Ispire Technology Inc. (ISPR) Q4 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Good morning, and welcome to the Ispire Technology Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that today's event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to James Carbonara with Hayden Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that this conference contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact in its announcement are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by the company in terms of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments as well as other factors that the company believes are relevant. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown uncertainties, and many factors could cause the company's actual results or performance to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding this and other risk factors are included in the company's filings with the SEC. The company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent or current events or circumstances or changes in expectations, except as may be required by law. I will now turn the call over to Steven Przybyla, President of Ispire Technology Steve, you may begin.

Thank you, James. As we look at the fourth quarter and fiscal year, I want to start with what we believe is the most important takeaway. Ispire has reached an important inflection point in its turnaround. We began this turnaround a little over a year ago with clear objectives clean up the balance sheet, reduce the cost structure, address legacy issues and build the foundation for a more focused and sustainable business, all while advancing key growth catalysts. That work has not always been visible in the headline revenue numbers, but it has fundamentally changed the company, and we are now beginning to see that work reflected in the financial results. Fourth quarter revenue was $26.7 million, up 33% year-over-year and 43% sequentially. Cash also increased sequentially. At the same time, operating expenses remained substantially below where they were a year ago. For me, that combination is important. We are seeing improving revenue momentum against a much leaner cost structure and a stronger balance sheet. But there's still work to do. The financial cleanup is not completely finished, and we remain disciplined around receivables and working capital. I believe we are much closer to the end of that process, and we expect the remaining legacy account receivable write-offs to be substantially addressed during fiscal 2027 with little or no carryover into the following years. Completing that process, along with the underlying business' continued improvement positions us to achieve positive GAAP earnings. The first major catalyst in this turnaround is Malaysia. Fiscal 2027 will be our first fiscal year of vapor and nicotine production at our company-owned facilities in Malaysia. Recall, we obtained our nicotine manufacturing license for vapor products in March of 2026 and the license to produce nicotine pouches in May of 2026. This is important not only because of the additional production capacity, but because Malaysia changes both the economics of our manufacturing business and the markets we can serve. We are seeing strong interest from Chinese brands looking to diversify and move production outside of China. We also have recent visits to our facilities from major global tobacco companies, and I hope to announce the positive results of one such very recent visit in the near term. We believe the combination of our manufacturing capabilities, regulatory infrastructure and Malaysian footprint gives us a differentiated proposition for brands looking for a reliable production partner. Our expectation is that several of these opportunities mature and translate into commercial agreements during fiscal 2027. We are excited about Vapor ODM as well. The objective here is straightforward: expand our customer base by allowing brands to leverage our manufacturing capabilities and product expertise without having to build that infrastructure themselves. We believe the combination of Malaysia, ODM and our existing manufacturing platform can create a meaningful new source of revenue while also increasing utilization of our facilities. Another major area of opportunity is our technology joint venture, IKE Tech. IKE is developing into a broader technology platform focused on age verification, product authentication and compliance for regulated nicotine markets. We believe these capabilities address a growing need among regulators, manufacturers and brands, and we are actively pursuing commercial partnerships with large international brands and manufacturers. IKE 2.0, which includes significant improvements to the user experience is also scheduled to launch this fall. We have made meaningful progress on the regulatory front as well. I have personally participated in 4 meetings with the FDA and Health and Human Services over the past 6 months, including a June 15 meeting with FDA's Acting Commissioner. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The agency wants point-of-use age gating and applauds our technology. These discussions have reinforced our view that the need for this type of technology is real and growing on a global basis daily. Our component PMTA remains under review, but our strategy is broader than any single regulatory pathway. We are continuing to develop both age gating and product authentication technology platforms, pursue additional regulatory and commercial paths and build relationships that can create value independent of any particular regulatory time line. We also see a potential path to a significant liquidity event involving IKE during fiscal 2027 that will be separate from regulatory authorization. We are not yet in a position to provide additional detail, but we do expect to have more to say as these discussions develop. Beyond IKE, G-Mesh continues to generate interest from leading global tobacco companies and other major international brands. We believe the technology has the potential to meaningfully differentiate the products we can offer and create additional opportunities within the global nicotine market. And finally, we are looking beyond the business and technologies we have already announced. We are evaluating several transformational investments in disruptive technology. We are being highly selective, but we believe there are opportunities where investment could materially expand Ispire's value proposition and accelerate our evolution into a technology-forward company. Specifically, I want to emphasize that we are looking for opportunities where we believe our capital, manufacturing expertise, regulatory infrastructure or global relationships can create a meaningful advantage. When we look ahead, we believe fiscal 2027 will be a year of fundamental growth and change. We will have our first year of full vapor nicotine pouch production in Malaysia. We expect major new commercial relationships to develop. We begin the transition of our branded products to Malaysia and work towards materially improving the economics of that business. High-Tech will have several commercial and technology milestones ahead, and we expect G-Mesh and other proprietary technologies to create additional opportunities. Most importantly, we are entering this period with a much stronger foundation than we had a year ago, a leaner cost structure, a cleaner balance sheet, increasing manufacturing capabilities and multiple paths to growth. Our job now is execution. The fourth quarter was an important first step in demonstrating the turnaround is working. Fiscal 2027 is about taking that momentum and building the next version of Ispire. I will now turn the call over to Jay for a more detailed review of our financial results. Jie?

Thank you, Steve. For the fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30, 2026, Ispire Technology reported revenue of $26.7 million, an increase of 33% year-over-year and 43% sequentially compared with $20.1 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 and $18.7 million in the prior quarter. The increase reflects improving demand across the business and increased production activity as we entered the new fiscal year. Gross profit for the quarter was $1.7 million and the gross margin was 6.3% compared to $2.5 million and 12.3%, respectively. The decline in gross margin was the result of inventory impairment recognized in Q4. Total operating expenses, excluding credit loss, were $6 million, down 28.6% year-over-year from $8.5 million. and up a modest 2.3% sequentially from $5.9 million in the March quarter. The year-over-year decline reflects the continued benefits of a leaner operating structure and disciplined expense management. With our cost base now substantially lower, we believe the business is increasingly positioned to leverage revenue growth and scale to drive operating improvement. Credit loss in the first quarter was $9.2 million, down approximately $533,000 or 6.2% year-over-year. The reduction reflects continued progress in resolving legacy receivables and improving the quality of our balance sheet. As we entered fiscal 2027, we remain focused on disciplined receivables and working capital management as we complete the final stage of the financial cleanup. Net loss for the quarter was $13.8 million compared with $14.8 million in the year ago period and $9.5 million in the prior quarter. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was a loss of $2.3 million, an improvement of $2.1 million compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $4.4 million in the year ago quarter. The improvement reflects the continued benefit of a leaner cost structure and greater operating efficiency as we move into fiscal 2027. Turning to our full year results. For fiscal 2026, Ispire Technology reported revenue of $96 million compared with $127.5 million last fiscal year. The decline was primarily driven by lower cannabis vaping hardware sales in the U.S. and lower vaping product sales in Europe, along with a modest decline in our Asia Pacific business, excluding China. Gross profit was $12.3 million compared with $22.6 million in fiscal 2025, while gross margin was 12.8% compared with 70.8% last year. Decline in gross margin was primarily driven by changes in product mix and one time increase in our inventory provision during fiscal 2026. Total operating expense, excluding credit loss, were $24.2 million, down 37% year-over-year from $38.5 million in fiscal 2025. This reflects the sustained cost discipline we have maintained and a more focused operating structure. We believe we now have a much more efficient cost base, positioning us to translate revenue growth and scale into improved profitability. Credit loss for the full year was $20.7 million, down approximately $1.3 million from $22 million in fiscal 2025. This improvement reflects continued progress in addressing legacy issues, and we remain focused on maintaining discipline around receivable and working capital management as we complete the financial cleanup. Net loss for fiscal 2026 was $33.2 million, an improvement of $6 million compared with $39.2 million in fiscal 2025. Adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2026 was a loss of $4 million, an improvement of $4.8 million compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $8.8 million in fiscal 2025. The improvement reflects the meaningful reduction in our operating cost structure and continued progress towards a more efficient and scalable business model. We ended the fiscal year with $19.3 million in cash compared with $24.4 million at the end of fiscal 2025. Importantly, net cash used in operating activity improved significantly during fiscal 2026. Operating cash used was $569,000 for the full year compared with $7.4 million in fiscal 2025, representing an improvement of $6.8 million year-over-year. This reflects the progress we have made in reducing operating costs, improving collections and addressing legacy working capital issues. With a solid balance sheet, a leaner cost structure and improved operating momentum, we believe Ispire has reached an important inflection point in its turnaround. The 33% year-over-year and 43% sequential increase in fourth quarter revenue along with a growth cash balance, providing tangible evidence that the business is moving in the right direction. We enter fiscal 2027 focused on building on this momentum and converting the foundation we have established into sustainable growth, stronger cash generation and improved profitability. With that, I will turn the call back to Steve.

Thank you, Jay. Our fourth quarter results reinforce the message we started with today. The turnaround is here and now, and we are entering fiscal 2027 from a fundamentally stronger position. We have spent the past year simplifying the business, strengthening the balance sheet, reducing our cost structure and addressing legacy issues. We've also made significant progress in our operating cash flow, bringing cash used in operations essentially to breakeven for the full fiscal year. As we enter fiscal 2027, we'll be making significant payments related to our Malaysia manufacturing facility. These are planned investments in capacity that we believe are important for our growth strategy, but they may make it difficult to provide a specific time line for achieving cash flow positive. The key point is that the underlying cash operating performance has improved substantially. We believe fiscal 2027 can be a defining year for Ispire. We have fundamentally changed the company over the past year, and we are now in a position to focus on what comes next, bringing new manufacturing capacity online, converting commercial opportunities into revenue and advancing our technology platforms towards commercialization. We are excited about what we are building and believe the opportunities ahead have the potential to create meaningful long-term value for our shareholders. And with that, we'll open the call for questions.Speaker 0 [Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Nick Anderson with ROTH Capital.

On the quarter. And Steve, I just want to congratulate you on the elevation of the role. First for me on the PMTA process. Given the platform IKE built just around age gating and the recent approvals we've seen by the FDA, wondering if you could provide any color regarding companies incorporating that technology into supplemental PMTAs. Now that companies have seen a gating as a necessary component to flavored products, have those discussions accelerated at all?

Yes, Nick, thank you. I appreciate that. And a very topical question on the supplemental PMTAs here. So -- we at IKE have had discussions with every player that has an authorized end device. Some of those discussions have progressed to a point of potential pilot evaluations. We are seeing also a lot of interest in amending PMTAs to include our modular age gating technology here. Recall that there's really not a lot of other competitors out there. We believe we're the only one with a modular technology that you can drop in and update your device with here. So supplementals certainly are the flavor right now. We believe we've got a pathway to a supplemental with perhaps 1 or 2 players here and hopefully could report more on that in a couple of weeks or months.

Great. I appreciate that. Second for me on the FDA. After some delays in 2025, we're starting to see an accelerated pace of approvals. Would you say this is more attributable to larger peers pressuring the FDA in its 180-day time line or more of a structural move to support products lower on the risk continuum. And just off that, have your expectations in terms of timing on a formal ruling changed at all given what's happening in the space?

Yes, great question. I think Director [ Colo ], who was recently confirmed as the full-time director, gave a speech at GTNF last week where he indicated applications are moving more quickly than ever. They've committed to a 3-week filing period for new finished product applications. We understand where our application is in the review queue. There are certainly some applications before us, and there are certainly some applications behind us. We've done a lot of groundwork to get our application moved up and through the process here. And we believe in the next several months, we'll see some really good results on that process. And I think FDA's sort of recent efficiency is due to 2 things. One, they really cleared out the backlog of the millions of PMTAs that were submitted a couple of years ago. And two, I think Director [ Colo ] has done a great job here making the organization sort of more accountable and more efficient in terms of being responsive to industry stakeholders and realizing that enforcement of illicit products also requires a robust lawful market, and it's the agency's job to get authorized products out there for consumers. So I think a couple of things are at play here.

[Operator Instructions] the next question is from the line of Owen Bennett with U.S. Bancorp. BTIG.

I've got a bunch of questions. I'll ask a couple now and pass it on and then come back if there's still time. First quick one, just on the manufacturing investment. Is that for additional capacity beyond kind of what you were planning originally? And what will be the capacity when that's done?

Yes. Owen, great question. It is for planned capacity here. We were always going to stage this. Our investment was really contingent on getting these licenses, which we secured in March and May, respectively, here. And so automated lines, et cetera, those will be coming into play and really just planned investment in that automation infrastructure and workforce here. In terms of capacity itself, that second factory can fit up to 73 lines. So we don't really view ourselves as having the ability to run out of capacity anytime soon. If you get those automated lines producing the same product in 2 or 3 shifts a day, the capacity is in the hundreds of millions. So we believe we've got the ability to scale here as our customer demand scales in.

Okay. And then second one is just -- I mean, obviously, you talked about '27 being a transformational year of growth. I just wanted to understand kind of the possible size of this. So 2 areas I wanted to cover. First is the actual kind of confirmed production out of that facility in Malaysia. And then second is around kind of not already contracted opportunities. So on the first area of that, I mean, what is currently being produced or is already contracted to begin production and what sort of incremental revenue could that be?

Yes. So we don't want to forecast at this point, right? These licenses are new. We've done pilot runs with several customers. Customers have placed initial orders. We've delivered those orders, and we've gotten some reorders from a couple of OEM and ODM customers here on the vape side and pouch production began in June. We've had some reorders here, and we've had some large customers come through. I think that's as deep as I think we'll go in this. I think we will continue to update the market with developments here. My sense is that orders will really start to mature over the next 2 quarters, and we'll have a lot better insight to sort of total year run rate after the next 3 to 6 months.

Okay. And then just secondly, on the possible additional contracts. I'm just wondering kind of how realistic, how confident are you in securing these? And then secondly, I mean, if they are kind of realistic discussions, is this more skewed to the pouch opportunity or the vape ODM side?

We've seen interest from both. On the tobacco major side, it's generally been on the pouch business. I think pouch is growing at just an incredible clip and a lot of these organizations have had trouble scaling and keeping up with demand, particularly regional demand here. And then on the vapor side, it's mostly been Chinese brands and Chinese manufacturers looking to offshore production, whether that's based on their customer demand, based on these new regulatory pressures affecting manufacturers and brands in China. The FDA is beginning to inspect Chinese factories in China and sort of getting out of that scrutiny. -- these are real deals, but they start small, and we're growing there, and we're proving ourselves. We've gotten some great reorders and some great feedback from customers on the quality of the product and the efficiency of the product and the price point here. So again, I think over the next 3 to 6 months, that will mature, and we'll be able to have a better sense of what the total revenue opportunity is for this year.

At this time, I'll hand the floor back to management for any closing remarks.

Yes. Thank you for taking the time to listen to our earnings call today. This is my first call as the company's President. I think 2027 is going to be really an exciting and transformational year here. We've put a lot of effort into turning this organization around, exerting really strong fiscal discipline, executing on our Malaysian plan. We were gated there by regulatory approvals, and we secured those approvals last fiscal year. And so we're very excited to lean into now having these 2 licenses in Malaysia. The inbound interest has been really, really, really exciting. And on the IKE side, I think fiscal 2027, we'll see a lot of blockbuster developments on the regulatory side and on the partnership side. A lot of things are brewing right now, and I really look forward to updating the market on those developments as they come. So thank you, everybody.

This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. We thank you for your participation. Have a wonderful day.