Reports 60% Increase in ARR to $17.6 Million, Positive Net Income and Cash Flow, Adjusted EBITDA of $1.3 Million
HENDERSON, Nev., Nov. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Research Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: RSSS), the leading AI-powered research workflow platform, reported financial results for its fiscal first quarter ended September 30, 2024.
Fiscal First Quarter 2025 Summary
- Total revenue of $12.0 million, a 20% increase from the prior-year quarter.
- Platform revenue up 67% to $4.3 million. Platform revenue accounted for 36% of the revenue as compared to 26% in the prior year.
- Annual Recurring Revenue ("ARR") up 60% to $17.6 million, which includes approximately $12.2 million of B2B recurring revenue and $5.4 million of B2C recurring revenue.
- Gross profit up 43% from the prior-year quarter. Total gross margin improved 780 basis points to 47.9%, a new Company record, representative of the Company's continued mix shift towards Platform revenue.
- Net income of $669,000 or $0.02 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of ($988,000) or ($0.04) per share in the prior-year quarter.
- Adjusted EBITDA of $1.3 million, an 11% margin, compared to ($441,000) in the prior-year quarter. On a trailing twelve-months ("TTM") basis the Company has now generated Adjusted EBITDA of almost $4 million, which represents a 8.5% margin.
- Cash flow from operations of positive $0.8 million compared to a burn of $0.8 million in the prior-year quarter. On a TTM basis, the Company has now generated over $5.1 million in cash flow from operations, which is approximately 1.3x the Company's TTM Adjusted EBITDA.
"Our first quarter results reflect our continued ability to expand the profitability and cash flow of the business as our Platform offering continues to represent a larger percentage of total revenue. Our margins improved significantly, and we generated strong year-over-year net income and Adjusted EBITDA growth," said Roy W. Olivier, President and CEO of Research Solutions. "Our sequential ARR growth was impacted by seasonality, primarily in our B2C platform business. From a B2B perspective, we continue to develop additional features that improve the value proposition to our end users that lead to better efficiency and cost savings as budgetary constraints continue to present some challenges to our legacy Platform growth. I remain confident that our products continue to serve as a critical piece to the research process and look forward to growth in both our B2B and B2C user bases."
Fiscal First Quarter 2025 Results
Total revenue was $12 million, a 20% increase from $10.1 million in the year-ago quarter as both Platform and Transaction revenue increased from the prior period.
Platform subscription revenue increased 67% to $4.3 million compared to $2.6 million in the year-ago quarter. The increase was primarily due to the Scite acquisition as well as to an increase in the total number of paid Platform deployments and upsells to existing customers. The quarter ended with annual recurring revenue of $17.6 million, up 60% year-over-year (see the Company's definition of annual recurring revenue below).
Transaction revenue was $7.7 million, compared to $7.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2024. The increase was due to organic growth in copyright revenues. The Transaction customer count for the quarter was 1,390, compared to 1,395 customers in the prior-year quarter (see the Company's definition of active customer accounts and transactions below).
Total gross margin improved 780 basis points from the prior-year quarter to 47.9%. The increase was primarily driven by a continued revenue mix shift to the higher-margin Platforms business as well as increased margins in both the Platforms and the Transactions business.
Total operating expenses were $5.1 million, unchanged compared to the first quarter of 2024.
Net income in the first quarter was $669,000, or $0.02 per diluted share, compared to net loss of ($988,000), or ($0.04) per share, in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.3 million, compared to ($441,000) in the year-ago quarter (see definition and further discussion about the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP term, below).
Conference Call
Research Solutions President and CEO Roy W. Olivier and CFO Bill Nurthen will host the conference call, followed by a question-and-answer period.
Date: Thursday, November 14, 2024
Time: 5:00 p.m. ET (2:00 p.m. PT)
Dial-in number: 1-203-518-9708
Conference ID: RESEARCH
The conference call will be broadcast live and available for replay until December 14, 2024 by dialing 1-412-317-6671 and using the replay ID 11157176, and via the investor relations section of the Company's website at http://researchsolutions.investorroom.com/.
Fiscal First Quarter Financial and Operational Summary Tables vs. Prior-Year Quarter
Active Customer Accounts, Transactions and Annual Recurring Revenue
The Company defines active customer accounts as the sum of the total quantity of customers per month for each month in the period divided by the respective number of months in the period. The quantity of customers per month is defined as customers with at least one transaction during the month.
A transaction is an order for a unit of copyrighted content fulfilled or managed in the Platform.
The Company defines annual recurring revenue ("ARR") as the value of contracted Platform subscription recurring revenue normalized to a one-year period. For B2C ARR, this includes the annualized value of monthly subscriptions, meaning their monthly value multiplied by twelve. Deployments represent total product deployments across our customer base.
Use of Non-GAAP Measure – Adjusted EBITDA
Research Solutions' management evaluates and makes operating decisions using various financial metrics. In addition to the company's GAAP results, management also considers the non-GAAP measure of Adjusted EBITDA. Management believes that this non-GAAP measure provides useful information about the company's operating results.
The tables below provide a reconciliation of this non-GAAP financial measure with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income (loss), plus interest expense, other income (expense) including any change in fair value of contingent earnout liability, foreign currency transaction loss, provision for income taxes, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation, gain on sale of discontinued operations, and other potential adjustments that may arise. Set forth below is a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income (loss):
About Research Solutions
Research Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: RSSS) provides cloud-based technology to streamline the process of discovering, accessing, managing, and creating research. Since its founding, the company has been a pioneer in developing solutions to serve researchers. Acquired by Research Solutions in 2023, Scite revolutionizes how researchers discover and evaluate research through Smart Citations. Smart Citations transcend conventional references by offering in-text sentences, citing relevant sections, and providing a classification that denotes either support or contrast to the cited claim. Scite's powerful, innovative solutions equip researchers worldwide in various career stages. The company has received multiple accolades for its groundbreaking work in next-generation citations, such as the ISMTE People's Choice Award and ALPSP Award for Innovation in Publishing. Today, more than 70 percent of the top pharmaceutical companies, prestigious universities, and emerging businesses rely on the Research Solutions family of products, powered by AI and NLP technologies, to support the innovation process from end to end with the most comprehensive information and knowledge tools on the market. For more information and details, please visit www.researchsolutions.com.
Important Cautions Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may contain "forward-looking statements" regarding future events and our future results. All statements other than statements of historical facts are statements that could be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about the markets in which we operate and the beliefs and assumptions of our management. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "targets," "goals," "projects", "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "endeavors," "strives," "may," or variations of such words, and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict, estimate or verify. Therefore, actual results may differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include those factors described in the Company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K, as such may be amended or supplemented by subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, or other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Examples of forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding enhanced product offerings, additional customers, and the Company's prospects for growth. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements. For more information, please refer to the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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SOURCE Research Solutions, Inc.
For further information: Steven Hooser or John Beisler, Three Part Advisor, (214) 872-2710, shooser@threepa.com; jbeisler@threepa.com.