PEER 1 Network Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results for Fiscal 2009

Thursday, September 24th, 2009 | by PEER 1 Network Enterprises, Inc.

VANCOUVER, BC – September 24, 2009 – PEER 1 Network Enterprises, Inc. (TSX: PIX), a leading provider of online IT infrastructure, today announced the results for the three and twelve months ended June 30, 2009. All amounts are stated in US dollars.

Selected Financial Highlights comparing fiscal 2009 to 2008:

  • Revenue increased 3.3% to $92.3 million from $89.35 million;
  • Gross profit decreased 1.9% to $39.75 million from $40.51 million;
  • Operating income decreased 16% to $12.33 million from $14.69 million;
  • Normalized EBITDA decreased 1% to $27.85 million from $28.1 million;
  • Net income decreased to $5.7 million from $7.1 million.

Corporate highlights for fiscal 2009:

  • Added 5,478 square feet of additional data center space at 151 Front Street in Toronto;
  • Entered into a long term lease on a site in the Greater Toronto Area with a 41,000 square foot building that will be transformed into an energy efficient data center accommodating all of our core service offerings;
  • Launched European expansion by opening an office and commissioning a data center in the United Kingdom;
  • Hired industry veteran Dominic Monkhouse to lead European operations;
  • Secured a credit agreement with National Bank Financial Group for a term and revolving credit facility of US$40 million in aggregate; and
  • Expanded Herndon, Virginia data center by leasing 8,614 square feet of contiguous space that will increase capacity by approximately 2,880 servers.

"Despite a very challenging economic environment for both PEER 1 and its customers this past year, we were able to execute on several initiatives designed to expand our service offerings and geographic reach," said Fabio M. Banducci, President and Chief Executive Officer of PEER 1. "As economic conditions improve, PEER 1 will be well positioned to better service our existing customers, grow in our traditional markets and expand into new geographic regions."

Fourth Quarter and Annual Financial Review

Revenues decreased to $22.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2009, compared with $23.4 million for the same period in 2008. Foreign exchange effects accounted for $0.7 million of this decrease. For the year ended June 30, 2009, consolidated revenues increased to $92.3 million, compared with $89.4 million for the year ended June 30, 2008. When adjusted for the exchange rates in effect in the prior year period, revenue for the twelve months ended June 30, 2009 was $94.94 million. Taking into account the effect of the differing exchange rates between the Canadian and US dollars for the comparative period, revenue grew 6.26% for the twelve months ended June 30, 2009.

Hosting revenues decreased to $16.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2009, from $16.4 million in the same period of the previous year. PEER 1's largest revenue segment was impacted by churn and customer right sizing. However, on a yearly basis, hosting revenues increased to $67.2 million for the year ended June 30, 2009, from $62 million for the previous year. This increase is directly attributable to organic growth.

For the three months ended June 30, 2009, colocation revenues decreased to $3.1 million, from $3.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2008. For the year ended June 30, 2009, colocation revenues decreased to $12.1 million, from $12.6 million in the previous year. The decreases in revenue are attributable to the decreased value of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar offset in part by organic growth which will be constrained until the build out of phase one at the new Toronto area data center is completed. PEER 1's efforts to secure additional data center space are ongoing. The effect on revenue of the decrease in value of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar was $1.19 million for the twelve months ended June 30, 2009.

Bandwidth revenues decreased to $2.0 million for the three months ended June 30, 2009, compared with $2.5 million in the same period of the previous year. Annual bandwidth revenues decreased to $8.35 million for the year ended June 30, 2009, compared with $10.0 million for the year ended June 30, 2008. The decreases in revenue are primarily attributable to the decreased value of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar, pricing pressures as well as reduced overage charges as customers experienced lower bandwidth requirements due to the economic downturn. The effect on revenue of the decrease in value of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar was $1 million for the twelve month periods ended June 30, 2009.

Cost of sales as a percentage of revenue increased to 58.9% for the three months ended June 30, 2009, from 52.7% for the three months ended June 30, 2008. For the year ended June 30, 2009, PEER 1's cost of sales as a percentage of revenue increased to 56.94%, from 54.66% for the year ended June 30, 2008. The increase in cost of sales as a percentage of revenue is attributable to increased costs including staffing and facilities rent during the fiscal years ended June 30, 2009 compared to the same period last year. Revenue increased 3.32% for the year ended June 30, 2009, compared to the year ended June 30, 2008 while cost of sales increased 7.63% in the same period.

For the three months ended June 30, 2009, total operating expenses decreased to $6.8 million, from $7.2 million for the corresponding period in 2008. Operating expenses as a percentage of revenue were 30% for the three months ended June 30, 2009, compared with 30.9% for the three months ended June 30, 2008. Total operating expenses for 2009 increased to $27.4 million from $25.8 million for the year ended June 30, 2008. As a percentage of revenue, operating expenses increased to 29.7% for the year ended June 30, 2009, compared with 28.9% for the year ended June 30, 2008.

Normalized EBITDA for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 decreased to $6.5 million, compared with $7.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. For the year ended June 30, 2009, normalized EBITDA decreased to $27.8 million, compared with $28.1 million in fiscal 2008.

Net income for the three months ended June 30, 2009 decreased to $0.6 million, from $1.7 million for the corresponding period in 2008. For the year ended June 30, 2009, net income decreased to $5.7 million, from $7.1 million in 2008.

As at June 30, 2009, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $15.74 million compared to $11.03 million as at June 30, 2008. The current portion of the Company's notes payable as at June 30, 2009 was $2.25 million.

The Company had working capital of $4.77 million at June 30, 2009 compared to a working capital deficit of $1.54 million as at the end of June 30, 2008. The Company anticipates current liquidity and cash generated from operations to be sufficient to fund existing operations for the foreseeable future.

Subsequent Events

On August 31, 2009, PEER 1 announced changes to the board of directors in connection with Clairvest completing the purchase of 20,538,470 shares of PEER 1 from Celerity Partners on August 28, 2009. Mark Benham of Celerity Partners has resigned from the board of directors. Ken Rotman and Mitch Green have been appointed to the board as representatives of Clairvest. The appointment of Messrs. Rotman and Green is pursuant to an agreement between Clairvest and PEER 1's other major shareholders.

On July 30, 2009, PEER 1 announced that it had completed Type I examination in conformity with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70 (SAS 70) for Service Organizations.

Completion of the SAS 70 Type I audit indicates the successful examination of PEER 1's processes, controls at the Miami and Atlanta data centers, by the independent accounting and auditing firm Deloitte & Touche LLP. The formal examination entailed obtaining reasonable assurance that PEER 1's properly described, documented and implemented controls were relevant to the user organization's internal controls as they relate to their audited financial statements, and that such controls had been put in place as of May 30, 2009.

EBITDA Reconciliation

EBITDA Reconciliation

 

 

   

(unaudited - prepared by management)

 

 

   

(in $ thousands)

Three Months Ended

Twelve Months Ended

 

30-Jun-09

30-Jun-08

30-Jun-09

30-Jun-08

         

Net Profit

577

                1,734

              5,722

             7,064

Income tax expense

1,046

1,451

              4,661

             5,237

Interest expense

928

570

              2,194

             2,267

Amortization - licences, fixed assets and deferred network costs

3,498

3,028

            13,243

           11,048

Stock based compensation

456

273

              2,282

             1,453

Loss (gain) on disposal of assets

(26)

2

(47)

(12)

Amortization of deferred gain

(19)

(20)

                  (79)

(79)

Foreign exchange loss (gain)

2

126

(130)

                367

EBITDA

6,462

7,164

            27,846

           27,345

 

 

 

 

 

Provision for sales / use tax

-  

624

-  

                624

Integration costs

-  

-  

-  

                 93

Normalized EBITDA

6,462

7,788

            27,846

           28,062

 

Conference Call

PEER 1 will be holding a conference call today, Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) to discuss its fourth quarter and year-end results. The Company's full Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis are available on its website at http://www.peer1.com/investors/.

To access the conference call by telephone, dial (416) 644-3426 or 1-800-731-5319. Please connect approximately 15 minutes prior to the beginning of the call. The conference call will be archived for replay until Thursday, October 1st, at midnight. To access the archived conference call, dial (416) 640-1917 or 1-877-289-8525 and enter the reservation number: 4160650# followed by the number sign.

A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available at:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/viewEvent.cgi?eventID=2809620

Please connect at least 15 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be required to join the webcast. The webcast will be archived at the above website for 90 days.

Non-GAAP Measures

PEER 1 reports EBITDA because it is a key measure used by management to evaluate the Company's performance. PEER 1 believes that EBITDA is useful supplemental information, as it provides an indication of the results generated by PEER 1's main business activities prior to taking into consideration how those activities are financed and expensed. EBITDA is not a recognized measure under Canadian GAAP, and accordingly investors are cautioned that EBITDA should not be construed as an alternative to net earnings or loss determined in accordance with Canadian GAAP as an indicator of financial performance of PEER 1, or as a measure of the company's liquidity and cash flows. PEER 1's method of calculating EBITDA may differ from other issuers and, accordingly, EBITDA may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. The schedule above sets out PEER 1's EBITDA calculations.

About PEER 1

PEER 1 believes in the limitless opportunity of the Internet, and the business growth potential it provides for its more than 10,000 customers. As a leading online IT infrastructure provider, PEER 1 offers a reliable high performance Internet network, supporting scalable managed hosting, dedicated hosting through the ServerBeach brand, and co-location solutions. Backed by its 100 percent uptime guarantee and 24x7x365 FirstCall Support™, PEER 1 ensures customers' online presence is always fast, always available. Since 1999, PEER 1 has grown to include 16 data centers located in 13 cities across North America and the United Kingdom. The Company's headquarters are in Vancouver, Canada and the stock is traded on the TSX under the symbol PIX. For more information visit: www.peer1.com.

For investor inquiries please contact Nick Hurst, Equicom Group, (403) 218-2835, nhurst@equicomgroup.com

For media inquiries please contact Marcela Peake, PEER 1, +1-604-909-6428, mpeake@peer1.com

PEER 1 NETWORK ENTERPRISES, INC.
Consolidated Balance Sheet
June 30, 2009

							(in thousands of United States dollars)
									2009			2008
Assets
Current:
Cash and cash equivalents		$	15,744	$	11,026
Accounts receivable					3,449		4,051
Future income tax asset		 		237			104
Prepaid expenses					1,130		801
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
									20,560		15,982
Other assets				 		2,692		3,075
Future income tax asset 			1,042		1,841
Property and equipment 				36,856		33,818
Equipment under capital lease 		1,013		1,267
Goodwill							1,715		1,715
Intangible assets 					2,552		2,500
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
								$	66,430	$	60,198
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Liabilities
Current:
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities		$	7,936	$	8,810
Deferred revenue									2,886		3,553
Current portion of deferred gain		 			79			79
Current portion of deferred lease inducements		138			134
Current portion of derivative liabilities 			89			-
Current portion of notes payable		 			2,250		3,286
Current portion of obligations under capital lease 	211			226
Income taxes payable								2,200		1,435
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
													15,789		17,523

Deferred gain								 		493			571
Deferred lease inducements 							664			739
Derivative liabilities 								179			-
Notes payable								 		12,303		12,008
Obligation under capital lease 						363			655
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
													29,791		31,496
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shareholders' equity 								36,639		28,702
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
												$	66,430	$	60,198


PEER 1 NETWORK ENTERPRISES, INC.
Consolidated Statements of Shareholders’ Equity
For the Year Ended June 30, 2009
(in thousands of United States dollars except number of shares)

											2009				2008
								Number		Amount	Number		Amount
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHARE CAPITAL
Common shares
Balance at beginning of year	118,504,368		$	26,539	115,994,291	$	25,254
Stock options exercised				131,670			70		572,577			296
Warrants exercised					678,285			341		1,937,500		989
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Balance at end of year			119,314,323			26,950	118,504,368		26,539
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Warrants
Balance at beginning of year	3,139,904			678		5,077,404		917
Warrants expired/exercised		(678,285)			(185)	(1,937,500)		(239)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Balance at end of year			2,461,619			493		3,139,904		678
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total – share capital								27,443					27,217
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTRIBUTED SURPLUS
Balance at beginning of year						2,509					1,092
Stock-based compensation							2,282					1,453
Options exercised and shares
distributed under the stock
option plan											(25)					(36)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Balance at end of year								4,766					2,509
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RETAINED EARNINGS
Balance at beginning of year						(1,013)					(8,077)
Net income											5,722					7,064
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Balance at end of year								4,709					(1,013)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACCUMULATED OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
Balance at beginning of year						(11)					(11)
Other comprehensive income							(268)					-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Balance at end of year								(279)					(11)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total - shareholders’ equity						$	36,639			$	28,702
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


PEER 1 NETWORK ENTERPRISES, INC.
Consolidated Statement of Operations
For the Year Ended June 30, 2009
(in thousands of United States dollars, except per share amounts)


											2009			2008
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Revenue
Co-location Services					$	25,080		$	27,397
Hosting Services							67,229			61,950
											92,309			89,347

Cost of revenue								52,560			48,835
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gross profit								39,749			40,512
Operating expenses							27,419			25,824
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating income before other items			12,330			14,688
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other items:
Interest income									(70)		(328)
Integration costs								-			93
Gain on disposal of property and equipment		(47)		(12)
Foreign exchange loss (gain)					(130)		367
Interest expense – long term					2,194		2,267
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
												1,947		2,387
Income before income taxes						10,383		12,301
Income tax expense 								4,661		5,237
Net income									$	5,722	$	7,064
Other comprehensive income:
Change in unrealized fair value of
derivatives designated as cash flow hedges		(268)		-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comprehensive income						$	5,454	$	7,064
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Net income attributable to:
Common shares								$	5,722	$	7,064
Comprehensive income attributable to:
Common shares								$	5,454	$	7,064

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basic and diluted earnings per share	 	$	0.05	$	0.06
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



PEER 1 NETWORK ENTERPRISES, INC.
Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows
For the Year Ended June 30, 2009
(in thousands of United States dollars)

												2009			2008
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating Activities:
Net income									$	5,722		$	7,064
Adjustments for non-cash items:

Amortization of property and equipment			11,880			9,458
Amortization of intangible assets				1,363			1,590
Increase in accrued interest and accretion of convertible debt		82		18
Bad debt expense									650			494
Gain on disposal of property and equipment			(47)		(12)
Amortization of deferred gain						(79)		(79)
Amortization of deferred loan origination fees		774			648
Future income tax expense		655		2,040
Stock-based compensation included in income for the year		2,282		1,453
Decrease in deferred lease inducements			(71)		(236)
Changes in non-cash working capital:
Change in accounts receivable					(47)			(122)
Increase in prepaid expenses					(329)			(112)
Increase (decrease) in accounts payable and accrued liabilities			(992)		341
Increase in income taxes payable				765				959
Decrease in deferred revenue					(667)			(683)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cash flows from operating activities			21,941			22,821
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Investing Activities:
Investment in other assets						(56)			78
Acquisition of property and equipment			(14,451)		(17,017)
Acquisition of intangible assets				(1,511)			(975)
Proceeds on disposition of equipment				47			46
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cash flows used in investing activities			(15,971)		(17,868)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Financing Activities:
Proceeds from notes payable						15,000			-
Repayments of notes payable						(16,158)		(3,554)
Payment of capital lease obligations			(199)			(91)
Issuance of capital stock						201				1,011
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
																(2,634)

Cash flows used in financing activities			(1,156)


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Foreign exchange gain (loss) on cash and cash equivalents		(96)		(47)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Increase in cash and cash equivalents			4,814			2,319
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning			11,026		8,754
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cash and cash equivalents, ending			$	15,744		$	11,026
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------