Dexit Inc. (TSX: DXT), the creator and operator of the Dexit electronic payment facilitation service for small transactions, today announced its financial results for the fiscal year and three-month period ending December 31, 2005.
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2005, revenue was $4,777,813 compared to $1,757,280 for the previous year. License fees earned from Bell Canada under the terms of the Company's Merchant Licence Agreement amounted to $2.75 million or 58 percent of revenue in 2005 versus $1.5 million or 85 percent of revenue in 2004. The sale of RFID tags, POS terminals and RFID readers amounted to $1.65 million or 35 percent of revenue in 2005 versus $0.16 million or 9 percent of revenue in 2004. Other fees amounted to $0.38 million or 7 percent of revenue in 2005 versus $0.1 million or 6 percent of revenue in 2004.
Operating expenses for the year ended December 31, 2005 declined by 22 percent to $9,883,669 from $12,596,602 reported in the previous year. The reduction in operating expenses is partially due to the recognition of refundable investment tax credits totaling $303,414 in the year relating to research and development expenditures made in 2003.
Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2005 declined to $6,698,335, or $0.67 per share, compared with a net loss of $11,210,050 or $1.40 per share in 2004. The reduced net loss is partially attributable to a reduction in the amount of $1,023,118 in the expected future repayment obligations to be made under the terms of a financing agreement entered into in 2003 by the Company to fund the development of its technology.
For the three-month period ended December 31, 2005, revenue was $842,680 compared to $686,725 for the same period last year. Operating expenses for the three-month period ended December 31, 2005 declined by 25 percent during the period to $2,296,921 from $3,061,862 reported in the same period last year.
Net loss for the three-month period ended December 31, 2005, declined to $2,231,484 or $0.22 per share, compared with a net loss of $2,509,633 or $0.25 per share for the same period last year.
As at December 31, 2005, Dexit had cash, cash equivalents and short term investments of $8.9 million compared with $17.7 million as at December 31, 2004. The number of shares outstanding as at December 31, 2005 was 10,079,781.
Business Highlights:
During 2005, Dexit continued to work closely with Bell Canada in introducing the Dexit Service to major merchant categories. Discussions with some merchants reached advanced stages over the year, however, the merchant decision making process has been significantly longer than anticipated. Additionally, Dexit continued to explore potential markets outside of Canada.
Throughout 2005, the Company continued to enhance the functionality of the Dexit Service in a number of ways, ensuring its position as the thought leader and technology innovator in the everyday payments field. Dexit introduced its "silver-box" technology which enables Dexit RFID readers to integrate directly into merchant point-of-sale solutions, eliminating the need for re-keying data and giving consumers and merchants a faster payment experience. Dexit enhanced functionality by allowing consumers to acquire and refill their Dexit accounts at merchant locations, and enabled consumers to refill their Dexit accounts directly from credit cards, making it easier for consumers to open and refill their Dexit accounts.
Dexit intends to continue to evolve the Dexit Service business model in 2006. This may include private-branded solutions whereby merchants would distribute RFID tags or cards to their customers which could only be used at specific branded locations and websites. The Company is exploring the prospect of introducing loyalty and customer value management solutions to further enhance the value proposition of the offering to consumers and merchants. Dexit is also investigating opportunities to leverage its existing infrastructure and intellectual property to provide a payment facilitation service to the regulated gaming industry.