I don’t like putting too much of a focus on one company – in good times or bad – but Creative Realities is one of just a small handful of digital signage companies that are public, and therefore have to open their so-called kimono and show the rest of the industry what’s going on.
And at the moment, things appear to be going very well – which might, by extension, tell a broader tale about the state of the industry and end-user interest.
The retail-focused company has released its financial results for the fiscal fourth quarter, and the year ended December 31, 2023.
Highlights:
- All-time record revenue of $14.5 million ($15.4 million*) and $45.2 million ($46.1 million*) for the fourth quarter and full year 2023, respectively;
- All-time record gross profit of $7.5 million and $22.2 million for the fourth quarter and full year 2023, respectively;
- All-time record Adjusted EBITDA** of $2.8 million and $5.1 million for the fourth quarter and full year 2023, respectively;
- Annual recurring revenue (“ARR”) rose to an all-time high of a $16.3 million run rate exiting 2023; Company increasing 2024 exit run rate guidance to $20.0 million from $18.0 million.
“I am pleased to report that the Company generated all-time record quarterly revenue of $14.5 million in the last three months of fiscal 2023, up nearly 40% versus the prior-year period, bringing the full fiscal year to $45.2 million – also a new high mark for Creative Realities,” says Rick Mills, Chief Executive Officer. “At the same time, the Company generated all-time records in terms of gross profit – $7.5 million and $22.2 million, respectively, for the fourth quarter and full year – representing gross margins of 51.8% and 49.1%, respectively.
“In addition, due to the strong fourth quarter, we posted positive operating income in 2023, the first time in history. We also achieved record Adjusted EBITDA of $2.8 million in the quarter, reflecting the largest media sales transaction ever, and exited the year with an ARR of $16.3 million, exceeding expectations.
“As I have conveyed repeatedly, a key financial focus is to generate high-margin, subscription Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) revenue, with hardware sales and deployments being one means to this end. The fact that we were able to over-perform on ARR helped the Company achieve its revenue projections, with superior gross profit, despite delayed rollouts for certain major customer deployments.”
“As of January 1, 2024, new customer contracts and pricing changes have already driven our ARR on SaaS to $17.7 million – leading us to increase the Company’s 2024 ARR exit guidance to $20.0 million from $18 million. I cannot overemphasize the magnitude of this accomplishment, as higher ARR should accelerate our growth trajectory, bolster margins, and improve cash flow generation in the year ahead.”
These things make me go cross-eyed, but the SEC filings are here. I can’t entirely tell if CRI is profitable, but the summary suggests it is busily paying down a principal debt at a clip of about $400K a month, with a net debt position of about $9.5 million at the time of this earnings release.
This article was originally published by Sixteen:Nine.
