Latest news with #Innovate
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Kamada Ltd (KMDA) Q1 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Revenue Growth and Strategic Expansion
Release Date: May 14, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Kamada Ltd (NASDAQ:KMDA) reported a strong first quarter with total revenues of $44 million, marking a 17% increase year over year. The company achieved a significant 54% year-over-year increase in adjusted EBITDA, reaching $11.6 million. Kamada Ltd (NASDAQ:KMDA) reiterated its 2025 annual guidance, projecting annual revenues between $178 million to $182 million and adjusted EBITDA between $38 million to $42 million. The company is advancing its four-pillar growth strategy, which includes organic commercial growth, business development, M&A transactions, and plasma collection operations. Kamada Ltd (NASDAQ:KMDA) expanded its plasma collection operation with a new center in San Antonio, Texas, expected to contribute significantly to annual revenues. Cytogam was not a major contributor to growth this quarter, indicating potential challenges in its market performance. The company faces uncertainties related to global trade tariffs, although currently, no direct impact is anticipated. There is a significant increase in the reported tax rate, from 3% to 40%, although it was noted as a non-cash expense. Enrollment for the phase 3 inhaled Alpha 1 program is only at 55%, indicating potential delays in reaching full enrollment. The company is still utilizing net operating losses (NOLs) and expects to start paying taxes by the end of 2025 or early 2026, which could impact future cash flows. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 3 Warning Sign with KMDA. Q: I noticed that Cytogam isn't cited as a growth contributor this quarter. With your expanded investment in clinical studies for Cytogam, should we read into anything about its current status or potential guideline updates? A: (Amir London, CEO) The year-over-year growth was primarily driven by other products. Cytogam's sales were similar to Q1 2024, as we had a strong quarter back then due to fresh inventory. The expanded studies aim to present new clinical data, which started in 2023, to potentially update guidelines and demonstrate Cytogam's advantages in CMV management. Q: How do you view the potential impact of tariffs on your global business, especially considering pharmaceuticals are currently excluded? A: (Jaime Olov, CFO) Based on our evaluation, there should be no direct impact on our product sales. However, we will continue to monitor the situation as it evolves. Currently, we do not foresee any direct impact on our business. Q: Can you provide an update on the enrollment status for the Innovate trial? A: (Amir London, CEO) We have achieved around 55% enrollment and are progressing well. We plan to conduct a futility analysis with a data cutoff in the second half of the year, after which the data will be available for analysis. Q: Regarding the Cytogam post-marketing study, can you discuss the timeline for its completion? A: (Amir London, CEO) The program consists of 10 different studies, each with its own timeline. Some results will be available later this year into 2026, while others will continue through 2027-2028. Overall, it's a four-year program across multiple sites and KOLs. Q: You reported a 40% tax rate this quarter compared to 3% a year ago. What caused this change, and are these real cash taxes? A: (Jaime Olov, CFO) The tax rate change is due to shifts between deferred tax assets and liabilities, with no cash effect. We expect fluctuations in tax expenses through 2025, but it should stabilize by year-end. We anticipate starting to pay taxes at the end of 2025 or early 2026. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Techday NZ
09-05-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Asia-Pacific organisations honoured for digital transformation
Smart Communications has announced the recipients of its 2025 SCALE Awards, recognising organisations across Asia-Pacific for achievements in digital transformation and customer engagement. The awards were presented as part of the company's annual Innovate conference, which gathered customers, partners, and industry speakers for discussions around digital-first customer experience trends and the latest developments in its SmartCOMM and SmartIQ platforms. Among this year's honourees, ING was recognised in the Future Focused category, Westpac received the Best Customer Experience award, Bupa was acknowledged for Smarter Together, and Synergy Group won the Go-To-Market Partner category. The awards highlight organisations that have distinguished themselves through strategic innovation, collaborative leadership, and a forward-looking approach to Customer Communications Management. According to Smart Communications, these companies have realised measurable impacts in customer engagement and digital transformation initiatives across the region. Nick Smith, SVP Sales APAC and EMEA at Smart Communications, commented on the achievements of the awardees, stating: "Every day we work with industry leaders who have innovation at the heart of all they do, so this is an opportunity to spotlight these industry leaders for their innovation. Their success stories are a testament to what's possible when technology and business vision align, and we are glad to have been a part of their journey to excellent customer communication." The Innovate 2025 event featured a keynote presentation by Simon Tindal, Chief Technology Officer at Smart Communications, focused on demonstrating the capabilities within SmartCOMM and SmartIQ, including how enterprises can use these technologies to increase automation, boost completion rates, and provide consistent customer outcomes across a variety of communication channels. As part of the conference agenda, panel discussions included representatives from Suncorp, Bupa, and AMP, who shared insights on the challenges facing their industries, strategies that have produced tangible results, and major lessons learned throughout their digital transformation journeys. The event concluded with a session led by Mark Donohue, Chief Executive Officer of iSky Research, who explored how industry leaders are setting benchmarks, what current customer expectations look like, and how companies can leverage actionable insights to improve customer experience. Smart Communications continues to expand its capabilities within its Conversation Cloud offering, supporting integration and collaboration with other platform vendors globally. This approach is aimed at facilitating seamless ongoing conversations for enterprise clients in sectors such as financial services, insurance, and healthcare. The company noted that these highly regulated industries face strict requirements for compliance in customer communications. Smart Communications' solutions combine a range of communication tools into a single platform, enabling faster response times through automation, providing analytics for improved decision-making, enhancing personalisation, consistency, and helping organisations meet regulatory obligations.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Q1 2025 Innovate Corp Earnings Call
Participants Anthony Rozmus; Investor Relations; Innovate Corp Paul Voigt; Interim Chief Executive Officer; Innovate Corp Michael Sena; Chief Financial Officer; Innovate Corp Presentation Operator Good afternoon, and welcome to Innovate's first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Anthony Rozmus with Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Anthony Rozmus Good afternoon. Thank you for being with us to review Innovate's first quarter 2025 earnings results. We are joined today by Paul Voigt, Innovate's Interim CEO; and Mike Sena, Innovate's CFO. We have posted our earnings release and our slide presentation on our website at We will begin our call with prepared remarks to be followed by a Q&A session. This call is also being simulcast and will be archived on our website. During this call, management may make certain statements and assumptions, which are not historical facts, will be forward-looking and are being made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions and Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such forward-looking statements involve risks, assumptions and uncertainties and are subject to certain assumptions and risk factors that could cause Innovate's actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. The Risk factors that could cause these differences are more fully discussed in the cautionary statement that is included in our earnings release and the slide presentation and further detailed in our 10-K and other filings with the SEC. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this conference call are only made as of this -- the date of this call and as stated in our SEC reports. Innovate disclaims any intent or obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, except as expressly required by law. Management may also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures such as adjusted EBITDA. We believe these measures provide useful supplemental data that, while not a substitute for GAAP measures, allow for greater transparency in the review of our financial and operational performance. At this point, it is my pleasure to turn things over to Paul Voigt. Paul Voigt Good afternoon. We are pleased to report our first quarter 2025 financial results, and we'll provide you an update on our three operating segments. Innovate delivered consolidated revenues of $274.2 million and adjusted EBITDA of $7.2 million in the first quarter of 2025. As we have discussed, we are actively working to address our capital structure and our near-term maturities of our debt obligations. We continue to make progress on our strategic objectives, and our businesses continue to execute and drive very good results. We continue to believe that we have very valuable assets that appreciate in value each day. As a reminder, we are working to leverage one or more of these assets prior to reaching the debt maturities in order to achieve sustainable capital structure that allows us to realize the full value of the remaining businesses. We are keenly aware of the time line in front of us, and we are working diligently for a solution. As we turn our attention to our operating segments, starting with the Infrastructure, DBM Global achieved revenues of $264.9 million and adjusted EBITDA of $16.7 million. During the quarter, DBM has seen gross margin improvement year-over-year of approximately 110 basis points to 15.6% and adjusted EBITDA margin improvement of approximately 40 basis points to 6.3% year-over-year. As expected, our results for DBM were in line with our expectations given the delay of awards in the back half of 2024. That said, the addition of over $500 million of new awards to backlog by our world-class management team, Rustin and company, in the first quarter, as previously highlighted on our last call, has led to the growth in reported and adjusted backlog now reaching $1.4 billion. DBM remains well positioned in 2025 with a strong backlog and robust pipeline. We continue to monitor the ongoing tariff situation. At this point, DBM has not seen material impact to its business. Given policy is constantly evolving, there is uncertainty about the full impact of tariffs on the cost of materials and project delays. DBM continues to actively monitor its project backlog and new project pipeline to mitigate any impacts. Longer term, tariff economics could potentially spur additional economic investments in the United States. Of note, President Trump expects $6 trillion to $7 trillion in investments to come into the United States after the tariffs take effect. Turning to Life Science. As we discussed on our last call, MediBeacon received FDA approval for its transdermal GFR system to assess kidney function. We are beginning to see traction with exploring the potential application for TGFR through our initial conversations with clinicians in hospital and outpatient settings. The transdermal GFR kidney function technology has been used in preclinical research for over a decade by some of the most influential academic medical center key opinion leaders and pharmaceutical companies in the world and has been utilized in over 600 peer-reviewed publications and conference abstracts. Also, we previously announced that the National Medical Products Administration in China also approved the MediBeacon TGFR Monitor and TGFR Sensor for the assessment of kidney function in patients with normal or impaired renal function. Finally, two peer-reviewed publications and high-impact medical journals were published. These publications underscore the urgent need for improved kidney function assessment tools. These articles include data from the TGFR, including relmapirazin, in a range of chronic kidney disease patients. MediBeacon's Director of Clinical Applications, Dr. Stuart Goldstein, presented results from MediBeacon's next-generation TGF Sensor and monitored a clinical trial at the Chronic Kidney Disease Drug Development Summit in Boston in March 17 through the 19. MediBeacon's next-generation transdermal sensor is under review with the FDA. This is a more user-friendly and cost-effective sensor. The TGFR system will be available for commercial sale in the fourth quarter of 2025. As previously mentioned, we are still currently engaged with Jefferies, and we continue to explore strategic alternatives. R2 kicked off 2025 with a strong performance, tripling its year-over-year revenue to $3.1 million in the first quarter 2025 compared to $1 million in the first quarter 2024. This momentum was fueled by the increased demand in North America with $2.4 million of revenue in the first quarter of 2025 compared to $800,000 in the prior year quarter. Gross worldwide system unit sales surged 163% over first quarter 2024 led by a 109% increase in North America. R2 system backlog has now surpassed 100 units globally, positioning the company for continued growth. The company continues to expand its global footprint. During 2025, we have entered into distribution agreements in Spain, France, UK and several countries in South America. We are now currently serving 28 countries and continue to expand. Glacial Skin devices continue to deliver impressive clinical and business outcomes for providers. In the first quarter of 2025, patient treatments grew 136%, while average monthly utilization per provider increased 42% compared to the same period last year. Glacial Skin's rising brand awareness is proving to be a powerful sales driver, with social media engagement growth outperforming industry competitors by 774%. Supporting this surge, R2 saw quarter-over-quarter increases of 347% in social media mentions, 561% in website users and 158% inpatient provider searches. We are extremely pleased with the success at R2 and continue to believe the market opportunity for R2 is massive and remain pleased with the momentum the company has experienced year-over-year. Moving to Spectrum. First quarter revenues were $6.2 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $1.4 million, in line with expectations. As we spoke about on our last call, broadcasting signed a contract with Marathon Ventures to distribute 2 new, vibrant over-the-air networks, Nosey and Confess. As the year progresses, there will be additional new entrants in the OTA space, reflecting a growing trend in the broadcasting and streaming industries. This shift is largely driven by the increasing demand for diverse and accessible content delivery methods. We are continuing to pursue commercial opportunities in data casting. Our team has been working diligently to develop and implement the necessary technology and partnerships to make this a reality. This opportunity should be revenue-generating by the end of the year. In addition, preparations are underway for ATSC 3.0 light housing to go live at KERA, the Dallas PBR station, in the second quarter. In March, we took a significant step forward by filing a petition with the FCC to allow low-powered TV stations to voluntarily convert to 5G broadcast technology. This petition seeks to modernize broadcasting capabilities, enhancing data rates, reducing latency and improving overall connectivity for these stations. The FCC has put the petition out for public comment, which will allow for review of our proposal. This feedback is crucial as it will shape the final decision and ensure the transition to 5G broadcast is beneficial for all parties involved. As a reminder, our strategic vision for the business anchors upon maximizing the value of these assets. Given the recent success in our businesses, we are encouraged in our ability to execute on behalf of shareholders. With that, I'll turn it over to Mike for a review of our financials and our capital structure.
Business Wire
05-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Office of STEM Engagement at Rice University Prepares to Inspire Educators at Inaugural Summer STEM Summit
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Rice Office of STEM Engagement ('Rice STEM' or 'R-STEM') is set to host the inaugural Innovate, Inspire, & Impact: STEM Teaching Summit in Houston, Texas, on June 17-18, 2025. The theme, Creating Synapses: Igniting Transformative Teaching through Inquiry and Cross-Curricular Connections, will bring educators of various disciplines together to spark curiosity, foster innovation, and engage in hands-on workshops to explore cutting-edge ideas designed to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders. This two-day event is an exciting opportunity to network with passionate educators and walk away with ready-to-implement lessons and teaching strategies to help shape the next generation of STEM leaders. Share The gathering is expected to draw more than 250 participants from across the Greater Houston area, from the academic/instructional coaching/school administrator community to the curriculum development sector, and beyond to learn, assess educator needs, and foster relationships across various disciplines and grade levels. Conference highlights will include a plenary session featuring electrifying speakers, followed by interactive, 90-minute lab-based workshops and engaging 45-minute sessions tailored to augment the K-12 instructional toolkit. Comments from the Conference Chair Jessica Robicheaux, Assistant Director for Educational Leadership and STEM Initiatives, asks, 'Are you an educator looking for professional development or GT hours this summer? This two-day event is an exciting opportunity to network with passionate educators and walk away with ready-to-implement lessons and teaching strategies to help shape the next generation of STEM leaders. How is STEM education changing? Are there opportunities to integrate new strategies and inquiry-driven learning into the classroom? How will technology impact education in the future, and are we prepared for it?' You can expand the conversation with questions and answers from STEM leaders who are as committed as you are to shaping the future at the moderated plenary session. The Rice University Office of STEM Engagement is dedicated to building STEM knowledge, skills, and leadership by providing innovative, pre-K through career STEM learning experiences and enhancing the broader impacts of Rice University's research. Conference logistics Location: Rice University BioScience Research Collaborative 6500 Main Street, Houston, TX 77030 Conference registration:
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
NASCAR Heat 5 Video Game Securities Fraud Case Dismissed
U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas ruled on Wednesday there was no securities fraud in a case that turned on NASCAR Heat 5, a video game that simulated the 2020 NASCAR season, exceeding sales expectations. The ruling could set key precedent in securities fraud litigation, including for securities in the sports and video game industries. Four years ago, Innovate, a publicly traded company that owns other companies, brought (through Innovate 2 Corp.) a securities fraud suit against Motorsport Games. Motorsport owns a majority of 704Games, a video game developer that has an exclusive license to make NASCAR video games. The case concerns a board meeting held in June 2020 when 704Games officials offered a pessimistic sales outlook for NASCAR Heat 5, which was set to publish a month later. More from NBA Teams Ask SCOTUS to End 'Discovery Rule' in Copyright Law Daytona 500 Sees 12% TV Audience Gain Despite Rain Delay Reuters Win in AI Westlaw Case Clears Sports' Path Innovate owned a majority of 704Games until 2018; after years of not turning a profit, Innovate sold its majority stake to Motorsport, with Innovate retaining 13.5% ownership. A year later, Innovate and other minority shareholders tried to sell their 704Games shares to Motorsport, but Motorsport wouldn't pay the demanded price. During the June 2020 board meeting, 704Games offered a gloomy picture for NASCAR Heat 5. It was a portrayal that, Innovate charges, was intentionally exaggerated for purposes of misleading minority shareholders. Innovate believes 704Games wanted to convince it and other minority shareholders to dump their shares at a low price before Motorsport would go public (Motorsport had an IPO in January 2021 and is traded on NASDAQ as MSGM). The board meeting featured a slideshow that indicated pre-sales of NASCAR Heat 5 were very poor, 27% behind NASCAR Heat 4 (the previous game in the series) at the same time in development. The presentation also revealed the gaming community had largely dismissed NASCAR Heat 5 as a 'copy/paste' of NASCAR Heat 4, meaning there was concern NASCAR 5 would largely replicate, with only modest updates, NASCAR Heat 4. At least some of those concerns seemed warranted. NASCAR Heat 5 received mediocre reviews; the PlayStation version earned a Metacritic score of 63 (meaning 'mixed' or 'average') and critics bemoaned that the game lacked innovation. Lockdowns from the COVID-19 pandemic were also mentioned in the presentation as reason to expect NASCAR Heat 5 would struggle. Worst yet, 704Games warned it would 'run out of money next year . . . even if we hit our current projections.' The alleged fraud continued after the June board meeting, as Motorsport's CFO opined to minority investors the company had regrettably overpaid for 704Games by $1.1 million. By August 2020, the minority investors were ready to sell, and Motorsport bought Innovate's stake for about $620,000. As Innovate sees it, Motorsport and 704Games scripted the dire outlook while knowing NASCAR Heat 5 would perform better. Innovate points out that about a month after the board meeting, Motorsport's director of sales told a NASCAR official that the game was selling well, especially with respect to digital sales (where consumers pay to download the game instead of purchasing a physical copy). Innovate and other minority shareholders were allegedly not told this information. Also, while the board meeting featured grave warnings about 704Games' financial outlook, Motorsport had just received a $10 million line of credit. Bibas, who presides at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and is serving as a trial judge by designation for this case in Delaware, reasoned Innovate's theory doesn't illustrate securities fraud, instead saying it reflects a company selling its shares in another company 'for what, in hindsight, appears to be less than it could have gotten if it had held onto them.' The judge stressed 'not every poor investment decision is due to securities fraud.' Bibas further emphasized that a finding of fraud under the Securities Exchange Act requires multiple elements, but that Innovate failed to establish the first one: misrepresentation or omission of material fact. He wrote that 'Innovate has no evidence that any representations at that meeting were false when made.' To the contrary, Bibas underscored, Motorsport had good reason to worry about financial projections given 704Games' financial history and given the game wasn't, it seemed, shaping up as a hit. 'There is nothing showing that Motorsport inadequately considered the available data or used unsound forecasting methods,' Bibas stressed. The judge added that while there are emails and spreadsheets from Motorsport officials in July and August 2020 indicating NASCAR Heat 5 was selling well, that evidence doesn't show misrepresentation—it only shows the game exceeded expectations. Bibas also noted that Motorsport had no duty to correct what was said in the June 2020 board meeting. That's because 'Innovate has no evidence' anything said was false at the time it was said. Likewise, the judge reasoned that Motorsport had no duty to update Innovate. He wrote that while it is 'true' the 'original projections about Heat 5 sales weren't borne out,' those projections 'were accurate when made.' Bibas also explained there is no automatic duty for companies to provide 'continuous' updates. An update would have been warranted, Bibas explained, in the event of a takeover, merger or liquidation, but a game selling better than expected doesn't rise to that level. Innovate can appeal Bibas' decision to grant summary judgment to Motorsport to the Third Circuit. The major sports leagues in the U.S., along with their respective players' associations, license the intellectual property of those leagues, teams and athletes for use in video games. Often the games are released on a yearly cycle and the games' publisher must overcome consumer skepticism that the game will be a 'copy/paste' of the prior year's version. Innovate v. Motorsport Games is an interesting and useful decision for publishers and developers as they raise capital from investors for sports video games. Best of College Athletes as Employees: Answering 25 Key Questions Sign in to access your portfolio
