TORONTO, April 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Deveron UAS Corp. (CSE: DVR) (“Deveron” or the “Company”) a leading agriculture digital services and insights provider in North America is pleased to announce annual revenue growth of 311% for 2019. Revenue grew to $2,055,437 in 2019 from $500,626 in 2018. Q4/19 revenue was $584,492, an increase of 151% from $233,581 in Q4/2018. For the third quarter in a row, Deveron achieved sales growth of over 100% and generated quarterly revenue surpassing full-year 2018 revenue.
Year-End 2019 and Fourth Quarter Financial and Operational Highlights
Year-End 2019
For the calendar year, Deveron reported a significant improvement in revenue and gross margin. This was driven by the success of our data insights business and increased usage across our network of data collection technicians. Highlights of the year-end financial results ended December 31, 2019 are presented below:
- revenue grew 311% year over year to $2,055,437 in 2019, from $500,626 in 2018;
- gross profit grew 741% year over year to $1,212,030 in 2019 from $144,194 in 2018; and
- gross profit margin improved to 59% in 2019 from 29% in 2018;
Fourth Quarter 2019
Deveron achieved revenue growth driven by increased demand for our data technician services and market adoption of our data collection products. Typically, Q4 is a busier time for data collection services as industry participants analyze and interpret data in preparation for the next crop season. Highlights of the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2019 are presented below:
- revenue grew 151% to $584,492 in Q4/2019 compared to $233,581 in Q4/2018 ;
- gross profit grew 90% to $178,690 in Q4/2019 compared to $93,817 in Q4/2018; and
- gross profit margin declined to 31% in Q4/2019 from 40% in Q4/2018.
“Our annual results reflect the incredible contribution that our team has made to our two main lines of business,” commented David MacMillan, Deveron’s President and CEO. “This year, we have achieved significant growth which continues to validate Deveron’s value proposition to our customers. It was a challenging year for many of our customers across North America due to adverse weather, both in getting crops planted and then harvested, but we were still able to support their agronomic requirements and grow our footprint with new customers. In the past 12 months, we have shifted from being a single product service company to a multi-product digital insights company. With a solid base of digital products and offerings, I look forward to expanding our network and growing our acreage base across North America.”
Operational Highlights for 2019
- On January 29, Deveron announced an agreement with A & L Laboratories Canada to manage and execute A & L’s soil sampling collection business. The initial agreement is for 5 years and has an anticipated value of $3.8 M over the term of the agreement;
- On March 11, Deveron received an “AI for Earth” Grant from Microsoft to help further development in artificial intelligence and make recommendations and predictions using agricultural data;
- On June 11, Deveron announced the expansion of its drone data solutions product for phenotyping research in western Canada and the US Midwest, with the engagement of several global leaders to conduct high frequency data acquisition across their extensive research plots;
- On August 13, Deveron announced the acquisition of Atlas Team to form a beachhead for US market development;
- In Q3, Deveron signed a new national account to provide data collection services from Nebraska east to Ohio and from South Dakota south to Arkansas, growing its US data collection network;
- On September 9, Deveron announced that technology leader Jay Deen, had joined its advisory board.
Business Outlook
“Our goal for 2020 is to continue to grow our data collection and insights businesses through a combination of increased acres through existing partners and new sales channels,” Deveron’s President and CEO, David MacMillan said. “We will expand our sales channels across North America. In addition, our search continues for strategic acquisitions. This will be done while we continue to be a low cost, highly reliable service provider for data collection and through continued productization of core insight offerings, freeing up our data insights team to provide more value-add services to our farm clients. With our core team in place, products and services proven, and investment in growth we are ready to target strong revenue growth.”
Subsequent to Year-End Financials
Recently, the Company completed a private placement of $1.35 million (see press releases dated April 7, 2020 and April 17, 2020). In conjunction with this financing, Deveron is pleased to welcome Bill Linton to its Board of Directors, where he will serve as non-executive Chairman.
Bill Linton is an experienced Director and private investor. He currently serves on the Boards of TMX Group (TSX: X), Empire Company (TSX: EMP.A), and CSL Group. He has invested in and served as an advisor to and/or Board member of a number of successful technology companies including UXP Systems (acquired by AmDocs), In The Chat (acquired by Pegasystems) and Softchoice Corp. (acquired by Birch Hill Equity Partners). Bill retired in 2012 as the CFO of Rogers Communications Inc. and prior to that was the CEO of Call Net Enterprises.
The Management’s Discussion and Analysis and the accompanying Financial Statements and Notes for full year 2019 are available under the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. This news release is not in any way a substitute for reading those financial statements, including the notes to the financial statements.
About Deveron UAS: Deveron is a leading agriculture technology company focused on providing data acquisition services and data analytics in North America. Through its on-demand network of drone pilots and soil sampling technicians, the Company is providing scalable data acquisition solutions in the imagery and soil space. Additionally, through its wholly owned subsidiary Veritas Farm Management, the Company provides growers in North America with independent analytics and insights on the massive amount of data being generated on farms today.
For more information and to join our community, please visit www.deveronuas.com/register or reach us on Twitter @DeveronUAS or @MyVeritas_HQ
David MacMillan
President & CEO Deveron UAS Corp.
416-367-4571 ext. 221
dmacmillan@deveronuas.com
This news release includes certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of that phrase under Canadian securities laws. Without limitation, statements regarding future plans and objectives of the Company are forward looking statements that involve various degrees of risk. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current views with respect to possible future events and conditions and, by their nature, are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific to the Company. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in our forward-looking statements. The following are important factors that could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements: changes in the world-wide price of agricultural commodities, general market conditions, risks inherent in agriculture, the uncertainty of future profitability and the uncertainty of access to additional capital. Additional information regarding the material factors and assumptions that were applied in making these forward looking statements as well as the various risks and uncertainties we face are described in greater detail in the "Risk Factors" section of our annual and interim Management's Discussion and Analysis of our financial results and other continuous disclosure documents and financial statements we file with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities which are available at www.sedar.com. The Company undertakes no obligation to update this forward-looking information except as required by applicable law. The Company relies on litigation protection for forward looking statements.