TSS, Inc. (PNK:TSSI) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

During the third quarter, we adjusted our staffing levels in the integration business to reflect decreased demand and to ensure we effectively manage our labor costs, which is our largest operating cost in the integration unit. Our production schedule is still impacted by the availability of components needed in production, particularly with regard to service for AI and for fiber optic cables, delaying projects for our integration business. Now for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2023, our total revenues of $30 million are up by 52% or by $10.3 million from the $19.7 million that we had in the first nine months of 2022. As with the trends in our Q3 revenue, the growth in 2023 has been driven by a $12.1 million increase in our procurement and reseller business, a 31% or $1.6 million increase in our integration revenues and a decrease of $3.4 million or 38% in our facilities revenue from the decrease in MDC deployments.

During the first nine months of 2023, we actually processed 140 procurement and reseller transactions. And of these, 113 were agent-type transactions. The gross value of transactions possessed in the first nine months of 2023 was $90.5 million, and that translated into $17.7 million of revenue for GAAP purposes and $3.5 million of gross profit. If you compare this to the first nine months of 2022, we processed 61 transactions, of which 55 were agent-type transactions. And the gross value of those transactions processed in 2022 was $39 million, and that translated into $5.6 million of reported GAAP revenue and $1.1 million of gross profits. Our gross profit margin of 32% during the third quarter of 2023 was down from 34% in the third quarter of 2022, but it was up from 22% that we reported in the second quarter of 2023.

Our gross profit margin is directly influenced by several factors, including the mix of revenues between our systems integration, facilities and our reselling activities. And as this reselling business represents a larger portion of our total revenues, we expect our total gross margin to decrease as a result. So in Q3 ’23, reseller revenues were 61% of revenues compared to 39% of revenues in the third quarter of 2022, and these reseller revenues were skewed towards these agent-type transactions. Overall, the actual gross profit increased by 2% compared to the third quarter of 2022, and it was $2.8 million. Year-to-date, in 2023, our gross profit margin was 26% compared to 36% in the first nine months of last year. And the decrease in margins is because of the higher proportion of our total revenues coming from procurement and reseller activities in 2023.

These revenues have represented 59% of our revenue in 2023 compared to 29% of our revenues in the first nine months of 2022. In dollar terms, our gross profit has actually improved by $0.7 million to $7.7 million this year, up from $7 million in the first nine months of 2022. Our selling, general and administrative expenses during the third quarter of 2023 were $2 million, and that’s up $217,000 or 12% compared to the $1.8 million that we had in the third quarter of 2022. Year-to-date, our selling, general and administrative expenses of $6.5 million were up $1.3 million from $5.2 million in the first nine months of 2022. These increases were primarily in higher headcount costs, including cost investments made as we’ve expanded our sales and leadership teams during the last year to help position the company for future growth.

And after the above, we recorded an operating profit of $715,000 in the third quarter of 2023. This compared to an operating profit of $871,000 in the third quarter of 2022. For the nine-month period ended September 30, 2023, our operating income was $1,025,000 compared to an operating profit of $1,637,000 in the first nine months 2022. Our interest costs increased substantially during the third quarter. As I explained, the increase is due to the financing costs associated with funding procurement and reseller transactions. $587,000 of our interest expense in the third quarter was related to these procurement and reseller transactions. This compared to $224,000 in the third quarter of 2022. You should expect large fluctuations on a level of interest expense as long as the volume and value of our reseller transactions continue to fluctuate quarterly.

And as I said earlier, the gross value of transactions financed during the third quarter was $41 million compared to $24.4 million in 2022. After interest and tax costs, we had net income of $209,000 or $0.01 per share in the third quarter of 2023. This compared to a net income of $605,000 or $0.03 a share in the third quarter of 2022. And for the nine month period, we had a net loss of $262,000 or $0.01 a share compared to net income of $1,068,000 or $0.05 a share in the first nine months of 2022. Our adjusted EBITDA, which excludes interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation, was a profit of $940,000 in the third quarter of 2023. That compares to an adjusted EBITDA profit of $1,043,000 in the third quarter of 2022.