NewzIntel.com

Category: Australia

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Legislation to establish National Code to prevent and respond to sexual violence in Higher Education

    Source: Australian Executive Government Ministers

    The Albanese Labor Government has today introduced legislation to establish a mandatory National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence.

    Not enough has been done to address sexual assault and sexual harassment in our universities, and for too long, students haven’t been heard.

    The 2021 National Student Safety Survey shows one in 20 students have been sexually assaulted since they started university and one in six have been sexually harassed. One in two have felt like they weren’t heard when they made a complaint.

    That’s why the Albanese Labor Government is taking action.

    We have established the National Student Ombudsman which has started its work to hear from students, investigate complaints and resolve disputes with universities.

    Now we take the next step, by establishing this National Code to strengthen the work of the Ombudsman.

    For the first time, the National Code will set standards and requirements that all higher education providers must meet to make students and staff safer, including in student accommodation.

    The National Code will introduce accountability at the highest level, drive cultural change, and make sure staff are adequately trained to support victim-survivors.

    Under the National Code, universities must comply with the recommendations of the Student Ombudsman.

    Universities’ compliance with the obligations in the Code will be monitored and enforced through a range of compliance powers, with serious penalties for non-compliance.

    The National Code has been developed in consultation with victim-survivor advocates, students, the higher education sector, gender-based violence experts, states and territories and relevant Australian Government agencies.

    Addressing sexual assault and sexual harassment in universities was one of five priority actions from the Australian Universities Accord Interim Report.

    The National Code and Student Ombudsman are key measures of the Action Plan Addressing Gender-based Violence in Higher Education, agreed by Education Ministers in February 2024.

    The Action Plan will contribute to the work to end gender-based violence in one generation as outlined in the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032.

    Quotes attributable to Minister for Education Jason Clare:

    “Not enough has been done to address sexual violence in our universities and for too long students haven’t been heard.

    “Universities aren’t just places where people work and study, they are also places where people live, and we need to ensure they are safe.

    “That’s why the Albanese Labor Government has listened to students and survivors and are taking action.

    “We’ve established a National Student Ombudsman so when the worst does happen, students have somewhere to go if they don’t feel heard. That’s the first step.

    “We also need to take steps to stop sexual violence from happening in the first place.

    “And when the worst does happen, staff and students should get the response and support they deserve, every time.

    “The new National Code will give the Student Ombudsman real teeth to hold providers to account and drive long overdue cultural change in universities.”

    Quotes attributable to Minister for Social Services, Amanda Rishworth:

    “Gender-based violence is unacceptable in any form and we must all work together to stamp it out.

    “Young people and all students on campus deserve to feel safe and I’m so pleased our Government is taking action.

    “No one should feel unsafe or not heard when they make a complaint.

    “Ending gender-based violence and sexual violence is everyone’s responsibility.”

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Thousands of students return to new and upgraded schools

    Source: New South Wales Premiere

    Published: 6 February 2025

    Released by: The Premier, Deputy Premier, Minister for Education and Early Learning

    More than ten thousand students across New South Wales are returning to new and improved schools for day one, term one today as the Minns Labor Government continues work to ensure public schools are quality places to teach and learn.

    Five permanent and two temporary schools will today welcome students for the very first time, at the same time as students return to substantially upgraded facilities at 11 other schools across the state.

    These new schools and upgrades mean more than 400 new classrooms, 20 sports facilities, seven halls, eight libraries and nine canteens will be put to use for the first time today.

    This is part of the Minns Labor Government’s record $8.9 billion investment to deliver new and upgraded schools across the state, including $3.6 billion for Western Sydney and $1.4 billion for regional communities.

    Three of these new public schools, Box Hill High School, Melonba Public School and Gledswood Hills High school have been stood up early, delivering desperately needed local schools which were promised but never delivered by the former Liberal National Government. 

    Students at Melonba High School will transition to their new permanent facilities today after initially opening in fast-tracked temporary buildings in Term 1, 2024.

    In the South West, brand new Gledswood Hills High School is also opening ahead of schedule today in temporary facilities while the permanent school, due to open in 2027, is built.

    Families in Sydney’s densest suburb will finally also have a local high school for their children with the opening of Wentworth Point High School today.

    In the staze’s south, Jindabyne Education Campus is opening with a new state-of-the-art high school and primary school, future-proofing education opportunities for the growing regional community.

    Other students will be starting 2025 alongside a new set of peers, with Randwick Boys and Randwick Girls High School coming together for the first time as Randwick High School; while the Hurstville and Penshurst campuses of Georges River College also begin the year as co-educational schools.

    The campuses have received facilities upgrades to enable the transition to co-education from Thursday, with further works in the pipeline. 

    NSW Premier Chris Minns said:

    “We’re wishing the best to every single student and teacher heading back to the classroom today. I hope you enjoyed the holidays and got the chance to relax and spend time with loved ones.

    “We want NSW public schools to be quality places to work and learn, which is why we are investing to ensure that no matter the post code, whether it’s a rapidly growing part of Western Sydney or a regional community, families have access to a quality, free, public education.”

    Deputy Premier, Minister for Education and Early Learning, Prue Car said:

    “This government is committed to rebuilding our public education system and ensuring every child has access to a world class public education close to home.

    “Of the seven new schools opening across the state today, I’m proud to say five of them are in rapidly-growing suburbs of Western Sydney that were neglected for years under the Liberals – and we have pulled out all the stops to deliver them not only on time, but in some cases well ahead of schedule.

    “Today’s opening of the new primary and high school in Melonba – and the many other new and upgraded schools opening across the state – are a testament to our commitment to investing in our children’s futures and providing them with the best learning opportunities possible.”

    Melonba Public School Principal Larissa Maraga said:

    “I cannot wait to welcome our students and families through the gates of their brand-new primary school for the very first time today.

    “To be opening this world-class public school months earlier than expected is truly incredible and I look forward to seeing what generations of students will achieve here at Melonba Public School.”

    Melonba High School Principal Leon Weatherstone said:

    “After a very successful start in 2024 in our temporary school, I am delighted that we are welcoming Melonba High School students and their families to our new permanent facilities that are truly world-class.

    “It has been the ultimate pleasure and privilege to be a part of bringing this school to life. I can’t thank the Melonba school community enough for their involvement and support in making today a reality.”

    New schools opening to students on Day 1, Term 1 2025:

    • Melonba Public School
    • Melonba High School
    • Wentworth Point High School
    • Jindabyne Public School
    • Jindabyne High School
    • Box Hill Public School (temporary school)
    • Gledswood Hills High School (temporary school)

    New facilities opening to students on Day 1, Term 1 2025:

    • Budawang School – new hydrotherapy pool
    • Castle Hill Public School – new classrooms, hall, canteen and COLA (further upgrade continuing)
    • Cecil Hills High School – new canteen and hall (further upgrade continuing)
    • Gregory Hills Public School – new playground and sports field
    • Hastings Secondary College, Port Macquarie Campus – new T-Block
    • Hurlstone Agricultural High School – new farm hub
    • Lane Cove Public School – new hall
    • Manly Village Public School – building refurbishments (further upgrade continuing)
    • Murwillumbah High School – full redevelopment
    • Neutral Bay Public School – new classrooms, library, canteen, admin facilities and landscaping
    • Wollumbin High School – refurbished canteen, classrooms and sports facilities (further upgrade continuing)

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Exciting activities to keep seniors connected with $840,000 grant

    Source: New South Wales Premiere

    Published: 6 February 2025

    Released by: Minister for Seniors

    A new range of activities to help NSW seniors reduce social isolation will soon launch after the NSW Government provided $840,000 in funding as part of the 2025 Connecting Seniors Grant Program.

    From singing to storytelling, cooking classes to croquet lessons, the funded projects will empower older people to engage with their communities and combat loneliness in innovative ways.

    Some old favourites from 2024 will also be making a comeback, including water safety classes, Foodies Clubs and Community Circles.

    Activities will be delivered across NSW through 28 organisations divided into five categories including Aboriginal, Multicultural, Creation, Enhancement or Expansion, and Local Council.

    The Aboriginal and multicultural categories are new this year and projects include activities such as Aboriginal dance workshops, technology mentorship, excursions, and a range of classes such as exercise and art.

    In 2024, COTA NSW’s Voice of Solitude: Loneliness and Social Isolation Among Older Adults in NSW found 60 per cent of people aged over 50 were lonely with 25 per cent experiencing extreme levels of loneliness, and 50 percent feeling socially isolated.

    The Connecting Seniors Grant Program builds on previous grant rounds, which have been proven to reduce social isolation for thousands of seniors in NSW. The program supports the Ageing Well in NSW: Seniors Strategy 2021-2031, demonstrating the NSW Government’s commitment to creating a more inclusive community and addressing isolation and loneliness.

    The addition of Aboriginal and Multicultural categories in 2025 aligns with the NSW Government’s Closing the Gap commitments and the Multicultural NSW Strategic Plan 2021-2025.

    Since its launch in 2020, the grant program has funded more than 120 projects with over 30,000 seniors taking part across 82 Local Government Areas across NSW.

    For more information about the Connecting Seniors Grant Program and the full list of recipients, visit: https://dcj.nsw.gov.au/community-inclusion/seniors/ageing-well-in-nsw-seniors-strategy-2021-2031/events-and-projects/connecting-seniors-grant-program-2025.html

    Minister for Seniors Jodie Harrison said:

    “With 28 projects funded in 2025 across the state, there is something for everyone to get involved in.

    “These projects can provide a social lifeline for seniors who often live alone. They help older people stay connected and age well.

    “It’s important that we provide as many opportunities as we can for seniors to stay engaged with their communities and even try new experiences.

    “Congratulations to the recipients – I’m looking forward to seeing our seniors make excellent use of the programs and activities on offer.”

    Ian Westmorelandfrom Kintsugi Heroessaid:

    “We are thrilled to receive this grant which will enable us to use the power of storytelling to inspire and provide hope to seniors who may be experiencing life challenges like elder abuse, loneliness and social isolation.

    “Focusing on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, the seniors who share their stories will be invited to speak at community events around the Hornsby LGA area to encourage other seniors to engage and connect.”

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Tougher laws against antisemitism and hatred in NSW

    Source: New South Wales Premiere

    Published: 6 February 2025

    Released by: The Premier, Attorney General, Minister for Local Government, Minister for Multiculturalism, Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism

    The Minns Labor Government is announcing a series of tough new measures to crack down on a recent escalation of troubling graffiti, racial hatred and antisemitism in the community.

    The package of reforms will help give police and the community additional powers and resources to respond to disgusting acts of racial violence and hatred.

    It sends a clear message to people who commit these crimes or intend to commit them that these acts have no place in NSW, and they will face severe and harsh penalties if they do.

    In response to recent appalling attacks, the NSW Government will:

    • Introduce a new criminal offence for intentionally inciting racial hatred, with a proposed maximum penalty of 2 years’ imprisonment.
    • Introduce a new offence in section 93ZA of the Crimes Act 1900 directed at the display of a Nazi symbol on or near a synagogue, with an increased maximum penalty to 2 years’ imprisonment, and clarify that that graffiti is a ‘public act’.
    • Expand the aggravating circumstance that applies on sentence when an offence is motivated by hatred or prejudice to ensure that it applies whether a crime is partially or wholly motivated by hatred or prejudice.
    • Amend the Graffiti Control Act 2008 to create an aggravated offence for graffiti on a place of worship.
    • Introduce a new offence in the Crimes Act 1900 to stop people in or near a place of worship from intentionally blocking access to the place of worship without reasonable excuse, or from harassing, intimidating or threatening people accessing places of worship, and provide police with associated move on powers. This new offence is proposed to have a maximum penalty of 2 years’ imprisonment.

    In addition to these strengthened laws, the Minns Labor Government is also announcing:

    • Increased funding to support the crucial work of the NSW Police Force Engagement and Hate Crime Unit by $525,000.  This will allow for boosted engagement and communications with the community, including additional synagogue and school visits.
    • An increase to the NSW Local Government Social Cohesion Grants Program by $500,000.
    • Training to support local governments address rising prevalence of hate crimes.

    These reforms build on the significant work of the police over the summer:

    • The NSW Police Force launched Operation Shelter on 11 October 2023 to respond to public safety in relation to the current conflict in the Middle East.
    • More than 300 proactive patrols are conducted under Operation Shelter every day. These centre around significant sites such as places of worship.
    • Resources from Traffic and Highway Patrol, the Regional Enforcement Squad, dog unit and Pol Air have also been brought in to help local police on the ground.
    • Strike Force Pearl has been established to investigates these hate crimes – and doubled its fulltime dedicated detectives from 20 to 40.

    The reforms send a strong message about the seriousness of committing acts of racial hatred and antisemitism, and the NSW Government’s commitment to send a clear message to perpetrators that they will be held responsible for these acts.

    Premier Chris Minns said:

    “We have seen disgusting acts of racial hatred and antisemitism.

    “These are strong new laws, and they need to be because these attacks have to stop.

    “NSW is a multicultural state, and these acts designed to intimidate and divide will not work.

    “These laws have been drafted in response to the horrifying antisemitic violence in our community but it’s important to note that they will apply to anyone, preying on any person, of any religion.

    “If you commit these acts, you will face severe penalties, and we make no apologies for that.”

    Attorney General Michael Daley said:

    “Blocking access to places of worship, graffitiing sacred sites, or inciting hatred are wholly unacceptable behaviours that have no place in our society. These proposed changes strengthen penalties and expand police powers to maintain order across the community.

    “The Minns Government is expanding the criminal law to send a clear message that inciting hatred is not just unacceptable, it will soon be criminal.

    “The entire community will be safer as a direct result of these changes. The proposed changes will mean that divisive and hateful behaviours will not succeed in dividing our community.”

    Minister for the Police and Counter-terrorism Yasmin Catley said:

    “Police are doing everything they can to disrupt and investigate these vile crimes. Today’s announcement will further strengthen their capability to continue this critical work.

    “Our community thrives on diversity and mutual respect. We refuse to let those driven by hate divide us.”

    Minister for Multiculturalism Steve Kamper said:

    “Our multicultural society is one of our greatest achievements, but it is not something we can afford to take for granted. It requires our constant attention.

    “The Minns Government will continue to proactively address bad faith actors and explore every avenue to ensure social harmony and that our multicultural society is protected.”

    Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig said:

    “It’s vital that all tiers of government are united in the effort to stop antisemitism.

    “I welcome the additional support and training for councils so that they can expand their work promoting unity and harmony within local communities.”

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI: EZCORP Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2025 Results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ: EZPW), a leading provider of pawn transactions in the United States and Latin America, today announced results for its first quarter ended December 31, 2024.

    Unless otherwise noted, all amounts in this release are in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and comparisons shown are to the same period in the prior year.

    FIRST QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

    • Pawn loans outstanding (PLO) up 13% to $274.8 million.
    • Net income increased 9% to $31.0 million. On an adjusted basis1, net income increased 14% to $32.6 million.
    • Diluted earnings per share increased 11% to $0.40. On an adjusted basis, diluted earnings per share increased 17% to $0.42.
    • Adjusted EBITDA increased 12% to $53.0 million.
    • Total revenues increased 7% to $320.2 million, while gross profit increased 7% to $185.4 million.

    CEO COMMENTARY AND OUTLOOK

    Lachie Given, Chief Executive Officer, stated, “Fiscal 2025 is off to a strong start as we build on our momentum from 2024. Customer demand for immediate cash solutions and high quality, cost-effective secondhand goods remains high, as reflected by another quarter of record revenues and PLO. We also continued to drive meaningful improvements to our bottom line and deliver on the operating leverage inherent in our business, with adjusted EBITDA increasing 12% and adjusted diluted EPS increasing 17%.

    “Our consistent performance across geographies underscores the strength of our operations and customer-focused strategy. In the U.S., PLO grew 15%, driven by strong loan demand and higher average loan size. In Latin America, PLO rose 19% on a constant currency basis, with revenues up 18%, reflecting robust customer demand for loans and secondhand goods, as well as our outstanding customer service. Our EZ+ Rewards program also continues to perform exceptionally well, which accounted for 77% of all transacting customers. These results demonstrate the momentum we are gaining across markets and the success of our strategic initiatives.”

    “We are proud of the solid foundation we have built, which will enable us to continue driving growth both organically and through strategic M&A. Looking ahead, we plan to continue delivering exceptional service to our customers and enhancing value for our shareholders. We remain deeply committed to our core values of People, Pawn and Passion, and believe we are very well-positioned to deliver another record year of performance in fiscal 2025,” concluded Given.

    CONSOLIDATED RESULTS

    Three Months Ended December 31 As Reported   Adjusted1
    in millions, except per share amounts 2024
    		   2023
    		   2024
    		   2023
                   
    Total revenues $ 320.2     $ 300.0     $ 329.7     $ 300.0  
    Gross profit $ 185.4     $ 172.6     $ 190.2     $ 172.6  
    Income before tax $ 41.4     $ 37.7     $ 43.4     $ 37.8  
    Net income $ 31.0     $ 28.5     $ 32.6     $ 28.6  
    Diluted earnings per share $ 0.40     $ 0.36     $ 0.42     $ 0.36  
    EBITDA (non-GAAP measure) $ 50.8     $ 47.1     $ 53.0     $ 47.2  
                                   
    • PLO increased 13% to $274.8 million, up $31.6 million. On a same-store2 basis, PLO increased 12% due to increase in average loan size, continued strong pawn demand and improved operational performance.
    • Total revenues and gross profit increased 7%, reflecting improved pawn service charge (PSC) revenues as a result of higher average PLO in addition to higher merchandise sales and merchandise sales gross profit.
    • PSC increased 10% as a result of higher average PLO.
    • Merchandise sales gross margin remains within our target range at 35%, down from 36%. Aged general merchandise was 2.1% of total general merchandise inventory. 
    • Net inventory increased 21%, due to the increase in PLO and decrease in inventory turnover to 2.7x, from 3.0x.
    • Store expenses increased 5% and 3% on a same-store basis.
    • General and administrative expenses increased 13%, primarily due to labor (including incentive compensation) and, to a lesser extent, ongoing support costs related to Workday.
    • Income before taxes was $41.4 million, up 10% from $37.7 million, and adjusted EBITDA increased 12% to $53.0 million.
    • Diluted earnings per share increased 11% to $0.40. On an adjusted basis, diluted earnings per share increased 17% to $0.42.
    • Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter was $174.5 million, up from $170.5 million as of September 30, 2024. The increase was primarily due to cash from operating activities, partially offset by increase in earning assets, capital expenditures, taxes paid related to net share settlement of equity awards and share repurchases.

    SEGMENT RESULTS

    U.S. Pawn

    • PLO ended the quarter at $220.2 million, up 15% on a total and same-store basis due to increase in average loan size, increased loan demand and improved operational performance.
    • Total revenues increased 7% and gross profit increased 9%, reflecting higher PSC and merchandise sales.
    • PSC increased 11% as a result of higher average PLO.
    • Merchandise sales increased 3%, and gross margin was flat at 37%. Aged general merchandise increased to 2.6%, or $1.2 million of total general merchandise inventory. Excluding our three Max Pawn luxury stores in Las Vegas, aged general merchandise was 1%.
    • Net inventory increased 17%, in line with the growth in PLO. Inventory turnover decreased to 2.5x, from 2.7x.
    • Store expenses increased 8% (5% on a same-store basis), primarily due to labor costs (including higher health benefits) supporting more store activity, offset by a decrease in expenses related to our loyalty program.
    • Segment contribution increased 11% to $52.9 million.
    • During the quarter, segment store count remained at 542.

    Latin America Pawn

    • PLO improved to $54.6 million, up 4% (19% on constant currency basis). On a same-store basis, PLO increased 2% (17% on a constant currency basis) due to improved operational performance and increased loan demand.
    • Total revenues were up 7% (18% on constant currency basis), and gross profit increased 4% (14% on a constant currency basis), mainly due to increased PSC and higher merchandise sales.
    • PSC increased to $29.2 million, up 7% (17% on a constant currency basis) as a result of higher average PLO.
    • Merchandise sales increased 7% (19% on constant currency basis) and merchandise sales gross margin decreased to 30% from 32%. Aged general merchandise decreased to 1.4% from 1.6% of total general merchandise inventory.
    • Net inventory increased 35% (57% on a constant currency basis) due to increase in PLO and decrease in inventory turnover to 3.1x, from 3.8x.
    • Store expenses were flat (11% increase on a constant currency basis) and on a same-store basis decreased 2% (9% increase on a constant currency basis), primarily due to labor and rent.
    • Segment contribution increased 14% to $11.6 million (24% on a constant currency basis). On an adjusted basis, segment contribution was up 22% to $12.5 million.
    • During the quarter, segment store count increased by four de novo stores to 741.

    FORM 10-Q

    EZCORP’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2024 has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The report is available in the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at http://investors.ezcorp.com. EZCORP shareholders may obtain a paper copy of the report, free of charge, by sending a request to the investor relations contact below.

    CONFERENCE CALL
    EZCORP will host a conference call on Thursday, February 6, 2025, at 8:00 am Central Time to discuss First Quarter Fiscal 2025 results. Analysts and institutional investors may participate on the conference call by registering online at https://register.vevent.com/register/BI86f9072cf4c447ae86954e0a22daa957. Once registered you will receive the dial-in details with a unique PIN to join the call. The conference call will be webcast simultaneously to the public through this link: http://investors.ezcorp.com. A replay of the conference call will be available online at http://investors.ezcorp.com shortly after the end of the call. 

    ABOUT EZCORP

    Formed in 1989, EZCORP has grown into a leading provider of pawn transactions in the United States and Latin America. We also sell pre-owned and recycled merchandise, primarily collateral forfeited from pawn lending operations and merchandise purchased from customers. We are dedicated to satisfying the short-term cash needs of consumers who are both cash and credit constrained, focusing on an industry-leading customer experience. EZCORP is traded on NASDAQ under the symbol EZPW and is a member of the S&P 1000 Index and Nasdaq Composite Index. 

    Follow us on social media:

    Facebook EZPAWN Official https://www.facebook.com/EZPAWN/

    EZCORP Instagram Official https://www.instagram.com/ezcorp_official/

    EZPAWN Instagram Official https://www.instagram.com/ezpawnofficial/

    EZCORP LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/ezcorp/

    FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

    This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements regarding the Company’s strategy, initiatives and expected performance. These statements are based on the Company’s current expectations as to the outcome and timing of future events. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, including all statements regarding the Company’s strategy, initiatives and future performance, that address activities or results that the Company plans, expects, believes, projects, estimates or anticipates, will, should or may occur in the future, including future financial or operating results, are forward-looking statements. Actual results for future periods may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to a number of uncertainties and other factors, including operating risks, liquidity risks, legislative or regulatory developments, market factors, current or future litigation and risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. For a discussion of these and other factors affecting the Company’s business and prospects, see the Company’s annual, quarterly and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results over time.

    Contact:
    Email: Investor_Relations@ezcorp.com
    Phone: (512) 314-2220

    Note: Percentages are calculated from the underlying numbers in thousands and, as a result, may not agree to the percentages calculated from numbers in millions. Numbers may not foot or cross foot due to rounding.
    1“Adjusted” basis, which is a non-GAAP measure, excludes certain items. “Constant currency” basis, which is a non-GAAP measure, excludes the impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. For additional information about these calculations, as well as a reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP financial measures, see “Non-GAAP Financial Information” at the end of this release.
    2“Same-store” basis, which is a financial measure, includes stores open the entirety of the comparable periods.

       
    EZCORP, Inc.
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
    (Unaudited)
       
      Three Months Ended
    December 31,
    (in thousands, except per share amounts) 2024   2023
    Revenues:      
    Merchandise sales $ 186,343     $ 179,403  
    Jewelry scrapping sales   16,732       14,082  
    Pawn service charges   117,052       106,449  
    Other revenues   43       57  
    Total revenues   320,170       299,991  
    Merchandise cost of goods sold   121,824       115,210  
    Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold   12,942       12,208  
    Gross profit   185,404       172,573  
    Operating expenses:      
    Store expenses   116,451       110,555  
    General and administrative   18,669       16,543  
    Depreciation and amortization   8,335       8,565  
    Loss (gain) on sale or disposal of assets and other   8       (172 )
    Total operating expenses   143,463       135,491  
    Operating income   41,941       37,082  
    Interest expense   3,147       3,440  
    Interest income   (2,093 )     (2,639 )
    Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliates   (1,475 )     (1,153 )
    Other expense (income)   978       (271 )
    Income before income taxes   41,384       37,705  
    Income tax expense   10,368       9,235  
    Net income $ 31,016     $ 28,470  
           
    Basic earnings per share $ 0.57     $ 0.52  
    Diluted earnings per share $ 0.40     $ 0.36  
           
    Weighted-average basic shares outstanding   54,827       55,076  
    Weighted-average diluted shares outstanding   83,347       86,812  
                   
    EZCORP, Inc.
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
    (Unaudited)
               
    (in thousands, except share and per share amounts) December 31,
    2024    		   December 31,
    2023    		   September 30,
    2024
               
    Assets:          
    Current assets:          
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 174,506     $ 218,516     $ 170,513  
    Restricted cash   9,386       8,470       9,294  
    Pawn loans   274,824       243,252       274,084  
    Pawn service charges receivable, net   45,198       40,002       44,013  
    Inventory, net   199,481       164,927       191,923  
    Prepaid expenses and other current assets   36,562       44,001       39,171  
    Total current assets   739,957       719,168       728,998  
    Investments in unconsolidated affiliates   13,555       10,125       13,329  
    Other investments   51,903       51,220       51,900  
    Property and equipment, net   63,231       68,998       65,973  
    Right-of-use assets, net   227,810       231,103       226,602  
    Goodwill   304,722       303,799       306,478  
    Intangible assets, net   57,093       56,977       58,451  
    Deferred tax asset, net   24,990       25,984       25,362  
    Other assets, net   15,872       13,819       16,144  
    Total assets $ 1,499,133     $ 1,481,193     $ 1,493,237  
               
    Liabilities and equity:          
    Current liabilities:          
    Current maturities of long-term debt, net $ 103,205     $ 34,307     $ 103,072  
    Accounts payable, accrued expenses and other current liabilities   68,682       69,386       85,737  
    Customer layaway deposits   24,216       18,324       21,570  
    Operating lease liabilities, current   57,900       57,980       58,998  
    Total current liabilities   254,003       179,997       269,377  
    Long-term debt, net   224,505       326,223       224,256  
    Deferred tax liability, net   2,186       372       2,080  
    Operating lease liabilities   182,228       188,475       180,616  
    Other long-term liabilities   12,317       11,243       12,337  
    Total liabilities   675,239       706,310       688,666  
    Commitments and contingencies          
    Stockholders’ equity:          
    Class A Non-voting Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share; shares authorized: 100 million; issued and outstanding: 52,050,550 as of December 31, 2024; 52,272,594 as of December 31, 2023; and 51,582,698 as of September 30, 2024   520       523       516  
    Class B Voting Common Stock, convertible, par value $0.01 per share; shares authorized: 3 million; issued and outstanding: 2,970,171   30       30       30  
    Additional paid-in capital   345,783       343,870       348,366  
    Retained earnings   536,427       457,929       507,206  
    Accumulated other comprehensive loss   (58,866 )     (27,469 )     (51,547 )
    Total equity   823,894       774,883       804,571  
    Total liabilities and equity $ 1,499,133     $ 1,481,193     $ 1,493,237  
                           
    EZCORP, Inc.
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
    (Unaudited)
       
      Three Months Ended
    December 31,
    (in thousands) 2024   2023
       
    Operating activities:      
    Net income $ 31,016     $ 28,470  
    Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:      
    Depreciation and amortization   8,335       8,565  
    Amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs   382       417  
    Non-cash lease expense   14,421       14,744  
    Deferred income taxes   478       345  
    Other adjustments   (617 )     (857 )
    Provision for inventory reserve   59       (156 )
    Stock compensation expense   2,597       2,264  
    Equity in net income from investment in unconsolidated affiliates   (1,475 )     (1,153 )
    Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of business acquisitions:      
    Pawn service charges receivable   (1,368 )     (1,000 )
    Inventory   (2,384 )     2,066  
    Prepaid expenses, other current assets and other assets   1,375       (5,823 )
    Accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities   (38,737 )     (33,991 )
    Customer layaway deposits   2,909       (719 )
    Income taxes   9,000       8,309  
    Net cash provided by operating activities   25,991       21,481  
    Investing activities:      
    Loans made   (247,225 )     (216,978 )
    Loans repaid   135,190       123,021  
    Recovery of pawn loan principal through sale of forfeited collateral   101,850       98,209  
    Capital expenditures, net   (5,609 )     (7,184 )
    Investment in other investments   —       (15,000 )
    Dividends from unconsolidated affiliates   1,902       1,745  
    Other   (148 )     (677 )
    Net cash used in investing activities   (14,040 )     (16,864 )
    Financing activities:      
    Taxes paid related to net share settlement of equity awards   (3,971 )     (3,253 )
    Purchase and retirement of treasury stock   (3,000 )     (3,007 )
    Payments of finance leases   (131 )     (132 )
    Net cash used in financing activities   (7,102 )     (6,392 )
    Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash   (764 )     (207 )
    Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash   4,085       (1,982 )
    Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period   179,807       228,968  
    Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period $ 183,892     $ 226,986  
           
    EZCORP, Inc.
    OPERATING SEGMENT RESULTS
       
      Three Months Ended December 31, 2024
    (Unaudited)
    (in thousands) U.S. Pawn   Latin America
    Pawn    		   Other
    Investments    		   Total Segments   Corporate
    Items    		   Consolidated
                           
    Revenues:                      
    Merchandise sales $ 128,800     $ 57,543     $ —     $ 186,343     $ —     $ 186,343  
    Jewelry scrapping sales   15,498       1,234       —       16,732       —       16,732  
    Pawn service charges   87,876       29,176       —       117,052       —       117,052  
    Other revenues   27       16       —       43       —       43  
    Total revenues   232,201       87,969       —       320,170       —       320,170  
    Merchandise cost of goods sold   81,556       40,268       —       121,824       —       121,824  
    Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold   11,968       974       —       12,942       —       12,942  
    Gross profit   138,677       46,727       —       185,404       —       185,404  
    Segment and corporate expenses (income):                      
    Store expenses   83,089       33,362       —       116,451       —       116,451  
    General and administrative   —       —       —       —       18,669       18,669  
    Depreciation and amortization   2,717       2,046       —       4,763       3,572       8,335  
    Loss on sale or disposal of assets and other   —       8       —       8       —       8  
    Interest expense   —       —       —       —       3,147       3,147  
    Interest income   —       (202 )     (594 )     (796 )     (1,297 )     (2,093 )
    Equity in net (income) loss of unconsolidated affiliates   —       —       (1,623 )     (1,623 )     148       (1,475 )
    Other (income) expense   (11 )     (71 )     —       (82 )     1,060       978  
    Segment contribution $ 52,882     $ 11,584     $ 2,217     $ 66,683          
    Income (loss) before income taxes             $ 66,683     $ (25,299 )   $ 41,384  
                                       

            

      Three Months Ended December 31, 2023
    (Unaudited)
    (in thousands) U.S. Pawn   Latin America
    Pawn    		   Other
    Investments    		   Total Segments   Corporate
    Items    		   Consolidated
                           
    Revenues:                      
    Merchandise sales $ 125,513     $ 53,890     $ —     $ 179,403     $ —     $ 179,403  
    Jewelry scrapping sales   12,815       1,267       —       14,082       —       14,082  
    Pawn service charges   79,073       27,376       —       106,449       —       106,449  
    Other revenues   37       16       4       57       —       57  
    Total revenues   217,438       82,549       4       299,991       —       299,991  
    Merchandise cost of goods sold   78,709       36,501       —       115,210       —       115,210  
    Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold   11,284       924       —       12,208       —       12,208  
    Gross profit   127,445       45,124       4       172,573       —       172,573  
    Segment and corporate expenses (income):                      
    Store expenses   77,255       33,300       —       110,555       —       110,555  
    General and administrative   —       —       —       —       16,543       16,543  
    Depreciation and amortization   2,624       2,339       —       4,963       3,602       8,565  
    Loss (gain) on sale or disposal of assets and other   26       (196 )     —       (170 )     (2 )     (172 )
    Interest expense   —       —       —       —       3,440       3,440  
    Interest income   —       (420 )     (573 )     (993 )     (1,646 )     (2,639 )
    Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliates   —       —       (1,153 )     (1,153 )     —       (1,153 )
    Other (income) expense   —       (48 )     1       (47 )     (224 )     (271 )
    Segment contribution $ 47,540     $ 10,149     $ 1,729     $ 59,418          
    Income (loss) before income taxes             $ 59,418     $ (21,713 )   $ 37,705  
                           
    EZCORP, Inc.
    STORE COUNT ACTIVITY
    (Unaudited)
       
      Three Months Ended December 31, 2024
      U.S. Pawn
    		   Latin America
    Pawn
    		   Consolidated
                           
    As of September 30, 2024   542       737       1,279  
    New locations opened   —       4       4  
    As of December 31, 2024   542       741       1,283  
                           
      Three Months Ended December 31, 2023
      U.S. Pawn
    		   Latin America
    Pawn
    		   Consolidated
                           
    As of September 30, 2023   529       702       1,231  
    New locations opened   —       5       5  
    Locations acquired   1       —       1  
    As of December 31, 2023   530       707       1,237  
                           

    Non-GAAP Financial Information (Unaudited)

    In addition to the financial information prepared in conformity with accounting U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), we provide certain other non-GAAP financial information on a constant currency (“constant currency”) and adjusted basis. We use constant currency results to evaluate our Latin America Pawn operations, which are denominated primarily in Mexican pesos, Guatemalan quetzales and other Latin American currencies. We believe that presentation of constant currency and adjusted results is meaningful and useful in understanding the activities and business metrics of our operations and reflects an additional way of viewing aspects of our business that, when viewed with GAAP results, provides a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting our business. We provide non-GAAP financial information for informational purposes and to enhance understanding of our GAAP consolidated financial statements. We use this non-GAAP financial information primarily to evaluate and compare operating results across accounting periods.

    Readers should consider the information in addition to, but not instead of or superior to, our financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. This non-GAAP financial information may be determined or calculated differently by other companies, limiting the usefulness of those measures for comparative purposes.

    Constant currency results reported herein are calculated by translating consolidated balance sheet and consolidated statement of operations items denominated in local currency to U.S. dollars using the exchange rate from the prior-year comparable period, as opposed to the current period, in order to exclude the effects of foreign currency rate fluctuations. In addition, we have an equity method investment that is denominated in Australian dollars and is translated into U.S. dollars. We used the end-of-period rate for balance sheet items and the average closing daily exchange rate on a monthly basis during the appropriate period for statement of operations items. The end-of-period and approximate average exchange rates for each applicable currency as compared to U.S. dollars as of and for the three months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 were as follows:

           
      December 31,   Three Months Ended
    December 31,
      2024
    		   2023
    		   2024
    		   2023
                                   
    Mexican peso   20.8       17.0       20.1       17.5  
    Guatemalan quetzal   7.5       7.7       7.5       7.6  
    Honduran lempira   25.0       24.3       24.8       24.4  
    Australian dollar   1.6       1.5       1.5       1.5  
                                   

    Our statement of operations constant currency results reflect the monthly exchange rate fluctuations and so are not directly calculable from the above rates. Constant currency results, where presented, also exclude the foreign currency gain or loss.

    Miscellaneous Non-GAAP Financial Measures

      Three Months Ended
    December 31,
    (in millions) 2024   2023
           
    Net income $ 31.0     $ 28.5  
    Interest expense   3.1       3.4  
    Interest income   (2.1 )     (2.6 )
    Income tax expense   10.4       9.2  
    Depreciation and amortization   8.3       8.6  
    EBITDA $ 50.8     $ 47.1  
                   

            

      Total
    Revenues    		   Gross
    Profit    		   Income
    Before Tax    		   Tax Effect   Net
    Income    		   Diluted
    EPS    		   EBITDA
                               
    2025 Q1 Reported $ 320.2     $ 185.4     $ 41.4     $ 10.4     $ 31.0     $ 0.40     $ 50.8  
    FX Impact   —       —       1.0       0.2       0.8       0.01       1.0  
    Constant Currency   9.5       4.8       1.0       0.2       0.8       0.01       1.2  
    2025 Q1 Adjusted $ 329.7     $ 190.2     $ 43.4     $ 10.8     $ 32.6     $ 0.42     $ 53.0  
                                                           
      Total
    Revenues    		   Gross
    Profit    		   Income
    Before Tax    		   Tax Effect   Net
    Income    		   Diluted
    EPS    		   EBITDA
                               
    2024 Q1 Reported $ 300.0     $ 172.6     $ 37.7     $ 9.2     $ 28.5     $ 0.36     $ 47.1  
    FX Impact   —       —       0.1       —       0.1       —       0.1  
    2024 Q1 Adjusted $ 300.0     $ 172.6     $ 37.8     $ 9.2     $ 28.6     $ 0.36     $ 47.2  
                                                           
      Three Months Ended
    December 31, 2024
    (in millions) U.S. Dollar
    Amount    		   Percentage
    Change YOY
           
    Consolidated revenues $ 320.2       7 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   9.5      
    Constant currency consolidated revenues $ 329.7       10 %
           
    Consolidated gross profit $ 185.4       7 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   4.8      
    Constant currency consolidated gross profit $ 190.2       10 %
           
    Consolidated net inventory $ 199.5       21 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   8.5      
    Constant currency consolidated net inventory $ 208.0       26 %
           
    Latin America Pawn gross profit $ 46.7       4 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   4.8      
    Constant currency Latin America Pawn gross profit $ 51.5       14 %
           
    Latin America Pawn PLO $ 54.6       4 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   8.1      
    Constant currency Latin America Pawn PLO $ 62.7       19 %
           
    Latin America Pawn PSC revenues $ 29.2       7 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   2.8      
    Constant currency Latin America Pawn PSC revenues $ 32.0       17 %
           
    Latin America Pawn merchandise sales $ 57.5       7 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   6.6      
    Constant currency Latin America Pawn merchandise sales $ 64.1       19 %
           
    Latin America Pawn segment profit before tax $ 11.6       14 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   0.9      
    Constant currency Latin America Pawn segment profit before tax $ 12.5       24 %
                   

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Interest rate cuts, lower inflation, trade shifts – will Australia’s economy find its stride in 2025?

    Source: University of South Australia

    06 February 2025

    UniSA’s Credit Union SA Chair of Economics Dr Susan Stone.

    Australian households and businesses should benefit from lower interest rates and improved market conditions, in what a University of South Australia economist predicts will be a year of recovery for the country.

    UniSA’s Credit Union SA Chair of Economics Dr Susan Stone says global economic growth is expected to improve in 2025, with G20 economies averaging growth rates of 3.35%. India and Indonesia are stand out markets and will benefit Australia as they are both major export markets.

    Dr Stone says inflation is also expected to further recede, with central banks having reached their monetary policy targets in nearly half of the world’s advanced economies (US, UK, Canada, Japan etc) and close to 60% for emerging market economies (India, Brazil, South Africa etc).

    “Inflation is coming down in Australia and rate cuts are expected in the first half of the year, with many economists predicting one at the February meeting. However, there are still lingering concerns about Commonwealth payments affecting the CPI (consumer price index) numbers, with rents still growing strongly, services inflation running over 4%, a continued tight housing market and low unemployment,” she says,

    “All of this implies that spare capacity is limited in the economy and that any increase in demand accompanied by lowering interest rates could rekindle inflation.”

    Dr Stone, a former OECD and United Nations economist, says the labour market picture is more nuanced, with growth in full-time employment post-COVID-19 slightly ahead of part-time work, but this varies significantly by sector. The strongest employment increases have been in electricity, gas and water (EGW) and construction nationally.

    “EGW has more than doubled its employment growth since COVID (compared to the 10-year average) but it has come mainly through part-time work – 11% growth versus 3% growth in full-time jobs,” Dr Stone says. “The construction and health sectors were the next highest at 1.6% and 1.5% growth respectively. Both experienced stronger growth in full time workers than part-time.

    “Professional, scientific and technical services employment has actually grown at a slower rate in Australia since COVID with the average annual rate of 0.8% versus the average rate of 0.9% since 2014. However, manufacturing, while small, shows much stronger employment gains since COVID then in the 10-year period overall. In this sector, part-time employment has actually fallen while full-time has increased.

    “We see the construction sector really bouncing back from pre-COVID averages, with full-time job growth (at 1.7%) more than twice the rate as prior to COVID (0.7%) while part-time job growth remained the same (1%). Thus, tight conditions in the construction industry job market are likely to continue into 2025.”

    As inflation comes down and real wages rise, some recovery in household finances can be expected which should increase household spending. A key to growth in Australia’s economy for 2025 and beyond is business investment, Dr Stone says.

    “We saw volume measures of retail spending finish the year up, especially for household goods, which means people aren’t just spending more because of price increases. As the price index (CPI) continues to fall faster than the wage index (WPI), along with the expected cut in interest rates, household budgets should recover in 2025,” she says.

    Following Donald Trump’s official inauguration as the United States’ 47th president, like many countries, Australia is adapting to his return and promise of new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.

    Dr Stone says Australians may be affected by the additional trade barriers as even though the US accounts for only 5% of Australian exports, it still ranks as Australia’s fifth-largest export market.

    “We export a relatively small number of commodities to the US but it’s still an important customer for our advanced manufacturing sector. The US imports many of our high technology products such as hi-tech engines, aircraft and space parts and machine tools,” she says.

    “The US is also our second largest services export market, making up more than 10% of our total services trade. Service inputs are things like software, engineering or transport services that help produce international goods such as toys, laptops and refrigerators.”

    Dr Stone says overall, 2025 should be a year of recovery with Australian households and business benefitting from lower interest rates and improved market conditions.

    “Overseas markets are likely to remain rocky, but a weak dollar will help exports. Structural challenges in the housing market, innovation and business investment will need to be addressed to ensure sustained growth,” she adds.

    …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

     Contact for interview:  Dr Susan Stone, University of South Australia Credit Union SA Chair of Economics E: Susan.Stone@unisa.edu.au

    Media contact: Melissa Keogh, Communications Officer, UniSA M: +61 403 659 154 E: Melissa.Keogh@unisa.edu.au

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: More than 200 supportive homes, shelter spaces on the way throughout B.C.

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Christine Boyle, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation –

    “In B.C., we are taking direct action to address the urgent and critical need for culturally supportive housing on reserve and off reserve by working in partnership with First Nations and Indigenous organizations. Together, we are laying a strong foundation so communities can thrive and making positive changes in people’s lives by meeting their fundamental needs.”

    Mark Miller, CEO, Connective –

    “We understand that stable, appropriate housing is a critical step in preventing crises and a foundation for accessing additional supports, overcoming barriers and pursuing personal independence. The transitional housing program at 3rd and London is an exciting opportunity to diversify local responses to homelessness, while leveraging our expertise to help individuals work toward long-term stability.”

    Keith Fielding, president, Peachland Seniors’ Support Society –

    “We’re thrilled to see the second phase of our seniors’ housing project underway. Phase 2 adds 73 new homes to the Residences on Sixth project, bringing the total to 147 units. Our thanks to BC Housing for this second partnership and to the District of Peachland for leasing the land.”

    Chief Michael Wyse, Snuneymuxw First Nation –

    “We celebrate Snuneymuxw families moving into La’lum’utul, new homes that are part of our ongoing work to create more affordable housing options for our people. We are grateful for our continued partnership with BC Housing and the meaningful results we are achieving together.”

    Fran Hunt-Jinnouchi, executive director, Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness –

    “Sacred Cradle House will meet a critical need in Victoria to keep First Nations, Métis and Inuit families together through culturally supportive housing, Indigenous approaches and child-rearing practices, including decolonized harm reduction and land-based healing.”

    Bob Hughes, CEO, ASK Wellness Society –

    “As we prepare to open our doors, ASK Wellness Society is proud and humbled to help bring the Access Hub Committe’s vision to life. This collaborative effort highlights the power of partnership in addressing the urgent shelter needs of Kamloops’ North Shore, providing support, hope and wraparound services to some of the most vulnerable members of our community.”

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI: BTQ Technologies Corp. to Present at the Small Cap Growth Virtual Investor Conference February 6th

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BTQ Technologies Corp. (CBOE CA: BTQ) (FSE: NG3) (OTCQX: BTQQF), a global quantum technology company focused on securing mission-critical networks, today announced that Nicolas Roussy Newton, Co-Founder and COO will present live at the Small Cap Growth Virtual Investor Conference hosted by VirtualInvestorConferences.com, on February 6th, 2025

    DATE: Thursday February 6, 2025
    TIME: 11:00am ET
    LINK: CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

    This will be a live, interactive online event where investors are invited to ask the company questions in real-time. If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an archived webcast will also be made available after the event.

    It is recommended that online investors pre-register and run the online system check to expedite participation and receive event updates.  

    Learn more about the event at www.virtualinvestorconferences.com.

    Recent BTQ Highlights:

    About BTQ
    BTQ was founded by a group of post-quantum cryptographers with an interest in addressing the urgent security threat posed by large-scale universal quantum computers. With the support of leading research institutes and universities, BTQ is combining software and hardware to safeguard critical networks using unique post-quantum services and solutions.

    Connect with BTQ: Website | LinkedIn

    About Virtual Investor Conferences®
    Virtual Investor Conferences (VIC) is the leading proprietary investor conference series that provides an interactive forum for publicly traded companies to seamlessly present directly to investors.

    Providing a real-time investor engagement solution, VIC is specifically designed to offer companies more efficient investor access.  Replicating the components of an on-site investor conference, VIC offers companies enhanced capabilities to connect with investors, schedule targeted one-on-one meetings and enhance their presentations with dynamic video content. Accelerating the next level of investor engagement, Virtual Investor Conferences delivers leading investor communications to a global network of retail and institutional investors.

    CONTACTS:
    BTQ Technologies Corp.
    Bill Mitoulas
    Investor Relations
    +1.416.479.9547
    bill@btq.com

    Virtual Investor Conferences
    John M. Viglotti
    SVP Corporate Services, Investor Access
    OTC Markets Group
    (212) 220-2221
    johnv@otcmarkets.com

    Neither CBOE Canada nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.  

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: EZCORP Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2025 Results Record PLO Drives Strong Increase in Net Income

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ: EZPW), a leading provider of pawn transactions in the United States and Latin America, today announced results for its first quarter ended December 31, 2024.

    Unless otherwise noted, all amounts in this release are in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and comparisons shown are to the same period in the prior year.

    FIRST QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

    • Pawn loans outstanding (PLO) up 13% to $274.8 million.
    • Net income increased 9% to $31.0 million. On an adjusted basis1, net income increased 14% to $32.6 million.
    • Diluted earnings per share increased 11% to $0.40. On an adjusted basis, diluted earnings per share increased 17% to $0.42.
    • Adjusted EBITDA increased 12% to $53.0 million.
    • Total revenues increased 7% to $320.2 million, while gross profit increased 7% to $185.4 million.

    CEO COMMENTARY AND OUTLOOK

    Lachie Given, Chief Executive Officer, stated, “Fiscal 2025 is off to a strong start as we build on our momentum from 2024. Customer demand for immediate cash solutions and high quality, cost-effective secondhand goods remains high, as reflected by another quarter of record revenues and PLO. We also continued to drive meaningful improvements to our bottom line and deliver on the operating leverage inherent in our business, with adjusted EBITDA increasing 12% and adjusted diluted EPS increasing 17%.

    “Our consistent performance across geographies underscores the strength of our operations and customer-focused strategy. In the U.S., PLO grew 15%, driven by strong loan demand and higher average loan size. In Latin America, PLO rose 19% on a constant currency basis, with revenues up 18%, reflecting robust customer demand for loans and secondhand goods, as well as our outstanding customer service. Our EZ+ Rewards program also continues to perform exceptionally well, which accounted for 77% of all transacting customers. These results demonstrate the momentum we are gaining across markets and the success of our strategic initiatives.”

    “We are proud of the solid foundation we have built, which will enable us to continue driving growth both organically and through strategic M&A. Looking ahead, we plan to continue delivering exceptional service to our customers and enhancing value for our shareholders. We remain deeply committed to our core values of People, Pawn and Passion, and believe we are very well-positioned to deliver another record year of performance in fiscal 2025,” concluded Given.

    CONSOLIDATED RESULTS

    Three Months Ended December 31 As Reported   Adjusted1
    in millions, except per share amounts 2024
    		   2023
    		   2024
    		   2023
                   
    Total revenues $ 320.2     $ 300.0     $ 329.7     $ 300.0  
    Gross profit $ 185.4     $ 172.6     $ 190.2     $ 172.6  
    Income before tax $ 41.4     $ 37.7     $ 43.4     $ 37.8  
    Net income $ 31.0     $ 28.5     $ 32.6     $ 28.6  
    Diluted earnings per share $ 0.40     $ 0.36     $ 0.42     $ 0.36  
    EBITDA (non-GAAP measure) $ 50.8     $ 47.1     $ 53.0     $ 47.2  
                                   
    • PLO increased 13% to $274.8 million, up $31.6 million. On a same-store2 basis, PLO increased 12% due to increase in average loan size, continued strong pawn demand and improved operational performance.
    • Total revenues and gross profit increased 7%, reflecting improved pawn service charge (PSC) revenues as a result of higher average PLO in addition to higher merchandise sales and merchandise sales gross profit.
    • PSC increased 10% as a result of higher average PLO.
    • Merchandise sales gross margin remains within our target range at 35%, down from 36%. Aged general merchandise was 2.1% of total general merchandise inventory. 
    • Net inventory increased 21%, due to the increase in PLO and decrease in inventory turnover to 2.7x, from 3.0x.
    • Store expenses increased 5% and 3% on a same-store basis.
    • General and administrative expenses increased 13%, primarily due to labor (including incentive compensation) and, to a lesser extent, ongoing support costs related to Workday.
    • Income before taxes was $41.4 million, up 10% from $37.7 million, and adjusted EBITDA increased 12% to $53.0 million.
    • Diluted earnings per share increased 11% to $0.40. On an adjusted basis, diluted earnings per share increased 17% to $0.42.
    • Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter was $174.5 million, up from $170.5 million as of September 30, 2024. The increase was primarily due to cash from operating activities, partially offset by increase in earning assets, capital expenditures, taxes paid related to net share settlement of equity awards and share repurchases.

    SEGMENT RESULTS

    U.S. Pawn

    • PLO ended the quarter at $220.2 million, up 15% on a total and same-store basis due to increase in average loan size, increased loan demand and improved operational performance.
    • Total revenues increased 7% and gross profit increased 9%, reflecting higher PSC and merchandise sales.
    • PSC increased 11% as a result of higher average PLO.
    • Merchandise sales increased 3%, and gross margin was flat at 37%. Aged general merchandise increased to 2.6%, or $1.2 million of total general merchandise inventory. Excluding our three Max Pawn luxury stores in Las Vegas, aged general merchandise was 1%.
    • Net inventory increased 17%, in line with the growth in PLO. Inventory turnover decreased to 2.5x, from 2.7x.
    • Store expenses increased 8% (5% on a same-store basis), primarily due to labor costs (including higher health benefits) supporting more store activity, offset by a decrease in expenses related to our loyalty program.
    • Segment contribution increased 11% to $52.9 million.
    • During the quarter, segment store count remained at 542.

    Latin America Pawn

    • PLO improved to $54.6 million, up 4% (19% on constant currency basis). On a same-store basis, PLO increased 2% (17% on a constant currency basis) due to improved operational performance and increased loan demand.
    • Total revenues were up 7% (18% on constant currency basis), and gross profit increased 4% (14% on a constant currency basis), mainly due to increased PSC and higher merchandise sales.
    • PSC increased to $29.2 million, up 7% (17% on a constant currency basis) as a result of higher average PLO.
    • Merchandise sales increased 7% (19% on constant currency basis) and merchandise sales gross margin decreased to 30% from 32%. Aged general merchandise decreased to 1.4% from 1.6% of total general merchandise inventory.
    • Net inventory increased 35% (57% on a constant currency basis) due to increase in PLO and decrease in inventory turnover to 3.1x, from 3.8x.
    • Store expenses were flat (11% increase on a constant currency basis) and on a same-store basis decreased 2% (9% increase on a constant currency basis), primarily due to labor and rent.
    • Segment contribution increased 14% to $11.6 million (24% on a constant currency basis). On an adjusted basis, segment contribution was up 22% to $12.5 million.
    • During the quarter, segment store count increased by four de novo stores to 741.

    FORM 10-Q

    EZCORP’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2024 has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The report is available in the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at http://investors.ezcorp.com. EZCORP shareholders may obtain a paper copy of the report, free of charge, by sending a request to the investor relations contact below.

    CONFERENCE CALL
    EZCORP will host a conference call on Thursday, February 6, 2025, at 8:00 am Central Time to discuss First Quarter Fiscal 2025 results. Analysts and institutional investors may participate on the conference call by registering online at https://register.vevent.com/register/BI86f9072cf4c447ae86954e0a22daa957. Once registered you will receive the dial-in details with a unique PIN to join the call. The conference call will be webcast simultaneously to the public through this link: http://investors.ezcorp.com. A replay of the conference call will be available online at http://investors.ezcorp.com shortly after the end of the call. 

    ABOUT EZCORP

    Formed in 1989, EZCORP has grown into a leading provider of pawn transactions in the United States and Latin America. We also sell pre-owned and recycled merchandise, primarily collateral forfeited from pawn lending operations and merchandise purchased from customers. We are dedicated to satisfying the short-term cash needs of consumers who are both cash and credit constrained, focusing on an industry-leading customer experience. EZCORP is traded on NASDAQ under the symbol EZPW and is a member of the S&P 1000 Index and Nasdaq Composite Index. 

    Follow us on social media:

    Facebook EZPAWN Official https://www.facebook.com/EZPAWN/

    EZCORP Instagram Official https://www.instagram.com/ezcorp_official/

    EZPAWN Instagram Official https://www.instagram.com/ezpawnofficial/

    EZCORP LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/ezcorp/

    FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

    This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements regarding the Company’s strategy, initiatives and expected performance. These statements are based on the Company’s current expectations as to the outcome and timing of future events. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, including all statements regarding the Company’s strategy, initiatives and future performance, that address activities or results that the Company plans, expects, believes, projects, estimates or anticipates, will, should or may occur in the future, including future financial or operating results, are forward-looking statements. Actual results for future periods may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to a number of uncertainties and other factors, including operating risks, liquidity risks, legislative or regulatory developments, market factors, current or future litigation and risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. For a discussion of these and other factors affecting the Company’s business and prospects, see the Company’s annual, quarterly and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results over time.

    Contact:
    Email: Investor_Relations@ezcorp.com
    Phone: (512) 314-2220

    Note: Percentages are calculated from the underlying numbers in thousands and, as a result, may not agree to the percentages calculated from numbers in millions. Numbers may not foot or cross foot due to rounding.
    1“Adjusted” basis, which is a non-GAAP measure, excludes certain items. “Constant currency” basis, which is a non-GAAP measure, excludes the impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. For additional information about these calculations, as well as a reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP financial measures, see “Non-GAAP Financial Information” at the end of this release.
    2“Same-store” basis, which is a financial measure, includes stores open the entirety of the comparable periods.

       
    EZCORP, Inc.
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
    (Unaudited)
       
      Three Months Ended
    December 31,
    (in thousands, except per share amounts) 2024   2023
    Revenues:      
    Merchandise sales $ 186,343     $ 179,403  
    Jewelry scrapping sales   16,732       14,082  
    Pawn service charges   117,052       106,449  
    Other revenues   43       57  
    Total revenues   320,170       299,991  
    Merchandise cost of goods sold   121,824       115,210  
    Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold   12,942       12,208  
    Gross profit   185,404       172,573  
    Operating expenses:      
    Store expenses   116,451       110,555  
    General and administrative   18,669       16,543  
    Depreciation and amortization   8,335       8,565  
    Loss (gain) on sale or disposal of assets and other   8       (172 )
    Total operating expenses   143,463       135,491  
    Operating income   41,941       37,082  
    Interest expense   3,147       3,440  
    Interest income   (2,093 )     (2,639 )
    Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliates   (1,475 )     (1,153 )
    Other expense (income)   978       (271 )
    Income before income taxes   41,384       37,705  
    Income tax expense   10,368       9,235  
    Net income $ 31,016     $ 28,470  
           
    Basic earnings per share $ 0.57     $ 0.52  
    Diluted earnings per share $ 0.40     $ 0.36  
           
    Weighted-average basic shares outstanding   54,827       55,076  
    Weighted-average diluted shares outstanding   83,347       86,812  
                   
    EZCORP, Inc.
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
    (Unaudited)
               
    (in thousands, except share and per share amounts) December 31,
    2024    		   December 31,
    2023    		   September 30,
    2024
               
    Assets:          
    Current assets:          
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 174,506     $ 218,516     $ 170,513  
    Restricted cash   9,386       8,470       9,294  
    Pawn loans   274,824       243,252       274,084  
    Pawn service charges receivable, net   45,198       40,002       44,013  
    Inventory, net   199,481       164,927       191,923  
    Prepaid expenses and other current assets   36,562       44,001       39,171  
    Total current assets   739,957       719,168       728,998  
    Investments in unconsolidated affiliates   13,555       10,125       13,329  
    Other investments   51,903       51,220       51,900  
    Property and equipment, net   63,231       68,998       65,973  
    Right-of-use assets, net   227,810       231,103       226,602  
    Goodwill   304,722       303,799       306,478  
    Intangible assets, net   57,093       56,977       58,451  
    Deferred tax asset, net   24,990       25,984       25,362  
    Other assets, net   15,872       13,819       16,144  
    Total assets $ 1,499,133     $ 1,481,193     $ 1,493,237  
               
    Liabilities and equity:          
    Current liabilities:          
    Current maturities of long-term debt, net $ 103,205     $ 34,307     $ 103,072  
    Accounts payable, accrued expenses and other current liabilities   68,682       69,386       85,737  
    Customer layaway deposits   24,216       18,324       21,570  
    Operating lease liabilities, current   57,900       57,980       58,998  
    Total current liabilities   254,003       179,997       269,377  
    Long-term debt, net   224,505       326,223       224,256  
    Deferred tax liability, net   2,186       372       2,080  
    Operating lease liabilities   182,228       188,475       180,616  
    Other long-term liabilities   12,317       11,243       12,337  
    Total liabilities   675,239       706,310       688,666  
    Commitments and contingencies          
    Stockholders’ equity:          
    Class A Non-voting Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share; shares authorized: 100 million; issued and outstanding: 52,050,550 as of December 31, 2024; 52,272,594 as of December 31, 2023; and 51,582,698 as of September 30, 2024   520       523       516  
    Class B Voting Common Stock, convertible, par value $0.01 per share; shares authorized: 3 million; issued and outstanding: 2,970,171   30       30       30  
    Additional paid-in capital   345,783       343,870       348,366  
    Retained earnings   536,427       457,929       507,206  
    Accumulated other comprehensive loss   (58,866 )     (27,469 )     (51,547 )
    Total equity   823,894       774,883       804,571  
    Total liabilities and equity $ 1,499,133     $ 1,481,193     $ 1,493,237  
                           
    EZCORP, Inc.
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
    (Unaudited)
       
      Three Months Ended
    December 31,
    (in thousands) 2024   2023
       
    Operating activities:      
    Net income $ 31,016     $ 28,470  
    Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:      
    Depreciation and amortization   8,335       8,565  
    Amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs   382       417  
    Non-cash lease expense   14,421       14,744  
    Deferred income taxes   478       345  
    Other adjustments   (617 )     (857 )
    Provision for inventory reserve   59       (156 )
    Stock compensation expense   2,597       2,264  
    Equity in net income from investment in unconsolidated affiliates   (1,475 )     (1,153 )
    Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of business acquisitions:      
    Pawn service charges receivable   (1,368 )     (1,000 )
    Inventory   (2,384 )     2,066  
    Prepaid expenses, other current assets and other assets   1,375       (5,823 )
    Accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities   (38,737 )     (33,991 )
    Customer layaway deposits   2,909       (719 )
    Income taxes   9,000       8,309  
    Net cash provided by operating activities   25,991       21,481  
    Investing activities:      
    Loans made   (247,225 )     (216,978 )
    Loans repaid   135,190       123,021  
    Recovery of pawn loan principal through sale of forfeited collateral   101,850       98,209  
    Capital expenditures, net   (5,609 )     (7,184 )
    Investment in other investments   —       (15,000 )
    Dividends from unconsolidated affiliates   1,902       1,745  
    Other   (148 )     (677 )
    Net cash used in investing activities   (14,040 )     (16,864 )
    Financing activities:      
    Taxes paid related to net share settlement of equity awards   (3,971 )     (3,253 )
    Purchase and retirement of treasury stock   (3,000 )     (3,007 )
    Payments of finance leases   (131 )     (132 )
    Net cash used in financing activities   (7,102 )     (6,392 )
    Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash   (764 )     (207 )
    Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash   4,085       (1,982 )
    Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period   179,807       228,968  
    Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period $ 183,892     $ 226,986  
           
    EZCORP, Inc.
    OPERATING SEGMENT RESULTS
       
      Three Months Ended December 31, 2024
    (Unaudited)
    (in thousands) U.S. Pawn   Latin America
    Pawn    		   Other
    Investments    		   Total Segments   Corporate
    Items    		   Consolidated
                           
    Revenues:                      
    Merchandise sales $ 128,800     $ 57,543     $ —     $ 186,343     $ —     $ 186,343  
    Jewelry scrapping sales   15,498       1,234       —       16,732       —       16,732  
    Pawn service charges   87,876       29,176       —       117,052       —       117,052  
    Other revenues   27       16       —       43       —       43  
    Total revenues   232,201       87,969       —       320,170       —       320,170  
    Merchandise cost of goods sold   81,556       40,268       —       121,824       —       121,824  
    Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold   11,968       974       —       12,942       —       12,942  
    Gross profit   138,677       46,727       —       185,404       —       185,404  
    Segment and corporate expenses (income):                      
    Store expenses   83,089       33,362       —       116,451       —       116,451  
    General and administrative   —       —       —       —       18,669       18,669  
    Depreciation and amortization   2,717       2,046       —       4,763       3,572       8,335  
    Loss on sale or disposal of assets and other   —       8       —       8       —       8  
    Interest expense   —       —       —       —       3,147       3,147  
    Interest income   —       (202 )     (594 )     (796 )     (1,297 )     (2,093 )
    Equity in net (income) loss of unconsolidated affiliates   —       —       (1,623 )     (1,623 )     148       (1,475 )
    Other (income) expense   (11 )     (71 )     —       (82 )     1,060       978  
    Segment contribution $ 52,882     $ 11,584     $ 2,217     $ 66,683          
    Income (loss) before income taxes             $ 66,683     $ (25,299 )   $ 41,384  
                                       

            

      Three Months Ended December 31, 2023
    (Unaudited)
    (in thousands) U.S. Pawn   Latin America
    Pawn    		   Other
    Investments    		   Total Segments   Corporate
    Items    		   Consolidated
                           
    Revenues:                      
    Merchandise sales $ 125,513     $ 53,890     $ —     $ 179,403     $ —     $ 179,403  
    Jewelry scrapping sales   12,815       1,267       —       14,082       —       14,082  
    Pawn service charges   79,073       27,376       —       106,449       —       106,449  
    Other revenues   37       16       4       57       —       57  
    Total revenues   217,438       82,549       4       299,991       —       299,991  
    Merchandise cost of goods sold   78,709       36,501       —       115,210       —       115,210  
    Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold   11,284       924       —       12,208       —       12,208  
    Gross profit   127,445       45,124       4       172,573       —       172,573  
    Segment and corporate expenses (income):                      
    Store expenses   77,255       33,300       —       110,555       —       110,555  
    General and administrative   —       —       —       —       16,543       16,543  
    Depreciation and amortization   2,624       2,339       —       4,963       3,602       8,565  
    Loss (gain) on sale or disposal of assets and other   26       (196 )     —       (170 )     (2 )     (172 )
    Interest expense   —       —       —       —       3,440       3,440  
    Interest income   —       (420 )     (573 )     (993 )     (1,646 )     (2,639 )
    Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliates   —       —       (1,153 )     (1,153 )     —       (1,153 )
    Other (income) expense   —       (48 )     1       (47 )     (224 )     (271 )
    Segment contribution $ 47,540     $ 10,149     $ 1,729     $ 59,418          
    Income (loss) before income taxes             $ 59,418     $ (21,713 )   $ 37,705  
                           
    EZCORP, Inc.
    STORE COUNT ACTIVITY
    (Unaudited)
       
      Three Months Ended December 31, 2024
      U.S. Pawn
    		   Latin America
    Pawn
    		   Consolidated
                           
    As of September 30, 2024   542       737       1,279  
    New locations opened   —       4       4  
    As of December 31, 2024   542       741       1,283  
                           
      Three Months Ended December 31, 2023
      U.S. Pawn
    		   Latin America
    Pawn
    		   Consolidated
                           
    As of September 30, 2023   529       702       1,231  
    New locations opened   —       5       5  
    Locations acquired   1       —       1  
    As of December 31, 2023   530       707       1,237  
                           

    Non-GAAP Financial Information (Unaudited)

    In addition to the financial information prepared in conformity with accounting U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), we provide certain other non-GAAP financial information on a constant currency (“constant currency”) and adjusted basis. We use constant currency results to evaluate our Latin America Pawn operations, which are denominated primarily in Mexican pesos, Guatemalan quetzales and other Latin American currencies. We believe that presentation of constant currency and adjusted results is meaningful and useful in understanding the activities and business metrics of our operations and reflects an additional way of viewing aspects of our business that, when viewed with GAAP results, provides a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting our business. We provide non-GAAP financial information for informational purposes and to enhance understanding of our GAAP consolidated financial statements. We use this non-GAAP financial information primarily to evaluate and compare operating results across accounting periods.

    Readers should consider the information in addition to, but not instead of or superior to, our financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. This non-GAAP financial information may be determined or calculated differently by other companies, limiting the usefulness of those measures for comparative purposes.

    Constant currency results reported herein are calculated by translating consolidated balance sheet and consolidated statement of operations items denominated in local currency to U.S. dollars using the exchange rate from the prior-year comparable period, as opposed to the current period, in order to exclude the effects of foreign currency rate fluctuations. In addition, we have an equity method investment that is denominated in Australian dollars and is translated into U.S. dollars. We used the end-of-period rate for balance sheet items and the average closing daily exchange rate on a monthly basis during the appropriate period for statement of operations items. The end-of-period and approximate average exchange rates for each applicable currency as compared to U.S. dollars as of and for the three months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 were as follows:

           
      December 31,   Three Months Ended
    December 31,
      2024
    		   2023
    		   2024
    		   2023
                                   
    Mexican peso   20.8       17.0       20.1       17.5  
    Guatemalan quetzal   7.5       7.7       7.5       7.6  
    Honduran lempira   25.0       24.3       24.8       24.4  
    Australian dollar   1.6       1.5       1.5       1.5  
                                   

    Our statement of operations constant currency results reflect the monthly exchange rate fluctuations and so are not directly calculable from the above rates. Constant currency results, where presented, also exclude the foreign currency gain or loss.

    Miscellaneous Non-GAAP Financial Measures

      Three Months Ended
    December 31,
    (in millions) 2024   2023
           
    Net income $ 31.0     $ 28.5  
    Interest expense   3.1       3.4  
    Interest income   (2.1 )     (2.6 )
    Income tax expense   10.4       9.2  
    Depreciation and amortization   8.3       8.6  
    EBITDA $ 50.8     $ 47.1  
                   

            

      Total
    Revenues    		   Gross
    Profit    		   Income
    Before Tax    		   Tax Effect   Net
    Income    		   Diluted
    EPS    		   EBITDA
                               
    2025 Q1 Reported $ 320.2     $ 185.4     $ 41.4     $ 10.4     $ 31.0     $ 0.40     $ 50.8  
    FX Impact   —       —       1.0       0.2       0.8       0.01       1.0  
    Constant Currency   9.5       4.8       1.0       0.2       0.8       0.01       1.2  
    2025 Q1 Adjusted $ 329.7     $ 190.2     $ 43.4     $ 10.8     $ 32.6     $ 0.42     $ 53.0  
                                                           
      Total
    Revenues    		   Gross
    Profit    		   Income
    Before Tax    		   Tax Effect   Net
    Income    		   Diluted
    EPS    		   EBITDA
                               
    2024 Q1 Reported $ 300.0     $ 172.6     $ 37.7     $ 9.2     $ 28.5     $ 0.36     $ 47.1  
    FX Impact   —       —       0.1       —       0.1       —       0.1  
    2024 Q1 Adjusted $ 300.0     $ 172.6     $ 37.8     $ 9.2     $ 28.6     $ 0.36     $ 47.2  
                                                           
      Three Months Ended
    December 31, 2024
    (in millions) U.S. Dollar
    Amount    		   Percentage
    Change YOY
           
    Consolidated revenues $ 320.2       7 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   9.5      
    Constant currency consolidated revenues $ 329.7       10 %
           
    Consolidated gross profit $ 185.4       7 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   4.8      
    Constant currency consolidated gross profit $ 190.2       10 %
           
    Consolidated net inventory $ 199.5       21 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   8.5      
    Constant currency consolidated net inventory $ 208.0       26 %
           
    Latin America Pawn gross profit $ 46.7       4 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   4.8      
    Constant currency Latin America Pawn gross profit $ 51.5       14 %
           
    Latin America Pawn PLO $ 54.6       4 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   8.1      
    Constant currency Latin America Pawn PLO $ 62.7       19 %
           
    Latin America Pawn PSC revenues $ 29.2       7 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   2.8      
    Constant currency Latin America Pawn PSC revenues $ 32.0       17 %
           
    Latin America Pawn merchandise sales $ 57.5       7 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   6.6      
    Constant currency Latin America Pawn merchandise sales $ 64.1       19 %
           
    Latin America Pawn segment profit before tax $ 11.6       14 %
    Currency exchange rate fluctuations   0.9      
    Constant currency Latin America Pawn segment profit before tax $ 12.5       24 %
                   

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Paycor Announces Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    • Entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Paychex, Inc.
    • Q2 Total revenues of $180.4 million, an increase of 13% year-over-year, while expanding operating margins
    • Q2 Recurring revenues of $167.4 million, an increase of 14% year-over-year

    CINCINNATI, Feb. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Paycor HCM, Inc. (Nasdaq: PYCR) (“Paycor” or the “Company”), a leading provider of human capital management (“HCM”) software, today announced financial results for the second quarter fiscal year 2025, which ended December 31, 2024.

    Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Highlights

    • Total revenues were $180.4 million, an increase of 13% from the second quarter of FY 2024.
    • Operating profit was $1.2 million, compared to an operating loss of $26.2 million from the second quarter of FY 2024 or 1% of Total revenues compared to (16%) in the second quarter of FY 2024.
    • Adjusted operating income* was $31.8 million, compared to $23.3 million or an increase of 36% from the second quarter of FY 2024, or 18% of Total revenues compared to 15% in the second quarter of FY 2024.
    • Net loss was $2.0 million, compared to $26.2 million for the second quarter of FY 2024.
    • Adjusted net income* was $25.0 million, compared to $18.7 million for the second quarter of FY 2024.
    • Net cash provided by operating activities improved to $37.1 million from $26.2 million for the second quarter of FY 2024.
    • Adjusted free cash flow* improved to $28.5 million from $14.8 million for the second quarter of FY 2024.

    *Adjusted operating income, adjusted net income and adjusted free cash flow are non-GAAP financial measures. Please see the discussion below under the heading “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and the reconciliations at the end of this press release for information concerning these and other non-GAAP financial measures referenced in this press release.

    Pending Merger with Paychex, Inc.

    On January 7, 2025, we announced that we had entered into a definitive agreement (“Merger Agreement”) to be acquired by Paychex, Inc. (“Paychex”) in an all-cash transaction structured as a merger and valued at approximately $4.1 billion, or $22.50 per share. The per-share merger consideration represents a premium of approximately 19% over Paycor’s 30-day volume weighted average trading price as of the unaffected trading date of January 3, 2025. The Merger Agreement has been unanimously approved by Company’s Board of Directors, as well as the holders of a majority of the Company’s outstanding common stock. The merger is expected to close in the first half of calendar 2025, subject to satisfaction of regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Upon completion of the merger, we will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paychex, and our common stock will be delisted from Nasdaq.

    Given the pending transaction, we will not be hosting an earnings conference call, are suspending financial guidance for fiscal year 2025, and will not provide financial guidance for the third quarter ending March 31, 2025. For further detail and discussion of our financial performance, please refer to our Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2024.

    Additional Information and Where to Find It

    We intend to file relevant materials with the SEC, including a preliminary and definitive information statement relating to the proposed transaction. The definitive information statement will be mailed to Paycor’s stockholders. STOCKHOLDERS ARE URGED TO CAREFULLY READ THE INFORMATION STATEMENT REGARDING THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION.

    A free copy of the information statement and other related documents (when available) filed by the Company with the SEC may be found on the “SEC Filings” section of Paycor’s investor relations website at https://www.investors.paycor.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.

    No Offer

    No person has commenced soliciting proxies in connection with the proposed transaction referenced in this release, and this release is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell securities.

    About Paycor

    Paycor’s HR, payroll, and talent platform connects leaders to people, data, and expertise. We help leaders drive engagement and retention by giving them tools to coach, develop, and grow employees. We give them unprecedented insights into their operational data with a unified HCM experience that can seamlessly connect to other mission-critical technology. By providing expert guidance and consultation, we help them achieve business results and become an extension of their teams. Learn more at paycor.com.​

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements other than statements of historical fact, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, our business outlook, our business strategy and plans, our objectives for future operations, and any statements of a general economic or industry specific nature, are forward-looking statements. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. Words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “plan,” “intend,” “believe,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “can have,” “likely,” “outlook,” “potential,” “targets,” “contemplates,” or the negative or plural of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

    These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those described in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, as well as in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additionally, these forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to the Merger Agreement. We believe that these risks include, but are not limited to: the risk that the merger may not be completed in a timely manner or at all, which may adversely affect our business and the price of our common stock; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance or condition that could give rise to the termination of the Merger Agreement; potential litigation relating to the merger that could be instituted against the parties to the Merger Agreement or their respective directors or officers, including the effects of any outcomes related thereto; certain restrictions during the pendency of the merger that may impact our ability to pursue certain business opportunities or strategic transactions; uncertainty as to timing of completion of the merger; risks that the benefits of the merger are not realized when and as expected; our ability to manage our growth effectively; the potential unauthorized access to our customers’ or their employees’ personal data as a result of a breach of our or our vendors’ security measures; the expansion and retention of our direct sales force with qualified and productive persons and the related effects on the growth of our business; the impact on customer expansion and retention if implementation, user experience, customer service, or performance relating to our solutions is not satisfactory; the timing of payments made to employees and taxing authorities relative to the timing of when a customer’s electronic funds transfers are settled to our account; future acquisitions of other companies’ businesses, technologies, or customer portfolios; the continued service of our key executives; our ability to innovate and deliver high-quality, technologically advanced products and services; risks specifically associated with our development and use of artificial intelligence in our solutions; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; the proper operation of our software; our relationships with third parties that provide financial and other functionality integrated into our HCM platform; the extent to which negative macroeconomic conditions persist or worsen in the markets in which we or our customers operate; and the impact of an economic downturn or recession in the United States or global economy. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur. Although we believe that the expectations and assumptions reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement after the date of this report, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, or to conform these statements to actual results or revised expectations, except as may be required by law.

    Non-GAAP Financial Measures

    To supplement our financial information presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”), we present the following non-GAAP financial measures in this press release: adjusted gross profit, adjusted gross profit margin, adjusted operating income, adjusted operating income margin, adjusted sales and marketing expense, adjusted general and administrative expense, adjusted research and development expense, adjusted net income, adjusted net income per share, adjusted free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow margin. Management believes these non-GAAP measures are useful in evaluating our core operating performance and trends to prepare and approve our annual budget, and to develop short-term and long-term operating plans. Management believes that non-GAAP financial information, when taken collectively, may be helpful to investors because it provides consistency and comparability with past financial performance and assists in comparisons with other companies, some of which use similar non-GAAP financial information to supplement their GAAP results. We define (i) adjusted gross profit as gross profit before amortization of intangible assets and stock-based compensation expense, in each case that are included in costs of revenues, (ii) adjusted gross profit margin as adjusted gross profit divided by total revenues, (iii) adjusted operating income as income (loss) from operations before amortization of acquired intangible assets and naming rights, stock-based compensation expense, exit costs due to exiting leases of certain facilities and other certain corporate expenses, such as costs related to secondary offerings, professional, consulting and other costs and acquisition costs, (iv) adjusted operating income margin as adjusted operating income divided by total revenues, (v) adjusted sales and marketing expense as sales and marketing expenses before amortization of naming rights and stock-based compensation expense, (vi) adjusted general and administrative expense as general and administrative expenses before amortization of acquired intangible assets, stock-based compensation expense, exit costs due to exiting leases of certain facilities and other certain corporate expenses, such as costs related to secondary offerings, professional, consulting and other costs and acquisition costs, (vii) adjusted research and development expense as research and development expenses before stock-based compensation expense, (viii) adjusted net income as income (loss) before expense (benefit) for income taxes after adjusting for amortization of acquired intangible assets and naming rights, accretion expense associated with the naming rights, change in fair value of contingent consideration, stock-based compensation expense, exit costs due to exiting leases of certain facilities and other certain corporate expenses, such as costs related to secondary offerings, professional, consulting and other costs and acquisition costs, all of which are tax effected by applying an adjusted effective income tax rate, (ix) adjusted net income per share as adjusted net income divided by adjusted shares outstanding, which includes potentially dilutive securities excluded from the GAAP dilutive net income (loss) per share calculation, (x) adjusted free cash flow as cash provided (used) by operating activities less the purchase of property and equipment and internally developed software costs, excluding other certain corporate expenses, which are included in cash provided (used) by operating activities and (xi) adjusted free cash flow margin as adjusted free cash flow divided by total revenues.

    The non-GAAP financial measures presented in this press release are not measures of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered a substitute for gross profit, gross margin, income (loss) from operations, operating income margin, sales and marketing expense, general and administrative expense, research and development expense, net income (loss), diluted net income (loss) per share and cash provided (used) by operating activities. Non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools, and when assessing our operating performance, you should not consider them in isolation, or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures that we present may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. A reconciliation is provided below under “Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Measures to GAAP Measures,” for each non-GAAP financial measure to the most directly comparable financial measure stated in accordance with GAAP.

    Investor Relations:
    Rachel White
    513-954-7388
    IR@paycor.com

    Media Relations:
    Carly Pennekamp
    513-954-7282
    PR@paycor.com

     

    Paycor HCM, Inc. and Subsidiaries
    Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
    (in thousands, except share amounts)
      December 31,
    2024    		   June 30,
    2024
    Assets (Unaudited)    
    Current assets:      
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 114,569     $ 117,958  
    Accounts receivable, net allowance for credit losses   58,252       48,164  
    Deferred contract costs   75,440       70,377  
    Prepaid expenses   13,284       12,749  
    Other current assets   9,397       3,458  
    Current assets before funds held for clients   270,942       252,706  
    Funds held for clients   1,333,368       1,109,136  
    Total current assets   1,604,310       1,361,842  
    Property and equipment, net   34,087       35,220  
    Operating lease right-of-use assets   14,308       14,417  
    Goodwill   765,904       766,653  
    Intangible assets, net   137,327       171,493  
    Capitalized software, net   72,046       67,376  
    Long-term deferred contract costs   199,450       189,826  
    Other long-term assets   2,770       2,566  
    Total assets $ 2,830,202     $ 2,609,393  
    Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity      
    Current liabilities:      
    Accounts payable $ 21,327     $ 27,309  
    Accrued expenses and other current liabilities   24,851       26,450  
    Accrued payroll and payroll related expenses   36,190       44,923  
    Deferred revenue   13,395       13,600  
    Current liabilities before client fund obligations   95,763       112,282  
    Client fund obligations   1,333,944       1,111,373  
    Total current liabilities   1,429,707       1,223,655  
    Deferred income taxes   10,726       16,019  
    Long-term operating leases   12,765       13,447  
    Other long-term liabilities   67,986       69,346  
    Total liabilities   1,521,184       1,322,467  
    Commitments and contingencies      
    Stockholders’ equity:      
    Common stock $0.001 par value per share, 500,000,000 shares authorized, 181,251,037 shares outstanding at December 31, 2024 and 178,210,263 shares outstanding at June 30, 2024   181       178  
    Treasury stock, at cost, 10,620,260 shares at December 31, 2024 and June 30, 2024   (245,074)       (245,074)  
    Preferred stock, $0.001 par value, 50,000,000 shares authorized, — shares outstanding at December 31, 2024 and June 30, 2024   —       —  
    Additional paid-in capital   2,111,961       2,081,668  
    Accumulated deficit   (557,769)       (548,437)  
    Accumulated other comprehensive loss   (281)       (1,409)  
    Total stockholders’ equity   1,309,018       1,286,926  
    Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity $ 2,830,202     $ 2,609,393  
    Paycor HCM, Inc. and Subsidiaries
    Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited)
    (in thousands, except share amounts)
      Three Months Ended   Six Months Ended
      December 31,   December 31,
        2024       2023       2024       2023  
    Revenues:              
    Recurring and other revenue $ 167,388     $ 147,232     $ 321,387     $ 279,940  
    Interest income on funds held for clients   13,050       12,309       26,527       23,189  
    Total revenues   180,438       159,541       347,914       303,129  
    Cost of revenues   62,186       55,125       121,403       106,503  
    Gross profit   118,252       104,416       226,511       196,626  
    Operating expenses:              
    Sales and marketing   60,137       57,753       116,926       110,531  
    General and administrative   38,554       56,173       86,850       104,922  
    Research and development   18,369       16,665       35,797       30,720  
    Total operating expenses   117,060       130,591       239,573       246,173  
    Income (loss) from operations   1,192       (26,175)       (13,062)       (49,547)  
    Other (expense) income:              
    Interest expense   (1,135)       (1,153)       (2,273)       (2,397)  
    Other   780       (1,745)       2,450       (814)  
    Income (loss) before benefit for income taxes   837       (29,073)       (12,885)       (52,758)  
    Income tax expense (benefit)   2,885       (2,824)       (3,553)       (5,913)  
    Net loss $ (2,048)     $ (26,249)     $ (9,332)     $ (46,845)  
    Basic and diluted net loss per share $ (0.01)     $ (0.15)     $ (0.05)     $ (0.26)  
    Weighted average common shares outstanding:              
    Basic and diluted   179,592,666       177,567,397       179,161,188       177,260,396  

     

    Paycor HCM, Inc. and Subsidiaries
    Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited)
    (in thousands)
      Six Months Ended
      December 31,
        2024       2023  
    Cash flows from operating activities:      
    Net loss $ (9,332)     $ (46,845)  
    Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by operating activities:      
    Depreciation   2,848       2,997  
    Amortization of intangible assets and software   57,533       68,312  
    Amortization of deferred contract costs   38,638       29,876  
    Stock-based compensation expense   28,806       35,964  
    Deferred tax benefit   (6,040)       (5,937)  
    Bad debt expense   3,301       2,870  
    Loss on sale of investments   147       142  
    Loss on foreign currency exchange   442       4  
    Gain on lease exit   —       (29)  
    Naming rights accretion expense   2,012       2,061  
    Change in fair value of deferred consideration   (112)       2,816  
    Other   44       44  
    Changes in assets and liabilities, net of effects from acquisitions:      
    Accounts receivable   (11,689)       (17,003)  
    Prepaid expenses and other assets   (6,055)       (7,487)  
    Accounts payable   (5,824)       (3,207)  
    Accrued liabilities and other   (12,757)       (10,892)  
    Deferred revenue   112       255  
    Deferred contract costs   (53,325)       (53,904)  
    Net cash provided by operating activities   28,749       37  
    Cash flows from investing activities:      
    Purchases of client funds available-for-sale securities   (114,162)       (151,939)  
    Proceeds from sale and maturities of client funds available-for-sale securities   106,052       103,453  
    Purchase of property and equipment   (1,756)       (2,068)  
    Acquisition of intangible assets   (1,553)       (4,133)  
    Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired   —       (28)  
    Internally developed software costs   (26,484)       (25,308)  
    Net cash used in investing activities   (37,903)       (80,023)  
    Cash flows from financing activities:      
    Net change in cash and cash equivalents held to satisfy client funds obligations   221,962       270,540  
    Payment of contingent consideration   (1,329)       —  
    Payment of capital expenditure financing   —       (3,689)  
    Repayments of debt and finance lease obligations   (597)       (536)  
    Withholding taxes paid related to net share settlements   (1,957)       (1,829)  
    Proceeds from employee stock purchase plan   3,444       4,172  
    Net cash provided by financing activities   221,523       268,658  
    Impact of foreign exchange on cash and cash equivalents   21       11  
    Net change in cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments, and funds held for clients   212,390       188,683  
    Cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments, and funds held for clients, beginning of period   910,580       879,046  
    Cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments, and funds held for clients, end of period $ 1,122,970     $ 1,067,729  
    Supplemental disclosure of non-cash investing, financing and other cash flow information:      
    Capital expenditures in accounts payable $ 54     $ 39  
    Cash paid for interest $ —     $ 145  
    Capital lease asset obtained in exchange for capital lease liabilities $ —      $ 3,393  
    Reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments, and funds held for clients to the Consolidated Balance Sheets      
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 114,569     $ 61,719  
    Funds held for clients   1,008,401       1,006,010  
    Total cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments, and funds held for clients $ 1,122,970     $ 1,067,729  

    Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Measures to GAAP Measures

    Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin (Unaudited)

      Three Months Ended   Six Months Ended
    (in thousands) December 31, 2024   December 31, 2023   December 31, 2024   December 31, 2023
    Gross Profit* $ 118,252     $ 104,416     $ 226,511     $ 196,626  
    Gross Profit Margin   65.5%       65.4%       65.1%       64.9%  
    Amortization of intangible assets   914       634       1,789       2,009  
    Stock-based compensation expense   1,954       2,404       3,456       3,999  
    Corporate adjustments   —       —       21       —  
    Adjusted Gross Profit* $ 121,120     $ 107,454     $ 231,777     $ 202,634  
    Adjusted Gross Profit Margin   67.1%       67.4%       66.6%       66.8%  

    * Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit were burdened by depreciation expense of $0.5 million and $0.6 million for the three months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, and $1.1 million and $1.2 million for the six months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit were burdened by amortization of capitalized software of $11.2 million and $9.2 million for the three months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, and $21.8 million and $17.6 million for the six months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit are burdened by amortization of deferred contract costs of $11.4 million and $8.8 million for the three months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, and $22.2 million and $17.0 million for the six months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

    Adjusted Operating Income (Unaudited)

      Three Months Ended   Six Months Ended
    (in thousands) December 31, 2024   December 31, 2023   December 31, 2024   December 31, 2023
    Income (Loss) from Operations $ 1,192     $ (26,175)     $ (13,062)     $ (49,547)  
    Operating Margin   0.7%       (16.4)%       (3.8)%       (16.3)%  
    Amortization of intangible assets   12,023       24,963       35,719       50,673  
    Stock-based compensation expense   16,141       23,049       28,806       35,964  
    (Gain) loss on lease exit*   (6)       115       —       (29)  
    Corporate adjustments**   2,442       1,345       3,129       2,156  
    Adjusted Operating Income $ 31,792     $ 23,297     $ 54,592     $ 39,217  
    Adjusted Operating Income Margin   17.6%       14.6%       15.7%       12.9%  

    * Represents exit costs due to exiting leases of certain facilities.
    ** Corporate adjustments for the three and six months ended December 31, 2024 relate to professional costs associated with the Paychex merger of $1.7 million for both periods and professional, consulting, and other costs associated with strategic initiatives of $0.7 million and $1.4 million, respectively. Corporate adjustments for the three and six months ended December 31, 2023 relate to costs associated with the secondary offering completed in December 2023 (“December 2023 Secondary Offering”) of $0.6 million and $0.6 million, respectively, and professional, consulting, and other costs of $0.7 million and $1.5 million, respectively.

    Adjusted Operating Expenses (Unaudited)

      Three Months Ended   Six Months Ended
    (in thousands) December 31, 2024   December 31, 2023   December 31, 2024   December 31, 2023
    Sales and Marketing expenses $ 60,137     $ 57,753     $ 116,926     $ 110,531  
    Amortization of intangible assets   (1,058)       (1,058)       (2,117)       (2,117)  
    Stock-based compensation expense   (5,330)       (7,224)       (9,515)       (11,542)  
    Adjusted Sales and Marketing expenses $ 53,749     $ 49,471     $ 105,294     $ 96,872  
    General and Administrative expenses $ 38,554     $ 56,173     $ 86,850     $ 104,922  
    Amortization of intangible assets   (10,051)       (23,272)       (31,813)       (46,548)  
    Stock-based compensation expense   (6,051)       (9,951)       (10,837)       (15,023)  
    Gain (loss) on lease exit*   6       (115)       —       29  
    Corporate adjustments**   (2,442)       (1,345)       (3,108)       (2,156)  
    Adjusted General and Administrative expenses $ 20,016     $ 21,490     $ 41,092     $ 41,224  
    Research and Development expenses $ 18,369     $ 16,665     $ 35,797     $ 30,720  
    Stock-based compensation expense   (2,806)       (3,470)       (4,998)       (5,400)  
    Adjusted Research and Development expenses $ 15,563     $ 13,195     $ 30,799     $ 25,320  

    * Represents exit costs due to exiting leases of certain facilities.        
    ** Corporate adjustments for the three and six months ended December 31, 2024 relate to professional costs associated with the Paychex merger of $1.7 million for both periods and professional, consulting, and other costs associated with strategic initiatives of $0.7 million and $1.4 million, respectively. Corporate adjustments for the three and six months ended December 31, 2023 relate to costs associated with the secondary offering completed in December 2023 (“December 2023 Secondary Offering”) of $0.6 million and $0.6 million, respectively, and professional, consulting, and other costs of $0.7 million and $1.5 million, respectively.

    Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income Per Share (Unaudited)

      Three Months Ended   Six Months Ended
    (in thousands) December 31, 2024   December 31, 2023   December 31, 2024   December 31, 2023
    Net gain (loss) before benefit for income taxes $ 837     $ (29,073)     $ (12,885)     $ (52,758)  
    Amortization of intangible assets   12,023       24,963       35,719       50,673  
    Naming rights accretion expense   1,006       1,031       2,012       2,061  
    Change in fair value of deferred consideration   —       2,816       (112)       2,816  
    Stock-based compensation expense   16,141       23,049       28,806       35,964  
    (Gain) loss on lease exit*   (6)       115       —       (29)  
    Corporate adjustments**   2,442       1,345       3,129       2,156  
    Non-GAAP adjusted income before applicable income taxes   32,443       24,246       56,669       40,883  
    Income tax effect on adjustments***   (7,462)       (5,577)       (13,034)       (9,403)  
    Adjusted Net Income $ 24,981     $ 18,669     $ 43,635     $ 31,480  
                   
    Adjusted Net Income Per Share $ 0.14     $ 0.11     $ 0.24     $ 0.18  
    Adjusted shares outstanding****   180,681,049       177,740,047       179,772,462       177,537,308  

    * Represents exit costs due to exiting leases of certain facilities.
    ** Corporate adjustments for the three and six months ended December 31, 2024 relate to professional costs associated with the Paychex merger of $1.7 million for both periods and professional, consulting, and other costs associated with strategic initiatives of $0.7 million and $1.4 million, respectively. Corporate adjustments for the three and six months ended December 31, 2023 relate to costs associated with the secondary offering completed in December 2023 (“December 2023 Secondary Offering”) of $0.6 million and $0.6 million, respectively, and professional, consulting, and other costs of $0.7 million and $1.5 million, respectively.
    *** Non-GAAP adjusted income before applicable income taxes is tax effected using an adjusted effective income tax rate of 23.0% for each of the three and six months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
    **** Adjusted shares outstanding for the three and six months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 are based on the if-converted method and include potentially dilutive securities that are excluded from the U.S. GAAP dilutive net income per share calculation because including them in the computation of net income per share would have an anti-dilutive effect.

    Adjusted Free Cash Flow and Adjusted Free Cash Flow Margin (Unaudited)

      Three Months Ended   Six Months Ended
    (in thousands) December 31, 2024   December 31, 2023   December 31, 2024   December 31, 2023
    Net cash provided by operating activities $ 37,060     $ 26,166     $ 28,749     $ 37  
    Purchase of property and equipment*   (418)       (633)       (1,587)       (2,068)  
    Internally developed software costs   (13,043)       (12,054)       (26,484)       (25,308)  
    Corporate adjustments**   4,885       1,345       5,572       2,156  
    Adjusted Free Cash Flow $ 28,484     $ 14,824     $ 6,250     $ (25,183)  
    Adjusted Free Cash Flow Margin   15.8%       9.3%       1.8%       (8.3)%  

    * Represents purchases of property & equipment, net of $0.2 million of leasehold improvements related to the new Headquarters lease for the three and six months ended December 31, 2024.
    ** Corporate adjustments for the three and six months ended December 31, 2024 relate to contingent consideration of $4.2 million for both periods and professional, consulting, and other costs associated with strategic initiatives of $0.7 million and $1.4 million, respectively. Corporate adjustments for the three and six months ended December 31, 2023 relate to costs associated with the secondary offering completed in December 2023 (“December 2023 Secondary Offering”) of $0.6 million and $0.6 million, respectively, and professional, consulting, and other costs of $0.7 million and $1.5 million, respectively.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Online tax schemes on the rise

    Source: Australian Department of Revenue

    The ATO is warning the community to be alert for potentially dodgy tax schemes which are spreading online, including through social media.

    Acting Deputy Commissioner Sarah Taylor is urging individuals to be wary of online promotion of tax schemes promising to significantly reduce or avoid tax altogether.

    ‘Sometimes tax schemes can be peddled as investment schemes. We don’t want to see honest people lured into unlawful tax schemes with false promises of high returns and tax savings – if an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is,’ Ms Taylor said.

    ‘Those who invest in unlawful tax schemes stand to lose their hard-earned cash, and risk paying tax with interest and heavy penalties.’

    ‘Promoters of these schemes are often opportunistic and target vulnerable people. Protect yourself and your money by getting advice from a registered tax practitioner before committing to anything,’ Ms Taylor said.

    The ATO’s website lists a number of tax schemes to look out for. In one particular recent scheme, individuals are being advised to invest in a start-up company that allegedly qualifies as an early-stage innovation company (ESIC). By investing in an ESIC, they’re told they can then claim the early-stage investor tax offset on shares purchased through the financing arrangement.

    The ATO is concerned individuals may be entering into these arrangements under the belief they are entitled to the tax benefits claimed using the financing arrangements. We are also concerned that the companies may not qualify as ESICs.

    Another type of tax scheme being promoted in the community promises individuals they can avoid paying tax by setting up a purported non-profit foundation and diverting their income to it. These schemes are not effective and the individuals will still have to pay the tax on the income.

    If you are approached with tax arrangements that sound like either of these examples, or sound too good to be true, seek advice from a registered tax practitioner and report it to the ATO.

    The ATO takes a strong stance against all types of unlawful tax schemes and their promotion.

    ‘Promoting and participating in unlawful tax schemes are not victimless crimes. Those who choose to engage in these behaviours are attempting to obtain an unfair advantage over those who do the right thing,’ Ms Taylor said.

    ‘We take targeted action against unlawful tax schemes that promote tax avoidance behaviours and against those who promote these schemes. We are committed to helping protect the community against misinformation about schemes spread on various channels.’

    If you are offered an unlawful tax scheme, you should reject it and report it to the ATO confidentially by:

    • completing the tip-off form on the ATO website
    • phoning the tip-off hotline on 1800 060 062.

    If you suspect that you’ve inadvertently become involved in an unlawful tax scheme, you should also contact the ATO immediately. If you proactively approach the ATO, you may be eligible for a reduction in any penalties imposed.

    To check if a tax practitioner is registered, use the Tax Practitioners Board’s public registerExternal Link.

    More information about unlawful tax schemes can be found at ato.gov.au/taxschemes.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI: Symbotic Reports First Quarter Fiscal Year 2025 Results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    WILMINGTON, Mass., Feb. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Symbotic Inc. (Nasdaq: SYM), a leader in A.I.-enabled robotics technology for the supply chain, announced financial results for its first fiscal quarter of 2025, ended December 28, 2024. Symbotic posted revenue of $487 million, a net loss of $19 million and adjusted EBITDA1 of $18 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2025. In the first quarter of fiscal 2024, Symbotic had revenue of $360 million, a net loss of $19 million and adjusted EBITDA1 of $8 million. Cash and cash equivalents increased by $176 million from the prior quarter to $903 million at the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2025.

    “In the first quarter, we continued to deliver high growth while enhancing our technology position,” said Rick Cohen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Symbotic. “With our recent acquisition of Walmart’s Advanced Systems and Robotics business now completed, we look forward to enhancing an already strong position to drive exceptional results for our stakeholders.”

    “First quarter revenue grew over 35% year-over-year driven by solid progress across our 44 systems in the process of deployment,” said Symbotic Chief Financial Officer, Carol Hibbard. “Looking forward to the fiscal second quarter of 2025, we expect another quarter of at least 30% year-over-year revenue growth with expanding margins.”

    OUTLOOK

    For the second quarter of fiscal 2025, Symbotic expects revenue of $510 million to $530 million, and adjusted EBITDA2 of $26 million to $30 million.

    WEBCAST INFORMATION

    Symbotic will host a webcast today at 5:00 pm ET to discuss its first quarter of fiscal year 2025 results. The webcast link is: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/go/Symbotic-Q1-2025.

    _______________________________
    1 Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) is a non-GAAP financial measure as defined below under “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information.” See the tables below for reconciliations to net loss, the most comparable GAAP measure.
    2 Symbotic is not providing guidance for net loss, which is the most comparable GAAP financial measure to adjusted EBITDA, because information reconciling forward-looking adjusted EBITDA to net loss is unavailable to it without unreasonable effort. Symbotic is not able to provide reconciliations of adjusted EBITDA to GAAP financial measures because certain items required for such reconciliations are outside of Symbotic’s control and/or cannot be reasonably predicted, such as the provision for stock-based compensation.

    ABOUT SYMBOTIC

    Symbotic is an automation technology leader reimagining the supply chain with its end-to-end, A.I.-powered robotic and software platform. Symbotic reinvents the warehouse as a strategic asset for the world’s largest retail, wholesale, and food & beverage companies. Applying next-generation technology, high-density storage and machine learning to solve today’s complex distribution challenges, Symbotic enables companies to move goods with unmatched speed, agility, accuracy and efficiency. As the backbone of commerce, Symbotic transforms the flow of goods and the economics of the supply chain for its customers. For more information, visit www.symbotic.com.

    USE OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL INFORMATION

    Symbotic reports its financial results in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”). This press release contains financial measures that are not recognized under U.S. GAAP (“non-GAAP financial measures”), including adjusted EBITDA, adjusted gross profit, adjusted gross profit margin, and free cash flow. These non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as an analytical tool as they do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by U.S. GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures Symbotic uses may not be the same non-GAAP financial measures, and may not be calculated in the same manner, as that of other companies and, therefore, are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these non-GAAP financial measures are provided as a supplement to corresponding U.S. GAAP measures to provide additional information regarding the results of operations from management’s perspective. Accordingly, non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered a substitute for, in isolation from, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. All non-GAAP financial measures presented in this press release are reconciled to their closest reported U.S. GAAP financial measures. Symbotic recommends that investors review the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures provided in the financial statement tables included below in this press release, and not rely on any single financial measure to evaluate its business.

    Symbotic defines adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, as GAAP net income or loss excluding the following items: interest income; income taxes; depreciation and amortization; stock-based compensation; business combination transaction expenses; joint venture formation fees; internal control remediation; equity method investment; and other non-recurring items that may arise from time to time. Symbotic defines adjusted gross profit, a non-GAAP financial measure, as GAAP gross profit excluding the following items: depreciation and stock-based compensation. Symbotic defines adjusted gross profit margin, a non-GAAP financial measure, as adjusted gross profit divided by revenue. Symbotic defines free cash flow, a non-GAAP financial measure, as net cash provided by or used in operating activities less purchases of property and equipment and capitalization of internal use software development costs. In addition to Symbotic’s financial results determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, Symbotic believes that adjusted EBITDA, adjusted gross profit, adjusted gross profit margin, and free cash flow non-GAAP financial measures, are useful in evaluating the performance of Symbotic’s business because they highlight trends in its core business.

    FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

    This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including, but not limited to, Symbotic’s expectations or predictions of future financial or business performance or conditions. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Generally, statements that are not historical facts, including statements concerning our possible or assumed future actions, business strategies, events, backlog or results of operations, are forward-looking statements. These statements may be preceded by, followed by or include the words “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “projects,” “forecasts,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “plans,” “scheduled,” “anticipates” or “intends” or similar expressions.

    Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the ability of or expectations regarding Symbotic to:

    • meet the technical requirements of existing or future supply agreements with its customers, including with respect to existing backlog;
    • expand its target customer base and maintain its existing customer base;
    • realize the benefits expected from the acquisition of Walmart’s Advanced Systems and Robotics business, the GreenBox joint venture, the Commercial Agreement with GreenBox, Symbotic’s acquisitions of developed technology intangible assets, and the commercial agreement with Walmart de México y Centroamérica;
    • realize its outlook, including its system gross margin;
    • anticipate industry trends;
    • maintain and enhance its system;
    • maintain the listing of the Symbotic Class A Common Stock on Nasdaq;
    • execute its growth strategy;
    • develop, design and sell systems that are differentiated from those of competitors;
    • execute its research and development strategy;
    • acquire, maintain, protect and enforce intellectual property;
    • attract, train and retain effective officers, key employees or directors;
    • comply with laws and regulations applicable to its business;
    • stay abreast of modified or new laws and regulations applying to its business;
    • successfully defend litigation;
    • issue equity securities in connection with future transactions;
    • meet future liquidity requirements and, if applicable, comply with restrictive covenants related to long-term indebtedness;
    • timely and effectively remediate any material weaknesses in its internal control over financial reporting;
    • anticipate rapid technological changes; and
    • effectively respond to general economic and business conditions.

    Forward-looking statements also include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to:

    • the future performance of Symbotic’s business and operations;
    • expectations regarding revenues, expenses, adjusted EBITDA and anticipated cash needs;
    • expectations regarding cash flow, liquidity and sources of funding;
    • expectations regarding capital expenditures;
    • the anticipated benefits of Symbotic’s leadership structure;
    • the effects of pending and future legislation;
    • business disruption;
    • disruption to the business due to Symbotic’s dependency on certain customers;
    • increasing competition in the warehouse automation industry;
    • any delays in the design, production or launch of Symbotic’s systems and products;
    • the failure to meet customers’ requirements under existing or future contracts or customer’s expectations as to price or pricing structure;
    • any defects in new products or enhancements to existing products;
    • the fluctuation of operating results from period to period due to a number of factors, including the pace of customer adoption of Symbotic’s new products and services and any changes in its product mix that shift too far into lower gross margin products; and
    • any consequences associated with joint ventures and legislative and regulatory actions and reforms.

    Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results or performance to differ materially from those indicated by such statements. Certain of these risks are identified and discussed in Symbotic’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 28, 2024, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on December 4, 2024. These risk factors will be important to consider in determining future results and should be reviewed in their entirety. These forward-looking statements are expressed in good faith, and Symbotic believes there is a reasonable basis for them. However, there can be no assurance that the events, results or trends identified in these forward-looking statements will occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purposes of assisting the reader in understanding our financial performance, financial position and cash flows as of and for periods ended on certain dates and to present information about management’s current expectations and plans relating to the future, and the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements because of their inherent uncertainty and to appreciate the limited purposes for which they are being used by management. While we believe that the assumptions and expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable based on information currently available to management, there is no assurance that such assumptions and expectations will prove to have been correct. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and are based on the beliefs, estimates, expectations and opinions of management on that date. Symbotic is not under any obligation, and expressly disclaims any obligation to update, alter or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Readers should carefully review the statements set forth in the reports that Symbotic has filed or will file from time to time with the SEC.

    In addition to factors previously disclosed in Symbotic’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 28, 2024 filed with the SEC on December 4, 2024 and those identified elsewhere in this press release, the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance: failure to realize the benefits expected from the acquisition of Walmart’s Advanced Systems and Robotics business and risks related to the acquisition.

    Any financial projections in this press release or discussed in the webcast are forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions that are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond Symbotic’s control. While all projections are necessarily speculative, Symbotic believes that the preparation of prospective financial information involves increasingly higher levels of uncertainty the further out the projection extends from the date of preparation. The assumptions and estimates underlying the projected results are inherently uncertain and are subject to a wide variety of significant business, economic and competitive risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the projections. The inclusion of projections in this communication should not be regarded as an indication that Symbotic, or its representatives, considered or considers the projections to be a reliable prediction of future events.

    Annualized, projected and estimated numbers are not forecasts and may not reflect actual results.

    This communication is not intended to be all-inclusive or to contain all the information that a person may desire in considering an investment in Symbotic and is not intended to form the basis of an investment decision in Symbotic. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release and other reports we file with, or furnish to, the SEC and other regulatory agencies and made by our directors, officers, other employees and other persons authorized to speak on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.

    INVESTOR RELATIONS CONTACT

    Charlie Anderson
    Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Development
    ir@symbotic.com

    MEDIA INQUIRIES
    mediainquiry@symbotic.com

     
    Symbotic Inc. and Subsidiaries
    Consolidated Statements of Operations
       
      Three Months Ended
    (in thousands, except share and per share information) December 28, 2024   September 28, 2024   December 30, 2023
    Revenue:          
    Systems $ 464,059     $ 536,447     $ 347,705  
    Software maintenance and support   5,525       5,893       2,169  
    Operation services   17,109       22,226       10,069  
    Total revenue   486,693       564,566       359,943  
    Cost of revenue:          
    Systems   381,819       442,009       283,946  
    Software maintenance and support   1,884       2,748       1,726  
    Operation services   22,951       23,392       10,214  
    Total cost of revenue   406,654       468,149       295,886  
    Gross profit   80,039       96,417       64,057  
    Operating expenses:          
    Research and development expenses   43,592       40,130       42,144  
    Selling, general, and administrative expenses   61,076       45,399       47,012  
    Total operating expenses   104,668       85,529       89,156  
    Operating income (loss)   (24,629 )     10,888       (25,099 )
    Other income, net   7,823       9,416       6,199  
    Income (loss) before income tax   (16,806 )     20,304       (18,900 )
    Income tax expense   (150 )     (4,110 )     (172 )
    Loss from equity method investment   (1,564 )     (240 )     —  
    Net income (loss)   (18,520 )     15,954       (19,072 )
    Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests   (15,044 )     13,118       (16,236 )
    Net income (loss) attributable to common stockholders $ (3,476 )   $ 2,836     $ (2,836 )
               
    Income (loss) per share of Class A Common Stock:          
    Basic and Diluted(1) $ (0.03 )   $ 0.03     $ (0.03 )
    Weighted-average shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding:          
    Basic   106,098,566       104,146,479       83,320,943  
    Diluted(2) n/a     108,646,977     n/a
                   
    (1) For the three months ended September 28, 2024, basic and diluted EPS were calculated as the same value and as such presented on the same line.
     
    (2) Periods in which the Company was in a net loss position, diluted weighted-average shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding is the same as basic and as such indicated with “n/a”.
     
     
    Symbotic Inc. and Subsidiaries
    Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
     
    The following table reconciles GAAP net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA:
       
      Three Months Ended
    (in thousands) December 28, 2024   September 28, 2024   December 30, 2023
    Net income (loss) $ (18,520 )   $ 15,954     $ (19,072 )
    Interest income   (7,769 )     (9,353 )     (6,149 )
    Income tax expense   150       4,110       172  
    Depreciation and amortization   6,860       5,780       2,565  
    Stock-based compensation   28,741       26,100       29,462  
    Business Combination transaction expenses   3,802       324       —  
    Joint venture formation fees   —       —       1,089  
    Internal controls remediation   3,076       —       —  
    Restructuring charges   —       (775 )     —  
    Equity method investment   1,564       240       —  
    Adjusted EBITDA $ 17,904     $ 42,380     $ 8,067  
    The following table reconciles GAAP gross profit to Adjusted gross profit:
       
      Three Months Ended
    (in thousands) December 28, 2024   September 28, 2024   December 30, 2023
    Gross profit $ 80,039     $ 96,417     $ 64,057  
    Depreciation   2,469       2,208       93  
    Stock-based compensation   3,709       3,260       3,431  
    Restructuring charges   —       (775 )     —  
    Adjusted gross profit $ 86,217     $ 101,110     $ 67,581  
                           
    Gross profit margin   16.4 %     17.1 %     17.8 %
    Adjusted gross profit margin   17.7 %     17.9 %     18.8 %
    The following table reconciles GAAP net cash provided by (used in) operating activities to free cash flow:
       
      Three Months Ended
    (in thousands) December 28, 2024   September 28, 2024   December 30, 2023
               
    Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities $ 205,027     $ (99,383 )   $ (30,150 )
    Purchases of property and equipment   (7,357 )     (20,730 )     (2,173 )
    Capitalization of internal use software development costs   —       (637 )     (820 )
    Free cash flow $ 197,670     $ (120,750 )   $ (33,143 )
                           
     
    Symbotic Inc. and Subsidiaries
    Supplemental Common Share Information
     
    Total Common Shares issued and outstanding:
               
      December 28, 2024     September 28, 2024  
    Class A Common Shares issued and outstanding 106,521,915     104,689,377  
    Class V-1 Common Shares issued and outstanding 76,588,618     76,965,386  
    Class V-3 Common Shares issued and outstanding 404,309,196     404,309,196  
      587,419,729     585,963,959  
               
     
    Symbotic Inc. and Subsidiaries
    Consolidated Balance Sheets
           
    (in thousands, except share data) December 28, 2024   September 28, 2024
    ASSETS
    Current assets:      
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 903,034     $ 727,310  
    Accounts receivable   134,391       201,548  
    Unbilled accounts receivable   223,349       218,233  
    Inventories   108,691       106,136  
    Deferred expenses   3,221       1,058  
    Prepaid expenses and other current assets   85,740       101,252  
    Total current assets   1,458,426       1,355,537  
    Property and equipment, net   105,079       97,109  
    Intangible assets, net   14,949       3,664  
    Equity method investment   85,946       81,289  
    Other assets   51,222       40,953  
    Total assets $ 1,715,622     $ 1,578,552  
    LIABILITIES AND EQUITY
    Current liabilities:      
    Accounts payable $ 206,324     $ 175,188  
    Accrued expenses and other current liabilities   203,353       165,644  
    Deferred revenue   787,174       676,314  
    Total current liabilities   1,196,851       1,017,146  
    Deferred revenue   76,712       129,233  
    Other liabilities   48,134       42,043  
    Total liabilities   1,321,697       1,188,422  
    Commitments and contingencies   —       —  
    Equity:      
    Class A Common Stock, 3,000,000,000 shares authorized, 106,521,915 and 104,689,377 shares issued and outstanding at December 28, 2024 and September 28, 2024, respectively   13       13  
    Class V-1 Common Stock, 1,000,000,000 shares authorized, 76,588,618 and 76,965,386 shares issued and outstanding at December 28, 2024 and September 28, 2024, respectively   7       7  
    Class V-3 Common Stock, 450,000,000 shares authorized, 404,309,196 shares issued and outstanding at December 28, 2024 and September 28, 2024   40       40  
    Additional paid-in capital   1,526,573       1,523,692  
    Accumulated deficit   (1,327,401 )     (1,323,925 )
    Accumulated other comprehensive loss   (2,696 )     (2,594 )
    Total stockholders’ equity   196,536       197,233  
    Noncontrolling interest   197,389       192,897  
    Total equity   393,925       390,130  
    Total liabilities and equity $ 1,715,622     $ 1,578,552  
                   
     
    Symbotic Inc. and Subsidiaries
    Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
       
      Three Months Ended
    (in thousands) December 28, 2024   September 28, 2024   December 30, 2023
    Cash flows from operating activities:          
    Net income (loss) $ (18,520 )   $ 15,954     $ (19,072 )
    Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities:          
    Depreciation and amortization   7,645       6,432       3,197  
    Foreign currency (gains) losses, net   (32 )     —       22  
    Loss on disposal of assets   201       337       —  
    Provision for excess and obsolete inventory   688       (775 )     70  
    Stock-based compensation   26,773       25,350       29,462  
    Changes in operating assets and liabilities:          
    Accounts receivable   67,376       (101,010 )     (83,789 )
    Inventories   (10,425 )     30,202       (1,567 )
    Prepaid expenses and other current assets   10,317       (114,889 )     (32,653 )
    Deferred expenses   (2,164 )     5,690       (7,152 )
    Other assets   (1,079 )     (3,848 )     (5,906 )
    Accounts payable   31,145       47,399       (7,261 )
    Accrued expenses and other current liabilities   45,540       (6,209 )     15,716  
    Deferred revenue   58,336       6,309       69,966  
    Other liabilities   (10,774 )     (10,325 )     8,817  
    Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities   205,027       (99,383 )     (30,150 )
    Cash flows from investing activities:          
    Purchases of property and equipment   (7,357 )     (20,730 )     (2,173 )
    Capitalization of internal use software development costs   —       (637 )     (820 )
    Proceeds from maturities of marketable securities   —       —       150,000  
    Purchases of marketable securities   —       —       (48,317 )
    Acquisitions of strategic investments   (17,992 )     (23,996 )     —  
    Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities   (25,349 )     (45,363 )     98,690  
    Cash flows from financing activities:          
    Payment for taxes related to net share settlement of stock-based compensation awards   (3,012 )     —       (56 )
    Net proceeds from issuance of common stock under employee stock purchase plan   —       2,308       —  
    Distributions to or on behalf of Symbotic Holdings LLC partners   (850 )     (561 )     —  
    Proceeds from exercise of warrants   —       —       158,702  
    Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities   (3,862 )     1,747       158,646  
    Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash   (84 )     21       (2 )
    Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash   175,732       (142,978 )     227,184  
    Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash – beginning of period   730,354       873,332       260,918  
    Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash – end of period $ 906,086     $ 730,354     $ 488,102  
               
               
      Three Months Ended
    (in thousands) December 28, 2024   September 28, 2024   December 30, 2023
    Reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash:          
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 903,034     $ 727,310     $ 485,952  
    Restricted cash   3,052       3,044       2,150  
    Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash $ 906,086     $ 730,354     $ 488,102  
                           

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: FormFactor, Inc. Reports 2024 Fourth Quarter Results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    FY24 revenue of $764 million, up 15.2% from $663 million in FY23, driven by growth in HBM revenue;
    Announces acquisition of minority interest in FICT Limited, a key supplier of industry-leading, high-performance advanced probe card components

    LIVERMORE, Calif., Feb. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FormFactor, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORM) today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 ended December 28, 2024. Quarterly revenues were $189.5 million, a decrease of 8.9% compared to $207.9 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2024, and an increase of 12.7% from $168.2 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023. For fiscal 2024, FormFactor recorded revenues of $764 million, up 15.2% from $663 million in fiscal 2023.

    • High Bandwidth Memory grew fourfold in fiscal 2024 compared to the prior year, driven by adoption of Generative AI, overcoming persistent lackluster demand in important high-unit-volume markets like PCs and mobile handsets.
    • DRAM probe-card revenue during the fourth quarter set third consecutive quarterly record.
    • Continued focus on expanding and diversifying FormFactor’s market position in enabling advanced packaging, through new customer qualifications in client PCs and server applications and new high-performance-compute applications.
    • FICT acquisition with MBK Partners solidifies FormFactor’s access to FICT’s technologies and products, which are an important component of advanced probe cards.

    “As expected, FormFactor reported sequentially lower fourth-quarter revenue, gross margin, and non-GAAP earnings per share, driven by the forecasted reduction in Foundry & Logic probe-card revenue,” said Mike Slessor, CEO of FormFactor, Inc. “This was partially offset by growth in DRAM probe-card revenue, with HBM increasing to approximately half of DRAM revenue.”

    FormFactor also announced today that together with MBK Partners (“MBKP”), the largest private equity firm in North Asia, it is acquiring FICT Limited (“FICT”) from Advantage Partners Inc. FICT, headquartered in Nagano, Japan, has been providing the semiconductor test and high-performance computing industries with complex multi-layer organic substrates, printed circuit boards, and related leading-edge technologies and services since its inception as a Fujitsu business unit in 1967. This acquisition is designed to strengthen and grow FICT’s business, and the FormFactor+MBKP consortium is committed to advancing FICT’s mission to serve its entire customer base.

    With this transaction, FormFactor invests approximately US$60M into the consortium. FormFactor will hold a minority, non-controlling stake of 20% and will be granted a seat on the company’s board of directors. All required regulatory and third-party approvals and conditions have been satisfied and the transaction is expected to close within the current quarter. The transaction is not expected to have a material impact on FormFactor’s results of operations.

    “The semiconductor industry’s rapidly accelerating adoption of advanced packaging requires increased investment and stronger collaboration across the test and assembly supply chain,” said Mike Slessor, FormFactor’s CEO. “FormFactor’s investment in FICT builds on our long-term collaboration with them as a supplier of the industry-leading, high-performance components we use in our advanced probe cards, and provides a platform for accelerated development of tomorrow’s test and packaging consumables.”

    “We’ve built a partnership with MBKP, North Asia’s leading private equity firm, with a shared vision to enhance FICT’s long-term value by fully serving all of FICT’s existing and potential customers,” Slessor concluded.

    Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2024 Highlights

    On a GAAP basis, net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 was $9.7 million, or $0.12 per fully-diluted share, compared to net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 of $18.7 million, or $0.24 per fully-diluted share, and net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023 of $75.8 million, or $0.97 per fully-diluted share. Net income for fiscal 2024 was $69.6 million, or $0.89 per fully-diluted share, compared to net income for fiscal 2023 of $82.4 million, or $1.05, per fully-diluted share. Gross margin for the fourth quarter of 2024 was 38.8%, compared with 40.7% in the third quarter of 2024, and 40.4% in the fourth quarter of 2023. Gross margin for fiscal 2024 was 40.3%, compared to 39.0% for fiscal 2023. The GAAP financial results for the fourth quarter of 2023 and fiscal 2023 include a $73.0 million gain from the sale of FRT that has been excluded from FormFactor’s fourth quarter and fiscal 2023 non-GAAP results. The GAAP financial results for fiscal 2024 include a $20.3 million gain from the sale of our China operations that has been excluded from FormFactor’s fiscal 2024 non-GAAP results.

    On a non-GAAP basis, net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 was $21.3 million, or $0.27 per fully-diluted share, compared to net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 of $27.2 million, or $0.35 per fully-diluted share, and net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023 of $15.7 million, or $0.20 per fully-diluted share. Non-GAAP net income for fiscal 2024 was $90.2 million, or $1.15 per fully-diluted share, compared to net income of $56.8 million, or $0.73 per fully-diluted share for fiscal 2023. On a non-GAAP basis, gross margin for the fourth quarter of 2024 was 40.2%, compared with 42.2% in the third quarter of 2024, and 42.1% in the fourth quarter of 2023. Non-GAAP gross margin for fiscal 2024 was 41.7%, compared to 40.7% for fiscal 2023.

    A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures is provided in the schedules included below.

    GAAP net cash provided by operating activities for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 was $35.9 million, compared to $26.7 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2024, and $9.3 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023. Free cash flow for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 was $28.8 million, compared to free cash flow for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 of $20.0 million, and free cash flow for the fourth quarter of 2023 of negative $0.3 million. GAAP net cash provided by operating activities for fiscal 2024 was $117.5 million, compared to $64.6 million for fiscal 2023. Free cash flow for fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2023 was $82.8 million and $11.4 million, respectively. A reconciliation of net cash provided by operating activities to non-GAAP free cash flow is provided in the schedules included below.

    Outlook

    Dr. Slessor added, “We continue to see slow demand in important high-unit-volume markets, like client PCs and mobile handsets, through the first quarter, with anticipated sequential reductions in demand for both non-HBM DRAM probe cards and Systems. That notwithstanding, as we move through 2025, we expect an overall increase in demand for FormFactor’s products.”

    For the first quarter ending March 29, 2025, FormFactor is providing the following outlook*:

        GAAP   Reconciling Items**   Non-GAAP
    Revenue   $170 million +/- $5 million   —   $170 million +/- $5 million
    Gross Margin   36.5% +/- 1.5%   $3 million   38% +/- 1.5%
    Net income per diluted share   $0.07 +/- $0.04   $0.12   $0.19 +/- $0.04

    *This outlook assumes consistent foreign currency rates.
    **Reconciling items are stock-based compensation, amortization of intangible assets and fixed asset fair value adjustments due to acquisitions, and restructuring charges, net of applicable income tax impacts.

    We posted our revenue breakdown by geographic region, by market segment and with customers with greater than 10% of total revenue on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.formfactor.com. We will conduct a conference call at 1:25 p.m. PT, or 4:25 p.m. ET, today.

    The public is invited to listen to a live webcast of FormFactor’s conference call on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.formfactor.com. A telephone replay of the conference call will be available approximately two hours after the conclusion of the call. The replay will be available on the Investor Relations section of our website, www.formfactor.com.

    Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information:

    To supplement our condensed consolidated financial results prepared under generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, we disclose certain non-GAAP measures of non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP net income per basic and diluted share, non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, non-GAAP operating income and free cash flow, that are adjusted from the nearest GAAP financial measure to exclude certain costs, expenses, gains and losses. Reconciliations of the adjustments to GAAP results for the three and twelve months ended months ended December 28, 2024, and for outlook provided before, as well as for the comparable periods of fiscal 2023, are provided below, and on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.formfactor.com. Information regarding the ways in which management uses non-GAAP financial information to evaluate its business, management’s reasons for using this non-GAAP financial information, and limitations associated with the use of non-GAAP financial information, is included under “About our Non-GAAP Financial Measures” following the tables below.

    About FormFactor:

    FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ: FORM), is a leading provider of essential test and measurement technologies along the full semiconductor product life cycle – from characterization, modeling, reliability, and design de-bug, to qualification and production test. Semiconductor companies rely upon FormFactor’s products and services to accelerate profitability by optimizing device performance and advancing yield knowledge. The Company serves customers through its network of facilities in Asia, Europe, and North America. For more information, visit the Company’s website at www.formfactor.com.

    Forward-looking Statements:

    This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the federal securities laws, including with respect to the Company’s future financial and operating results, and the Company’s plans, strategies and objectives for future operations. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs as of the date of this release, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company’s control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding future financial and operating results, including under the heading “Outlook” above, customer demand, conditions in the semiconductor industry, the timing of completion of the FICT acquisition, the expected benefit thereof and other statements regarding the Company’s business. Forward-looking statements may contain words such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “forecast,” and “continue,” the negative or plural of these words and similar expressions, and include the assumptions that underlie such statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements: changes in demand for the Company’s products; customer-specific demand; market opportunity; anticipated industry trends; delays in the consummation of the FICT acquisition; the potential impact on the business of FormFactor and FICT due to uncertainties in connection with the acquisition; the retention of employees of FICT following acquisition; the ability of FormFactor to achieve expected benefits from the FICT acquisition; the availability, benefits, and speed of customer acceptance or implementation of new products and technologies; manufacturing, processing, and design capacity, goals, expansion, volumes, and progress; difficulties or delays in research and development; industry seasonality; risks to the Company’s realization of benefits from acquisitions, investments in capacity and investments in new electronic data systems and information technology; reliance on customers or third parties (including suppliers); changes in macro-economic environments; events affecting global and regional economic and market conditions and stability such as military conflicts, political volatility, infectious diseases and pandemics, and similar factors, operating separately or in combination; and other factors, including those set forth in the Company’s most current annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other filings by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, there are varying barriers to international trade, including restrictive trade and export regulations such as the US-China restrictions, dynamic tariffs, trade disputes between the U.S. and other countries, and national security developments or tensions, that may substantially restrict or condition our sales to or in certain countries, increase the cost of doing business internationally, and disrupt our supply chain. No assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements within this press release will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what impact they will have on the results of operations or financial condition of the Company. Unless required by law, the Company is under no obligation (and expressly disclaims any such obligation) to update or revise its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

     
    FORMFACTOR, INC. 
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
    (In thousands, except per share amounts)
    (Unaudited)
     
      Three Months Ended   Twelve Months Ended
      December 28,
    2024    		   September 28,
    2024    		   December 30,
    2023    		   December 28,
    2024    		   December 30,
    2023
    Revenues $ 189,483     $ 207,917     $ 168,163     $ 763,599     $ 663,102  
    Cost of revenues   115,903       123,212       100,229       455,676       404,522  
    Gross profit   73,580       84,705       67,934       307,923       258,580  
    Operating expenses:                  
    Research and development   30,504       31,243       28,166       121,938       115,765  
    Selling, general and administrative   35,226       35,607       31,451       141,786       133,012  
    Total operating expenses   65,730       66,850       59,617       263,724       248,777  
    Gain on sale of business   —       —       72,953       20,581       72,953  
    Operating income   7,850       17,855       81,270       64,780       82,756  
    Interest income, net   3,472       3,650       2,376       13,693       6,796  
    Other income (expense), net   617       (558 )     (1,546 )     939       (285 )
    Income before income taxes   11,939       20,947       82,100       79,412       89,267  
    Provision for income taxes   2,234       2,211       6,254       9,798       6,880  
    Net income $ 9,705     $ 18,736     $ 75,846     $ 69,614     $ 82,387  
    Net income per share:                  
    Basic $ 0.13     $ 0.24     $ 0.98     $ 0.90     $ 1.06  
    Diluted $ 0.12     $ 0.24     $ 0.97     $ 0.89     $ 1.05  
    Weighted-average number of shares used in per share calculations:                
    Basic   77,267       77,406       77,684       77,340       77,370  
    Diluted   77,982       78,439       78,410       78,437       78,159  
     
    FORMFACTOR, INC. 
    NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURE RECONCILIATIONS
    (In thousands, except per share amounts)
    (Unaudited)
     
      Three Months Ended   Twelve Months Ended
      December 28,
    2024    		   September 28,
    2024    		   December 30,
    2023    		   December 28,
    2024    		   December 30,
    2023
    GAAP Gross Profit $ 73,580     $ 84,705     $ 67,934     $ 307,923     $ 258,580  
    Adjustments:                  
    Amortization of intangibles, inventory and fixed asset fair value adjustments due to acquisitions   555       530       756       2,216       4,336  
    Stock-based compensation   1,944       1,934       2,053       7,738       6,854  
    Restructuring charges   32       524       —       639       357  
    Non-GAAP Gross Profit $ 76,111     $ 87,693     $ 70,743     $ 318,516     $ 270,127  
                       
    GAAP Gross Margin   38.8 %     40.7 %     40.4 %     40.3 %     39.0 %
    Adjustments:                  
    Amortization of intangibles, inventory and fixed asset fair value adjustments due to acquisitions   0.4 %     0.3 %     0.5 %     0.3 %     0.6 %
    Stock-based compensation   1.0 %     0.9 %     1.2 %     1.0 %     1.0 %
    Restructuring charges   — %     0.3 %     — %     0.1 %     0.1 %
    Non-GAAP Gross Margin   40.2 %     42.2 %     42.1 %     41.7 %     40.7 %
                       
    GAAP operating expenses $ 65,730     $ 66,850     $ 59,617     $ 263,724     $ 248,777  
    Adjustments:                  
    Amortization of intangibles and other   (191 )     (191 )     (518 )     (764 )     (4,081 )
    Stock-based compensation   (8,269 )     (7,002 )     (7,230 )     (32,025 )     (31,762 )
    Restructuring charges   (371 )     (298 )     —       (767 )     (1,183 )
    Costs related to sale and acquisition of businesses   (1,689 )     (13 )     (268 )     (2,391 )     (2,407 )
    Non-GAAP operating expenses $ 55,210     $ 59,346     $ 51,601     $ 227,777     $ 209,344  
                       
    GAAP operating income $ 7,850     $ 17,855     $ 81,270     $ 64,780     $ 82,756  
    Adjustments:                  
    Amortization of intangibles, inventory and fixed asset fair value adjustments due to acquisitions, and other   746       721       1,274       2,980       8,417  
    Stock-based compensation   10,213       8,936       9,283       39,763       38,616  
    Restructuring charges   403       822       —       1,406       1,540  
    Gain on sale of business, net of cost related to sale and acquisition of businesses   1,689       13       (72,685 )     (18,190 )     (70,546 )
    Non-GAAP operating income $ 20,901     $ 28,347     $ 19,142     $ 90,739     $ 60,783  
     
    FORMFACTOR, INC. 
    NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURE RECONCILIATIONS
    (In thousands, except per share amounts)
    (Unaudited)
     
      Three Months Ended   Twelve Months Ended
      December 28,
    2024    		   September 28,
    2024    		   December 30,
    2023    		   December 28,
    2024    		   December 30,
    2023
    GAAP net income $ 9,705     $ 18,736     $ 75,846     $ 69,614     $ 82,387  
    Adjustments:                  
    Amortization of intangibles, inventory and fixed asset fair value adjustments due to acquisitions, and other   746       721       1,274       2,980       8,417  
    Stock-based compensation   10,213       8,936       9,283       39,763       38,616  
    Restructuring charges   415       822       —       1,418       1,540  
    Gain on sale of business, net of cost related to sale and acquisition of businesses   1,689       13       (72,685 )     (18,190 )     (70,546 )
    Income tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments   (1,445 )     (2,002 )     2,026       (5,368 )     (3,624 )
    Non-GAAP net income $ 21,323     $ 27,226     $ 15,744     $ 90,217     $ 56,790  
                       
    GAAP net income per share:                  
    Basic $ 0.13     $ 0.24     $ 0.98     $ 0.90     $ 1.06  
    Diluted $ 0.12     $ 0.24     $ 0.97     $ 0.89     $ 1.05  
                       
    Non-GAAP net income per share:                  
    Basic $ 0.28     $ 0.35     $ 0.20     $ 1.17     $ 0.73  
    Diluted $ 0.27     $ 0.35     $ 0.20     $ 1.15     $ 0.73  
     
    FORMFACTOR, INC. 
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
    (In thousands)
    (Unaudited)
     
      Twelve Months Ended
      December 28,
    2024    		   December 30,
    2023
    Cash flows from operating activities:      
    Net income $ 69,614     $ 82,387  
    Selected adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:      
    Depreciation   30,321       30,603  
    Amortization   2,582       6,850  
    Stock-based compensation expense   39,763       38,616  
    Provision for excess and obsolete inventories   12,342       15,003  
    Gain on sale of business   (20,581 )     (72,953 )
    Non-cash restructuring charges   428       —  
    Other activity impacting operating cash flows   (16,507 )     (35,904 )
    Net cash provided by operating activities   117,534       64,602  
    Cash flows from investing activities:      
    Acquisition of property, plant and equipment   (38,436 )     (56,027 )
    Proceeds from sale of business   21,585       101,785  
    Purchases of marketable securities, net   (15,129 )     (16,709 )
    Purchase of promissory note receivable   (1,500 )     —  
    Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities   (33,480 )     29,049  
    Cash flows from financing activities:      
    Purchase of common stock through stock repurchase program   (53,302 )     (19,801 )
    Proceeds from issuances of common stock   9,748       8,822  
    Principal repayments on term loans   (1,075 )     (1,045 )
    Tax withholdings related to net share settlements of equity awards   (19,983 )     (10,687 )
    Net cash used in financing activities   (64,612 )     (22,711 )
    Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash   (3,509 )     (2,649 )
    Net increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash   15,933       68,291  
    Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period   181,273       112,982  
    Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period $ 197,206     $ 181,273  
     
    FORMFACTOR, INC. 
    RECONCILIATION OF CASH PROVIDED BY OPERATING ACTIVITIES TO NON-GAAP FREE CASH FLOW
    (In thousands)
    (Unaudited)
     
      Three Months Ended   Twelve Months Ended
      December 28,
    2024    		   September 28,
    2024    		   December 30,
    2023    		   December 28,
    2024    		   December 30,
    2023
    Net cash provided by operating activities $ 35,913     $ 26,731     $ 9,250     $ 117,534     $ 64,602  
    Adjustments:                  
    Sale of business and acquisition related payments in working capital   506       2,134       268       3,317       2,407  
    Cash paid for interest   93       97       105       391       422  
    Capital expenditures   (7,663 )     (8,939 )     (9,933 )     (38,436 )     (56,027 )
    Free cash flow $ 28,849     $ 20,023     $ (310 )   $ 82,806     $ 11,404  

     

     
    FORMFACTOR, INC.
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
    (In thousands)
    (Unaudited)
     
        December 28,
    2024    		   September 28,
    2024    		   December 30,
    2023
    ASSETS            
    Current assets:            
    Cash and cash equivalents   $ 190,728     $ 184,506     $ 177,812  
    Marketable securities     169,295       169,961       150,507  
    Accounts receivable, net of allowance for credit losses     104,294       116,866       102,957  
    Inventories, net     101,676       105,374       111,685  
    Restricted cash     3,746       3,773       1,152  
    Prepaid expenses and other current assets     35,389       34,302       29,667  
    Total current assets     605,128       614,782       573,780  
    Restricted cash     2,732       2,210       2,309  
    Operating lease, right-of-use-assets     22,579       25,034       30,519  
    Property, plant and equipment, net of accumulated depreciation     210,230       204,108       204,399  
    Goodwill     199,171       200,137       201,090  
    Intangibles, net     10,355       11,017       12,938  
    Deferred tax assets     92,012       92,826       78,964  
    Other assets     4,008       3,669       2,795  
    Total assets   $ 1,146,215     $ 1,153,783     $ 1,106,794  
                 
    LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY            
    Current liabilities:            
    Accounts payable   $ 62,287     $ 52,086     $ 63,857  
    Accrued liabilities     43,742       46,508       41,037  
    Current portion of term loan, net of unamortized issuance costs     1,106       1,098       1,075  
    Deferred revenue     15,847       20,972       16,704  
    Operating lease liabilities     8,363       8,512       8,422  
    Total current liabilities     131,345       129,176       131,095  
    Term loan, less current portion, net of unamortized issuance costs     12,208       12,488       13,314  
    Long-term operating lease liabilities     17,550       19,731       25,334  
    Deferred grant     18,000       18,000       18,000  
    Other liabilities     19,344       19,378       10,247  
    Total liabilities     198,447       198,773       197,990  
                 
    Stockholders’ equity:            
    Common stock     77       77       77  
    Additional paid-in capital     837,586       845,466       861,448  
    Accumulated other comprehensive loss     (10,840 )     (1,773 )     (4,052 )
    Accumulated income     120,945       111,240       51,331  
    Total stockholders’ equity     947,768       955,010       908,804  
    Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity   $ 1,146,215     $ 1,153,783     $ 1,106,794  

    About our Non-GAAP Financial Measures:

    We believe that the presentation of non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP net income per basic and diluted share, non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, non-GAAP operating income and free cash flow provides supplemental information that is important to understanding financial and business trends and other factors relating to our financial condition and results of operations. Non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP net income per basic and diluted share, non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, and non-GAAP operating income are among the primary indicators used by management as a basis for planning and forecasting future periods, and by management and our board of directors to determine whether our operating performance has met certain targets and thresholds. Management uses non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP net income per basic and diluted share, non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, and non-GAAP operating income when evaluating operating performance because it believes that the exclusion of the items indicated herein, for which the amounts or timing may vary significantly depending upon our activities and other factors, facilitates comparability of our operating performance from period to period. We use free cash flow to conduct and evaluate our business as an additional way of viewing our liquidity that, when viewed with our GAAP results, provides a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting our cash flows. Many investors also prefer to track free cash flow, as opposed to only GAAP earnings. Free cash flow has limitations due to the fact that it does not represent the residual cash flow available for discretionary expenditures, and therefore it is important to view free cash flow as a complement to our entire consolidated statements of cash flows. We have chosen to provide this non-GAAP information to investors so they can analyze our operating results closer to the way that management does, and use this information in their assessment of our business and the valuation of our Company. We compute non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP net income per basic and diluted share, non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, and non-GAAP operating income, by adjusting GAAP net income, GAAP net income per basic and diluted share, GAAP gross profit, GAAP gross margin, GAAP operating expenses, and GAAP operating income to remove the impact of certain items and the tax effect, if applicable, of those adjustments. These non-GAAP measures are not in accordance with, or an alternative to, GAAP, and may be materially different from other non-GAAP measures, including similarly titled non-GAAP measures used by other companies. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation from, as a substitute for, or superior to, net income, net income per basic and diluted share, gross profit, gross margin, operating expenses, or operating income in accordance with GAAP. Non-GAAP financial measures have limitations in that they do not reflect certain items that may have a material impact upon our reported financial results. We may expect to continue to incur expenses of a nature similar to the non-GAAP adjustments described above, and exclusion of these items from our non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP net income per basic and diluted share, non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, and non-GAAP operating income should not be construed as an inference that these costs are unusual, infrequent or non-recurring. For more information on the non-GAAP adjustments, please see the table captioned “Non-GAAP Financial Measure Reconciliations” and “Reconciliation of Cash Provided by Operating Activities to non-GAAP Free Cash Flow” included in this press release.

    Source: FormFactor, Inc.
    FORM-F

    Investor Contact:
    Stan Finkelstein
    Investor Relations
    (925) 290-4273
    ir@formfactor.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: AMSC Reports Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results and Provides Business Outlook

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

      Third Quarter Financial Highlights:
      • Increased Revenue by 56% Year Over Year to Above $60 Million
    • Net Income of over $2 Million
    • Generated nearly $6 Million of Operating Cash Flow

    Company to host conference call tomorrow, February 6, at 10:00 am ET 

    AYER, Mass., Feb. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AMSC (Nasdaq: AMSC), a leading system provider of megawatt-scale power resiliency solutions that orchestrate the rhythm and harmony of power on the grid™ and protect and expand the capability and resiliency of our Navy’s fleet, today reported financial results for its third quarter of fiscal year 2024 ended December 31, 2024.

    Revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 were $61.4 million compared with $39.4 million for the same period of fiscal 2023. The year-over-year increase was driven by organic growth and the acquisition of NWL, Inc. 

    AMSC’s net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 was $2.5 million, or $0.07 per share, compared to a net loss of $1.6 million, or $0.06 per share, for the same period of fiscal 2023. The Company’s non-GAAP net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 was $6.0 million, or $0.16 per share, compared with a non-GAAP net income of $0.9 million, or $0.03 per share, in the same period of fiscal 2023. Please refer to the financial table below for a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results.

    Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash on December 31, 2024, totaled $80.0 million, compared with $74.8 million at September 30, 2024.

    “AMSC delivered the best quarterly results in years. Fiscal third quarter revenue surpassed $60 million, that’s revenue growth of 56% when compared to the same period last year, and net income exceeded $2 million, making it our second consecutive quarter of reporting net income,” said Daniel P. McGahn, Chairman, President and CEO, AMSC. “Bookings and backlog during the quarter continued to be robust. We believe our company’s diverse bookings and strengthened balance sheet allow us to seize opportunities in new markets and extend our customer reach. We are proud of these results and remain focused on driving execution and strong performance as we move into the fourth fiscal quarter of the year.”

    Business Outlook
    For the fourth quarter ending March 31, 2025, AMSC expects that its revenues will be in the range of $59.0 million to $63.0 million. The Company’s net loss for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 is expected not to exceed $1.0 million, or $0.03 per share. The Company’s non-GAAP net income (as defined below) is expected to exceed $2.5 million, or $0.07 per share.

    Conference Call Reminder
    In conjunction with this announcement, AMSC management will participate in a conference call with investors beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, February 6, 2025, to discuss the Company’s financial results and business outlook. Those who wish to listen to the live or archived conference call webcast should visit the “Investors” section of the Company’s website at https://ir.amsc.com. The live call can be accessed by dialing 1-844-481-2802 or 1-412-317-0675 and asking to join the AMSC call. A replay of the call may be accessed 2 hours following the call by dialing 1-877-344-7529 and using conference passcode 9514460.

    About AMSC (Nasdaq: AMSC)
    AMSC generates the ideas, technologies and solutions that meet the world’s demand for smarter, cleaner … better energy™. Through its Gridtec™ Solutions, AMSC provides the engineering planning services and advanced grid systems that optimize network reliability, efficiency and performance.  Through its Marinetec™ Solutions, AMSC provides ship protection systems and is developing propulsion and power management solutions designed to help fleets increase system efficiencies, enhance power quality and boost operational safety.  Through its Windtec® Solutions, AMSC provides wind turbine electronic controls and systems, designs and engineering services that reduce the cost of wind energy. The Company’s solutions are enhancing the performance and reliability of power networks, increasing the operational safety of navy fleets, and powering gigawatts of renewable energy globally. Founded in 1987, AMSC is headquartered near Boston, Massachusetts with operations in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. For more information, please visit www.amsc.com.

    AMSC, American Superconductor, D-VAR, D-VAR VVO, Gridtec, Marinetec, Windtec, Neeltran, NEPSI, Smarter, Cleaner … Better Energy, and Orchestrate the Rhythm and Harmony of Power on the Grid are trademarks or registered trademarks of American Superconductor Corporation. All other brand names, product names, trademarks or service marks belong to their respective holders.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Any statements in this release regarding execution of our goals and strategies; backlog; expectations regarding the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024; our expected GAAP and non-GAAP financial results for the quarter ending March 31, 2025; and other statements containing the words “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “will” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements represent management’s current expectations and are inherently uncertain. There are a number of important factors that could materially impact the value of our common stock or cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. These important factors include, but are not limited to: We have a history of operating losses, which may continue in the future. Our operating results may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and may fall below expectations in any particular fiscal quarter; We have a history of negative operating cash flows, and we may require additional financing in the future, which may not be available to us; Our technology and products could infringe intellectual property rights of others, which may require costly litigation and, if we are not successful, could cause us to pay substantial damages and disrupt our business; Changes in exchange rates could adversely affect our results of operations; We may be required to issue performance bonds or provide letters of credit, which restricts our ability to access any cash used as collateral for the bonds or letters of credit; If we fail to maintain proper and effective internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce accurate and timely financial statements could be impaired and may lead investors and other users to lose confidence in our financial data; We may not realize all of the sales expected from our backlog of orders and contracts; Our contracts with the U.S. government are subject to audit, modification or termination by the U.S. government and include certain other provisions in favor of the government. The continued funding of such contracts remains subject to annual congressional appropriation, which, if not approved, could reduce our revenue and lower or eliminate our profit; Changes in U.S. government defense spending could negatively impact our financial position, results of operations, liquidity and overall business; Pandemics, epidemics or other public health crises may adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations; We rely upon third-party suppliers for the components and subassemblies of many of our Grid and Wind products, making us vulnerable to supply shortages and price fluctuations, which could harm our business; Uncertainty surrounding our prospects and financial condition may have an adverse effect on our customer and supplier relationship; Our success is dependent upon attracting and retaining qualified personnel and our inability to do so could significantly damage our business and prospects; A significant portion of our Wind segment revenues are derived from a single customer. If this customer’s business is negatively affected, it could adversely impact our business; Our success in addressing the wind energy market is dependent on the manufacturers that license our designs; Our business and operations would be adversely impacted in the event of a failure or security breach of our or any critical third parties’ information technology infrastructure and networks; We may acquire additional complementary businesses or technologies, which may require us to incur substantial costs for which we may never realize the anticipated benefits; Failure to comply with evolving data privacy and data protection laws and regulations or to otherwise protect personal data, may adversely impact our business and financial results; Many of our revenue opportunities are dependent upon subcontractors and other business collaborators; If we fail to implement our business strategy successfully, our financial performance could be harmed; Problems with product quality or product performance may cause us to incur warranty expenses and may damage our market reputation and prevent us from achieving increased sales and market share; Many of our customers outside of the United States may be either directly or indirectly related to governmental entities, and we could be adversely affected by violations of the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar worldwide anti-bribery laws outside the United States; We have had limited success marketing and selling our superconductor products and system-level solutions, and our failure to more broadly market and sell our products and solutions could lower our revenue and cash flow; We or third parties on whom we depend may be adversely affected by natural disasters, including events resulting from climate change, and our business continuity and disaster recovery plans may not adequately protect us or our value chain from such events; Adverse changes in domestic and global economic conditions could adversely affect our operating results; Our international operations are subject to risks that we do not face in the United States, which could have an adverse effect on our operating results; Our products face competition, which could limit our ability to acquire or retain customers; We have operations in, and depend on sales in, emerging markets, including India, and global conditions could negatively affect our operating results or limit our ability to expand our operations outside of these markets. Changes in India’s political, social, regulatory and economic environment may affect our financial performance; Our success depends upon the commercial adoption of the REG system, which is currently limited, and a widespread commercial market for our products may not develop; Industry consolidation could result in more powerful competitors and fewer customers; Increasing focus and scrutiny on environmental sustainability and social initiatives could increase our costs, and inaction could harm our reputation and adversely impact our financial results; Growth of the wind energy market depends largely on the availability and size of government subsidies, economic incentives and legislative programs designed to support the growth of wind energy: Lower prices for other energy sources may reduce the demand for wind energy development, which could have a material adverse effect on our ability to grow our Wind business; We may be unable to adequately prevent disclosure of trade secrets and other proprietary information; Our patents may not provide meaningful or long-term protection for our technology, which could result in us losing some or all of our market position; There are a number of technological challenges that must be successfully addressed before our superconductor products can gain widespread commercial acceptance, and our inability to address such technological challenges could adversely affect our ability to acquire customers for our products; Third parties have or may acquire patents that cover the materials, processes and technologies we use or may use in the future to manufacture our Amperium products, and our success depends on our ability to license such patents or other proprietary rights; Our common stock has experienced, and may continue to experience, market price and volume fluctuations, which may prevent our stockholders from selling our common stock at a profit and could lead to costly litigation against us that could divert our management’s attention; Unfavorable results of legal proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition; and the other important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in Part 1. Item 1A of our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, and our other reports filed with the SEC. These important factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by forward-looking statements made herein and presented elsewhere by management from time to time. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

    UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
    (In thousands, except per share data)
                 
        Three Months Ended     Nine Months Ended  
        December 31,     December 31,  
        2024     2023     2024     2023  
    Revenues                                
    Grid   $ 52,306     $ 33,603     $ 131,578     $ 87,854  
    Wind     9,097       5,750       24,585       15,757  
    Total revenues     61,403       39,353       156,163       103,611  
                                     
    Cost of revenues     45,077       29,369       112,000       78,759  
                                     
    Gross margin     16,326       9,984       44,163       24,852  
                                     
    Operating expenses:                                
    Research and development     3,000       2,199       7,932       5,693  
    Selling, general and administrative     11,567       7,833       30,990       23,648  
    Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles     444       538       1,289       1,614  
    Change in fair value of contingent consideration     —       852       6,682       3,052  
    Restructuring     —       —       —       (14 )
    Total operating expenses     15,011       11,422       46,893       33,993  
                                     
    Operating income (loss)     1,315       (1,438 )     (2,730 )     (9,141 )
                                     
    Interest income, net     802       150       2,901       518  
    Other income (expense), net     272       (298 )     (214 )     (618 )
    Income (loss) before income tax expense (benefit)     2,389       (1,586 )     (43 )     (9,241 )
                                     
    Income tax (benefit) expense     (76 )     63       (4,871 )     291  
                                     
    Net income (loss)   $ 2,465     $ (1,649 )   $ 4,828     $ (9,532 )
                                     
    Net income (loss) per common share                                
    Basic   $ 0.07     $ (0.06 )   $ 0.13     $ (0.33 )
    Diluted   $ 0.06     $ (0.06 )   $ 0.13     $ (0.33 )
                                     
    Weighted average number of common shares outstanding                                
    Basic     37,661       29,092       36,766       28,728  
    Diluted     38,463       29,092       37,457       28,728  
    UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
    (In thousands, except per share data)    		  
                 
        December 31, 2024     March 31, 2024  
    ASSETS                
    Current assets:                
    Cash and cash equivalents   $ 75,203     $ 90,522  
    Accounts receivable, net     44,135       26,325  
    Inventory, net     74,588       41,857  
    Prepaid expenses and other current assets     10,194       7,295  
    Restricted cash     1,314       468  
    Total current assets     205,434       166,467  
                     
    Property, plant and equipment, net     38,390       10,861  
    Intangibles, net     6,622       6,369  
    Right-of-use assets     4,050       2,557  
    Goodwill     48,950       43,471  
    Restricted cash     3,523       1,290  
    Deferred tax assets     1,155       1,119  
    Equity-method investments     1,397       —  
    Other assets     757       637  
    Total assets   $ 310,278     $ 232,771  
                     
    LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY                
                     
    Current liabilities:                
    Accounts payable and accrued expenses   $ 29,425     $ 24,235  
    Lease liability, current portion     675       716  
    Debt, current portion     —       25  
    Contingent consideration     —       3,100  
    Deferred revenue, current portion     74,325       50,732  
    Total current liabilities     104,425       78,808  
                     
    Deferred revenue, long term portion     9,003       7,097  
    Lease liability, long term portion     2,725       1,968  
    Deferred tax liabilities     1,423       300  
    Other liabilities     26       27  
    Total liabilities     117,602       88,200  
                     
    Stockholders’ equity:                
    Common stock, $0.01 par value, 75,000,000 shares authorized; 39,863,084 and 37,343,812 shares issued and 39,459,733 and 36,946,181 shares outstanding at December 31, 2024 and March 31, 2024, respectively     399       373  
    Additional paid-in capital     1,256,210       1,212,913  
    Treasury stock, at cost, 403,351 and 397,631 at December 31, 2024 and March 31, 2024, respectively     (3,765 )     (3,639 )
    Accumulated other comprehensive income     1,662       1,582  
    Accumulated deficit     (1,061,830 )     (1,066,658 )
    Total stockholders’ equity     192,676       144,571  
    Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity   $ 310,278     $ 232,771  
    UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
    (In thousands)    		  
       
        Nine Months Ended December 31,  
        2024     2023  
    Cash flows from operating activities:                
                     
    Net income (loss)   $ 4,828     $ (9,532 )
    Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash provided by (used in) operations:                
    Depreciation and amortization     3,984       3,360  
    Stock-based compensation expense     4,933       3,608  
    Provision for excess and obsolete inventory     1,186       1,536  
    Amortization of operating lease right-of-use assets     753       457  
    Deferred income taxes     (5,171 )     3  
    Earnings from equity method investments     (152 )     —  
    Change in fair value of contingent consideration     6,682       3,052  
    Other non-cash items     (177 )     494  
    Changes in operating asset and liability accounts:                
    Accounts receivable     (1,650 )     5,945  
    Inventory     (10,836 )     (8,737 )
    Prepaid expenses and other assets     (1,658 )     6,682  
    Operating leases     (1,531 )     (450 )
    Accounts payable and accrued expenses     118       (15,409 )
    Deferred revenue     20,686       8,894  
    Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities     21,995       (97 )
                     
    Cash flows from investing activities:                
    Purchases of property, plant and equipment     (1,376 )     (635 )
    Cash paid to settle contingent consideration liabilities     (3,278 )     —  
    Cash paid for acquisition, net of cash acquired     (29,577 )     —  
    Change in other assets     167       (8 )
    Net cash used in investing activities     (34,064 )     (643 )
                     
    Cash flows from financing activities:                
    Repurchase of treasury stock     (126 )     —  
    Repayment of debt     (25 )     (49 )
    Cash paid related to registration of common stock shares     (148 )     —  
    Proceeds from exercise of employee stock options and ESPP     157       136  
    Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities     (142 )     87  
                     
    Effect of exchange rate changes on cash     (29 )     3  
                     
    Net decrease in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash     (12,240 )     (650 )
    Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period     92,280       25,675  
    Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period   $ 80,040     $ 25,025  
    RECONCILIATION OF GAAP NET INCOME (LOSS) TO NON-GAAP NET INCOME (LOSS)
    (In thousands, except per share data)
    		  
                 
        Three Months Ended December 31,     Nine Months Ended December 31,  
        2024     2023     2024     2023  
    Net income (loss)   $ 2,465     $ (1,649 )   $ 4,828     $ (9,532 )
    Stock-based compensation     2,861       1,140       4,933       3,608  
    Acquisition costs     15       —       1,095       —  
    Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles     706       538       1,727       1,620  
    Change in fair value of contingent consideration     —       852       6,682       3,052  
    Non-GAAP net income (loss)   $ 6,047     $ 881     $ 19,265     $ (1,252 )
                                     
    Non-GAAP net income (loss) per share – basic   $ 0.16     $ 0.03     $ 0.52     $ (0.04 )
    Non-GAAP net income (loss) per share – diluted   $ 0.16     $ 0.03     $ 0.51     $ (0.04 )
    Weighted average shares outstanding – basic     37,661       29,092       36,766       28,728  
    Weighted average shares outstanding – diluted     38,463       29,428       37,457       28,728  
    Reconciliation of Forecast GAAP Net Loss to Non-GAAP Net Income
    (In millions, except per share data)
           
        Three Months Ending  
        March 31, 2025  
    Net loss   $ (1.0 )
    Stock-based compensation     2.8  
    Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles     0.7  
    Non-GAAP net income   $ 2.5  
    Non-GAAP net income per share   $ 0.07  
    Shares outstanding     37.9  
             

    Note: Non-GAAP net income (loss) is defined by the Company as net income (loss) before stock-based compensation; amortization of acquisition-related intangibles; acquisition costs; change in fair value of contingent consideration, other non-cash or unusual charges, and the tax effect of adjustments calculated at the relevant rate for our non-GAAP metric. The Company believes non-GAAP net income (loss) and non-GAAP net income (loss) per share assist management and investors in comparing the Company’s performance across reporting periods on a consistent basis by excluding these non-cash, non-recurring or other charges that it does not believe are indicative of its core operating performance. Actual GAAP and non-GAAP net loss for the fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2025, including the above adjustments, may differ materially from those forecasted in the table above. Generally, a non-GAAP financial measure is a numerical measure of a company’s performance, financial position or cash flow that either excludes or includes amounts that are not normally excluded or included in the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. The non-GAAP measure included in this release, however, should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for or superior to, operating income or other measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP net income (loss) is set forth in the table above.

    AMSC Contacts
    Investor Relations Contact:
    LHA Investor Relations
    Carolyn Capaccio
    (212) 838-3777
    amscIR@lhai.com

    Public Relations Contact:
    RooneyPartners
    Joe Luongo
    (914) 906-5903

    AMSC Director, Communications:
    Nicol Golez
    978-399-8344
    Nicol.Golez@amsc.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: How real-world businesses are transforming with AI – with 50 new stories

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: How real-world businesses are transforming with AI – with 50 new stories

    Updated February 5, 2025: The post contains 50 new customer stories, which appear at the beginning of each section of customer lists. The post will be updated regularly with new stories.

    One of the highlights of my career has always been connecting with customers and partners across industries to learn how they are using technology to drive their businesses forward. In the past 30 years, we’ve seen four major platform shifts, from client server to internet and the web to mobile and cloud to now — the next major platform shift to AI.  

    As today’s platform shift to AI continues to gain momentum, Microsoft is working to understand just how organizations can drive lasting business value. We recently commissioned a study with IDC, The Business Opportunity of AI, to uncover new insights around business value and help guide organizations on their journey of AI transformation. The study found that for every $1 organizations invest in generative AI, they’re realizing an average of $3.70 in return — and uncovered insights about the future potential of AI to reshape business processes and drive change across industries.

    Check out the top 5 AI trends to watch from IDC and Microsoft

    Today, more than 85% of the Fortune 500 are using Microsoft AI solutions to shape their future. In working with organizations large and small, across every industry and geography, we’ve seen that most transformation initiatives are designed to achieve one of four business outcomes:  

    1. Enriching employee experiences: Using AI to streamline or automate repetitive, mundane tasks can allow your employees to dive into more complex, creative and ultimately more valuable work.
    2. Reinventing customer engagement: AI can create more personalized, tailored customer experiences, delighting your target audiences while lightening the load for employees.
    3. Reshaping business processes: Virtually any business process can be reimagined with AI, from marketing to supply chain operations to finance, and AI is even allowing organizations to go beyond process optimization and discover exciting new growth opportunities.
    4. Bending the curve on innovation: AI is revolutionizing innovation by speeding up creative processes and product development, reducing the time to market and allowing companies to differentiate in an often crowded field.

    In this blog, we’ve collected more than 300 of our favorite real-life examples of how organizations are embracing Microsoft’s proven AI capabilities to drive impact and shape today’s platform shift to AI. Today, we’ve added new stories of customers using our AI capabilities at the beginning of each section. We’ll regularly update this story with more. We hope you find an example or two that can inspire your own transformation journey.

    Enriching employee experiences

    Generative AI is truly transforming employee productivity and wellbeing. Our customers tell us that by automating repetitive, mundane tasks, employees are freed up to dive into more complex and creative work. This shift not only makes the work environment more stimulating but also boosts job satisfaction. It sparks innovation, provides actionable insights for better decision-making and supports personalized training and development opportunities, all contributing to a better work-life balance. Customers around the world have reported significant improvements in employee productivity with these AI solutions:

    New Stories:

    1. Acentra Health created MedScribe using Azure OpenAI Service. The solution has saved 11,000 nursing hours and nearly $800,000. It also helped each nurse process 20 to 30 letters daily, while achieving a 99% approval rate for MedScribe-generated letters.
    2. Brisbane Catholic Education provides Microsoft 365 Copilot to 12,500 educators, and uses Microsoft Copilot Studio to create a generative AI tool to help educators integrate Catholic traditions and values into the classroom.
    3. Crediclub saves 96% per month in auditing expenses and analyzes 150 meetings per hour with Azure AI, freeing up time for 800 sales advisors and 150 branch managers to interact directly with customers.
    4. eClinicalWorks developed a tool using Azure AI services and Azure AI Document Intelligence to help healthcare workers scan, sort and match thousands of faxes each year to match the faxed data with current patient files.
    5. Education Authority of Northern Ireland (EANI) introduced Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce admin work, allowing teachers to focus on students. The Microsoft partnership ensures secure and ethical AI use, while teacher training focuses on prompt writing and effective tool adoption.
    6. Ma’aden uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance productivity, saving up to 2,200 hours monthly. Tasks like drafting emails, creating documents and data analysis have become more efficient, helping Ma’aden achieve its growth goals.
    7. Marketing org mci group uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance the use of AI and other technological advances to boost employee efficiency.
    8. Michelin deployed Microsoft 365 Copilot and a generative AI in-house chatbot based on Azure OpenAI Service called “Aurora” designed to help employees optimize work and team performance, boosting productivity tenfold.
    9. Raiffeisen Bank International built its own ChatGPT using Azure OpenAI Service to automate repetitive tasks like documenting intelligence and more rapidly summarize legal, regulation and banking documents.
    10. Sanabil Investments deployed Microsoft 365 Copilot to help employees reduce the time spent on manual everyday tasks that diverted focus from more strategic and valuable work. Within two months, approximately 70% of employees regularly used Copilot.
    11. Sensei rolled out Microsoft 365 to reduce the number of internal apps and better connect systems for easier collaboration, and is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to increase efficiency.
    12. Sikshana Foundation is working with Microsoft Research India to introduce an AI copilot for teachers that shortens preparation time for lessons from an hour or more to just minutes.
    13. The University of Hong Kong adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance productivity by automating administrative tasks and providing intelligent assistance, allowing faculty to focus more on teaching.
    1. Accenture and Avanade launched a Copilot business transformation practice, supported by Microsoft, and co-invested in new capabilities, solutions and training to help organizations securely and responsibly reinvent their business functions with generative and agentic AI and Copilot technologies.
    2. Access Holdings Plc adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot, integrating generative AI into daily tools and, as a result, writing code now takes two hours instead of eight, chatbots launch in 10 days instead of three months and presentations are prepared in 45 minutes instead of six hours.
    3. Adobe is connecting Adobe Experience Cloud workflows and insights with Microsoft 365 Copilot to deliver generative-AI powered capabilities that enable marketers to increase collaboration, efficiency and creativity.
    4. Amadeus empowers its teams to focus their time and skills on value-added tasks with Microsoft 365 Copilot, by summarizing email threads, chat or transcripts and summing up information from diverse sources.
    5. ANZ has invested in Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot and Copilot in Microsoft Edge to boost productivity and innovation across its workforce.
    6. Asahi Europe & International (AEI) has adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot, saving employees potentially 15% of time previously spent on administrative tasks.
    7. AXA developed AXA Secure GPT, a platform powered by Azure OpenAI Service that empowers employees to leverage the power of generative AI while targeting the highest level of data safety and responsible use of the tool.
    8. Axon Enterprise developed a new AI tool with Azure OpenAI Service called Draft One, resulting in an 82% decrease in time spent on reports, which freed up officers to engage more with their community.
    9. Aztec Group enhanced productivity and client experience by trialing Microsoft 365 Copilot with 300 staff, uncovering “unlimited” use cases and plans for a wider rollout.
    10. Bader Sultan & Bros. Co. W.L.L. implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance employee productivity and speed up customer response times.
    11. Bancolombia is using GitHub Copilot to empower its technical team, achieving a 30% increase in code generation, boosting automated application changes to an average of 18,000 per year, with a rate of 42 productive daily deployments.
    12. Bank of Queensland Group is using Microsoft 365 Copilot, with 70% of users saving two-and-a-half to five hours per week.
    13. BaptistCare Community Services is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to save employees time as they navigate workforce shortage challenges allowing them to focus more on the people they care for.
    14. Barnsley Council was recognized as “Double Council of the Year in 2023” for its implementation of Microsoft 365 Copilot, which modernized operations and reduced administrative tasks, leading to improved job satisfaction and increased creativity.
    15. BlackRock purchased more than 24,000 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses spanning all employees, functions and locations, helping improve the Copilot experience, including codeveloping new features and functions.
    16. British Heart Foundation is testing Microsoft 365 Copilot and in its initial test, users estimate that Microsoft 365 Copilot could save them up to 30 minutes per day.
    17. Buckinghamshire Council deployed Microsoft 365 Copilot with staff reporting productivity improvements, quality enhancements and time savings which are enabling the different teams to do more with less.
    18. Campari Group adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to help employees integrate it into their workflow, resulting in time savings of about two hours a week from the support of routine activities such as email management, meeting preparation, content creation and skill acquisition.
    19. Canadian Tire Corporation moved its data from on-premises systems to Microsoft Azure and built digital assistants using Azure OpenAI Service, and now more than 3,000 corporate employees save 30 to 60 minutes a day using its ChatCTC digital assistant.
    20. Capita is using GitHub Copilot for productivity improvements as well as improvements in developer satisfaction, recruitment and retention.
    21. Cathay leverages Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline meetings and manage information more effectively, reducing time-consuming tasks and fostering creativity.
    22. CDW used Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve work quality for 88% of users, enabling 77% to complete tasks faster, and increasing productivity for 85% of users.
    23. Chi Mei Medical Center is lightening workloads for doctors, nurses and pharmacists with a generative AI assistant built on Azure OpenAI Service.
    24. Clifford Chance adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline tasks, automate processes and enhance collaboration. Lawyers use it to draft and manage emails and ensure compliance, allowing them to focus on complex legal work and improve productivity.
    25. DLA Piper chose Microsoft 365 Copilot to boost productivity for operational and administrative teams, saving up to 36 hours weekly on content generation and data analysis.
    26. Eaton adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate the creation of 1,000 standard operating procedures to streamline customer service operations and improve data access across teams, cutting creation time from one hour to 10 minutes.
    27. E.ON is focused on Germany’s energy transition, leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot to manage the complex grid in real-time, increasing productivity and efficiency for its workforce.
    28. Enerijisa Uretim has adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline meeting summaries, reformat documents and compile reports, enabling employees to concentrate on more strategic and fulfilling activities instead of spending six hours in meetings.
    29. EPAM is deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot to consolidate information and generate content and documents.
    30. Farm Credit Canada implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot which resulted in time savings on routine tasks for 78% of users, with 30% saving 30 to 60 minutes per week and 35% saving over an hour per week, allowing employees to focus on more value-added tasks.
    31. Finastra used Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate tasks, enhance content creation, improve analytics and personalize customer interactions, with employees citing a 20%-50% time savings.
    32. Four Agency Worldwide increased employee productivity using Microsoft 365 Copilot to generate ideas for creative work and support administrative-heavy processes, data analysis and report generation, allowing staff to focus on outreach and less time doing paperwork.
    33. Goodwill of Orange County developed an AI-powered app using Azure AI capabilities to help more people, including those with developmental, intellectual and physical disabilities, work in unfilled e-commerce positions.
    34. Harvey uses Azure OpenAI to simplify routine tasks across hundreds of law firms and legal teams, with one corporate lawyer saying he saved 10 hours of work per week.
    35. Honeywell employees are saving 92 minutes per week — that’s 74 hours a year! Disclaimer: Statistics are from an internal Honeywell survey of 5,000 employees where 611 employees responded.
    36. Insight employees using Copilot are seeing four hours of productivity gained per week from data summarization and content creation.
    37. Joos uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to grow its brand with worldwide collaboration by streamlining meetings, optimizing presentations and improving communications.
    38. Kantar is harnessing the power of Microsoft 365 Copilot by reducing costly, time-consuming IT processes and boosting productivity for employees.
    39. KMS Lighthouse enhanced its knowledge management platform with Microsoft Teams and Dynamics 365 integration, enabling users to leverage KMS Lighthouse without having to switch applications. And with Azure OpenAI Service, companies can create relevant content more quickly within the KMS Lighthouse application.
    40. KPMG Australia is using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, Azure AI Search and Microsoft Copilot 365 to perform advanced text analysis of dozens of client source documents to identify full or partial compliance, or noncompliance, in a fraction of the time required for manual assessments.
    41. LGT is launching Microsoft Copilot LGT to improve efficiency, showing users save an average of an hour a week even in the pilot phase.
    42. Localiza&Co, a leader in the mobility industry in Latin America, implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate processes and improve efficiency, and reduced 8.3 working hours per employee per month.
    43. Lotte Hotels & Resorts has been creating a new work culture that allows employees to work more efficiently and focus on the nature of the work by adopting Microsoft Power Platform for automation.
    44. MAIRE is leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate routine tasks, saving over 800 working hours per month, freeing up engineers and professionals for strategic activities while supporting MAIRE’s green energy transition by reducing their carbon footprint.
    45. McDonald’s China chose Microsoft Azure AI, GitHub Copilot and Azure AI Search to transform its operations, resulting in a significant increase in AI adoption, consumption and retention from 2,000 to 30,000 employee transactions monthly.
    46. McKnight Foundation adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot for all staff, saving time, increasing productivity and freeing space to focus on strategic priorities.
    47. Medigold Health uses Azure OpenAI Service to significantly reduce the time that clinicians spend writing reports during their consultation and administrative time.
    48. Morula Health is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance productivity, streamline medical writing tasks and ensure data security, ultimately improving efficiency and client satisfaction.
    49. Motor Oil Group is achieving remarkable efficiency gains by integrating Microsoft 365 Copilot into its workflows, with staff spending minutes on tasks that used to take weeks.
    50. Nagel-Group uses Azure OpenAI Service to help employees quickly access information which saves time, creates efficiency and transparency and leads to higher-quality answers overall.
    51. National Australia Bank is leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot for daily productivity and data analysis and insights and Microsoft Copilot for Security to quickly analyze millions of security event logs and allow engineers to focus on more important areas.
    52. NFL Players Association integrated Azure AI Services and Azure App Service into their video review process, reducing review time by up to 73%, significantly increasing efficiency and enhancing player safety through consistent rule enforcement.
    53. O2 Czech Republic boosts productivity and streamlines meetings with Microsoft 365 Copilot, revolutionizing how information is shared and making automation a part of daily work.
    54. Onepoint developed a secure conversational agent based on Azure OpenAI which delivers productivity gains of between 10% and 15% across all business lines.
    55. Orange Group has over 40 use cases with Azure OpenAI Service and GitHub Copilot across business functions to support employees in their day-to-day tasks, enabling them to concentrate on higher value-added activities.
    56. Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve staff report productivity by saving one to two hours a week, or simple formatting tasks down to a matter of seconds, enabling more resources to deliver frontline services.
    57. PA Consulting transformed its sales operations with Microsoft 365 Copilot, so its people can invest more time on the activities that have the biggest impact for clients and maximize the strategic value they provide.
    58. Petrobras used Azure OpenAI Service to create ChatPetrobras, which is streamlining workflows, reducing manual tasks and summarizing reports for its 110,000 employees.
    59. Petrochemical Industries Company automates work processes to save time with Microsoft 365 Copilot from weeks to days, hours to seconds.
    60. PIMCO built ChatGWM with Azure AI Studio, a comprehensive platform that provides the ability to ask questions, receive responses and verify answers all in one place, so teams can spend more time engaging clients and having deeper conversations.
    61. PKSHA Technology is optimizing their time on critical work by increasing efficiency in meeting preparations, data analytics and ideation with the help of Microsoft 365 Copilot.
    62. Providence has collaborated with Nuance and Microsoft to accelerate development and adoption of generative AI-powered applications, helping improve care quality and access, and reduce physician’s administrative workloads.
    63. RTI International adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to gain productivity wherever possible, allowing staff to focus on their areas of expertise, delivering even better science-backed solutions for clients.
    64. SACE, an Italian finance and insurance firm, is using Microsoft 365 Copilot and Viva to boost productivity and unlock employee potential while enhancing overall well-being — and productivity improvement data from the first nine months of implementation shows a 23% increase.
    65. Sandvik Coromant is using Microsoft Copilot for Sales to drive efficiency and accuracy, shaving at least one minute off each transaction, allowing sellers and account managers to focus their expertise on responding to customers’ needs with analysis, creativity and adaptability.
    66. Sasfin Bank built a solution on Microsoft Azure that centralized 20,000 documents to analyze contract clauses and provide real-time snapshots, moving guesswork into data-driven decision-making.
    67. Scottish Water implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot reducing mundane tasks to a minimum, and thus freeing up time for employees to work on the more meaningful tasks.
    68. Shriners Children’s developed an AI platform allowing clinicians to easily and securely navigate patient data in a singular location, enhancing patient care, and improving the efficiency of their healthcare services.
    69. Siemens is leveraging Azure OpenAI Service to improve efficiency, cut downtime and address labor shortages.
    70. Softchoice employees are experiencing firsthand how Microsoft 365 Copilot can transform daily workflows, realizing productivity gains of 97% reduction in time spent summarizing technical meetings and up to 70% less time spent on content creation.
    71. Syensqo utilized Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service to develop a custom AI chatbot in three months, which improved their internal data management, decision-making and overall efficiency.
    72. Teladoc Health uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to revolutionize its telehealth operations, automating routine tasks, boosting efficiency and increasing productivity.
    73. Telstra developed two cutting-edge generative AI tools based on Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service: 90% of employees are using the One Sentence Summary tool which resulted in 20% less follow-up customer contact and 84% of customer service agents using the Ask Telstra solution.
    74. Topsoe achieved 85% AI adoption among office employees in seven months, significantly enhancing productivity and business processes.
    75. Torfaen County Borough Council utilized Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline back-office processes, resulting in significant time savings and enhanced productivity for both business and children’s services teams, with further rollouts planned.
    76. Trace3 leveraged Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline and enhance processes across the business and with clients, such as reducing the time it takes HR recruiting managers to respond to applicants within a couple of days instead of several weeks.
    77. Unilever is reinventing their marketing process with Copilot, saving time on briefing tasks, automatically pulling in relevant market data, content and insights to accelerate campaign launches.
    78. Uniper SE implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce time spent on manual and repetitive tasks, and help workers focus on more pressing work, such as developing enhanced solutions to speed up the energy transition.
    79. Unum Group built a custom AI application to search 1.3 terabytes of data with 95% accuracy using Azure OpenAI Service.
    80. Virgin Atlantic adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot and is seeing real business benefits, including productivity improvements, enabling new ways of working.
    81. Visier built a generative AI assistant that leverages Azure AI and Azure OpenAI Services to deliver workforce analytics and actionable insights for more than 50,000 customers.
    82. Virtual Dental Care developed an AI application Smart Scan that leverages Microsoft Azure to reduce paperwork for mobile dental clinics in schools by 75% and frees dentists to devote more time to patient care.
    83. Zakladni Skola As Hlavkova adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot and saw a 60% improvement in handling administrative documents, decreased lesson preparation from hours to few minutes, increased inclusivity and enhanced communication with students and parents.

    Reinventing customer engagement

    We’ve seen great examples of how generative AI can automate content creation, ensuring there’s fresh and engaging materials ready to go. It personalizes customer experiences by crunching the numbers, boosting conversion rates. It makes operations smoother, helping teams launch campaigns faster. Plus, it drives innovation, crafting experiences that delight customers while lightening the load for staff. Embracing generative AI is key for organizations wanting to reinvent customer engagements, stay ahead of the game and drive both innovation and efficiency.

    New Stories:

    1. Aditya Birla Capital built the SimpliFi chatbot on Microsoft Azure to simplify financial services information and offers through intelligent search and proactive nudging with minimum latency and high scalability.
    2. AIA is using Copilot in Dynamics 365 Customer Service to allow customer service representatives to handle more cases in less time by automating time-consuming tasks like drafting customer emails and summarizing lengthy chats and case histories.
    3. Aydem Energy and Microsoft partner Softtech used Azure OpenAI Service to create an AI assistant for WhatsApp, providing customers with real-time updates and handling meter readings, bill checks and claims.
    4. The City of Buenos Aires developed Boti with ChatGPT using Azure OpenAI Service to manage multiple service channels and personalize key services for residents and tourists. The chatbot centralizes data, enables natural language interactions and scales to handle high demands, managing 2 million queries per month without human intervention, alleviating the operational burden by 50%, improving the citizen experience and increasing efficiency.
    5. de Alliantie built a generative AI chatbot using Azure OpenAI to digest information in their online knowledge base so staff can get accurate answers in seconds. Another Azure AI-based solution transcribes and summarizes calls, then categorizes them by theme.
    6. Haceb created a virtual technical support assistant with generative AI, helping on-the-ground technicians troubleshoot, diagnose and resolve product issues faster and more efficiently.
    7. Lloyds Banking Group developed the Branch Translation App using Microsoft Power Apps and Azure AI services with a goal to improve communication with non-English speaking customers and the innovation enhanced service delivery, receiving positive feedback from employees and customers alike.
    8. Staffbase provides its clients with Staffbase Companion, which helps it enhance internal communication with quick content generation, summarization, translation and future capabilities — and remain confident in data protection.
    9. Tekion built Automative Retail Cloud, a unified, cloud-native platform that uses generative AI to analyze communications, extract insights and provide customer-specific recommendations for sales agents.
    10. Welcome Account created a banking application with a conversational agent based on Azure OpenAI Service, in order to help people manage their finances and administrative procedures. This multilingual agent already assists no less than a thousand refugees on a daily basis.
    11. UBS is using Azure AI solutions, including Azure AI Search and Azure OpenAI Service, to power “Smart Assistants” that streamline content access and provide real-time information to Client Advisors, boosting efficiency and client engagement.
    12. Virbe enables businesses to interact with customers through AI-powered avatars, and with Azure AI services like Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Search, Virbe enhanced its AI avatars and simplified engagement with enterprise customers — and customers are seeing up to a 10x increase in leads.

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    1. Absa has adopted Microsoft Copilot to streamline various business processes, saving several hours on administrative tasks each day.
    2. Adobe leverages Microsoft Azure to streamline the customer experience, harnessing the power of the connected cloud services and creating a synergy that drives AI transformation across industries.
    3. Acentra Health developed Medscribe, a web application that uses Azure OpenAI Service to generate draft letters in a secure, HIPPA-compliant enclave that responds to customer appeals for healthcare services within 24 hours, reducing the time spent on each appeal letter by 50%.
    4. Air India leveraged Azure OpenAI Service to develop a virtual assistant that has handled nearly 4 million customer queries with full automation, significantly enhancing customer experience and avoiding millions of dollars in customer support costs.
    5. Alaska Airlines is using Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Defender, and GitHub to ensure its passengers have a seamless journey from ticket purchase to baggage pickup and started leveraging Azure OpenAI Service to unlock more business value for its customer care and contact centers.
    6. Ally Financial is using Azure OpenAI Service to reduce manual tasks for its customer service associates, freeing up time for them to engage with customers.
    7. BMW Group optimizes the customer experience connecting 13 million active users to their vehicles with the MyBMW app on Azure, which supports 450 million daily requests and 3.2TB data processing.
    8. Boyner has tripled its e-commerce performance using Microsoft Azure, seeing a rise in customer satisfaction, engagement, conversion rate and revenue.
    9. Bradesco Bank integrated Microsoft Azure to its virtual assistant, BIA, resulting in reduced response time from days to hours, improving operational efficiency and client satisfaction.
    10. Capgemini Mexico integrated GitHub Copilot to support scalable AI implementations which has led to improved customer experiences and increased efficiency.
    11. Capitec Bank uses Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft 365 Copilot, enabling their AI-powered chatbot to assist customer service consultants in accessing product information more efficiently, saving significant time for employees each week.
    12. Cdiscount is leveraging GitHub Copilot and Azure OpenAI Service to enhance developer efficiency, optimize product sheet categorization and improve customer satisfaction.
    13. Cemex used Azure OpenAI Service to launch Technical Xpert, an AI tool used by sales agents to provide instant access to comprehensive product and customer solution information, significantly reducing search time by 80%.
    14. Chanel elevated their client experience and improved employee efficiency by leveraging Microsoft Fabric and Azure OpenAI Service for real-time translations and quality monitoring.
    15. City of Burlington created two AI-powered solutions: MyFiles system using Microsoft Power Platform for building permits, and CoBy, a 24/7 customer support assistant using Microsoft Copilot Studio.
    16. City of Madrid created an AI virtual assistant with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service offering tourists accurate, real-time information and personalized responses in 95-plus languages.
    17. Cognizant is making performance management more effective and meaningful with Microsoft Azure Machine Learning to help clients across industries envision, build, and run innovative digital enterprises.
    18. Coles Group has leveraged Microsoft Azure to enhance its digital presence and improve customer engagement, rolling out new applications to its stores six times faster without disrupting workloads.
    19. Commercial Bank of Dubai used Microsoft Azure to upgrade its application infrastructure, improving transaction security and speed so individual customers can now open an account and start banking in about two minutes.
    20. Cradle Fund, dedicated to nurturing startups in Malaysia, introduced an AI-driven chatbot to boost user interaction and increase public engagement. User engagement quadrupled while resolution time was reduced from two days to a few clicks. Cradle also decreased customer service costs by 35%, increased international interactions by 40% and increased daily average visits 10-fold.
    21. Doctolib, a leading eHealth company in France, leverages Microsoft technology to develop an AI-powered medical assistant, integrating both Azure OpenAI Service and Mistral Large on Azure.
    22. Docusign used Azure AI to develop its Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM) platform, which supports millions of workflows, reducing contract processing times and enhancing customer satisfaction with advanced AI-powered analytics.
    23. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has significantly improved productivity and customer satisfaction by integrating multiple Microsoft AI solutions, reducing task completion time from days to hours and achieving a 98% customer happiness rate.
    24. Elcome uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve the customer experience, reducing response times from 24 hours to eight hours.
    25. elunic developed shopfloor.GPT based on Azure OpenAI leading to increased productivity for customers saving 15 minutes per request.
    26. Estée Lauder Companies is leveraging Azure OpenAI Service to create closer consumer connections and increase speed to market with local relevancy.
    27. First National Bank (FNB) is using Microsoft Copilot for Sales to help bankers create professional, thoughtful emails in 13 native South African languages, to enhance customer interactions, streamline communications and reinforce its commitment to innovation and customer service.
    28. Flora Food Group migrated to Microsoft Fabric to offer more detailed and timely insights to its customers, enhancing service delivery and customer satisfaction.
    29. Groupama deployed a virtual assistant using Azure OpenAI Service that delivers reliable, verified and verifiable information, and boasts an 80% success rate.
    30. Holland America Line developed a virtual agent using Microsoft Copilot Studio that acts as a digital concierge on their website to support new and existing customers and travel advisors, which has achieved a strong resolution rate and is currently handling thousands of conversations per week.
    31. International University of Applied Sciences (IU) adopted Azure OpenAI Service to revolutionize learning with a personalized study assistant that can interact with each student just like a human would.
    32. Investec is using Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales to enhance the bank’s client relationships, estimating saving approximately 200 hours annually ultimately boosting sales productivity and delivering personalized, seamless customer experience.
    33. Jato Dynamics used Azure OpenAI Service to automate content generation, helping dealerships save approximately 32 hours each month.
    34. Kenya Red Cross worked with Pathways Technologies to develop a mental health chatbot in Azure AI.
    35. LALIGA is delivering a seamless fan experience and AI insights with Azure Arc, using AI in Azure for optimizing match scheduling and other key operations.
    36. Legrand used Azure OpenAI Service to reduce the time to generate product data by 60% and improve customer support interactions with fast, accurate information.
    37. Linum is using Microsoft Azure to train their text-to-video models faster and more efficiently without losing performance or wasting resources.
    38. Lumen Technologies is redefining customer success and sales processes through the strategic use of Microsoft 365 Copilot, enhancing productivity, sales and customer service in the global communications sector.
    39. Mars Science & Diagnostics used the Azure AI catalog to build generative AI apps to enhance accuracy and extract data insights quickly, helping pets with critical, undiagnosed conditions receive the care they require faster.
    40. McKinsey & Company is creating an agent to reduce client onboarding process by reducing lead time by 90% and administrative work by 30%.
    41. Meesho leveraged Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service and GitHub Copilot to enhance customer service and software development, resulting in a 25% increase in customer satisfaction scores and 40% more traffic on customer service queries.
    42. Milpark Education integrated Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Studio and in just four months, improved efficiency and accuracy of student support, decreasing the average resolution time by 50% and escalation time by more than 30%.
    43. National Basketball Association is using Azure OpenAI Service to speed up the time to market, helping fans connect with the league with personalized, localized insights to enhance the fan experience.
    44. NC Fusion chose a comprehensive Microsoft solution to make marketing engagement activities easier and accurately target the best audience segments.
    45. Medgate, a telehealth subsidiary of Otto Group developed a medical Copilot powered by Azure OpenAI which summarizes consultations, supports triage and provides real-time translations.
    46. Orbital Witness embraced the use of large language models (LLMs) in Azure OpenAI to build its innovative AI Agent application, Orbital Copilot, which can save legal teams 70 percent of the time it takes to conduct property diligence work.
    47. Pacific Gas & Electric built a chatbot using Microsoft Copilot Studio that saves $1.1 million annually on helpdesk support.
    48. Parloa took a “voice-first” approach and created an enterprise-grade AI Agent Management platform to automate customer interactions across phone, chat and messaging apps.
    49. Pockyt is using GitHub Copilot and anticipates a 500% increase in productivity in the medium to long term as they continue adapting AI and fine-tuning their software development life cycle.
    50. South Australia Department for Education launched an AI-powered educational chatbot to help safeguard students from harmful content while introducing responsible AI to the classrooms.
    51. Sync Labs is using Microsoft Azure to create AI-driven solutions that have led to a remarkable 30x increase in revenue and a 100x expansion of their customer base.
    52. Syndigo is using Azure to accelerate digital commerce for its customers by more than 40% and expand its customer base.
    53. Telkomsel created a virtual assistant with Azure OpenAI Service, resulting in a leap in customer self-service interactions from 19% to 45%, and call volume dropped from 8,000 calls to 1,000 calls a day.
    54. Torrens University chose to use Azure OpenAI to uplift its online learning experience, saving 20,000 hours and $2.4 million in time and resources.
    55. Trusting Social integrated Microsoft Azure services to launch AI-driven agents that are changing how banks function and transforming their customer’s banking experience.
    56. University of California, Berkeley used Azure OpenAI Service to deploy a custom AI chatbot that supports student learning and helps students with complex coursework.
    57. University of Sydney created a self-serve AI platform powered by Azure OpenAI Service, to enable faculty to build custom chatbots for enhancing student onboarding, feedback, career simulation and more.
    58. Van Lanschot Kempen is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce the time needed for daily tasks, freeing up time to invest in that crucial personal connection.
    59. Virgin Money built an award-winning virtual assistant using Copilot Studio to help build customers’ confidence in their digital products and services.
    60. VOCALLS automates over 50 million interactions per year, resulting in a 78% reduction in average handling time aside from a 120% increase in answered calls.
    61. Vodafone Group is leveraging Microsoft’s AI solutions, including Azure AI Studio, OpenAI Service, Copilot and AI Search, to achieve a 70% resolution rate for customer inquiries through digital channels and reduce call times by at least one minute.
    62. Walmart is using Azure OpenAI Service to deliver a helpful and intuitive browsing experience for customers designed to serve up a curated list of the personalized items a shopper is looking for.
    63. Weights & Biases created a platform which runs on Microsoft Azure that allows developers to keep records, log successes and failures and automate manual tasks.
    64. World2Meet is providing better customer service and operations with a new virtual assistant powered by Microsoft Azure.
    65. Xavier College is modernizing its student information systems on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Azure to unlock powerful insights, fostering innovation and data-driven decision making.
    66. Zavarovalnica Triglav implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Azure OpenAI Service to streamline its operations with automated responses and smart rerouting of customer enquiries.
    67. Zurich Insurance Group used Azure OpenAI Service to develop advanced AI applications that led to more accurate and efficient risk assessment evaluations, accelerating the underwriting process, reducing turnaround times and increasing customer satisfaction.

    Reshaping business process

    Transforming operations is another way generative AI is encouraging innovation and improving efficiency across various business functions. In marketing, it can create personalized content to truly engage different audiences. For supply chain management, it can predict market trends so companies can optimize their inventory levels. Human resources departments can speed up the hiring process, while financial services can use it for fraud detection and risk assessments. With generative AI, companies are not just refining their current processes, they’re also discovering exciting new growth opportunities.

    New Stories:

    1. Bank of Queensland is modernizing its operations with Azure, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot, using AI to optimize business processes such as creating marketing content, building reports and plans and drafting HR content.
    2. Document360 created an AI-powered knowledge base and service platform for companies to create, manage and publish online documentation, including product manuals, SOPs and wikis.
    3. Eduvos is simplifying the student enrollment experience with Microsoft Azure and Dynamics 365, reducing the time from 90 days to nearly instantaneous and associated costs by 90%.
    4. Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) uses Azure Local to support its digital manufacturing platform, including support for safety-critical applications that use AI. Through its hybrid Azure environment, EGA has achieved 10 to 13 times faster AI response time and 86% cost savings for AI image and video use cases.
    5. Hellenic Cadastre built a system that reads and categorizes property contracts, applies legal rules and provides assessments for approval using Azure OpenAI Service. Today, property transaction assessments take less than 10 minutes instead of hours, reducing costs from 15 euros to 0.11 euros per assessment. The system also enhanced property owners’ legal security and boosted the Greek economy by enabling transactions to be completed sooner.
    6. Startup legal-i is using AI to analyze unstructured data and help expensive insurance specialists make better decisions faster — speeding up healthcare and insurance processes and improving the accuracy of outcomes.
    7. Publishing company SHUEISHA Inc. is using Microsoft Security Copilot to enable faster incident response, boosting the confidence and effectiveness of cybersecurity personnel.
    8. thyssencrupp is using the Siemens Industrial Copilot, built on Azure OpenAI Service, to address a skilled labor gap while revolutionizing how it programs and operates machinery.
    9. U.S. AutoForce implemented Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management to centralize warehouse data, connect processes and improve operational efficiency while using Microsoft Copilot for Finance to automate monthly reconciliations.

    ————————————————————————————————————————–

    1. ABB Group integrated Azure OpenAI Service into their Genix Copilot platform enabling customers to achieve up to 30% savings in operations and maintenance, 20% improvement in energy and emission optimization and an 80% reduction in service calls.
    2. Accelleron used Microsoft Power Platform to support numerous business applications and simplify processes for service agents and employees, resulting in the onboard of new agents in 30 minutes, compared to two days for other solutions.
    3. Accenture developed an AI-powered financial advisor that leverages RISE with SAP on Microsoft Azure to enhance their infrastructure and integrate financial data.
    4. Atomicwork leverages Azure OpenAI to bring together three power capabilities: a conversational assistant, a modern service management system and a workflow automation platform.
    5. Blink Ops fully embraced generative AI to build the world’s first Security Automation Copilot with more than 8,000 automated workflows to help any Security/IT task through prompts.
    6. Chalhoub Group is using Microsoft Fabric to modernize its data analytics and streamline its data sources into one platform, increasing agility, enhancing analytics and accelerating processes.
    7. Cineplex is developing innovative automation solutions for finance, guest services and other departments, saving the company over 30,000 hours a year in manual processing time.
    8. ClearBank moved its services to Microsoft Azure to gain scalability and efficiency, pushing out 183% more monthly system releases, gaining both scalability and efficiency.
    9. Danske Statsbaner increases productivity up to 30% with help from Microsoft AI solutions.
    10. Dentsu implemented Microsoft Azure AI Foundry and Azure OpenAI Service to build a predictive analytics copilot that supports media insights, cutting analysis time by 80% and overall time to insight by 90%, reducing analysis costs.
    11. Dow implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to empower teams with AI-driven insights and streamline essential workflows by automating tasks across departments, saving millions of dollars on shipping operations in the first year.
    12. Eastman implemented Microsoft Copilot for Security realizing the benefits of accelerated upskilling, step-by-step guidance for response and faster threat remediation.
    13. Fast Shop migrated to Microsoft Azure creating a self-service culture of access to data, eliminating delays, reducing costs and increasing leadership satisfaction with data while providing more agility in reporting.
    14. Florida Crystals adopted a value-added solution across Microsoft products including Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce telecom expenses and automate industrial process controls.
    15. GHD is reinventing the RFP process in construction and engineering with Microsoft 365 Copilot.
    16. GovDash is a SaaS platform that leverages artificial intelligence to streamline the entire business development life cycle for government contracting companies using Azure OpenAI.
    17. Grupo Bimbo is deploying Microsoft’s industrial AI technologies to modernize its manufacturing processes, optimizing production and reducing downtime, driving significant cost savings, and empowering global innovation.
    18. Insight Canada implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline business operations, with 93% of users realizing productivity gains in functions including sales, finance and human resources.
    19. Intesa Sanpaolo Group enhanced its cybersecurity with AI-enabled Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Copilot for Security, resulting in faster threat detection, increased productivity and reduced storage costs.
    20. Kaya deployed a custom implementation of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power BI to modernize its supply chain, leading to enhanced visibility, improved planning and streamlined inter-department operations.
    21. Lenovo leveraged Dynamics 365 Customer Service to rapidly manage customer inquiries by streamlining repetitive tasks, boosted agent productivity by 15%, reduced handling time by 20% and reached record-high customer satisfaction.
    22. Lionbridge Technologies, LLC is using Microsoft Azure and Azure OpenAI Service to accelerate its delivery times and improve quality, reducing project turnaround times by up to 30%.
    23. LTIMindtree integrated Microsoft Copilot for Security, offering automated incident response, integrated threat intelligence and advanced threat analysis.
    24. Mania de Churrasco used Microsoft Azure, Power Platform and Microsoft 365 to achieve high efficiency, security and scalability in its operations, in addition to improving its data intelligence, which indirectly participated in a 20% increase in sales year on year.
    25. National Bank of Greece built an Azure-powered Document AI solution to transform its document processing, improving the bank’s accuracy to 90%.
    26. Nest Bank has revolutionized its operations by integrating Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure OpenAI Service, resulting in doubled sales and increased daily transactions from 60,000 to 80,000, showcasing the transformative impact of generative AI in the financial sector.
    27. Network Rail modernized their data analytics solution with Microsoft Azure, helping engineers understand data 50% faster than before and improve efficiency, passenger experiences and safety — all while saving costs.
    28. Nsure developed an AI-powered agent that uses Copilot Studio and Power Automate to reduce manual processing time by 60% while also reducing associated costs by 50%.
    29. Oncoclínicas implemented Microsoft Azure to transform its entire data ecosystem with a web portal and mobile application that performs all image processing and storage.
    30. Operation Smile used Azure OpenAI Service, Fabric and Power Apps to eliminate manual data entry, resulting in reduced translation errors by about 90% and the time required for completing reports from four to five hours to just 15 to 20 minutes.
    31. Pacifico Seguros has adopted Microsoft Copilot for Security to optimize its security operations and anticipate and neutralize threats more efficiently and effectively.
    32. Parexel adopted Azure Databricks and Microsoft Power BI, achieving an 85% reduction in data engineering tooling costs, a 30% increase in staff efficiency and a 70% reduction in time to market for data product delivery.
    33. Paysafe used Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline meetings, information management and document creation, addressing language barriers, eliminating time-consuming tasks and boosting creativity along the way.
    34. Planted is integrating Azure OpenAI to manage everyday tasks more efficiently and facilitate the search for information for innovative process development.
    35. Presidio realized dramatic productivity gains saving 1,200 hours per month on average for the employees using Microsoft 365 Copilot and created 70 new business opportunities.
    36. Qatar Charity used Copilot Studio to increase its call center efficiency, reducing average handle time by 30%, increased customer satisfaction by 25%, and achieved a 40% reduction in IT maintenance costs.
    37. Saphyre uses Microsoft Azure and AI to provide an intelligent cloud-based solution that automates and streamlines financial trading workflows around client and counterparty life cycle management, reducing manual efforts by 75%.
    38. StarKist Foods used Azure to effectively unite production and demand processes with finance, reducing the planning cycle from 16 hours to less than one.
    39. Swiss International Air Lines migrated and modernized with Microsoft Azure, achieving up to 30% cost savings, a remarkable boost in platform stability along with enhanced security visibility.
    40. ZEISS Group uses Microsoft Fabric to create a secure and trusted data supply chain that can be shared effortlessly across a range of business units.
    41. ZF Group builds manufacturing efficiency with over 25,000 apps and 37,000 unique active users on Power Platform.

    Bending the curve on innovation

    Generative AI is revolutionizing innovation by speeding up creative processes and product development. It’s helping companies come up with new ideas, design prototypes, and iterate quickly, cutting down the time it takes to get to market. In the automotive industry, it’s designing more efficient vehicles, while in pharmaceuticals, it’s crafting new drug molecules, slashing years off R&D times. In education, it transforms how students learn and achieve their goals. Here are more examples of how companies are embracing generative AI to shape the future of innovation.

    New Stories:

    1. Agricultural Development Trust (ADT) of Baramati is analyzing water, weather, nutrient, pH data and more with AI to increase crop yields in India.
    2. DrumBeat.AI is using Microsoft AI services to predict, identify and treat ear diseases in communities that are both rural and remote, helping to prevent hearing loss among Indigenous communities in Australia.
    3. Dynamic Health Systems created its VitruCare365® platform on the Microsoft Cloud for healthcare technologies to enable motivational care planning. Built on Microsoft Azure, FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) and Dynamics 365, it provides personalized apps powered by Azure OpenAI Service to each patient and is deployed as an extension to the Microsoft 365 tools clinicians use every day.
    4. Cities can use Esri’s ArcGIS geospatial platform to create environmental digital twins that simulate heavy rainfall and apply hot spot analysis to highlight flooding. Adding Azure AI to the geospatial digital twin will reveal insights in impossible amounts of data.
    5. Digital employment agency Gojob developed Aglae, a virtual assistant based on Azure OpenAI Service, to pre-qualify candidates within 15 minutes, enabling recruiters to achieve record employment placement rates.
    6. Institut Curie and Microsoft partner Witivio developed Copilot for Researcher, an agent that can help researchers with some of the administrative tasks in their jobs so they have more time to spend on actual new ideas in the fight against cancer.
    7. NASA created Earth Copilot to transform how people interact with Earth’s data.
    8. Parity is helping women athletes use data and AI to help improve their well-being, performance and careers.
    9. Petbarn created “PetAI” using Azure OpenAI Service, Azure AI Search and Azure App Service to provide Australian pet owners highly personalized advice and product recommendations.
    10. Project Guacamaya is using daily satellite images and various AI models tailored to the Amazon ecosystem to help prevent its deforestation, allowing for quicker action to be taken in at-risk areas.
    11. Properstar developed a solution to simplify the analysis of unstructured real estate data and create a dynamic, AI-powered filtering system that provides more nuanced search results.
    12. RadarFit is using generative AI and a unique gamification strategy to encourage healthy habits in Brazil, with a comprehensive health and wellness program aimed at helping companies reduce chronic disease rates.
    13. SEDUC is using Microsoft 365 Copilot for administrative tasks — such as generating legal documents and handling administrative inquiries — and has expanded to include AI usage with students and teachers, including personalized learning to cater to individual student needs and help them recover from learning losses during the pandemic.
    14. Indonesia’s Universitas Terbuka used Microsoft Azure OpenAI services and Azure AI Foundry to build an AI tutor that delivers accurate, curriculum-aligned responses and streamlines student assessment. The tutor currently supports 500 classes and some 100,000 students.
    15. World Traveler is using AI including Microsoft Reading Progress and Microsoft Immersive Reader to help teachers reach its globally and educationally diverse students with personalized learning experiences.
    16. South Korean startup Wrtn Technologies brings ATI close to people, with a “superapp” that compiles an array of AI use cases and services, but localized for Korean users to integrate AI into their everyday lives.

    ————————————————————————————————————————–

    1. Air India has incorporated Microsoft 365 Copilot into multiple departments, unlocking a new realm of operational insights that not only provides critical data on flight punctuality and operational hurdles, but also empowers proactive, collaborative decision making.
    2. Agnostic Intelligencedeployed Azure OpenAI Service to eliminate time-consuming tasks, saving users up to 80% of their time, and enabling IT managers to focus on innovation and quality assurance.
    3. Albert Heijn is using Azure OpenAI for everything from customer personalization to demand forecast and food waste projects, making it easier for its customers to change their lifestyle.
    4. Amgen is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to boost productivity and has the potential to speed up drug development and support advancements in their business processes.
    5. APEC leverages Microsoft Azure and deep neural network algorithms to develop an app that enables healthcare providers to capture retinal images, increasing the accuracy to identify Retinopathy of Prematurity (RoP) to 90%.
    6. ASOS is using Azure AI Studio to help customers discover new looks with genuine shopping insights, personalized conversations, naturalism and even humor to enliven the shopping journey.
    7. Auburn University is incorporating Microsoft Copilot to promote AI literacy, accessibility and collaboration, with the aim to expand educational and economic opportunities for its entire academic community with AI-centric tools.
    8. B3 launched an AI assistant using Azure OpenAI Service that aids 10,000 users a day to answer Brazilians’ questions about how to start investing.
    9. Basecamp Research aims to build the world’s largest database of national biodiversity and apply AI and machine learning to advance bioscience.
    10. Bayer is using Microsoft Copilot to contribute to feeding a growing global population and helping people lead healthier, disease-free lives.
    11. BMW AG implemented Azure AI to develop a mobile data recorder copilot for faster data management helping engineers reduce the lead time for insights from days to hours or sometimes minutes.
    12. Brembo leveraged Azure OpenAI to develop ALCHEMIX, a solution to generate innovative compounds for its brake pads, drastically reducing the development time of new compounds from days to mere minutes.
    13. Canary Speech can now train new vocal models in as little as two months and handle millions of transactions per month with Microsoft Azure.
    14. CapitaLand simplified internal processes increasing efficiency to more than 10,000 man-days saved per year and deployed Azure OpenAI Service to build the first AI hospitality chatbot for its lodging business.
    15. Cassidy is using Azure OpenAI Service to enhance efficiency across various industries, supporting over 10,000 companies.
    16. Coca-Cola is implementing Azure OpenAI Service to develop innovative generative AI use cases across various business functions, including testing how Microsoft 365 Copilot could help improve workplace productivity.
    17. Denso is developing “human-like” robots using Azure OpenAI Service as the brain to help robots and humans work together through dialogue.
    18. eFishery is using Azure OpenAI for farmers to get the data and insights on fish and shrimp farming, including more precise feeding and water quality monitoring.
    19. EY developed an application that automatically matches and clears incoming payments in SAP, resulting in an increase from 30% to 80% in automatically cleared payments and 95% matched payments, with estimated annual time savings of 230,000 hours globally.
    20. EY worked with Microsoft to make Azure AI Foundry more inclusive for all, serving the 20% of the global workforce identifying as neurodivergent.
    21. FIDO is using Azure OpenAI Service to develop an AI tool that uses sound to pinpoint leaky pipes, saving precious drinking water.
    22. Georgia Tech is using Azure OpenAI Service to enhance the electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, achieving rapid data classification and predictive modeling, highlighting the reliability of networked chargers over non-networked ones.
    23. GigXR developed a solution to create the intelligence for specific AI patients using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and other Azure services.
    24. GoTo Group is significantly enhancing productivity and code quality across its engineering teams by adopting GitHub Copilot, saving over seven hours per week and achieved a 30% code acceptance rate.
    25. GovTech used Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to create LaunchPad, sparking more than 400 ideas and 20 prototypes, laying the foundation for the government to harness the power of generative AI.
    26. H&R Block is using Azure AI Studio and Azure OpenAI Service to build a new solution that provides real-time, reliable tax filing assistance.
    27. Haut.AI provides skin care companies and retailers with customizable, AI-based skin diagnostic tools developed with the help of Microsoft AI.
    28. Helfie is building a solution that caters to healthcare providers who can arm their patients with an application to more quickly and accurately access the care they need.
    29. Hitachi will implement Azure Open AI Service, Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot to create innovative solutions for the energy, mobility and other industries.
    30. Icertis is providing AI-based tools that will recognize contract language and then build algorithms to automatically choose the right approach based on the content of the contract.
    31. Iconem leveraged AI-generated imagery to process and analyze a vast amount of photogrammetry data used to create the 3D digital twin of St. Peter’s Basilica, allowing visitors to explore every intricate detail from anywhere in the world.
    32. ITOCHU is using Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Studio to evolve its data analytics dashboard into a service that provides immediate recommendations by automatically creating evidence-based product proposals.
    33. IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU) is using the power of Azure OpenAI Service to develop Syntea, an AI avatar integrated into Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot, making learning more personalized, autonomous and flexible.
    34. Khan Academy has partnered with Microsoft to bring time-saving and lesson-enhancing AI tools to millions of educators.
    35. Lufthansa Group developed an animated 3D avatar called Digital Hangar to help guide passengers from initial travel inspiration to flight booking through an exchange with an Avatar in natural language.
    36. Mia Labs implemented Azure OpenAI to produce and protect its conversational AI virtual assistant Mia that provides fast support from investors, along with the sophisticated security posture and threat protection capabilities for AI workloads.
    37. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is using Azure OpenAI Service to help accelerate digital innovation in power plants.
    38. Molslinjen has created an AI analytics toolbox that has reduced fuel emissions, improved customer satisfaction and brought in millions of additional revenue.
    39. New Sun Road implemented AI into a local controller for energy systems to balance the supply, storage and use requirements. This optimized loads to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy for local clean power for communities.
    40. Novo Nordisk recently published initial results with predictive AI models for advanced risk detection in cardiovascular diseases, including an algorithm that can predict patients’ cardiovascular risk better than the best clinical standards.
    41. Ontada implemented Azure AI and Azure OpenAI Service to target nearly 100 critical oncology data elements across 39 cancer types and now accesses an estimated 70% of previously unanalyzed or unused information, accelerating its life science product development, speeding up time to market from months to just one week.
    42. Paige.AI​ is using AI and Microsoft Azure to accelerate cancer diagnoses with data from millions of images.
    43. Pets at Home created an agent to help its retail fraud detection team investigate suspicious transactions.
    44. Plan Heal is using Microsoft AI to create solutions that enable patients to monitor and report health metrics so care providers can better serve them.
    45. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is testing a new battery material that was found in a matter of weeks, not years, as part of a collaboration with Microsoft.
    46. Rijksmuseum is harnessing the power of Copilot to make art accessible at scale by joining forces with Microsoft to improve and expand the art experience for blind and low-vision community members.
    47. Royal National Institute of Blind People is using Azure AI services to develop an AI-based solution that quickly and accurately converts letters to braille, audio, and large print formats.
    48. Schneider Electric provides productivity-enhancing and energy efficiency solutions and is using a whole suite of AI tools to hasten its own innovation and that of its customers.
    49. SPAR ICS created an award-winning, AI-enabled demand forecasting system achieving 90% inventory prediction accuracy.
    50. SustainCERT deployed GenAI and machine learning for automated data verification, extraction from documents and to accelerate auditing processes to enable verifying the impacts and credibility of carbon credits.
    51. Suzuki Motor Corporation is adopting Azure OpenAI Service for data security, driving company-wide use with five multipurpose apps.
    52. Tecnológico de Monterrey created a generative AI-powered ecosystem built on Azure OpenAI Service with the goal to personalize education based on the students’ needs, improve the learning process, boost teachers’ creativity and save time on tedious tasks.
    53. TomTom is using Azure OpenAI Service, Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Kubernetes Service to revolutionize the driver experience.
    54. Toyota is deploying AI agents to harness the collective wisdom of engineers and innovate faster in a system named “O-Beya,” or “big room” in Japanese. The “O-Beya” system currently has nine AI agents — from a Vibration Agent to a Fuel Consumption Agent.
    55. Unilever is partnering with Microsoft to identify new digital capabilities to drive product innovation forward, from unlocking the secrets of our skin’s microbiome to reducing the carbon footprint of a multibillion-dollar business.
    56. Unity used Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to build Muse Chat, an AI assistant that can guide creators through common questions and help troubleshoot issues to make game development easier.
    57. University of South Florida is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to alleviate the burden of repetitive, time-consuming tasks so faculty and staff can spend this time creatively solving problems, conducting critical research, establishing stronger relationships with peers and students and using their expertise to forge new, innovative paths.
    58. Utilidata built the first distributive AI and accelerated computing platform for the electric grid allowing flexible transformation and dynamic infrastructure to increase electrification and decarbonization.
    59. Visma has developed new code with GitHub Copilot, Microsoft Azure DevOps and Microsoft Visual Studio as much as 50 percent faster, contributing to increased customer retention, faster time to market and increased revenue.
    60. Wallenius Wilhelmsen is implementing Microsoft 365 Copilot and using Microsoft Viva to drive sustainable adoption, streamlining processes, empowering better decision making and cultivating a culture of innovation and inclusion.
    61. Wipro is committed to delivering value to customers faster and improving the outcomes across the business by investing $1 billion in AI and training 200,000 employees on generative AI principles with Microsoft Copilot.

    Read more:

    IDC InfoBrief: sponsored by Microsoft, 2024 Business Opportunity of AI, IDC# US52699124, November 2024

    Tags: AI, AI Azure, Azure OpenAI Service, Copilot, Copilot Studio, Microsoft 365 Copilot

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: AI Data Drop: Handling risky business in half the time

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: AI Data Drop: Handling risky business in half the time

    This story is featured in the WorkLab newsletter. Sign up for it here. 

    Every company needs to be able to assess where and how mistakes get made. Let’s say a banking customer experiences delays when they’re applying for a new loan. That dissatisfaction means that customer service employees, in turn, spend valuable time dealing with complaints and inquiries. Figuring out why those delays happen—and fixing the issue—can directly affect the bottom line. 
     
    For an institution like Australia’s Bank of Queensland, with a few thousand employees serving 1.4 million customers, identifying overlooked risks is critical to reducing costly errors in the future. To do this, it uses a common problem-solving method: root cause analysis. “The process is essential for maintaining high standards of customer satisfaction and operational excellence,” says Bank of Queensland’s Head of Partner Programs for Group Tech, Bernadette Demasi. But it’s also resource-intensive. Our researchers at Microsoft teamed up with the bank to explore how AI could improve speed and efficiency. 
     
    Their findings: AI access—along with custom, targeted prompt development—can help diagnose those bottom line–busting issues more quickly and accurately. 

    What we did: Our researchers gave 14 people access to Copilot, while a control group of 21 did not have it. Participants were asked to analyze a simulated “risk event”—loan approval delays—and tasked with identifying and cataloging the potential reasons for the delay. 

    Because we know there’s a learning curve with AI, we also wanted to see whether giving targeted guidance could help Copilot users hit the ground running. The treatment group received tips on task-specific optimization, including sample prompts that encouraged asking for narrative responses (“imagine telling the story…”) and “think-aloud” prompts (“imagine you’re thinking it through with a colleague…”). 

    After both groups were finished, the research team compared the quality of the analyses and how long each group took to write them.  

    What we found: Analysts using Copilot were able to determine the root cause 51.8% faster, a remarkable result. In fact, more than half of the analysts with AI access completed the task more quickly than the fastest analyst without access to AI. Despite the relatively small sample size, the performance differences between the treatment and control groups were so pronounced and uniform that the results are statistically significant. 

    Bankers Work Twice as Fast with Copilot

    In a Microsoft study at Bank of Queensland, analysts using Copilot were able to finish a difficult analysis 51.8% faster than those without Copilot.

    We also saw that analysts with access to Copilot had consistently high-quality outcomes compared to the more variable quality from the non-Copilot users. And using AI significantly improved the effectiveness and clarity of the analyses.  

    Survey results also suggest that AI users had a much better experience. More than a third of analysts with Copilot found the task less draining than did those without, which suggests that Copilot significantly reduced their cognitive load. Other positive results were even more uniform: 93% of the treatment group agreed that Copilot improved the quality of their root cause analysis and reduced the effort involved in completing it. Every participant with access to Copilot agreed that it helped them answer questions about contributing factors for the risk event, and that going forward they wouldn’t want to do this type of analysis without it. 
     
    What it means: Completing root cause analyses improved Bank of Queensland’s ability to identify and manage risks, and using Copilot has reduced the company’s analyst time significantly. They estimate that equipping 1,000 employees with Copilot could enhance productivity so much that it is equivalent to adding 120 new employees. “We have more work to do than people to do it,” Demasi says. “Adding capacity through AI allows us to work through resource constraints and supports our teams to gain the capacity to focus on higher-value work.” 

    Just as important: The results indicate that it’s not sufficient to simply give your people access to AI with no guidance. To get great results, you need to work together with your teams to give targeted direction on how to adopt the technology, supporting them to push the boundaries on how to use it to their best advantage. 

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI USA: News 02/5/2025 Blackburn, Colleagues Introduce Bill to Protect Supreme Court Justices from Intimidation

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) introduced the Protecting Our Supreme Court Justices Act to increase the maximum term of imprisonment for those who attempt to intimidate and influence the decision-making process of a judge.

    Introduction of this bill follows a recent report detailing new and concerning information about a suspect who hatched a plan to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Prior to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) attempted to intimidate Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh by name on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court.

    “Supreme Court Justices must be able to do their jobs without fear of intimidation, harm, or violence against them or their families,” said Senator Blackburn. “The Protecting Our Supreme Court Justices Act will deter intimidation of our Justices and send a clear message that anyone who attempts to harm them will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.”

    “The integrity of our judicial system is dependent on justices being able to interpret the law freely and impartially,” said Senator Cruz. “I am proud to join my colleagues in re-introducing the Protecting Our Supreme Court Justices Act to ensure that those who attempt to coerce or intimidate Supreme Court justices face penalties for interfering in the administration of justice. No member of the Court should fear for their or their family’s safety while carrying out their constitutional duty.”

    “Supreme Court Justices have faced a disturbing number of threats seeking to change the outcomes of cases for political ends,” said Senator Lee. “This assault on the rule of law and an independent judiciary cannot stand. Congress must be crystal clear: attempting to intimidate justices and their families will land you in prison for a long time.”

    “It is essential that the judicial branch be able to perform its duties free from threats, fear, intimidation, or coercion,” said Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. “Threats and protests against Supreme Court justices and federal judges are blatant attempts to undermine their independence. I’m proud to once again support this legislation that sends a crystal clear message that these actions will not be tolerated and those responsible will face serious legal consequences.”

    “Supreme Court Justices continue to be a target of politically motivated violence and threats of violence,” said Senator Cotton. “This bill makes clear that anyone who engages in this unlawful activity will face the full extent of the law.”

    BACKGROUND:
    • In the aftermath of the unprecedented May 2022 leak of the draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, far-left protesters immediately began demonstrating outside of the private residences of Supreme Court Justices. Subsequently, a map with the home addresses of five Republican-appointed Justices—Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett—was posted online.
    • Federal law explicitly prohibits attempts at influencing the decision-making process of a judge. Specifically, 18 U.S.C. § 1507 states that any individual who, “with the intent of influencing any judge . . . in the discharge of his duty, pickets or parades . . . in or near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge” is subject to criminal monetary penalties or a maximum of one year of imprisonment, or both. Section 1507 was intended to enable our judges to carry out their duty to uphold the rule of law, without fear of intimidation or retribution for doing so.
    • Under President Biden and Attorney General Garland, following the Dobbs leak, zero protesters outside of Supreme Court Justices’ homes were arrested for violating Section 1507. Just as troubling, the Biden Department of Justice did not issue any guidance on enforcing this statute. The Supreme Court Marshal, as well as Virginia Governor Youngkin and then-Maryland Governor Hogan, implored Attorney General Garland to enforce Section 1507.
    • With President Trump back at the helm, the Justice Department will finally return to focusing on law and order and enforcing our criminal laws. Nevertheless, it’s still critical that Congress act to deter this intimidation of our federal judiciary.

    PROTECTING OUR SUPREME COURT JUSTICES ACT:
    • The Protecting Our Supreme Court Justices Act would increase the maximum term of imprisonment for violation of Section 1507 from one year to five years. Increasing the maximum jail time for a protester under Section 1507 is an effective way to deter this intimidation of our Supreme Court Justices.
    • Additionally, now that we have a presidential administration that is committed to enforcing federal law, increased criminal penalties will send a strong message to these far-left protesters that Supreme Court Justices must be allowed to do their jobs without fearing for the safety of themselves or their families.

    Click here for bill text.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Human Rights Council to Hold Special Session onthe Democratic Republic of the Congo on 7February

    Source: United Nations – Geneva

    The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold a special session on the human rights situation in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Friday, 7 February 2025.

    The session will start at 10 a.m. in room XX of the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The meeting will be webcast live in the six official languages of the United Nations.

    The special session is being convened per an official request submitted on Monday evening, 3 February, by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has been supported by 27 States thus far.

    For a special session to be convened, the support of one-third of the 47 members of the Council – 16 or more – is required. This request is thus far supported by the following States members of the Council (27): Algeria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Burundi, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czechia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Ghana, Iceland, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Morocco, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, the Republic of Korea, Romania, South Africa, Spain and Switzerland.

    The request is also supported by the following 21 observer States: Australia, Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

    The list of signatories remains open up to the holding of the special session. Therefore, the above list of States is to be considered provisional.

    In connection with this special session, the Council will convene an organizational meeting on Thursday, 6 February at 10 a.m. when specific details on the special session and its scenario will be announced. This organizational meeting will also be webcast live.

    This will be the thirty-seventh special session of the Human Rights Council. On 28 November 2008, the Council held a special session on the situation of human rights in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The full list of special sessions of the Human Rights Council can be seen here .

     

    Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media; 
    not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently. 

     

    HRC25.001E

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: What is sexsomnia? And how can it be used as a defence in court?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney

    Canvan-Images/Shutterstock

    Over the past decade, “sexsomnia” has been used as a defence in a number of Australian sexual assault trials.

    This sleep disorder – sometimes known as “sleep sex” – causes people to engage in sexual behaviour while asleep.

    Last week, a Sydney man with sexsomnia was acquitted of rape charges. The dispute was not whether he had sex with the woman, nor whether she consented.

    The question was whether the man’s actions were voluntary. This turned on whether he was asleep or awake when he performed the acts.

    The apparent increase in the use of the sexsomnia defence has raised concerns, both in Australia and overseas. Some claim the defence may be a way for people accused of sex crimes to evade justice.

    In this latest case, the trial judge explained a well-established rule of criminal law to the jury. The rule is that a person cannot be held criminally responsible for involuntary acts. After deliberating, the jury found the man not guilty.

    But how can sexsomnia be proved in court? Here’s what we know about this rare condition, and how it is used as a criminal defence.

    What is sexsomnia?

    Sexsomnia is not the same as having sex dreams. It is a parasomnia, or sleep disorder. It can cause the person to engage in sexual behaviour while unconscious, including sexual touching, intercourse or masturbation.

    Sexsomnia was only added to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) in 2013. It sits alongside sleepwalking and night terrors.

    People may not be aware they have sexsomnia. There are some potential triggers, including alcohol and stress. But there are also effective treatments, including the drug clonazepam, which has sedative affects, as well as some antidepressants.

    It’s unclear how common sexsomnia is, but it’s thought to be rare. A 2020 study found only 116 clinical cases had been recorded in the medical literature.

    But it may also be underreported due to embarrassment and a lack of awareness.

    How is it used in court?

    Sexsomnia is a recent version of an older legal defence known as automatism, which can be traced to the 1840s.

    Automatism describes actions without conscious volition (meaning without using your will). Those with automatism have no memory or knowledge of their acts.

    The law has recognised automatism in sleep walking, in reflexes, spasms, or convulsions, and in acts of those with hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) and epilepsy.

    But an important debate in the legal cases, as well as among psychiatrists and sleep experts, is about how to classify the condition.

    Essentially, is sexsomnia a mental health impairment caused by an underlying mental illness? Or is it a temporary “malfunction” that occurs in an otherwise “healthy mind”?

    Australian law has recognised sexsomnia as the latter (a kind of “sane automatism”) meaning it is characterised by episodes that don’t necessarily recur.

    Sexsomnia may be underreported due to shame and lack of knowledge about the condition.
    NoemiEscribano/Shutterstock

    How can sexsomnia be proved?

    Detailed medical evidence is usually required for this defence. However, the defendant only needs to prove there was a “reasonable possibility” their acts were involuntary.

    By contrast, the prosecution must prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the sexual acts were voluntary or “willed” – a higher standard of proof.

    This means it can be challenging to rule out sexsomnia once the defendant has presented evidence of the condition.

    Is sexsomnia a mental illness?

    Some important Australian cases have considered whether the law should treat sexsomnia as an ongoing mental disorder instead of a transitory “malfunction of the mind”.

    In a 2022 case, prosecutors accepted that a New South Wales man accused of sexual offences against his daughter had sexsomnia. What they contested was that his condition arose from a “sound mind”.

    They argued sexsomnia should now be considered a mental illness. This argument capitalised on new laws that had commenced that year in NSW.

    In defining mental health impairments, the new laws included a disturbance of volition.

    Why is this significant?

    The 2022 case was understood to have legal implications – not only for NSW but for all state jurisdictions in Australia.

    If the prosecution could establish sexsomnia was a mental health impairment, then an outright acquittal would be unlikely.

    Instead, the court would be required to reach a “special verdict” and might then refer the defendant to a mental health tribunal. As a result, the defendant could be detained in a secure psychiatric facility, such as the Long Bay Hospital.

    However, the prosecution in the 2022 case failed to establish sexsomnia was the result of a mental health impairment under the new laws. A two-judge majority said sexsomnia was not a “disturbance of volition” because no one has volition when they are asleep.

    The dissenting judge found that sexsomnia was a mental health impairment under the new definition. Her reasons highlighted that one purpose of the new laws was to “protect the safety of members of the public”.

    Why are these definitions controversial?

    As long ago as 1966, legal scholars criticised how the law treats different kinds of automatism.

    While sleepwalkers and sexsomniacs are viewed as “perfectly harmless,” those with other conditions, such as schizophrenia, are viewed as “criminally demented” and detained in facilities under law.

    Whether sexsomnia is a sleep disorder with non-recurring episodes or a more permanent mental disorder continues to be debated.

    However the way it is addressed clinically may reinforce its status as a sleep disorder. As there are no formal practice guidelines for treatments, it has tended to be sleep clinics, rather than psychiatrists, who respond to the condition.

    The increasing use of this rare condition as a defence in serious, violent cases of sexual assault is concerning and warrants further research and attention.

    Christopher Rudge was a research officer at the Medical Council of NSW in 2018.

    – ref. What is sexsomnia? And how can it be used as a defence in court? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-sexsomnia-and-how-can-it-be-used-as-a-defence-in-court-248756

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Historic ship sinks in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel

    Source: Tasmania Police

    Historic ship sinks in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel

    Thursday, 6 February 2025 – 7:03 am.

    Police were called by crew of a 20 metre 1958 Pilot Cutter about 3.45pm yesterday after the vessel suffered mechanical failure and began taking on water, in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, near Whale Boat Rock (South of Woodbridge) in the state’s south.
    The two crew, 50-year-old woman and 59-year-old male, both from Hobart were sailing from Port Huon to Hobart to participate in the Wooden Boat Festival, when the incident happened.
    The historic vessel, which had previously served as a pilot vessel on Sydney Harbour, and was only one of three of its type quickly began to sink.
    The crew members used marine radio, an EPIRB and mobile phone to raise the alarm and continually provide information to emergency services.
    Two police vessels were quickly on scene but unfortunately the vessel couldn’t be saved and sunk soon after.
    The crew members rescued by police, were wearing life jackets and had the appropriate safety equipment. No one was physically injured in the incident.
    “The regular communication with police enabled a swift and effective rescue operation. This is a timely reminder for those boating to ensure they are wearing their life jacket, take the proper safety precautions, and remember to let someone know where you are going and what time you can be expected back,” said Acting Inspector Danny Jackson of Hobart Police.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Person impaled on fence

    Source: South Australia Police

    A woman is being treated after being impaled on a fence in Alberton last night.

    Just before 10pm on Wednesday 5 February, police and SAAS were called to Angas Street after reports a person was impaled on a fence.

    The woman aged in her 30s was treated by SAAS members for an upper leg wound.

    There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Mark Zuckerberg wants business to ‘man up’, but what it really needs is more women entrepreneurs

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rod McNaughton, Professor of Entrepreneurship, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

    Sergey Nivens/Getty Images

    By claiming workplaces need to “man up”, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is ignoring one of the biggest untapped opportunities for economic growth – women entrepreneurs.

    A 2024 study found promoting female entrepreneurship can greatly enhance women’s workforce participation and drive significant economic growth. And in 2015, the McKinsey Global Institute found advancing women’s workforce equality could add US$12 trillion to global growth.

    Yet, women remain significantly underrepresented as startup founders, particularly in high-growth industries.

    According to Startup Genome, which analyses global startup ecosystems, just 26% of founders in New Zealand are women (still one of the higher rates globally). But only about 4% of Australia’s venture capital investment goes to startups founded solely by women, and about 7% in New Zealand.

    Encouraging women to develop entrepreneurial mindsets could help address both countries’ stagnating productivity. So what stops women from pursuing this path?

    Our latest research explores why fewer women undergraduate students at the University of Auckland pursue entrepreneurship and how universities can help close the gap.

    Lagging behind

    We used data from the 2021 Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ Survey (GUESSS) of more than 267,000 students in 57 countries to assess the gender gap. Among them, 1,050 were undergraduate students from the University of Auckland.

    During the early stages of their undergraduate degrees, male and female students at the university showed similar interest in founding a business at the beginning of their careers – 8% versus 6%. However, both genders significantly lagged behind the 21% and 15% global averages.

    Asked about what they hope to be doing five years later, 28% of men and 18% of women at the University of Auckland said they wished to run their own business. While interest in entrepreneurship increases, the gender gap widens. And both genders still lagged the global averages of 37% for men and 30% for women.

    While university experience influences career ambitions, external factors after graduation can also discourage women from entrepreneurship.

    Societal expectations, industry norms, and lack of access to funding all play a role. Confidence is also a factor. In the survey, women reported lower confidence in their ability to start a business.

    Recent global research has found female entrepreneurship can greatly enhance women’s workforce participation, but women are still lagging behind men when it comes to founding businesses.
    loreanto/Shutterstocl

    The link between STEM and entrepreneurship

    The subjects students choose to study also shape their exposure to entrepreneurship.

    Women at the University of Auckland are underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and business disciplines.

    This matters because these fields of study are associated with higher interest in business formation. Students in business and STEM programmes are more likely to encounter entrepreneurial concepts, role models and develop relevant industry networks.

    Without efforts to introduce entrepreneurship into a broader range of disciplines, many women may miss out on these vital opportunities and networks.

    Closing the gender gap

    Female participation in the University of Auckland’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) programmes has increased from 23% in 2015 to 44% in 2024. Last year, two of the centre’s alumni were named Cartier Women’s Initiative Fellows.

    Yet our research shows women still enrol in entrepreneurship courses and extracurricular activities less often than men. These experiences matter. Women who engage in them are more likely to see themselves as future entrepreneurs.

    To close the gap, universities must embed entrepreneurship across disciplines. In addition to STEM and business students, those in health, law and social sciences can also benefit from early exposure to entrepreneurial thinking. Tailored programs that show how entrepreneurship applies in these fields can make a difference.

    Role models and mentorship are also essential. Women students need to see successful female entrepreneurs to believe they can follow the same path. Universities should actively recruit women founders as speakers, mentors, and industry partners.

    Hands-on experience is a game-changer. Universities must ensure their startup incubators, pitch competitions and funding programs are accessible to female students. Special funding streams for women-led ventures can help level the playing field.

    Finally, the way entrepreneurship is framed matters.

    Many women are drawn to careers that create social impact. Universities should highlight how startups can drive change in sustainability, healthcare and community development. A broader definition of entrepreneurship will make it more appealing.

    By integrating entrepreneurship into all disciplines, increasing the visibility of female founders, and fostering inclusive networks, universities can help break down the barriers that hold women back.

    If universities take action now, they can unlock untapped potential and drive future economic and social impact.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Mark Zuckerberg wants business to ‘man up’, but what it really needs is more women entrepreneurs – https://theconversation.com/mark-zuckerberg-wants-business-to-man-up-but-what-it-really-needs-is-more-women-entrepreneurs-248440

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ‘Serious concerns’: national assessment reveals rivers flowing into the Great Barrier Reef are getting more polluted

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Lintern, Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering, specialising in water quality, Monash University

    Polluted runoff is still smothering the Great Barrier Reef, our first national assessment of water quality trends in Australian rivers has revealed. The problem on the reef is getting worse, not better, despite efforts to improve farming practices and billions of dollars committed by governments to water-quality improvements.

    But in good news, there are signs of improvement in the Murray-Darling Basin, where less salt, sediment and phosphorous were detected in the water.

    Our latest research quantifies, for the first time, how water quality in Australian rivers has changed over the past two decades. Around half our 287 monitoring sites experienced significant changes in water quality between 2000 and 2019 on every measure we analysed. But the results for the reef and the basin stood out.

    In particular, freshwater flows into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon contained increasing levels of sediment and phosphorous. If the trend continues, we have serious concerns for the health of the Great Barrier Reef and the tourist industry it supports.

    Understanding river water quality

    We studied water quality monitoring data from 287 river sites across Australia. The relevant agency in each state and territory collects this information and makes it available online. The data covers the following:

    • salinity: too much makes water unsuitable for drinking or irrigation
    • dissolved oxygen: when the level is too low it can kill aquatic life
    • nitrogen and phosphorous: high levels of either can cause excessive algae growth and consumes oxygen
    • sediment: too much reduces light penetration and disrupts ecosystems

    We focused on sites with records of all five water quality indicators from 2000 to 2019.

    River flows can vary enormously from year to year and this affects water quality. So we used statistics to account for this and identify underlying long-term trends.

    In the catchments that exhibited significant changes between 2000 and 2019, about half showed improvements in dissolved oxygen, salinity and phosphorus, while the other half deteriorated. Sediment levels mostly improved (86% of catchments) over time. The story was not so good when it came to nitrogen levels, which went up in 60% of catchments.

    Two regions experienced the greatest large-scale changes in water quality over that time: the North East Coast basin and the Murray-Darling Basin.

    The research analysed two decades of water quality monitoring data from 287 sites dotted across Australia.
    Danlu Guo, CC BY-ND

    More polluted water flowing to the reef

    In the North East Coast basin, many rivers capture water from inland areas, including farming regions, and carry it to the ocean near the Great Barrier Reef. So, any pollution in these rivers are carried to the reef.

    Suspended sediments make the water cloudy or “turbid”. This can reduce the growth of seagrass and disrupt the growth and reproductive cycles of coral and some fish.

    Phosphorous and nitrogen are essential minerals or nutrients, which is why they are used on farms as fertiliser. But too much of either can lower coral diversity, and reduce resilience of coral to bleaching and disease.

    We found water quality in rivers flowing to the reef – one of the world’s seven natural wonders – had declined over the past two decades. In particular, levels of phosphorus and sediments had increased at around 5% per year on average across catchments.

    This may be a hangover from intensifying land use and clearing in the 1960s and ‘70s. Land clearing can lead to more erosion of sediment and phosphorus attached to soils. Similarly, intensive agriculture can lead to increased phosphorus in rivers, due to fertiliser use.

    Substantial investment has been made to improve water quality over many years. This includes almost A$1.8 billion committed by the federal and Queensland governments between 2014 and 2030. But it appears greater effort is needed to turn things around.

    It can take a long time for management strategies to start having an effect on water quality. So efforts to date may not yet be showing up. Or perhaps the scale of these changes has not been enough to shift the long-term trend in water quality.

    Regardless, declining water quality over the past two decades has direct implications for the future of the world heritage listed site.

    Cleaning up the basin

    In contrast, we found water quality in the Murray-Darling Basin was improving. Salinity levels declined, along with phosphorus and suspended sediment.

    Managing salinity in the basin is a long-term issue. Much of the basin’s groundwater is naturally saline to begin with. Land clearing and agricultural activities since European colonisation have further exacerbated the problem.

    But our results suggest salinity levels in the Murray-Darling Basin rivers are improving. This may be due to large-scale management actions such as improving irrigation efficiency, reducing drainage, installing salt interception, and drainage diversion schemes to divert saline groundwater away from entering the Murray River.

    These changes in water quality could also be due to declines in rainfall during the Millennium drought period over the late 1990s and early 2000s. The dry conditions might have altered processes controlling flushing of salt, sediments and phosphorus into waterways. As such, the drought has likely had more complicated and long-lasting impacts on water quality than the year-to-year variation in river flow.

    While our research shows water quality in the Murray-Darling Basin has improved, this does not mean funding in this area should reduce or cease. Scientists and policymakers must continue monitoring and working towards a healthy basin for future generations.

    Salt interception schemes divert about 400,000 tonnes of salt away from the river every year.
    Photo by Zac Edmonds on Unsplash, CC BY

    Keeping watch over water quality

    Unfortunately, insufficient long-term water quality monitoring limits our understanding of water quality trends across large parts of the country.

    This includes a large proportion of the western, northern and central parts of Australia. Filling these data gaps will require new and ongoing investment into water quality monitoring.

    Australian water authorities need to keep checking the health of our rivers.

    A national program to harness this data from states and territories, to monitor and track river water quality, is needed to continue similar Australia-wide assessments of water quality.

    Such assessments are vital for providing an evidence base for federal policy and identifying future needs in river water quality protection.

    Anna Lintern has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council and the Victorian State Government. She is an unpaid volunteer for her federal Independent MP’s office.

    Danlu Guo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. ‘Serious concerns’: national assessment reveals rivers flowing into the Great Barrier Reef are getting more polluted – https://theconversation.com/serious-concerns-national-assessment-reveals-rivers-flowing-into-the-great-barrier-reef-are-getting-more-polluted-248903

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Elections mean more misinformation. Here’s what we know about how it spreads in migrant communities

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fan Yang, Research fellow at Melbourne Law School, the University of Melbourne and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society., The University of Melbourne

    Shutterstock

    Migrants in Australia often encounter disinformation targeting their communities. However, disinformation circulated in non-English languages and within private chat groups often falls beyond the reach of Australian public agencies, national media and platform algorithms.

    This regulatory gap means migrant communities are disproportionately targeted during crises, elections and referendums when misinformation and disinformation are amplified.

    With a federal election just around the corner, we wanted to understand how migrants come across disinformation, how they respond to it, and importantly, what can be done to help.



    Read more:
    Misinformation, disinformation and hoaxes: What’s the difference?

    Our research

    Our research finds political disinformation circulates both online and in person among friends and family.

    Between 2023 and 2024, we carried out a survey with 192 respondents. We then conducted seven focus groups with 14 participants who identify as having Chinese or South Asian cultural heritage.

    We wanted to understand their experiences of political engagement and media consumption in Australia.

    An important challenge faced by research participants is online disinformation. This issue was already long-standing and inadequately addressed by Australian public agencies and technology companies, even before Meta ended its fact-checking program.

    Lack of diversity in news

    Our study finds participants read news and information from a diverse array of traditional and digital media services with heightened sense of caution.

    They encounter disinformation in two ways.

    The first is information misrepresenting their identity, culture, and countries of origin, particularly found in English-language Australian national media.

    The second is targeted disinformation distributed across non-English social media services, including in private social media channels.

    Misinformation is often spread on Chinese social media platforms to target their users.
    Shutterstock

    From zero (no trust) to five (most trusted), we asked our survey participants to rank their trust towards Australian national media sources. This included the ABC, SBS, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, 9 News and the 7 Network.

    Participants reported a medium level of trust (three).

    Our focus groups explained the mistrust participants have towards both traditional and social media news sources. Their thoughts echoed other research with migrants. For instance, a second-generation South Asian migrant said:

    it feels like a lot of marketing with traditional media […] they use marketing language to persuade people in a certain way.

    Several participants of Chinese and South Asian cultural backgrounds reported that Australian national media misrepresent their culture and identity due to a lack of genuine diversity within news organisations. One said:

    the moment you’re a person of colour, everyone thinks that you’re Chinese. And we do get painted with the same paintbrush. It is very frustrating […]

    Another added:

    Sri Lanka usually gets in the media for cricket mainly, travel and tourism. So apart from that, there’s not a lot of deep insight.

    For migrants, the lack of genuine engagement with their communities and countries of origin distorts public understanding, reducing migrants to a one-dimensional, often stereotypical, portrayal. This oversimplification undermines migrants’ trust in Australian national media.

    Participants also expressed minimal trust in news and information on social media. They often avoid clicking on headline links, including those shared by Australian national media outlets. According to a politically active male participant of Chinese-Malaysian origin:

    I don’t really like reading Chinese social media even though I’m very active on WeChat and subscribe to some news just to see what’s going on. I don’t rely on them because I usually don’t trust them and can often spot mistakes and opinionated editorials rather than actual news.

    Consuming news from multiple sources to understand a range of political leanings is a strategy many participants employed to counteract biased or partial news coverage. This was particularly the case on issues of personal interest, such as human rights and climate change.



    Read more:
    About half the Asian migrants we surveyed said they didn’t fully understand how our voting systems work. It’s bad for our democracy

    What can be done?

    Currently, Australia lacks effective mechanisms to combat online disinformation targeting migrant communities, especially those whose first language is not English.

    Generalised counter-disinformation approaches (such as awareness camapaigns) fail to be effective even when translated into multiple languages.

    This is because the disinformation circulating in these communities is often highly targeted and tailored. Scaremongering around geopolitical, economic and immigration policies is a common theme. These narratives are too specific for a population-level approach to work.

    Our focus groups revealed that the burden of addressing disinformation often falls on family members or close friends. This responsibility is particularly carried by community-minded individuals with higher levels of media and digital knowledge. Women and younger family members play a key role.

    Women and younger family members play a key role in debunking misinformation in migrant families.
    Shutterstock

    Focus group members told us how they explained Australian political events to their families in terms they were more familiar with.

    During the Voice to Parliament referendum, one participant referenced China’s history of resistance against Japanese Imperialism to help a Chinese-Australian friend better understand the consequences of colonialism and its impacts on Australia’s First Nations communities.

    Younger women participants shared that combating online disinformation is an emotionally taxing process. This is especially so when it occurs within the family, often leading to conflicts. One said:

    I’m so tired of intervening to be honest, and mostly it’s family […] my parents and close friends and alike. There is so much misinformation passed around on WhatsApp or socials. When I do see someone take a very strong stand, usually my father or my mother, I step in.

    Intervening in an informal way doesn’t always work. Family dynamics, gender hierarchies and generational differences can impede these efforts.

    Countering disinformation requires us to confront deeper societal issues related to race, ethnicity, gender, power and the environment.

    International research suggests community-based approaches work better for combating misinformation in specific cohorts, like migrants. This sort of work could take place in settings people trust, be that community centres or public libraries.

    This means not relying exclusively on changes in the law or the practices of online platforms.

    Instead, the evidence suggests developing community-based interventions that are culturally resonant and attuned to historical disadvantage would help.

    Our recently-released toolkit makes a suite of recommendations for Australian public services and institutions, including the national media, to avoid alienating and inadvertently misinforming Asian-Australians as we approach a crucial election campaign.

    Sukhmani Khorana receives funding from the Australia Research Council and has previously conducted commissioned research for migrant and refugee-focused organisations.

    Fan Yang does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Elections mean more misinformation. Here’s what we know about how it spreads in migrant communities – https://theconversation.com/elections-mean-more-misinformation-heres-what-we-know-about-how-it-spreads-in-migrant-communities-247685

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: The butterfly effect: this obscure mathematical concept has become an everyday idea, but do we have it all wrong?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Associate Professor & Principal Fellow in Urban Risk & Resilience, The University of Melbourne

    Edward Lorenz’s mathematical weather model showed solutions with a butterfly-like shape. Wikimol

    In 1972, the US meteorologist Edward Lorenz asked a now-famous question:

    Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?

    Over the next 50 years, the so-called “butterfly effect” captivated the public imagination. It has appeared in movies, books, motivational and inspirational speeches, and even casual conversation.

    The image of the tiny flapping butterfly has come to stand for the outsized impact of small actions, or even the inherent unpredictability of life itself. But what was Lorenz – who is now remembered as the founder of the branch of mathematics called chaos theory – really getting at?

    A simulation goes wrong

    Our story begins in the 1960s, when Lorenz was trying to use early computers to predict the weather. He had built a basic weather simulation that used a simplified model, designed to calculate future weather patterns.

    One day, while re-running a simulation, Lorenz decided to save time by restarting the calculations from partway through. He manually inputted the numbers from halfway through a previous printout.

    But instead of inputting, let’s say, 0.506127, he entered 0.506 as the starting point of the calculations. He thought the small difference would be insignificant.

    He was wrong. As he later told the story:

    I started the computer again and went out for a cup of coffee. When I returned about an hour later, after the computer had generated about two months of data, I found that the new solution did not agree with the original one. […] I realized that if the real atmosphere behaved in the same manner as the model, long-range weather prediction would be impossible, since most real weather elements were certainly not measured accurately to three decimal places.

    There was no randomness in Lorenz’s equations. The different outcome was caused by the tiny change in the input numbers.

    Lorenz realised his weather model – and by extension, the real atmosphere – was extremely sensitive to initial conditions. Even the smallest difference at the start – even something as small as the flap of a butterfly’s wings – could amplify over time and make accurate long-term predictions impossible.

    The ‘Lorenz Attractor’ found in models of a chaotic weather system has a characteristic butterfly shape.
    Milad Haghani, CC BY

    Lorenz initially used “the flap of a seagull’s wings” to describe his findings, but switched to “butterfly” after noticing a remarkable feature of the solutions to his equations.

    In his weather model, when he plotted the solutions, they formed a swirling, three-dimensional shape that never repeated itself. This shape — called the Lorenz attractor — looked strikingly like a butterfly with two looping wings.

    Welcome to chaos

    Lorenz’s efforts to understand weather led him to develop chaos theory, which deals with systems that follow fixed rules but behave in ways that seem unpredictable.

    These systems are deterministic, which means the outcome is entirely governed by initial conditions. If you know the starting point and the rules of the system, you should be able to predict the future outcome.

    There is no randomness involved. For example, a pendulum swinging back and forth is deterministic — it operates based on the laws of physics.

    Systems governed by the laws of nature, where human actions don’t play a central role, are often deterministic. In contrast, systems involving humans, such as financial markets, are not typically considered deterministic due to the unpredictable nature of human behaviour.

    A chaotic system is a system that is deterministic but nevertheless behaves unpredictably. The unpredictability happens because chaotic systems are extremely sensitive to initial conditions. Even the tiniest differences at the start can grow over time and lead to wildly different outcomes.

    Chaos is not the same as randomness. In a random system, outcomes have no definitive underlying order. In a chaotic system, however, there is order, but it’s so complex it appears disordered.

    A misunderstood meme

    Like many scientific ideas in popular culture, the butterfly effect has often been misunderstood and oversimplified.

    One common misconception is that the butterfly effect implies every small action leads to massive consequences. In reality, not all systems are chaotic, and for systems that aren’t, small changes usually result in small effects.

    Another is that the butterfly effect carries a sense of inevitability, as though every butterfly in the Amazon is triggering tornadoes in Texas with each flap of its wings.

    This is not at all correct. It’s simply a metaphor pointing out that small changes in chaotic systems can amplify over time, making long-term outcomes impossible to predict with precision.

    Taming butterflies

    Systems that are very sensitive to initial conditions are very hard to predict. Weather systems are still tricky, for example.

    Forecasts have improved a lot since Lorenz’s early efforts, but they are still only reliable for a week or so. After that, small errors or imprecisions in the starting data grow larger and larger, eventually making the forecast inaccurate.

    To deal with the butterfly effect, meteorologists use a method called ensemble forecasting. They run many simulations, each starting with slightly different initial conditions.

    By comparing the results, they can estimate the range of possible outcomes and their likelihoods. For example, if most simulations predict rain but a few predict sunshine, forecasters can report a high probability of rain.

    However, even this approach works only up to a point. As time goes on, the predictions from the models diverge rapidly. Eventually, the differences between the simulations become so large that even their average no longer provides useful information about what will happen on a given day at a given location.

    A butterfly effect for the butterfly effect?

    The journey of the butterfly effect from a rigorous scientific concept to a widely popular metaphor highlights how ideas can evolve as they move beyond their academic roots.

    While this has helped bring attention to a complex scientific concept, it has also led to oversimplifications and misconceptions about what it really means.

    Attaching a metaphor to a scientific phenomenon and releasing it into popular culture can lead to its gradual distortion.

    Any tiny inaccuracies or imprecision in the initial description can be amplified over time, until the final outcome is a long way from reality. Sound familiar?

    Milad Haghani does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. The butterfly effect: this obscure mathematical concept has become an everyday idea, but do we have it all wrong? – https://theconversation.com/the-butterfly-effect-this-obscure-mathematical-concept-has-become-an-everyday-idea-but-do-we-have-it-all-wrong-246577

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump’s reversal of climate policies risks undermining U.S. manufacturing — and could cost people jobs

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Thomas Stuart, Lecturer in Communications, Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria

    United States President Donald Trump’s early executive actions have set American manufacturing on a collision course with his administration’s fossil-fuel-driven agenda. It’s clear that climate change policies run counter to his vision of American primacy.

    Trump wasted no time reversing the green initiatives of his predecessor, former president Joe Biden. He withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement for a second time, rolled back environmental regulations and froze green energy funding.



    Read more:
    The impact of Donald Trump’s anti-climate measures on our heating planet

    However, these reversals have exposed complications in Trump’s economic platform. For all his promises to revive American industry and reduce reliance on foreign production, Trump’s opposition to clean energy threatens green technology investments and other incentives that drive U.S. manufacturing development.

    Trump’s Strategic National Manufacturing Initiative promised to “stop outsourcing” and turn the U.S. into a “manufacturing superpower.” Yet his plans to cancel the electric vehicle mandate and reduce regulations promoting clean energy undermine the manufacturing sector’s shift toward green technology.

    In the long run, Trump’s own actions may undermine his vision of an American manufacturing renaissance by cutting crucial investments, putting the U.S. at odds with a global economy increasingly focused on clean technologies.

    The green manufacturing boom

    Republican congressman John James recently applauded Trump’s reversal of green policies during a congressional hearing. Yet, in the same breath, James called for the administration to continue “onshoring the future of automotive jobs and manufacturing,” a policy he linked to Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

    Other Republican representatives from Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina increasingly find themselves walking along the same rhetorical tight-rope.

    While Biden’s IRA has been widely criticized by the Trump administration, the act has brought Republican districts significant green investments and manufacturing jobs.

    As James acknowledged:

    “While the bulk of the IRA is damaging policy, we must not neglect the sector-wide energy tax provisions that manufacturers and job creators rely on in my district and around the country.”

    The green manufacturing boom is not an abstract concept, but a tangible economic engine, particularly in districts with established fossil fuel industries like Chatham County, N.C. Here, manufacturer Wolfspeed’s new US$5 billion dollar semiconductor plant sits in the heart of traditional coal country.

    Since 2022, the private sector has invested US$133 billion in clean energy and electric vehicle (EV) technology. Manufacturing investments alone have jumped by three times over the previous two years, totalling US$89 billion.

    The impact of the IRA on ‘red states’

    Biden-era policy has largely driven the America’s green energy economic development. The IRA provided a staggering US$312 billion in planned investments in EV and battery manufacturing.

    Eighty-five per cent of this funding flows into Republican-voting districts — areas that have historically voted against climate-focused legislation like the IRA. Yet the rewards of these green tech policies have been a boon for local economies.

    Georgia, for instance, has become a model for the American green energy transformation. In the first two years of the IRA, about US$15 billion dollars flowed into the state. Since then, Georgia has added a projected 43,000 new green jobs.

    Meanwhile, North Carolina’s Randolph County has seen the largest investment in green technology in U.S. history. Under the previous administration, it received about US$14 billion in funding, allowing Toyota to build a manufacturing megasite.

    By 2030, the site is expected to create 5,000 jobs in the area, with wages averaging 80 per cent more than the county median salary. Once fully operational, the site will manufacture enough batteries annually to power and maintain up to 500,000 EVs.

    What comes next?

    As Trump continues to roll back environmental protections and withdraw from climate agreements, whether he can still deliver the manufacturing revival he promised remains to be seen.

    In one respect, his policies may lead to a consolidation in the green technology sector. Despite his administration’s retreat from broader green energy policies, Trump says he will continue securing the U.S. supply of critical minerals for EV batteries.

    This could reflect the influence of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is serving under Trump as a “special government employee.” Tesla, which relies on these critical minerals for its EV production, would benefit from a stable supply.

    Musk resents regulatory interventions, particularly those that encourage competition. On a call with investors, Musk said Tesla might feel a slight impact from lost subsidies. However, he suggested the real damage would be to competitors who are scrambling to catch up in an industry where raw materials are king. Musk predicted that “long term, it probably actually helps Tesla.”

    In another respect, Trump’s policy reversal could also weaken Republican unity. Republican politicians like Georgia’s Buddy Carter, Tennessee’s Chuck Fleischmann and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp have highlighted the short-sighted nature of Trump’s economic plan.

    Trump’s decision to turn his back on climate change policy is more than a blow to environmentalists; it’s a direct challenge to his own economic agenda. He risks not just the environment, but also the green investments essential to American industry’s competitive revival.

    Thomas Stuart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Trump’s reversal of climate policies risks undermining U.S. manufacturing — and could cost people jobs – https://theconversation.com/trumps-reversal-of-climate-policies-risks-undermining-u-s-manufacturing-and-could-cost-people-jobs-248399

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Shots fired at Glen Osmond

    Source: South Australia Police

    Police are investigating after shot were fired at Glen Osmond earlier this morning.

    Just after midnight on Thursday 6 February, police were called to Elinor Terrace at Glen Osmond after reports of shots being fired.

    On arrive police located damage to a glass balustrade from the first-floor balcony and visible holes in the façade of the building.

    No one was physically injured as a result of the shots being fired.

    Anyone with information about the shooting or any suspicious vehicles or activity in the area can report it anonymously to police via Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online at www.crimestopperssa.com.au

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Highway closed at Brimbago

    Source: South Australia Police

    Police are currently at the scene of a crash at Brimbago.

    Just after 11pm last night (Wednesday 5 February), police and emergency services were called to the Dukes Highway after reports of a truck having crashed into a tree.

    The Dukes Highway at Brimbago is currently closed in both directions.

    All traffic is being directed along Emu Flat Road and Ngarkat Highway to travel between Keith and Bordertown.

    Please avoid the area if possible.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: 360-degree videos are making social issues and educational content more engaging for Canadians

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Victoria (Vicky) McArthur, Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University

    Immersive film using virtual reality (VR) or 360-degree video is being used increasingly as a tool for eliciting empathy and emotional identification in fact-based stories. Unlike traditional flat film, immersive films allow viewers to look in any direction while watching the video.

    This immersive quality is what makes these films such an intriguing medium. Nearly a decade ago, American filmmaker Chris Milk described VR as the “ultimate empathy machine” because it can fully immerse viewers in another person’s environment and perspective.

    This sentiment has been echoed by VR journalism pioneer Nonny de la Peña, whose early work explored the unique storytelling characteristics of the medium. Her first VR film, Hunger in Los Angeles, was the first VR documentary to be showcased at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012.

    The film depicts a diabetic man collapsing outside a food bank due to low blood sugar. Viewers reported feeling a great deal of empathy for the man, with some reaching out to try and help him.

    In March 2015, YouTube launched support for publishing and viewing 360-degree videos. Today, anyone can film and share 360-degree video content using commercially available cameras, expanding the possibilities for storytelling and audience engagement.

    Rise of 360-degree video content

    Countless content creators, filmmakers and journalists have produced immersive content using these cameras. In 2016, for instance, CBC produced Highway of Tears, a short 360-degree video about 16-year-old Ramona Wilson, a young Indigenous woman from the Gitxsan Nation who disappeared along Highway 16 near Prince George, B.C., in 1994.

    CBC has produced other 360-degree videos to highlight real-world challenges and experiences, including Ice Rescue from the Victim’s Perspective and Accessibility Advocate Shows What It’s Like to Use a Wheelchair in Winter.

    ‘Highway of Tears: 360 Video’ from CBC.

    Canadian researchers have also been using immersive technologies like virtual reality and 360-degree video as tools for education and empathy-building.

    A group of Canadian researchers conducted an experiment with VR to see if they could foster empathy for the impact of climate change on oceans. Using a VR simulation, they showed participants optimistic and pessimistic future impacts of climate change on oceans. After experiencing the simulation, participants expressed increased empathy and concern for the issue.

    Similarly, at Toronto Metropolitan University, researchers used 360-degree videos to deepen empathy and understanding for people taking care of individuals with dementia. Participants watched 360-degree videos filmed from the perspective of two fictional characters living with dementia. They reported strong emotional responses to the videos and a deeper understanding of living with dementia.

    As immersive technology becomes more accessible, its potential to foster empathy and understanding across a range of social issues continues to grow.

    Is VR truly the ‘ultimate empathy machine’?

    Is immersive technology truly the “ultimate empathy machine?” Presently, there’s no agreement among experts. Some question the scientific rigour used to support such claims. Past research has suffered from small sample sizes, a lack of diversity among research participants and a lack of longitudinal studies investigating the effects of empathy.

    Other researchers suggest that, while empathetic gains have been demonstrated, these effects tend to fade after a short time. One study found that while VR increased emotional empathy for refugees, those feelings were mostly gone after just 10 days. More importantly, these empathic responses didn’t translate into actions like charitable donations.

    Some researchers have taken a more nuanced approach by distinguishing between emotional and cognitive empathy. Cognitive empathy involves knowing how other people think and feel, while emotional empathy involves feeling another person’s emotions. The findings from one research study indicate that VR can improve emotional empathy, but not cognitive empathy.

    This distinction is crucial in assessing VR’s potential as an empathy-building tool. While immersive experiences may create strong emotional responses, their long-term influence and ability to drive meaningful action remain uncertain.

    Knowledge mobilization

    Other research suggests VR and 360-degree video have the potential to be knowledge-transfer tools. Canadian researchers are encouraged to engage the Canadian public through knowledge mobilization — the process of sharing research findings with organizations, people and government.

    Several Canadian research institutions have started using 360-degree video as a knowledge-mobilization tool. For example, researchers at the National Research Council Canada’s (NRC) Hydrogen Laboratory in British Columbia produced a 360-degree video allowing audiences to see the lab and learn more about the research conducted there.

    360-degree video of the Hydrogen Laboratory in Vancouver.

    The NRC has produced other 360-degree video explainers, including one about the Aerial Robotics Laboratory in Montréal and another about the Climatic Testing Facility located in Ottawa.

    At a time when Canadians are inundated with information, immersive video explainers offer a unique way to learn about science and society. While it remains unclear whether VR is truly the “ultimate empathy machine,” its ability to place audiences at the centre of stories and events has been shown to have positive effects on learning, information retention and the transfer of knowledge.

    Immersive film may not be a guaranteed empathy-builder, but it’s far from being an apathy machine. Ultimately, it offers unique perspectives to Canadians wishing to learn more about the world we live in.

    Victoria (Vicky) McArthur receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. 360-degree videos are making social issues and educational content more engaging for Canadians – https://theconversation.com/360-degree-videos-are-making-social-issues-and-educational-content-more-engaging-for-canadians-248398

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Limerence: why some people experience intense infatuation that feels like love, and how it affects them

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rebecca Ellis, Assistant Researcher in Public Health, Swansea University

    LightField Studios/Shutterstock

    Limerence is a term you may not be familiar with. It describes an involuntary, uncontrollable and obsessive desire for another person. This fixation can lead to significant distress, disrupting daily life, and may have negative impacts on other people too.

    Limerence can affect anyone, but is more likely to occur in people with anxiety or depression. It is thought to affect 4%-5% of the general population, although this is very hard to measure.

    The term was coined by behavioural psychologist Dorothy Tennov in her 1979 book, Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love. She described it as a unique psychological phenomenon, different from falling in love, which is driven by an uncontrollable desire for another person – the “limerent object”.

    Anyone can become a limerent object to someone with the condition – whether they are a friend, colleague or total stranger. These feelings are almost always unrequited because a core feature of limerence is the uncertainty of another’s feelings.

    The time in which a person is experiencing these feelings is referred to as a “limerent episode”. The length of a limerent episode differs from person to person.

    For some people, such as those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), it can be particularly intense as infatuation combines with traits such as hyperfocus – an intense fixation on an interest or activity for an extended period of time, which will be familiar to many neurodiverse people.

    There is still some academic discussion as to whether limerence is “natural”, as originally suggested by Tennov in her book. Others scholars point to its negative impact on daily life, including a person’s mental health, and potentially to the other person. It’s also important to note that limerence is not a formal diagnosis.

    How is limerence characterised?

    A person in a state of limerence idolises their limerent object, fixating on their positive traits while denying any flaws. Their emotions become dependent on perceived signs of interest or rejection, leading to extreme highs and lows.

    They will think about their limerent object continually – which can feel exciting and fun, especially if their feelings are reciprocated. In such cases, it may be difficult to recognise the limerent attachment type in a relationship, mistaking these feelings for the early stages of romantic love.

    However, the intensity of limerence has negative consequences. A person in a state of limerence can experience intrusive thoughts, physical discomfort, intense and one-sided feelings, as well as obsessive-compulsive thoughts in relation to their limerent object. These characteristics distinguish limerence from crushes and similar conventional romantic feelings.

    There are typically three stages of limerence. First, infatuation involving the initial attraction in which the person starts idealising someone.

    Second, crystallisation, which is the fully limerent phase, where obsessive thoughts, emotional dependency and euphoria, or despair, dominate. And third, deterioration, when the attachment eventually fades.


    AnnGaysorn/Shutterstock

    Though limerence remains an under-researched topic, some studies suggest links with anxious attachment styles, when a person fears rejection and craves constant reassurance.

    People with this attachment style often experience heightened emotional sensitivity and intense preoccupation with their partner’s responses. These traits can make them more vulnerable to experiencing limerence, as they struggle to regulate emotions and detach from the object of their infatuation.

    It may also affect a person’s ability to develop and maintain healthy relationships, whether these are loving or platonic.

    What kind of help is available?

    There is little psychological literature on how people experiencing limerence can regulate their emotions or break the cycle. In terms of external support, therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) may help.

    ACT works by changing a person’s relationship with their thoughts and feelings. Using a process known as “cognitive diffusion”, a person learns to notice their intrusive thoughts and detach from them. For those who experience limerence, this can make it easier for them to develop and maintain healthy relationships.

    But while limerence can be overwhelming, recognising it for what it is, and not judging oneself for feeling this way, can be an important first step.

    Second, practicing self-awareness is vital: understanding the triggers and patterns of limerent behaviour, and using this knowledge to build healthier foundations for future relationships.

    Third, setting boundaries such as limiting exposure to the limerent object can help break the cycle of reinforcement. And fourth, practising self-compassion and patience, accepting these emotions without judgment while focusing on personal growth, may help to ease distress.

    The internet has allowed more people to share their experiences of limerence, find community support and better understand themselves. But greater awareness and more research are needed to support people struggling with its effects – and to offer healthier ways of navigating attraction and attachment.

    Rebecca Ellis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Limerence: why some people experience intense infatuation that feels like love, and how it affects them – https://theconversation.com/limerence-why-some-people-experience-intense-infatuation-that-feels-like-love-and-how-it-affects-them-248204

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –