Certain statements included in this Form 10-K may include “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws, including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are any statements other than statements of historical fact. Forward-looking statements represent current views about possible future events and are often identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as “may,” “will,”,, “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “project” or “continue” or the negative thereof or other similar words. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. In the event that one or more of such risks or uncertainties materialize, or one or more underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
We caution readers not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this Form 10-K. We undertake no obligation to public publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or other factors, except where we are expressly required to do so by law.
Item 1. Business.
The Company
TransAct Technologies Incorporated (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, “TransAct,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) was incorporated in June 1996 and began operating as a stand-alone business in August 1996 as a spin-off of the printer business that was formerly conducted by certain subsidiaries of Tridex Corporation. We completed an initial public offering on August 22, 1996.
TransAct is a global leader in developing and selling software-driven technology and printing solutions for high growth markets including food service technology, point of sale (“POS”) automation, casino and gaming, and oil and gas. Our world-class products are designed from the ground up based on market and customer requirements and are sold under the BOHA!™, AccuDate™, Epic®, EPICENTRAL™, Ithaca®, and Printrex® brand names. During 2019, we launched a new line of products for the food service technology market, the BOHA! branded suite of cloud-based applications and companion hardware solutions. The new BOHA! software and hardware products help restaurants, convenience stores and food service operators of all sizes automate the food production in the back-of-house operations. Known and respected worldwide for innovative designs and real-world service reliability, our thermal printers and terminals generate top-quality labels, coupons and transaction records such as receipts, tickets and other documents, as well as printed logging and plotting of data. We sell our technology to original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”), value-added resellers, select distributors, as well as directly to end-users. Our product distribution spans across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, the Caribbean Islands and the South Pacific. We also offer world-class service, support, labels, spare parts, accessories and printing supplies to our growing worldwide base of products currently in use by our customers. Through our TransAct Services Group (“TSG”), we provide a complete range of supplies and consumables used in the printing activities of customers in the restaurant and hospitality, retail, casino and gaming, government and oil and gas exploration markets. Through our webstore, www.transactsupplies.com, and our direct selling team, we address the demand for these products. Our primary operating, hardware research and development, and U.S. service center is located in Ithaca, New York. In addition, we have a casino and gaming sales headquarters and software research and development in Las Vegas, Nevada; a European sales and service center at our subsidiary in the United Kingdom (“UK”); and a sales office located in Macau, China. Our executive offices are located at One Hamden Center, 2319 Whitney Avenue, Suite 3B, Hamden, Connecticut, 06518, with a telephone number of (203) 859-6800.
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus and the disease it causes, commonly known as COVID-19, was first reported in China and has since widely impacted the global public health and economic environment. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19, including all additional variations and strains thereof, a global pandemic. Our business trends through the first two months of 2020 were in line with internal expectations; however, the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic on the United States and global economy increased significantly as the first quarter of 2020 progressed and continued throughout the remainder of 2020. Unfortunately, the massive economic and social disruptions across the world persist due to COVID-19 and the measures implemented to mitigate its spread. The food service, casino and gaming, and oil and gas industries have been particularly affected by the pandemic, and we expect such disruptions to continue to negatively impact our overall business for the foreseeable future.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and measures implemented to mitigate its spread, we experienced decreased demand for our products and lower than anticipated sales beginning in the second half of March 2020 and continuing through the end of 2020, particularly in our food service technology and casino and gaming markets. We experienced some improvement in demand during the second half of 2020 compared to the second quarter of 2020, as some state and local governments lifted certain measures implemented earlier in 2020 to mitigate the spread of the virus, however demand remained lower than 2019, and we expect this trend to continue through at least the first half of 2021. Below is a discussion of the impact of COVID-19 that we have experienced, and that we believe we will continue to experience for the foreseeable future in each of our markets.
Food service technology and POS automation. In both our food service technology and POS automation markets, many restaurants and food service establishments that were closed during much of the second quarter of 2020 started to reopen as state and local governments began to ease restrictions put in place in response to the pandemic. Many of our customers have opened under restrictions that limit them to providing drive through, take-out or delivery service without dine-in options, as well as limiting the volume of customers and employees on site at any one time. During the third and fourth quarters of 2020, we experienced sales improvement compared to the second quarter of 2020, as these food service customers reopened for business. However, during the fourth quarter of 2020, restaurants were again impacted by a resurgence of the pandemic. Notwithstanding the gradual resumption of limited operations that began in the third quarter of 2020, our food service technology and POS automation customers continue to recover from the financial impact of being closed for several months and we expect new capital expenditures to be a lower priority for them in the near term, which we believe will continue to negatively impact sales of BOHA! hardware, software and label products, as well as sales of POS printers. However, food service providers have been and are likely to continue to be required to develop and implement new or enhanced policies and operating procedures regarding cleaning, sanitizing and social distancing to ensure the safety of their employees and customers. We believe that our BOHA! hardware, software and label products could prove to be helpful to our food service customers in efficiently and effectively managing and complying with these new procedures, especially as many establishments are and will likely continue to be operating with reduced staff levels.
Casino and gaming. In the casino and gaming market, most casinos and other gaming establishments were closed worldwide during most of the second quarter of 2020. Many casinos began to reopen in late May and early June 2020, but similar to restaurants, casino openings were slow and measured, starting with reduced capacity and limited game play based on social distancing guidelines. During the fourth quarter of 2020, some casinos re-closed due to a resurgence of the pandemic. We anticipate that casinos will continue to limit capacity in the near term and will progressively increase capacity over time. As casinos gradually recover from the financial impact of being closed for several months, we expect that casinos’ appetite for purchases of new slot machines will be diminished, which we believe is likely to negatively impact sales of casino and gaming printers purchased by slot manufacturers for use in slot machines at casinos during 2021.
Lottery. We exited the lottery market at the end of 2019 and IGT made a final purchase of our lottery printer during the second quarter of 2020. Therefore, COVID-19 has not had an impact our lottery printer sales, and we do not anticipate that it will have an impact on our future lottery printer sales.
Printrex. The oil and gas market has been negatively impacted by the decline in worldwide oil prices attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the uncertainty of current and future market conditions, we believe sales of our Printrex oil and gas printers will continue to be negatively impacted until oil and gas prices recover.
TSG. Due to closures and reduced operating capacity of restaurants, food service establishments, casinos and other gaming establishments resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, sales of spare parts, service and consumable products have declined, and we expect such sales to remain at reduced levels, due to lower usage while the pandemic persists.
Our gross margin has been negatively impacted and we expect our gross margin to continue to be negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of an expected significantly lower sales level, we believe our gross margin will decline due to fixed manufacturing overhead expenses (such as facility costs, depreciation, etc.) that cannot be reduced or eliminated even with the lower sales level.
We have also experienced supply chain disruptions, including delayed product shipments from our two contract manufacturers located in China and Thailand that conduct almost all of our printer and terminal manufacturing, due to reduced operations and parts shortages at these facilities. To date, these disruptions have only minimally impacted deliveries to customers due to our high inventory levels and reduced demand for our products. However, if the delays are sustained or additional disruptions from the pandemic occur, we may have insufficient inventory levels and our ability to deliver products to our customers on time or at all may be impaired.
While it is difficult to predict the magnitude of the ultimate impact that the pandemic and the responsive measures will have on our customers and our business, we took several actions during 2020 to manage our expenses during these turbulent and uncertain times. Such steps included:
In addition, we took measures to increase liquidity, including the following:
Since the onset of the pandemic, our top priority has been to ensure the health and safety of our employees while continuing to provide our customers with high-quality, personalized service. On March 20, 2020, we instituted work-from-home practices for the majority of our employees to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and to comply with government mandates. Because most of our employees already had laptop computers with remote access into our IT systems, we have experienced only minor reductions in productivity and minimal costs related to the implementation of our work-from-home practices. In addition, even with the move to a work-from-home environment, our existing internal control structure remained operational and unchanged.
Our distribution centers, deemed an essential service, have remained operational throughout the pandemic. We implemented a new COVID-19 policy to specifically address health and safety guidelines for employees to adhere to and follow when at work or returning to work. This policy was based on the COVID-19 safety guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and implements the following operations procedures:
We have evaluated the recoverability of the assets on our Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2020 in accordance with relevant authoritative accounting literature. We considered the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, including lower than previously forecasted sales and customer demand, a decline in the price of our common stock and macroeconomic factors potentially impacting accounts receivable, inventory, investments, intangible assets, goodwill and other assets and liabilities. Where forward-looking estimates are required, we made a good-faith estimate based on information available as of the balance sheet date. We have continued to monitor for indicators of impairment through the date of this Report and reflected accordingly in the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, there is no assurance that the actions we have taken in response to the pandemic are sufficient or adequate, and we may be required to take additional preventive or responsive measures, as the ultimate extent of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company, our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, and cash flows are uncertain and are dependent on evolving developments which cannot be predicted at this time. See Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, of this Form 10-K for further discussion of risks related to COVID-19.
Products, Services and Distribution Methods
Printers, terminals and other hardware: TransAct designs, develops and markets a broad array of transaction-based and specialty printers and terminals utilizing thermal printing technology for applications, primarily in the food service technology, POS automation, casino and gaming, and oil and gas printing markets. Our printers and terminals are configurable and offer customers the ability to choose from a variety of features and functions. Options typically include interface configuration, mounting configuration, paper cutting devices, paper handling capacities and cabinetry color. Our food service technology terminals also offer software configurable menu options. Our food service technology market also includes sales of hardware products including handheld devices, tablets, temperature probes and temperature sensors and gateways.
Food Service Technology: The primary offering in the food service technology market is our BOHA! ecosystem, which combines our latest generation terminal, cloud-based software applications and related hardware into a unique solution to automate back-of-house operations in restaurants, convenience stores and food service operations. The software component of BOHA! consists of a suite of software-as-a-service (“SaaS”)-based applications, including applications for inventory management, temperature monitoring of food and equipment, timers, food safety labeling, food recalls, checklists and procedures, equipment service management, and delivery management. Any and all these applications can be chosen by our customer and packaged into a single platform with the associated hardware, which includes the BOHA! terminal, handheld devices, tablets, temperature probes and temperature sensors and gateways. The BOHA! terminal combines the software and hardware components in a device that includes an operating system, touchscreen and one or two thermal print mechanisms that print easy-to-read food rotation labels, grab-and-go labels for prepared foods, nutritional labels and “enjoy by” date labels. The BOHA! terminal is equipped with the TransAct Enterprise Management System to ensure that only approved applications and functions are available on the device and allows over-the-air updates to the applications and operating system. BOHA! helps food service establishments and restaurants (including fine dining, casual dining, fast casual and quick-serve restaurants, convenience stores, hospitality establishments and contract food service providers) effectively manage food safety and grab-and-go initiatives, as well as automate and manage back-of-house operations. Recurring revenue from BOHA! is generated by software sales, including software subscriptions that are charged to customers upfront on a per-application basis, as well as sales of labels, extended warranty and service contracts, and technical support services. In the food service technology market, we use an internal sales force to solicit sales directly from end users.
POS automation: In the POS market, we sell several models of printers utilizing thermal printing technology. Our POS printers are used primarily by quick-serve restaurants located either at the checkout counter or within self-service kiosks to print receipts for consumers or print on linerless labels. In the POS market, we primarily sell our products through a network of domestic and international distributors and resellers. We use an internal sales force to manage sales through our distributors and resellers, as well as to solicit sales directly from end-users. Prior to 2020, revenue in this market included sales of inkjet printers used by banks, credit unions and other financial institutions to print deposit or withdrawal receipts and/or validate checks at bank teller stations. We exited the banking market during 2018 and therefore do not expect any future sales. In the banking market, we primarily sold our products directly to end-user banks and financial institutions through our internal sales force and, to a lesser extent, resellers.
Casino and gaming: We sell several models of printers used in slot machines and video lottery terminals (“VLTs”) and other gaming machines that print tickets or receipts instead of issuing coins (“ticket-in, ticket-out” or “TITO”) at casinos, racetracks and other gaming venues worldwide. These printers utilize thermal printing technology to print tickets and receipts in monochrome and offer various other features such as jam resistant bezels and a dual port interface that enables casinos to print coupons and promotions. In addition, we sell printers using thermal roll-fed printing technology for use in international non-casino establishments, including game types such as Amusements with Prizes, Skills with Prizes, Fixed Odds Betting Terminals, sports betting establishments and other off-premise gaming type machines around the world. We sell our casino and gaming products primarily (1) to slot machine manufacturers, who incorporate our printers into slot machines and, in turn, sell completed slot machines directly to casinos and other gaming establishments and (2) through distributors. We also maintain a dedicated internal sales force to solicit sales from slot machine manufacturers and casinos, and to manage sales through our distributors.
We also offer a software solution, the EPICENTRAL™ Print System, including annual software maintenance, that enables casino operators to create promotional coupons and marketing messages and to print them in real time at the slot machine. With EPICENTRAL™, casinos can utilize the system to create multiple promotions and incentives to either increase customer time spent on the casino floor or encourage additional visits to generate more revenue to the casinos. In 2019, we introduced EPICENTRAL 4.0, which uses the new Acres 4.0 technology that provides EPICENTRAL with true real time slot machine play data.
Lottery: Our lottery printers are designed for high-volume, high-speed printing of lottery tickets for various lottery applications. We primarily supply lottery printers to International Gaming Technology and its subsidiaries (“IGT”), our largest customer and the world’s largest provider of lottery terminals. During 2019, we decided to exit this business and we expect no future sales beyond 2020. Sales of our lottery products were made directly to IGT and were managed by an internal sales representative before we exited the business in 2019.
Printrex: Printrex printers include wide format, desktop and rack-mounted and vehicle-mounted black and white thermal printers used by customers to log and plot oil field, seismic and down hole well drilling data in the oil and gas exploration industry. The Printrex® brand of printers also includes high-speed color inkjet desktop printers used by oil and gas field service companies to print logs at data centers of the oil and gas field service companies. We primarily sell our Printrex® products directly to oil field service and drilling companies and OEM’s, as well as through regional distributors in the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia.
TSG: Through TSG, we proactively market the sale of consumable products (including POS receipt paper, inkjet cartridges, ribbons and other printing supplies), replacement parts, maintenance and repair services, refurbished printers, and shipping and handling charges. Our maintenance services include the sale of extended warranties, multi-year maintenance contracts, a 24-hour guaranteed replacement product service called TransAct Xpress™ and other repair services for our printers and terminals. Within the United States, we provide repair services through our service center in Ithaca, New York. Internationally, we provide repair services through our European service center located in Doncaster, UK, and through partners strategically located around the world.
We also provide customers with telephone sales and technical support, and a personal account representative to handle orders, shipping and general information. Technical and sales support personnel receive training on all our manufactured products and services. In addition to personalized telephone and technical support, we also market and sell consumable products 24 hours a day, seven days a week, via our webstore, www.transactsupplies.com.
Sources and Availability of Raw Materials
We design our products to optimize product performance, quality, reliability and durability. These designs combine cost efficient materials, sourcing and assembly methods with high standards of workmanship. Almost all of our printers and terminals are produced by two third-party manufacturers located in China and Thailand. A small portion of our products are assembled in our Ithaca, New York facility largely on a configure-to-order basis using components and subassemblies that have been sourced from vendors and contract manufacturers around the world.
We procure component parts and subassemblies for use in the assembly of our hardware products in Ithaca, New York. Critical component parts and subassemblies include thermal print heads, printing/cutting mechanisms, power supplies, motors, injection molded plastic parts, LCD screens, circuit boards and electronic components, which are obtained from domestic and foreign suppliers at competitive prices. As a result of the majority of our production being performed by our contract manufacturers, the majority of our purchases consist of fully-assembled printers and terminals produced by our contract manufacturers and, to a much lesser extent, component parts. We typically strive to maintain more than one source for our component parts, subassemblies and fully assembled printers and terminals to reduce the risk of parts shortages or unavailability. However, we could experience temporary disruption if certain suppliers ceased doing business with us, as described below.
We currently buy a majority of our thermal print mechanisms, an important component of our thermal printers, and fully assembled printers for several of our printer and food service technology terminal models, from one foreign contract manufacturer in China and to a lesser extent, one other foreign contract manufacturer in Thailand. Although we believe that other contract manufacturers could provide similar thermal print mechanisms or fully assembled printers and terminals, on comparable terms, a change in contract manufacturers could cause a delay in manufacturing and possible loss of sales, which may have a material adverse effect on our operating results. Although we do not have supply agreements with our foreign contract manufacturers, our relationship with both remain strong and we have no reason to believe that either will discontinue their supply of thermal print mechanisms or fully assembled printers to us during 2021 or that their terms to us will be substantially less favorable than they have been historically. Due to the impact from the Chinese tariff starting in 2019, during 2020 we increasingly transferred production from our largest contract manufacturer in China to our contract manufacturer in Thailand. We plan to continue transferring production to our contract manufacturer during 2021.
We currently buy a majority of our thermal print mechanisms, an important component of our thermal printers, and fully assembled printers for several of our printer and food service technology terminal models, from a foreign contract manufacturer in China and a foreign contract manufacturer in Thailand. Although we believe that other contract manufacturers could provide similar thermal print mechanisms or fully assembled printers and terminals, on comparable terms, a change in contract manufacturers could cause a delay in manufacturing and possible loss of sales, which may have a material adverse effect on our operating results. Although we do not have supply agreements with our foreign contract manufacturers, our relationship with both remain strong and we have no reason to believe that either will discontinue their supply of thermal print mechanisms or fully assembled printers to us during 2021 or that their terms to us will be substantially less favorable than they have been historically. Due to the impact from the Chinese tariff starting in 2019, during 2020 we increasingly transferred production from our contract manufacturer in China to our contract manufacturer in Thailand. We plan to continue transferring production to our contract manufacturer in Thailand during 2021.
Patents and Proprietary Information
TransAct relies on a combination of trade secrets, patents, employee and third-party nondisclosure agreements, copyright laws and contractual rights to establish and protect its proprietary rights in its products. As of February 28, 2021, we hold 35 United States and 36 foreign patents and have 5 United States and 3 foreign patent applications pending pertaining to our products. The duration of these patents ranges from 1 to 19 years. The expiration of any individual patent would not have a significant negative impact on our business. We regard certain manufacturing processes and designs to be proprietary and attempt to protect them through employee and third-party nondisclosure agreements and similar means. It may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy certain portions of our products or to reverse engineer or otherwise obtain and use, to our detriment, information that we regard as proprietary. Moreover, the laws of some foreign countries do not afford the same protection to our proprietary rights as do the laws of the United States. There can be no assurance that legal protections we rely upon to protect our proprietary position will be adequate or that our competitors will not independently develop technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to our technologies.
Trademarks, Service Marks and Copyrights
We own or have rights to trademarks, service marks, trade names and copyrights that we use in connection with the operation of our business, including our corporate names, logos and website names. Other trademarks, service marks and trade names appearing in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of their respective owners. The trademarks we own include TransAct®, BOHA!TM, AccuDate™, Epic, EPICENTRAL™, Ithaca® and Printrex®. Solely for convenience, some of the trademarks, service marks, trade names and copyrights referred to in this annual report on Form 10-K are listed without the ©, ® and ™ symbols, but we will assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights to our trademarks, service marks, trade names and copyrights.
Seasonality
Restaurants typically reduce purchases of equipment in the fourth quarter due to the increased volume of transactions during the holiday period, which may negatively impact sales of our food service technology products or POS printers.
Working Capital
Inventory, accounts receivable, and accounts payable levels, payment terms, and where applicable, return policies are in accordance with the general practices of the industry and standard business procedures. See also Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
Certain Significant Customers
IGT is our most significant customer and has been since 1995. We sell both on-line lottery printers and casino and gaming printers to IGT. On May 29, 2015, we signed an agreement with IGT to sell on-line lottery and casino printers to IGT on a non-exclusive basis through December 31, 2019. We decided not to renew the agreement upon its expiration and to exit the on-line lottery market. Although we no longer have an agreement with IGT, we expect to continue selling casino and gaming printers to IGT, as well as spare parts for our remaining, but declining, installed base of lottery printers, in the future but no longer expect to sell on-line lottery printers beyond 2020.
Sales to IGT represented 15% and 14% of our total net sales for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Backlog
Our backlog of firm orders was approximately $3.4 million as of February 28, 2021, compared to $5.7 million as of February 29, 2020. Based on customers’ current delivery requirements, we expect to fill and recognize as revenue $2.7 million of our current backlog during 2021, $0.4 million during 2022 and the remaining balance of the amount during 2023.
Competition
The market for transaction-based and specialty printers and food service technology terminals is extremely competitive, and we expect such competition to continue in the future. However, we experience less competition for EPICENTRALTM software due to the highly customized nature of the product. We compete with a number of companies, many of which have greater financial, technical and marketing resources than TransAct. We believe our ability to compete successfully depends on a number of factors both within and outside our control, including durability, reliability, quality, design capability, product customization, price, customer support, success in developing new products, manufacturing expertise and capacity, supply of component parts and materials, strategic relationships with suppliers, the timing of new product introductions by us and our competitors, general market, economic and political conditions and, in some cases, the uniqueness of our products.
In the food service technology market, we primarily compete with Avery Dennison Corporation, Ecolab Inc., ITD Food Safety, CMC Daymark, Integrated Control Corp, Digi International, Squadle Inc., Jolt Software and Zenput. We compete in this market based largely on our ability to provide highly specialized software and purpose-built products and ongoing technical support. We rely upon third-party developed software and hosting services combined with our own proprietary hardware and software to offer a unique BOHA! branded solution to support back-of-house operations in the food service industry. Our competitors or others may develop, or may establish relationships with developers with the capability to develop, software and services that are similar to or competitive with ours, which may be disadvantageous to our competitive position. Certain portions of our food service technology software are licensed from a third-party developer on a non-exclusive basis through 2031 and are subject to a revenue sharing arrangement with the developer. We are reliant upon the third-party developer to further develop and maintain their developed software, and the developer controls the software source code. The license agreement does not preclude the developer from working with others on similar products. Also, the third party developer hosts the web-based applications. Therefore, presently, we are highly dependent upon this third-party developer for continued service to our customers and the further development of our food service technology software products.
In the POS automation market, we primarily compete with Epson America, Inc., which holds a dominant market position. We also compete, to a much lesser extent, with Star Micronics America, Inc. and Citizen -- CBM America Corporation. Certain competitors of ours have greater financial resources and lower costs attributable to higher volume production which enables them to occasionally offer lower prices than us. However, we will continue to deemphasize efforts in the POS automation market going forward as we have shifted our focus toward our higher-value, technology enabled food service technology and casino and gaming products.
In the casino and gaming market (consisting principally of slot machine printing, VLT transaction printing and promotional coupon printing), we compete with several companies including JCM Global, Nanoptix, Inc., Custom Engineering SPA, Eurocoin and others. Certain of our products sold for casino and gaming applications compete based upon our ability to provide highly specialized products, custom engineering and ongoing technical support.
In the lottery market (consisting principally of on-line lottery transaction printing), we competed with other lottery printer providers such as Custom Engineering SPA, Star Micronics and Wincor Nixdorf. However, we exited the lottery market in 2019 and shifted our focus toward our higher-value, technology enabled food service technology and casino and gaming products.
In the oil and gas market, our Printrex® products compete primarily with the products of Imaging Systems Group, Inc. and Neuralog Inc. We compete in this market based largely on our ability to provide specialized, custom-engineered products.
The market in which TSG competes is highly fragmented, and we compete with numerous competitors of various sizes, including POS and internet resellers and paper converters depending on the geographic area.
Our strategy for competing in our markets is to continually develop and/or license new products (hardware and software), such as our launch of BOHA!TM in 2019, and product line extensions that are technologically advanced and provide differentiated features and functions, to increase our market penetration, to take advantage of strategic relationships, and to lower the cost of our products by sourcing certain products overseas. Although we believe that our products, operations and relationships provide a competitive foundation, there can be no assurance that we will compete successfully in the future. In addition, our products utilize certain thermal printing technologies and licensed software. If new technologies are introduced, or existing technologies evolve, we may be required to incorporate these technologies into our products. Alternatively, if such technologies were to become available to our competitors, our products could become obsolete, which could have a significant negative impact on our business.
Environmental Compliance
Our compliance with federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to environmental protection and discharge of hazardous materials has not had a material impact on our capital expenditures, earnings or competitive position, and we do not anticipate any material impact from such compliance in the future.
Available Information
We make available free of charge through the “Investor Relations” tab on our Internet website, www.transact-tech.com, our Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and all amendments to those reports and statements as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC pursuant to Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act. The SEC maintains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at http;//www.sec.gov. The content on any website referred to in this Form 10-K is not incorporated by reference in this Form 10-K unless expressly noted.
Employees
As of December 31, 2020, TransAct and our subsidiaries employed 112 persons, all of whom were full-time employees. None of our employees are unionized, and we consider our relationships with our employees to be good.
Information about our Executive Officers
The following is a list of the names and ages of all executive officers of the registrant, indicating all positions and offices with the registrant held by each such person and each person’s principal occupations and employment during at least the past five years.
Bart C. Shuldman has been Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the Company since its formation in June 1996. In February 2001, Mr. Shuldman was elected Chairman of the Board. Mr. Shuldman served as President of the Company from its formation until June 2010, when he relinquished the President title, to focus on new products and markets, international expansion and potential acquisitions.
Steven A. DeMartino was named as TransAct’s President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary on June 1, 2010. Previously, Mr. DeMartino served as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary from June 2004 to May 2010, Senior Vice President, Finance and Information Technology from October 2001 to May 2004, Vice President and Corporate Controller from January 1998 to October 2001, and Corporate Controller from August 1996 to December 1997. Mr. DeMartino is a certified public accountant.
Donald E. Brooks was appointed Senior Vice President of Engineering in April 2012. Previously, Mr. Brooks served as Vice President, Engineering from September 2004 to April 2012, Senior Project Engineer from February 1998 to September 2004, Project Engineer from June 1997 to February 1998, Director of Electrical Engineering from March 1986 to June 1997 and Manager of Electronic Development from December 1983 to March 1986.
Tracey S. Chernay was appointed Senior Vice President, Casino and Gaming Sales and Marketing in June 2010, with responsibility for the sales and marketing of all casino and gaming products. Previously, Ms. Chernay served as Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing from June 2007 to May 2010, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales, POS and Banking with the Company from July 2006 to June 2007, and joined TransAct in May of 2005 as Senior Vice President, Marketing. Prior to joining TransAct, Ms. Chernay was employed with Xerox Corporation where she held the role of Manager, Worldwide Marketing since 2003, and Manager, Sales Operations from 2000 to 2002. She joined Xerox Corporation in 1983.
Andrew J. Hoffman was appointed Senior Vice President, Operations for TransAct worldwide in November 2004. He served as Vice President, Operations from September 1994 to November 2004.
David B. Peters was appointed Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer on March 1, 2018. Previously, Mr. Peters served as Director, SEC and Financial Reporting since joining TransAct in March 2014. Prior to joining TransAct, Mr. Peters was employed with United Technologies Corporation from November 2006 to March 2014 where he served in various financial management positions. Mr. Peters is a certified public accountant.
Brent Richtsmeier was hired as Senior Vice President, Software Engineering on December 9, 2019 and appointed as an officer of the Company on January 11, 2021. Prior to joining TransAct, Mr. Richtsmeier was employed with Samsung as the VP of Development where he was responsible for software strategy, software development at scale and business development.
Raymond T. Walsh, Jr. was appointed Senior Vice President, Global Sales on February 27, 2019. Previously, Mr. Walsh served as Vice President, Global Sales since 2018. Mr. Walsh joined TransAct in 2006 and has held several sales positions of increasing responsibility with the Company. Prior to joining TransAct, Mr. Walsh served as the Senior Manager of Business Development at Nerac.
There are no family relationships between any of our executive officers and there is no arrangement or understanding between any of such officers and any other person pursuant to which he or she was selected as an officer. Each of our executive officers was elected by the Board of Directors to hold office until his or her successor is elected and qualified or until his or her earlier resignation or removal.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Investors should carefully consider the risks, uncertainties and other factors described below, as well as other disclosures in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, because they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, and growth prospects. The risks described below are not the only ones facing our Company. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us, or that we currently believe to be immaterial, may also impair our business operations. In the event that such risks or uncertainties materialize, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
We assume no obligation (and specifically disclaim any such obligation) to update these Risk Factors or any other forward-looking statements contained in this Form 10-K to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or other factors affecting such forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
Risks Related to our Business
We experienced a net loss in 2020, anticipate increasing expenses in the future, and we may not be able to achieve, maintain or increase profitability in the future.
We incurred a net loss of $5.6 million in 2020, we anticipate increasing expenses in the future, and we may not be able to achieve, maintain or increase profitability in the future. We expect our costs will increase over time and our losses to continue as we expect to invest significant additional funds towards growing our food service technology business and transitioning away from other lines of business. We have expended and expect to continue to expend substantial financial and other resources on developing our food service technology business, including expanding our offerings, developing or acquiring new products and services and increasing our sales and marketing efforts. These efforts may be more costly than we expect and may not result in increased revenue or growth in our food service technology business. Any failure to increase our revenue sufficiently to keep pace with our investments and other expenses could prevent us from achieving, maintaining or increasing profitability or positive cash flow on a consistent basis. If we are unable to successfully address these risks and challenges as we encounter them, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected. If we are unable to generate adequate revenue growth and manage our expenses, we may continue to incur significant losses in the future and may not be able to achieve, maintain or increase profitability
Our operating results and financial condition may fluctuate.
Our operating results and financial condition may fluctuate from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year and are likely to continue to vary due to a number of factors, many of which are not within our control. If our operating results do not meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors, who may derive their expectations by extrapolating data from recent historical operating results, the market price of our common stock will likely decline. Fluctuations in our operating results and financial condition may be due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to, those identified throughout this “Risk Factors” section:
Due to all of the foregoing factors, and the other risks discussed in this Form 10-K, quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our operating results may not be an indicator of future performance.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had, and is likely to continue to have, an adverse impact on our business, operations, financial condition, results of operations and capital resources, as well as on the operations and financial performance of many of our suppliers and customers. We are unable to predict the ultimate extent to which the pandemic and related effects will adversely impact our business, operations, financial condition, results of operations, capital resources and the achievement of our strategic objectives.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the numerous disease control measures being taken to limit the spread of COVID-19, we have experienced, and can be expected to continue to experience, disruptions to our business, our operations, the delivery of our products and customer demand for our products, including the following:
If we issue equity or debt securities to raise additional funding, our existing shareholders may experience dilution and we may incur significant financing costs. If we issue debt securities or otherwise incur additional debt, we would have additional debt service obligations, could become subject to additional restrictions limiting our ability to operate our business, and may be required to further encumber our assets.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve rapidly, and additional material impacts and disruptions may occur. The factors described above, which may worsen, have had and, along with other factors that we cannot predict, can be expected to continue to have, a material adverse impact on our business, operations, financial condition, results of operations and capital resources. The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company is highly uncertain and subject to change and will depend on future developments, which cannot be accurately predicted, including the duration of the pandemic, additional or modified government actions, new information that may emerge concerning the severity and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, newly identified strains of COVID-19, the rollout and effectiveness of vaccines and treatments and the actions taken to contain COVID-19 or address its impact in the short and long term, among others. We do not yet know and cannot predict the full extent of potential impacts on our business, operations, financial condition, results of operations and capital resources.
In addition, any of the risks and uncertainties set forth in this Form 10-K can be expected to be further heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic and have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and capital resources and the achievement of our strategic objectives
Our revenue and profitability depend on our ability to continue to develop or license, on a timely basis, new products and technologies which are free from hardware or software anomalies and cannot be fraudulently manipulated, and customer acceptance of such products.
Our success depends upon our and our development partners’ ability to timely adapt our capabilities and processes to meet the demands of producing new and innovative products. Because our newer products contain software and generally are more technologically sophisticated than those we have produced in the past, we must continually refine our capabilities to meet the needs of our product innovation. If we cannot efficiently adapt our infrastructure to meet the needs of our product innovations in a timely manner, our business could be negatively impacted.
In addition, even if we, or developers on our behalf, successfully develop such products, there is no assurance that our innovations will be accepted by our customers. Developing and marketing new products, such as our BOHA! ecosystem, is costly, and our business could be materially adversely affected if we are unable to generate sales of such products or if our existing or new customers do not quickly accept such products. Customer acceptance is crucial because new products typically have very little competition and market penetration due to their novelty. Although we develop new products with the input of our customers, which has contributed to the early success of BOHA!, customer acceptance is never assured and may take time to materialize. Further, technological innovation often results in unintended consequences such as bugs, vulnerabilities, and other system failures. Any such bug, vulnerability, or failure, especially in connection with a significant technical implementation or change, could result in lost business, harm to our brand or reputation, consumer complaints, and other adverse consequences, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We rely on an unrelated third party to develop, maintain and host certain portions of our food service technology software, and any disruption in the relationship with that third party, or any defects in the software provided by that third party, could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.
We rely upon third-party developed software and hosting services combined with our own proprietary hardware and software to offer our unique BOHA! branded solution to support back-of-house operations in the food service industry. Certain web-based food service application software and selected components of our downloadable software applications are licensed from a third-party developer on a non-exclusive basis through 2031 and are subject to a revenue sharing arrangement with the developer. We are reliant upon the third-party developer to further develop and maintain their developed software, and the developer controls the software source code. Therefore, presently, we are highly dependent on this third-party developer for continued service to our customers and the further development of our food service technology software products. If the software provider were to terminate operations or otherwise be unavailable to provide maintenance, hosting and development services to us and our customers, the availability or usage of our software products could be disrupted and our customers could be adversely affected. In any such case, we may need to seek comparable software and services from other third parties or develop it internally, which could require significant time and expense. There can be no assurance that such software or services would be available from other sources, or that if available, it would be of comparable quality and cost. Moreover, any efforts to develop new software, whether internal or by third parties, would require significant lead time, and there could be an interruption in service during any period in which the software provider ceases to provide products and services and new products remain under development. Any such occurrence could materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Any errors or defects in, or failures of, third-party software or applications could result in errors or defects in or failures of our food service technology products and services, which could be costly to correct and have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations
We compete in highly competitive markets, which are likely to become more competitive. Competitors may be able to respond more quickly to new or emerging technology and changes in customer requirements.
We face significant competition in developing and selling our printers, terminals, software, consumables and services. Our principal competitors have substantial marketing, financial, development and personnel resources. To remain competitive, we believe we must continue to provide:
We cannot ensure we will be able to compete successfully against current or future competitors. Increased competition may result in price reductions, lower gross profit margins and loss of market share, and could require increased spending on research and development, sales and marketing and customer support. Some competitors may make strategic acquisitions or establish cooperative relationships with suppliers or companies that produce complementary products, which may include relationships with our software developer. Any of these factors could reduce our earnings.
Our success will depend on our ability to sustain and manage growth.
As part of our business strategy, we intend to pursue a growth strategy. Assuming this growth occurs, it will require the expansion of customer relationships in international markets, the successful development and marketing of new products for our existing and new markets, expanded internal sales and marketing, customer service and support, and the continued implementation and improvement of our operational, financial and management information systems.
To the extent that we seek growth through acquisitions, our ability to manage our growth will also depend on our ability to integrate businesses that have previously operated independently. We may not be able to achieve this integration without encountering difficulties or experiencing the loss of key employees, customers or suppliers. It may be difficult to design and implement effective financial controls for combined operations and differences in existing controls for each business may result in weaknesses that require remediation when the financial controls and reporting functions are combined. As we pursue acquisitions, we may incur legal, accounting and other transaction related expenses for unsuccessful acquisition attempts that could adversely affect our results of operations in the period in which they are incurred.
There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully implement our growth strategy, or that we can successfully manage expanded operations, if they occur. As we expand, we may from time to time experience constraints that will adversely affect our ability to satisfy customer demand in a timely fashion. Failure to manage growth effectively could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
Material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting have been identified, and if we are unable to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, or our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to provide an unqualified report thereon, we could be materially adversely affected.
Material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting existed as of December 31, 2018 and 2019 regarding our internal controls over user access to ensure appropriate segregation of duties and to adequately restrict user access to appropriate personnel. Specifically, the provisioning and user recertification controls are not designed to ensure users maintain proper segregation of duties and therefore could have inappropriate access rights. Additionally, we identified a material weakness in controls over key spreadsheets supporting our accounting records as of December 2018 and 2019. Specifically, we did not design adequate controls to address the completeness and accuracy of information included in key spreadsheets. During 2020, we remediated the material weakness related to the provisioning and user recertification controls, but the material weakness related to key spreadsheets still exists as of December 31, 2020. As a result of the remaining key spreadsheet material weaknesses, management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2020.
Unless and until the material weakness has been remediated or should new material weaknesses arise or be discovered in the future, a material misstatement could occur and go undetected in our interim or annual consolidated financial statements. As a result, we may experience delays in fulfilling our reporting obligations or complying with federal securities laws, which could result in investigations and sanctions by regulatory authorities, including, but not limited to, the SEC, and may result in defaults or accelerations under our credit facility in the event that we are unable to timely file reports with the SEC, to the extent that in such an event, we are unable to obtain waivers from our lender. Any of these results could adversely affect our business and the value of our common stock.
We are dependent on sales to one large customer; the loss of this customer or reduction in orders from this customer could materially affect our sales.
Casino and gaming sales and lottery spare part sales to IGT represent a material percentage of our net sales. A reduction, delay or cancellation in orders from this customer, including reductions or delays due to market, economic, or competitive conditions in the industries in which we serve, could have a material adverse effect upon our results of operations.
General economic conditions could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.
Our business is subject to general economic conditions. Uncertainty or negative trends in U.S. or international economic and investment climates, including the impact of Brexit and recent developments in U.S.-China trade relations (discussed separately below), could adversely affect our business. For example, customers or potential customers could reduce or delay orders, key suppliers could become insolvent, which could result in production delays, and our customers may become insolvent or be unable to obtain credit. Any of these possible effects could impact our ability to effectively manage inventory levels and collect receivables, create unabsorbed costs due to lower net sales, and ultimately decrease our net sales and profitability including write-downs of assets.
Fluctuations in oil and gas prices could adversely affect drilling and exploration activities by oil and gas companies and our revenue in our Printrex market. If oil and gas prices remain volatile, or if oil or gas prices decline, the demand for our Printrex products could be adversely affected.
The demand for our Printrex products depends on the level of spending by oil and gas companies for drilling and exploratory activities, which are affected by short-term and long-term trends in oil and gas prices, including current and anticipated oil and gas prices. Oil and gas prices, as well as the level of drilling and exploration, historically have been extremely volatile and are expected to continue to be highly volatile. Further, oil prices may be impacted by continuing political and social attention to the issue of climate change, state regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, and executive orders, regulatory actions and/or legislation that the current presidential administration may pursue in furtherance of its stated priority to address climate change. If oil and gas prices decline, or if there is a reduction in drilling and exploration activities, the demand for our Printrex products could be materially and adversely affected.
If market conditions deteriorate or future results of operations are less than expected, a valuation allowance may be required for all or a portion of our deferred tax assets.
We currently have deferred tax assets, which may be used to reduce taxable income in the future. We assess the realization of these deferred tax assets on a quarterly basis, and if we determine that it is more likely than not that some portion of these assets will not be realized, an income tax valuation allowance is recorded. If market conditions deteriorate or future results of operations are less than expected, or there is a change to applicable tax rules, future assessments may result in a determination that it is more likely than not that some or all of our net deferred tax assets are not realizable. As a result, we may need to establish a valuation allowance for all or a portion of our net deferred tax assets, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We rely on distributors and resellers to sell our products and services.
We use a variety of distribution channels, including OEMs and distributors, to market and sell our products and services. We may be adversely impacted by any conflicts that could arise between and among our various sales channels.
Our dependence upon distributors and resellers exposes us to numerous risks, including:
We cannot guarantee that resellers will not reduce, delay or eliminate purchases from us, which could have a material adverse effect upon the business, consolidated results of operations and financial condition.
We are dependent upon two manufacturers located in China and Thailand for the manufacturing and assembly of our printers and terminals, and their operations were disrupted by the outbreak of COVID-19. The disruption adversely affected the Company’s business, financial conditions and results of operations, and any further or future disruption in their businesses or operations, such as those caused by political, social or economic instability, trade restrictions or tariffs, severe weather, additional public health crises and other events out of our control, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In an effort to achieve additional cost savings and operation benefits, we have outsourced substantially all of the manufacturing and assembly of our printers and terminals to two contract manufacturers located in China and Thailand. As a result, we are dependent on them for the manufacturing of our products, and any disruption in such manufacturing or the export of products from these manufacturers to the U.S. may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks affecting the businesses and operations of our two manufacturers in Asia include: political and regional strife; war; labor shortages; severe weather and natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, and floods; lengthy power outages; increased pricing, financial instability and capacity constraints of shippers; and concerns with or threats of public health crises, contagious diseases or health epidemics. The risk to our business posed by any disruption in manufacturing is exacerbated by the concentration of our manufacturing operations in two manufacturers both located in Asia.
In response to COVID-19, the Chinese government placed restrictions on travel and mandated business closures. Such restrictions and closures disrupted our supply chain by delaying product shipments from our contract manufacturers during 2020.
The ultimate impact of COVID-19 on our operations will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, including the duration of the outbreak and any resurgences, new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and newly identified strains, the rollout and effectiveness of vaccines and treatments and the actions to contain the virus or treat its impact, among others. Without the contract manufacturers continuing to manufacture our products and the continuing operation of the contract manufacturers’ facilities, we will have limited means for the final assembly of a majority of our products until we are able to secure the manufacturing capability at another facility or develop an alternative manufacturing facility, which could be costly and time consuming and have a material adverse effect on our operating and financial results.
We may also incur increased business continuity and reputational risks to the extent that we continue to outsource the manufacturing and assembly of our products to foreign third-party service providers. For example, outsourcing of manufacturing prevents us from exercising control over the assembly of certain of our products and related operations or processes, including the internal controls associated with operations and processes conducted and the quality of our products assembled by contract manufacturers. If we are unable to effectively manage and oversee our outsourcing strategy, we may not realize cost structure efficiencies and our operating and financial results could be materially adversely affected. Outsourcing also exposes us to increased risk of infringement or misappropriation of our intellectual property, to which our manufacturers have access. Because our manufacturers are located in Asia, there is no guarantee that our intellectual property rights will be protected or enforced to the same extent as under U.S. federal and state laws. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third-parties from developing or selling products made using our technologies.
Overestimates or underestimates in our manufacturing forecasts could cause us to hold excess inventory or result in delays in the manufacturing and delivery of our products, which could cause us to lose orders or customers.
If we fail to predict our manufacturing requirements accurately, we could incur additional costs or experience manufacturing delays, which could cause us to lose orders or customers and result in lower net sales. We currently use a rolling 12-month forecast based primarily on our anticipated product orders and our product order history to help determine our requirements for components and materials. It is very important that we accurately predict both the demand for our products and the lead-time required to obtain the necessary components and raw materials.
Lead times for materials and components that we order vary significantly and depend on factors such as the specific supplier, the size of the order, contract terms, and demand for each component at a given time. If we underestimate our requirements, we may have inadequate manufacturing capacity or inventory, which could interrupt manufacturing of our products and result in delays in shipments and net sales. If we overestimate our requirements, we could have excess inventory of parts and finished products. In addition, delays in the manufacturing of our products could cause us to lose orders or customers.
We purchase component parts and consumable products from third-party and sole source suppliers, and any interference with this supply chain may impact our ability to manufacture and sell our products.
We rely on third-party or sole source suppliers to provide certain key components for our products including BOHA! labels. We do not have guaranteed supply contracts with any of our component suppliers, and our suppliers could delay shipments, increase prices or cease manufacturing or selling such components to us at any time. A disruption in the supply of such component parts and consumable products could delay our production and/or the release of our new products and hinder our ability to meet our commitments to customers. If we are unable to obtain a sufficient quantity of these components on commercially reasonable terms or in a timely manner, or if we are unable to obtain alternative sources for the components, sales of our products could be delayed or halted entirely or we may be required to redesign our products. Any of these events could result in lost sales, reduced gross margins or damage to our end-customer relationships, which would have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial results.
In addition to maintaining offices in the UK and Macau, we sell and ship a significant portion of our products internationally and rely on third parties that make up our global salesforce. The international nature of our operations may expose us to certain risks associated with doing business outside of the U.S., including risks posed by the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, tariffs, and changes in trade relations.
We sell a significant amount of our products to customers outside the United States. Shipments to international customers are expected to continue to account for a material portion of net sales. In addition, our manufacturers and suppliers are largely located in Asia. As a result, our products are largely exported to one of our facilities in the United States, which makes our operations vulnerable to disruptions in trade that could adversely affect our business results.
Our international operations, including our reliance on manufacturers and suppliers located in Asia, our worldwide sales team, and our sales to customers located outside the United States, expose us to disruptions in trade and other associated risks such as:
Although we carry business interruption insurance to cover lost revenue and profits in an amount we consider adequate, this insurance does not cover all possible situations. In addition, the business interruption insurance would not compensate us for the loss of opportunity and potential adverse impact, both short-term and long-term, on relations with our existing customers resulting from our inability to produce products for them.
Our business could be adversely affected by actual or threatened terrorist attacks or the related heightened security measures, military actions and other efforts to combat terrorism.
Our business could be adversely affected by actual or threatened terrorist attacks or the related heightened security measures, military actions and other efforts to combat terrorism. It is possible that terrorist attacks could be directed at important locations for the gaming industry. Heightened security measures and other efforts to combat terrorism may also have an adverse effect on the gaming industry by reducing tourism. Any of these developments could also negatively affect the general economy and consumer confidence. Any downturn in the economy in general, or in the gaming industry in particular could result in a reduced demand for our products and could adversely affect our business and results of operations. In addition, heightened security measures may cause certain governments to restrict the import or export of goods, which may have an adverse effect on our ability to buy and sell goods.
We depend on key personnel, the loss of which could materially impact our business.
Our future success will depend in significant part upon the continued service of certain key management and other personnel and our continuing ability to attract and retain highly qualified managerial, technical and sales and marketing personnel. There can be no assurance that we will be able to recruit and retain such personnel. The loss of either Bart C. Shuldman, the Company’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, or Steven A. DeMartino, the Company’s President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary, or the loss of certain groups of key employees, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.
The inability to protect our intellectual property rights could harm our reputation, damage our business or interfere with our competitive position, and infringement on the intellectual property rights of others, or claims thereof, could put us at a competitive disadvantage, and any related litigation could be time consuming and costly.
Our intellectual property is valuable and provides us with certain competitive advantages. Copyrights, patents, trademarks, service marks, trade secrets, technology licensing agreements, nondisclosure agreements and contracts are used to protect these proprietary rights. Despite these precautions, it may be possible for third parties to copy aspects of our products or, without authorization, to obtain and use information which we regard as trade secrets.
In addition, prosecuting and defending infringement lawsuits is very expensive. We are committed to aggressively asserting and defending our technology and related intellectual property rights, which we have spent a significant amount of money to develop. Similarly, third-parties may claim, from time to time, that we have violated their intellectual property rights. To the extent of a violation of a third-party’s patent or other intellectual property right, we may be prevented from operating our business as planned and may be required to pay damages, to obtain a license, if available, or to use a non-infringing method, if possible, to accomplish our objectives. Any such claims could result in costly litigation and, if successful, could result in costly judgments or settlements.
The expense of prosecuting or defending any future infringement lawsuits could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Intellectual property litigation is generally complex, costly, protracted, and highly disruptive to business operations by diverting the attention and energies of management and key technical personnel.
We currently rely on third-party service providers to host our food service technology software and deliver certain services, and any interruptions or delays in services from these third parties could impair the delivery of our products and services, and our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
We rely on a third-party service provider to host our food service technology software. Third parties also provide services to key aspects of our operations, including Internet connections and networking, data storage and processing, trust and safety and security infrastructure. We do not control the operation, physical security, or data security of any of these third-party providers. Our efforts to use commercially reasonable diligence in the selection and retention of such third-party providers may be insufficient or inadequate to prevent or remediate such operational and security risks. Our third-party providers may be subject to intrusions, computer viruses, denial-of-service attacks, sabotage, acts of vandalism, acts of terrorism or other misconduct. They are vulnerable to damage or interruption from power loss, telecommunications failures, fires, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and similar events, and they may be subject to financial, legal, regulatory, and labor issues, each of which may impose additional costs or requirements on us or prevent these third parties from providing services to us or our customers on our behalf. In addition, these third parties may breach their agreements with us, disagree with our interpretation of contract terms or applicable laws and regulations, refuse to continue or renew these agreements on commercially reasonable terms or at all, fail to or refuse to process transactions or provide other services adequately, take actions that degrade the functionality of our platform and services, increase prices, impose additional costs or requirements on us or our customers, or give preferential treatment to our competitors. If we are unable to procure alternatives in a timely and efficient manner and on acceptable terms, or at all, we may be subject to business disruptions, losses, or costs to remediate any of these deficiencies. The occurrence of any of the above events could result in reputational damage, legal or regulatory proceedings, loss of customers or other adverse consequences, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Our food service technology business depends substantially on our customers renewing their subscriptions with the Company. Any decline in our customer renewals would harm our food service technology business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our subscription offerings are term-based, and in order for us to maintain or improve our results of operations, it is important that our customers renew their subscriptions with us when the existing subscription term expires and renew on the same or more favorable quantity and terms. Our customers have no obligation to renew their subscriptions and we may not be able to accurately predict customer renewal rates. Customers may elect not to renew their subscriptions with us for a variety of reasons, including as a result of changes in their strategic priorities, budgets and costs and, in some instances, due to competing solutions. Our retention rate may also decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of other factors, including our customers’ satisfaction or dissatisfaction with our solutions, the increase in the contract value of subscription and support contracts from new customers, the effectiveness of our customer support services, our pricing, the prices of competing products or services, global economic conditions and the other risk factors described herein. As a result, there can be no assurance that our food service technology customers will renew subscriptions. If our customers do not renew their subscriptions or renew on less favorable terms, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.
If we fail to offer high quality support, our business and reputation could suffer.
Our customers rely on us and our third-party service providers for support of our software and services included in our food service technology subscription packages. High-quality support is important for the renewal and expansion of our agreements with existing customers. The importance of high-quality support will increase as we expand our business and pursue new customers. If we or our third-party service providers do not help our customers quickly resolve issues and provide effective ongoing support, our ability to sell new food service technology products to existing and new customers could suffer and our reputation and relationships with existing or potential customers could be harmed.
Cyber-security and privacy breaches, cyber-attacks, or other disruptions could expose us to liability, affect our business, and damage our reputation.
We are increasingly dependent on our information technology systems and infrastructure for our business. We collect, store, and transmit sensitive information including intellectual property, proprietary business information and personal information in connection with business operations. The secure maintenance of this information is critical to our operations and business strategy. Some of this information could be an attractive target of criminal attack by third parties with a wide range of motives and expertise, including organized criminal groups, disgruntled current or former employees, and others. Cyber-attacks are of ever-increasing levels of sophistication, and despite our extensive security measures, our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to such attacks or may be breached, including due to employee error or malfeasance. Any such breach could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. If our systems become compromised, we may not promptly discover the intrusion. Like other companies in our industry, we have experienced attacks to our data and systems, including malware and computer viruses that we have been able to detect and eliminate. If our systems fail or are breached or disrupted, we could lose product sales, and suffer reputational damage and loss of customer confidence. Such incidents would require notification to affected individuals and may result in legal claims or proceedings and liability under federal and state laws that protect the privacy and security of personal information. Any one of these events could cause our business to be materially harmed and our results of operations to be adversely impacted.
We cannot provide any assurance that current laws, or any laws enacted in the future, will not have a material adverse effect on our business.
Our operations are subject to laws, rules, regulations, including environmental regulations, government policies and other requirements in each of the jurisdictions in which we conduct business. Changes in such laws, rules, regulations, policies or requirements could result in the need to modify our products and could affect the demand for our products, which may have an adverse impact on our future operating results. If we do not comply with applicable laws, rules and regulations we could be subject to costs and liabilities and our business may be adversely impacted.
Risks Related to our Indebtedness
The agreement governing our credit facility contains restrictions and limitations that could significantly affect our ability to operate our business, as well as significantly affect our liquidity.
The loan and security agreement (the “Loan Agreement”) governing the Siena Credit Facility contains a number of significant covenants that could adversely affect our ability to operate our business, our liquidity, and our results of operations. These covenants restrict, among other things, our ability, and the ability of any future domestic subsidiary, to:
Additionally, the Loan Agreement requires us to comply with a minimum EBITDA covenant, the amount of which is based on financial forecasts provided to the lender. The breach of any covenants or obligations in the Loan Agreement, if not otherwise waived or amended, could result in a default under the Loan Agreement and could trigger acceleration of our obligations thereunder and permit the lender to foreclose on the collateral securing our obligations under the Loan Agreement and exercise other rights of secured creditors.
Availability under the Siena Credit Facility is subject to a borrowing base, which is based on eligible accounts receivable and inventory. To the extent that our eligible accounts receivable and inventory decline in value, our borrowing base will decrease, and the availability under the Siena Credit Facility currently is and may continue to be less than its stated amount and may decrease. In addition, if at any time the amount of outstanding borrowings and letters of credit under that facility exceeds the borrowing base, we are required to prepay borrowings and/or cash collateralize letters of credit sufficient to eliminate the excess.
Our ability to comply with the covenants under the Loan Agreement or to maintain our borrowing base may be affected by events beyond our control, including deteriorating economic conditions and consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. For example, the minimum EBITDA covenant, as applicable to periods through March 31, 2021, is based on financial projections prepared before most COVID-19-related operating restrictions were put in place in the United States, and our actual EBITDA for any of those periods may be substantially less than projected in such forecasts. In such event, we may not be able to comply with the covenant. In addition, reductions in the value of accounts receivable and inventory have occurred and are likely to continue to occur due to decreases in sales and production that have occurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, certain slow-moving inventory and accounts receivable that remain unpaid for a specified period of time are excluded from the borrowing base calculation. Thus, a decline in economic conditions and/or a decline in the financial condition of customers in the industries we serve, such as the decline that has occurred in the casino and food service industries in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, has impacted and may continue to negatively impact the borrowing base both by decreasing the value of existing accounts and reducing the number and amount of new accounts. If we overestimate our inventory needs due to the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the duration of its impact on customer closures and economic conditions, we may have inventory that is considered slow-moving and thus excluded from the borrowing base calculation, and any reduction in production in response to decreased demand would also result in a lower inventory value and thus a lower borrowing base.
Any of these events could require us to seek waivers or amendments of covenants or alternative sources of financing or to reduce expenditures. We cannot assure you that such waivers, amendments or alternative financing could be obtained, or if obtained, would be on terms acceptable to us, or that we would be able to reduce expenditures enough to offset any decrease in the borrowing base, or that we could make such reductions without a material negative impact on our business.
We may not be entitled to forgiveness of our PPP Loan.
On May 1, 2020, the Company was granted the $2.2 million PPP Loan. The PPP Loan is unsecured and is evidenced by a note a dated the Loan Date (the “Note”) issued by the Company in favor of Berkshire Bank, as the lender (the “PPP Lender”). The Note has a two-year term. The PPP provides for forgiveness of up to the full amount borrowed as long as the Company uses the loan proceeds during the covered period following disbursement for eligible purposes as described in the CARES Act and related guidance. Under the CARES Act, loan forgiveness is generally available to the extent the PPP Loan was used, during the covered period, for payroll costs and costs to continue group health care benefits, as well as for interest on mortgage obligations incurred before February 15, 2020, rent under lease agreements in effect before February 15, 2020, utilities for which service began before February 15, 2020, and interest on debt obligations incurred before February 15, 2020 (“qualifying expenses”), subject to conditions and limitations provided in the CARES Act. We maximized usage of the proceeds from the PPP Loan for qualifying expenses during the applicable period. As of the date of this filing, we have not yet submitted an application for forgiveness.
Under the revised rules for the PPP, if we submit a forgiveness application within 10 months after the end of the covered period, we will not have to begin principal and interest payments before the date on which the SBA remits the loan forgiveness amount to the PPP Lender (or notifies the PPP Lender that no loan forgiveness is allowed). If no loan forgiveness is allowed, the Company will be required to pay the PPP Lender equal monthly payments of principal and interest based on the principal amount outstanding on the PPP Loan, plus interest outstanding at the end of the deferment period, and taking into account any reductions in the principal amount due to forgiveness, if any. We cannot provide any assurance that we will be eligible for loan forgiveness or that any amount of the PPP Loan will ultimately be forgiven by the SBA.
General Risk Factors
Our stock price may fluctuate significantly.
The market price of our common stock could fluctuate significantly in response to variations in quarterly operating results and other factors, such as:
In addition, the stock market may experience significant price fluctuations year-to-year. Broad market fluctuations, general economic conditions and specific conditions in the industries in which we operate may adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
Limited trading volume and a reduction in analyst coverage of our common stock may contribute to its price volatility.
The limited trading volume of our common stock may contribute to its price volatility. The trading market for our common stock also relies in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts may publish about us, our business, our markets and our competitors. We currently have limited analyst coverage. If securities analysts do not cover our common stock in the future, the lack of research coverage may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Furthermore, if one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our stock, or if those analysts issue other unfavorable commentary about us or our business, our stock price may decline.
Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Market. During the year ended December 31, 2020 the average daily trading volume for our common stock as reported by the Nasdaq Global Market was approximately 29,000 shares. We are uncertain whether a more active trading market in our common stock will develop. In addition, many investment banks no longer find it profitable to provide securities research on micro-cap and small-cap companies. As a result, relatively small trades may have a significant impact on the market price of our common stock, which could increase the volatility and depress the price of our common stock.
Our common stock is thinly traded, and investors may be unable to sell their shares at their desired prices, or at all, and sales of large blocks of shares may adversely affect the price of our common stock.
Our common stock has historically been sporadically or “thinly traded,” meaning that the number of persons interested in purchasing shares of our common stock at prevailing prices at any given time may be relatively small. This could lead to wide fluctuations in our share price. Investors may be unable to sell their common stock at or above their purchase price, which may result in substantial losses. As a consequence of this lack of liquidity, the trading of relatively small quantities of shares by our stockholders may disproportionately influence the price of shares of our common stock in either direction. The price of shares of our common stock could, for example, decline precipitously in the event a large number of shares of our common stock are sold on the market without commensurate demand, while an issuer with a more robust daily trading volume for its common stock might better absorb those sales without an adverse impact on its share price.
If we raise additional capital in the future, existing shareholder ownership interest in the Company could be diluted or otherwise adversely impacted, and future sales of our common stock or other financing arrangements may cause our stock price to decline.
In the future, we may sell additional shares of our common stock in public or private offerings, or we may obtain funds through a credit facility or by issuing debt or preferred securities. We may also issue additional shares of our common stock to finance future acquisitions. Shares of our common stock are also available for future issuance and sale pursuant to stock options and other equity awards that we have granted to our employees, and in the future, we may grant additional stock options, restricted stock units and other forms of equity compensation to our employees. Any issuance of equity we may undertake in the future to raise additional capital could cause the price of our common stock to decline, or require us to issue shares at a price that is lower than that paid by holders of our common stock in the past, which would result in those newly issued shares being dilutive. Sales of our common stock or the perception that such sales could occur may adversely affect prevailing market prices for shares of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through future offerings. The lenders under our existing debt agreements have rights that are senior to your rights as a common stockholder, and if we obtain funds in the future through a credit facility or through the issuance of debt or preferred securities, the lenders of such facility or the holders of such securities would likely also have rights senior to the rights of our common stockholders, which could impair the value of our common stock.
We take advantage of specified scaled disclosure requirements applicable to a “smaller reporting company” under Regulation S-K, and the information that we provide to stockholders may therefore be different than they might receive from other public companies. If some investors find our shares of common stock less attractive as a result of this scaled disclosure, there may be a less active trading market for our shares of common stock, which may increase the volatility of the market price of our common stock.
We are a “smaller reporting company,” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. As a smaller reporting company, we take advantage of specified scaled disclosure and other requirements that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies.
We intend to continue to take advantage of certain of the scaled disclosure requirements of smaller reporting companies and may continue to do so until we are no longer a smaller reporting company. We will cease to be a smaller reporting company if we have (i) more than $250 million in market value of our shares held by non-affiliates as of the last business day of our second fiscal quarter or (ii) more than $100 million of annual revenues in our most recent fiscal year completed before the last business day of our second fiscal quarter and a market value of our shares held by non-affiliates more than $700 million as of the last business day of our second fiscal quarter. We choose to take advantage of some but not all of these scaled disclosure requirements; therefore, the information that we provide stockholders may be different than one might get from other public companies. Further, if some investors find our shares of common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our shares of common stock and the market price of such shares of common stock may be more volatile.