/EINPresswire.com/ -- BURLINGTON, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/08/16 -- Evertz Technologies Limited (TSX: ET), the leader in Software Defined Video Network ("SDVN") technology, today reported its results for the fourth quarter and year ended April 30, 2016.

Fiscal 2016 Highlights

--  Record annual revenue of $381.6 million, up 5% year over year
--  United States / Canada region revenue, up 6% to $216.0 million from the
    prior year
--  Net earnings of $70.9 million for the year, up 7% year over year
--  Fully diluted earnings per share of $0.94, up 8% from the prior year

Fourth Quarter 2016 Highlights

--  Revenue of $96.4 million, up 5% from the same quarter in the prior year
--  International revenue up 8% to $45.1 million from the prior year
--  Earnings from operations before FX of $23.1 million, up 9% year over
    year
--  Net earnings were $8.3 million or $0.11 per share for the quarter,
    inclusive of a foreign exchange ("FX") loss of $11.8 million

Selected Financial Information

Consolidated Statement of Earnings Data

(in thousands of dollars, except earnings per share and share data)

                             Q4'16         Q4'15         YE'16         YE'15
                    --------------------------------------------------------
Revenue              $      96,367 $      91,977 $     381,550 $     363,606
Gross margin                55,024        52,728       217,378       206,131
Earnings from
 operations                 11,311        14,583        96,433        88,504
Earnings from
 operations before          23,125        21,296        93,795        87,093
 FX
Net earnings                 8,279        11,154        70,886        66,410
Fully-diluted
 earnings per share  $        0.11 $        0.15 $        0.94 $        0.87
Fully-diluted shares    74,725,908    75,073,524    74,843,493    75,033,398

Selected Financial Information

Consolidated Balance Sheet Data

(in thousands of dollars)

                                       YE ' 16       YE ' 15
                                ----------------------------
Cash and cash equivalents        $     123,102 $     100,681
Working capital                        314,912       294,895
Total assets                           448,314       426,162
Shareholders' equity                   366,205       353,471

Revenue

For the quarter ended April 30, 2016, revenues were $96.4 million as compared to revenues of $92.0 million for the quarter ended April 30, 2015. For the quarter, revenues in the United States/Canada region were $51.2 million as compared to $50.0 million in the same quarter last year. The International region had revenues of $45.1 million compared to $41.9 million in the same quarter last year.

For the year ended April 30, 2016, sales were $381.6 million, an increase of $18.0 or 5% as compared to sales of $363.6 million for the prior year. For the year, revenues in the United States/Canada region were $216.0 million as compared to $204.5 million in the prior year. The International region had revenues of $165.5 million compared to $159.2 million in the prior year.

Gross Margin

For the quarter ended April 30, 2016 gross margin was $55.0 million as compared to $52.7 million in the same quarter last year. Gross margin percentage was approximately 57.1% as compared to 57.3% in the quarter ended April 30, 2015.

For the year ended April 30, 2016 gross margin was $217.4 million as compared to $206.1 million for the year ended April 30, 2015. Gross margin percentage was approximately 57.0% for the year ended April 30, 2016 as compared to 56.7% for the prior year.

Earnings

For the quarter ended April 30, 2016 net earnings were $8.3 million as compared to $11.2 million in the corresponding period last year.

For the year ended April 30, 2016 net earnings were $70.9 million as compared to $66.4 million in the corresponding period last year.

For the quarter ended April 30, 2016, earnings per share on a fully-diluted basis were $0.11 as compared to $0.15 in the corresponding period last year.

For the year ended April 30, 2016, earnings per share on a fully-diluted basis were $0.94 as compared to $0.87 in the same period in 2015.

Operating Expenses

For the quarter ended April 30, 2016 selling and administrative expenses were $16.2 million as compared to $15.5 million for the quarter ended April 30, 2015.

For the year ended April 30, 2016, selling and administrative expenses were $61.0 as compared to $58.8 million for the year ended April 30, 2015.

For the quarter ended April 30, 2016 gross research and development expenses decreased by $0.3 million or 2% as compared to the corresponding period in 2015. Gross research and development expenses represented approximately 17.9% of revenue for the quarter ended April 30, 2016.

For the year ended April 30, 2016 gross research and development expenses increased by $2.6 million or 4% as compared to the prior year. Research and development expenses represented approximately 17.5% of sales.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

The Company's working capital as at April 30, 2016 was $314.9 million as compared to $294.9 million on April 30, 2015.

Cash and cash equivalents were $123.1 million as at April 30, 2016 as compared to $100.7 million on April 30, 2015.

Cash generated from operations was $10.1 million for the quarter ended April 30, 2016 as compared to cash used of $1.6 million for the quarter ended April 30, 2015. Before taking into account taxes and the changes in non-cash working capital and current taxes, the Company generated $12.7 million from operations for the quarter ended April 30, 2016 compared to $12.3 million for the same period last year.

Cash provided by operations was $91.2 million for the 2106 fiscal year as compared to cash provided by operations of $54.4 million for the 2015 fiscal year. Before taking into account taxes and the changes in non-cash working capital, the Company generated $85.5 million from operations for fiscal 2016 as compared to $78.7 million for fiscal 2015.

For the quarter, the Company used $0.8 million in investing activities largely a result of purchases in capital assets.

For the year, the Company used $3.9 million in investing activities, largely a result of purchases of capital assets.

For the quarter ended, the Company used cash in financing activities of $13.2 million which was principally a result of the payment of dividends of $13.4 million.

For the year ended April 30, 2016, the Company used cash in financing activities of $59.4 which was principally a result of the payment of dividends of $54.2 million and the repurchase of Capital Stock costing $9.4 million, partially offset by the issuance of Capital Stock pursuant to the Company's Stock Option Plan of $4.4 million.

Shipments and Backlog

At the end of May 2016, purchase order backlog was in excess of $69 million and shipments during the month of May 2016 were $21 million.

Dividend Declared

Evertz Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend on June 8, 2016 of $0.18 per share.

The dividend is payable to shareholders of record on June 17, 2016 and will be paid on or about June 24, 2016.

Selected Consolidated Financial Information

(in thousands of dollars, except earnings per share and percentages)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     Three month periods ended   Twelve month periods ended
                            April 30,                   April 30,
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             2016          2015          2016          2015
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Revenue              $     96,367  $     91,977  $    381,550  $    363,606
Cost of goods sold         41,343        39,249       164,172       157,475
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gross margin               55,024        52,728       217,378       206,131
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gross margin %              57.1%         57.3%         57.0%         56.7%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Expenses
  Selling and
   administrative          16,236        15,526        60,986        58,833
  General                   1,460         1,368         6,200         6,136
  Research and
   development             17,284        17,623        66,892        64,332
  Investment tax
   credits                 (3,081)       (3,085)      (10,495)      (10,263)
  Foreign exchange
   loss (gain)             11,814         6,713        (2,638)       (1,411)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           43,713        38,145       120,945       117,627
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           11,311        14,583        96,433        88,504

Finance income                317           227           772           830
Finance costs                 (84)          (64)         (534)         (240)
Other income and
 expenses                    (237)          160           124           325
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Earnings before
 income taxes              11,307        14,906        96,795        89,419
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Provision for
 (recovery of)
 income taxes
  Current                   1,270         4,817        24,582        25,154
  Deferred                  1,758        (1,065)        1,327        (2,145)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            3,028         3,752        25,909        23,009
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net earnings for the
 period              $      8,279  $     11,154  $     70,886  $     66,410
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Net earnings
 attributable to
 non-controlling
 interest            $        182  $        228  $        667  $        910
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net earnings
 attributable to
 shareholders               8,097        10,926        70,219        65,500
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net earnings for the
 period              $      8,279  $     11,154  $     70,886  $     66,410
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Earnings per share
Basic                $       0.11  $       0.15  $       0.94  $       0.88
Diluted              $       0.11  $       0.15  $       0.94  $       0.87
----------------------------------------------------------------------------


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         April 30,    April 30,    April 30,
                                              2016         2015         2014
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Assets
Current assets
  Cash and cash equivalents           $    123,102 $    100,681 $    101,956
  Trade and other receivables               97,435       95,403       87,981
  Prepaid expenses                           6,307        8,426        4,704
  Inventories                              155,957      154,259      134,561
  Income tax receivable                      4,256            -        1,735
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           387,057      358,769      330,937

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Property, Plant and Equipment               42,971       49,080       51,831
Goodwill                                    18,286       18,313       18,269
Intangible assets                                -            -          243
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      $    448,314 $    426,162 $    401,280
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Liabilities
Current liabilities
  Trade and other payables            $     49,815 $     44,265 $     44,888
  Provisions                                 3,563        2,229        1,624
  Deferred revenue                          18,529       15,427       10,096
  Current portion of long term debt            238          254          415
  Income tax payable                             -        1,699            -
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            72,145       63,874       57,023

Long term debt                                 888          996        1,372
Deferred taxes                               5,545        4,432        6,468
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            78,578       69,302       64,863

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equity
Capital stock                              100,483       95,708       92,931
Share based payment reserve                 13,835       12,418       10,217

Accumulated other comprehensive
 income                                      1,567        3,077        2,966
Retained earnings                          250,320      242,268      227,364
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           251,887      245,345      230,330

Total equity attributable to
 shareholders                              366,205      353,471      333,478
Non-controlling interest                     3,531        3,389        2,939
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           369,736      356,860      336,417
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      $    448,314 $    426,162 $    401,280
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Forward-Looking Statements

The report contains forward-looking statements reflecting Evertz's objectives, estimates and expectations. Such forward looking statements use words such as "may", "will", "expect", "believe", "anticipate", "plan", "intend", "project", "continue" and other similar terminology of a forward-looking nature or negatives of those terms.

Although management of the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, all forward-looking statements address matters that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Accordingly, there are or will be a number of significant factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results to be materially different from any future results performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Conference Call

The Company will hold a conference call with financial analysts to discuss the results on June 8, 2016 at 5:00 p.m. (EDT). Media and other interested parties are invited to join the conference call in listen-only mode. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 416-849-1967 or toll-free (North America) 1-866-253-4709.

For those unable to listen to the live call, a rebroadcast will also be available until July 8, 2016. The rebroadcast can be accessed at 647-436-0148 or toll-free 1-888-203-1112. The pass code for the rebroadcast is 5006431.

About Evertz

Evertz Technologies Limited (TSX: ET) designs, manufactures and markets video and audio infrastructure solutions for the television, telecommunications and new-media industries. The Company's solutions are purchased by content creators, broadcasters, specialty channels and television service providers to support their increasingly complex multi-channel digital and high definition television ("HDTV") and next generation high bandwidth low latency IP network environments and by telecommunications and new-media companies. The Company's products allow its customers to generate additional revenue while reducing costs through the more efficient signal routing, distribution, monitoring and management of content as well as the automation of previously manual processes.

Contacts:
Evertz Technologies Limited
Anthony Gridley
Chief Financial Officer
(905) 335-7580
ir@evertz.com

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