Wireless Ronin's latest quarterlies not very pretty, but probably pretty common

November 4, 2009 by Dave Haynes

As stated a few times, Wireless Ronin Technologies is in the unenviable position of having to lift the veil every three months and show everyone who’s interested how crappy things are going. I am not picking on these guys in any way, but when the results come out, they are too interesting to ignore.

It has been a very tough year for the publicly listed company, as it has probably been for the majority of companies trying to sell a non-essential service in a stalled economy. 

The Company reported revenue of $1.1 million for the third quarter of 2009, a 45 percent decrease from $2.0 million in the third quarter of 2008. As of September 30, 2009, the Company has received purchase orders totaling approximately $0.8 million for which it has not recognized revenue. The Company also reported a third quarter net loss of $2.5 million, or $0.17 per basic and diluted share, compared to a net loss of $4.6 million, or $0.31 per basic and diluted share, in the year-ago period. The Company attributes the decline in revenue for the third quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in the prior year to general economic conditions and customers’ lack of capital for substantial digital signage deployments. The year-over-year improvement in net loss for the third quarter of 2009 primarily resulted from reductions in workforce taken during the third and fourth quarters of 2008 and other cost cutting measures primarily taken during the first half of 2009. Third quarter 2009 results also included costs of approximately $152,000, or $0.01 per basic and diluted share, of non-cash stock compensation expense related to FAS123R compared to approximately $201,000, or $0.01 per basic and diluted share, in the third quarter of 2008. Revenue for the first nine months of 2009 totaled $3.5 million compared to $5.5 million in the same period a year ago. The Company’s net loss for the first nine months of 2009 totaled $8.0 million, or $0.54 per basic and diluted share, compared to $13.8 million, or $0.94 per basic and diluted share, in the prior year. 

On the positive side, and echoing things I am hearing pretty regularly now, is that the situation is looking up:

James C. (Jim) Granger, president and chief executive officer of Wireless Ronin Technologies, said, “We continue to operate in market space with extended sales cycles requiring large capital resource commitments on the part of our customers. However, we are starting to see early evidence of companies willing to commit capital dollars to digital signage deployments by receipt of two new projects late in the quarter that are projected for delivery within the next 120 days. One contract awarded is the development of a digital menu board web portal for KFC and its franchisees. This highly customized tool will be used to manage the digital menu board program. The second contract awarded was to use the digital signage application of i-Showroom to create a web application that has potential, in the near term, to be deployed to desktops in 2,200 Chrysler showrooms. We have made tangible progress demonstrating the benefits of RoninCast(R) digital signage to several substantial quick serve restaurant (QSR) customers and prospects. Ongoing company trials or pilots at QSRs represent opportunities of chains with more than 22,000 total sites combined.”

Ronin still has a pretty big crew in its Minnesota home base, and at $2.3 million burn per quarter, and about $7.5 million in IPO cash still on hand, the  meter is now really starting to run down. Hopefully things pick up, as that’s a lot of mouths to feed.  

UPDATE – On the heels of the Q3 financials the company announced it was doing something called a registered direct offering that will raise another $6 million, to use for things like working capital.