Snipp Interactive Inc. ($SPN)

Okay, let's start. Malcolm, just checking, can you hear me all right?

I can hear you perfectly.

Okay. Good morning. Welcome to the Snipp Interactive First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that today's call is being recorded. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that today's call contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements are based on our current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, please refer to our public filings available on SEDAR and our Investor Relations website. We do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during this call, except as required by law. On the call with me is Malcolm Davidson, our Interim CFO. I will walk through the highlights of Q1 2026 and our forward outlook, and then Malcolm and I will take your questions. Before I get into the numbers, I want to set the frame for everything I'm going to say this morning. In May, I told you that 2025 was a deliberate transition year for Snipp and that 2026 would be the year we did the operational work to get to an EBITDA inflection in 2027. Q1 is consistent with that plan. The transition is on track. The leading indicators are pointing in the right direction, and we have added one new chapter to the story, which I will spend a meaningful part of this call on, and that is the speed at which we are now integrating AI across every part of the business. Let me give you the numbers and start by addressing the soft side of the quarter directly because you'll have all read the release. Revenue in Q1 2026 was $5 million compared to $6.4 million in Q1 2025, a decline of approximately 21%. The decline reflects the same macroeconomic headwinds we described on not only the May call, but also on previous calls. This impact of tariff-driven brand budget caution and general macroeconomic uncertainty resulted in continued program timing deferrals, coupled with a softer consumer spending environment. Those headwinds have lag effects, especially on our short-term promotions business, and that can be seen in the lower recognized revenue for the first quarter. If anything, the uncertainty in client decision-making has intensified, but at the same time, we continue to sell well into our long-term recurring clients who have existing multiyear programs with us as is evident in our record backlog. In a nutshell, clients with existing long-term recurring loyalty and rebate programs continue to double down on their investments, while other clients that run programs against promotion calendars continue to be more conservative in their decision-making of when to spend. EBITDA in Q1 2026 was a negative $0.3 million compared to positive $0.3 million in Q1 of the last year. That is a swing of approximately $600,000, and it is almost entirely driven by the revenue decline I just described. Importantly, the gross margin percentage was essentially flat, 59% in Q1 2026 versus 60% in Q1 2025, which tells you the underlying platform economics are intact. This is not a margin compression story. This is a revenue timing story. And let me name the cost discipline numbers next to these soft revenue numbers because they matter. Salaries and compensation are down approximately 6% year-over-year, campaign infrastructure costs down 20%, marketing costs down 36%, travel down 58%. The cost actions we implemented in late 2025 are now visible across the P&L. We said we would tighten the cost base, and we did. Now I want to spend a moment on the single most important number in the release. Our bookings backlog at March 31, 2026, was $20.6 million, the highest first quarter backlog in Snipp's history, up 15% year-over-year and up 13% sequentially from year-end. Let me put the $20.6 million into context because the headline number alone does not do it justice. First, $20.6 million is more than 4x the revenue we recognized in Q1 2026. That is contracted future revenue signed on the balance sheet and on its way into the revenue line over the coming quarters. Second, this number reflects signed customer contracts only. It does not include global commitments. It does not include letters of intent. It does not include pipeline opportunities. We make this disclosure choice deliberately because we want our backlog metric to mean exactly what it says, contracted future revenue, nothing softer. Third, the backlog is up year-over-year and up sequentially in a quarter where revenue went down. This is the fingerprint of a business doing exactly what we said it would do in May, shifting from one-off campaign revenue into multiyear contracted relationships. The mix is moving in the direction the strategy says it should. Our deferred revenue tells the same story. Deferred revenue at the end of Q1 was $6.9 million, up $1.4 million from year-end, a 27% increase in 1 quarter. That is -- that is a leading indicator of revenue that is already contracted and being earned through service delivery. Moving on to the balance sheet. Cash at the end of Q1 was $6.1 million compared to $3.4 million at year-end. That increase reflects the net proceeds of the senior secured convertible debenture financing we closed in February, led by Shen Capital. This is the strongest year opening cash position Snipp has had in years. It funds the operating plan. It funds the AI investment that I'm about to describe, and it gives us strategic flexibility on top of that. I told you the bookings backlog is the most important number in this release. Now let's focus on the most important strategic initiative inside Snipp right now, and it is something that I have been personally spending a meaningful portion of my time on since the May call. We are aggressively applying AI to every aspect of our business. I want to be specific about what that means because the word AI gets used very loosely on earnings calls. On the sales side, we're using AI to accelerate the responses we deliver to client RFPs and to deepen the quality of those responses. We're using AI to demo our receipt validation capabilities live in front of prospects in ways that were not possible 6 months ago. The feedback from clients has been nothing short of excitement of the capabilities we have demonstrated, especially around fraud mitigation. On the product side, we're using AI to dramatically compress the time from idea to prototype. Engineering tasks that used to take weeks now take days. That speed will show up in our pipeline and the responsiveness of our service offering. On the operational side, we are planning on using AI to streamline how we deliver campaigns, how we process receipts at scale and how we manage the life cycle of every program we run. On the engineering side, while we're already using AI to write code, review code, test code and ship code faster, the fundamental productivity gains of the engineering organization are yet to flow through to our financials. If we execute on this AI integration the way we are planning to, and we are moving hard and fast, by the end of 2026, Snipp will be a meaningfully different company when measured from the perspective of cost structure. That is what is going to drive the EBITDA conversation in 2027 more than any other single line item cost action we take this year or in past years. I want to be careful here. I'm not putting a specific dollar number on this call. We will tell you what the AI transformation is delivering when we can point to it in the P&L, not before. But I want you to understand that this is the central operating priority of the company right now and it's happening in real time. Let me give you the forward picture in plain language. The macroeconomic environment is what it is. We do not control client budgets, and we are not going to forecast our way out of the macro on this call. What we control, the cost base, the AI integration, the disciplined execution against backlog, the deepening of customer relationships, we are executing on quarter-by-quarter. Backlog continues to grow. Multiyear contracts continue to anchor the forward book. Deferred revenue continues to convert into recognized revenue on schedule. The cost actions taken in late 2025 are flowing through the P&L. The AI investment will start to compound. Q1 is consistent with the path to inflection we described in May. The leading indicators, backlog, deferred revenue, cash position, cost trajectory are all moving in the right direction. The lagging indicators, revenue and EBITDA will follow because that is how this kind of business works. Let's move over to Malcolm for his comments. Malcolm?

Thank you, Atul, and good morning, everyone. Let me walk you through the Q1 numbers. Some of this has already been described by Atul, but I'll add a bit more color to it where I can. Revenue was $5.05 million, down 21% from Q1 2025. This reflects the macro headwinds we described in May, tariff-driven budget caution and program timing deferrals from a small number of large clients. That's the top line story. However, there are 3 numbers that tell a different story. Gross margin held at 59%, essentially flat to last year's 60%. When revenue falls 21% and margin is stable, that tells you that the underlying platform economics are intact. The cost of delivering our services moved in line with lower volumes. That really matters. The cost reductions we implemented in 2025 are now being seen across various items in the P&L. Salaries and compensation was down 6% year-over-year, campaign infrastructure down 20%, marketing and investor relations down 30% and travel was down 58%. These reductions reflect commission restructuring, rationalization of underperforming go-to-market structures and workforce optimization. We said we tightened the cost base, and we did it. Our discipline is real. EBITDA was negative $0.27 million compared to a positive $0.3 million last year, a swing of $583,000. Almost all of that swing is driven by revenue decline. The revenue structure -- sorry, the margin structure did not erode. Cash is $6.1 million, up $3.4 million at year-end. That's the strongest year opening positive position we've had in years, and it was funded by senior secured convertible debentures that we closed in February of 2026, led by Shen Capital. This funds our operations, our AI investment and gives us strategic flexibility heading into the second half of 2026. Now to the 2 numbers that tell you where this business is heading. Booking backlog has reached $20.6 million at quarter end. That's a record first quarter backlog up 15% year-over-year and up 13% from year-end. More importantly, it's more than 4x the revenue we recognized in Q1. This is contracted revenue signed agreements on the balance sheet and on their way to the revenue line in coming quarters. Deferred revenue is $6.9 million, up $1.4 million, 27% from year-end. This is contracted revenue already earned through ongoing service delivery. It is a leading indicator that tells you what's coming into the revenue line in future quarters. Both backlog and deferred revenue grew while near-term revenue was soft. That's not a coincidence. That's the fingerprint of the transition we described in May, shifting from one-off campaigns to multiyear contracted relationships. The revenue mix is moving in the right direction. The deferred revenue pool of $6.9 million will convert to recognized revenue through Q2, Q3 and Q4. The bookings backlog of $20.6 million will convert over a longer horizon. This cost structure is tighter, our cash position is stronger and the leading indicators are pointing in the right direction. I will now turn the call back over to Atul for closing remarks. Atul, are you there? I think you're on mute.

Yes. Sorry about that. Thank you, Malcolm. I want to close on the same note I closed on in May because I think it's even more true today than it was then. The numbers in front of you describe where Snipp has been, the decisions behind those numbers, the multiyear contracts we are signing, the cost base we are reshaping, the AI transformation we are running hard at. Those decisions describe where Snipp is going. In May, those decisions were a plan. Today, 3 months -- a month later, they are visible in the backlog, in the balance sheet and the cost line items of the P&L. Q1 was the quarter we stopped talking about AI, something Snipp would do and started doing it across the business. By the end of 2026, we intend to be a structurally different company, leaner, faster, more recurring revenue anchored and more profitable on the margin than the company you analyzed a year ago. That is the work. We are doing it. And with that, we can end the formal comments and move to Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Dan.

So my first question was just around the cost initiatives. You mentioned some initiatives around infrastructure and driving costs down there. I was wondering if you could provide a little more color or detail on what exactly are the drivers there supporting margin improvement.

So I think -- look, I think there's a complete revolution going on in the world today if you implement AI the right way. So as I said in my formal comments, we don't want to point to a dollar number yet, but it's pretty transformational for what we can do and what we are doing with implementing AI across the board. If you look at our financials, you'll see our biggest line item of cost is really people. And we have the opportunity here to make our business much, much more productive, which will result in a tremendous number of gains across the board. So I'm kind of being vague right now, Dan, I'm sorry, but there's a huge impact here on how we can operate at a much lower cost level. I'll just leave it at that. There's a people impact. There's a process impact. There's a time to bringing product to market impact. There's obviously an infrastructure optimization impact, and we're working through all of those in a very structured fashion. And that's part of what I talked about last conference call a month back. Some of those plans have now started being implemented. So we'll see it towards the back half of the year, like I said on my call last time.

Okay. And so then maybe speaking to the sales motion, nice to see the backlog strength, and you spoke to kind of the quality of the backlog. I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit more about how that sales motion has changed. And so how it is that you're improving that quality, just some of the drivers there in terms of securing longer-term higher-margin business.

Yes. So we are consciously focused on moving towards more longer-term recurring revenue implementation streams. We have the same client with 2 types of potential opportunities, right? The short-term promotions that we launched, Mother's Day, Father's Day, back-to-school, Christmas, New Year's, Hanukkah, et cetera, et cetera, the 80 promotion windows that exist. The other part of the business are more longer-term, always-on programs such as loyalty programs or ongoing rebate programs, et cetera. They tend to be more sticky. Investors like those types of programs a lot more. But we have a -- it's kind of a flywheel because when we get a client who wants to do a short-term program, they might also eventually move into doing a long-term program, but those clients doing long-term programs also have overlay programs based on market conditions and their strategy do short-term promotions. Typically, Snipp, when we entered this industry, we were known only for receipt processing and nothing else. As you see with our branding that we did earlier this year, we rebranded the company. We've got more and more of recognition around being an enterprise-class provider that has the ability to sustain long-term recurring programs. The company is not at risk of going bankrupt. Clients don't want to make investments in smaller companies to run some of their marketing stack. And some of that is what we have now earned the right of selling into these clients, given we are a certified vendor for many of these large Fortune 500 companies globally. It would help if our stock price was a little higher because procurement always ask us that question. But our balance sheet is pretty strong. We've been in business for a decade. And that dynamic is starting to change now. Which hopefully will result in -- I think -- we don't break down our recurring revenue numbers versus our total revenue numbers. But maybe in the future, we will start doing that, and you will be able to see. You can model it, I'm sure. You have modeled it, Dan, right? How that part of the business continues to grow at a very healthy clip. Have we been -- if you value a company just on the recurring revenue stream, we are probably 2x the valuation. That we are, if not 3x, just on the revenue -- of the recurring revenue stream. But that's some of the color of what you're seeing. I said in my formal statements too that clients who already made these investments continue to invest in those programs. Part of our -- most of our backlog is driven by clients with these long-term programs continuing to make the investment in those programs to grow them, to refresh them, et cetera. It's the uncertainty in the market about what type of short-term program to run that's actually causing revenue recognition to come down a tad. But hopefully, over the course of this year, it will smoothen out as our recurring revenues increase.

Moving on, I think last quarter, you spoke about the banking client replatforming. Any updates on kind of that process, expectations around potential growth from resumption of that business?

Yes, good question. So the good news is we relaunched the -- literally last week, the replatforming exercise came to an end, and it was turned on again. And now it's -- so I'll have more comments on this over the course, maybe I'll do a release. But it's back on again. It was unfortunate that they went down the task of replatforming, but it does give us an opportunity to, even though in the short term, it kind of delayed our plan a tad in that business. But we're back on now. And we've got a couple of -- we got a new person starting, who started yesterday actually. Now that everything is live again to help us take that to -- help us start generating meaningful revenue from it. But it's still early days. So I don't really have a forecast for it right now.

And maybe just a financial one. So there are some working capital swings, kind of quarter-to-quarter. Anything to comment there in terms of seasonality or just flows of working capital? And just help us think about it on a go-forward basis.

Malcolm, do you have any comments on the working capital swings? I haven't really analyzed that.

I mean our cash position has increased significantly. It's -- I've looked at it. I mean a lot of it is just based on timing as well. But I think as we move forward with optimizing more costs and higher margin revenue, our goal is to see a more consistent working cap in the quarters to come.

Okay. Last one for me. And just on the backlog. So you have good deferred revenue and solid backlog there. Could you just help me kind of think about the -- how you would segment or think about that backlog in terms of product sets and some of the newer offerings? Like are you trying to bundle in multiple modules? How many customers are subscribing for a shorter-term program versus multiple modules for the longer term? Just any commentary on how the backlog is evolving outside of just that gross number.

Yes. So like I said, we haven't really broken out recurring versus nonrecurring revenue streams as a company to the broader investor community yet. We think we might be in a position to do that starting soon. Hence, I've never actually broken down the backlog numbers. But I'll tell you as much, from a margin perspective, it's quite consistent from what we'll make off that backlog. It is more geared towards our loyalty and rebate kind of programs, our receipt processing volumes. And hopefully, when we do break it down, we will provide that color, Dan. We haven't just -- we haven't broken down the backlog by program type per se. It will be pretty reflective of the way our business operates today. Financially, we have looked at it, and it is -- we look at it very carefully. It is at the same margin level, basically. Yes. So we have Jesus from Castañar Investments.

Atul, first of all, congrats, not only for the backlog construction, but also for the transformation you and Malcolm are doing in our company. I think the leading indicators are giving that. Regarding that backlog, should we assume that it will be converted into revenue in the next 12 months? Or have you any estimate?

It will be between -- like always, our backlog transitions between 12 to 24 months on a schedule.

Okay. Perfect. Yes. So we are trading right now at USD 6.5 million with our backlog being higher than that. Even the deferred revenue. Can you just break down a little bit more about that referred revenue (sic) [ deferred revenue ]? I know that some components of it are reward fulfillment, others are -- comes from licensing of our platforms. I don't know if you can give us how much comes from reward fulfillment.

Yes. So I think if you look at our margin, it's at 59%, 60%, correct?

Yes.

60%. Yes, so 60% falls straight to the bottom line. And that margin -- that's what the margin numbers that we talk about, right? So if you look at the backlog of $20 million and you applied a 60% margin rate to that, you can assume like $7 million or $8 million of that will be rewards fulfillment.

And how much of that is recognized in deferred revenue line?

How much of the backlog is recognized in?

No. How much of the $7 million we have right now in deferred revenue, how much it comes from reward fulfillment?

That is a good question. I do not have that breakdown right now. Malcolm, would you? I can pull it and send it to you afterwards.

Atul, that would be amazing. And my last question is about the customer concentration. We have always been highly customer concentrated, about 15%, some of them. Now the 3 biggest customers are 40% of the accounts receivable. Do you -- should we be concerned about that at all? Or it's just...

Here's the thing. I don't -- so where did you get your numbers from? I'm curious.

From the financial statements and MD&A.

Okay. Yes, sure. So that reflects the -- think of our customers. Take a Procter & Gamble, a Nestlé, a Kellogg, which is now 2 companies. These might seem a single customer, right? But they're actually a portfolio of brands, each with an individual budget and could possibly be stand-alone businesses in themselves. So it might look concentrated. And you're right, it is concentrated from that perspective of a corporate brand, but these are portfolio companies that we have the rights to sell into across the portfolio. So a company like Nestlé or a company like P&G, if it rolls up into that group, yes, it looks concentrated. But when you break it down into the brands that we work with, it's a little bit less concentrated.

So it's something more about the brands being our customers rather than...

Right. Because in marketing, all of the budget is at the brand level, not at the corporate entity level.

I did want to just add one more comment there, that is, if you notice, year-over-year, we have really no bad debts. We've got a very good AR turnover. So it's -- we do need to disclose potential credit risk, but we've been very successful and have good relationships with our customers.

I owe you a call, which we will get to. Sorry.

We owe you.

Anybody else? Okay. It doesn't look like there's anything on the chat. I guess with that, thank you, everybody. We will talk again at the Q2 filing. Appreciate your time this morning.