5 April 2022

Quixant plc

("Quixant" or the "Group")

Audited Final Results

Quixant (AIM: QXT), a leading provider of innovative, highly engineered technology products principally for the global gaming and broadcast industries, announces its audited full year results for the 12 months ended 31 December 2021.

¹For details on adjusted measures refer to note 1 and note 2 of the condensed consolidated financial statements

OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

Jon Jayal, Chief Executive Officer of Quixant, commented:

"We are seeing increasing demand for our specialist technology outsource solutions following the recovery in our end markets. This has led to a strong improvement in trading in 2021, with revenues reaching pre-pandemic levels in the second half of the year.  Demand in the first quarter of 2022 has remained strong, with order intake ahead of current year revenues and prior year order book.

As with all technology businesses, supply chain issues have been a challenge and have impacted margins, however we have demonstrated resilience in 2021 through close customer and supplier management and deployment of our cash to enable strategic stock purchases.  While we expect these challenges to persist, our financial strength and global supply network positions us well to manage these through 2022.   There are no structural reasons why our margins will be compromised in the long-term.

Our strategic positioning, strength of order book and proven operational effectiveness position us well for sustained growth in 2022 and beyond."

A video overview of the results featuring CEO Jon Jayal and CFO Johan Olivier is available to view here: https://bit.ly/QXT_FY21_overview_video 

Investor Presentation

Jon Jayal, CEO, and Johan Olivier, CFO, will provide a live presentation relating to the Group's results for the year ended 31 December 2021 via the Investor Meet Company platform on 6 April 2022 at 4:30pm. The presentation is open to all existing and potential shareholders and registration can be completed via the following link: https://www.investormeetcompany.com/quixant-plc/register-investor.

About Quixant

Quixant, founded in 2005, designs and manufactures highly optimised computing solutions and monitors principally for the global gaming and broadcast industries. The Company is headquartered in Cambridge in the UK, with offices throughout Europe, North America and Asia.  Quixant has its own manufacturing and engineering operation based in Taiwan and software engineering and customer support teams based in Italy and Slovenia. All the specialised products software and manufacturing are produced in-house and Quixant owns all its own IP some of which is protected by patents and design rights.

In November 2015 Quixant acquired Densitron Technologies plc. Densitron has a strong heritage in the sale of electronic display solutions to global industrial markets. Through Densitron's experienced sales team, Quixant has a robust platform to build its business into wider industrial markets. In-depth information on the Company's products, markets, activities and history can be found on the corporate website at www.quixant.com.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

CHAIR'S STATEMENT

Double-digit growth across both business segments

In this, my first year as Chair of the Board, I am delighted to report on a year of strong financial results and strategic progress, despite the well-publicised global supply chain challenges which the Group has also had to deal with. The Group entered 2021 with a healthy balance sheet, fully resourced and with strengthened customer relationships, despite the challenges presented by the pandemic in 2020. This enabled us to fully capitalise on the recovery in demand across our end-markets, despite the wider backdrop of supply chain challenges that weighed on technology markets throughout the year.

The Group as a whole, and both trading businesses - Gaming and Densitron - posted double-digit revenue growth in the year, continuing the upward trading momentum we have seen since the second half of 2020. Strong demand from new and existing customers was tempered somewhat by acute electronic component shortages and freight disruption, which our global teams grappled with to mitigate customer and financial impact. The Board took decisive action in January 2021 to engage in a strategic stock purchase programme to safeguard component supplies many months ahead of the demand. This has enabled us to reduce delivery delays and mitigate against component price inflation, further cementing our strong customer relationships.

We empower our customers with specialist technology outsource solutions, enabling them to innovate where it matters most.

Underpinned by a well-defined multi-year growth strategy, the outlook is positive. We have confidence that the Gaming business offers significant growth potential over and above the recovery in our customer's end markets, and we continue to invest in new product categories to support new growth opportunities. The Board also places significant importance on strategically diversifying the Group's revenue into other sectors. We have demonstrated the Group's' competence in developing specialist hardware and software solutions for the global Gaming industry. We believe this capability is relevant in other markets that could also benefit from a technology outsourcing model/partnership but have had little specialist provider penetration. 

Progress in our first targeted adjacent sector, Broadcast, has continued with double digit year-on-year growth at enhanced margins. The Board will continue to invest in the Broadcast market opportunity with the aim of delivering sustainable profit growth.

Supporting the financial and trading achievements is the Group's sustainability agenda

Within the framework of its Corporate Responsibility Strategy, the Board set realistic achievable goals in 2021 and will continue to identify and set new targets as goals are completed. Key initiatives during the year include:

Strong business model and diversified opportunities supporting positive outlook

We enter 2022 with an experienced and fully resourced team. We welcomed Johan Olivier to the Board in August 2021 as Chief Financial Officer and are delighted with his input to the Board and broader business already. I believe the management team has the right blend of skills to drive the business through the next phase of growth. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in the business for their commitment and hard work. Since joining the Company I have been struck by the capability, enthusiasm and healthy culture demonstrated by the team.

The Group's net cash position allows it flexibility when taking capital allocation decisions. The Group has identified opportunities to strongly grow its revenue base which, in the short-term, requires continued investment in working capital in what remains a volatile global supply chain environment.  The Board is confident that a progressive dividend policy remains appropriate and recommends a 20 per cent increase in the dividend to 2.4p per share for 2021 (2020: 2.0p per share).

Francis Small
Chair

CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S REPORT

Strong demand and robust supply chain management yields 37% revenue growth

In 2021 we delivered Group revenue of $87.1m, 37% ahead of 2020 revenue of $63.8m and approaching 2019 revenue of $92.3m.  Revenue in the second half of the year reached pre-pandemic levels and was the highest revenue performance since the second half of 2018. Both Gaming and Densitron divisions performed well, delivering double-digit year-over-year revenue growth with Densitron delivering its highest revenue performance since acquisition.  This led to adjusted profit before tax growth of 315% to $5.4m (2020: $1.3m) with a corresponding reported profit before tax of $4.9m (2020: loss of $2.0m). 

Supply chain pressures, which severely impacted the global technology sector, were a major headwind for trading during the year for both our Gaming and Densitron divisions. However, our experienced Taiwanese procurement teams and significant investment into strategic stock early in year supported trading and reduced the impact of component price inflation, which continued throughout the year. While the strategic stock investments weighed on working capital, we nonetheless generated cashflow from operations of $4.4m (2020: $4.0m) and grew our net cash balance to $17.6m (31 December 2020: $17.4m). We expect to make continued investment in strategic stock to enable us to satisfy growing customer demand and new business opportunities in 2022 despite ongoing component shortages.

Business Overview

Quixant is an outsource technology and supply chain partner for major global industrial electronic equipment manufacturers, with a focus on specific vertical markets. The Group combines hardware, software, display and mechanical engineering expertise, a global sales network with in-depth industry knowledge and a Far Eastern manufacturing base making it the ideal global strategic technology provider.

The Group's heritage is in its highly respected Quixant brand of specialised computer platforms, designed to power machines in the global casino gaming and slot machine market. These computer platforms, which are supplied to global gaming machine manufacturers, combine optimised hardware and software elements to address the specialist needs of this highly regulated market. By outsourcing their computer platform to Quixant, manufacturers can focus their R&D on the game design, which has the greatest impact on their commercial success. They are also able to bring new products to market quicker. 

Complementing the Group's track record in bringing an outsource model to the gaming market, the Group has diversified into other vertical markets through its Densitron brand. Densitron supplies display components to a wide range of industrial sectors, from which the Board has selected sectors in which there is the opportunity to develop tailor-made products, which are different to those readily available from broad-based technology corporations. We believe the Broadcast market represents such an opportunity, in which we have developed unique solutions which revolutionise the human machine interaction and control of Broadcast equipment. We delivered our second consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth in 2021.

The Group's organic growth strategy is centred around the following axis of growth:

From time to time, the Board may complement its organic growth strategy with strategic acquisitions that enhance the Group's technical capabilities and market reach.

Gaming Business Review

Gaming customer demand built strongly through 2021 after the pandemic closed casinos around the world and heavily disrupted the gaming industry in 2020. Gaming business revenue grew 56% in the year to $47.3m (2020: $30.3m) driven by a combination of recovery in existing customer demand and ten new business wins entering production.  Revenue in the first half of the year was tempered by the unprecedented electronic component shortages, which delayed some deliveries into the second half. The strategic stock purchase programme mitigated the effects of these delays and enabled us to deliver revenue well ahead of 2020; return to pre-pandemic levels in the second half of 2021; as well as further cementing the strong relationships we have with our customers. We expect this positive upward trading momentum to continue in 2022.

The strong financial performance in the period was driven by several factors:

Recovery in gaming market demand

Following a period of stasis in the gaming market in 2020 as a result of government-imposed lockdowns, player attendance and spend rebounded strongly in 2021 stimulating a return in placement of new machines and therefore demand for our products.  This trend was most prominent in the US market, which represented 65% of gaming revenue in the year.

US commercial casino land-based slot revenues in 2021 reached $32.5bn, 10% higher than 2019 and 68% higher than 2020¹.  This market has also seen revenue growth on top of land-based slot revenues growth as a result of the legislation of sports betting and online gaming.  This growth is despite lagging business and international travel and a reduction in the number of conventions weighing on demand.  Overall, the US commercial casino market reached record revenues of $53bn in 2021, 21% higher than the previous record year in 2019.

The tribal gaming market is the other major US casino gaming segment.  During 2020 US tribal revenue declined by 19.5% to $28bn compared to 2019 due to the pandemic².  Initial reports suggest a solid rebound in revenue in 2021, with official figures yet to be published.

Across Europe, our second largest Gaming market, the recovery has been more muted. European land-based Gaming revenue has been lower than predicted in 2021 as the pandemic continued to restrict land-based Gaming activities, however, the projections indicate that revenues in 2022 are now expected to recover to 5% below pre-pandemic before steadily climbing to their former levels in the following years³.

We estimate, based on analysis of data provided by a sample of the public gaming companies in their annual reports, that aggregate annual machine replacements fell by 50% in 2020 compared to 2019 but recovered in 2021 to around 65% of the rate in 2019.  Some of Quixant's major customers within this appear to have grown market share based on our estimates of their production volumes versus their competition.

More diversified Gaming business

We saw growth across all gaming computer product families, shipping 40,100 platforms during the year, 83% ahead of the 22,000 shipped in 2020 and in line with 2019 (40,700 platforms). Our three families of gaming computer products are offered at different price points (but broadly consistent sales margins) to cater for the different end-markets and jurisdictions into which our customers' machines are deployed. The mid-range IQON product range saw the highest sales volume since its introduction. This is driven by the greater diversification across our Gaming customer base through new business wins, which meant that the Gaming revenue concentration to the top ten customers reduced to 80% (2020: 86%; 2019: 85%).  

Turnkey cabinet business opportunities progressing

In addition to a gaming market recovery driving a rebound in demand along with new business orders, the Group was also successful in expanding outsource offering to include cabinet solutions.  Amid the challenges in supply chains this is a natural extension in hardware outsourcing for customers to adopt and increases our addressable market.  The Group's turnkey cabinet range, which combines Quixant's proven computer platform and monitor technology with integrated software solutions, is seeing early interest. The Group's first sports betting terminal received its first customer orders in 2021 which ship in 2022. The Group has also expanded its cabinet range with the launch of a video lottery terminal (VLT). Our turnkey cabinet offerings allow VLT game manufacturers to focus development on game content and design instead and to streamline their hardware design, procurement and deployment.

Densitron Business Review

Densitron revenue grew to $39.8m in 2021, the highest revenue performance from the division since acquisition.  This represents year-on-year revenue growth of 19% compared to 2020 and 10% growth over 2019.  Demand built through the second half of the year with shipments 24% ahead of the H2 2020 and 22% ahead of H2 2019. Order intake has been buoyant through 2021 and the business entered 2022 with a strong order book providing good revenue visibility. 

Strong Broadcast sector progress

Densitron's broadcast sector revenue grew by 19%, reaching $5.3m in the year (2020: $4.4m) at enhanced margins relative to the rest of the Densitron business.  This growth was driven by a combination of new business pipeline conversion and ramp up of mass production and strong customer retention.

While IDS continued to face challenging trading conditions through the first half due to COVID-19 enforced lockdowns making many customers reticent to undertake new equipment deployment and upgrades, in the second half we saw a marked uptick in activity.

Operational resilience driving broad based market growth

Densitron has continued its programme of operational improvements, delivering a consistent global operating model to customers.  Centralising procurement and supply chain in Asia in 2020 was a critical enhancement in operating model, which resulted in 95% of orders which were due to be shipped to customers in 2021 being delivered by year end.  We have also centralised quality control across all global operations in Taiwan which has delivered a consistent quality management process, implementation of our Supplier Code of Conduct and close scrutiny of suppliers operational and ESG performance. 

A consistent regional sales team, field application engineering and operations structure has created a resilient and consistent customer experience for our global customers.  As we move towards an increasing number of cross-geographic strategic accounts, this is an essential progression in our operating model.

In an environment of intense pressure on customers to secure stock from a trusted supplier who are easy to engage with and have solid corporate responsibility credentials, this has proven a successful formula in delivering broad based growth across many of Densitron's market sectors.

Innovation and product development

During the year Densitron continued to invest in exciting R&D to open up new ways for humans to interact with machines, with a focus on the broadcast sector.

Supply chain management

Alongside all other technology companies, the greatest challenge facing the Group during the year was electronic component shortages, freight capacity issues and price inflation. With buoyant demand from our customers after the challenges of 2020, we took decisive action in January 2021 to protect our supply of critical components by embarking on a sizeable strategic stock purchase programme. 

Early in the first quarter we initiated negotiations with customers, warning them of radically extended lead times and starting the process of price negotiations given the growing component pricing pressures in the components market. Through the year these issues continued to worsen, mitigated only by the strategic stock purchases we undertook.  Before 2021, typically electronic component lead times were 4-6 weeks and during the course of the year this extended out to 16-52 weeks. 

In the second half of the year, the delivery of many strategic stock lines, together with action taken by our engineering teams to re-engineer several products to design out end-of-life components or those with poor availability meant we were able to better align our product supply with customer demand.

While several rounds of sale price increases have been implemented, the timing of these as reflected in our results has lagged the inflation in input stocks and consequentially, we have seen a weaker gross margin performance in 2021 than historically. Structurally, we are confident that our gross margin remains consistent with previous years and once we see a levelling off in component prices, this will lead to a recovery in gross margins.

Investing in growth

The Group remains well placed to grow and deliver shareholder value, backed by a strong financial position. Over the last two years we have built a strong Executive Team, who have been effective in managing the business through the challenges of 2020 and 2021. With the recovery in the global gaming market, complemented by new business opportunities because of our diversifying focus, we will continue to bolster our well-resourced team to underpin core gaming computer business but importantly also to fuel growth in the new gaming cabinet and Broadcast solutions businesses.

Post year end, we opened a new office in Atlanta, Georgia, which is managed by our joint Gaming Business Leader and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Abhinay Bhagavatula.  Atlanta has several gaming studios and software developers in the vicinity and provides an important location for the delivery of our gaming cabinet business opportunity.

Outlook

Revenue and demand across the Group was strong not only from existing customers but also from a range of new business opportunities. This has continued into 2022 and the current order book is ahead of current year revenues and the prior year order book, giving us confidence that we will deliver growth in line with market expectations for the full year.

The supply chain challenges all technology businesses faced in 2021 have persisted through the first quarter of 2022 and we expect will continue for the remainder of the year.  Our deep relationships with suppliers have been a significant benefit and alongside our strategic stock purchases have enabled us to mitigate much of the impact. During the first half of 2022 we plan to continue investing in inventory to be well placed for future growth, which will, in the short term, lead to an increase in working capital, facilitated by the strength of our balance sheet.

Quixant is an increasingly diversified Group, respected for its product innovation and domain expertise.  This gives us confidence in our ability to sustainably grow revenue and profits.

Jon Jayal

Chief Executive Officer

¹ Source: American Gaming Association Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker, Q4 2021

² Source: National Indian Gaming Commission Gross Gaming Revenue Report

³ Source: European Gaming and Betting Association 

Financial Review

The Quixant Group achieved revenues of $87.1m in the year, up by 37% on 2020 revenues of $63.8m, driven by strong demand across both Gaming and Densitron.

Statutory Results

Group Revenue was $87.1m (2020: $63.8m), representing year-on-year growth of 37%. Gross profit was $25.9m (2020: $20.1m), an increase of 29% over the prior year, with gross margins at 29.7% (2020: 31.4%). Operating expenses were $21.4m (2020: $21.9m), resulting in operating profit of $4.5m (2020: operating loss of $1.9m). Net finance income was $0.4m (2020: Net finance cost of $0.2m), resulting in profit before tax of $4.9m (2020: loss before tax of $2.0m) and an income tax expense of $1.4m (2020: $1.0m), equivalent to an effective tax rate of 27.6% (2020: 47.7%). Basic earnings per share were $0.0536 (2020: ($0.0445)), an increase of 221%. Diluted earnings per share were $0.0533 (2020: ($0.0445)), an increase of 220%.

Adjusted Results

Throughout this Annual Report, adjusted and other alternative performance measures are used to describe the Group's performance. These are not recognised under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) or other generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). When reviewing Quixant's performance, the Board and Management team focus on adjusted results in addition to statutory results. There are several items that are included in statutory results but are considered to be one-off in nature or not representative of the Group's performance and are excluded from adjusted results. The tables in Note 1 show the full list of adjustments between statutory profit before tax and adjusted profit before tax and between statutory profit after tax and adjusted profit after tax at Group level for both 2021 and 2020.

Revenue

Gaming division revenues were $47.3m, an increase of 56% on the prior year (2020: $30.3m). Densitron division revenues were $39.8m, an increase of 19% on the prior year (2020: $33.5m).

The increase in Gaming revenues was due to a combination of market recovery and also commencement of revenue from new business.  Demand for our gaming products was strong, with shipment levels returning to pre-pandemic levels in the second half of 2021. The global shortage of electronic components impacted the Gaming supply chain, but the strategic stock purchases made early in 2021 enabled us to continue deliveries of product to customers.

Densitron, saw growing demand for its products, particularly in the Broadcast sector, and achieved the highest annual revenue performance since the Group acquired the business in 2015. This was achieved despite the division facing similar supply chain challenges to the Gaming division in the year.

Gross profit and gross profit margin

The Group generated gross profit during the year of $25.9m (2020: $20.1m) representing a gross margin of 29.7% (2020: 31.4%).  Component price inflation was evident throughout 2021, driven by acute component shortages across global technology markets. This led to gross margin volatility, especially in the Gaming division, and the lower gross margin compared to 2020.  The Group has continued to take action to mitigate the impact of this cost inflation by passing on prices rises to customers but there is a lag in the effect of these flowing through the income statement.

Foreign exchange

The Group reports its results in US Dollars as this is the principal currency in which it trades with customers.

The Group's reported results are impacted by US Dollar movements against currencies in the territories it operates, principally Pound Sterling, Euro and Taiwan Dollar. The average Pound Sterling to US Dollar exchange rate in 2021 was 1.38, an 8% depreciation against 2020 average of 1.28. The average Euro to US Dollar exchange rate in 2021 was 1.18, a 4% depreciation against the 2020 average of 1.14. The average Taiwan Dollar to US Dollar exchange rate in 2021 was 0.036, a 5% depreciation against the 2020 average of 0.034.

Adjusted operating expenses

The Group invested in the business in 2021 to support increased demand, which when combined with exchange rate movements, resulted in adjusted operating expenses increasing by 12% to $20.9m (2020: $18.6m). The largest increase was in salary costs, as $0.5m of COVID-19 government grants to support payroll received in 2020 did not recur in 2021. During the year, Group expenditure on research and development increased to $4.7m (2020: $4.3m). These costs relate to investment activities principally undertaken in Taiwan, Italy, the UK and Slovenia. Of these costs, $1.7m were capitalised (2020: $1.7m) as the Group continues to focus on developing new products, with amortisation for the year on total capitalised development costs of $0.9m (2020: $1.3m).  A significant amount of research and development time during the year was spent on re-engineering products to substitute unavailable or long lead time components. 

Finance income

The Group received COVID-19 support loans from the USA Government in 2020 and 2021. During 2021, these loans were all forgiven by the USA Government, resulting in finance income of $0.5m recognised in the income statement. The Group also incurred finance expenses of $0.2m (2020: $0.2m), principally related to leases.

Adjusted Profit Before Tax

Adjusted profit before tax increased by 315% to $5.4m (2020: $1.3m). The adjustments to statutory profit before tax of $0.5m in 2021 (2020: addition of $3.3m) comprised a share-based payments credit of $0.2m (2020: share-based payments charge of $0.2m), restructuring credit of $0.2m (2020: restructuring charge of $0.7m) and amortisation of acquired intangibles charge of $0.9m (2020: $0.9m). The 2020 adjustments also included the write off of $1.5m of capitalised research and development expenditure due to unexpected early end-of-life of certain third-party components.

Taxation

The effective tax rate on statutory profit before tax decreased to 27.6% (2020: 47.7%). The lower effective tax rate was due to deductions for research and development tax credits and patent box tax relief.

Earnings per share

Basic earnings per share increased by 221% to $0.0536 per share (2020: ($0.0445) per share). Adjusted diluted earnings per share increased to $0.0595 per share (2020: ($0.0040) per share).

Balance Sheet and Cash Flow

Non-current assets decreased to $24.3m as at 31 December 2021 (31 December 2020: $24.7m) mainly due to a decrease in deferred tax assets, offset by an increase in right-of-use assets. Included in non-current assets are goodwill of $7.7m (31 December 2020: $7.7m) and acquisition related intangible assets of $1.8m (2020: $2.7m) allocated to cash generating units (CGUs). The annual impairment review indicated that no impairment of goodwill is necessary at 31 December 2021 or 31 December 2020. The IDS CGU is sensitive to a reasonably possible change in key assumptions which could cause impairment.

Inventory has increased to $29.1m (31 December 2020: $21.6m), due to the increase in raw materials as the Group made strategic stock purchases to mitigate the impact of the global component shortages and secure product for customer demand.  

The cash generated from operating activities in the year amounted to $4.4m, a 10% increase from the prior year (2020: $4.0m).

The Group capitalised $1.7m development costs (2020: $1.7m), which reflects the continued development of new products as the Group expands it product portfolio.

Capital Allocation

The Group will continue its disciplined approach to capital allocation, prioritising the maintenance of a strong balance sheet, and sufficient cash reserves, while continuing to focus on investing in the business to drive organic growth.

The Board propose a dividend for the year ended 31 December 2021 of 2.4p per share (2020: 2.0p per share). This dividend will be payable on 26 August 2022 to all shareholders on the register on 29 July 2022. The corresponding ex-dividend date is 28 July 2022.

Johan Olivier
Chief Financial Officer

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF PROFIT AND LOSS AND OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

For the years ended 31 December 2021 and 2020

The Italian subsidiary, Quixant Italia srl, is 99% owned by the Group. The comprehensive income and equity attributable to the non-controlling interests in this subsidiary are not material.

The consolidated statement of profit and loss and other comprehensive income has been prepared on the basis that all operations are continuing operations.

CONSOLIDATED AND COMPANY BALANCE SHEETS

As at 31 December 2021 and 2020

The Company's loss for the year was $3.7m (2020: $3.9m).

These financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Directors on 4 April 2022 and were signed on behalf of the Board by:

Jon Jayal

Chief Executive Officer

Company registered number: 04316977

CONSOLIDATED AND COMPANY STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY

FOR THE YEARS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2021 and 2020

GROUP

¹ Share-based payment charge is recognised against the share-based payment reserve over the vesting period based on the Group's estimate of equity instruments that will vest. In the year the Group revised the estimated vesting for share awards downwards based on expected achievement of performance conditions for previous financial periods, which should have been revised in previous periods. This resulted in a transfer of reserves to retained earnings. 

COMPANY

¹ Share-based payment charge is recognised against the share-based payment reserve over the vesting period based on the Group's estimate of equity instruments that will vest. In the year the Group revised the estimated vesting for share awards downwards based on expected achievement of performance conditions for previous financial periods, which should have been revised in previous periods.5This resulted in a transfer of reserves to retained earnings. 

CONSOLIDATED AND COMPANY CASH FLOW STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEARS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2021 and 2020

NOTES TO THE CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1.  General information

The financial information set out below, does not constitute the company's statutory accounts for the years ended 31 December 2021 or 2020 but is derived from those accounts that was approved by Directors on 4 April 2022. Statutory accounts for 2020 have been delivered to the registrar of Companies, and those for 2021 will be delivered in due course. The auditor has reported on those accounts; their reports were (i) unqualified, (ii) did not include a reference to any matters to which the auditor drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying their report, and (iii) did not contain a statement under section 498 (2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006.

While the financial information included in this preliminary announcement has been prepared in accordance with the recognition and measurement criteria of UK-adopted international accounting standards and as applied in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006, this announcement does not itself contain sufficient information to comply with UK-adopted international accounting standards. The Company expects to publish full Financial Statements that comply with UK-adopted international accounting standards during April 2022.

Going concern

The possible continuing and future impact of COVID-19 on the Group has been considered in the preparation of the financial statements including within our evaluation of critical accounting estimates and judgements. The Group's operational and financially robust position is supported by:

·     Strong recovery in Gaming revenues from the impact of the COVID-19 imposed lockdowns experienced in 2020; and continued good performance from Densitron;

·     Resilient cash generation, despite investing in working capital to support growth and good liquidity position; and

·     Strong balance sheet.

In undertaking a going concern review, the Directors have reviewed financial projections for a period of at least twelve months (the review period) and have additionally prepared projections through to 31 December 2023. Management prepared a base case scenario based on the approved budget for 2022 and forecasts for 2023. Management also prepared a severe but plausible downside scenario, using the following key assumptions:

·      A 31% reduction in 2022 and 2023 budgeted revenues to replicate the impact that COVID-19 had on the Group's revenues in 2020; and

·    The Group remains committed to making last time buy purchases of key components from AMD and these purchases continue and are in addition to the regular supplier payments made in the normal course of business.

The impact of these assumptions is mitigated by:

·     Reduction in operating expenses to reflect reduction in bonuses, delay, or suspension of new headcount additions etc., consistent with the actions management took in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021;

·      No dividend paid in 2023, although a dividend is still paid in 2022; and

·      Reduction of discretionary capital expenditure spend.

In this scenario, the Group continues to have sufficient cash reserves and working capital to continue operating as a going concern through the review period.

While the Directors' have no reason to believe that customer revenues and receipts will decline to the point that the Group no longer has sufficient resources to fund its operations, should this occur, the Group would look to take out additional funding facilities, as well as making further reductions in controllable costs. There would also be an opportunity to sell certain property and inventory assets to accelerate cash generation and/or mitigate risk.

Consequently, the Directors are confident that the Group and Company will have sufficient funds to continue to meet its liabilities as they fall due for at least 12 months from the date of approval of these financial statements and, therefore, have prepared these financial statements on a going concern basis.

Use of judgements and estimates

The preparation of financial information in conformity with UK-adopted international accounting standards requires the use of certain critical accounting estimates. It also requires management to exercise its judgement in the process of applying the Group accounting policies. The areas involving a higher degree of judgement and estimation relate to the recoverable amount of goodwill in the IDS CGU, valuation of Quixant CGU inventory and capitalisation of development costs.

Significant estimates

Recoverability of goodwill and acquisition related intangibles in the IDS CGU

The estimated recoverable amount of the IDS CGU has been determined based on the higher of the value-in-use calculations and fair value less costs to sell. These calculations require the use of estimates and assumptions that I subjective due to the inherent uncertainty involved in forecasting and discounting future cash flows. Reasonably possible changes to the assumptions in the future may lead to material adjustments to the carrying value of the CGU.

Inventory valuation in the Quixant CGU and parent company

Inventories, which comprise goods held for resale, are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value, on a weighted average cost basis. The estimated recoverable amount of the inventory balance in the Quixant CGU and the Parent Company is subjective, due to the inherent uncertainty involved in forecasting of future sales. Provisions are made to write down any slow-moving or obsolete inventory to net realisable value.

As at 31 December 2021, the total inventory in the Quixant CGU is $26.9m (2020: $19.1m) and in the Parent company is $20.7m (2020: $13.8m). The provision against slow-moving and obsolete inventory for the Quixant Group as at 31 December 2021 is $1.6m (2020: $1.3m) and in the Parent company is $1m (2020: $0.6m). A difference of 0.2% in the provision as a percentage of gross inventory would give rise to a difference of +/- $0.1m in gross margin. The choice of a 0.2% change for the determination of sensitivity represents the change to the level of provisioning for the prior year.

Significant judgement

The impact on the financial statements of a change in judgement with respect to the development cost criteria, such as the commercial viability of a product, could affect the value capitalised in respect of intangible assets and the corresponding profit and loss effect. If the criteria had not been met in the current year, the impact would have been to expense $1.7m (2020: $1.7m) of development costs.

Reconciliation of adjusted measures

The Group presents adjusted profit before tax by making adjustments for costs and profits, which management believes to be significant by virtue of their size, nature or incidence or which have a distortive effect on current year earnings. Such items may include but are not limited to share-based payments expense, restructuring charges, acquisition related costs and amortisation of intangible assets arising from business combinations.

In addition, the Group presents an adjusted profit after tax measure by making adjustments for certain tax charges and credits, which management believes to be significant by virtue of their size, nature or incidence or which have a distortive effect.

The Group uses these adjusted measures to evaluate performance and as a method to provide Shareholders with clear and consistent reporting. See below for a reconciliation of profit before tax to adjusted profit before tax, a reconciliation of profit after tax to adjusted profit after tax and a reconciliation of operating expenses to adjusted operating expenses

1.     To derecognise capitalised development costs due to one-off notifications by key suppliers to end-of-life key components utilised in our Gaming products; citing changing market demands and supply chain issues brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

2.     The amortisation of customer relationships and order backlog has been excluded as it is not a cash expense to the Group.

3.     Share-based payments (credit)/expense has been excluded as they are not a cash-based expense. The income is related to the reversal of the options charge for the grants in prior periods, triggered mainly by forfeiture of performance conditions and exercise of options in the past.

4.    Restructuring (credit)/charge - This related to the reversal of provision, set aside in the past, which settled in the current period for lower than estimated provision.

5.     Tax on adjusted items relating to amortisation of customer relationships and orders of $0.9m (2020: $0.9m), share based payment (credit)/expense of $0.2m (2020: charge of $0.2m), restructuring (credit)/charge of $0.2m (2020: charge of $0.7m).

2. Business and geographical segments

The Chief Operating Decision Maker (CODM) in the organisation is an executive management committee comprising the Board of Directors. The segmental information is presented in a consistent format with management information. The Group assesses the performance of the segments based on a measure of revenue and profit before tax. The segmental split of the balance sheet is not reviewed by the CODM and they do not look at assets/liabilities of each division separately but combined as a group. Therefore, this split for assets has not been included.

The operating segments applicable to the Group are as follows:

·        Gaming - Design, development and manufacturing of Gaming platforms and display solutions for the casino gaming and slot machine industry.

·          Densitron - Sale of electronic display products to global industrial markets. IDS is included in the Densitron reporting segment, due to the nature of IDS business, the products that are sold and the market that the business operates in are all consistent with that segment.

Reconciliation of segment results to profit after tax:

3. Analysis of turnover

1.     2021 Gaming no longer report revenue by products, which was split into Gaming Platforms (2020: $27.5m) and Gaming Monitors (2020: $2.8m). Gaming Monitors were split into Button-decks (2020: $2.5m) and Monitors (2020: $0.3m).

2.     2021 Densitron revenue from products splits into Densitron $39.0m (2020: $32.5m) and IDS $0.8m (2020: $1.0m). IDS revenue included revenue of $0.3m (2020: $0.3m) recognised throughout the performance period.

The above analysis includes sales to individual countries in excess of 10% of total turnover of:

Revenues of $15.4m (2020: $16.2m) are derived from one customer (2020: two customers) who individually accounted for more than 10% of Group revenues in 2021. These revenues are attributable to the Gaming segment.

4. Taxation

Recognised in the profit and loss account

Reconciliation of effective tax rate                                           

1 The 2020 tax provision included a reversal of enhanced research and development relief due to uncertainty over whether the relief would be granted. In 2021 the Group completed the necessary actions to ensure relief may be claimed and filed a tax return on that basis, leading to the adjustment to the 2021 tax provision.

Factors that may affect future tax charges

An increase in the UK corporation rate from 19% to 25% (effective 1 April 2023) was substantively enacted on 24 May 2021. This will increase the company's future current tax charge accordingly. The deferred tax liability at 31 December 2021 has been calculated based on these rates, reflecting the expected timing of reversal of the related temporary differences (2020: 19%).

5. Earnings per ordinary share (EPS)