28 June 2024
Thruvision Group plc
Results for the year ended 31 March
2024
Thruvision (AIM:THRU, 'Thruvision'
or the 'Group'), the leading international provider of walk-through
security technology, today publishes its results for the financial
year ended 31 March 2024 ('2024').
Highlights
·
Revenue of £7.8 million (2023: £12.4 million), primarily comprising
Entrance Security, new Customs agency and Retail Distribution sales
- reduction reflects previously announced lack of further
significant orders from US Customs and Border Protection ('CBP') in
2024.
·
Adjusting for the impact of this single customer, revenue growth
was 85% to £7.6 million (2023: £4.1 million) demonstrating strong
broad-based growth in demand for our solutions.
·
Approximately 70% of revenue came from the existing customer base -
most upgrading to our flagship WalkTHRU solution.
·
Adjusted gross margin1 improved by 1.5pp to 53.0% (2023:
51.5%) mainly due to higher performance product sales. Statutory
gross margin down 1.9pp which reflected lower volumes.
·
Adjusted EBITDA loss1 was £2.5 million (2023: loss of
£0.2 million), which is in line with market expectations. Operating
loss was £3.0 million (2023: loss of £1.0 million).
·
Cash balance as at 31 March 2024 was £4.1 million (31 March 2023:
£2.8 million). The Group has no debt.
·
Strategic sales partnership announced in May 2024 with Sensormatic
Solutions, a leading global retail solutions company, owned by
Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE: JCI).
·
£3.2m (gross) equity fundraising completed in October 2023,
enabling the strategic investment by Pentland Capital to become a
10% shareholder in the Group.
Continuing operations
|
2024
£m
|
2023
£m
|
Statutory measures:
|
|
|
Revenue
|
7.8
|
12.4
|
Gross profit
|
3.5
|
5.8
|
Gross margin
|
45.1%
|
47.0%
|
Operating loss
|
(3.0)
|
(1.0)
|
Loss before tax
|
(2.9)
|
(1.0)
|
Loss per share (pence)
|
(1.85)
|
(0.55)
|
Alternative
measures1:
|
|
|
Adjusted gross profit
|
4.1
|
6.4
|
Adjusted gross margin
|
53.0%
|
51.5%
|
Adjusted EBITDA loss
|
(2.5)
|
(0.2)
|
Adjusted loss before tax
|
(3.0)
|
(0.8)
|
Adjusted loss per share
(pence)
|
(1.90)
|
(0.46)
|
1 Alternative performance measures ('APMs') are used
consistently throughout this announcement and are referred to as
'adjusted'. These are defined in full and reconciled to the
reported statutory measures in the Appendix.
Commenting on the
results, Colin Evans, Chief Executive, said:
"FY2024 was an
important year for the Group. Our walk-through technology is now fully
proven in the international security market and we are seeing sales
coming from across the world in each of our four market sectors.
Some 70% of our revenue came from existing customers who rely on
our technology to screen many thousands of people every
day.
Given this, we are
now concentrating on expanding our reach into each of our four
potentially very large markets through a broader set of sales
partnerships. We are delighted to be working with Sensormatic
Solutions, the global retail solutions company, and we are
extending our reach through regional partners into Europe, Asia and
the Middle East. With all of the well publicised security issues
being experienced around the world, we are seeing significantly
more interest in our Entrance Security solutions.
Trading in the
current financial year is in line with the Board's expectations and
our sales pipeline points to a return to activity levels the Group
achieved in FY2023. This, coupled with the tight control over our
cost base, provides us with the confidence that we are heading
towards sustainable profitability and positive cashflow
generation."
For further information please
contact:
Thruvision Group plc
Colin Evans, Chief
Executive
Victoria Balchin, Chief Financial
Officer
|
+44 (0)1235 425400
|
|
|
Investec Investment Banking (NOMAD &
Broker)
James Rudd / Patrick Robb /
Sebastian Lawrence
|
+44 (0)20 7597 5970
|
|
|
Meare Consulting
Adrian Duffield
|
+44 (0) 7990 858548
|
|
|
About
Thruvision (www.thruvision.com)
Thruvision is the leading international developer,
manufacturer and supplier of walk-through security technology. Its
technology is deployed in more than 30 countries around the world
by government and commercial organisations in a wide range of
security situations, where large numbers of people need to be
screened quickly, safely and efficiently. Thruvision's patented
technology is uniquely capable of detecting concealed objects in
real time using an advanced AI-based detection algorithm. The Group
has offices and manufacturing capability in the UK and US.
Important
information
This announcement may include
statements that are, or may be deemed to be, 'forward-looking
statements' (including words such as 'believe', 'expect',
'estimate', 'intend', 'anticipate' and words of similar meaning).
By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and
uncertainty since they relate to future events and circumstances,
and actual results may, and often do, differ materially from any
forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements in this
announcement reflect management's view with respect to future
events as at the date of this announcement. Save as required by
applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly
revise any forward-looking statements in this announcement, whether
following any change in its expectations or to reflect events or
circumstances after the date of this announcement.
Chairman's
statement
The past year has been one of mixed fortunes for
Thruvision. On one hand we failed to build on the record results
from the year ending 31 March 2023 ('2023') with a significant
reduction in both revenue and profitability in the year ending 31
March 2024 ('2024'). But on the other, we made significant progress
on a number of the strategic and commercial initiatives that we
have been targeting for some time. In doing so, we have built a
much stronger underlying business, which has exited the year with a
more distributed customer base, wider opportunity and activity in
more markets, a better product portfolio, and a stronger balance
sheet.
As we announced in October, the financial results for
the past year were dominated by the lack of a previously
anticipated material follow-on contract award from our major
customer, US Customs and Border Protection ('CBP'), which had
contributed £8.3 million (or 67%) of our revenues in 2023.
Inevitably, this had a material impact on both revenue, which fell
to £7.8 million (2023: £12.4 million) and profitability, as our
Adjusted EBITDA loss expanded to £2.5 million (2023: £0.2 million
loss). As we explained when we announced this, the lack of a
follow-on order was due in large part to the
well-publicised US Federal budget stale-mate. It does, however,
indicate the challenges faced by a small business with a
substantial reliance on a single customer.
However, aside from this significant event, the year
saw a number of very positive actions and results that place the
business in a considerably healthier position than 12 months ago.
Revenue from customers other than CBP actually grew by 85%,
demonstrating the increasing scale and resilience of our other
revenue streams and the potential that exists for Thruvision to
grow in the future. Of these revenues, 70% came from existing
customers across our various markets, most of whom are well-known
government agencies and leading retailers, who enthusiastically
embraced our new 'WalkTHRU' solution. This high level of repeat
business derives from a clearly defined competitive market position
with now proven technology, which has delivered over £50 million of
revenue since we became an independent company in 2017, with more
than 700 units deployed in over 30 countries.
The more fragile global security situation resulted
in a significant bounce-back in our Entrance Security market and
led to strong revenues from Customs Agencies in numerous countries,
many of whom look to CBP for technology leadership. Retail
Distribution, which for us is still mainly UK focused, proved more
challenging as retailers restricted budgets in response to
significant cost headwinds and consumer belt-tightening. Aviation
too continued to be challenging, although recent policy changes are
expected to drive future demand for worker screening in US
Aviation. As a result of these various factors, our four markets
are all showing signs of healthy demand for 2025 and beyond.
Since its launch in 2023, our WalkTHRU technology has
become a powerful growth driver in all our markets. This unique
capability allows our customers to screen people at walking pace
for many applications and hence greatly increase throughput
relative to conventional security solutions. We launched our latest
AI-powered products, the LPC71 Series, in the year to further
improve WalkTHRU performance.
As our technology and international position has
become more established, we are increasingly using channel sales
partners as we seek to widen our distribution more globally. To
this end, we were delighted to announce, in May 2024, our Strategic
Sales Partnership with Sensormatic Solutions, the leading global
retail solutions company, owned by Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE:
JCI).
There has been considerable commentary that small
public companies, particularly in the UK, have for some time not
seen their progress reflected in enhanced valuations. Thruvision is
certainly in this position. However, we have exhibited great
resilience during the past year and we are delighted that Pentland
Group has become a new significant shareholder. This has enabled us
to continue with our investment programme in our leading
international technology and sales capability as well as to end the
year with an enhanced cash position.
Our people remain the bedrock of the business and
their continued commitment is key to our success. We continued to
invest in our sales capability and we added several important hires
in this area, including a new Sales Director who joined from a
leading security solution provider. Competition for talent remains
acute, especially in the technology arena. I am pleased to say that
we have filled all of our openings with very high-calibre staff
which, I believe, is an endorsement of our belief that Thruvision
is well positioned to be an important player in the UK technology
landscape.
Outlook
2024 was undoubtedly a challenging year for
Thruvision with the absence of a major contract award from our
previously largest customer, CBP. However, the very strong revenue
growth we achieved from customers outside CBP, and the fact that
70% of our revenues came from existing customers provides an
encouraging platform from which we can now return to growth. We
also remain confident that our further product release plans will
continue to enhance the competitiveness of our market
positioning.
The more fragile global security
situation when combined, as it currently is, with a generally
improving global macro-economy and our increased focus on indirect
sales channels has resulted in strengthening interest levels for
our technology across each of our four target markets. This is
resulting in a pipeline which points to activity levels in 2025
back towards those we achieved in 2023. With our cost base
remaining under tight control, this in turn should drive us towards
our primary strategic goal of sustainable profitability and
positive cash flow generation.
Chief Executive's review
Strategic update
Overview
With a further expansion of our customer base and
strong growth outside CBP, we continued to strengthen our
market-leading international position as a developer, manufacturer
and supplier of unique walk-through security technology.
Overall, revenue was £7.8 million (2023: £12.4
million), with the reduction reflecting the lack of further orders
from CBP in 2024 following the £8.3 million of revenue that it
generated in 2023 (2024: £0.2 million). Excluding CBP, revenue grew
by 85% to £7.6 million. Adjusted gross margin remained strong and
improved to 53.0% (2023: 51.5%) with statutory gross margin down to
45.1% (2023: 47.0%) as a result of lower throughput.
We were very pleased to benefit again from high levels
of repeat purchasing by existing customers, which stood at
approximately 70% of revenue. Most of these were upgrading to our
latest 'WalkTHRU' capability, which gives us confidence that our
technology continues to deliver real-world benefits. We face little
direct competition at present in our areas of focus.
Looking forward, our objective now is to increase our
market share in a number of growing and established market sectors
and to thereby scale the business to reach sustained
profitability.
Strategy for
growth
With a strong recovery in demand from our Entrance
Security market, and policy changes driving renewed interest in US
Aviation worker screening, the Group is, once again, seeing
opportunities for growth across all four of our market sectors
including Customs and Retail Distribution.
With highly referenceable, household name customers in
all of our market sectors and a wide geographic spread, the
Thruvision brand and technology is now well known in the
international security market.
Given this, and with the addition of new sales
leadership earlier in 2024, we have been placing greater emphasis
on building out our indirect sales partnerships in order to
proactively develop our sales pipeline and deliver orders.
As mentioned in the Chairman's statement, in May 2024
we announced our Strategic Sales Partnership with Sensormatic
Solutions, the leading global retail solutions company. Sensormatic
is seeing interest in Distribution Centre ('DC') security
technology from some of the world's largest retailers and this
partnership means it is now able to offer Thruvision technology to
meet this need.
With Sensormatic, we have a rapidly growing sales
pipeline across UK, Europe and the US and have a dedicated senior
sales executive managing this relationship.
With our increasingly well understood technology
maturity, we have refreshed our Value Added Reseller ('VAR')
network and now have 11 covering much of Europe and Asia. These
partners have been selected for their expertise and existing
customer base in three of our four markets, Aviation, Customs and
Entrance Security, complementing the Sensormatic relationship for
Retail Distribution.
Our product roadmap is designed to maintain our
significant performance advantage over different competitors
through our continued investment in improving our patented,
AI-enhanced Terahertz ('THz') imaging technology. We made very good
progress in the year with a major new release, the 71 Series,
featuring a significant new AI-based software functionality. This
work also lays the foundations for further similarly important new
AI-based capability in the next 12 months.
Financially, we aim to maintain adjusted gross margin
in the low 50% range through a newly designed, more aesthetic and
easier to assemble enclosure and by increasing the relative value
of the high margin software component of our sales. With an
increasing percentage of sales coming via partners, we will be able
to manage our cost base such that we expect to see operational
leverage improving as revenues grow, leading to sustained
profitability.
Business review
Markets
The Group was, until the pandemic, active in four
different market sectors, each of which has differing end-user
requirements and operating on different economic and geopolitical
cycles. In the last year, Entrance Security and Aviation, which at
the time were badly affected by the pandemic, have both started
generating significant interest again. This means that we once more
see growth opportunities across all four of our market sectors.
Customs
Thruvision was already used by international Customs
agencies in nine countries to screen travellers for drugs, cash and
other contraband. In the year, we made further good progress in
broadening our international customer base in this market, adding
two new customers in the year. This brings the total number of
Customs agencies that have purchased solutions from Thruvision to
11 internationally. We also received a further order from an
existing customer in Asia.
Well-publicised US Federal budget issues led,
in-part, to our largest customer, US Customs and Border Protection
('CBP'), not ordering further equipment from us in 2024. Although
our multi-year CBP framework purchasing agreement remains in place
until September 2026, Presidential election politics means funding
for border security remains uncertain. However, opportunities for
fleet expansion with other existing customers and new customer
prospects means we expect to see revenue growth from this
sector.
Retail
Distribution
Retailers and their logistics partners use our
technology to check employees for a wide range of potential theft
items as they leave DCs. Our analysis shows there are around 20,000
DCs in the UK, US and Europe, which could use Thruvision
systems.
Our model in this market is characterised by a larger
number of smaller orders as customers typically buy on a
site-by-site basis. Evidence shows that once a new customer buys
Thruvision and establishes an initial Return on Investment ('RoI'),
they are more likely to either buy more units or upgrade existing
units as they better understand how to minimise theft in their
organisation.
The market research we published with Retail
Economics in November 2023, showed that theft by employees from UK
retailers' DCs was a growing issue, which was estimated to have
cost £1.4 billion in 2023. However, many retailers have faced a
broader set of challenges given current general economic weakness,
which led to us experiencing weaker than expected demand in the
past year.
With retailers tightly controlling discretionary
spend in 2024, we signed up three new retail customers. Of our
Retail Distribution revenue in the year, 75% came from existing
customers with already proven RoI. They typically invested to
upgrade to our WalkTHRU solution, given the additional throughput
rates and deterrence it offers.
Looking forward, we expect to see similar levels of
repeat buying and upgrading given our very focused product
strategy.
The signing of the sales partnership with Sensormatic
is a very important initiative, which we are confident will help us
win new customers and reinvigorate international growth in this
sector.
Aviation
In Aviation, we focus on the US market given our
long-standing relationship with the US Government's Transportation
Security Administration ('TSA'). Our technology is used in security
checkpoints to ensure no prohibited items are taken airside and
onto planes and is in service in three large US airports where it
is used for screening aviation workers.
Security screening in the aviation industry is a
regulated activity and, to date, Thruvision technology has only
been given regulated approval for aviation worker screening in the
US. However, in response to changes in international aviation
policy, the TSA issued a National Mandate in autumn 2023 requiring
US airports to upgrade their capabilities for security screening
aviation workers. Under this Mandate, Thruvision technology is
listed by the TSA in its Aviation Worker Screening Toolkit.
In order to further strengthen our market position,
we recently completed operational testing and evaluation of our
WalkTHRU solution at San Diego International Airport with the
National Safe Skies Alliance ('Safe Skies'). Safe Skies is an
independent, non-profit organisation funded by the US Federal
Aviation Administration.
This testing demonstrates that Thruvision is well
placed to help US airports meet their new TSA-mandated aviation
worker security obligations and, since the announcement, we have
seen a meaningful pick-up in sales enquiries, which we expect to
lead to new sales in 2025. We are developing plans for how best to
partner strategically to maximise our reach as this market moves
into its specification and purchasing phase.
Regarding passenger screening, while our testing
contract with the TSA has been extended for a further three years,
testing activity levels have slowed. This is because TSA funding
remains focused on completing the unrelated rollout of new
passenger bag CT scanners, which is both costly and running later
than anticipated.
Entrance
Security
Thruvision is used by a wide variety of venues
ranging from high-security government sites to public museums to
check visitors, typically for concealed weapons.
The Group saw a strong growth in sales in 2024 in
traditional entrance security weapons checks. Sales also included a
specific counter-terrorism deployment in the Middle East, other
early-stage
counter-terrorism work for the US Department of Defense and a
counter-drugs deployment for a European Prison Service.
In all cases, Thruvision technology was selected for
its unique ability to detect reliably a broad range of threat
objects, including non-metallics, in a diverse range of operational
environments.
With a continuing increase in geopolitical
instability and the related terrorism risk, we saw significantly
growing interest and received orders from customers across the
Middle East, Europe and Africa. We expect this interest to continue
and revenue growth to result.
Product
R&D and Intellectual Property ('IP')
Our technology allows security guards
to see items hidden in clothing, which means that intrusive
physical searches, or 'pat-downs', are no longer necessary. Based
on our patented THz sensor and image processing software, our
systems can detect, quickly and reliably, all types of material
(non-metallic as well as metallic).
Our product strategy aims continuously to improve
throughput rates, detection performance and ease of use, and is now
almost wholly focused on expanding our WalkTHRU capability.
Our R&D and product roadmap therefore, has three
objectives. We have made good progress in the last year against
each of these:
- Focus on utilising
latest developments in AI to deliver additional new functionality
and to offer this as optional software licences to help improve
product profitability;
- Provide clear
value-add upgrade paths for existing customers to take advantage of
latest developments; and
- Improve the physical
design of our product range to improve in-field useability and
aesthetics.
These three strands came together with a major new
product release in early 2024, the 71 Series. This new series,
focused initially on Retail Distribution, was the result of
feedback from our retailer user forum.
The 71 Series features major new software
functionality that adds significant new video AI capability and,
for the first time, tightly couples THz with video image processing
to deliver significant performance benefits to users, including
improved detection performance and people-counting. This new
redesigned software will allow significant further new
functionality to be released in the next 12 months.
With some of the new software functionality sold as
an optional extra licence, the 71 Series should ensure the Group
can enhance product profitability.
The Group currently holds patents in
five families and our patent strategy is designed to cover the IP
value, which is based on our modular, satellite-grade engineering
THz sensor platform, the unique combination of this sensor with
purpose-designed optics and scanning mirror, and our
purpose-developed image processing software.
As part of our ongoing patent
portfolio management, we have taken initial steps towards
increasing our patent portfolio by patenting some new capability
which has resulted from our recent R&D activities.
Manufacturing and support
We have delivered further improvements in our
manufacturing capability across the UK and US. This has mostly
focused on optimising supply-chain management to better manage our
working capital needs and redesigning our products for ease of
assembly and reduced manufacturing and support costs. We also saw
far fewer component supply shortages than in previous years.
We expect to see further reductions in build cost
through improvements in product design and economies of scale as
revenues grow.
We continued to improve our post-sales support
capability and have also been ensuring full skills transfer to our
growing number of VARs. Our product reliability remains good with a
new fault-free record of 28,000 hours in-service operation being
recorded on units deployed in a particular US airport.
People
Average headcount remained at 43 staff during the
year. Within this, we made changes to introduce a new senior sales
leader, from a global airport security equipment provider, into the
business to enhance and execute our sales strategy. To support this
strategy, we then also added an experienced Channel Sales Manager
to develop our VAR network into a more proactive, new demand
generator for the Group.
Financial
review
Highlights
Revenue for the year to 31 March
2024 was down £4.6 million (37%) to £7.8 million (2023: £12.4
million) attributable to the lack of further significant orders
from CBP in 2024. Adjusting for the impact of this single
customer, revenue from other customers grew by 85% to £7.6 million,
with strong growth in Entrance Security and Customs.
Adjusted gross margin improved by
1.5pp to 53.0% (2023: 51.5%) mainly due to product mix. Statutory
gross margin was down 1.9pp to 45.1% (2023: 47.0%) reflecting lower
absorption of production overheads as volumes decreased. The
operating loss in the period was £3.0 million (2023: loss £1.0
million), with an Adjusted EBITDA loss of £2.5 million (2023: loss
£0.2 million). Adjusted loss before tax of £3.0 million increased
by £2.2 million (2023: loss £0.8 million) with statutory loss
before tax of £2.9 million (2023: loss £1.0 million).
Cash as at 31 March 2024 was £4.1
million (31 March 2023: £2.8 million). The increase in cash
of £1.3 million was driven by the share placing in October 2023,
which raised net proceeds of £3.1 million and was partly offset by
an operating cash outflow of £0.8 million, capital expenditure of
£0.6 million and net other outflows of £0.5 million.
Revenue
Revenue is split between our two
principal activities below.
|
2024
|
2023
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
|
|
|
Product
|
7,394
|
11,782
|
Support and Development
|
420
|
638
|
|
7,814
|
12,420
|
The principal growth driver for the
business is product sales. Support revenue includes extended
warranty and other post-sale support revenue, as well as
customer-funded development contracts. We expect warranty and other
support revenue to grow in the future, with customer-funded
development contracts not a key driver for future
growth.
Revenue is split by market sector
and geographical region below.
|
|
2024
|
2023
|
Revenue by market sector
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
|
|
|
|
Retail Distribution
|
|
1,924
|
2,429
|
Customs1
|
|
3,148
|
9,165
|
Aviation
|
|
23
|
246
|
Entrance Security
|
|
2,719
|
580
|
|
|
7,814
|
12,420
|
1 2024 includes £169k of revenue from CBP (2023: £8,281k).
Excluding CBP, Customs revenue was £2,979k (2023:
£884k).
|
|
|
2024
|
2023
|
Revenue by geographical
region
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
|
|
|
|
UK and Europe
|
|
2,436
|
2,249
|
Americas1
|
|
1,998
|
9,223
|
Middle East and Africa
|
|
845
|
346
|
Asia Pacific
|
|
2,535
|
602
|
|
|
7,814
|
12,420
|
1 2024 includes £169k of revenue from CBP (2023: £8,281k).
Excluding CBP, Americas revenue was £1,829k (2023:
£942k).
Gross profit
Adjusted gross profit, defined as gross profit
excluding production overheads, is used to enable a like-for-like
comparison of the contribution from sales after variable costs
only. Adjusted gross margin is used as a key performance
indicator ('KPI') to understand the impact of input cost pressures,
product mix and sales price changes. Production overheads are
excluded since the significant movements in revenue volumes impact
labour and overhead absorption rates in each year. Production
overheads are monitored on an absolute basis. As a result,
adjusted gross profit is the APM used to represent this metric, see
Appendix for calculation and further information.
Adjusted gross margin grew in the
second half of the year reflecting improved product mix caused by
an increased proportion of higher performance product sales. This
contributed to the 1.5pp increase in adjusted gross margin for the
full year, with statutory gross margin down by 1.9pp including a
3.4pp negative impact from manufacturing as there was lower
production throughput together with pay cost inflation.
Adjusted gross profit and statutory
gross profit are shown below.
|
|
2024
|
2023
|
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
|
|
|
|
Revenue
|
|
7,814
|
12,420
|
Adjusted gross profit
|
|
4,141
|
6,401
|
Adjusted gross margin
|
|
53.0%
|
51.5%
|
Statutory gross profit
|
|
3,522
|
5,837
|
Statutory gross margin
|
|
45.1%
|
47.0%
|
Administrative expenses
Administrative expenses are analysed
as follows:
|
|
2024
|
2023
|
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Sales, marketing and
support
|
|
2,454
|
2,527
|
Engineering (including
R&D)
|
|
1,067
|
1,047
|
Management
|
|
949
|
1,046
|
Plc costs
|
|
884
|
829
|
Property and
administration
|
|
580
|
417
|
Bonus
|
|
89
|
458
|
Foreign exchange
losses/(gains)
|
|
80
|
(198)
|
Overheads
|
|
6,103
|
6,126
|
Depreciation and
amortisation
|
|
465
|
569
|
Share-based payments
(credit)/charge
|
|
(50)
|
96
|
Impairment of intangible
assets
|
|
-
|
36
|
Administrative expenses
|
|
6,518
|
6,827
|
Administrative expenses decreased by
5% (£0.3 million) to £6.5 million, with overheads flat at
£6.1 million and a reduction in bonus costs offsetting adverse
transactional exchange movements. The ratio of overheads to revenue
increased to 78% from 49% last year driven by lower revenues.
Administrative expenses include share-based payment charges,
depreciation and amortisation and impairment of intangible assets,
but these are excluded from overheads. Overheads benefitted from translational exchange as the
appreciation in the US Dollar exchange rates decreased overheads by
approximately £50k, compared to the prior year average exchange
rate experienced.
Sales and marketing expenditure was
slightly lower driven by lower sales commissions. Engineering
costs, including R&D costs, were up as a result of increased
headcount in our software team as well as new product costs.
Property and admin cost increases were due to additional finance
headcount and recruitment costs. Management costs were lower
driven by one-off costs relating to the CFO replacement in the
prior year; Plc costs were up because of higher insurance costs and
professional fees.
Loss after tax and loss per share
Statutory loss after tax increased
by £2.0 million from £0.8 million to a loss of £2.8 million with
the adjusted loss after tax of £2.9 million increasing by £2.2
million. The tax credit of £0.1 million (2023: £0.2 million)
reflects R&D tax credits receivable. Unrelieved trading tax
losses in the UK available to carry forward indefinitely are £9.3
million (2023: £7.3 million). No deferred tax asset has been
recognised (2023: none).
The loss per share and adjusted loss
per share were 1.86 pence and 1.90 pence respectively (2023: loss
per share and adjusted loss per share of 0.55 pence and 0.46 pence
respectively) and reflected the movements in adjusted and statutory
loss after tax.
Cash flow
Cash and cash equivalents increased
during the year by £1.3 million to £4.1 million as at 31 March
2024, driven by the share placing in October 2023, which
raised net proceeds of £3.1 million and was partly offset by an
operating cash outflow of £0.8 million, capital expenditure of £0.6
million and net other outflows of £0.5 million. The operating
cash outflow is driven by an Adjusted EBITDA loss of £2.5 million
partly offset by a net working capital inflow of £1.3 million and
cash tax received of £0.4 million relating to R&D tax
credits.
The principal movements in net
working capital were as follows:
·
Trade and other receivables resulted in a
£2.1 million inflow in the year, driven by higher
sales in the final quarter of the prior year compared to the
current year.
·
A decrease in trade and other payables resulted in
an outflow of £0.7 million driven by the
lower bonus accrual and the timing of stock purchases in the final
quarter compared to the prior year.
Capital expenditure during the year
of £0.6 million (2023: £0.1 million) was driven by investment in
demonstration equipment of £0.5 million supporting the growth in
non-CBP activity.
Financing, treasury and going concern
Cash and cash equivalents as at 31
March 2024 were £4.1 million (31 March 2023: £2.8
million).
The Group has prepared and reviewed cash flow
forecasts for the period to 30 June 2025, which reflect forecast
changes in revenue across its business and performed a reverse
stress test of the forecasts to determine the extent of any
downturn which would result in insufficient cash being available to
the business. Following this assessment, the Board are satisfied
that the Group has sufficient resources to continue in operation
for a period of not less than 12 months from the date of this
report. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis
in relation to this conclusion and preparing the consolidated
financial statements.
Currency
The Group has both translational and transactional
currency exposures. Translational exposures arise on the
consolidation of the US overseas subsidiary results into GBP. The
largest translational exposures during the year were to the US
Dollar. Translational exposures are not hedged. During the year,
currency translation effects resulted in revenue being £115k lower,
gross margin being £20k lower and the Adjusted EBITDA loss £30k
lower than they would have been if calculated using prior year
exchange rates.
Transactional exposures arise where the currency of
sale or purchase invoices differs from the functional currency in
which each company prepares its local accounts. The transactional
exposures include situations where foreign
currency-denominated trade receivables, trade payables and cash
balances are held. Transactional foreign exchange losses of £0.1
million (2023: £0.2 million gain) were included in administrative
expenses. The Group maintains non-GBP cash balances to meet
short-term operational requirements.
The table below shows the average and closing key
exchange rates for the US Dollar compared to GBP.
|
2024
|
2023
|
Average exchange rate for the
year
|
1.257
|
1.206
|
Exchange rate at the
year-end
|
1.262
|
1.236
|
Other
A programme of share purchases by
the Thruvision plc Employee Benefit Trust was undertaken during the
year with the purpose of partly satisfying future employee
exercises of share options. The total number of shares
purchased during the year was 1,051,557 at
a cost of £239k.
Dividends
The Board is not proposing to pay a dividend (2023:
none).
Events after the balance sheet date
In order to manage fluctuations in
working capital, the Group has recently agreed a continuation of
the previous £0.25 million overdraft facility with HSBC at
£0.1 million from 31 May 2024 for 12 months. This remains undrawn
at the date of publication of these results.
Consolidated income
statement
for
the year ended 31 March 2024
|
|
Notes
|
Year ended
31 March
2024
£'000
|
Year ended
31 March
2023
£'000
|
|
|
|
|
|
Revenue
|
2
|
7,814
|
12,420
|
Cost of sales
|
|
(4,292)
|
(6,583)
|
Gross profit
|
|
3,522
|
5,837
|
Administrative expenses
|
|
(6,518)
|
(6,827)
|
Operating loss
|
3
|
(2,996)
|
(990)
|
Finance income
|
|
109
|
26
|
Finance costs
|
|
(62)
|
(15)
|
Loss before tax
|
|
(2,949)
|
(979)
|
Taxation credit
|
|
103
|
174
|
Loss for the year
|
|
(2,846)
|
(805)
|
|
|
|
|
Loss per share
|
|
|
|
Loss per share - basic and diluted
|
4
|
(1.86p)
|
(0.55p)
|
|
|
|
All
operations are continuing.
Consolidated statement of
comprehensive income
for
the year ended 31 March 2024
|
Year ended
31 March 2024
£'000
|
Year ended
31 March 2023
£'000
|
|
|
|
Loss for the year attributable to owners of the
parent
|
(2,846)
|
(805)
|
|
|
|
Other comprehensive loss -
items that may be subsequently reclassified to profit or
loss:
|
|
|
Exchange differences on
retranslation of foreign operations
|
(16)
|
(50)
|
Total other comprehensive loss
|
(16)
|
(50)
|
Total comprehensive loss attributable to owners of the
parent
|
(2,862)
|
(855)
|
Consolidated statement of financial
position
at
31 March 2024
|
31 March 2024
£'000
|
31 March 2023
£'000
|
Non-current assets
|
|
|
Property, plant and
equipment
|
1,375
|
1,173
|
Intangible assets
|
124
|
109
|
|
1,499
|
1,282
|
Current assets
|
|
|
Inventories
|
3,655
|
3,639
|
Trade and other
receivables
|
2,229
|
4,342
|
Current tax recoverable
|
99
|
375
|
Cash and cash equivalents
|
4,119
|
2,810
|
|
10,102
|
11,166
|
Total assets
|
11,601
|
12,448
|
|
|
|
Current liabilities
|
|
|
Trade and other payables
|
(1,926)
|
(2,690)
|
Lease liabilities
|
(151)
|
(121)
|
Provisions
|
(52)
|
(107)
|
|
(2,129)
|
(2,918)
|
Net current
assets
|
7,973
|
8,248
|
|
|
|
Non-current
liabilities
|
|
|
Trade and other payables
|
(109)
|
(72)
|
Lease liabilities
|
(492)
|
(604)
|
Provisions
|
(110)
|
(38)
|
|
(711)
|
(714)
|
|
|
|
Total
liabilities
|
(2,840)
|
(3,632)
|
Net
assets
|
8,761
|
8,816
|
|
|
|
Equity
|
|
|
Share capital
|
1,611
|
1,472
|
Share premium
|
3,282
|
325
|
Capital redemption
reserve
|
163
|
163
|
Translation reserve
|
(5)
|
11
|
Retained earnings
|
3,710
|
6,845
|
Total equity attributable to owners of the
Company
|
8,761
|
8,816
|
Consolidated statement of changes in
equity
for
the year ended 31 March 2024
|
Share
capital
£'000
|
Share
premium
£'000
|
Capital redemption reserve
£'000
|
Translation reserve
£'000
|
Retained
earnings
£'000
|
Total
equity
£'000
|
At 1 April 2022
|
1,466
|
201
|
163
|
61
|
7,554
|
9,445
|
Shares issued
|
6
|
124
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
130
|
Share-based payment
charge
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
96
|
96
|
Transactions with
Shareholders
|
6
|
124
|
-
|
-
|
96
|
226
|
Loss for the year
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(805)
|
(805)
|
Other comprehensive loss
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(50)
|
-
|
(50)
|
Total comprehensive loss
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(50)
|
(805)
|
(855)
|
At 31 March 2023
|
1,472
|
325
|
163
|
11
|
6,845
|
8,816
|
Shares issued
|
139
|
2,957
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
3,096
|
Share-based payment
credit
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(50)
|
(50)
|
Purchase of own shares
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(239)
|
(239)
|
Transactions with
Shareholders
|
139
|
2,957
|
-
|
-
|
(289)
|
2,807
|
Loss for the year
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(2,846)
|
(2,846)
|
Other comprehensive loss
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(16)
|
-
|
(16)
|
Total comprehensive loss
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(16)
|
(2,846)
|
(2,862)
|
At
31 March 2024
|
1,611
|
3,282
|
163
|
(5)
|
3,710
|
8,761
|
Consolidated statement of cash
flows
for
the year ended 31 March 2024
|
|
Year ended
31 March 2024
£'000
|
Year ended
31 March 2023
£'000
|
Operating activities
|
|
|
|
Loss after tax
|
|
(2,846)
|
(805)
|
Adjustments for:
|
|
|
|
Taxation credit
|
|
(103)
|
(174)
|
Finance income
|
|
(109)
|
(26)
|
Finance costs
|
|
62
|
15
|
Depreciation of property,
plant and equipment
|
|
500
|
619
|
Profit on disposal of
property, plant and equipment
|
|
-
|
(10)
|
Amortisation of intangible
assets
|
|
26
|
20
|
Impairment of intangible
assets
|
|
-
|
36
|
Share-based payment
charge/(credit)
|
|
(50)
|
96
|
Operating cash outflow before
changes in working capital and provisions
|
|
(2,520)
|
(229)
|
Decrease/(increase) in trade
and other receivables
|
|
2,132
|
(2,360)
|
Increase in inventories
|
|
(16)
|
(183)
|
(Decrease)/increase in trade and
other payables
|
|
(745)
|
321
|
Decrease in provisions
|
|
(55)
|
(71)
|
Cash utilised in
operations
|
|
(1,204)
|
(2,522)
|
Net income taxes
received
|
|
378
|
-
|
Net
cash outflow from operating activities
|
|
(826)
|
(2,522)
|
|
|
|
|
Investing activities
|
|
|
|
Purchase of property, plant and
equipment
|
|
(581)
|
(37)
|
Purchase of intangible
assets
|
|
(41)
|
(86)
|
Proceeds from disposal of property,
plant and equipment
|
|
-
|
11
|
Interest received
|
|
90
|
26
|
Net
cash outflow from investing activities
|
|
(532)
|
(86)
|
|
|
|
|
Financing activities
|
|
|
|
Proceeds from issue of
shares
|
|
3,243
|
130
|
Share issue costs
|
|
(147)
|
-
|
Purchase of own shares
|
|
(239)
|
-
|
Payments on principal portion of
lease liabilities
|
|
(143)
|
(180)
|
Financing charge
|
|
(12)
|
-
|
Interest paid on lease
liabilities
|
|
(50)
|
(15)
|
Net
cash inflow/(outflow) from financing activities
|
|
2,652
|
(65)
|
|
|
|
|
Net
increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents
|
|
1,294
|
(2,673)
|
Cash and cash equivalents at 1
April
|
|
2,810
|
5,441
|
Effect of foreign exchange rate
changes
|
|
15
|
42
|
Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March
|
|
4,119
|
2,810
|
Notes to the financial
information
1. Accounting
policies
1.1 Basis of
preparation
The financial information of the Group set out
above does not constitute statutory accounts for the purposes of
Section 435 of the Companies Act 2006. The financial
information for the year ended 31 March 2024 has been extracted
from the Group's audited financial statements which were approved by
the Board of Directors on 27 June 2024.
The financial statements of Thruvision Group
plc have been prepared in accordance with UK-adopted International
Accounting Standards and with the requirements of the Companies Act
2006 as applicable to companies reporting under those
standards.
These financial statements are presented in Pounds
Sterling ('GBP') and are rounded to the nearest thousand (£'000),
except where otherwise stated.
The financial statements were authorised for
issue by the Board of Directors on 27 June 2024 and the statement
of financial position was signed on the Board's behalf by Colin
Evans and Victoria Balchin.
The Company is a public limited company
incorporated and domiciled in England and Wales and whose shares
are quoted on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock
Exchange.
The consolidated financial statements have been
prepared on a historical cost basis.
1.2 Accounting
policies
The key accounting policies which apply in
preparing the financial statements for the year are set out below.
These policies have been consistently applied to all periods
presented in these consolidated financial statements.
The USD/GBP exchange rates used in the consolidated
financial statements is as follows:
|
2024
|
2023
|
Average exchange rate for the
year
|
1.257
|
1.206
|
Exchange rate at the year
end
|
1.262
|
1.236
|
1.3 Basis of
measurement
Going concern
The Group's loss before tax from continuing operations
for the year was £2.9 million (2023: £1.0 million). As at 31 March
2024, the Group had net current assets of £8.0 million (31 March
2023: £8.2 million), of which cash and cash equivalents of £4.1
million (31 March 2023: £2.8 million).
The Board has taken the cash flow forecast for the
period to 30 June 2025, reviewed the key assumptions underpinning
the projection, and considered a range of downside scenarios to
assess whether the business has adequate financial resources to
continue operational existence and to meet liabilities as they fall
due for a period of not less than 12 months from the approval of
the financial statements.
In completing the above analysis, the Board has
reviewed the following:
·
|
The current pipeline of potential sales
opportunities, differentiating between existing customers and new
customers, and smaller sales and large, multi-unit sales. Potential
scenarios included a general downgrading of smaller unit sales
volumes and the removal of larger sales for which confidence of
securing an order was not already high based on customer
interaction to date
|
·
|
Market, political and recessionary economic
trends that may adversely impact the prospects of revenue
realisation from a broad range of customers in all geographical
areas of operation
|
·
|
The availability of manufacturing facilities
and the impact of unforeseen outages.
|
·
|
The potential for supply chain issues to result
in higher purchasing costs and reduced margins, or an inability to
fulfil all orders received due to raw materials
shortages
|
·
|
An expectation of retaining a materially higher
overheads cost base than the prior year, aligned to support a
growing business
|
·
|
General inflationary pressures that may have
similar impacts on revenues and costs to those described
above
|
Stress testing has been performed to identify and
analyse the circumstances under which the Group's business would no
longer be viable without recourse to new funding throughout the
period reviewed, including steps taken to maximise liquidity, for
example a reduction in discretionary spend and inventory levels.
The testing undertaken applied various stresses simultaneously even
though it would not be considered reasonable to expect all
downsides to occur concurrently.
As a result, the above testing demonstrates that cash
generation is sufficient for the business to remain a going
concern, without recourse to alternative sources of finance, for
the period to 31 July 2025.
Overall, the Group is well placed to manage business
risk effectively and the Board reviews the Group's performance
against budgets and forecasts on a regular basis to ensure action
is taken where needed. The Directors are satisfied that the Group
has adequate resources to continue operating for a period of at
least 12 months from the approval of these accounts. For this
reason, they have adopted the going concern basis in preparing the
financial statements.
2. Segmental
information
The business is run as one segment although we
sell our products into a number of sectors as disclosed in the
Finance review. The employees of the business work across both our
geographical and market sectors, with the assets of the business
being utilised across these sectors as well, and it is not possible
to directly apportion these costs between these sectors.
As such, the Directors do not split the
business into segments in order to internally analyse the business
performance. The Directors believe that allocating administrative
expenses by department provides a suitable level of business
insight. The overhead department cost centres comprise:
·
|
Engineering (including
R&D);
|
·
|
Sales, marketing and
support;
|
·
|
Property and
administration;
|
·
|
Management;
and
|
·
|
Plc costs.
|
with the split of
costs as shown within the Financial Review.
2. Segmental information
(continued)
Revenue is split between our two
principal activities below:
|
2024
|
2023
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
|
|
|
Product
|
7,394
|
11,782
|
Support and Development
|
420
|
638
|
|
7,814
|
12,420
|
The Group's revenue by
market sector and geographical region is detailed below:
Revenue by market sector
|
2024
£'000
|
2023
£'000
|
Retail Distribution
|
1,924
|
2,429
|
Customs1
|
3,148
|
9,165
|
Aviation
|
23
|
246
|
Entrance Security
|
2,719
|
580
|
|
7,814
|
12,420
|
1
In 2024 includes £169k of revenue from CBP (2023:
£8,281k). Excluding CBP, Customs revenue was £2,979k (2023:
£884k).
Revenue by geographical region
|
2024
£'000
|
2023
£'000
|
UK and Europe
|
2,436
|
2,249
|
Americas1
|
1,998
|
9,223
|
Middle East and Africa
|
845
|
346
|
Asia Pacific
|
2,535
|
602
|
|
7,814
|
12,420
|
1
In 2024 includes £169k of revenue from CBP (2023:
£8,281k). Excluding CBP, Americas revenue was £1,829k (2023:
£942k).
The Group's revenue by point of recognition is
detailed below:
|
2024
£'000
|
2023
£'000
|
Revenue recognised at point in
time
|
7,727
|
11,888
|
Revenue recognised over time -
extended warranty and support revenue
|
87
|
532
|
|
7,814
|
12,420
|
Analysis of revenue by
customer
There have been two individually material customers
(comprising over 10% of total revenue) in the year (2023: one
customer). These customers represented £1,885k (24%) and £938k
(12%) of revenue for the year (2023: £8,286k (or 67%)).
2. Segmental information
(continued)
Other segment information
The Group's non-current assets by
geography are detailed below:
|
2024
£'000
|
2023
£'000
|
United Kingdom
|
1,176
|
1,027
|
United States of America
|
323
|
255
|
|
1,499
|
1,282
|
3. Operating
loss
The operating loss is
stated after charging/(crediting):
|
2024
£'000
|
2023
£'000
|
Cost of inventories
recognised as an expense
|
3,894
|
5,475
|
Research and development
expense
|
636
|
598
|
Net impairment credit on
trade receivables and contract assets
|
-
|
(57)
|
Share based payment
(credit)/charge
|
(50)
|
96
|
Depreciation of property,
plant and equipment
|
500
|
619
|
Profit on disposal of
property, plant and equipment
|
-
|
(10)
|
Expenses relating to
short-term and low-value leases
|
1
|
3
|
Amortisation of intangible
assets
|
26
|
20
|
Impairment of intangible
assets
|
-
|
36
|
Exchange losses/(gains)
|
80
|
(198)
|
4. Loss per
share
|
2024
|
2023
|
Loss after tax (£'000)
|
(2,846)
|
(805)
|
|
|
|
Weighted average number of
shares outstanding (total in issue)
|
153,197,717
|
147,138,774
|
Less: weighted average
number of shares owned by Employee Benefit Trust
|
(522,781)
|
-
|
Weighted average number of
shares used to calculate basic and diluted loss per share
|
152,674,936
|
147,138,774
|
|
|
|
Basic and diluted loss per
share (pence)
|
(1.86p)
|
(0.55p)
|
The inclusion of
potential Ordinary Shares arising from LTIPs and EMI Options would
be anti-dilutive. Basic and diluted loss per share has therefore
been calculated using the same weighted number of shares for each
financial year.
5. Post-balance sheet
events
In order to manage fluctuations in
working capital, the Group has recently agreed a continuation of
its overdraft facility with HSBC at £0.1 million from 31 May
2024 for 12 months. This remains undrawn to
date.
APPENDIX - ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE MEASURES
('APMs')
Thruvision uses adjusted figures as key performance
measures in addition to those reported under IFRS, as management
believe these measures enable management and stakeholders to assess
the underlying trading performance of the businesses. The
APMs exclude certain items that are considered to be significant in
nature and/or quantum.
The APMs are consistent with how the businesses'
performance is planned and reported within the internal management
reporting to the Board. Some of these measures are used for the
purpose of setting remuneration targets.
The key APMs that the Group uses include adjusted
measures for the income statement together with adjusted cash flow
measures. Explanations of how they are calculated and how they are
reconciled to an IFRS statutory measure are set out below.
Adjusted
measures
The Group's policy is to exclude items that are
considered to be significant in nature and/or quantum, where the
item is volatile in nature and cannot be directly linked to
underlying trading, and where treatment as an adjusted item
provides stakeholders with additional useful information to better
assess the period-on-period trading performance of the Group. They
reflect how the business is measured and managed on a day-to-day
basis.
The Group excludes certain items, which management
have defined as:
-
Share-based payments charge or credit
-
Impairments of intangible assets
Gross profit, excluding production overheads, is used
to enable a like-for-like comparison of underlying sales
profitability and provide supplementary information. This adjusted
measure is termed Adjusted gross profit. The use of Adjusted
gross profit margin provides the Board and management with a
measure of direct product profitability (pricing, direct costs of
sale and directly allocable costs including inventory provisions),
without the impact that sales volumes can have on the absorption of
the more fixed production overheads. It provides a useful
measure of sales and procurement effectiveness as a subset of
topline profitability analysis and may help investors understand
and evaluate performance in the same way as the Board and
management. The metric is helpful to show current trends in
the Group's operations and is useful for like-for-like comparisons
of product profitability between years.
These non-GAAP measures should not be considered in
isolation or as a substitute for the comparable GAAP (IFRS) measure
and may not be comparable with other companies. All APMs
relate to the current year results and the comparative year.
Based on the above policy, the adjusted performance
measures are derived from the statutory figures as follows
a)
Adjusted gross profit
|
|
2024
|
2023
|
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Gross profit
|
|
3,522
|
5,837
|
Add back:
|
|
|
|
Production overheads
|
|
619
|
564
|
Adjusted gross
profit
|
|
4,141
|
6,401
|
b) Adjusted
EBITDA
|
|
2024
|
2023
|
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Statutory operating loss
|
|
(2,996)
|
(990)
|
Add back:
|
|
|
|
Depreciation and amortisation
|
|
526
|
639
|
Impairment of intangible assets
|
|
-
|
36
|
Share-based payment (credit)/charge
|
|
(50)
|
96
|
Adjusted
EBITDA loss
|
|
(2,520)
|
(219)
|
c) Adjusted loss
before tax
|
|
2024
|
2023
|
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Statutory loss before tax
|
|
(2,949)
|
(979)
|
Add back:
|
|
|
|
Impairment of intangible assets
|
|
-
|
36
|
Share-based payment (credit)/charge
|
|
(50)
|
96
|
Adjusted loss
before tax
|
|
(2,999)
|
(847)
|
d) Adjusted loss per
share
|
|
2024
|
2023
|
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Statutory loss after tax
|
|
(2,846)
|
(805)
|
Add back:
|
|
|
|
Impairment of intangible assets
|
|
-
|
36
|
Share-based payment (credit)/charge
|
|
(50)
|
96
|
Adjusted loss
after tax
|
|
(2,896)
|
(673)
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted average number of shares
|
|
152,674,936
|
147,138,774
|
|
|
|
|
Statutory loss per
share (pence)
|
|
(1.86)
|
(0.55)
|
Adjusted loss per
share (pence)
|
|
(1.90)
|
(0.46)
|