NetSol Technologies Inc (NTWK) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. Welcome to NETSOL Technologies fourth quarter and full-year fiscal 2025 earnings conference call. On the call today, our Founder and Chief Executive Officer of NETSOL Technologies, Inc., Najeeb Ghauri; Chief Financial Officer, Roger Almond; and Senior Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Patti McGlasson.

I would like to hand the call over to Patti, who will provide the necessary disclaimers regarding the forward-looking statements made during today's call. Patti, please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. After we review the company's business highlights and financial results for both the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, as well as our full-year earnings, we will open the call for questions.

Before we begin, I'd like to provide the cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements that may be made during today's discussion. Please note that all information presented on this call is subject to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our remarks may include forward-looking statements that reflect management's current expectations regarding future events and operating performance. These statements are subject to the risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those projected.

We encourage you to review the cautionary statements and risk factors contained in NETSOL's press release issued earlier today, as well as in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. I'd also like to note that today's discussion will include certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these measures to their most directly comparable GAAP figures can be found in the press release issued earlier today.

Lastly, please remember that this call is being recorded and will be available for replay on our website at netsoltech.com, as well as through a link included in today's press release.

I'd like to reiterate that this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the prepared remarks, we will open the call for Q&A session. I will now hand the call over to our founder and Chief Executive Officer, Najeeb Ghauri.

Thank you much, Patti. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining NETSOL Technologies earnings call to review our results for the fourth quarter and the full fiscal year ended June 30, 2025.

We appreciate your continued interest and support in NETSOL as we remain focused on delivering long-term value, strengthening our core offerings through a unified AI-powered Transcend Platform, and expanding our presence in key global markets.

Today, I'll provide a brief overview of important developments that have taken place over the fiscal year which reflect our strategic progress and operational highlights, and then I'll hand it over to our CFO, Roger Almond, who will walk us through our financial performance for both the fourth quarter and the full fiscal year in greater detail. After that, we will open the call for your questions.

Fiscal 2025 was a pivotal year for NETSOL. We made strong progress across our Subscription and Services segments, areas that form the foundation of our long-term growth strategy. Our strategy of migrating our existing customer base and new customers from a licensed revenue model to a recurring revenue model continues to accelerate. This reflects the trust that our people and products have garnered within our core industries.

We also advanced modernization efforts around our platform, made targeted investments in AI and automation capabilities. We remain committed to optimizing our operational efficiency and maintaining the discipline cost structure, all while keeping innovation, customer satisfaction, and shareholder value creation at the core of our mission.

Over the course of the year, we secured significant contract wins across various regions, further solidifying our reputation as a trusted technology partner in the global asset finance and leasing industry alongside the digital automotive retail space. In addition, we successfully delivered multiple high-impact go-lives, showcasing our capability to implement complex solutions with efficiency and precision. Further, we also enhanced our leadership bench with key senior level appointments, adding further debt to our organization.

These developments, coupled with broader progress and continued innovation, have position as well for sustained growth in the year ahead.

I'll start by discussing our product ecosystem enhancements. Over the past year, we have made substantial progress in strengthening, expanding our product and service portfolio. The centerpiece of this evolution was the official launch of our united Transcend platform, which is an AI-powered digital retail and asset finance solution designed for automotive and equipment, OEMs, auto captives, commercial lenders, dealers, brokers, banks, and other financial institutions. Today, NETSOL Transcend Platform revolutionizes how assets are sold, financed, and leased.

In line with this vision, we launched Transcend AI Labs, our dedicated innovation hub focus on AI first enhancements, automation, and strategic consulting. This initiative underscores our focus to leading the market through advanced technology and continuous R&D investment. To drive this forward, we have brought in new dealership for our Artificial Intelligence division, bringing deep expertise to our AI initiatives.

Our Transcend Marketplace continues to gain traction with modular API-first products, such as Flex, Dock, and Lane, delivering real world impact in the United Kingdom and beyond. These developments reinforce our position as a progressive technology leader in the asset retail, finance, and leasing space.

Our go-to-market strategy is gaining momentum globally with several high value wins and develop deployments that validate the strength of our technology solutions and commercial strategies.

We secured a $16 million and five-year contract with a major US automaker to transform its dealership operations with our Transcend retail platform, representing a major milestone for NETSOL in North America.

We also continue to deepen relationships with longstanding partners. A major Chinese automotive finance company upgraded to Transcend Finance as part of a multi-million-dollar deal involving the migration of over 3 million contracts, one of the largest volumes we have handled to date.

In Australia, a leading Japanese equipment finance company went live with Transcend Finance following a multi-million-dollar contract. We also made strategic progress in Europe with our first ever deployment in the Netherlands as our Transcend Finance platform went live for Hiltermann.

Further, we also signed a deal with Sindbad Management SPC in Oman, making our official entry into the Middle East. We are seeing clear signals that the market is continuing to respond positively to our proven state-of-the-art technology with our modular products and AI investments. We remain focused on driving sustainable growth through operational efficiency and financial discipline. Our continued investment in AI, particularly through Transcend AI Labs, is already helping us unlock greater productivity and scalability without the need to significantly expand headcount.

We are seeing meaningful improvements in recurring SaaS revenue. And our revenue per employee continues to trend upwards, reflecting better utilization of internal resources and scalability of our offerings.

We also strengthen our leadership team this year with strategic hires and appointments that will help guide our long-term vision, notably Richard Howard, a seasoned executive with decades of experience at Daimler and Mercedes-Benz in both the OEM and financial services side of the business, joined as an Advisory Board member and is actively contributing to a North American growth strategy.

We also appointed Ian Smith to our Board of Directors. Ian brings with him over three decades of global leadership, experience in financial services with a proven track record in automotive finance, digital transformation, and strategic growth. Most notably, he served as a CEO for BMW Group Financial Services USA and Americas.

All of these developments from our AI-driven product evolution to strong commercial execution and discipline operational focus are positioning NETSOL for long-term profitable growth. We are confident in our roadmap and look forward to continuing to lead in digital transformation across the global asset finance and leasing industry and the digital automotive retail space.

With that, I'll now turn the call over to our CFO, Roger Almond, who will walk us through our Q4 and full-year fiscal 2025 financials. Go ahead, Roger.

Thanks, Najeeb, and good morning, everyone. Let me begin with our fiscal fourth quarter results, followed by a summary of our full-year financial performance. Total net revenues for the fourth quarter increased 11.9% to $18.4 million compared with $16.4 million in the prior year period. This growth was driven primarily by increases in Subscription and Support revenues and by our Services revenues. License fees for the quarter were $0.5 million compared with $0.6 million in Q4 of fiscal 2024.

Total subscription and support revenues grew 9.9% to $8.2 million compared with $7.5 million in the same period last year, continuing to increase our recurring revenue base. Services revenues were $9.7 million, up from $8.4 million in the prior year period, reflecting strong project delivery and ongoing implementations. Our gross profit for the quarter was $10.3 million, representing a 56% gross margin, up from 52% in the prior year quarter.

Operating expenses were $7.2 million or 39% of sales compared to $7.7 million or 47% in Q4 fiscal 2024 for a decrease of $521,000. Income from operations increased to $3.2 million compared with $0.8 million in the prior year period. Non-GAAP EBITDA came in at $4.7 million or $0.40 per diluted share, nearly quadrupling the prior year's Q4 figure of $1.2 million or $0.11 per diluted share. Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA for Q4 was $3.5 million or $0.30 per diluted share compared with $0.7 million or $0.06 per diluted share in the prior year.

Turning to our full-year results. Total net revenues for fiscal 2025 were $66.1 million, an increase from $61.4 million in fiscal 2024. Looking at the revenue breakdown, license fees for the year were $0.6 million compared to $5.4 million in the prior year. This year-over-year decline reflects our ongoing transition away from large one-time license deals towards a subscription-first model.

Total Subscription and Support revenues were $32.9 million compared to $28 million in the previous year. This increase was driven by increased sales adoptions across multiple markets. Services revenues rose to $32.6 million, up from $28 million in fiscal 2024, a 16.3% increase, reflecting solid project activity throughout the year.

Further, gross profit for fiscal 2025 was $32.6 million compared with $29.3 million in the prior year. This improvement is due to the increase in revenues year over year, offset by an increase in our cost of revenues. Operating expenses totaled $29.1 million compared to $25.8 million last year, as we continued investing in key growth areas, talent acquisition, and global delivery capabilities. Income from operations for the year was $3.5 million, consistent with $3.5 million in the previous year.

At fiscal year end, our cash and cash equivalent stood at $17.4 million, reflecting our continued discipline in managing working capital and operational costs. Our balance sheet remains strong, and we believe we are well positioned to support both organic growth and future strategic opportunities.

I'd like to now hand the call back over to Najeeb. Najeeb?

Thank you, Roger. To summarize, we closed fiscal 2025 with solid momentum, particularly in our recurring revenue segments and continued to make progress in executing a long-term strategic vision. Looking ahead, we remain focused on expanding our staff offering globally, deepening customer relationships through value-added services and innovation, and improving overall operating leverage as we scale.

As always, I want to thank our global workforce to over 1,750 people across our regional offices worldwide for their dedication and hard work, our customers for their trust, and our shareholders for their continued support. We believe the fundamentals of our business remains strong, and we're optimistic about the opportunities ahead of fiscal 2026 and beyond.

With that, we now like to open the call for questions. Operator?

(Operator Instructions) Todd Felte, StoneX Wealth Management.

Hey. Congratulations, guys, on an outstanding quarter. Really nice to see the growth and the improvement in margins. I'm trying to figure out if this quarter is an amorality or the start of a kind of a new upward trend. Do most of your Subscription revenues, are they paid you on a quarterly basis or a yearly basis?

Thank you for your comment, Todd. First of all, I think we have a momentum as we close a strong fiscal year. I think there is enough going on in the company across all three regions that gives me a lot of confidence in our continued momentum of growth same way. Also, the subscription model, I think, Roger, you want to handle that because I think it's a quarterly pretty much, but it's a good trajectory that we are into growth side of the [SaaS] model.

And eventually, as you see from the report, that we have done very well from the last year, almost $32 million or something on the tax revenue which shows pretty strong, I think, direction for the company because that is exactly what we want to see, Subscription revenue grow faster than even License revenue because pretty much we're into more subscription than the license model. So we're pretty optimistic about this continued journey.

Yeah. So Todd, to answer your question, we see some annual, some quarterly, and some monthly. And so it's across the board depending on the contract we have and the customer. So cash will come in, like I say, and on some contracts will be annually. Some are set up to where they pay quarterly, and then we have some Subscription revenues is coming in monthly.

Okay, that's helpful. And finally, I was hoping you could enlighten us a little bit on your sales cycle. I know we've seen some very large contracts recently with some Chinese companies and an Australian company. From the time you announce these contracts, how long is it until your Transcend AI becomes operational and you start receiving a revenue from those contracts? And is there any upfront fees that they pay you?

Well, I think, it's a good question. First of all, the sales cycle is lengthened, as always, but on the Transcend Finance pretty much already in our development engine in Lahore, Pakistan. So whenever we sign a contract, for example, the one we just recently announced in Australia, the team working behind the scenes, a lot of work done get done before we even sign the contract ahead of time. So that the team is in place. The timeline is in place, and whatever it takes to make sure that we meet the agreed contract time with the customer and go live and then continue to not only generate revenue, but also see the momentum of getting excitement within the company to getting new contract, particularly if the more (inaudible).

So I think it's a pretty good approach in the company. Yeah, did somebody -- yeah, I think we have a pretty good system in the company so that we continue to deliver on time.

Okay. And last question, are you guys willing to give any guidance going forward for the next year? Thank you.

I think we like to always update the garden in the second quarter, so we have better clarity. Although we have larger revenue in mind, I believe we will continue the growth momentum that we're seeing in this fiscal year. And companies, we know exactly what we want to achieve in the whole fiscal 2026, but it's better that we share the specific guidance if not in the first of the second quarter.

Thank you very much.

(Operator Instructions) With no further questions, I would like to turn the conference back over to Najeeb for closing remarks.

Thank you again for joining today's call and for your continued interest in NETSOL. We look forward to updating you on our progress in the quarters ahead. Stay safe and take care. Have a good day.

Thank you. This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect at this time, and thank you for your participation.

Thank you, operator, for your assistance. Have a good day.