We strongly urge you to review the following reconciliation of net (loss) income to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA, along with our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. We also strongly urge you not to rely on any single financial performance measure to evaluate our business. The following table presents a reconciliation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA from net loss, CRI's most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.