Revenue Growth of 45% for Thermal Energy International in Q1 2018

Highlights:
 

• First quarter revenue increased 45.1% to $3.1 million compared with $2.1 million for the same quarter a year earlier;
• Gross profit for the quarter increased 4.3% to $1.5 million compared to the first quarter last year;
• Net loss for the quarter was $181 thousand versus a loss of $80 thousand for the same period last year;
• The Company had an order backlog of $7.8 million as at October 19, 2017.

OTTAWA, ONTARIO – October 23, 2017 – Thermal Energy International Inc. (“Thermal Energy” or the “Company”) (TSXV: TMG), a global provider of proprietary energy efficiency solutions to the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors, today announced its financial results for the three-month period ended August 31, 2017. All figures are in Canadian dollars.
 
“Following our record revenue for all of fiscal year 2017, we achieved record revenue again for the first quarter of fiscal 2018 with growth of 45.1%,” said William Crossland, CEO of Thermal Energy. “Four hospital projects and the early stages of a project for our leading Fortune 500 food and beverage customer contributed to a strong increase in heat recovery revenue during the quarter. Also of significance during the quarter, we announced a $1.46 million ‘Super-Efficient Cogeneration™’ heat recovery project with the same Fortune 500 food and beverage customer. Our order backlog remains strong at $7.8 million, and we remain focused on executing our business plan, growing the company and capitalizing on the positive market outlook for industrial energy efficiency and emissions reduction solutions worldwide.”
 
Q1 2018 Financial Review:
 
Revenue for the quarter increased 45.1% to $3.1 million compared to $2.1 million for the first quarter of last year. The increase was due to higher heat recovery systems revenue, which was up 168.6% for the quarter, and included the partial delivery of a system to a leading producer of industrial and fuel alcohols (announced September 28, 2016); the substantial completion of installations at four major hospitals; and the early stages of a project at a sixth site of a leading Fortune 500 food and beverage producer (announced July 6, 2017). While GEM revenue was down 19.0% for the quarter, it still represented the second best first quarter GEM revenue in the Company’s history following last year’s exceptionally strong first quarter during which GEM sales were up 57% over the prior year. GEM revenue for the most recent quarter included further orders from a leading performance materials company as well as the conversion of a site of a major pharmaceutical company.
 
Gross profit for the quarter increased 4.3% to just over 1.5 million. However, with a much higher proportion of revenue coming from heat recovery systems, gross profit as a percentage of sales fell to 49.0% from 68.2% for the same quarter a year ago. 
 
Operating expenses for the quarter were $1.7 million versus $1.5 million for the same period last year.  Approximately half of the increase relates to new sales and technical staff. Other factors contributing to the increase included, higher commissions payable due to the higher revenue; costs related to strategic growth initiatives; and, lower foreign exchange gains experienced in the quarter, due to a weaker pound sterling against the dollar. Despite these factors, operating expenses as a percentage of revenue fell to 56% for the quarter compared to 70% for the same period last year.
 
EBITDAS for the quarter was negative $186 thousand, compared with EBITDAS of $3 thousand in the first quarter of last year. The Company incurred a net loss of $181 thousand for the quarter versus a loss of $80 a year earlier.
 
Order and Backlog Summary
 
During the quarter, the Company received orders totaling $3.28 million from a leading Fortune 500 food and beverage customer, including a $1.82 million heat recovery order (announced July 6, 2017) and a $1.46 million “Super-Efficient Cogeneration™” project (announced August 31, 2017). While the Company received revenue during the first quarter for the early stages of the July 6th heat recovery order, the remainder of the revenue for these two projects is expected to be earned during the current fiscal year.
 
Subsequent to quarter end, on October 12, 2017, the Company announced that it had received a $1.32 million heat recovery order from an existing hospital group customer. The revenue from this project is also expected to be earned during the current fiscal year.
 
The following notable GEM orders were also received during the quarter or subsequent to quarter end:

• $351 thousand in repeat business from a leading performance materials company;
• $189 thousand in repeat business from a leading vacation destination company;
• $100 thousand from an industrial processor and packager of vegetable products.

 
Including the above mentioned orders, the Company had an order backlog of approximately $7.8 million as at October 19, 2017, compared to $7.8 million at the same time last year. The Company includes in “order backlog” the value of projects in respect of which purchase orders have been received but have not yet been reflected as revenue in the Company’s published quarterly financial statements.

About Thermal Energy International Inc.

Thermal Energy International Inc. is an established global supplier of proprietary, proven energy efficiency and emissions reduction solutions to the industrial and institutional sectors. We save our customers money and improve their bottom line by reducing their fuel use and cutting their carbon emissions.  Our customers include a large number of Fortune 500 and other leading multinational companies across a wide range of industry sectors.
 
Thermal Energy is also a fully accredited professional engineering firm and by providing a unique mix of proprietary products together with process, energy and, environmental engineering expertise, Thermal Energy is able to deliver unique turnkey projects with significant financial and environmental benefits for our customers. 
 
Thermal Energy's proprietary products include; GEMTM - Steam traps, FLU-ACE® - Direct contact condensing heat recovery, and Dry-Rex® - Low temperature biomass drying systems.
 
Thermal Energy International Inc. has offices in Ottawa, Canada as well as Bristol, U.K., United States, Germany, Italy and China. The Company’s common shares are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V) under the symbol TMG.
 
For more information, visit the Company's website at www.thermalenergy.com and follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GoThermalEnergy.