Legend Power Systems Inc. ($LPS)

Okay. Randy, it looks like everybody has transitioned successfully. So you may begin.

Welcome to Legend Power Systems Fiscal Q2 2026 Investor Call. I'm Randy Buchamer, Legend's CEO. We're pleased to have you join us today to discuss our corporate progress, financial results for Q2, which for the 3 months ending March 31, 2026. Please note that certain statements in this call may be forward-looking in nature. These include statements involving known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. For more information about Legend's forward-looking statements and risk factors, please see our management discussion and analysis, which is filed on SEDAR under our company profile at sedar.ca. I'm joined by Paul Moffat, our COO and CFO; and Mike Cioce, VP, Sales and Marketing. Paul will provide an update on the various operational units under his leadership. And Mike will talk obviously about our sales progress. During our last IR call, Mike discussed the extraordinary challenges that were affecting sales last year and into fiscal 2026. And I'll update you on the progress and results addressing challenges over the last 60 days. And during our last IR call, we stated we were experiencing product skepticism and deal delay as prospects were reluctant to place orders solely on energy savings alone. We've made very strong progress addressing this challenge. We've always evolved and refined our value proposition positioning based on our prospects and customers feedback and sales funnel pushback. Our positioning modifications were needed to directly address the skepticism we encountered from prospects, specifically relating to quantifying and defending the nonenergy value Smart gate. To solve these challenges, we have been executing a focused three-pronged approach. Firstly, we've been tightening the linkage to nonenergy financial benefits being maintenance, repair, asset life and capital replacement. Secondly, we've been using and establishing credible third-party validation, including industry partner data partner derived data sets and an Oakridge labs report to support our methodology. We've also been leveraging actual customer operating and financial data to demonstrate real-world impact which has been very, very positive. With the updated positioning and validation framework largely in place and early customer prospect discussions resulting in orders, we see a path to deal progression resulting in weeks and not quarters for qualified prospects. The proof that our enhanced messaging is working is the 12 systems ordered in May coming from our pipeline and reseller channels. We expect the continued value proposition refinement and execution leading to shortened sales cycles, higher buyer conviction and more consistent deal conversion. Mike will provide better detail on new approach and the very positive immediate quarter results. And also discussed during our last IR call, we discussed that we're having an environment of tight cash for the last couple of years and fiscal 2026 Q2 was also a tight task quarter. We continue to make the necessary expense and operational cost reductions to keep our momentum going, including having several leadership members accepting reduced salaries, production layoffs and reducing our monthly operating cost on a cash basis to less than $150,000 per month, a significant cost saving from a year ago. Paul will talk about that. We also continued to lower our component costs, increase our system margins. And after substantial reviews and conducted to source new vendors or improve our pricing to reduce our COGS. We expect to achieve 50% margins during the year and after the last quarter, we're well on our way to that. We obviously see and share with you that we have a bright legend future, and the Legend team is absolutely committed to making Legend Power a success story. Paul, please provide the operational update.

Great. Thanks, Randy. I'll start off with some of the financial updates, and we'll get into operations. We saw revenue fairly flat quarter-over-quarter at $545,000 compared to $523,000 from the prior, basically from additional SmartGate sales in the quarter, but also from growth in our service and recurring maintenance revenues, which is a great great add-on for our strategies and our future growth. Our gross margins, as Randy implied, have improved dramatically, and we're on our way to 50% realization coming up in the future. We hit in Q1 and Q2. So for the last 6 months, 41%, and that's compared to 21% in the same 6 months of fiscal 2025. Compared to prior, it's primarily due to reduced material costs as some of our cost of goods sold improvements have actually come into play and we continue to work on those improvements. So I expect to see another significant change over the next 3 or 4 months and then the commensurate improvement in our gross margins. Our operating expenses for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 were $658,000 compared to over $1 million in the same quarter of fiscal '25. And again, as Randy mentioned, we're currently seeing monthly operating costs as low as $145,000. And that's due to lower headcount, salaries and consulting costs that have reduced along with other internal cost-cutting measures. In operations, we have 2 systems remaining in backlog from prior orders, and we are now currently preparing our MRP, our material requirements for the new orders that we've just received. Cash management continues to be a top priority. Account receivable from backlog, our new deposits just 50% of all new wins will support our ongoing operational costs. Inventory has dropped approximately $200,000 over the last quarter as our backlog is processed and shipped. And the operating expenses, as I mentioned, have reduced from prior quarter at $210 per month down to the under $150,000 per month that we're now seeing. We continue to monitor cash and cost-cutting opportunities closely and are preparing for the material and production ramp ahead. Thank you. I'll pass it over to Mike.

Paul, I appreciate that. And just building on both Randy and Paul's comments over the last several quarters, we've been highly focused on solving what had become a significant commercial adoption challenge for market. As we discussed on our prior calls, many prospects understand the operational issues associated poor power quality and operating outside the equipment design conditions. But the challenge is really helping customers confidently quantify and defend a broader non-energy financial impacts. Specifically around maintenance, reliability, equipment life and premature capital replacement and the significant associated unbudgeted capital spends that come along with that. That was the core reason behind our shift in positioning and the implementation of the 3-pronged strategy that Randy outlined earlier. First, again, we tightened the linkage between voltage conditions and non-energy financial impacts. Second, we really focused on expanding the use of third-party operational and infrastructure data sets leveraging our key strategic partners and industry relationships. And then third, we will leverage actual operating and real financial data from existing SmartGate deployments and customers to strengthen the real-world validation framework. So importantly, the updated position and validation framework is now largely in place and that's what's most encouraging is that we are beginning to see measurable commercial validation that the shift is working. As you know, yesterday, we did announce over $1.3 million in orders, representing 12 small gate sales across government expansion opportunities, reseller channels and existing customer expansion and pipeline reactivation. And again, importantly, that one of these opportunities had previously been installed and was later reactivated following the customer's review of our updated capital infrastructure risk assessment framework and new supporting operational analysis. From a commercial standpoint, that is an extremely important proof point for us. What we're seeing now is materially improved customer alignment, around the broader operational and financial impact that SmartGate offers with stronger credibility resulting in stronger commercial engagement and improving our deal progression. We are also seeing validation across multiple parts of the business simultaneously. We are seeing existing customers continue to expand SmartGate deployments following operational experience with their SmartGates, we're seeing reseller and channel engagement strengthen. And we're seeing previously delayed opportunities begin moving forward again. And importantly, these are exactly the outcomes we are hoping to drive through the updated position positioning and strategy. So beyond the immediate revenue impact, each of these deployments also represents a meaningful strategic foothold. Historically, many of our customer relationships started with a relatively small initial deployments that then later expanded substantially over time, often measured in multiples of the original deployment side. And importantly, we still have several additional market opportunities, we believe could close in the very near term representing additional SmartGate deployments. Again, more importantly, many of these opportunities also represent portfolio scale expansion potential when the initial deployments to perform as expected. One of the most important components supporting this broader positioning shift continues to be the ongoing GSA and Oak Rags National Laboratory proven ground initiative. And we're pleased to announce that we term reporting results. And what's exciting is those preliminary findings show that the building was regularly operating 32 to 35 volts above optimized equipment nameplate conditions during normal utility operations. And when the SmartGate was engaged, the voltage was maintained in 1 to 2 volts of equipment nameplate, and that's creating a dramatically more stable and efficient operating environment. Again, what's also exciting is that using the standard electrical loss modeling, those elevated voltage conditions translate to somewhere between 14% and 16% higher thermal stress on the building systems which is roughly equivalent to about a 7-degree Celsius and operating severity. And the reason why that's important is because under the widely accepted Iraniusaging principle, 10 degrees of heat added reduces material life and systems by 50%. -- so Oak Ridge is also acknowledging that these operation conditions contribute to premature repair and replacement activity across their building systems in their portfolio. So importantly, this continues to reinforce the central thesis behind the updated SmartGate value proposition, and it's quite simple above equipment design levels increased heat accelerates material degradation and accelerated degradation increases repair activity, operating expense and premature capital replacement. So in addition to the operating condition improvements, the preliminary M&B conducted by Ocanational lab, also demonstrated a 2.6% energy savings and I also saw a eagerness total demand reductions of between 2% and 4%, with peak demand reductions approaching 25% during the test period. But again, importantly, the significance of these findings is not simply energy savings or demand reduction. The larger takeaway has demonstrated ability to materially improve the operating conditions of critical building infrastructure with direct implications for reliability, maintenance costs, operational stability and long-term asset life. On the broader pipeline front, activity levels continue to improve. We certainly have several opportunities. We believe we'll close in the near term for additional smart gate systems. Again, more importantly, many of these opportunities represent portfolio scale customers where initial deployments are intended as entry points and a much larger follow-on expansion opportunities over time. Lastly, some of you have been following our progress on the GSA multiple award schedule. And I'll give a quick update on that. We have now completed approximately 80% to 90% of the required work on our side and a meaningful amount of processing work has also been done -- completed within the GSA -- and based on our current discussions, we believe there are likely only 2 to 3 steps remaining prior to finalization. So overall, we believe the combination of a tighter commercial positioning, third-party validation and real-world operating results is now translating into measurable commercial traction. The recent 12-system order activity, stalled deal reactivation, growing reseller engagement and expanding customer deployments all support our view that the market is increasingly understanding the broader financial and operational value of Smart gate. And importantly, we believe these initial wins represent the early stages of a much larger portfolio expansion ahead of us. So Randy, I'll turn it back to you.

Thank you, Paul. Thank you, Mike. And congratulations, guys, on a great -- a lot of good work went on in the quarter and great results on the sales side. So I appreciate it. Alternative energy growth, increased problems with the grid and the insatiable demand for more power at higher costs, ensure that our solutions have a huge marketplace. We have a proven technology, a growing pipeline, a significant May order flow and a clear path to additional strong revenue growth over the next few years. Legend Power Systems is poised to redefine the future of power optimization. The Legend Power team is extremely positive about Legend's future. We're each committed to making Legend Power a leading power management company. We thank you shareholders for your continued trust and partnership as we continue this remarkable journey that we're on. We would be pleased at this time to take your questions.

Yes. At the bottom of the screen, you'll see the question-and-answer tab. If you do have any questions, please click on that and enter your questions into there. We did have a question that came up, Randy, about the smart gate intellectual property and protection as well as a specific potential competitive device, which is the hit Hammond Power DT filters. So if you want to handle the protection, I'll handle the specific question on that.

Well, I mean, to start up, we don't have a direct competitor. We've seen that in all kinds of RFPs, et cetera. We're well protected on our patents. Those have multiyear on the process, actually, not just on the absolute apparatus and device, but the actual process of how we go about taking energy data and actual power and process it into meaningful information and actually change the profile and the energy to improve the power in the building. So we're in great shape there. And again, we -- from all the different accounts we've had, you look at the GSA, you look at IKEA went worldwide when we get to Joe. We do not have a direct competitor that does what we do. And I think, Mike, I'm sorry to answer a bit of what you were going to do, so I'll stop there.

Yes, absolutely. And related to that particular piece of equipment, and this is one of the things that we find that, again, very common is that that particular piece of equipment that was referenced is designed to protect a specific piece of equipment. So that's the fundamental difference that SmartGate enables when you put SmartGate in a building and protects everything on the service. So those individual one-off pieces get incredibly expensive as you start deploying them on individual pieces of equipment were legend power compared to technology just really focused on solving everything for the entire building. So again, we are -- we continue to have a strong leadership position there.

Right. Also the next question, Dicker regarding the Oak Ridge labs report. And Mike, I think you've got some news there. Would you like to share that?

Yes. On the National Labs report, again, we have the preliminary findings. The preliminary findings are not published on the website. We are allowed to share those and to talk about it. But the formal report will be still coming in the September, October time frame. But again, we have some tremendous results so far from the preliminary report, and we will certainly be discussing all of those and all of our active sales opportunities.

Yes. And I think the point I would add to that, Mike, is we received the preliminary report this week and we are allowed to use it, just not publicized at this point until they finish the report. So again, when we do finish that report, that will be closer to more of the September, October where we can use their logo and use it as actually a sales tool. However, nothing stops us from talking about the progress, results and the report with any customers and prospects on an ongoing basis. Mike, the question we also have is the -- you mentioned, there's the 2 or 3 steps relating to the GSA approval. Horst, thank you for the question. He would like to know when approval will be completed.

Yes. And I certainly don't want to sound too glib on this, but if I could predict the pace of the federal government. I would be a very wealthy man. But unfortunately, the -- it is difficult to predict. When we look -- when we talk to the people that have been through this before, they indicate that the total time frame elapsed from where we are, could be 60, 90 to 120 days. We really don't have there's no way to predict exactly where that's going to be. But again, we are well through the process, and we do expect that to come through shortly.

Yes. I think the only thing I would add there, Mike, is that we have been seeing things like when the government stopped paying their people, things like that, that have held things up. So there's always those things that are outside or anomalies. -- but we do believe we're pretty far along the process, and we're looking for some good feedback over the next short while. Also on a taking about the 3-pronged validation for nonenergy savings. And he's wondering if there is any particularly 1 of the aspects that customers find most valuable.

It is different for each customer, but I will say that having the breadth of the new IP is incredibly helpful because 1 of the things that we're doing now is rather than just saying generically, it covers everything in the building. we're actually able to break it down on a system-by-system basis and seeing that breakdown on a system-by-system basis really helps drive the point home because they can say, yes, I do spend out on light. Yes, I do spend on an HVAC, Yes, I do spend on elevated. So giving that level of detail has been very helpful. And then also knowing that it's anchored in and credible third-party research is definitely helpful. And again, seeing the actual results from existing customers. So it really is a 1, 2, 3 punch that's working out quite well.

There's another question about Oak Ridge. I think we've answered it that we are allowed to share it with our customers, and we have full capability to do so. So that's just a reanswer the question Derek asked another question about the MAS. -- basically just saying that it's taken some time and is the lack of the MSA schedule at this point delaying other meaningful sales across government. The answer is yes. Obviously, we've stated from a federal civil point of view, there's some very large deals and relationships we have that we we were looking to get the MES validation. So it has, and it will affect those sales cycles. But the good news is once we get that, the significant opportunities open right up. And maybe we can focus on that, Mike, with concluding on the MES, what that means from a sales perspective.

Yes. The implications of the MAS are wide reaching for sure. Not only does it give -- for example, what we're going through with the GSA on the technology proving ground, has already indicated -- has already brought forth additional opportunities that they want to purchase. So getting the MAS in place will definitely accelerate the Federal acquisition. But it also -- virtually every state and municipal agency can also leverage the MAS framework to move forward with SmartGate purchases. So that's going to be a massive accelerator for us with some of the agencies that we've been working with, for example, with the city of New York. -- as well as with some of the other public -- public agencies that we've been working with. So again, a widespread benefits from that MAS deployment.

And then there's another question about really production capabilities with the potential obviously of hundreds of more SmartGates active in the process. Can we handle that demand? And we could ask this quite a bit, and then you're Paul, you can add to this. But I would say that we always look at ways to improve our production. We have plans to address the forecast that over the next 12 months. We always look out for outsourcing opportunities or ways to do things better. And we feel that we are well prepared as that need comes into effect to address any production requirements and expansion that we have. Our current facility, obviously, can address our forecast for the next 12 to 18 months. And again, with outsourcing partners, they would be keen to help us with that. Anything you want to add to that, Paul?

No. Excellent answer, Randy. You hit it on the nose. Yes, we're completely capable. One of the advantages is that it's a very low capital-intensive operation. Basically, the test platform is what is our gates, and it doesn't cost a lot of money. We can produce 30, 40 units a month with around-the-clock production in our current facility. And as Randy mentioned, we've had lots of discussions with outsourcing partners on their help as well. So we're well prepared to meet these kind of numbers in under a year. We can ramp that up with just people, arms and legs, nuts and bolts and small hand tools. So it's all scale. It's all ready to go.

Yes. The only thing I would add to that, Paul, and we won't get the numbers right now, but obviously, you see some significant improvement with volume on the costing side, et cetera. So we welcome that. We would welcome the if you want to call it a problem, I'll take it every day of significant sales growth. And hopefully, Mike can hold us accountable for that. So we're in good shape is the answer. Jonathan is asking a bit about the units that were sold, a ballpark, Mike, on the total potential units across these customers -- maybe just give us a flavor on what you see is that in the pipeline and potential.

Yes, absolutely. When we look at our -- there's a couple of aspects to that. We have our direct sales efforts, and then we also have our channel sales efforts. When we look at our direct sales efforts, we really focus on organizations that can potentially buy dozens to hundreds of smart gates with the whole idea of getting the initial deployments and a lot of the rents and repeat for portfolio-wide deployment. So when we look at those onesie, those could easily go to multiple dozens to hundreds over the coming years. So from that standpoint, very strong growth there. When we look at our partnership and our partner strategy. Every sale that they have gives more success. Again, most of these customers -- most of these partners that we're working with have hundreds if not thousands of customers. So when we look at it from a standpoint of every one of those wins potentially leading to more wins and significant more wins, it really is a very strong path for growth there. So we can definitely see a path to transition those from onesie, twosies to dozens to hundreds over the coming years.

Looking forward to seeing those 100s by the way refund.

As we all are.

Absolutely. Horst, I also asked the question a bit about the nonenergy calculator. And what he wants to know is, is it still being fine-tuned. Is it now fully functional? Is it being used?

Yes, it's fully functional now. We do have a refresh cycle on that. So as we come across new information or new calculations or customer feedback, we're -- we are deploying that into it. I think we're on the third version of that that's deployed on the website today. And yes, we are absolutely including this in every proposal that goes out. what we're actually able to do is to take those building metrics and be able to show them if we say that a building is looking at easily $5 million to $7 million worth of unbudgeted capital spend. the tools designed to not only show them where that comes from, specifically what systems, but also it's designed to show them what that cash flow looks like over the coming years and over the life expectancy of this market. So that does generate a very strong net present value calculation, and it does -- the tool itself actually builds all of that. and shows that for customers. So we are actively using that in every sales cycle in every presentation we make.

Yes, absolutely. At this time, we've answered the questions that were submitted. Any additional questions appears -- we'll move on in questions and thank you for the questions that were submitted. We're excited. The pipeline is growing. We're closing deals and deals are becoming larger, and we're seeing a lot of multiple year opportunities with electric grid in the U.S. and grid with all the increased power quality challenges due to aging infrastructure, growing renewable penetration, rising demand for electrification, data centers, et cetera. This start introducing significant power quality issues commonly referred to as dirty power or power quality challenges driving demand for smart Gate solutions. We obviously are excited about where we're going. We're focused on achieving our sales objectives. We're closely managing cash with reduced operating costs and securing sales deposits. The recent orders have given us some good confidence that our enhanced value proposition is, in fact, getting exactly what we had hoped it would hit. We believe the future looks incredibly strong for Legend Power and our stakeholders. Again, we thank you for your patience. We look forward to sharing many Legend Power success stories with you. And for everyone, have a great legendary day. And for those in the U.S., a nice long weekend. Thank you.