Iteris, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITI) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Doug Groves: No, I think those are the big ones. I mean if you look at the — just the purchase price variance numbers we’ve been talking about, I mean the full impact this year is almost $15 million. So — that’s a big number for a company our size. So, — and the development costs, as we work through this, will come down because, as Joe mentioned, the majority of the ones that are really going to drive the continued cost improvement will be done this year. I mean, there will always be circuit board redesigns as part of just the evolution of the supply chain and the availability. But I think those are the two biggest like one-off that wouldn’t be recurring next year items.

Tim Moore: Thanks. That’s really helpful. And my last question is around your acquisition appetite. And I’m just wondering, has there been an improved sellers’ willingness to founder-owned or family-owned businesses lately, maybe as the market turns south between the summer in December, or have you guys just been so busy with organic growth that you really haven’t spent much time recently on acquisitions?

Joe Bergera: Well, yes, I mean it’s — unfortunately, it’s — we’ve been so busy trying to resolve our own supply chain issues. We’ve been very internally focused on getting that right. And not only has it taken management attention to work through those issues, but we’ve also consumed a lot of cash and also because of the impact on our profitability, we’ve seen a negative impact on our share price. So for all those reasons, it wasn’t practical time for us to be focused on acquisitions. But we do feel like we’ve achieved critical inflection point, and our circumstances are going to change, and I think we’ll be in a much better position to first start again to pursue acquisitions as we progress through, our new fiscal year FY 2024 starts on April 1.

In terms of the overall market conditions, I would say that we probably don’t want to buy a business that is like financially nonviable. So we probably wouldn’t be looking at anything that’s a distressed asset anyway. With respect to the businesses that are more viable, I don’t — like these are — it’s a very fragmented market made up of a lot of really small companies, which are not necessarily that sophisticated. So they’re not a ton of pro forma processes that are going on. But I would say that the few processes that have occurred and then some of the people that have like kind of sniffers out to see if there’s a potential buyer, I think that they’ve experienced a lot of reticence given the current market conditions. And so I think that people have decided to just keep their heads down and work through their problems the same way that we have, so I don’t think we’ve lost a lot of deals.

I would expect that the activity will pick up. I’m not sure exactly when, but I think generally in the next six to 12 months, which I think aligns pretty well with our own time line.

Tim Moore: Great. Well, thanks for that color, and Doug best wishes with your next endeavor.

Doug Groves: Thank you very much, Tim.

Operator: Thank you. Thank you. That concludes our Q&A session. I will now hand the conference back to Joe Bergera for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Joe Bergera: Super. Thanks, Matt. I appreciate it. So as always, I appreciate everybody’s support and your thoughtful questions. On the Investor Relations front, I wanted to reiterate, we plan to host the first in a series of short investor updates this quarter. Specifically, we’re looking at March. The first update will focus on various aspects of the IIJA, such is a breakdown of budget line items and the status of new programs will be created as a result of the legislation. Additionally, we’re participating in various investor outreach events. And as always, we’re always available to speak with investors should you have any follow-up questions. So please feel free to reach out to us. In the meantime, we look forward to updating you again on our continued progress when we report on our fiscal 2023 fourth quarter and our full year results. So with that, that concludes today’s call. Thank you, everyone.

Operator: Thank you. That concludes today’s event. You may disconnect at this time, and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.

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