Surgepays Inc (SURG) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the SurgePays, Inc. Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the call over to Mr. Brian Prenoveau, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 SurgePays, Inc. 2022 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係部門的 Brian Prenoveau 先生。請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the SurgePays Third Quarter 2022 earnings webcast and conference call. Today's date is November 14, 2022. And on the call today from SurgePays are Brian Cox, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Tony Evers, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝接線員，大家下午好。歡迎參加 SurgePays 2022 年第三季財報網路廣播和電話會議。今天的日期是 2022 年 11 月 14 日。SurgePays 總裁兼執行長 Brian Cox 今天接聽了電話；和財務長托尼·埃弗斯。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that this call may contain forward-looking statements as they are defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, please see SurgePays' most recent filings with the SEC.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒大家，本次電話會議可能包含根據1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》定義的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述受到某些風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與實際結果有所不同。實質上來自於前瞻性陳述中所表達的內容。有關此類風險和不確定性的討論，請參閱 SurgePays 最近向 SEC 提交的文件。

All forward-looking statements made today reflect our current expectations only, and we undertake no obligation to update any statement to reflect the events that occur after this call.

今天發表的所有前瞻性聲明僅反映我們目前的預期，我們沒有義務更新任何聲明以反映本次電話會議後發生的事件。

Also, during the course of today's call, the company will be discussing one or more non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in the press release we issued this afternoon. Copies of today's press release are accessible on SurgePays' Investor Relations website, ir.surgepays.com. In addition, SurgePays' Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2022, will also be available on the SurgePays' Investor Relations website.

此外，在今天的電話會議期間，該公司將討論一項或多項非公認會計準則財務措施。我們今天下午發布的新聞稿中包含了這些非公認會計原則財務指標與最直接可比較的公認會計原則指標的調節表。今天新聞稿的副本可在 SurgePays 的投資者關係網站 ir.surgepays.com 上取得。此外，SurgePays 截至 2022 年 9 月 30 日的季度的 10-Q 表格也將在 SurgePays 的投資者關係網站上提供。

Now I'd like to turn the call over to President and Chief Executive Officer, Brian Cox.

現在我想將電話轉給總裁兼執行長布萊恩考克斯。

Thanks, Brian. We were tremendously busy in the third quarter of this year, and the team's hard work is translating into not just growth but growth with a strategic direction. Revenue exceeded $36 million in the third quarter, a 2.5x increase compared to last year. In the first 9 months of 2022, revenue increased by 131% compared to the first 9 months of last year, -- and it's important to note, this was during a time frame where sales were intentionally throttled by management in order to grow without dilution. We believe continuing along this disciplined growth plan that we've laid out earlier this year will be rewarded in shareholder value. We're thrilled with our progress and even more excited about where the company can go in the future.

謝謝，布萊恩。今年第三季我們非常忙碌，團隊的辛勤工作不僅轉化為成長，而且轉化為策略方向的成長。第三季營收超過 3,600 萬美元，比去年成長 2.5 倍。 2022 年前 9 個月，收入比去年前 9 個月增長了 131%，值得注意的是，管理層故意限制銷售額，以便在不稀釋的情況下實現增長。我們相信，繼續遵循我們今年稍早制定的這項嚴格的成長計畫將在股東價值方面獲得回報。我們對我們的進步感到興奮，對公司未來的發展更加興奮。

Last month, we announced that we had eclipsed 200,000 mobile broadband subscribers, our year-end target in our wireless business through the Affordable Connectivity Program, or ACP. We continue to grow our subscriber count in this huge long-term opportunity by providing subsidized broadband Internet access to low-income households. As we discussed previously, estimates vary, but it looks like there's 50 million households that qualify for ACP. And after almost 1.5 years, only 14 million households have taken advantage of ACP, which puts the adoption of this benefit at around only 28%.

上個月，我們宣布行動寬頻用戶數量已超過 20 萬，這是我們透過平價連線計畫 (AC​​P) 無線業務的年終目標。透過向低收入家庭提供補貼的寬頻網路接入，我們將在這一巨大的長期機會中繼續增加我們的用戶數量。正如我們之前討論的，估計數字有所不同，但看起來有 5000 萬個家庭符合 ACP 資格。近 1.5 年後，只有 1,400 萬個家庭受益於 ACP，這使得這項福利的採用率僅為 28% 左右。

We believe we've only scratched the surface of the program and there's significant room for growth, which is why we're so excited about being able to do enrollments and activations over our SurgePays' software platform inside convenience stores. We will be strategic and long term in our decision-making and business operations, especially when it comes to leveraging existing synergies to accelerate sales using our competitive advantages. 150,000 mobile broadband subscribers was my benchmark for analyzing our efficiency and purchasing our wireless equipment, our ongoing recurring margins and customer retention.

我們相信我們只觸及了該計劃的表面，還有很大的增長空間，這就是為什麼我們對能夠在便利店內透過 SurgePays 軟體平台進行註冊和激活感到如此興奮。我們的決策和業務營運將具有策略性和長期性，特別是在利用現有協同效應，利用我們的競爭優勢加速銷售方面。 15 萬名行動寬頻用戶是我分析我們的效率、購買無線設備、持續的經常性利潤和客戶保留率的基準。

This evaluation has led to opportunities to expand gross margin in both our equipment and services. Additionally, we have implemented new protocols to enhance customer retention. One tool that will accelerate subscriber growth is the SurgePays' Fintech platform. While speaking with convenience store owners, they estimated 75% of their customers are actively using SNAP EBT to purchase things like energy drinks and food at their stores. Our platform enables the clerk at these stores to take prepaid wireless payments and can now initiate ACP customer enrollments at the checkout counter. As most of you know, receiving SNAP qualifies you to get ACP. We have created a way for the clerk to quickly enter the data we need at the time of purchase for our compliance team to work directly with the customer to enroll and activate them. The store owner is compensated for helping his customers gain access to this valuable benefit. This will help entice more store owners to sign on with SurgePays as well.

此次評估為我們的設備和服務帶來了擴大毛利率的機會。此外，我們也實施了新協議來提高客戶保留率。 SurgePays 的金融科技平台是加速用戶成長的工具之一。在與便利商店老闆交談時，他們估計 75% 的顧客正在積極使用 SNAP EBT 在商店購買能量飲料和食品等商品。我們的平台使這些商店的店員能夠進行預付費無線支付，並且現在可以在結帳櫃檯啟動 ACP 客戶註冊。大多數人都知道，獲得 SNAP 使您有資格獲得 ACP。我們創建了一種方法，讓店員可以在購買時快速輸入我們所需的數據，以便我們的合規團隊直接與客戶合作來註冊和啟動它們。店主因幫助顧客獲得這項寶貴利益而獲得報酬。這也將有助於吸引更多店主加入 SurgePays。

Currently, almost all ACP companies, our competitors get enrollments using pop-up tents outside and low-income neighborhoods. The weather is now changing and in most parts of the country where it's cold, things slow down. There's a huge opportunity for us here. To our knowledge, there is no other ACP company offering or even able to offer this opportunity to convenience store owners. This benefits both the consumer and the local convenience store owner while benefiting both of our SurgePays' core revenue channels.

目前，幾乎所有 ACP 公司（我們的競爭對手）都使用外部和低收入社區的彈出式帳篷進行招生。現在天氣正在發生變化，在該國大部分地區天氣寒冷，一切都變慢了。這裡對我們來說有一個巨大的機會。據我們所知，沒有其他 ACP 公司向便利商店業主提供甚至能夠提供這樣的機會。這對消費者和當地便利商店老闆都有好處，同時也有利於我們 SurgePays 的核心收入管道。

Until recently, the SurgePays' Fintech platform has taken a backseat to the intense subscriber land grab and ACP enrollments and growing SurgePhone. Now we can synergize the growth of both channels. We've begun adding bandwidth into growing the network of stores using our platform. Our recent announcement of hiring Jeremy Gies as President for SurgePays Fintech is an example of that new emphasis and should be a kick start for revenue growth. Jeremy has an extensive background in the telecom and fintech space and will be tasked with expanding SurgePays' Fintech revenue by increasing the number of stores on our network, the sales per store and margins per sale. We couldn't be more excited to add Jeremy to the team.

直到最近，SurgePays 的金融科技平台一直在激烈的用戶土地爭奪、ACP 註冊和不斷增長的 SurgePhone 面前退居二線。現在我們可以協同兩個管道的成長。我們已經開始使用我們的平台增加頻寬來發展商店網路。我們最近宣布聘請 Jeremy Gies 擔任 SurgePays Fintech 總裁就是這項新重點的一個例子，應該會成為收入成長的一個開始。 Jeremy 在電信和金融科技領域擁有豐富的背景，他將負責透過增加我們網路上的商店數量、每家商店的銷售額和每筆銷售的利潤來擴大 SurgePays 的金融科技收入。我們對於 Jeremy 加入團隊感到無比興奮。

In addition to adding Jeremy to the SurgePays' Fintech team, we've also inked a new master service agreement with GPO Plus, Inc. GPO Plus is a distribution company focused on independent regional retailers. Under the agreement, GPO will be considered a master agent and will be compensated for setting up stores to transact on our network. We're excited to start seeing the benefits of a 40-plus salesperson team pulling doors, bringing sales and with the impact of such a different sales pitch they have now when you can lead with enabling the store to offer ACP to their community. One area of focus that is always top of mind is managing our cash and cash flow and deploying that cash in the best manner possible. I'd like to look at current assets as a gauge of where we've been, where we are and where we want to be.

除了 Jeremy 加入 SurgePays 的金融科技團隊之外，我們還與 GPO Plus, Inc. 簽署了新的主服務協議。GPO Plus 是一家專注於獨立區域零售商的分銷公司。根據協議，GPO 將被視為主代理，並將因在我們的網路上設立商店進行交易而獲得報酬。我們很高興開始看到 40 多名銷售人員團隊拉門、帶來銷售的好處，以及他們現在擁有的如此不同的銷售宣傳的影響，而您可以領導商店向他們的社區提供 ACP。始終最重要的一個重點領域是管理我們的現金和現金流，並以盡可能最好的方式部署現金。我想將流動資產視為衡量我們過去、現在和未來目標的指標。

Accounts receivable has steadily increased throughout the year from $3.2 million at the end of 2021 to $5.6 million at the end of the first quarter, and $8.3 million at the end of the second quarter and $9.5 million at the end of the third quarter with $7.5 million of cash. In the future, we will continue to balance the need for growth with the cash flow provided and the cash opportunities. I've walked the path of not diluting shareholders to finance growth. I'm the company's largest shareholder, and let me tell you, I'm not eager to see my share cut.

應收帳款全年穩定成長，從2021年底的320萬美元增至第一季末的560萬美元，第二季末的830萬美元和第三季末的950萬美元，第三季末的750萬美元現金。未來，我們將繼續平衡成長需求與提供的現金流量和現金機會。我走的是不稀釋股東權益來為成長提供資金的道路。我是公司第一大股東，我告訴你，我並不急著看到自己的股份被減。

To address our cash flow needs, we're at the finish line finalizing a significant financing backed by U.S. government receivable. This will help us ramp our wireless subscriber growth over a more extended period. I couldn't be more excited about the process we've made as a company and how much more we can achieve. I'm incredibly proud of how much we've accomplished in a short time and the market that is going on around us that we've accomplished this in and the results are starting to be demonstrated in our financial results.

為了滿足我們的現金流量需求，我們即將完成一項由美國政府應收帳款支持的重大融資。這將有助於我們在更長的時間內提高無線用戶的成長。我對我們作為一家公司所取得的進展以及我們能夠取得的成就感到非常興奮。我對我們在短時間內取得的成就以及我們周圍正在發生的市場感到非常自豪，我們已經實現了這一目標，並且結果開始在我們的財務業績中得到體現。

Revenue growth is accelerating, and we have several programs to improve margins. We're learning more and more about our subscriber base each month. We have more cash to fund growth and more tools at our disposal today than we did 3 or 6 months ago to drive growth even further. As I've said, we are uniquely positioned to offer these products and services to the underbanked and underserved because giant corporations have overlooked these communities for a long time. The ACP program is a great government initiative that provides valuable Internet access to households who previously couldn't afford it. We want to gauge success by growing revenue and profit, but we also believe we can do this by providing valuable services to households and communities that desperately need them.

收入成長正在加速，我們有幾個提高利潤率的計劃。每個月我們都會越來越多地了解我們的訂戶群。與三、六個月前相比，我們現在有更多的現金來支持成長，也有更多的工具可以進一步推動成長。正如我所說，我們處於獨特的地位，可以向銀行服務不足和服務不足的人群提供這些產品和服務，因為大公司長期以來忽略了這些社區。 ACP 計劃是一項偉大的政府舉措，為以前無力承擔網路存取費用的家庭提供了寶貴的網路存取服務。我們希望透過增加收入和利潤來衡量成功，但我們也相信，我們可以透過為迫切需要的家庭和社區提供有價值的服務來實現這一目標。

Being a licensed mobile broadband provider perfectly complements our existing business of providing products and financial services to the underbanked and underserved communities. We still aim to reach $1 billion in annual sales with profitable growth in communities that have not been adequately addressed. We are now scaling a business that can grow organically or through accretive acquisitions and better serve our customers.

作為獲得許可的行動寬頻供應商，完美補充了我們向銀行服務不足和服務不足的社區提供產品和金融服務的現有業務。我們的目標仍然是年銷售額達到 10 億美元，並在尚未充分解決的社區中實現盈利增長。我們現在正在擴大業務，可以有機成長或透過增值收購來更好地服務我們的客戶。

I'll turn the call over to Tony to provide a brief review of our financial results before summarizing today's call. Tony?

在總結今天的電話會議之前，我會將電話轉給托尼，簡要回顧我們的財務表現。托尼？

Thank you, Brian. Good afternoon, everyone. I'll begin my overview of the third quarter's financial results. For the quarter, we reported revenues of $36.2 million compared to $14.5 million in the third quarter of 2021, representing an increase of 149%. This was primarily attributable to the subscriber growth in our mobile broadband business. Gross profit increased 1% in the third quarter to $1.92 million compared to $1.90 million in the year ago period. SG&A expenses increased less than 1% in the third quarter compared to the third quarter of last year. While we saw decreases in most categories, including compensation, the overall increase was due to additional insurance expense. Loss from operations remained essentially flat at a loss of $1 million for both '21 and '22 of the third quarter.

謝謝你，布萊恩。大家下午好。我將開始概述第三季的財務表現。我們報告的本季營收為 3,620 萬美元，而 2021 年第三季的營收為 1,450 萬美元，成長了 149%。這主要歸因於我們的行動寬頻業務的用戶成長。第三季毛利成長 1%，達到 192 萬美元，去年同期為 190 萬美元。與去年第三季相比，第三季的 SG&A 費用成長不到 1%。雖然我們看到包括賠償在內的大多數類別都有所下降，但整體成長是由於額外的保險費用。第三季的營運虧損基本持平，21 年和 22 年均虧損 100 萬美元。

Net loss for the third quarter was $1.5 million or a loss of $0.12 per share compared to a net loss of $1.7 million or a loss of $0.51 per share last year. Of the $1.5 million loss in the third quarter, approximately $1.4 million was due to accelerated expenses at LogicsIQ related to the (inaudible) campaign. Additionally, the third quarter of 2022 included much lower interest rate, interest expense than the prior year quarter and certain nonrecurring items, including a $52,000 loss on investment in Centrecom and a $58,000 loss from amortization of debt discount.

第三季淨虧損為 150 萬美元，即每股虧損 0.12 美元，去年淨虧損為 170 萬美元，即每股虧損 0.51 美元。在第三季 150 萬美元的損失中，約 140 萬美元是由於 LogicsIQ 與（聽不清楚）活動相關的支出增加所致。此外，2022 年第三季的利率、利息支出和某些非經常性項目均遠低於去年同期，包括 Centrecom 投資損失 52,000 美元，以及債務折扣攤銷損失 58,000 美元。

Turning to the balance sheet, liquidity and cash flow. Our cash balance as of September 30 was $7.9 million compared to $6.3 million at the end of 2021. Accounts receivable has increased by over $6.2 million from year-end 2021 to $8.3 million. Receivables from the U.S. government for the mobile broadband subsidy. Payment usually occurs within 30 to 60 days after a new customer is verified and signed up.

轉向資產負債表、流動性和現金流。截至 9 月 30 日，我們的現金餘額為 790 萬美元，而 2021 年底為 630 萬美元。應收帳款較 2021 年底增加了 620 萬美元以上，達到 830 萬美元。來自美國政府的行動寬頻補貼應收帳款。付款通常會在新客戶經過驗證並註冊後 30 至 60 天內進行。

Given our strengthened financial position, higher cash balance and capital structure, our cash allocation priorities are focused on investing in the business and maintaining ample liquidity for future growth.

鑑於我們的財務狀況有所增強、現金餘額和資本結構有所改善，我們的現金分配重點是投資於業務並為未來成長保持充足的流動性。

I will pass the call back to Brian for some closing remarks. Brian?

我會將電話轉給布萊恩，請他發表一些結束語。布萊恩？

Thanks, Tony, and thanks for soldering up there with the flu. I appreciate your powering to this as a company. As a company, our North Star is building a successful organization that provides access to mobile broadband and essential financial services to households and communities where they aren't readily accessible. We believe we are developing an ecosystem to serve this market, both at home, around their local communities and then the local stores where they shop. If we do this successfully, we will tap into a huge market with tremendous growth potential. The first 9 months of this year has proved that the opportunity is there. We've increased revenue 131% so far compared to the first 9 months of 2021. And we think the path to accelerating revenue growth is right in front of us.

謝謝托尼，謝謝你帶著流感堅持到了這裡。我感謝您作為一家公司為此提供的動力。作為一家公司，我們的北極星正在建立一個成功的組織，為難以訪問的家庭和社區提供行動寬頻和基本金融服務。我們相信，我們正在開發一個生態系統來服務這個市場，無論是在國內、當地社區周圍，還是他們購物的當地商店。如果我們成功做到這一點，我們將進入一個具有巨大成長潛力的巨大市場。今年前9個月已經證明了機會是存在的。與 2021 年前 9 個月相比，到目前為止，我們的收入成長了 131%。我們認為加速收入成長的道路就在我們面前。

We couldn't be more excited about the opportunities ahead, and we look forward to sharing our progress with our shareholders, employees and partners. I want to thank all of the employees at SurgePays. I do consider them truly a team. Lastly, I greatly appreciate the support and interest of our shareholders as we continue this journey of growth.

我們對未來的機會感到非常興奮，我們期待與股東、員工和合作夥伴分享我們的進步。我要感謝 SurgePays 的所有員工。我確實認為他們是一個真正的團隊。最後，我非常感謝股東在我們繼續這趟成長之旅時的支持和興趣。

We will now open the call to questions. Operator?

我們現在開始提問。操作員？

(Operator Instructions). And our first question comes from Michael Diana of Maxim Group.

（操作員說明）。我們的第一個問題來自馬克西姆集團的邁克爾戴安娜。

So Brian, it sounds like you really ramped up the sales potential here in the quarter. Could you give us some more background on Jeremy Gies and also talk a little more about EPO Plus?

布萊恩，聽起來你確實提高了本季的銷售潛力。您能否為我們介紹更多 Jeremy Gies 的背景資訊並談談 EPO Plus？

Yes, sure. Thanks for the question, and thanks, Michael. Jeremy, we've been waiting for about a year. As you know, we -- I'm very open about the 100% focus on the ACP program. Number one, -- it wasn't just the land grab of profitability and revenue growth for us. It was also learning the customer base, the habits and being able to analyze how to maximize and scale this growth without ever plateauing. So we do feel like we've got a great trajectory right now, a great understanding of the program, compliance. We bought ShockWave as a software platform and several other things that we've done to make sure we can put guardrails up to our growth. I guess, about 4, 5 months ago, when I saw this coming, okay, we want to be able to do this through our stores. That's the big picture, long-term play is being able to provide products and financial services to folks where they shop in the corner, getting as many stores as we can on our network transacting and ultimately, that's the way we'll never get our technology, if you will. We'll just be able to add new products.

是的，當然。謝謝你的提問，也謝謝麥可。傑里米，我們已經等了大約一年了。如您所知，我對 100% 關注 ACP 計劃持非常開放的態度。第一，這不僅僅是對我們獲利能力和收入成長的掠奪。它還了解客戶群、習慣，並能夠分析如何在不停滯不前的情況下最大化和擴大這種成長。所以我們確實覺得我們現在已經有了一個很好的發展軌跡，對這個計畫和合規性有了很好的理解。我們購買了 ShockWave 作為軟體平台，並做了其他幾件事來確保我們能夠為我們的發展提供護欄。我想，大約四五個月前，當我看到這一點時，好吧，我們希望能夠透過我們的商店做到這一點。這就是大局，長期的策略是能夠為那些在街角購物的人們提供產品和金融服務，讓盡可能多的商店在我們的網絡上進行交易，最終，這就是我們永遠無法獲得的方式。技術，如果你願意的話。我們將能夠新增產品。

The problem is there's only one me, and running 2 channels was just not going to work time wise. So I called in all the favors with folks I've worked with now for 20 years in the financial services, prepaid, underbanked market, -- godfathers if you will. And came across a great candidate, a highly, highly recommended, hit it off. The guy has got some of the same DNA that I do. And he's a 2.0 version of me that wakes up every day and thinks about adding stores and sales. So it's going to be a huge boost for us being able to grow that without taking any focus off my plate or my team's plate and being able to build -- leverage our existing infrastructure that we already have supporting these stores, but now building it from more of a concurring standpoint to go add more stores, adding sales per store and really focus on those margins per sale.

問題是只有一個我，運行 2 個頻道在時間上是行不通的。因此，我向在金融服務、預付、銀行服務不足的市場中共事了 20 年的人們求助——如果你願意的話，他們可以說是教父們。並遇到了優秀的候選人，極力推薦，一拍即合。這傢伙有一些和我相同的 DNA。他是我的 2.0 版本，每天醒來都會考慮增加商店和銷售。因此，這對我們來說將是一個巨大的推動力，能夠在不轉移我或團隊的注意力的情況下實現增長，並能夠利用我們現有的基礎設施來支持這些商店，但現在是從更多的一致觀點是增加更多商店，增加每家商店的銷售額，並真正關注每筆銷售的利潤。

So Jeremy was a great, great hire for us, and we're already seeing if he's adding folks to his team. And we're already seeing the results of hiring him with these contracts coming in, one of them being the GPO. GPO is a very unique company. There is a company on the OTC. Their primary, let's call it, tip of the spear. -- growth product is -- and really cool CBD products that they've acquired. And so they're already dealing with independently owned mom-and-pop community stores. I think there's some solutions that we'll actually work with on these guys on both sides of the also to speak because I like to offer some of their products as well here soon to our stores.

因此，傑里米（Jeremy）對我們來說是一位非常非常出色的聘用者，我們已經在觀察他是否正在為他的團隊增加人員。我們已經看到了聘用他的結果以及這些合約的簽訂，其中之一就是 GPO。 GPO是一家非常獨特的公司。 OTC 上有一家公司。他們的主要部分，我們稱之為「矛尖」。 -- 成長產品是 -- 他們獲得的非常酷的 CBD 產品。因此，他們已經在與獨立擁有的夫妻社區商店打交道。我認為我們實際上會與兩邊的這些人一起討論一些解決方案，因為我也想很快向我們的商店提供他們的一些產品。

But the biggest, I think, I'd say, partnership with them is the fact they already have 40 people that are out there actively pulling doors. And when you're pulling doors, and for those of you who don't know, that's one of the ways I got my start, so I've pulled thousands of convenience store doors. You have a couple of seconds to be able to grab that store clerks attention and then work your sales pitch. And to anybody that's taken EBT or SNAP at their store, you see the sign up front. And you see the stickers around the store of what products you can buy. Anybody that's on that program or platform to service that customer base to be able to provide your customer base with Internet with this benefit and have -- kind of be that technology hub to your community. It changes the sales pitch completely from buying my stuff to, hey, I want to help you -- help your base. Well, to do that, here's what we need to engage together and now they're on our platform. Now they're able to do this, oh, by the way, that same platform enables you to do prepaid wireless top ups.

但我認為，我想說，與他們最大的合作關係是，他們已經有 40 名員工積極地拉門。當你拉門時，對於那些不知道的人來說，這是我開始的方式之一，所以我已經拉開了數千家便利商店的門。你有幾秒鐘的時間來吸引店員的注意力，然後推銷。對於任何在商店接受 EBT 或 SNAP 的人，您都會看到前面的標誌。您會在商店周圍看到可以購買哪些產品的貼紙。任何在該計劃或平台上為該客戶群提供服務的人都能夠為您的客戶群提供互聯網帶來的好處，並且可以成為您社區的技術中心。它完全改變了銷售口號，從購買我的東西變成了，嘿，我想幫助你——幫助你的基礎。好吧，要做到這一點，我們需要共同參與，現在它們就在我們的平台上。現在他們能夠做到這一點，哦，順便說一句，同一平台使您可以進行預付費無線充值。

Oh, by the way, hey, we also have these products here. So that's what the GPO is just - I mean the first domino to fall with Jeremy coming on board and having someone that's working 40-plus hours a week just solely intent on growing the store count.

哦，對了，嘿，我們這裡也有這些產品。這就是 GPO 的意義——我的意思是，隨著傑里米 (Jeremy) 的加入，第一張多米諾骨牌倒下，他每週工作 40 多個小時，一心只想增加商店數量。

All right. That sounds great. Also, you mentioned you were "at the finish line" on your financing agreement. Can you tell us a little more about that? Or is it premature?

好的。聽起來不錯。此外，您還提到您的融資協議已「到達終點」。您能告訴我們更多相關資訊嗎？還是現在還太早？

I don't want to say it's premature, I'm laughing because I've given a deadline of this call, and I just watched that deadline slip up a little bit. I think keep an eye, I think it's all the last-minute acronyms and the components where the attorneys are finalizing things. But one of the things I do want -- I don't know that if I've explained, people have asked me, well, why did it take this long? And what -- why did you hold out? Why did you intentionally throw all sales to get to this point? I want to make sure people know this is not a factoring deal.

我不想說現在還太早，我笑是因為我已經為這次電話會議設定了最後期限，而我只是看著這個最後期限有點晚了。我認為請密切關注，我認為這都是最後一刻的縮寫詞和律師最終確定的內容。但我確實想要的一件事 - 我不知道如果我解釋了，人們會問我，好吧，為什麼花了這麼長時間？還有什麼——你為什麼要堅持下來？為什麼你故意拋售所有銷售額才走到這一步？我想確保人們知道這不是保理交易。

Factoring does -- it allows you to grow at a 3% to 4% rate. It does not allow you to grow at the rate for us to accomplish the land grab that we want to go after. And so it's just I want to be very clear, the borrowing base is using a factor of the receivable, but also using a factor of the inventory. And it's more of an installment sale financing, where we pay back the money we pulled down over 9 months, it's not debt. So those of you out there who live in the balance sheet world can quickly ascertain that there's a great chance for us to leverage this to some point next year, hopefully by the middle of next year, be not only profitable but debt free.

保理業務可以—它可以讓您以 3% 到 4% 的速度成長。它不允許你以我們想要的土地掠奪速度來成長。所以我想非常明確的是，借款基礎使用應收帳款因素，但也使用庫存因素。這更像是一種分期銷售融資，我們償還 9 個月內取出的錢，這不是債務。因此，那些生活在資產負債表世界中的人可以很快確定，我們很有機會在明年的某個時候利用這一點，希望到明年年中，不僅能夠盈利，而且還沒有債務。

So it's a really unique tool that we've put a tremendous amount of time and energy into that we're really, really excited about. And we're not on the one yard line anymore. I mean, Michael, the nose of the football is right at the line. I mean we just need to sneak this thing across. And I do expect it to happen here shortly.

因此，這是一個非常獨特的工具，我們投入了大量的時間和精力，我們對此感到非常非常興奮。我們不再在一碼線上了。我的意思是，邁克爾，足球的鼻子就在球線上。我的意思是我們只需要把這件事偷偷過去就可以了。我確實希望這很快就會在這裡發生。

Our next question comes from Ed Woo from Ascendiant Capital.

我們的下一個問題來自 Ascendiant Capital 的 Ed Woo。

Yes. Congratulations on crossing that 200,000 mobile broadband subscribers. My question is, obviously, you guys have done very well and there's a lot of big opportunity. Have you noticed any new entrants or any change in competition up in the field?

是的。恭喜行動寬頻用戶突破 20 萬。我的問題是，顯然你們做得非常好，並且有很多大機會。您是否注意到該領域有新進入者或競爭有任何變化？

Not really. I think the strong get stronger because we're all learning. All of us -- and we do talk amongst ourselves and we share vendors and consultants. That's the unique thing about there being such a low penetration in this market. We're not fighting each other right now. There's plenty of yields for all of us. So -- and also keep in mind, too, we bought the ShockWave software platform, so we're able to kind of see market trends as well and pretty interesting data there. But there's not necessarily new folks getting into the game at all. It's folks trying to figure out better ways to add more customers, trying to work on their margins and equipment costs. So it's very similar to what we're doing. And that's why I think that to maybe add a layer of why the in-store enrollment or in-store sales are so unique.

並不真地。我認為強者會變得更強，因為我們都在學習。我們所有人——我們確實互相交談，我們共享供應商和顧問。這就是這個市場滲透率如此之低的獨特之處。我們現在沒有互相爭鬥。我們所有人都有很多收穫。因此，也要記住，我們購買了 ShockWave 軟體平台，因此我們也能夠看到市場趨勢以及非常有趣的數據。但不一定有新人加入這個遊戲。人們試圖找出更好的方法來增加更多客戶，試圖降低利潤和設備成本。所以這與我們正在做的事情非常相似。這就是為什麼我認為這可能會增加一層為什麼店內註冊或店內銷售如此獨特的原因。

All of the ACP companies out there are prepaid wireless companies. That's what they are. They're wireless carriers. We have a completely different perspective on servicing this base -- this underserved, underbanked market. It was never my goal just to be a wireless carrier, a wireless MVNO, that's just one of the products that we use to attack the market, to penetrate the market, and then we bring in our entire suite of products.

所有 ACP 公司都是預付費無線公司。他們就是這樣。他們是無線運營商。我們對服務這個基礎──這個服務不足、銀行服務不足的市場──有著完全不同的看法。我的目標從來都不是成為一家無線營運商、一家無線 MVNO，這只是我們用來攻擊市場、滲透市場的產品之一，然後我們引入了我們的整套產品。

So with that said, we own the CRM ShockWave, which again, for those of you that may not know, we're integrated into the National Verifier and the National Accountability Database of the FCC. And it also integrates us into the AT&T and T-Mobile backbones, which is what we use to provide the wireless service and mobile broadband. So we're one of the -- to my knowledge, the only company that offers ACP that owns their own CRM, now stack onto that, Ed, that we own the SurgePays platform, which does payments at the store level.

話雖如此，我們擁有 CRM ShockWave，對於可能不知道的人來說，我們再次將其整合到 FCC 的國家驗證程序和國家責任資料庫中。它還將我們整合到 AT&T 和 T-Mobile 骨幹網路中，我們用它來提供無線服務和行動寬頻。因此，據我所知，我們是唯一一家提供 ACP 並擁有自己的 CRM 的公司之一，Ed，現在我們擁有 SurgePays 平台，該平台在商店層級進行支付。

And I know for a fact that none of the other transaction companies out there, there's not too many of them that do the convenience store payments. None of those are actual carriers. They all only do third-party transactions. So we've got a significant competitive advantage here, and I plan on maximizing it to really grow that base. So I do think that there's -- this is going to open up a huge opportunity for us. And to your point about competition, I get asked that on every call, one-on-one shareholder call. We just don't see it. And -- but that's no reason to stand around and keep looking. I want to sprint and do things that not only these other folks may not be thinking of, but they can't do.

我知道一個事實，沒有任何其他交易公司，也沒有太多的公司進行便利商店支付。這些都不是實際的攜帶者。他們都只做第三方交易。因此，我們在這裡擁有顯著的競爭優勢，我計劃將其最大化，以真正擴大這一基礎。所以我確實認為這將為我們帶來巨大的機會。至於你關於競爭的觀點，我在每次電話會議中都會被問到，一對一的股東電話會議。我們只是沒有看到它。而且——但這並不是袖手旁觀並繼續尋找的理由。我想要衝刺，做一些其他人可能沒想到，也做不到的事。

That sounds great. I really appreciate the color. My last question is, obviously, there's been a lot of headlines about weakening macro, high inflation, and it just completely pounding the people at the bottom of the social ladder. How does that help or hurt your business?

聽起來不錯。我真的很欣賞這種顏色。我的最後一個問題是，顯然，有很多關於宏觀經濟疲軟、通膨高企的頭條新聞，這完全打擊了社會底層的人們。這對您的業務有何幫助或損害？

Yes, that's a good question. And it always puts me in a unique spot because -- and I always want to be very, very clear. I never hope for affliction or demise or folks to be in situations that would benefit me or us as a company. But the fact of the matter is we are a safety net for those who have had those curve balls of life thrown out. And right now, there's a lot of collateral damage for what's going on in the world or our country. And it's -- the majority of it falls on our market. I think most of the people on this call, whether gas is $3 or $5, it's not going to affect where we drive today. And most of us probably throw things at the store on our credit card without thinking too much about it.

是的，這是一個好問題。它總是讓我處於一個獨特的位置，因為——而且我總是想非常非常清楚。我從不希望苦難、死亡或人們處於對我或我們公司有利的情況。但事實是，對於那些生活曲線球被拋棄的人來說，我們是一個安全網。目前，世界或我們國家正在發生的事情造成了很多附帶損害。其中大部分都落在我們的市場上。我認為參加這次電話會議的大多數人，無論汽油是 3 美元還是 5 美元，都不會影響我們今天開車去哪裡。我們大多數人可能會在商店裡用信用卡扔東西，而沒有考慮太多。

Well, that's not our base. So what it does, it actually motivates me. It motivates our team to figure out not just, hey, how can we sell a wireless product and maximize margins? Do we want to make margins and profit? Absolutely. But can we do it in a way where we could cut their cost from who they're getting the service from now, whether it's Track on Boost, MetroPCS. We'll think about this. If -- our software is in that convenience store where they shop, they're getting the Internet from us through the ACP program. The store owners incentivized to talk to that customer and go ahead and bring them over to our prepaid wireless, too. Our -- we look to really roll out aggressively in Q1 of next year. That's other financial products and other prepaid products that we can offer where we can grow our revenue, yes, absolutely, but we can do so by helping folks as much as we can. I've mentioned several times about having an add-on of telehealth.

嗯，那不是我們的基地。所以它的作用其實激勵了我。它激勵我們的團隊不僅要弄清楚，嘿，我們如何銷售無線產品並最大化利潤？我們想要賺取利潤和利潤嗎？絕對地。但我們是否可以透過某種方式來降低他們從現在獲得服務的成本，無論是 Track on Boost 還是 MetroPCS。我們會考慮這個。如果——我們的軟體在他們購物的便利商店裡，他們就可以透過 ACP 計劃從我們那裡獲取網路。店主鼓勵與該顧客交談，並繼續將他們帶入我們的預付無線網路。我們希望在明年第一季真正積極推出。這是我們可以提供的其他金融產品和其他預付費產品，我們可以增加我們的收入，是的，絕對的，但我們可以透過盡可能地幫助人們來做到這一點。我已經多次提到添加遠距醫療服務。

Again, I do not want to offer telehealth, but partnering with companies who do, putting those apps on our tablets, their devices or phones. And all of those folks who cannot use telehealth because you need a credit card, but we could package it with top text data and now face time your doctor is a plan that could go pay cash at the convenience store. That's something I definitely want to do and roll out. And as another service that we could provide these people who have been hit pretty hard, like I said at the -- with inflation and food costs and gas prices.

再說一次，我不想提供遠距醫療，而是與提供遠距醫療的公司合作，將這些應用程式放在我們的平板電腦、他們的設備或手機上。所有那些因為需要信用卡而無法使用遠距醫療的人，但我們可以將其與頂級文字資料打包在一起，現在與您的醫生面對面是一個可以在便利商店支付現金的計劃。這是我絕對想做和推出的事情。作為另一項服務，我們可以為這些遭受嚴重打擊的人提供服務，就像我在會議上所說的那樣，通貨膨脹、食品成本和汽油價格。

Well, congratulations. I'm sure everybody appreciates all that you've done, especially all the people on your mobile broadband program.

好吧，恭喜。我相信每個人都會感謝您所做的一切，尤其是使用您的行動寬頻計畫的所有人員。

Our next question comes from Jeff Cam of The Wall Street Resource.

我們的下一個問題來自華爾街資源的傑夫·卡姆。

You guys delivered some very nice top line growth. But from a headline standpoint, on the bottom line, it reads that it missed considerably. Did you guys have higher expenses in something or miss internal projections? Or was it just due to rogue analyst numbers where the numbers differ so far?

你們實現了一些非常好的營收成長。但從標題的角度來看，它的底線是，它的失誤相當大。你們是否在某些方面有更高的支出或錯過了內部預測？或者只是由於流氓分析師的數據導致迄今為止的數據存在差異？

Yes. I don't think I would say rogue analyst numbers. I mean, I appreciate the guys that follow us. And obviously, that's going to be a part of the ecosystem for me to accomplish the goals for this company. When a lot of this was laid out, 2 factors there that I think that it's contributable to keeping in mind there's an upfront cost to every mobile broadband subscriber we had. There's the commission or the payment that's made to the salesperson. And then there's also the device cost. That's being entirely expensed upfront in month 1. So the way I look at this is kind of a rule of numbers.

是的。我不認為我會說流氓分析師的數字。我的意思是，我很感謝那些關注我們的人。顯然，這將成為我實現公司目標的生態系統的一部分。當列出很多內容時，我認為有兩個因素有助於記住我們擁有的每個行動寬頻用戶都有前期成本。這是支付給銷售人員的佣金或付款。然後還有設備成本。這在第一個月就全部預支了。所以我看待這個問題的方式是一種數字規則。

If you accelerate growth faster than what you had anticipated, then you're going to have more upfront expense considering that we're expensing more than we're making in the first 2 months. So if we had a more steady, slow growth pattern, I think you would see the expenses balanced out and a little bit more in line with what the analysts had put out there. But the fact that our sales, let's say, our sales acceleration has been so successful from a business perspective, we're high-fiving from a reporting perspective, and this is where it gets into actual real business versus reporting or what you guys look at it quarterly. There's not a single person on my team that looks at quarterly or reporting and factor that into their decision-making. It's getting us to 0.5 million subscribers as fast as possible, which is what I beat in their head on a weekly basis religiously.

如果你的成長速度比你預期的要快，那麼考慮到我們在前兩個月的支出超過了我們的收入，你將會有更多的前期費用。因此，如果我們有一個更穩定、更緩慢的成長模式，我認為你會看到支出得到平衡，並且與分析師的預測更加一致。但事實上，我們的銷售，比如說，從業務角度來看，我們的銷售加速非常成功，從報告的角度來看，我們擊掌，這就是它進入實際業務與報告或你們所看到的地方每季一次。我的團隊中沒有一個人會查看季度報告或報告並將其納入決策中。它讓我們盡快擁有 50 萬訂閱者，這是我每週虔誠地在他們腦海中敲響的內容。

So I think that there's things that we don't really take into account in growing the business. And I definitely don't -- I don't. Again, I'm focused -- laser-focused on a couple of things. And obviously, controlling costs, I mean, we're not burning money -- to do this, we're using our own cash flows to grow it. So from a reporting perspective and how that falls, I think those things will take care of themselves in the next couple of months. Once our customer base has grown to a level where it's -- the profit from our existing reoccurring customers absorbs that upfront cost of our growth.

所以我認為在發展業務時我們並沒有真正考慮到一些事情。我絕對不會——我不。我再次強調──全神貫注於幾件事。顯然，控製成本，我的意思是，我們不是在燒錢——為此，我們正在利用自己的現金流來增加成本。因此，從報告的角度以及情況如何來看，我認為這些事情將在接下來的幾個月內自行解決。一旦我們的客戶群成長到一定水平，我們現有的重複客戶的利潤就會吸收我們成長的前期成本。

At this time, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Brian Prenoveau for any closing remarks.

至此，我們的問答環節就結束了。我現在想將電話轉回給布萊恩‧普雷諾沃 (Brian Prenoveau)，請他發表結束語。

Thank you, everyone. That concludes today's call. You may now disconnect.

謝謝大家。今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。