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spk01: Good morning and welcome to the earnings results call for Paltalk's fourth quarter and year ended December 31st, 2023. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your hosts, Jason Katz, Chief Executive Officer of Paltalk, and Cara Jenny, Chief Financial Officer of Paltalk. Cara, the floor is yours.
spk00: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the PAL Talk Operating and Financial Results Conference Call for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31st, 2023. By now, everyone should have access to the earnings results press release, which was issued earlier today before the market opened at 7.30 a.m. Eastern Time. This call is being webcast and will be available for replay. In our remarks today, we will include statements that are considered forward-looking, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 included forward-looking statements about future results of operations, business strategies and plans, our relationships with our customers, as well as market and potential growth opportunities. In addition, management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current knowledge and expectations as of today and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions related to factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. We offer no assurance that these expectations and beliefs will prove to be correct. A detailed discussion of such risks and uncertainties are contained in our filings with the SEC, including our most recent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual report on Form 10-K. You should refer to and consider these factors when relying on such forward-looking information. The company does not undertake and expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. On this call, we will refer to adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure that when used in combination with GAAP results, provides us and our investors with additional analytical tools to understand our operations. For adjusted EBITDA, we have provided reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure in our earnings press release, which will be posted on the investor relations section of our website at paltalk.com. And with that, I would now like to introduce Paltalk's Chief Executive Officer, Jason Kass.
spk02: Thank you, Kara, and good morning, everyone. We greatly appreciate you taking the time to join us on today's call. We will discuss our operating highlights and financial results for the fourth quarter and year-ended December 31st, 2023. Additionally, we will provide an update on our business and near-term business objectives. After my opening statement, our CFO, Cara Genney, will give a summary of our financial results for the fourth quarter and year-ended December 31st, 2023. Following our prepared remarks, we will move into the Q&A portion and answer any questions that were pre-submitted prior to this call. With that, I would now like to walk you through the recent financial and operating highlights and near-term business objectives. We are very pleased with our continued efforts to bring down our costs and streamline our operations, which has resulted in a 69% improvement in net losses and a 62% reduction in adjusted EBITDA losses for 2023, despite our revenue remaining flat. We continue to shrewdly execute on our revenue growth plans and believe we are well positioned for profitability with our current expense infrastructure. On the sales side, our marketing efforts have become more efficient, and we have expanded ManyCam to the enterprise segment. We believe we are well positioned for organic and acquisitive growth, as our current expense infrastructure can support additional revenue, and our cash position as of December 31, 2023, remains strong at $13.6 million. On the strategic opportunities front, we have continued to actively identify and analyze potential mergers or acquisitions of assets or entities that are synergistic to our businesses, which we believe have the potential to increase shareholder value. Moving on to an update on our trial against Cisco, Webex, on July 23rd, 2021, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, Paltalk Holdings, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Cisco Systems Inc., and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. We allege that certain of Cisco's products have infringed U.S. patent number 6683858, and that we are entitled to damages. A Markman hearing took place on February 24, 2022. On September 7, 2022, the United States Patent Office issued a reexamination of U.S. patent number 6683858, And on January 19th, 2023, the examiner issued an ex parte re-examination certificate, ending the re-examination and confirming the patentability of claims one through 10 of US patent number six, 683858. On June 29th, 2023, the court held a pre-trial conference with the parties and denied Cisco's motion for summary judgment. The trial is expected to begin on April 8th, 2024. If we receive a jury verdict in our favor or receive settlement proceeds in connection with the foregoing litigation, the exact amount of such proceeds to be received by us will be determined based on a number of factors and will reflect the deduction of significant litigation related expenses, including legal fees. Consequently, we will not receive the majority of any gross proceeds resulting from any potential verdict or settlement. For the foregoing reasons, we are unable to predict the outcome of this litigation and its ultimate cost. Now I'd like to pass it to Kara for a financial summary of our fourth quarter and year-ended December 31st, 2023. Thank you, Jason.
spk00: Revenue for the three months ended December 31st, 2023 decreased by 4% to $2.7 million compared to $2.8 million for the three months ended December 31st, 2022. The decrease in revenue was primarily attributed to a decrease in subscription and virtual gift revenue from PalTalk and CamFrog, partially offset by increased revenue from Vumber and ManyCam. Loss from operations for the three months ended December 31st, 2023 improved by 38% to a loss of 0.5 million. compared to a loss of 0.8 million for the three months ended December 31st, 2022. The improvement in loss from operations was attributed to a decrease in sales and marketing, product development, and general and administrative expenses for the three months ended December 31st, 2023. Net loss for the three months ended December 31st, 2023, improved by over 42% to 0.3 million compared to a net loss of 0.5 million for the three months ended December 31st, 2022. The decrease in net loss was due to the reduction of operating expenses. Adjusted EBITDA loss For the 3 months ended December 31st, 2023 improved by over 52% to 0.2M compared to adjusted EBITDA loss of 0.5M for the 3 months ended December 31st, 2022. Now turning to the year ended December 31st, 2023. Revenue for the year ended December 31st, 2023 and 2022 remain relatively unchanged at $11 million. Decreases in subscription and virtual gift revenue in the PALPOC and CAMFROG applications were offset by increases in revenue from Vumber and ManyCams. Loss from operations for the year ended December 31st, 2023 improved by 43% to a loss of 2.1 million compared to a loss of 3.7 for the year ended December 31st, 2022. The improvement in loss from operations was primarily attributable to an increase in revenue and reduced operating expenses in connection with the implementation of operating efficiencies. Net loss for the year ended December 31st, 2023 improved by over 68% to 1.1 million compared to a net loss of 3.4 million for the year ended December 31st, 2022. The improvement in net loss was attributed to a decrease in operating expenses as well as an increase in other income in connection with the company's recording of a refundable employee retention tax credit. Adjusted EBITDA loss for the year ended December 31st, 2023, improved by over 61%, or 1.6 million to 1 million, compared to adjusted EBITDA loss of 2.6 million for the year ended December 31st, 2022. Cash and cash equivalents totaled 13.6 million at December 31st, 2023, a decrease of 1.1 million compared to 14.7 million at December 31st, 2022. The company had no long-term debt on its balance sheet as of December 31st, 2023. We will now move on to questions that were previously submitted. The first question, can you provide any color on how many CAM renewals are tracking?
spk02: Sure. While we do not comment on the metrics of the individual products, we're continuing to focus on ways to streamline the renewal process for our users and to provide users values such that they will want to continue to renew with us.
spk00: Next, are you working on any new features and or product launches for 2024? If so, can you discuss?
spk02: Part of our business strategy is to continue working on application functionality. Of note, we're excited about the launch of ManyCam version 9, which is currently scheduled for release during Q2 2024. ManyCam provides a multitude of tools to help customize your video experience, and we hope that our new version will allow users to start working with ManyCam's powerful video features faster than ever.
spk00: Next question. Is international growing, slowing, or staying flat?
spk02: Well, we're continuing to see new users registering from emerging markets such as Africa and India. And we're investigating ways to help grow and monetize these new user bases.
spk00: Finally, the last question. Do you expect to close on an acquisition in 2024 as you have been looking now for 12 to 18 months?
spk02: While we're continuing to look for accretive acquisitions, we obviously cannot comment on when or if we expect to close a transaction. We reiterate that consummating an accretive acquisition remains a top priority for the company. I want to stress that we're very thoughtful in our process as we evaluate targets against the matrix of criteria, including being accretive to our revenue, being positive contributor to our bottom line, as well as representing a good value for our shareholders.
spk00: Great. Jason, back to you to close out the presentation.
spk02: Thank you, everyone, for your support and for joining us today. We're very grateful for your interest in our business. We look forward to updating the market and our stockholders with our progress on our business objectives, pending patent litigation against Cisco WebEx, with the trial now scheduled to start on April 8, 2024, and potential strategic accretive acquisitions, which we continue to identify and analyze. Have a great day.
spk01: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today's event. You may disconnect at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation.
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