Akoustis Reports Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results

Rhea-AI Summary

Akoustis Technologies (NASDAQ: AKTS) reported a remarkable 270% year-over-year revenue growth, achieving $6.6 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021. The Q4 revenue of $2.2 million aligns with previous guidance despite challenges from COVID-19 and semiconductor supply chain issues. The company maintains $88.3 million in cash and anticipates strong demand for its XBAW filters in 5G and WiFi markets, aiming for double-digit sequential revenue growth in the upcoming quarter. Akoustis also announced plans to increase production capacity significantly.

Positive

• Revenue increased by 270% year-over-year, totaling $6.6 million for fiscal 2021.
• Fourth quarter revenue of $2.2 million met previous guidance amid supply chain challenges.
• Strong demand and a robust design win pipeline in 5G and WiFi markets.
• Plans to increase production capacity to approximately 500 million filters per year by end of 2021.

Negative

• Gross profit for fiscal 2021 was negative at -$4.0 million, indicating ongoing challenges.
• Operating loss increased to -$41.4 million for the full fiscal year.

• Fiscal 2021 Annual Revenue of $6.6M Representing an Increase of 270% Year-Over-Year
• Filter Product Revenue Increased 68% Sequentially, and Over 440% Year-Over-Year
• Robust Customer Activity and Design Win Pipeline in 5G Mobile, WiFi CPE, Infrastructure and Other Markets
• XBAW Filters Entering Production in Core WiFi 6E and Network Infrastructure Segments in 2H CY2021
• Company to Host Investor Update Call Today at 8:00 am EDT

Charlotte, N.C., Aug. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), an integrated device manufacturer (IDM) of patented bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced today a 270% year-over-year increase in revenue to $6.6 million for the 2021 fiscal year ended June 30, 2021. Q4 fiscal 2021 revenue was $2.2 million, within the Company’s previously guided range, despite continuing headwinds stemming from both the Coronavirus and semiconductor supply chain challenges. The Company had $88.3 million in cash as of June 30, 2021.

Akoustis will host an investor call to provide a business update and outlook, followed by a Q & A session this morning at 8:00 a.m. EDT. The call-in numbers are 877-407-3982 (domestic) or +01 201-493-6780 (international). The conference call will be webcast live on the Company’s website and will be available for playback at the following URL: https://ir.akoustis.com/ir-calendar.

Jeff Shealy, founder and CEO of Akoustis, stated, “Despite the ongoing macro headwinds, Akoustis delivered record XBAW™ filter shipments in Q4 FY21. Furthermore, our existing design win pipeline supports a return to double-digit sequential revenue growth in the December quarter, as we ramp volume XBAW™ RF filter solutions to multiple customers across the WiFi 6, WiFi 6E, 5G network infrastructure and defense markets.”

Mr. Shealy continued, “We continue to experience strong demand and a growing sales funnel for our WiFi 6E, 5G mobile and CBRS XBAW™ filters. Importantly, our efforts in 5G mobile have been rewarded with the recently announced foundry agreement and, as we announced this morning, that we have shipped early 5G mobile filter prototypes to our tier-1 mobile customer and are on-track to deliver two fully qualified filters next calendar year.”

Akoustis is actively delivering volume production of its WiFi 6 tandem filter solutions, shipping multiple 5G small cell XBAW™ filter solutions, delivering initial designs of its new 5G mobile filter solutions to multiple customers and is now entering the market with its new WiFi 6E coexistence XBAW™ filter solutions.

Given the rapidly growing sales funnel activity as well as ongoing interaction with customers regarding expected ramps in 5G mobile, WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E in calendar 2022, the Company plans to increase the annual production capacity at its New York fab by the end of calendar 2021 to approximately 500 million filters per year.

Recent Business Highlights

• XBAW™ filter shipments up over 68% sequentially
• Shipped first XBAW™ filter sample to tier-1 RF component customer for evaluation and characterization
• Announced foundry agreement with tier-2 RF front-end module customer for the manufacture of filters for 5G mobile
• Entered into agreement with tier-1 PC chipmaker for the development of WiFi 6E RF diplexer product for the personal computing market
• Added two of three current WiFi 6E reference design partners for multiple platforms
• Announced new 5 GHz WiFi 6E solution with 5.6 GHz and 6.6 GHz XBAW^™ filter modules
• Received design win for 5.5 GHz and 6.5 GHz WiFi 6E XBAW™ filters from carrier-focused gateway OEM
• Shipped new 5.6 GHz and 6.6 GHz WiFi 6E filter modules to tier-1 consumer-focused OEM
• Received design win for 5.5 GHz and 6.5 GHz WiFi 6E XBAW^™ filters from new tier-1 enterprise-class customer
• Continued commercial production for tier-1 consumer-focused tri-band WiFi 6 product, which is currently available for sale in both online and retail box stores
• Achieved robust sampling of WiFi 6E filters to tier-1 and tier-2 OEMs, ODMs and SoC customers
• Received two design wins for our 3.6 GHz XBAW^™ filter for a Citizens Broadband Radio Service Customer
• Received an order for the development of a new 3.8 GHz XBAW^™ filter from an existing defense customer
• Continued DARPA direct-to-phase II (DP2) contract to advance design and manufacturing of XBAW^™ technology for filters and other sensors
• Expanded XBAW^™ patent portfolio to 52 issued and licensed patents plus 82 patents pending

Akoustis currently has 15 commercial XBAW™ filters in its product catalog, and recently introduced 5.6 GHz and 6.6 GHz WiFi 6E coexistence filter modules, which when qualified, will bring the number of catalog products to 17. Current product catalog filters include a 5.6 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.2 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.5 GHz WiFi-6E filter, a 6.5 GHz WiFi 6E filter, three small cell 5G network infrastructure filters including two Band n77 filters and one Band n79 filter, a 3.8 GHz filter and five S-Band filters for defense phased-array radar applications, a 3.6 GHz filter for the CBRS 5G infrastructure market and a C-Band filter for the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) market. The Company is also developing several new filters for the sub-7 GHz bands targeting 5G mobile device, network infrastructure, WiFi CPE and defense markets.

Fourth Fiscal Quarter and Fiscal Year Financial Performance

Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Operations
(In thousands, except per share data)
	For the				For the			For the			For the
	Three Months				Three Months			Year			Year
	Ended				Ended			Ended			Ended
	June 30,				June 30,			June 30,			June 30,
	2021				2020			2021			2020
Revenue	$	2,157			$	366		$         6,618			$	1,790
Cost of revenue		3,427				1,074		10,651				2,414
Gross profit		(1,270)				(708)		(4,033)				(624)
Operating expenses
Research and development		6,905				4,787		24,076				20,523
General and administrative expenses		3,602				2,733		13,285				10,891
Total operating expenses		10,507				7,520		37,361				31,414
Loss from operations		(11,777)				(8,228)		(41,394)				(32,038)
Other (expense) income
Interest (expense) income	$	32			$	(1,316)	$	(5,130)			$	(4,573)
Rental income		—				18		—				181
Change in fair value of contingent real estate liability		—				—		—				445
Gain on extinguishment of debt		1,624				—		1,624				—
Change in fair value of derivative liabilities		—				(551)		744				(155)
Total Other (expense) income		1,656				(1,849)		(2,762)				(4,102)
Net loss	$	(10,121)		$		(10,077)	$	(44,156)		$		(36,140)
Net loss per common share - basic and diluted	$	(0.20)		$		(0.27)	$	(1.02)		$		(1.07)
Weighted average common shares outstanding - basic and diluted		50,589,380				36,838,828		43,426,602				33,698,502

Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(In thousands, except per share data)
		June 30,				June 30,
		2021				2020
Assets
Assets:
Cash and cash equivalents		$	88,322			$	44,308
Accounts receivable			1,170				351
Inventory			1,390				136
Other current assets			2,314				1,408
Total current assets			93,196				46,203
Property and equipment, net			30,730				23,605
Intangibles, net			572				544
Operating lease right-of-use asset, net			471				699
Restricted cash			—				100
Other assets			25				282
Total Assets		$	124,994			$	71,433
Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity
Current Liabilities:
Accounts payable and accrued expenses		$	6,954			$	5,899
Operating lease liability-current			270				231
Deferred revenue			41				—
Total current liabilities			7,265				6,130
Long-term Liabilities:
Convertible notes payable, net			—				21,628
Operating lease liability-non current			202				472
Loans payable			—				1,591
Other long-term liabilities			117				117
Total long-term liabilities			319				23,808
Total Liabilities			7,584				29,938
Stockholders’ Equity
Preferred Stock, par value $0.001: 5,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding			—				—
Common stock, $0.001 par value; 100,000,000 shares authorized; 51,235,764 and 37,990,380 shares issued and outstanding at June 30, 2021 and June 30, 2020, respectively			51				38
Additional paid in capital			265,130				145,072
Accumulated deficit			(147,771	)			(103,615
Total Stockholders’ Equity			117,410				41,495
Total Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity		$	124,994			$	71,433

The following Non-GAAP measures should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. These non-GAAP measures exclude significant expenses that are required by GAAP to be recorded in the Company's financial statements and are subject to inherent limitations. Please see reconciliations to comparable GAAP measures below and descriptions of these non-GAAP measures under “Non-GAAP Measures.”

Non-GAAP Operating Loss and Non-GAAP Net Loss for the three months ending June 30, 2021 and 2020 were as follows:

Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
Unaudited Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
	Three Months Ended
	June 30, 2021	June 30, 2020
(in thousands)
GAAP operating loss	$                       (11,777)	$                        (8,228)
Common stock issued for services	2,109	1,626
Non-GAAP operating loss	$                         (9,668)	$                        (6,602)
	Three Months Ended
	June 30, 2021	June 30, 2020
(in thousands)
GAAP net loss	$                    (10,121)	$                   (10,077)
Gain on extinguishment of debt	(1,625)	551
Debt discount amortization	-	925
Common stock issued for services	2,109	1,626
Non-GAAP net loss	$                        (9,638)	$                       (6,975)
Weighted average common shares outstanding - basic and diluted	50,589,380	36,838,828
Non-GAAP net loss per common share - basic and diluted	$                           (0.19)	$                          (0.19)
	Twelve Months Ended
	June 30, 2021	June 30, 2020
(in thousands)
GAAP operating loss	$                       (41,394)	$                      (32,038)
Common stock issued for services	8,192	6,734
Non-GAAP operating loss	$                       (33,202)	$                      (25,304)
	Twelve Months Ended
	June 30, 2021	June 30, 2020
(in thousands)
GAAP net loss	$                    (44,156)	$                   (36,140)
Change in fair value of contingent real estate liability	-	(446)
Change in fair value of derivative liabilities	(744)	155
Gain on extinguishment of debt	(1,625)	-
Debt discount amortization	4,406	3,258
Common stock issued for services	8,192	6,734
Non-GAAP net loss	$                       (33,928)	$                      (26,439)
Weighted average common shares outstanding - basic and diluted	43,426,602	33,698,502
Non-GAAP net loss per common share - basic and diluted	$                           (0.78)	$                          (0.78)

Non-GAAP Measures

We regularly review a number of metrics, including Non-GAAP Operating Loss and Non-GAAP Net Loss, which are not financial measures calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”). Non-GAAP Operating Loss represents operating loss before common stock issued for services. Non-GAAP Net Loss represents net loss before change in fair value of contingent real estate liability, change in fair value of derivative liabilities, debt discount amortization, gain on extinguishment of debt and common stock issued for services. The Company believes these non-GAAP measures provide useful information to management, investors and financial analysts regarding certain financial and business trends relating to the Company’s financial condition and results of operations. We use these non-GAAP measures to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions.

About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.

Akoustis^® (http://www.akoustis.com/) is a high-tech BAW RF filter solutions company that is pioneering next-generation materials science and MEMS wafer manufacturing to address the market requirements for improved RF filters - targeting higher bandwidth, higher operating frequencies and higher output power compared to incumbent polycrystalline BAW technology deployed today. The Company utilizes its proprietary XBAW^TM manufacturing process to produce bulk acoustic wave RF filters for mobile and other wireless markets, which facilitate signal acquisition and accelerate band performance between the antenna and digital back end. Superior performance is driven by the significant advances of high-purity, single-crystal and associated piezoelectric materials and the resonator-filter process technology which drives electro-mechanical coupling and translates to wide filter bandwidth. 

Akoustis plans to service the fast growing multi-billion-dollar RF filter market using its integrated device manufacturer (IDM) business model. The Company owns and operates a 120,000 sq. ft. ISO-9001:2015 registered commercial wafer-manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY, which includes a class 100 / class 1000 cleanroom facility - tooled for 150-mm diameter wafers - for the design, development, fabrication and packaging of RF filters, MEMS and other semiconductor devices. Akoustis Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in the Piedmont technology corridor near Charlotte, North Carolina.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are intended to be covered by the “safe harbor” created by those sections. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans or strategies for the future (including our possible future results of operations, business strategies, competitive position, potential growth opportunities, potential market opportunities and the effects of competition), and the assumptions underlying such statements. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and typically are identified by use of terms such as "may," “might,” “would,” "will," "should," "could," “project,” "expect," "plan," “strategy,” "anticipate," “attempt,” “develop,” “help,” "believe," “think,” "estimate," "predict," “intend,” “forecast,” “seek,” "potential," “possible,” "continue," “future,” and similar words (including the negative of any of the foregoing), although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future results, performance, events or circumstances. Instead, these forward-looking statements are based on management’s current beliefs, expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated include, without limitation, risks relating to our ability to obtain adequate financing and sustain our status as a going concern; our limited operating history; our inability to generate revenues or achieve profitability;  the results of our research and development activities; our inability to achieve acceptance of our products in the market; the impact of a pandemic or epidemic or a natural disaster, including the COVID-19 pandemic, on our operations, financial condition and the worldwide economy, including its impact on our ability to access the capital markets; general economic conditions, including upturns and downturns in the industry; shortages in supplies needed to manufacture our products, or needed by our customers to manufacture devices incorporating our products; our limited number of patents; failure to obtain, maintain, and enforce our intellectual property rights; our inability to attract and retain qualified personnel; our reliance on third parties to complete certain processes in connection with the manufacture of our products; product quality and defects; existing or increased competition; our ability to successfully manufacture, market and sell products based on our technologies; our ability to meet the required specifications of customers and achieve qualification of our products for commercial manufacturing in a timely manner; our ability to successfully scale our New York wafer fabrication facility and related operations while maintaining quality control and assurance and avoiding delays in output; the rate and degree of market acceptance of any of our products; our ability to achieve design wins from current and future customers; contracting with customers and other parties with greater bargaining power and agreeing to terms and conditions that may adversely affect our business; risks related to doing business in foreign countries, including China; any security breaches, cyber-attacks or other disruptions compromising our proprietary information and exposing us to liability; our failure to innovate or adapt to new or emerging technologies; our failure to comply with regulatory requirements; results of any arbitration or litigation that may arise; stock volatility and illiquidity; dilution caused by any future issuance of common stock or securities that are convertible into or exercisable for common stock; our failure to implement our business plans or strategies; and our ability to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting. These and other risks and uncertainties are described in more detail in the Risk Factors and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Considering these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking statements regarding future events and circumstances discussed in this document may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The forward-looking statements included in this document speak only as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly or privately any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, for any reason after the date of this document to conform these statements to new information, actual results or to changes in our expectations.

FAQ

What was Akoustis Technologies' revenue for fiscal 2021?

Akoustis Technologies reported revenue of $6.6 million for fiscal 2021, a 270% increase year-over-year.

What challenges did Akoustis face in Q4 fiscal 2021?

The company faced challenges from COVID-19 and semiconductor supply chain issues.

What is the expected revenue growth for Akoustis in the upcoming quarter?

Akoustis anticipates a return to double-digit sequential revenue growth in the December quarter.

How much cash does Akoustis have as of June 30, 2021?

As of June 30, 2021, Akoustis had $88.3 million in cash.

What are Akoustis' production capacity plans?

Akoustis plans to increase annual production capacity to approximately 500 million filters per year by the end of calendar 2021.