BSM Technologies shares rise on record Q1 results

Fri 2:36 pm by Carrie White

BSM Technologies reports "record" results in its first quarter, sending shares higher Friday.

Shares of BSM Technologies (CVE:GPS) rose nearly five per cent Friday, as it reported record earnings and a 45-per-cent increase in revenue, after signing on several new, large customer contracts for its web‐based solution for tracking of mobile and fixed assets.

BSM’s shares were up 4.86 per cent as at about 2:30 p.m. EDT, trading at $1.51 apiece.

The company, which provides remote monitoring, fleet management, fleet diagnostics and automated vehicle security systems, posted first quarter earnings of $823,000 or 2.9 cents per share, up over eight times the $90,000 or less than one cent per share it recorded a year earlier.

Total revenue of $4.85 million was up 45 per cent over the $3.34 million in the prior year period.

For the quarter that ended December 31, hardware and other revenue from the BSM’s core Sentinel product line stood at $2.49 million - nearly triple the $966,000 in revenue it reported a year earlier.

The increase comes as a result of the sale of 3,547 units of the Sentinel solution, the company said, more than double the amount of Sentinel units it sold a year ago.

"This was an especially strong quarter for BSM, as several new, large customer contracts, some of which, we have been pursuing for some time all closed and deployed in the period," said president and CEO Aly Rahemtulla.

"These contracts were a direct result of our continued focus on select market verticals, specifically the construction, rail and services industries. We are continuing to demonstrate success at growing our high-margin recurring revenue subscriber base."

During the quarter, BSM said “a major Canadian utility company” ordered 1,289 units of the Sentinel solution, the majority of which were higher-priced dual mode units.

Meanwhile, “a major security service provider” ordered 404 units of Sentinel, while “a major U.S.-based railroad company ordered an additional 357 units and “a major Canadian coffee supplier” ordered 354 units.

The company said it was also awarded a contract after the quarter’s end with The Toronto District School Board for the deployment of 585 units of the Sentinel solution.

In other news, BSM said that on Thursday it completed a fully marketed prospectus offering of 6.16 million common shares for gross proceeds of $8.62 million, at a price of $1.40 per share.

Net proceeds from the offering were about $7.75 million after related costs, said BSM, and will be used for business expansion, research and development, sales and marketing, product expansion and general working capital