LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA, April 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GTX Corp (OTC: GTXO) (“GTX” or the “Company”), a pioneer in the field of location based wearable GPS human and asset tracking systems and a supplier of Health and Safety personal protective medical equipment, today announced a summary for the year ended December 31, 2020.
2020 Financial Highlights:
- Product Revenue increased 109% over 2019 comparable period.
- Total Revenue decreased 29% over 2019 comparable period.
- Online ecommerce sales increased 875% over 2019 comparable period.
- Increased number of online customers by over 718% over 2019 comparable period.
- B2B and government customers increased by 46% over 2019 comparable period.
- G&A expenses decreased 22% over 2019 comparable period.
- Loss from Operations decreased 435% over 2019 comparable period.
- Other Income/(Expense) reduced 133% over 2019 comparable period.
- Reduced debt on balance sheet by approximately 35%
Management commentary: Patrick Bertagna, GTX Corp CEO.
In these unprecedented times we want to first and foremost extend our appreciation and gratitude to every GTX stake holder from our employees, vendors, customers, advisors, and shareholders that helped GTX navigate and expand throughout 2020.
YEAR IN REVIEW
2020 was probably our most transformative year since we launched our GPS SmartSoles. With the global economic slowdown and restrictive lockdowns enforced in California due to COVID, we did have a reduction in total revenues, however we increased product sales, increased our B2B, B2C and government customer base by double and triple digits, expanded our product lines to close to 100 products, maintained good profit margins, and reduced our general expenses. Except for a government backed 30-year, low interest loan, we did not take on any new debt and continued to retire our existing debt by $494K or 35% at the close of 2020. Because of our commitment to significantly reduce our debt and lower interest payments and derivative expenses, we had an increase of over $1,000,000 comparable to the 2019 period, in non-core below the line income.
Due to our pivot in early March 2020 to expand our Health and Safety product line into the Personal Protective Equipment (“PPE”) business, we saw a 109% increase in product revenues compared to 2019, added close to 2,500 new customers, elevated our product and brand awareness in the U.S. and showed a modest net profit for the first three quarters of 2020. The expansion into the PPE business enabled us to have additional cash flow for R&D and debt reduction, broaden our product offerings, start an advertising campaign, all of which we believe has expanded our visibility in the marketplace, as we are starting to see more cross selling across our product lines, an increase in total number of shareholders, and continue to see a noticeable increase in inquiries from our distributors for wearable tracking and monitoring solutions, which is the cornerstone of our business.
COVID did somewhat contribute to our reduction in total revenues but the big factor comparing 2019 to 2020 was directly related to IP licensing. In 2019, in addition to our normal IP licensing revenue, we had one large transaction for $650,000 that dramatically increased our licensing revenue for that year, however in 2020 we did not have one large transaction and only signed one agreement compared to fourteen in 2019. Subscriptions were also lower than expected due to COVID-19 and because many of the cellular providers worldwide transitioned to 4G and 5G shutting down 2G and 3G in many parts of the world. Even though we had been planning for the 2G and 3G sunset we had no way to plan for COVID at the same time, which effected our ability to quickly migrate customers over to 4G. Despite these temporary setbacks, we continue to see a steady flow of pre-orders for our 4G SmartSoles and as the global economy reopens, we expect to see continued demand for our 4G products and subscription reactivation.
At the onset of the second quarter of 2020, the Company was immersed in addressing the impact of COVID-19: from setting up work safety policies, social distancing guidelines, shelter in place lockdowns, evaluating our supply chain which at that time was completely disrupted and communicating with our customers and suppliers across the globe to address and ascertain their impact. At the same time, we had to quickly expand our infrastructure to support the rapid need and demand for protective medical equipment. We hired additional people and added new warehouse space, all while still managing to reduce total expenses throughout the year. As we faced many uncertainties, we filed for government assistance loan programs, which we received late in the second quarter. Even with all the uncertainty, chaos and panic that ensued in March, April and May we still managed to build out our PPE business, sold and donated hundreds of thousands of PPE items to a wide range of entities such as essential businesses, assisted living facilities, pharmacies, Fortune 1,000 companies, hospitals, police departments, nonprofits, and local, state, and federal government agencies, and consumers in every State across the U.S. We launched a dedicated website - www.gtxmask.com, which within weeks, saw over a 500% increase in website traffic, and 300% increase in consumer orders, with 40% repeat orders. As a result, GTX is now well positioned as a trusted health & safety supplier for providing a wide variety of high-quality products and reliable customer service, which is contributing to an increase in our brand awareness and product demand. Since we are now addressing a much larger potential audience, we started an advertising campaign, and based on the results so far, we expect to keep the campaign going into 2021.
Continuing throughout the year, our e commerce business saw a steady monthly increase and many of the new products we introduced were widely accepted and sales quickly ramped up throughout the year, seeing a significant increase in sales coming from Antibody and Antigen Rapid Test Kits beginning in the fourth quarter of 2020, which we expect to be a strong seller going into 2021.
During the third quarter of 2020, GTX was issued a new patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), U.S Patent No. 10,743,615 entitled “System and Method for Embedding A Tracking Device in a Footwear Insole.” This is GTX’s third patent related to embedding Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) GPS wearable tracking technology into footwear. This patent covers different aspects of the GPS SmartSole product and we expect to receive more patents covering other aspects on related applications in the future as we continue to expand our IP portfolio in the wearable technology space, especially as the global wearable medical device market continues to grow and expecting to reach $9.4 billion by 2022. This third patent helps solidify our IP portfolio with respect to wearable tracking and monitoring technologies embedded in footwear.
During the fourth quarter of 2020 we continued making progress with the development of our 4G next generation miniaturized GPS tracking device platform, which will utilize a host of new technologies, including CatM1, NB-IoT, enhanced Wifi, and Bluetooth, for better accuracy, faster location requests and less power consumption. This new hardware platform will be small enough to be embedded into our line of wearable technology and offered as a licensed hardware platform to other companies in different vertical markets. The demand for our GPS SmartSoles is the highest it has been in over two years, so we are very focused and committed to getting our new product launched in 2021. Subscriptions which directly tie into the sales of our tracking products were still not back to pre-COVID as of December 31, 2020, however based on our preorders going into 2021 we expect subscriptions to start ramping up quickly as soon as we launch our new 4G SmartSoles.
As we look over the horizon into 2021, we are cautiously optimistic, seeing encouraging signs, hearing from many customers that they are almost fully operational, but the situation remains fluid. One thing is for certain, there is a big desire for innovation and new solutions in the wearable technology healthcare industry post COVID-19 era, along with continued demand for PPE and test-kits while the pandemic is still not fully under control. GTX has been at the forefront of many innovative technologies, we pivoted early into the PPE business and built an entire new business unit under extremely challenging conditions, which in large is driving our optimism for 2021.
We want to thank our entire team and everyone in our inner circle for working tirelessly throughout 2020 under extremely difficult circumstances and we are grateful that only a few of our employees got infected but have all fully recovered. For now, we will keep updating everyone as best we can through our podcast, press releases, newsletters and our first quarter financials expected to be released in May. We wish everyone a safe and healthy pandemic recovery into 2021.
GTX distributes an extensive line of wearable technology and Personal Protective Equipment “PPE”, owns and licenses a portfolio of patents in the GPS and wearable technology space, and is a GSA-approved military and government supplier. The Company’s products are available at its online store, Amazon, and global partners. To find out more about how you can buy or become an authorized reseller of GTX products, contact us info@gtxcorp.com
Remember the 3 W’s to reduce the risks of COVID -Wear a mask, Wash your hands and Watch your distance.
About GTX Corp GTX Corp (OTC: GTXO) is a pioneer in smart, mobile, and wearable GPS tracking and recovery location-based solutions, supported through a proprietary IoT enterprise monitoring platform and intellectual property portfolio. GTX offers a global end-to-end solution of hardware, software and connectivity and develops two-way GPS tracking technologies, which seamlessly integrate with consumer products and enterprise applications. GTX utilizes the latest in miniaturized, low power consumption GPS, Cellular, RF, NFC and BLE technology, enabling subscribers to track in real time the whereabouts of people or high value assets. GTX is known for its game-changing and award-winning patented GPS SmartSole® -- think Dr. Scholl’s meets LoJack, the world’s first invisible wearable technology tracking device created for those at risk of wandering due to Alzheimer’s, dementia, autism and traumatic brain injury. GTX’s business model is built around technology innovation and holds over 85 patents, with many issued patents in GPS tracking. The company has international distributors servicing customers in over 35 countries and is a U.S. Military Government contractor. Other customers include public health authorities and municipalities, emergency and law enforcement, private schools, assisted living facilities, NGOs, small business enterprises, senior care homes, and consumers.
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Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements. The terms and phrases “expect,” “would,” “will,” “believes,” and similar terms and phrases are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by GTX considering its experience and its perception of current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that GTX believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause GTX’s actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Certain risk factors that may cause actual results to differ are set forth in GTX’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (which may be obtained on the SEC Website). These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on GTX’s forward-looking statements. GTX has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required.