American Software Earnings 2019-04-30
AMSWA 10K Annual Report
| Balance Sheet | Income Statement | Cash Flow |
|---|---|---|
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
_________________________
FORM 10-K
_________________________
(Mark One)
☒ | ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019
OR
☐ | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the transition period from to
Commission File Number 0-12456
_________________________
AMERICAN SOFTWARE, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
_________________________
Georgia | 58-1098795 | |
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (IRS Employer Identification No.) | |
470 East Paces Ferry Road, N.E. Atlanta, Georgia | 30305 | |
(Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) | |
(404) 261-4381
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class | Trading Symbol | Name of each exchange on which registered |
None | None | |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
Class A Common Shares, $0.10 Par Value
(Title of class)
_________________________
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, an emerging growth company or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “emerging growth company” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☒ | |||
Non-accelerated filer | ☐ | Smaller reporting company | ☐ | |||
Emerging growth company | ☐ | |||||
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
As of October 31, 2018, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter,
29,132,444 Class A Common Shares and 1,821,587 Class B Common Shares of the registrant were outstanding. The aggregate market value (based upon the closing price of Class A Common Shares as quoted on the NASDAQ National Market System on October 31, 2018) of the Class A Common Shares held by non-affiliates on that date was approximately $356.3 million. As of July 5, 2019, 29,534,622 Class A Common Shares and 1,821,587 Class B Common Shares of the registrant were outstanding.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE; LOCATION IN FORM 10-K
Portions of the Company’s Proxy Statement for its 2019 Annual Meeting of Shareholders are incorporated by reference into Part III.
American Software Inc.
ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K
For the Fiscal Year Ended April 30, 2019
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I
Item 1. BUSINESS
Special Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
We believe that it is important to communicate our future expectations to our shareholders and to the public. This report contains forward-looking statements, including, in particular, statements about our goals, plans, objectives, beliefs, expectations and prospects, under the headings “Item 1. Business” and “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this report. You can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “continue,” “could,” “grow,” “may,” “potential,” “predict,” “strive,” “will,” “seek,” “estimate,” “believe,” “expect,” and similar expressions that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes. Any forward-looking statements herein are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning future:
• | results of operations; |
• | liquidity, cash flow and capital expenditures; |
• | demand for and pricing of our products and services; |
• | viability and effectiveness of strategic alliances; |
• | industry conditions and market conditions; |
• | acquisition activities and the effect of completed acquisitions; and |
• | general economic conditions. |
Although we believe that the goals, plans, expectations, and prospects reflected by our forward-looking statements are reasonable in view of the information currently available to us, those statements are not guarantees of performance. There are many factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by forward-looking statements made herein. These factors include, but are not limited to, continuing U.S. and global economic uncertainty, the timing and degree of business recovery, unpredictability and the irregular pattern of future revenues, dependence on particular market segments or customers, competitive pressures, delays, product liability and warranty claims and other risks associated with new product development, undetected software errors, market acceptance of our products, technological complexity, the challenges and risks associated with integration of acquired product lines, companies and services, as well as a number of other risk factors that could affect our future performance. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those we discuss under the section captioned “Risk Factors” in Item 1A. of this Form 10-K as well as the cautionary statements and other factors that we discuss in other sections of this Form 10-K.
Company Overview
American Software, Inc. ("American Software" or the "Company") was incorporated in Georgia in 1970. The Company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with U.S. offices in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Indianapolis, New York, St. Louis, Miami, Pittsburgh and San Diego; and international offices in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands, India, New Zealand and Australia.
We provide our software and services solutions through three major operating segments; (1) Supply Chain Management (“SCM”), (2) Information Technology Consulting ("IT Consulting") and (3) Other. In addition to our core SCM software business, we also offer technology staffing and consulting services through our wholly-owned subsidiary, The Proven Method, Inc., in the IT Consulting segment, and we continue to provide software and services to our legacy enterprise resource planning ("ERP") customers included in the Other segment.
Our primary operating units under our SCM segment include Logility, Inc., New Generation Computing, Inc. ("NGC"), Demand Management, Inc. ("DMI"), and Halo Business Intelligence. Logility and New Generation Computing are each a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. Demand Management, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Logility, Inc. and Halo Business Intelligence is a division of Logility, Inc.
American Software enables enterprises to accelerate their operations from product concept to customer availability. Our four brands - Logility, Demand Solutions, Halo and NGC Software - provide a single platform spanning eight supply chain process areas, including demand optimization, inventory optimization, supply optimization, retail optimization, quality and compliance, product lifecycle management ("PLM"), sourcing management and integrated business planning. Our
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platform includes advanced analytics and is fueled by supply chain master data, allowing for the automation of critical business processes through the application of artificial intelligence ("AI") and machine learning algorithms to a variety of internal and external data streams.
We believe enterprises are facing unprecedented rates of change and disruption across their operations. Increasing customer expectations for convenience and personalization, fast and free delivery and product freshness are forcing enterprises to adapt or be left behind. Given constraints arising from a shortage of skilled supply chain talent and a desire to keep costs at a minimum, we expect enterprises to embrace digital transformation initiatives to meet these challenges. Our solution collapses the business cycle time required from product concept to customer availability. Our platform enables organizations to create a digital twin of their physical supply chain network and to improve the speed and agility of their operations by implementing automated planning processes that evaluate multiple business scenarios. These processes continuously analyze business and market signals to better inform product design and development, increase forecast accuracy, optimize inventory across the supply chain and in-store and ensure high customer satisfaction.
Our platform is highly regarded by customers and industry analysts alike. We have been positioned in the Leaders quadrant in Gartner, Inc.’s (“Gartner”) May 7, 2019 report, Magic Quadrant for Sales and Operations Planning Systems of Differentiation, and August 21, 2018 report, Magic Quadrant for Supply Chain Planning System of Record. We believe our platform is rated highly due to our flexible advanced analytics, underlying Software as a Service ("SaaS") architecture, ease of integration with third-party systems, lower total cost of ownership relative to competitors and the broad scope of supply chain planning functions supported.
We serve approximately 1,100 customers located in more than 80 countries and largely concentrated within key vertical markets, including apparel and other soft goods, chemical and process, consumer packaged goods, durable goods, life sciences and retail. Our solutions are marketed and sold through a direct sales team as well as an indirect global value–added reseller ("VAR") distribution network. While our solutions may be deployed in the cloud or on-premise, customers are increasingly opting for our cloud-based SaaS deployments. We further support our customers with an array of consulting, implementation and training services as well as technical support and hosting.
We derive revenues from four sources: subscriptions, software licenses, maintenance and services. We generally determine SaaS subscription and software license fees based on the breadth of functionality, users and/or divisions subscribed and/or licensed. Services and other revenues consist primarily of fees from software implementation, training, consulting services, SaaS, hosting, and managed services. We bill primarily under time and materials arrangements and recognize revenues as we perform services. Subscription and maintenance agreements typically are for a three to five-year term, commencing at the time of the initial contract. We generally bill these fees annually in advance and then recognize the resulting revenues ratably over the term of the agreement. Deferred revenues represent advance payments or billings for subscriptions, software licenses, services and maintenance billed in advance of the time we recognize the related revenues.
Market Opportunity
Today’s manufacturers, distributors and retailers must respond to rising consumer expectations to buy anywhere, deliver anywhere and return anywhere even as global economic conditions and competitive pressures force businesses to reduce costs, decrease order cycle times and improve operating efficiencies. To meet these demands, we believe businesses must dramatically improve the performance of their supply chains, which can only be achieved through automation, artificial intelligence and advanced analytics. We leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms throughout our supply chain management software platform, enabling enterprises to accelerate the cycle time from product concept to customer availability.
Supply chain management refers to the process of managing the complex global network of relationships that organizations maintain with external trading partners (customers and suppliers) to design products, forecast demand, source supply, manufacture products, distribute and allocate inventory and deliver goods and services to the end customer. Supply chain management involves the activities related to sourcing and supplying and merchandising products or services as well as the sales and marketing activities that influence the demand for goods and services, such as new product introductions, promotions, pricing and forecasting. Additional aspects of supply chain management include comprehensive sales and operations planning ("S&OP") as well as PLM, product sourcing quality and vendor compliance to ensure the right products are brought to market on time and in good condition. Companies that effectively communicate, collaborate and integrate with their trading partners across the multi-enterprise network or supply chain can realize significant competitive advantages in the form of lower costs, greater customer loyalty, reduced stock-outs, more efficient sourcing, reduced inventory levels, synchronized supply and demand and increased revenue.
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Gartner’s March 25, 2019 report, Forecast: Enterprise Application Software, Worldwide, 2017-2023, 1Q19 Update, predicts spending on Supply Chain Management software solutions will exceed $15 billion in 2019 and reach $22 billion by 2023. This represents a compounded annual growth rate ("CAGR") of 9.8% through 2023. Within the Supply Chain Management software market, Gartner includes solutions for supply chain planning, supply chain execution and procurement. We focus primarily on supply chain and retail planning processes and certain execution functions, which we estimate account for approximately one-third of the Supply Chain Management software market as defined by Gartner. Our platform includes more than thirty components spanning eight key supply chain planning processes that customers may adopt independently or as a comprehensive solution platform. We believe our opportunity to cross-sell and up-sell existing customers is significant given the potential for customers to adopt additional components over time.
Our supply chain optimization and retail planning functions involve the use of information and analysis to facilitate the on-time delivery of the right products to the right place at the right time and at the optimal total cost. The planning process includes demand forecasting and sensing, inventory and supply optimization, distribution, manufacturing planning and scheduling, sales and operations planning, retail financial planning, assortment and allocation, PLM, global sourcing and vendor compliance. Planning software is designed to increase revenues, improve forecast accuracy, optimize manufacturing scheduling, better leverage inventory investments, decrease order cycle times, reduce transportation costs and improve customer service. Customers are increasingly adopting planning, sourcing and optimization software that is implemented and accessed in the cloud, also referred to as SaaS.
Our supply chain execution functions address sourcing, manufacturing, distributing and delivering products to customers throughout the global network. Within the supply chain execution function, organizations are increasing their focus on vendor compliance and sourcing linked with supply chain planning and other enterprise applications, in order to increase the efficient and effective fulfillment of customer orders in both the business-to-business and the business-to-consumer sectors. These multi-enterprise supply chains have heightened the need for robust supply chain master data management ("MDM") to provide an accurate digital twin of the supply chain network, allowing enterprises to quickly plan strategically and accurately respond to dynamic market conditions to harness business opportunities and mitigate risk.
In order to effectively manage and coordinate supply chain activities, companies require integrated business planning S&OP, supply chain planning, allocation, sourcing, supply chain execution, and supply chain analytics software that enables integrated communication, optimization and collaboration among the various constituents throughout the supply chain network. Our advanced cognitive platform helps ensure that each stakeholder is aligned with the corporate strategy to minimize costs, increase service levels and deliver exceptional customer service.
Company Strategy
Our objective is to become a leading provider of collaborative supply chain optimization, advanced retail planning and supply chain management solutions to enable small, midsize, large and Fortune 500 companies to optimize their operations associated with the planning, sourcing, manufacturing, storage, distribution and allocation of products. Our strategy includes the following key elements:
Leverage Cloud Strategy. Our cloud computing initiative accelerates customers’ deployment of our industry leading supply chain, advanced retail planning, PLM, product sourcing and vendor compliance solutions. Our cloud strategy includes SaaS licensing and services designed to enable the optimization of our customers’ supply chains to reflect their global business needs.
Leverage and Expand Installed Base of Customers. We currently target businesses in the consumer goods, food and beverage, retail, apparel and softgoods, durable and hard lines, life sciences, chemicals, and wholesale distribution industries. We intend to continue to leverage our installed base of approximately 1,100 customers to introduce additional functionality, product upgrades, and complementary components. In addition, we intend to expand sales to new customers in our existing vertical markets and to target additional vertical markets over time. We will continue our focus on offering a best-in-class cloud solution and expect the growth trends we have experienced in this area to continue because many new and existing customers are pursuing cloud strategies for their business applications.
Continue to Expand Sales and Marketing. We intend to continue to pursue an increased share of the market for supply chain software solutions by expanding our sales and marketing activities. We believe our competitive advantages include providing rapid implementation, easy-to-maintain configuration, and quick time-to-benefit across the full spectrum of customer operations. We intend to continue building a direct sales force that is focused on selected vertical markets, such as consumer goods, retail, life sciences, wholesale distribution and manufacturing supply chains. NGC intends to continue to
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focus on the fashion product industries such as apparel, footwear, sewn products, and furniture, adding sales and marketing resources when appropriate.
Expand Indirect Channels to Increase Market Penetration. We believe that key relationships with value-added resellers ("VARs") will increase sales and expand market penetration of our products and services. DMI will leverage network of global VARs to reach its markets. This experienced global VARs distribution network significantly expands the Company's reach and provides sales, implementation and support resources serving customers around the world.
Maintain Technology Leadership. We believe we are a technology leader in collaborative supply chain optimization solutions and advanced business analytics and we intend to continue to provide innovative, advanced solutions and services. We believe we were one of the earliest providers of SCM software solutions on a client/server platform and on Windows, and the first to introduce a collaborative supply chain planning solution to support multi-enterprise supply chain network planning over the Internet. We intend to continue to keep pace with technological developments and emerging industry standards while developing and introducing new and enhanced products.
Invest Aggressively to Build Market Share. We intend to continue investing to expand our sales channels, research and development efforts, and consulting infrastructure, balanced with our goal of increasing profitability. We believe these investments are necessary to increase our market share and to capitalize on the growth opportunities in the market.
Acquire or Invest in Complementary Businesses, Products and Technologies. We believe that select acquisitions or investments may provide opportunities to broaden our product offering to provide more advanced solutions for our target markets. We will evaluate acquisitions or investments that will provide us with complementary products and technologies, expand our geographic presence and distribution channels, penetrate additional vertical markets with challenges and requirements similar to those we currently meet, and further solidify our leadership position within the SCM market. In fiscal 2015, we acquired MID Retail, Inc., to extend our reach into retail operations and expand our ability to help customers improve their omni-channel performance. In fiscal 2017, we acquired AdapChain to provide supply chain MDM and streamlined integration between our portfolio of planning and optimization solutions to third party software applications. In fiscal 2018, we acquired certain assets of privately held Innovare Holding Co., Incorporated and its subsidiaries (collectively, “Halo”). Halo is a supplier of advanced analytics and business intelligence solutions for the supply chain market. These enriched analytics leverage interactive visualization, machine learning algorithms, and AI to transform both structured and unstructured data to accelerate business planning performance and proactively identify new business opportunities or mitigate risks.
Focus on Integrated Supply Chain Planning and Supply Chain Execution Platform. We believe we are one of the few providers of truly innovative SCM platform solutions addressing demand, supply and advanced retail planning as well as quality and compliance, PLM and sourcing management. We intend to continue focusing our development initiatives on enhancing our product concept to customer availability platform, expanding its embedded performance management architecture and introducing additional capabilities that complement our integrated solution suite.
Increase Penetration of International Markets. In the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019, we generated 20% of our total revenues from international sales, resulting from marketing relationships with a number of international distributors. Logility and its subsidiary DMI have over 30 VARs in its indirect channel, most of which are international. This experienced global distribution network expands Logility’s reach and provides sales, implementation and support resources, serving customers in more than 80 countries. We intend to further expand our international presence by creating additional relationships with distributors in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.
Expand Strategic Relationships. We intend to develop strategic relationships with leading enterprise software and service providers and systems integrators to integrate our software solutions into their services and products and to create joint marketing opportunities. We have developed a network of international agents who assist in the sale and support of our solution platform. We intend to utilize these and future relationships with software and service organizations to enhance our sales and marketing position.
Continue to Focus on Providing High Quality Customer Service. Helping our customers become more successful our strategy. We intend to continue investing in technology and personnel to accommodate the needs of our growing customer base. We will continue to seek new ways to improve service to our customers.
Serve Large, Midsize and Small Business Markets. Our broad product portfolio allows us to address the unique business needs and complexity of a wide range of enterprises with large, midsize and small global operations.
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There can be no assurance, however, that we will be successful in implementing the strategies outlined above.
Products and Services
We provide a comprehensive, cloud-architected supply chain management platform that helps customers manage eight critical planning processes, including demand optimization, inventory optimization, supply optimization, retail optimization, quality and compliance, PLM, sourcing management and integrated business planning. Within each of these process areas, we offer one or more components that customers may leverage independently, in combination, or as a comprehensive solution platform either in the cloud or on-premise. Our supply chain MDM platform and advanced analytics capabilities enable customers to derive new insights and automate planning processes that continuously analyze demand, production, supply and distribution signals to inform product design and development, increase forecast accuracy, optimize inventory across the global supply chain and in-store, and ensure high customer satisfaction.
Our platform encompasses the following planning processes and associated components:
Advanced Analytics leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning, algorithmic optimization, simulations, scenarios, and other forms of advanced analytics to provide new insights, automate planning and remove time, inventory and risk from the supply chain.
Integrated Business Planning combines volumetric and financial analysis and collaborative workflow to streamline the entire sales and operations planning process and provide a guide for allocating business resources to meet revenue, profitability, and customer service goals.
• | Integrated Business Planning visualizes, elevates and optimizes strategic and tactical plans for products, channels, resources and investment to achieve business goals, drive shareholder value and increase operational efficiencies. |
• | Sales and Operations Planning aligns financial, sales, production, procurement and marketing information into a single plan rooted in supply chain reality. Strategic, tactical and operational plans can be produced via a single platform. |
Demand Optimization focuses on improving forecast accuracy to drive better downstream supply chain plans that boost profitability, satisfy customers and synchronize supply chain partners.
• | Demand Sensing evaluates multiple data streams to recognize complex patterns and identify actionable demand signals. It captures and analyzes demand signals from internal and external sources, including point of sale, demand signal repositories, and syndicated data, to identify near-term demand trends and enable fast, intelligent and cost effective market responses. |
• | Demand Planning helps reconcile differences between high-level business planning and detailed product forecasting. Aligning inventory with customer demand, this solution makes it easier to boost service levels, shorten cycle times and reduce inventory obsolescence. |
• | Life Cycle Planning provides control to model each phase over a product’s entire lifecycle-including introduction, maturity, replacement, substitution and retirement. Using attribute-based modeling, this solution can improve the accuracy of new product introductions, short life cycle and phase-outs, which result in reduced stock-outs and lower obsolescence costs. |
• | Proportion Profile Planning automates the process of detailed SKU-level forecasting using attributes like style, color and size for large numbers of SKUs. Time-phased profiles meet the market goals for product categories while increasing forecast accuracy at the granular level. |
• | Multivariable Demand Signal Management ("MDSM") artificial intelligence ("AI") to correlate multiple external factors (i.e. weather, market trend, commodity prices, etc.) to enhance the demand forecast. |
Inventory Optimization establishes optimal inventory targets at each node of multi-echelon manufacturing, distribution, and retail networks to match strategic inventory goals and service levels.
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• | Inventory Optimization optimizes strategic and tactical inventory investments across multi-echelon manufacturing, distribution, and retail networks to meet business and service level objectives for complex supply chains with multiple stages of inventory. |
• | Inventory Planning allows enterprises to effectively measure the tradeoff of finished goods inventory investments and desired customer service levels. This solution dynamically sets time-phased inventory targets based on specific safety stock and order quantity rules. |
Supply Optimization enables constraint-based continuous and periodic planning to identify orders that are unprofitable or cannot be met based on current constraints and to analyze the impact of changing factors in production, distribution and storage on costs and customer service.
• | Supply Planning optimizes complex sourcing and production decisions to balance supply, manufacturing and distribution constraints based on corporate goals for maximizing profit or minimizing costs. |
• | Replenishment Planning provides visibility into future customer demand, corresponding product and material requirements, and the actions needed to satisfy those demands. |
• | Manufacturing Planning and Scheduling optimizes constraint-based manufacturing schedules and evaluates multiple scenarios to determine the optimal trade-off between manufacturing efficiencies, inventory investments and greenhouse gas emissions, providing lower costs and increased product availability. These optimized schedules consider machine, personnel, tooling and inventory constraints to drive shorter lead times and reliable product availability. |
Retail Optimization synchronizes sourcing from manufacturing to store merchandising and supports the creation of plans to boost sales, increase margins and cut inventory costs.
• | Merchandise and Assortment Planning creates financial merchandise plans for total company and individual store locations to increase visibility and maintain “open to buy” plans, margin planning and unit ladder plans at various levels in the merchandise hierarchy. Innovative Inspiration Board features provide a Pinterest-like workspace where traditional text-based assortment plans become vibrant visual representations of collections merging the art and science of buyer and planner roles to gain greater visibility throughout the planning process and ensure each store location is able to meet its plan. |
• | Allocation optimizes short term unit sales and stock projections by store and facilitates automatic replenishment based on daily sales data. Capabilities also include pre-pack optimization to accelerate the receipt and shipment of inventory to specific store locations. |
Quality & Compliance allows quality problems to be identified and remediated faster and ensures proper documentation for each participant in the supply chain to prevent disruptions in moving products around the globe.
• | Quality Management & Audits identifies quality problems faster to reduce chargebacks and rework; enables inspections and audits to be performed at the manufacturing facilities via tablets; requests in-line, final, measurement and packing accuracy audits during the production process and provides notification if audits fail; and aids in the analysis of sourcing and factory improvement decisions. |
• | Regulatory Document Management reduces the risk of non-compliance and avoids costly litigation by enforcing control and accountability for all suppliers, vendors and other third parties involved in the design, manufacturing and delivery of products. |
• | Global Logistics Management creates barcode carton labels, inbound paperwork and ASNs via the web browser; produces a manifest, commercial invoice, bill of lading and packing list once barcoded cartons are placed on a shipment; and tracks each shipment while providing notification of any delays as they occur. |
Product Lifecycle Management provides a common platform for planning, merchandising, design, costing, sampling, quality and sourcing, ensuring complete visibility from product concept to delivery.
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• | Line Plans provide the roadmap for development and specify SKU (stock keeping unit) counts by division, category and product, and are used to manage seasons, departments, collections and even specific styles to meet performance targets. |
• | Tech Packs & Data Management replace spreadsheets and emails with a single source of product data; manage images, extended attributes and media copy for all distribution channels; and share product information with other systems. |
• | Product Design leverages trend and competitive analysis when defining the direction of products and materials, supports the design and management of product concepts, ensures requirements and cost targets are met and enables product developers to efficiently develop and re-use designs, materials and product specification data. |
• | Costing allows for collaborative decision making with vendors to break down costs and compare by line item to optimize price points and margins, creates multiple cost sheets per product and performs “what-if” scenarios to determine which items achieve financial targets. |
• | Sample Management reduces sampling costs by establishing product viability prior to issuing sample requests, tracks the status and enters the results of requested samples and automatically notifies responsible parties of any rejections. Additional sample requests with corrections may also be created. |
Sourcing Management gathers all of the requisite information in one place to make optimal sourcing decisions, protecting brand equity and reducing risk while increasing speed to market of products.
• | Strategic Sourcing identifies and compares global suppliers, issues request for quotes and evaluates quotes from each participant. Vendors are notified of new requests and have complete visibility into the quoting, sampling and final selection process. |
• | Supply Base Management evaluates, manages, and reports on various factors including social and regulatory compliance, manufacturing capabilities and capacity to simplify the complexities of vendor management into one centralized system. |
• | Supply Profiles and Score Cards creates comprehensive, searchable vendor profiles and utilizes digital asset management technology to store and share pictures, videos and other digital media files. |
• | Vendor Onboarding optimizes the onboarding process to help organize, vet and manage vendors and factories to ensure overall compliance and mitigate risks; tracks performance; and creates, issues and manages corrective action plans if applicable. |
• | CSR and GMP Audits manage the complexities of Corporate Social Responsibility ("CSR") and ensure products are consistently produced to the quality standards through Good Manufacturing Practices ("GMP") audits. |
• | Compliance Packets maintain critical vendor information for transparency, accountability, responsible sourcing and worker non-retaliation. This solution also stores and manages all signed compliance documents and makes them accessible throughout the supply chain. |
Supply Chain Master Data Management provides seamless integration with third-party ERP systems, big data and other IoT sources without the cost and effort associated with custom development.
• | AdapLink® delivers tailored supply chain and enterprise integration leveraging predefined templates and incorporating artificial intelligence to validate and harmonize planning and related supply chain MDM and transactional data with ERP systems from suppliers such as SAP, Oracle, Microsoft and Infor. |
We also provide a range of cloud services, technical support and professional services to support the adoption, implementation and optimization of our supply chain management platform by customers. Our platform may be deployed as SaaS, as a hosted solution or on-premise. Professional services include consulting, implementation, training and other managed services related to our platform.
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Through our wholly-owned subsidiary, The Proven Method, Inc., we provide technology staffing and services to a diverse customer base to solve business issues. These services include professional services, product management, and project management outsourcing; staff augmentation in the areas of cloud, collaboration, network and security; and social media and analytic marketing.
We also continue to provide software, support and services related to our legacy American Software ERP products, which include our e-Intelliprise solution and e-applications for various integrated business functions.
See Note 9 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further business segment information.
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Customers
We primarily target businesses in the retail, apparel and footwear, consumer packaged goods, chemicals, oil and gas, life sciences, telecommunications, consumer electronics, industrial products and other manufacturing industries. A sample of companies that have purchased one or more of our products or services during the past two fiscal years is as follows:
Consumer Goods | Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Life Sciences | Retail & Apparel (cont.) | Manufacturing and Others (cont.) |
3M Australia | Allnex | International Uniform, Inc. | Gardner-White Furniture |
Antartico Comercializadora SA de CV | BERICAP Holding GMBH | Jantzen Brands Corp. | Groupo Herdez |
Ashley Furniture | Berry Global | Jockey International | Henley Enterprises, Inc. |
Avery Dennison Corporation | BP Singapore Pte. Limited | La La Land Creative Company LLC | Hilco |
BodyBuilding.com | Bracco Imagining S.p.A. | Lacrosse Footwear | Husqvarna AB |
Caribou Coffee Company | Chamberlain Group | Landau Uniform | Hy-Ko Products |
Carrie Francis | CooperVision | Liz Claiborne | Interlock USA, Inc. |
ClearGage, LLC | Croda Europe Limited | Lord Daniel Sportswear | Intertape Polymer Group |
Cott Beverages Limited | Dow Chemical Company | Lucky Zone | Johnson Controls |
Dometic Group AB | EGO Pharmaceuticals, PTY LTD | Manhattan Beachwear, LLC | KALE HAVACILIK Sanayi AS |
Ergobaby | Genzyme Diagnostics | Men's Wearhouse | M&G DuraVent |
Founders Brewing Company | Infineum | New Era Cap Co., Inc. | Mayville Engineering Company, Inc |
Freddy Hirsch | Kremers Urban Pharmaceuticals | Orchard Brands | Nexans |
Glen Raven, Inc. | Norbrook Laboratories | Orvis | Niagara Bottling |
Griffith Laboratories Worldwide | Norgine | Patagonia | Nuplex Industries |
Hamilton Beach | Novartis Pharma Services | PVH Corp. | OFS Fitel, LLC |
Hancocks Wine, Spirits and Beer | Omega Pharma International NV | Quality Worldwide | ORBIS Corporation |
Hostess Brands | OneMed Holdings | Randa Accessories | Parker Hannifin Corporation |
Huhtamaki | Sandoz | Rawlings Sporting Goods | Pattonair Ltd. |
J. R. Simplot Company | Sigma-Aldrich Corporation | Red Wing Shoe Company | Quality Steel Corporation |
Jackson Family Wines | Smith & Nephew | Rhone Apparel, Inc | Reliable Automatic Sprinkler |
Kelly Moore Paint Company, Inc | Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | Rocky Brands | Sandvik |
Kingston Technology Company | Thermo Fisher Scientific | Siemens Medical Solutions Diagnostics | Smithfield Foods |
Le Creuset Group AG | SPANX | Sonoco Products | |
Levolor | Retail & Apparel | Sport Obermeyer | Southwire |
Marquez Brothers International | 5.11 Tactical | Summit Resource International | TD Automotive Compressor Georgia |
Melissa and Doug | Accent Décor | Swatfame | Tillamook |
Mercy Health Care | Aeropostale | Techstyle | Timken |
MGA Entertainment | AGS Sports, Inc. | The Aldo Group | Universal Fiber Systems |
Mizuno USA | Alberto Makali | The Echo Design Group | Walzcraft |
Moen | American Textile | The Foschini Group Pty | |
Mondelez International | Asics | Town & Country Living | Telecommunications |
Neatfreak | Bernard Cap Co., Inc. | Unifirst Corp | Brightstar Corporation |
Nestle | Big Lots! | Urban Outfitters | Ericsson |
Online Drinks B.V. | Billabong International Unlimited | VF Corporation | Nokia |
Polaris Industries | Biscotti | Winebow Inc. | Verizon Wireless |
Procter & Gamble | Blair Corporation | Wohali Outdoors | |
Ranir, LLC | Bobs Discount Furniture | Wolverine Worldwide | Wholesale Distribution |
Reckitt Benckisen | Broder Brothers | Xcel Brands | American Hotel Register Company |
Reily Foods | Brooks Brothers Group, Inc. | Balkamp, Inc. | |
Rockline Industries | C&A Mexico | Manufacturing and Others | ChemPoint |
Sargent and Greenleaf, Inc. | Canada Goose | A.O. Smith | CHF Industries |
Sazerac Company | Charles River Apparel | Actron Air | Dealer Tire |
Starbucks | Color Image Apparel, Inc. | Amcor Rigid Plastics USA, LLC | Fastenal Company |
Sunny Delight Beverages Company | Delta Apparel | American Bath Group | Fintyre S.p.A. |
SweetWater Brewing Company, LLC | Destination XL | Ancestry.com Inc. | Groupe Seb Holdings |
Taylor Fresh Foods | Dynasty Apparel | Avent, Inc | Johnstone Supply |
Tillamook County Creamery Association | Elan International | Briggs & Stratton | Screwfix |
Trident Seafoods Corporation | Evy of California | Busch-Transou, L.C. | Southern Eagle Distributing, LLC |
Weber-Stephen (EMEA) GmbH | Fanatics Apparel, Inc. | Cintas Corporation | Standard Motor Products |
Finish Line | Clarios | The Gem Group, Inc. | |
Follett Corporation | Cycles Lambert, Inc. | Trelleborg Wheel Systems | |
Hunkemoller International BV | Ficosota Ltd., Ital Food S.A. | US Autoforce | |
We do not have a customer who had more than 10% of fiscal 2019 revenues. We typically experience a slight degree of seasonality, reflected in a slowing of services revenues during the annual winter holiday season, which occurs in the third quarter of our fiscal year. We are not reliant on government-sector customers.
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Integrated System Design
While customers can use our software applications individually, we have designed them to be combined as integrated systems to meet unique customer requirements. The user may select virtually any combination of components to form an integrated solution for a particular business problem. The license or subscription for such a solution could range from one single module to a multi-module, multiple-user solution incorporating the full range of our products.
Customers frequently require services beyond those provided by our standard support/maintenance agreement. To meet those customers’ needs, we established a separate professional services team that provides specialized business and software implementation consulting, development and configuration, system-to-system interfacing and extensive training and certification. We provide these services, frequently referred to as “systems integration services,” for an additional fee, normally under a separate contract based upon time and materials utilized.
Sales and Marketing
We market our products globally through direct and indirect sales channels. We conduct our principal sales and marketing activities from corporate headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, and have North American sales and/or support offices in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Indianapolis, New York, St. Louis, Miami, Pittsburgh and San Diego. We manage sales and/or support outside of North America from our international offices in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands, India, New Zealand and Australia.
In addition to our direct sales force, we have developed a network of VARs who assist in selling our products globally. We intend to utilize these and future relationships with software and service organizations to enhance our sales and marketing position. These independent distributors and resellers, located in North America, South America, Mexico, Europe, South Africa, and the Asia/Pacific region, distribute our product lines domestically and in foreign countries. These vendors typically sell their own consulting and systems integration services in conjunction with contracts for our products. Our global distribution channel consists of approximately 30 organizations with sales, implementation and support resources serving customers in more than 80 countries.
We support our sales activities with a variety of marketing efforts, including public relations, direct marketing, advertising, trade shows, product seminars, industry speakers, user group conferences and ongoing customer communication and industry analyst programs. We also participate in industry conferences such as those organized by the Association for Supply Chain Management, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, and the Institute Business Forecasting.
We also engage in third-party alliances with other software vendors. These programs generally provide some type of assistance for developing or marketing software products that are compatible or complementary with products of the other party. Under one such program, we were designated a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner to provide integrated supply chain products for Microsoft’s Dynamics GP and NAV solutions.
Subscriptions and Licenses
Like many business application software firms, our software revenue consists principally of fees generated from licensing our software products. In consideration of the payment of license fees, we typically grant non-exclusive, nontransferable, perpetual licenses, which are primarily business segment- and user-specific and geographically restricted. A growing segment of product revenue is coming from SaaS subscription contracts. Our typical initial subscription is three years.
Our standard agreements contain provisions designed to prevent disclosure and unauthorized use of our software. In these agreements, we warrant that our products will function in accordance with the specifications set forth in our product documentation.
The prices for our products are typically functions of the depth of functionality, number of business processes, users and sites for which the solution is deployed.
Customer Service and Support
We provide the following services and support to our customers:
Cloud and Managed Services. We offer our customers the option to deploy Voyager, Demand Solutions and NGC Software solutions in a SaaS, hosted or on-premise model. Our Cloud Services offer companies a choice of deployment methodology and services that best suit their individual needs and allow them to evolve as their business changes, moving
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between SaaS, on-premise, and managed services as their IT strategies transform. Managed Services leverage our resources to assist and augment the customer’s technical and operational needs on a day-to-day basis.
Implementation Support. We offer our customers a professional and proven implementation program that facilitates rapid implementation of our software products. Our consultants help customers define the nature of their project and subsequently proceed through the implementation process. We provide training for all users and managers involved. We first establish measurable financial and logistical performance indicators and then evaluate them for conformance during and after implementation. Additional services beyond implementation may include post-implementation reviews and benchmarks to further enhance the benefits to customers.
Implementation; General Training Services and Certification. We offer our customers post-delivery professional services consisting primarily of implementation and training services, for which we typically charge on a daily basis. Customers that invest in implementation services receive assistance in integrating our solution with existing enterprise software applications and databases. Implementation of our products typically requires three to nine months, depending on factors such as the complexity of a customer’s existing systems, the breadth of functionality, number of business units and team of users. Additional training and user certification services also help our customers gain greater advantage from our robust planning platform.
Product Maintenance and Updates; Support Services. We provide our customers with ongoing product support services. Typically, these services are included in subscription fees, whereas for licenses we enter into support or maintenance contracts with customers for an initial one- to three-year term, billed annually in advance, at the time of the product license with renewal for additional periods thereafter. Under these contracts, we provide telephone consulting, product updates and releases of new versions of products previously purchased by the customer, as well as error reporting and correction services. We provide ongoing support and maintenance services on a seven-days-a-week, 24-hours-a-day basis through telephone, electronic mail and web-based support, using a call logging and tracking system for quality assurance.
Research and Development
Our future success depends in part upon our ability to continue to enhance existing products, respond to changing customer requirements, develop and introduce new or enhanced products, and keep pace with technological developments and emerging industry standards. We focus our development efforts on several areas, including, but not limited to, enhancing artificial intelligence, machine learning and advance analytics platforms, in-memory computing, and adding functionality to existing products. These development efforts will continue to focus on deploying applications within a complex global supply chain landscape. Our cloud-architected solutions designed for SaaS deployment with MDM built in will be increasingly important for our long-term growth. As of April 30, 2019, we employed 101 persons in product research, development and enhancement activities.
Competition
Our competitors are diverse and offer a variety of solutions targeted at various aspects of the supply chain, retail and general enterprise application market. Our existing competitors include, but are not limited to:
• | Large ERP application software vendors such as SAP, Oracle and Infor, each of which offers sophisticated ERP solutions that currently, or may in the future, incorporate supply chain management, advanced planning and scheduling, warehouse management, transportation, collaboration or sales and operations planning software components; |
• |
• | Vendors focusing on the supply chain application software market, including, but not limited to, JDA Software, Kinaxis and Anaplan; |
• | Other business application software vendors that may broaden their product offerings by internally developing, or by acquiring or partnering with independent developers of, supply chain management software; and |
• | Internal development efforts by corporate information technology departments. |
We also expect to face additional competition as other established and emerging companies enter the market for advanced retail planning and supply chain management software and/or introduce new products and technologies. In addition, current and potential competitors have made and may continue to make strategic acquisitions or establish cooperative relationships among themselves or with third parties, thereby increasing the ability of their products to address the needs of our prospective customers. Accordingly, it is possible that new competitors or alliances among current and new competitors may emerge and rapidly gain significant market share. Increased competition could result in fewer customer orders, reduced gross margins and loss of market share.
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The principal competitive factors in the target markets in which we compete include product functionality and quality, domain expertise, integration technologies, product suite integration, breadth of products, and related services such as customer support, training and implementation. Other factors important to customers and prospects include:
• | customer service and satisfaction; |
• | ability to provide relevant customer references; |
• | compliance with industry-specific requirements and standards; |
• | flexibility to adapt to changing business requirements; |
• | ability to generate business benefits; |
• | rapid payback and measurable return on investment; |
• | vendor financial stability and company and product reputation; and |
• | initial license price, cost to implement and long term total cost of ownership. |
Many of our competitors and potential competitors have a broader worldwide presence, significantly greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources, greater name recognition, and a larger installed base of customers than we have. Some competitors have become more aggressive with their prices, payment terms and contractual implementation terms or guarantees. In order to be successful in the future, we must continue to develop innovative software solutions and respond promptly and effectively to technological change and competitors’ innovations. We may also have to lower prices or offer other more favorable terms. Our competitors may be able to respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements or devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their products.
We believe that our principal competitive advantages are our comprehensive, single solutions platform, our list of referenceable customers, the ability of our solutions to quickly generate business benefits for our customers, our substantial investment in product development, our deep domain expertise, the ease of use of our software products, our customer support and implementation services, our ability to deploy quickly, and our ability to deliver rapid return on investment for our customers.
Proprietary Rights and Licenses
Our success and ability to compete are dependent in part upon our proprietary technology. To protect our proprietary technology, we rely on a combination of copyright and trade secret laws, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions. However, these may afford only limited protection. In addition, effective copyright and trade secret protection may be unavailable or limited in certain foreign countries. Although we take advantage of the protection available through such confidential and contractual procedures and intellectual property laws, we also believe that factors such as the knowledge, ability, and experience of our personnel, new product developments, frequent product enhancements, reliable maintenance and timeliness and quality of support services are essential to establishing and maintaining a technology leadership position. The source code for our proprietary software is protected as a trade secret and as a copyrighted work. Generally, copyrights expire 95 years after the year of first publication of each product. We enter into confidentiality or similar agreements with our employees, consultants and customers, and control access to and distribution of our software, documentation and other proprietary information and deliver only object code (compiled source code) to our customers. In addition, we have registered a number of trademarks and have registration applications pending for others.
As is customary in the software industry, in order to protect our intellectual property rights, we do not sell or transfer title to our products to our customers. Although our license and subscription agreements place restrictions on the customer’s use of our products, unauthorized use nevertheless may occur.
Despite measures we have taken to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties may attempt to reverse engineer or copy aspects of our products or obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Policing unauthorized use of our products is difficult and expensive. In addition, litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others, or to defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Such litigation could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.
In the future, we may increasingly be subject to claims of intellectual property infringement as the number of products and competitors in our industry segment grows and the functionality of products in different industry segments overlaps. Although we are not aware that any of our products infringe upon the proprietary rights of third parties, there can be no
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assurance that third parties will not claim infringement by us with respect to current or future products. In addition, we may initiate claims or litigation against third parties for infringement of our proprietary rights or to establish the validity of our proprietary rights. Any such claims against us, with or without merit, as well as claims initiated by us against third parties, can be time consuming and expensive to defend, prosecute or resolve. Moreover, an adverse outcome in litigation or similar adversarial proceedings could subject us to significant liabilities to third parties, require the expenditure of significant resources to develop non-infringing technology, require a substantial amount of attention from management, require disputed rights to be licensed from others, require us to enter into royalty arrangements or require us to cease the marketing or use of certain products, any of which would have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. To the extent that we desire or are required to obtain licenses to patents or proprietary rights of others, there can be no assurance that any such licenses will be made available on terms acceptable to us, if at all.
We have re-licensed, and expect in the future to re-license, certain software from third parties for use in connection with our products. There can be no assurance that these third-party software vendors will not change their product offerings or that these software licenses will continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. The termination of any such licenses or product offerings, or the failure of the third-party licensors to adequately maintain or update their products, could result in delays in our ability to deliver certain of our products while we seek to implement technology offered by alternative sources. Any required replacement licenses could prove costly. Further, any such delay, if it becomes extended, could result in a material adverse effect on our results of operations.
Employees
As of April 30, 2019, we had 424 full-time employees, including 101 in product research, development and enhancement, 38 in customer support, 158 in professional services, 81 in marketing, sales and sales support, and 46 in accounting, facilities and administration. We believe that our continued success will depend in part on our ability to continue to attract and retain highly skilled technical, marketing and management personnel, who may be in great demand. We believe our employee relations are good. We have never had a work stoppage and no employees are represented under collective bargaining arrangements.
Available Information
We make our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to these reports available free of charge on or through our website, located at http://www.amsoftware.com, as soon as reasonably practicable after they are filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Reference to our website does not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on the site and should not be considered part of this document.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
A variety of factors may affect our future results and the market price of our stock.
We have included certain forward-looking statements in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and elsewhere in this Form 10-K. We may also make oral and written forward-looking statements from time to time, in reports filed with the SEC and otherwise. We undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements based on circumstances or events which occur in the future, unless otherwise required by law. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in any such forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those set forth below and elsewhere in this Form 10-K.
We operate in a dynamic and rapidly changing environment that involves numerous risks and uncertainties. New risk factors emerge from time-to-time, and it is not possible for management to predict all such risk factors, nor can it assess the potential impact of all such risk factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward-looking statements. The following section lists some, but not all, of the risks and uncertainties that we believe may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flow or results of operations. In that case, the trading price of our securities could decline and you may lose all or part of your investment in our Company. This section should be read in conjunction with the audited Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto, and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations included in this Form 10-K.
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We cannot predict every event and circumstance that may affect our business, and therefore the risks and uncertainties discussed below may not be the only ones you should consider.
The risks and uncertainties discussed below are in addition to those that apply to most businesses generally. Furthermore, as we continue to operate our business, we may encounter risks of which we are not aware at this time. These additional risks may cause serious damage to our business in the future, the impact of which we cannot estimate at this time.
RISK FACTORS RELATED TO THE ECONOMY
Disruptions in the financial and credit markets, a slow economic recovery, and other external influences in the U.S. and global markets may reduce demand for our software and related services, which may negatively affect our revenues and operating results.
Our revenues and profitability depend on the overall demand for our software, professional services and maintenance services. Regional and global changes in the economy and financial markets, such as the severe global economic downturn in 2008 followed by a slow and relatively weak recovery, have resulted in companies generally reducing their spending for technology projects and therefore delaying or reconsidering potential purchases of our products and related services. Adverse conditions in credit markets, lagging consumer confidence and spending, the fluctuating cost of fuel and commodities and their effects on the U.S. and global economies and markets are examples of negative factors that have delayed or canceled certain potential customer purchases. Furthermore, the uncertainty posed by the long-term effects of conflicts in the Middle East, terrorist activities, related uncertainties and risks, and other geopolitical issues may also adversely affect the purchasing decisions of current or potential customers. Weakness in European economies may adversely affect demand for our products and services, both directly and by affecting U.S. customers that rely heavily on European sales. There can be no assurance that government responses to the disruptions in the financial markets or to weakened economies will sufficiently restore confidence, stabilize markets or increase liquidity and the availability of credit.
We are a technology company selling technology-based solutions with total pricing, including software and services, in many cases exceeding $500,000. Reductions in the capital budgets of our customers and prospective customers could have an adverse impact on our ability to sell our solutions. These economic and political conditions may reduce the willingness or ability of our customers and prospective customers to commit funds to purchase our products and services, or to renew existing post-contract support agreements, or their ability to pay for our products and services after purchase. Future declines in demand for our products or services, or a broadening or protracted extension of these conditions would have a significant negative impact on our revenues and operating results.
There may be an increase in customer bankruptcies due to weak economic conditions.
We have been in the past, and may be in the future, affected by customer bankruptcies that occur in periods subsequent to the software license sale. During weak economic conditions there is an increased risk that some of our customers will file a petition for bankruptcy. When our customers file a petition for bankruptcy, we may be required to forego collection of pre-petition amounts owed and to repay amounts remitted to us during the 90-day preference period preceding the filing. Accounts receivable balances related to pre-petition amounts may in some of these instances be large, due to extended payment terms for software license fees and significant billings for consulting and implementation services on large projects. The bankruptcy laws, as well as the specific circumstances of each bankruptcy, may severely limit our ability to collect pre-petition amounts, and may force us to disgorge payments made during the 90-day preference period. We also face risk from international customers that file for bankruptcy protection in foreign jurisdictions, as the application of foreign bankruptcy laws may be more difficult to predict. Although we believe that we have sufficient reserves to cover anticipated customer bankruptcies, there can be no assurance that such reserves will be adequate, and if they are not adequate, our business, operating results and financial condition would be adversely affected.
Changes in the value of the U.S. dollar, as compared to the currencies of foreign countries where we transact business, could harm our operating results.
Our international revenues and the majority of our international expenses, including the wages of some of our employees, have been denominated primarily in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Therefore, changes in the value of the U.S. dollar as compared to these other currencies may adversely affect our operating results. We do not hedge our exposure to currency fluctuations affecting future international revenues and expenses and other commitments. For the foregoing reasons, currency exchange rate fluctuations have caused, and likely will continue to cause, variability in our foreign currency denominated revenue streams and our cost to settle foreign currency denominated liabilities.
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RISK FACTORS RELATED TO COMPETITION
Our markets are very competitive, and we may not be able to compete effectively.
The markets for our solutions are very competitive. The intensity of competition in our markets has significantly increased, in part as a result of the slow growth in investment in IT software as a result of slow overall GDP growth within the United States and other geographic regions in which we operate. We expect this intensity of competition to increase in the future. Our current and potential competitors have made and may continue to make acquisitions of other competitors and may establish cooperative relationships among themselves or with third parties. Any significant consolidation among ERP or supply chain software companies could adversely affect our competitive position. Increased competition has resulted and in the future could result in price reductions, lower gross margins, longer sales cycles and loss of market share. Each of these developments could have a material adverse effect on our operating performance and financial condition.
Many of our current and potential competitors have significantly greater resources than we do, and therefore we may be at a disadvantage in competing with them.
We directly compete with other supply chain software vendors, including SAP, Oracle Corporation, JDA Software Group, Kinaxis, Inc., Infor, Inc. and others. Some of our current and potential competitors have significantly greater financial, marketing, technical and other competitive resources than we do, as well as greater name recognition and a larger installed base of clients. The ERP software market has experienced significant consolidation, including numerous mergers and acquisitions. It is difficult to estimate what long-term effect these acquisitions will have on our competitive environment. We have encountered competitive situations where we suspect that large competitors, in order to encourage customers to purchase licenses of non-retail applications and gain retail market share, have also offered to license at no charge certain retail software applications that compete with our solutions. If competitors such as Oracle and SAP AG and other large private companies are willing to license their retail and/or other applications at no charge, this may result in a more difficult competitive environment for our products. In addition, we could face competition from large, multi-industry technology companies that historically have not offered an enterprise solution set to the retail supply chain market. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to compete successfully for customers against our current or future competitors, or that such competition will not have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. Also, some prospective buyers are reluctant to purchase applications that could have a short lifespan, as an acquisition could result in the application’s life being abruptly cut short. In addition, increased competition and consolidation in these markets is likely to result in price reductions, reduced operating margins and changes in market share, any one of which could adversely affect us. If customers or prospects want fewer software vendors, they may elect to purchase competing products from a larger vendor than us since those larger vendors offer a wider range of products. Furthermore, some of these larger vendors, such as Oracle, may be able to bundle their software with their database applications, which underlie a significant portion of our installed applications. When we compete with these larger vendors for new customers, we believe that these larger businesses often attempt to use their size as a competitive advantage against us.
Many of our competitors have well-established relationships with our current and potential clients and have extensive knowledge of our industry. As a result, they may be able to adapt more quickly to new or emerging technologies and changes in client requirements or to devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their products than we can. Some competitors have become more aggressive with their prices and payment terms and issuance of contractual implementation terms or guarantees. In addition, third–party service companies may offer competing maintenance and implementation services to our customers and thereby reduce our opportunities to provide those services. We may be unable to continue to compete successfully with new and existing competitors without lowering prices or offering other favorable terms. Furthermore, potential customers may consider outsourcing options, including application service providers, data center outsourcing and service bureaus, as alternatives to licensing our software products. Any of these factors could materially impair our ability to compete and have a material adverse effect on our operating performance and financial condition.
We also face competition from the corporate IT departments of current or potential customers capable of internally developing solutions and we compete with a variety of more specialized software and services vendors, including:
• | Internet (on demand) software vendors; |
• | single-industry software vendors; |
• | enterprise resource optimization software vendors; |
• | human resource management software vendors; |
• | financial management software vendors; |
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• | merchandising software vendors; |
• | services automation software vendors; and |
• | outsourced services providers. |
As a result, the market for enterprise software applications has been and continues to be intensely competitive. We expect competition to persist and intensify, which could negatively affect our operating results and market share.
Due to competition, we may change our pricing practices, which could adversely affect operating margins or customer ordering patterns.
The intensely competitive markets in which we compete can put pressure on us to reduce our prices. If our competitors offer deep discounts on certain products or services in an effort to recapture or gain market share or to sell other products or services, we may need to lower prices or offer other favorable terms in order to compete successfully. For these and other reasons, in the future we may choose to make changes to our pricing practices. For example, we may (1) offer additional discounts to customers, (2) increase (or decrease) the use of pricing that involves periodic fees based on the number of users of a product, or (3) change maintenance pricing. Such changes could materially and adversely affect our margins, and our revenues may be negatively affected if our competitors are able to recapture or gain market share.
RISK FACTORS RELATED TO OUR OPERATIONS
Our growth is dependent upon the successful further development of our direct and indirect sales channels.
We believe that our future growth will depend on developing and maintaining successful strategic relationships with systems integrators and other technology companies. Our strategy is to continue to increase the proportion of customers served through these indirect channels, so we are currently investing, and plan to continue to invest, significant resources to develop them. This investment could adversely affect our operating results if these efforts do not generate license and service revenue necessary to offset our investment. Also, our inability to partner with other technology companies and qualified systems integrators could adversely affect our results of operations. Because lower unit prices are typically charged on sales made through indirect channels, increased indirect sales could reduce our average selling prices and result in lower gross margins. In addition, sales of our products through indirect channels will likely reduce our consulting service revenues, as third-party systems integrators generally provide these services. As indirect sales increase, our direct contact with our customer base will decrease, and we may have more difficulty accurately forecasting sales, evaluating customer satisfaction and recognizing emerging customer requirements. In addition, these systems integrators and third-party software providers may develop, acquire or market products competitive with our products. Our strategy of marketing our products directly to customers and indirectly through systems integrators and other technology companies may result in distribution channel conflicts. Our direct sales efforts may compete with those of our indirect channels and, to the extent that different systems integrators target the same customers, systems integrators may also come into conflict with each other. Any channel conflicts that develop may have a material adverse effect on our relationships with systems integrators or harm our ability to attract new systems integrators.
We may be required to defer recognition of license revenue for a significant period of time after entering into an agreement, which could negatively affect our results of operations.
We are required to delay recognizing license revenue for a significant period of time based on a variety of factors, including:
• | whether the license agreement includes cloud services such as managing the application and hosting the server that are performed over the term of the contract; |
• | whether the license agreement relates to then-unavailable software products; |
• | whether transactions include both currently deliverable software products and software products that are under development or other undeliverable elements; |
• | whether the customer demands services that include significant modifications, customizations or complex interfaces that could delay product delivery or acceptance; |
• | whether the transaction involves acceptance criteria that may preclude revenue recognition or if there are identified product-related issues, such as known defects; and |
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• | whether the transaction involves payment terms or fees that depend upon contingencies. |
These factors and other specific accounting requirements under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") for software revenue recognition require that we have very precise terms in our license agreements to allow us to recognize revenue when we initially deliver software or perform services. Although we have a standard form of license agreement that we believe meets the criteria under GAAP for current revenue recognition on delivered elements, we negotiate and revise these terms and conditions in many transactions. Therefore, we may license our software or provide services with terms and conditions that do not permit revenue recognition at the time of delivery or even as work on the project is completed.
We are dependent upon the retail industry for a significant portion of our revenues.
Historically, we have derived a significant percentage of our revenues from the license of software products and the sale of collaborative applications that address vertical market opportunities with manufacturers and wholesalers that supply retail customers. The success of our customers is directly linked to economic conditions in the retail industry, which in turn are subject to intense competitive pressures and are affected by overall economic conditions. In addition, we believe that the licensing of certain of our software products involves a large capital expenditure, which is often accompanied by large-scale hardware purchases or other capital commitments. As a result, demand for our products and services could decline in the event of instability or potential downturns in our customers’ industries.
We believe the retail industry remains relatively cautious in its level of investment in IT when compared to other industries. We remain concerned about weak and uncertain economic conditions, consolidations and the disappointing results of retailers in certain markets, especially if such weak economic conditions persist for an extended period of time. Weak and uncertain economic conditions have negatively affected our revenues in the past and may do so in the future, including potential deterioration of our maintenance revenue base as customers look to reduce their costs, elongation of our selling cycles, and reduction in the demand for our products. As a result, it is difficult in the current economic environment to predict exactly when specific software licenses will close. In addition, weak and uncertain economic conditions could impair our customers’ ability to pay for our products or services. We also believe the retail business transformation from retail brick-and-mortar to technology-enabled omni-channel commerce models will be a multi-year trend. Consequently, we cannot predict when the repercussions from this transformation may moderate or end. Any of these factors could adversely affect our business, our quarterly or annual operating results and our financial condition.
We have observed that as the retail industry consolidates it is experiencing increased competition in certain geographic regions that could negatively affect the industry and our customers’ ability to pay for our products and services. Such consolidation has negatively impacted our revenues in the past and may continue to do so in the future, which may reduce the demand for our products, and may adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
We may derive a significant portion of our revenues in any quarter from a limited number of large, non-recurring license sales.
We expect to continue to experience from time-to-time large, individual license sales, which may cause significant variations in quarterly license fees. We also believe that purchasing our products is relatively discretionary and generally involves a significant commitment of a customer’s capital resources. Therefore, a downturn in any customer’s business could result in order cancellations that could have a significant adverse impact on our revenues and quarterly results. Moreover, continued uncertainty about general economic conditions could precipitate significant reductions in corporate spending for IT, which could result in delays or cancellations of orders for our products.
Our lengthy sales cycle makes it difficult to predict quarterly revenue levels and operating results.
Because fees for our software products are substantial and the decision to purchase our products typically involves members of our customers’ senior management, the sales process for our solutions is lengthy. Accordingly, the timing of our license revenues is difficult to predict, and the delay of an order could cause our quarterly revenues to fall substantially below our expectations and those of public market analysts and investors. Moreover, to the extent that we succeed in shifting customer purchases away from individual software products and toward more costly integrated suites of software and services, our sales cycle may lengthen, which could increase the likelihood of delays and cause the effect of a delay to become more pronounced. Delays in sales could cause significant shortfalls in our revenues and operating results for any particular period. Also, it is difficult for us to forecast the timing and recognition of revenues from sales of our products because our existing and prospective customers often take significant time evaluating our products before purchasing them. The period between initial customer contact and a purchase by a customer
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may vary from nine months to more than one year. During the evaluation period, prospective customers may decide not to purchase or may scale down proposed orders of our products for various reasons, including:
• | reduced demand for enterprise software solutions; |
• | introduction of products by our competitors; |
• | lower prices offered by our competitors; |
• | changes in budgets and purchasing priorities; and |
• | reduced need to upgrade existing systems. |
Our existing and prospective customers routinely require education regarding the use and benefits of our products. This may also lead to delays in receiving customers’ orders.
We derive a significant portion of our services revenues from a small number of customers. If these customers were to discontinue the usage of our services or delay their implementation our total revenues would be adversely affected.
We derive a significant portion of our services revenues, and total revenues, from a small number of customers using our services for product enhancement and other optional services. If these customers were to discontinue or delay the usage of these services, or obtain these services from a competitor, our services revenues and total revenues would be adversely affected. Customers may delay or terminate implementation of our services due to budgetary constraints related to economic uncertainty, dissatisfaction with product quality, the difficulty of prioritizing numerous IT projects, changes in business strategy, personnel or priorities, or for other reasons. Such customers may be less likely to invest in additional software in the future and to continue to pay for software maintenance. Since our business relies to a large extent upon sales to existing customers and since maintenance and services revenues are key elements of our revenue base, any reduction in these sales or these maintenance and services payments could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.
Services revenues carry lower gross margins than license revenues and an overall increase in services revenues as a percentage of total revenues could have an adverse impact on our business.
Because our service revenues have lower gross margins than do our license revenues, an increase in the percentage of total revenues represented by service revenues or a change in the mix between services that are provided by our employees versus services provided by third-party consultants could have a detrimental impact on our overall gross margins and could adversely affect operating results.
If our customers elect not to renew maintenance contracts after the initial maintenance period and the loss of those customers is not offset by new maintenance customers, our maintenance revenues and total revenues would be adversely affected.
Upon the purchase of a software license, our customers typically enter into a maintenance contract with a term from approximately one to three years. If, after this initial maintenance period, customers elect not to renew their maintenance contracts and we do not offset the loss of those customers with new maintenance customers as a result of new license fees, our maintenance revenues and total revenues would be adversely affected.
If accounting interpretations relating to revenue recognition change or companies we acquire have applied such standards differently than we do or have not applied them at all, our reported revenues could decline or we could be forced to make changes in our business practices or we may incur the expense and risks associated with an audit or restatement of the acquired company’s financial statements.
There are several accounting standards and interpretations covering revenue recognition for the software industry. These standards address software revenue recognition matters primarily from a conceptual level and do not include specific implementation guidance. We believe that we currently comply with these standards.
The accounting profession and regulatory agencies continue to discuss various provisions of these pronouncements with the objective of providing additional guidance on their application and with respect to potential interpretations. These discussions and the issuance of new interpretations could lead to unanticipated changes in our current revenue accounting practices, which could change the timing of recognized revenue. They could also drive significant adjustments to our business practices which could
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result in increased administrative costs, lengthened sales cycles and other changes that could adversely affect our reported revenues and results of operations. In addition, companies we acquire historically may have interpreted software revenue recognition rules differently than we do or may not have been subject to U.S. GAAP as a result of reporting under local GAAP in a foreign country. If we discover that companies we have acquired have interpreted and applied software revenue recognition rules differently than prescribed by U.S. GAAP, we could be required to devote significant management resources, and incur the expense associated with an audit, restatement or other examination of the acquired companies’ financial statements.
Our future growth depends upon our ability to develop and sustain relationships with complementary vendors to market and implement our software products, and a failure to develop and sustain these relationships could have a material adverse effect on our operating performance and financial condition.
We are developing, maintaining and enhancing significant working relationships with complementary vendors, such as software companies, consulting firms, resellers and others that we believe can play important roles in marketing our products and solutions. We are currently investing, and intend to continue to invest, significant resources to develop and enhance these relationships, which could adversely affect our operating margins. We may be unable to develop relationships with organizations that will be able to market our products effectively. Our arrangements with these organizations are not exclusive and, in many cases, may be terminated by either party without cause. Many of the organizations with which we are developing or maintaining marketing relationships have commercial relationships with our competitors. There can be no assurance that any organization will continue its involvement with us and our products. The loss of relationships with such organizations could materially and adversely affect our operating performance and financial condition.
Failure to maintain our margins and service rates for implementation services could have a material adverse effect on our operating performance and financial condition.
A significant portion of our revenues is derived from implementation services. If we fail to scope our implementation projects correctly, our services margins may suffer. We bill for implementation services predominately on an hourly or daily basis (time and materials) and sometimes under fixed price contracts, and we generally recognize revenue from those services as we perform the work. If we are not able to maintain the current service rates for our time and materials implementation services, and cannot make corresponding cost reductions, or if the percentage of fixed price contracts increases and we underestimate the costs of our fixed price contracts, our operating performance may suffer. The rates we charge for our implementation services depend on a number of factors, including the following:
• | perceptions of our ability to add value through our implementation services; |
• | complexity of services performed; |
• | competition; |
• | pricing policies of our competitors and of systems integrators; |
• | use of globally sourced, lower-cost service delivery capabilities within our industry; and |
• | economic, political and market conditions. |
Our past and future acquisitions may not be successful and we may have difficulty integrating acquisitions.
We continually evaluate potential acquisitions of complementary businesses, products and technologies. We have in the past acquired and invested, and may continue to acquire or invest, in complementary companies, products and technologies, and enter into joint ventures and strategic alliances with other companies. Acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and investments present many risks, and we may not realize the financial and strategic goals that were contemplated at the time of any transaction. Risks commonly encountered in such transactions include:
• | risk that an acquired company or assets may not further our business strategy or that we paid more than the company or assets were worth; |
• | difficulty of assimilating the operations and retaining and motivating personnel of an acquired company; |
• | risk that we may not be able to integrate acquired technologies or products with our current products and technologies; |
• | potential disruption of our ongoing business and the diversion of our management’s attention from other business concerns; |
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• | inability of management to maximize our financial and strategic position through the successful integration of an acquired company; |
• | adverse impact on our annual effective tax rate; |
• | dilution of existing equity holders caused by capital stock issuance to the shareholders of an acquired company or stock option grants to retain employees of an acquired company; |
• | difficulty in maintaining controls, procedures and policies; |
• | potential adverse impact on our relationships with partner companies or third-party providers of technology or products; |
• | impairment of relationships with employees and customers; |
• | potential assumption of liabilities of our acquisition targets; |
• | significant exit or impairment charges if products acquired in business combinations are unsuccessful; and |
• | issues with product quality, product architecture, legal contingencies, product development issues, or other significant issues that may not be detected through our due diligence process. |
Accounting rules require the use of the purchase method of accounting in all new business acquisitions. Many acquisition candidates have significant intangible assets, so an acquisition of these businesses would likely result in significant amounts of goodwill and other intangible assets. The purchase method of accounting for business combinations may require large write-offs of any in-process research and development costs related to companies being acquired, as well as ongoing amortization costs for other intangible assets. Goodwill and certain other intangible assets are not amortized to income, but are subject to at least annual impairment reviews. If the acquisitions do not perform as planned, future write-offs and charges to income arising from such impairment reviews could be significant. In addition, these acquisitions could involve acquisition-related charges, such as one-time acquired research and development charges. Such write-offs and ongoing amortization charges may have a significant negative impact on operating margins and net earnings in the quarter of the combination and for several subsequent years. We may not be successful in overcoming these risks or any other problems encountered in connection with such transactions.
Fully integrating an acquired company or business into our operations may take a significant amount of time. In addition, we may only be able to conduct limited due diligence on an acquired company’s operations. Following an acquisition, we may be subject to liabilities arising from an acquired company’s past or present operations, including liabilities related to data security, encryption and privacy of customer data, and these liabilities may be greater than the warranty and indemnity limitations that we negotiate. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in overcoming these risks or any other problems encountered with acquisitions. To the extent we do not successfully avoid or overcome the risks or problems related to any acquisitions, our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. Future acquisitions also could impact our financial position and capital needs, and could cause substantial fluctuations in our quarterly and yearly results of operations.
Our business may require additional capital.
We may require additional capital to finance our growth or to fund acquisitions or investments in complementary businesses, technologies or product lines. Our capital requirements may be influenced by many factors, including:
• | demand for our products; |
• | timing and extent of our investment in new technology; |
• | timing and extent of our acquisition of other companies; |
• | level and timing of revenue; |
• | expenses of sales and marketing and new product development; |
• | success and related expense of increasing our brand awareness; |
• | cost of facilities to accommodate a growing workforce; |
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• | extent to which competitors are successful in developing new products and increasing their market shares; and |
• | costs involved in maintaining and enforcing intellectual property rights. |
To the extent that our resources are insufficient to fund our future activities, we may need to raise additional funds through public or private financing. However, additional funding, if needed, may not be available on terms attractive to us, or at all. Our inability to raise capital when needed could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. If additional funds are raised through the issuance of equity securities, the percentage ownership of our company by our current shareholders would be diluted.
Business disruptions could affect our operating results.
A significant portion of our research and development activities and certain other critical business operations are concentrated in a few geographic areas. We are a highly automated business and a disruption or failure of our systems could cause delays in completing sales and providing services. A major earthquake, fire or other catastrophic event that results in the destruction or disruption of any of our critical business or IT systems could severely affect our ability to conduct normal business operations and, as a result, our future operating results could be materially and adversely affected.
Our international operations and sales subject us to risks associated with unexpected activities outside of the United States.
The global reach of our business could cause us to be subject to unexpected, uncontrollable and rapidly changing events and circumstances in addition to those experienced within the United States. As we grow our international operations, we may need to recruit and hire new consulting, product development, sales and marketing and support personnel in the countries in which we have or will establish offices or otherwise have a significant presence. Entry into new international markets typically requires the establishment of new marketing and distribution channels, as well as the development and subsequent support of localized versions of our software. International introductions of our products often require a significant investment in advance of anticipated future revenues. In addition, the opening of a new office typically results in initial recruiting and training expenses and reduced labor efficiencies associated with the introduction of products to a new market. If we are less successful in a new market than we expect, we may not be able to realize an adequate return on our initial investment and our operating results could suffer. We cannot guarantee that the countries in which we operate will have a sufficient pool of qualified personnel from which to hire, that we will be successful at hiring, training or retaining such personnel or that we can expand or contract our international operations in a timely, cost-effective manner. If we have to downsize certain international operations, particularly in Europe, the costs to do so are typically much higher than downsizing costs in the United States. The following factors, among others, could have an adverse impact on our business and earnings:
• | failure to properly comply with foreign laws and regulations applicable to our foreign activities including, without limitation, software localization requirements; |
• | failure to properly comply with U.S. laws and regulations relating to the export of our products and services; |
• | compliance with multiple and potentially conflicting regulations in Europe, Asia and North America, including export requirements, tariffs, import duties and other trade barriers, as well as health and safety requirements; |
• | difficulties in managing foreign operations and appropriate levels of staffing; |
• | longer collection cycles; |
• | tariffs and other trade barriers, including the economic burden and uncertainty placed on our customers by the imposition and threatened imposition of tariffs by the U.S., China and perhaps other countries; |
• | seasonal reductions in business activities, particularly throughout Europe; |
• | reduced protection for intellectual property rights in some countries; |
• | proper compliance with local tax laws which can be complex and may result in unintended adverse tax consequences; |
• | anti-American sentiment due to conflicts in the Middle East and other American policies that may be unpopular in certain countries; |
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• | increasing political instability, adverse economic conditions and the potential for war or other hostilities in many of these countries; |
• | difficulties in enforcing agreements through foreign legal systems; |
• | fluctuations in exchange rates that may affect product demand and may adversely affect the profitability in U.S. dollars of products and services provided by us in foreign markets where payment for our products and services is made in the local currency, including any fluctuations caused by uncertainties relating to the June 2016 referendum vote by the United Kingdom to exit the European Union (“Brexit”); |
• | changes in general economic and political conditions in countries where we operate; |
• | impact of Brexit on the United Kingdom’s access to the European Union Single Market, the related regulatory environment, the global economy and the resulting impact on our business, including the delay of execution of contracts by our customers; |
• | potential labor strikes, lockouts, work slowdowns and work stoppages; and |
• | restrictions on downsizing operations in Europe and expenses and delays associated with any such activities. |
It may become increasingly expensive to obtain and maintain liability insurance.
Our products are often critical to the operations of our customers’ businesses and provide benefits that may be difficult to quantify. If our products fail to function as required, we may be subject to claims for substantial damages. Courts may not enforce provisions in our contracts that would limit our liability or otherwise protect us from liability for damages. Although we maintain general liability insurance coverage, including coverage for errors or omissions, this coverage may not continue to be available on reasonable terms or in sufficient amounts to cover claims against us. In addition, our insurers may disclaim coverage as to any future claim. If claims exceeding the available insurance coverage are successfully asserted against us, or our insurers impose premium increases, large deductibles or co-insurance requirements on us, our business and results of operations could be adversely affected.
We contract for insurance to cover a variety of potential risks and liabilities, including those relating to the unexpected failure of our products. In the current market, insurance coverage for all types of risk is becoming more restrictive, and when insurance coverage is offered, the amount for which we are responsible is larger. In light of these circumstances, it may become more difficult to maintain insurance coverage at historical levels or, if such coverage is available, the cost to obtain or maintain it may increase substantially. This may result in our being forced to bear the burden of an increased portion of risks for which we have traditionally been covered by insurance, which could negatively impact our results of operations.
Adverse litigation results could affect our business.
We may be subject to various legal proceedings and claims involving customer, shareholder, consumer, competitor and other issues on a national or global basis. Litigation or other dispute resolution can be lengthy, expensive and disruptive to our operations, and results cannot be predicted with certainty. An adverse decision could result in monetary damages or injunctive relief that could affect our business, operating results or financial condition.
Growth in our operations could increase demands on our managerial and operational resources.
If the scope of our operating and financial systems and the geographic distribution of our operations and customers increase dramatically, this may increase demands on our management and operations. Our officers and other key employees will need to implement and improve our operational, customer support and financial control systems and effectively expand, train and manage our employee base.
Further, we may be required to manage an increasing number of relationships with various customers and other third parties. We may not be able to manage future expansion successfully, and our inability to do so could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.
Unanticipated changes in effective tax rates or adverse outcomes resulting from examination of our income or other tax returns could adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.
We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. and various foreign jurisdictions, and our domestic and international tax liabilities are subject to the allocation of expenses in differing jurisdictions. Our future effective tax rates could be subject to volatility or adversely affected by a number of factors, including:
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• | changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities; |
• | expected timing and amount of the release of tax valuation allowances; |
• | expiration of, or detrimental changes in, research and development tax credit laws; |
• | tax effects of stock-based compensation; |
• | costs related to intercompany restructurings; |
• | changes in tax laws, regulations, accounting principles or interpretations thereof; and |
• | future earnings being lower than anticipated in countries where we have lower statutory tax rates and higher than anticipated earnings in countries where we have higher statutory tax rates. |
In addition, we may be subject to audits of our income and sales taxes by the Internal Revenue Service and foreign and state tax authorities. Outcomes from these audits could have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.
RISK FACTORS RELATED TO OUR PRODUCTS
We may not be successful in convincing customers to migrate to current or future releases of our products, which may lead to reduced services and maintenance revenues and less future business from existing customers.
Our customers may not be willing to incur the costs or invest the resources necessary to complete upgrades to current or future releases of our products. This may lead to a loss of services and maintenance revenues and future business from customers that continue to operate prior versions of our products or choose to no longer use our products.
We depend on third-party technology which, if it should become unavailable or if it contains defects, could result in increased costs or delays in the production and improvement of our products.
We license critical third-party software products that we incorporate into our own software products. We are likely to incorporate and include additional third-party software into and with our products and solutions as we expand our product offerings. The operation of our products would be impaired if errors occur in the third-party software that we utilize. It may be more difficult for us to correct any defects in third-party software because the software is not within our control. Accordingly, our business could be adversely affected in the event of any errors in this software. There can be no assurance that these third parties will continue to make their software available to us on acceptable terms, invest the appropriate levels of resources in their products and services to maintain and enhance the capabilities of their software, or even remain in business. Further, due to the limited number of vendors of certain types of third-party software, it may be difficult for us to replace such third-party software if a vendor terminates our license of the software or our ability to license the software to customers. If our relations with any of these third-party software providers are impaired, and if we are unable to obtain or develop a replacement for the software, our business could be harmed. In addition, if the cost of licensing any of these third-party software products significantly increases, our gross margin levels could significantly decrease.
The use of open source software in our products may expose us to additional risks and harm our intellectual property.
Some of our products use or incorporate software that is subject to one or more open source licenses. Open source software is typically freely accessible, usable and modifiable. Certain open source software licenses require a user who intends to distribute the open source software as a component of the user’s software to disclose publicly part or all of the source code to the user’s software. In addition, certain open source software licenses require the user of such software to make any derivative works of the open source code available to others on unfavorable terms or at no cost. This can subject previously proprietary software to open source license terms.
While we monitor the use of all open source software in our products, processes and technology and try to ensure that no open source software is used in such a way as to require us to disclose the source code to the related product or solution, such use could inadvertently occur. Additionally, if a third-party software provider has incorporated certain types of open source software into software we license from such third party for our products and solutions, we could, under certain circumstances, be required to disclose the source code to our products and solutions. This could harm our intellectual property position and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flow and financial condition.
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We may be unable to retain or attract customers if we do not develop new products and enhance our current products in response to technological changes and competing products.
As a software company, we have been required to migrate our products and services from mainframe to customer server to web-based environments. In addition, we have been required to adapt our products to emerging standards for operating systems, databases and other technologies. We will be unable to compete effectively if we are unable to:
• | maintain and enhance our technological capabilities to correspond to these emerging environments and standards; |
• | develop and market products and services that meet changing customer needs; or |
• | anticipate or respond to technological changes on a cost-effective and timely basis. |
A substantial portion of our research and development resources is devoted to product upgrades that address regulatory and support requirements. Only the remainder of our limited research and development resources is available for new products. New products require significant development investment. That investment is further constrained because of the added costs of developing new products that work with multiple operating systems or databases. We face uncertainty when we develop or acquire new products because there is no assurance that a sufficient market will develop for those products. If we do not attract sufficient customer interest in those products, we will not realize a return on our investment and our operating results will be adversely affected.
Our core products face competition from new or modified technologies that may render our existing technology less competitive or obsolete, reducing the demand for our products. As a result, we must continually redesign our products to incorporate these new technologies and to adapt our software products to operate on, and comply with evolving industry standards for, hardware and software platforms. Maintaining and upgrading our products to operate on multiple hardware and database platforms reduces our resources for developing new products. Because of the increased costs of developing and supporting software products across multiple platforms, we may need to reduce the number of those platforms. In addition, conflicting new technologies present us with difficult choices of which new technologies to adopt. If we fail to anticipate the most popular platforms, fail to respond adequately to technological developments, or experience significant delays in product development or introduction, our business and operating results will be negatively impacted.
In addition, to the extent we determine that new technologies and equipment are required to remain competitive, the development, acquisition and implementation of such technologies may require us to make significant capital investments. We may not be able to obtain capital for these purposes and investments in new technologies may not result in commercially viable products. The loss of revenue and increased costs to us from such changing technologies would adversely affect our business and operating results.
If our products are not able to deliver quick, demonstrable value to our customers, our business could be seriously harmed.
Enterprises are requiring their application software vendors to provide faster returns on their technology investments. We must continue to improve our speed of implementation and the pace at which our products deliver value or our competitors may gain important strategic advantages over us. If we cannot successfully respond to these market demands, or if our competitors respond more successfully than we do, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.
If we do not maintain software performance across accepted platforms and operating environments, our license and services revenue could be adversely affected.
The markets for our software products are characterized by rapid technological change, evolving industry standards, changes in customer requirements and frequent new product introductions and enhancements. We continuously evaluate new technologies and implement advanced technology into our products. However, if in our product development efforts we fail to accurately address, in a timely manner, evolving industry standards, new technology advancements or important third-party interfaces or product architectures, sales of our products and services will suffer.
Market acceptance of new platforms and operating environments may require us to undergo the expense of developing and maintaining compatible product lines. We can license our software products for use with a variety of popular industry standard relational database management system platforms using different programming languages and underlying databases and architectures. There may be future or existing relational database platforms that achieve popularity in the marketplace and that may or may not be architecturally compatible with our software product design. In addition, the effort and expense of developing, testing, and maintaining software product lines will increase as more hardware platforms and operating systems achieve market
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acceptance within our target markets. Moreover, future or existing user interfaces that achieve popularity within the business application marketplace may or may not be architecturally compatible with our current software product design. If we do not achieve market acceptance of new user interfaces that we support, or adapt to popular new user interfaces that we do not support, our sales and revenue may be adversely affected. Developing and maintaining consistent software product performance characteristics across all of these combinations could place a significant strain on our resources and software product release schedules, which could adversely affect revenues and results of operations.
Our software products and product development are complex, which make it increasingly difficult to innovate, extend our product offerings, and avoid costs related to correction of program errors.
The market for our software products is characterized by rapid technological change, evolving industry standards, changes in customer requirements and frequent new product introductions and enhancements. For instance, existing products can become obsolete and unmarketable when vendors introduce products utilizing new technologies or new industry standards emerge. As a result, it is difficult for us to estimate the life cycles of our software products. There can be no assurance that we will successfully identify new product opportunities or develop and bring new products to the market in a timely and cost-effective manner, or that products, capabilities or technologies developed by our competitors will not render our products obsolete. Our future success will depend in part upon our ability to:
• | continue to enhance and expand our core applications; |
• | continue to sell our products; |
• | continue to successfully integrate third-party products; |
• | enter new markets and achieve market acceptance; and |
• | develop and introduce new products that keep pace with technological developments, including developments related to the Internet, satisfy increasingly sophisticated customer requirements and achieve market acceptance. |
Despite testing by us, our software programs, like all software programs generally, may contain a number of undetected errors or “bugs” when we first introduce them or as new versions are released. We do not discover some errors until we have installed the product and our customers have used it. Errors may result in the delay or loss of revenues, diversion of software engineering resources, material non-monetary concessions, negative media attention, or increased service or warranty costs as a result of performance or warranty claims that could lead to customer dissatisfaction, resulting in litigation, damage to our reputation, and impaired demand for our products. Correcting bugs may result in increased costs and reduced acceptance of our software products in the marketplace. Further, such errors could subject us to claims from our customers for significant damages, and we cannot assure you that courts would enforce the provisions in our customer agreements that limit our liability for damages. The effort and expense of developing, testing and maintaining software product lines will increase with the increasing number of possible combinations of:
• | vendor hardware platforms; |
• | operating systems and updated versions; |
• | application software products and updated versions; and |
• | database management system platforms and updated versions. |
Developing consistent software product performance characteristics across all of these combinations could place a significant strain on our development resources and software product release schedules.
If the open source community expands into enterprise application and supply chain software, our license fee revenues may decline.
The open source community is comprised of many different formal and informal groups of software developers and individuals who have created a wide variety of software and have made that software available for use, distribution and modification, often free of charge. Open source software, such as the Linux operating system, has been gaining in popularity among business users. If developers contribute enterprise and supply chain application software to the open source community, and that software has competitive features and scale to support business users in our markets, we will need to change our product pricing and distribution strategy to compete successfully.
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Implementation of our products can be complex, time-consuming and expensive, customers may be unable to implement our products successfully, and we may become subject to warranty or product liability claims, which could be costly to resolve and result in negative publicity.
Our products must integrate with the many existing computer systems and software programs of our customers. This can be complex, time-consuming and expensive, and may cause delays in the deployment of our products. Our customers may be unable to implement our products successfully or otherwise achieve the benefits attributable to our products. Although we test each of our new products and product enhancement releases and evaluate and test the products we obtain through acquisitions before introducing them to the market, there may still be significant errors in existing or future releases of our software products, with the possible result that we may be required to expend significant resources in order to correct such errors or otherwise satisfy customer demands. In addition, defects in our products or difficulty integrating our products with our customers’ systems could result in delayed or lost revenues, warranty or other claims against us by customers or third parties, adverse customer reactions and negative publicity about us or our products and services or reduced acceptance of our products and services in the marketplace, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition.
An increase in sales of software products that require customization would result in revenue being recognized over the term of the contract for those products and could have a material adverse effect on our operating performance and financial condition.
Historically, we generally have been able to recognize software license revenue upon delivery of our solutions and contract execution. Customers and prospects could ask for unique capabilities in addition to our core capabilities to give them a competitive edge in the market place. These instances could cause us to recognize more of our software license revenue on a contract accounting basis over the course of the delivery of the solution rather than upon delivery and contract execution. The period between the initial contract and the completion of the implementation of our products can be lengthy and is subject to a number of factors (over many of which we have little or no control) that may cause significant delays. These factors include the size and complexity of the overall project. As a result, a shift toward a higher proportion of software license contracts requiring contract accounting would have a material adverse effect on our operating performance and financial condition and cause our operating results to vary significantly from quarter to quarter.
We sometimes experience delays in product releases, which can adversely affect our business.
Historically, we have issued significant new releases of our software products periodically, with minor interim releases issued more frequently. As a result of the complexities inherent in our software, major new product enhancements and new products often require long development and testing periods before they are released. On occasion, we have experienced delays in the scheduled release dates of new or enhanced products, and we cannot provide any assurance that we will achieve future scheduled release dates. The delay of product releases or enhancements, or the failure of such products or enhancements to achieve market acceptance, could materially affect our business and reputation.
We may not receive significant revenues from our current research and development efforts for several years.
Developing and localizing software is expensive, and the investment in product development may involve a long payback cycle. Our future plans include significant investments in software research and development and related product opportunities. We believe that we must continue to dedicate a significant amount of resources to our research and development efforts to maintain our competitive position. However, we do not expect to receive significant revenues from these investments for several years, if at all.
We have limited protection of our intellectual property and proprietary rights and may potentially infringe third-party intellectual property rights.
We consider certain aspects of our internal operations, software and documentation to be proprietary, and rely on a combination of copyright, trademark and trade secret laws; confidentiality agreements with employees and third parties; and protective contractual provisions (such as those contained in our agreements with consultants, vendors, partners and customers) and other measures to protect this information. Existing copyright laws afford only limited protection. We believe that the rapid pace of technological change in the computer software industry has made trade secret and copyright protection less significant than factors such as:
• |
•knowledge, ability and experience of our employees;
•frequent software product enhancements;
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•customer education; and
•timeliness and quality of support services.
Our competitors may independently develop technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to our technology. The laws of some countries in which our software products are or may be licensed do not protect our software products and intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States.
We generally enter into confidentiality or similar agreements with our employees, customers, consultants, and vendors. These agreements control access to and distribution of our software, documentation, and other proprietary information. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties may copy aspects of our products, obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary, or develop similar technology through reverse engineering or other means. Preventing or detecting unauthorized use of our products is difficult. There can be no assurance that the steps we take will prevent misappropriation of our technology or that our license agreements will be enforceable. In addition, we may resort to litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets, determine the validity and scope of others’ proprietary rights, or defend against claims of infringement or invalidity in the future. Such litigation could result in significant costs or the diversion of resources. This could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
Third parties may assert infringement claims against us. Although we do not believe that our products infringe on the proprietary rights of third parties, we cannot guarantee that third parties will not assert or prosecute infringement or invalidity claims against us. These assertions could distract management, require us to enter into royalty arrangements, and result in costly and time-consuming litigation, including damage awards. Such assertions or the defense of such claims may materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, or financial condition. In addition, such assertions could result in injunctions against us. Injunctions that prevent us from distributing our products would have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. If third parties assert such claims against us, we may seek to obtain a license to use such intellectual property rights. There can be no assurance that such a license would be available on commercially reasonable terms. If a patent claim against us were successful and we could not obtain a license on acceptable terms or license a substitute technology or redesign to avoid infringement, we may be prevented from distributing our software or required to incur significant expense and delay in developing non-infringing software.
We may experience liability claims arising out of the licensing of our software and provision of services.
Our agreements normally contain provisions designed to limit our exposure to potential liability claims and generally exclude consequential and other forms of extraordinary damages. However, these provisions could be rendered ineffective, invalid or unenforceable by unfavorable judicial decisions or by federal, state, local or foreign laws or ordinances. For example, we may not be able to avoid or limit liability for disputes relating to product performance or the provision of services. If a claim against us were to be successful, we may be required to incur significant expense and pay substantial damages, including consequential or punitive damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. Even if we prevail in contesting such a claim, the accompanying publicity could adversely affect the demand for our products and services.
We also rely on certain technology that we license from third parties, including software that is integrated with our internally developed software. Although these third parties generally indemnify us against claims that their technology infringes on the proprietary rights of others, such indemnification is not always available for all types of intellectual property. Often such third-party indemnifiers are not well capitalized and may not be able to indemnify us in the event that their technology infringes on the proprietary rights of others. As a result, we may face substantial exposure if technology we license from a third party infringes on another party’s proprietary rights. Defending such infringement claims, regardless of their validity, could result in significant cost and diversion of resources.
Concerns that our products do not adequately protect the privacy of consumers could inhibit sales of our products.
One of the features of our software applications is the ability to develop and maintain profiles of customers for use by businesses. Typically, these products capture profile information when customers and employees visit an Internet web site and volunteer information in response to survey questions concerning their backgrounds, interests and preferences. Our products augment these profiles over time by collecting usage data. Although we have designed our products to operate with applications that protect user privacy, privacy concerns may nevertheless cause visitors to resist providing the personal data necessary to support this profiling capability. If we cannot adequately address customers’ privacy concerns, these concerns could materially and adversely harm our business, financial condition and operating results.
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We face risks associated with the security of our products, and if our data protection or other security measures are compromised and as a result our data, our customers’ data or our IT systems are accessed improperly, made unavailable, or improperly modified, our products and services may be perceived as vulnerable, our brand and reputation could be damaged, the IT services we provide to our customers could be disrupted, and customers may stop using our products and services, all of which could reduce our revenue and earnings, increase our expenses and expose us to legal claims and regulatory actions.
Maintaining the security of computers and computer networks is an issue of critical importance for our customers. Attempts by experienced computer programmers, or hackers, to penetrate client network security or the security of web sites to misappropriate confidential information have become an industry-wide phenomenon that affects computers and networks across all platforms. We have included security features in certain of our Internet browser-enabled products that are intended to protect the privacy and integrity of customer data. In addition, some of our software applications use encryption technology to provide the security necessary to affect the secure exchange of valuable and confidential information. Despite these security features, our products may be vulnerable to break-ins and similar problems caused by hackers, which could jeopardize the security of information stored in and transmitted through the computer systems of our customers. Actual or perceived security vulnerabilities in our products (or the Internet in general) could lead some customers to seek to reduce or delay future purchases or to purchase competitors’ products which are not Internet-based applications. Customers may also increase their spending to protect their computer networks from attack, which could delay adoption of new technologies. Any of these actions by customers and the cost of addressing such security problems may have a material adverse effect on our business.
Although our license agreements with our customers contain provisions designed to limit our exposure as a result of the situations listed above, such provisions may not be effective. Existing or future federal, state, or local laws or ordinances or unfavorable judicial decisions could affect their enforceability. To date, we have not experienced any such product liability claims, but there can be no assurance that this will not occur in the future. Because our products are used in essential business applications, a successful product liability claim could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. Additionally, defending such a suit, regardless of its merits, could entail substantial expense and require the time and attention of key management.
Any interruptions or delays in services from third-parties, including data center hosting facilities and cloud computing platform providers, or our inability to adequately plan for and manage service interruptions or infrastructure capacity requirements, could impair the delivery of our services and harm our business.
We currently serve our customers from third-party data center hosting facilities and cloud computing platform providers located in the United States and other countries. Any damage to, or failure of our systems generally, including the systems of our third-party platform providers, could result in interruptions in our services. We have from time to time experienced interruptions in our services and such interruptions may occur in the future. As we increase our reliance on these third-party systems, the risk of service interruptions may increase. Interruptions in our services may cause customers to make warranty or other claims against us or terminate their subscriptions and adversely affect our ability to attract new customers, all of which would reduce our revenues. Our business also would be harmed if customers and potential customers believe our services are unreliable.
These data and cloud computing platforms may not continue to be available at reasonable prices, on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Any loss of the right to use any of these cloud computing platforms could significantly increase our expenses and otherwise result in delays in providing our services until equivalent technology is either developed by us or, if available, is identified, purchased or licensed and integrated into our services.
If we do not accurately plan for our infrastructure capacity requirements and we experience significant strains on our data center capacity, our customers could experience performance degradation or service outages that may subject us to financial liabilities, result in customer losses and harm our business. As we add data centers and capacity and continue to move to a cloud computing platform, we may move or transfer our data and our customers’ data. Despite precautions taken during this process, any unsuccessful data transfers may impair the delivery of our services, which may adversely impact our business.
Privacy and security concerns, including evolving government regulation in the area of consumer data privacy, could adversely affect our business and operating results.
Governments in some jurisdictions have enacted or are considering enacting consumer data privacy legislation, including laws and regulations applying to the solicitation, collection, processing and use of consumer data. For example, in 2016, the European Union adopted a new law governing data practices and privacy called the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which became effective in May 2018. The law establishes new requirements regarding the handling of personal data. Non-compliance with the GDPR may result in monetary penalties of up to 4% of worldwide revenue. The GDPR and other changes in
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laws or regulations associated with the enhanced protection of certain types of sensitive data could greatly increase our cost of providing our products and services or even prevent us from offering certain services in jurisdictions that we operate. Additionally, public perception and standards related to the privacy of personal information can shift rapidly, in ways that may affect our reputation or influence regulators to enact regulations and laws that may limit our ability to provide certain products. U.S. federal, state, or foreign laws and regulations, including laws and regulations regulating privacy, data security, or consumer protection, or other policies, public perception, standards, self-regulatory requirements or legal obligations could reduce the demand for our software products if we fail to design or enhance our products to enable our customers to comply with the privacy and security measures dictated by these requirements. Moreover, we may be exposed to liability under existing or new consumer data privacy legislation. Even technical violations of these laws can result in penalties that are assessed for each non-compliant transaction. If we or our customers were found to be subject to and in violation of any of these laws or other data privacy laws or regulations, our business could suffer and we and/or our customers would likely have to change our business practices.
We might experience significant errors or security flaws in our software products and services.
Despite testing prior to their release, software products frequently contain errors or security flaws, especially when first introduced or when new versions are released. The detection and correction of any security flaws can be time-consuming and costly. Errors in our software products could affect the ability of our products to work with other hardware or software products, could delay the development or release of new products or new versions of products and could adversely affect market acceptance of our products. If we experience errors or delays in releasing new software products or new versions of software products, we could lose revenues. In addition, there could be security issues with our products and networks and any security flaws, if exploited, could affect our ability to conduct internal business operations. End users, who rely on our software products and services for applications that are critical to their businesses, may have a greater sensitivity to product errors and security vulnerabilities than do customers for software products generally. Software product errors and security flaws in our products or services could expose us to product liability, performance and/or warranty claims as well as harm our reputation, which could impact our future sales of products and services. In addition, we may be legally required to publicly report security breaches, which could adversely impact future business prospects for our products and services.
RISK FACTORS RELATED TO OUR PERSONNEL
We are dependent upon key personnel, and need to attract and retain highly qualified personnel in all areas.
Our future operating results depend significantly upon the continued service of a relatively small number of key senior management and technical personnel, including our President, H. Allan Dow. None of our key personnel are bound by long-term employment agreements. We do not have in place “key person” life insurance policies on any of our employees. If we fail to retain senior management or other key personnel, or fail to attract key personnel, our succession planning and operations could be materially and adversely affected and could jeopardize our ability to meet our business goals.
Our future success also depends on our continuing ability to attract, train, retain and motivate other highly qualified managerial and technical personnel. Competition for these personnel is intense, and at times we have experienced difficulty in recruiting and retaining qualified personnel, including sales and marketing representatives, qualified software engineers involved in ongoing product development, and personnel who assist in the implementation of our products and provide other services. The market for such individuals is competitive. For example, it has been particularly difficult to attract and retain product development personnel experienced in object oriented development technologies. Given the critical roles of our sales, product development and consulting staffs, our inability to recruit successfully or any significant loss of key personnel would adversely affect us. A high level of employee mobility and aggressive recruiting of skilled personnel characterizes the software industry. It may be particularly difficult to retain or compete for skilled personnel against larger, better-known software companies. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to retain our current personnel, attract and retain other highly qualified technical and managerial personnel in the future, or assimilate the employees from any acquired businesses. We will continue to adjust the size and composition of our workforce to match the relevant product and geographic demand cycles. If we are unable to attract and retain the necessary technical and managerial personnel, or assimilate the employees from any acquired businesses, our business, operating results and financial condition would be adversely affected.
The failure to attract, train, retain and effectively manage employees could negatively impact our development and sales efforts and cause a degradation of our customer service. In particular, the loss of sales personnel could lead to lost sales opportunities because it can take several months to hire and train replacement sales personnel. If our competitors increase their use of non-compete agreements, the pool of available sales and technical personnel may further narrow in certain areas, even if the non-compete agreements ultimately prove to be unenforceable. We may grant large numbers of stock options to attract and retain personnel, which could be highly dilutive to our shareholders. The volatility or lack of positive performance of our stock price may adversely affect our ability to retain or attract employees. The loss of key management and technical personnel or the inability to attract and retain additional qualified personnel could have an adverse effect on us.
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We periodically have restructured our sales force, which can be disruptive.
We continue to rely heavily on our direct sales force. Periodically, we have restructured or made other adjustments to our sales force in response to factors such as product changes, geographical coverage and other internal considerations. Change in the structures of the sales force and sales force management can result in temporary lack of focus and reduced productivity that may affect revenues in one or more quarters. Future restructuring of our sales force could occur, and if so we may again experience the adverse transition issues associated with such restructuring.
Our technical personnel have unique access to customer data, and may abuse that privilege.
Of necessity for the proper rendering of the services we provide, our technical personnel have the ability to access data on the systems run by our customers or hosted by us for our customers. This would include data about the operations of our customers and even about the customers of our customers. Although we have never had such an occurrence in the entire history of our Company, it is conceivable that such access could be abused in order to improperly utilize that data to the detriment of such customers.
RISK FACTORS RELATED TO OUR CORPORATE STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE
Our business is subject to changing regulation of corporate governance and public disclosure that has increased both our costs and the risk of noncompliance.
Because our common stock is publicly traded, we are subject to certain rules and regulations of federal, state and financial market exchange entities charged with the protection of investors and the oversight of companies whose securities are publicly traded. These entities, including the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the SEC and NASDAQ, have issued requirements and regulations and continue to develop additional regulations and requirements in response to laws enacted by Congress, most notably the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Our efforts to comply with these regulations have resulted in, and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities.
In particular, our efforts to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the related regulations regarding our required assessment of our internal control over financial reporting and our independent public accounting firm’s audit of that assessment have required, and continue to require, the commitment of significant financial and managerial resources. Moreover, because these laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance becomes available. This evolution may result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and additional costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to our disclosure and governance practices. Over time, we have made significant changes in, and may consider making additional changes to, our internal controls, our disclosure controls and procedures, and our corporate governance policies and procedures. Any system of controls, however well designed and operated, is based in part on certain assumptions and can provide only reasonable, and not absolute, assurances that the objectives of the system are met. Any failure of our controls, policies and procedures could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flow and financial condition.
If in the future we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective as of the end of the then current fiscal year (or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting), we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which would have a negative market reaction.
One stockholder beneficially owns a substantial portion of our stock, and as a result exerts substantial control over us.
As of June 30, 2019, James C. Edenfield, Executive Chairman, Treasurer and a Director of the Company, beneficially owned 1,821,587 shares, or 100%, of our Class B common stock, and 221,00 shares, or 0.75%, of our Class A common stock. If all of Mr. Edenfield’s Class B shares were converted into Class A shares, Mr. Edenfield would beneficially own 2,042,587 Class A shares, which would represent approximately 6.52% of all outstanding Class A shares after giving effect to such conversion. As a result of Mr. Edenfield’s ownership of Class B common stock, he has the right to elect a majority of our Board of Directors. Moreover, Mr. Edenfield and a member of his immediate family constitute two of the six members of the Board, and thus have significant influence in directing the actions of the Board. Such control and concentration of ownership may discourage a potential acquirer from making a purchase offer that other shareholders might find favorable, which in turn could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
Our articles of incorporation and bylaws and Georgia law may inhibit a takeover of our company.
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Our basic corporate documents and Georgia law contain provisions that might enable our management to resist a takeover. These provisions might discourage, delay or prevent a change in the control or a change in our management. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for you and other shareholders to elect directors and take other corporate actions. The existence of these provisions could also limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock.
We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of NASDAQ rules and, as a result, qualify for, and rely on, exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.
Because Mr. Edenfield has the ability to elect more than half of the members of our Board of Directors, we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the rules governing companies with stock quoted on the NASDAQ Global Select Market. Under these rules, a “controlled company” is a company of which more than 50% of the voting power for the election of directors is held by an individual, a group or another company. As a controlled company, we are exempt from certain corporate governance requirements, including requirements that: (1) a majority of the board of directors consist of independent directors; (2) compensation of officers be determined or recommended to the board of directors by a majority of its independent directors or by a compensation committee that is composed entirely of independent directors; and (3) director nominees be selected or recommended for selection by a majority of the independent directors or by a nominating committee composed solely of independent directors. Our Board of Directors does not have a majority of independent directors, and our compensation committee is not required to consist entirely of independent directors. We are not required to have, and have not chosen to establish, a nominating committee. Accordingly, our procedures for approving significant corporate decisions are not subject to the same corporate governance requirements as non-controlled companies with stock quoted on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.
RISK FACTORS RELATED TO OUR STOCK PRICE
We could experience fluctuations in quarterly operating results that could adversely affect our stock price.
We have difficulty predicting our actual quarterly operating results, which have varied widely in the past and which we expect to continue to vary significantly from quarter to quarter due to a number of factors, many of which are outside our control. We base our expense levels, operating costs and hiring plans on projections of future revenues, and it is difficult for us to rapidly adjust when actual results do not match our projections. If our quarterly revenue or operating results fall below the expectations of investors or public market analysts, the price of our common stock could fall substantially. License revenues in any quarter depend substantially on the combined contracting activity of the American Software group of companies and our ability to recognize revenues in that quarter in accordance with our revenue recognition policies. Our contracting activity is difficult to forecast for a variety of reasons, including the following:
• | we complete a significant portion of our customer agreements within the last few weeks of each quarter; |
• | if a license agreement includes cloud services such as managing the application and hosting the server that are performed over the term of the contract, this requires all the revenue to be spread over the term of the contract; |
• | our sales cycle for products and services, including multiple levels of authorization required by some customers, is relatively long and variable because of the complex and mission-critical nature of our products; |
•the demand for our products and services can vary significantly;
•the size of our transactions can vary significantly;
• | the possibility of adverse global political conditions and economic downturns, both domestic and international, characterized by decreased product demand, price erosion, technological shifts, work slowdowns and layoffs, may substantially reduce customer demand and contracting activity; |
• | customers may unexpectedly postpone or cancel anticipated system replacement or new system evaluation and implementation due to changes in their strategic priorities, project objectives, budgetary constraints, internal purchasing processes or company management; |
• | customer evaluations and purchasing processes vary from company to company, and a customer’s internal approval and expenditure authorization process can be difficult and time-consuming, even after selection of a vendor; and |
• | the number, timing and significance of software product enhancements and new software product announcements by us and by our competitors may affect purchase decisions. |
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Variances or slowdowns in our licensing activity in prior quarters may affect current and future consulting, training and maintenance revenues, since these revenues typically follow license fee revenues. Our ability to maintain or increase services revenues primarily depends on our ability to increase the number and size of our licensing agreements. In addition, we base our budgeted operating costs and hiring plans primarily on our projections of future revenues. Because most of our expense levels are relatively fixed, including employee compensation and rent in the near term, if our actual revenues fall below projections in any particular quarter, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, our expense levels are based, in part, on our expectations regarding future revenue increases. As a result, any shortfall in revenue in relation to our expectations could cause significant changes in our operating results from quarter to quarter and could result in quarterly losses. As a result of these factors, we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our revenue levels and operating results are not necessarily meaningful. As a result, predictions of our future performance should not be based solely on our historical quarterly revenue and operating results.
Our stock price is volatile and there is a risk of litigation.
The trading price of our common stock has been in the past and may in the future be subject to wide fluctuations in response to factors such as the following:
• | general market conditions; |
• | revenue or results of operations in any quarter failing to meet the expectations, published or otherwise, of the investment community; |
• | customer order deferrals resulting from the anticipation of new products, economic uncertainty, disappointing operating results by the customer, management changes, corporate reorganizations or otherwise; |
• | reduced investor confidence in equity markets, due in part to corporate collapses in recent years; |
• | speculation in the press or analyst community; |
• | wide fluctuations in stock prices, particularly with respect to the stock prices for other technology companies; |
• | announcements of technological innovations by us or our competitors; |
• | new products or the acquisition or loss of significant customers by us or our competitors; |
• | developments with respect to our copyrights or other proprietary rights or those of our competitors; |
• | changes in interest rates; |
• | changes in investors’ beliefs as to the appropriate price-earnings ratios for us and our competitors; |
• | changes in recommendations or financial estimates by securities analysts who track our common stock or the stock of other software companies; |
• | changes in management; |
• | sales of common stock by our controlling shareholders, directors and executive officers; |
• | rumors or dissemination of false or misleading information, particularly through Internet chat rooms, instant messaging, and other rapid-dissemination methods; |
• | conditions and trends in the software industry generally; |
• | the announcement of acquisitions or other significant transactions by us or our competitors; |
• | adoption of new accounting standards affecting the software industry; |
• | domestic or international terrorism and other factors; and |
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• | the other factors described in these “Risk Factors.” |
Fluctuations in the price of our common stock may expose us to the risk of securities class action lawsuits. Although no such lawsuits are currently pending against us and we are not aware that any such lawsuit is threatened to be filed in the future, there is no assurance that we will not be sued based on fluctuations in the price of our common stock. Defending against such lawsuits could result in substantial cost and divert management’s attention and resources. In addition, any settlement or adverse determination of these lawsuits could subject us to significant liabilities.
Our dividend policy is subject to change.
On May 29, 2019, our Board of Directors declared quarterly dividends of $0.11 per share, payable to our Class A and Class B common stockholders. We currently expect to declare and pay cash dividends at this level on a quarterly basis in the future. However, our dividend policy may be affected by, among other things, our views on business conditions, our financial position, earnings, earnings outlook, capital spending plans and other factors that our Board of Directors considers relevant at that time. Our dividend policy has changed in the past and may change from time to time, and we cannot provide assurance that we will continue to declare dividends at all or in any particular amounts. A change in our dividend policy could have a negative effect on the market price of our common stock.
The price of our common stock may decline due to shares eligible for future sale or actual future sales of substantial amounts of our common stock.
Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales may occur, could cause the market price of our common stock to decline. As of June 30, 2019, if all of our outstanding Class B common shares were converted into Class A common shares, our current directors and executive officers of the Company as a group would beneficially own approximately 10.85% of all outstanding Class A common shares after giving effect to such conversion. Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market by these persons, or the perception that such sales may occur, could cause the market price of our common stock to decline and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities.
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.
ITEM 2. | PROPERTIES |
Our corporate headquarters are located in an approximately 100,000 square foot office building that we own at 470 East Paces Ferry Road, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia.
We have entered into leases for sales and technology development offices located in various cities in the United States and overseas. We believe our existing facilities are adequate for our current needs and that suitable additional or substitute space will be available as needed on commercially reasonable terms.
Each of our three segments makes use of the property at 470 East Paces Ferry Road and our SCM segment occupies office space that we lease in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands, India, New Zealand and Australia.
ITEM 3. | LEGAL PROCEEDINGS |
(a) | Many of our installations involve products that are critical to the operations of our customers’ businesses. Any failure in our products could result in a claim for substantial damages against us, regardless of our responsibility for such failure. Although we attempt to contractually limit our liability for damages arising from product failures or negligent acts or omissions, there |
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can be no assurance that the limitations of liability contained in our contracts will be enforceable in all instances. We are not currently a party to any material legal proceedings that would require disclosure under this Item.
(b) | None. |
ITEM 4. | MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES |
Not applicable.
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PART II
ITEM 5. | MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS, AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES |
Trading Market
Our Class A Common Shares are listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “AMSWA”. As of July 5, 2019, there were 10,680 holders of Class A shares who held their stock either individually or in nominee or “street” names through various brokerage firms, and one holder of Class B Common Shares.
Equity Compensation Plans
The following table discloses information regarding the Company’s equity compensation plans as of April 30, 2019:
Plan Category | Number of securities to be issued upon exercise of outstanding options, warrants and rights | Weighted-average exercise price of outstanding options, warrants and rights | Number of securities remaining available for future issuance under equity compensation plans (excluding securities reflected in the first column) | ||||||
Equity compensation plans approved by security holders | 3,983,060 | $ | 10.88 | 87,143 | |||||
Dividend Policy
Since the third quarter of fiscal 2013, our Board of Directors had declared quarterly dividends of $0.10 per share. On May 11, 2016, our Board increased the quarterly dividends to $0.11 per share, payable to our Class A and Class B common stockholders. We currently expect to declare and pay cash dividends at this level on a quarterly basis in the future. The continuation of this policy, and payment of future cash dividends, will be at the sole discretion of the Board of Directors. In exercising this discretion, the Board will consider our profitability, financial condition, cash requirements, future prospects and other relevant factors. Our dividend policy has changed in the past and may change from time to time, and we cannot provide assurance that we will continue to declare dividends at all or in any particular amounts.
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Stock Price Performance Graph
The graph below reflects the cumulative stockholder return on the Company’s shares compared to the return of the NASDAQ Stock Market – US Companies ("NASDAQ Composite Index") and a peer group index on a quarterly basis. The graph reflects the investment of $100 on April 30, 2014 in the Company’s stock, the NASDAQ Stock Market-US NASDAQ Composite Index and the NASDAQ Computer Index, a published industry peer group index. The NASDAQ Computer Index consists of approximately 320 NASDAQ-listed companies, including computer hardware and software companies that furnish computer programming and data processing services and firms that produce computers, office equipment, and electronic component/accessories. The total cumulative dollar returns shown below represent the value that such investments would have had on April 30, 2019.
FY 2014 | FY 2015 | FY 2016 | FY 2017 | FY 2018 | FY 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||
American Software(a) | $ | 100 | $ | 105 | $ | 104 | $ | 132 | $ | 162 | $ | 166 | |||||||||||
NASDAQ Composite | 100 | 120 | 116 | 147 | 172 | 197 | |||||||||||||||||
NASDAQ Computer Index | 100 | 123 | 119 | 164 | 201 | 241 | |||||||||||||||||
_______________
(a) | This series includes dividends paid over the disclosed period. |
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Purchases of Equity Securities by the Company
The following table summarizes repurchases of our stock in the quarter ended April 30, 2019:
Fiscal Period | Total Number of Shares Purchased | Average Price Paid Per Share | Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs | Maximum Number of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs* | ||||||||
February 1, 2019 through February 28, 2019 | — | $ | — | — | 946,321 | |||||||
March 1, 2019 through March 31, 2019 | — | $ | — | — | 946,321 | |||||||
April 1, 2019 through April 30, 2019 | — | $ | — | — | 946,321 | |||||||
Total Fiscal 2019 Fourth Quarter | — | $ | — | — | 946,321 | |||||||
_____________
* | The above share purchase authority was approved by the Board of Directors on August 19, 2002, when the Board approved a resolution authorizing the Company to repurchase up to 2.0 million shares of Class A common stock. This action was announced on August 22, 2002. The authorization has no expiration date. |
Transfer Agent
American Stock Transfer & Trust Company LLC
6201 15th Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11219
Toll free: (800) 937-5449
Local & international: (718) 921-8124
http://www.astfinancial.com
Inquiries regarding stock transfers, lost certificates or address changes should be directed to the above address.
Market Makers
The following firms make a market in the Class A common shares of American Software, Inc:
B. Riley FBR, INC. | Latour Trading LLC | |
Barclays Capital Inc. | Maxim Group LLC | |
Bofa Securities, Inc. | Needham & Company, LLC | |
Citadel Derivatives Group LLC | RBC Capital Markets, LLC | |
Citadel Securities LLC | Susquehanna Financial Group, LLLP | |
Collins Stewart LLC | Susquehanna Securities | |
Cowen and Company, LLC | Two Sigma Securities, LLC | |
Deutsche Banc Alex Brown | UBS Securities LLC | |
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC | VIRTU Americas LLC | |
IMC Financial Markets | Wolverine Securities, LLC | |
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ITEM 6. | SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA |
The selected consolidated financial data presented below as of and for the years ended April 30, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015 is derived from our audited consolidated financial statements.
Consolidated Statements of Operations Data:
Years Ended April 30, | |||||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | |||||||||||||||
(In thousands, except per share data) | |||||||||||||||||||
Revenues: | |||||||||||||||||||
License fees | $ | 7,126 | $ | 15,344 | $ | 15,584 | $ | 22,043 | $ | 16,748 | |||||||||
Subscription fees | 14,026 | 8,855 | 4,381 | 3,273 | 1,439 | ||||||||||||||
Professional services and other | 42,154 | 44,663 | 43,932 | 47,826 | 45,776 | ||||||||||||||
Maintenance | 45,400 | 43,841 | 42,389 | 40,747 | 38,910 | ||||||||||||||
Total revenues | 108,706 | 112,703 | 106,286 | 113,889 | 102,873 | ||||||||||||||
Cost of revenues: | |||||||||||||||||||
License fees | 6,430 | 6,261 | 6,713 | 7,552 | 7,675 | ||||||||||||||
Subscription fees | 5,759 | 3,817 | 3,290 | 1,528 | 565 | ||||||||||||||
Professional services and other | 31,421 | 30,596 | 31,374 | 35,708 | 33,639 | ||||||||||||||
Maintenance | 8,356 | 9,326 | 9,707 | 9,441 | 8,580 | ||||||||||||||
Total cost of revenues | 51,966 | 50,000 | 51,084 | 54,229 | 50,459 | ||||||||||||||
Gross margin | 56,740 | 62,703 | 55,202 | 59,660 | 52,414 | ||||||||||||||
Operating expenses: | |||||||||||||||||||
Research and development costs | 13,078 | 11,877 | 11,889 | 11,248 | 11,088 | ||||||||||||||
Sales and marketing expense | 20,992 | 20,658 | 20,287 | 22,164 | 18,667 | ||||||||||||||
General and administrative expenses | 17,006 | 16,057 | 14,219 | 12,449 | 12,923 | ||||||||||||||
Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles | 388 | 580 | 1,041 | 272 | 394 | ||||||||||||||
Total operating expenses | 51,464 | 49,172 | 47,436 | 46,133 | 43,072 | ||||||||||||||
Operating income | 5,276 | 13,531 | 7,766 | 13,527 | 9,342 | ||||||||||||||
Other income, net | 2,365 | 2,184 | 13,849 | 1,173 | 1,060 | ||||||||||||||
Earnings before income taxes | 7,641 | 15,715 | 21,615 | 14,700 | 10,402 | ||||||||||||||
Income tax expense | 838 | 3,662 | 6,994 | 4,458 | 2,274 | ||||||||||||||
Net earnings | $ | 6,803 | $ | 12,053 | $ | 14,621 | $ | 10,242 | $ | 8,128 | |||||||||
Earnings per common share(a): | |||||||||||||||||||
Basic | $ | 0.22 | $ | 0.40 | $ | 0.50 | $ | 0.36 | $ | 0.29 | |||||||||
Diluted | $ | 0.22 | $ | 0.40 | $ | 0.49 | $ | 0.35 | $ | 0.28 | |||||||||
Weighted average common shares—Basic | 30,950 | 30,080 | 29,232 | 28,727 | 28,283 | ||||||||||||||
Diluted | 31,378 | 30,472 | 29,567 | 29,005 | 28,614 | ||||||||||||||
Cash dividends declared | $ | 0.44 | $ | 0.44 | $ | 0.44 | $ | 0.40 | $ | 0.40 | |||||||||
Consolidated Balance Sheet Data: | |||||||||||||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 61,288 | $ | 52,794 | $ | 66,001 | $ | 49,004 | $ | 44,655 | |||||||||
Investments—short and long term | $ | 27,194 | $ | 35,014 | $ | 23,787 | $ | 28,881 | $ | 30,740 | |||||||||
Working capital | $ | 69,401 | $ | 61,402 | $ | 66,789 | $ | 54,801 | $ | 46,340 | |||||||||
Total assets | $ | 161,310 | $ | 162,965 | $ | 148,774 | $ | 136,724 | $ | 134,266 | |||||||||
American Software, Inc. shareholders’ equity | $ | 114,607 | $ | 112,584 | $ | 103,750 | $ | 94,894 | $ | 92,926 | |||||||||
_______________
(a) | Diluted per share amounts for Class A shares are shown above. Diluted per share for Class B shares under the two-class method are $0.22, $0.39, $0.49, $0.35, and $0.29 for the years ended April 30, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015, respectively. See Note 1(s) to the Consolidated Financial Statements. |
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ITEM 7. | MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS |
The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with “Item 6. Selected Financial Data” and “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data”. This discussion contains forward-looking statements relating to our future financial performance, business strategy, financing plans and other future events that involve uncertainties and risks. You can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “continue,” “could,” “grow,” “may,” “potential,” “predict,” “strive,” “estimate,” “believe,” “expect” and similar expressions that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes. Any forward-looking statements herein are made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our actual results could differ materially from the results anticipated by these forward-looking statements as a result of many known and unknown factors that are beyond our ability to control or predict, including but not limited to those discussed above in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this report. See also “Special Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” at the beginning of “Item 1. Business.”
CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ESTIMATES
We have based the following discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations on our consolidated financial statements, which we have prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019, describes the significant accounting policies that we have used in preparing our consolidated financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates, including, but not limited to, those related to revenue/collectability, stock-based compensation, income taxes and business combinations. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Our actual results could differ materially from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
We believe the critical accounting policies listed below affect significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of the financial statements.
Revenue Recognition. The most critical judgments required in applying Topic 606 and our revenue recognition policy relate to the determination of distinct performance obligations and the evaluation of the standalone selling price (SSP) for each performance obligation.
Many of our customer contracts include multiple performance obligations. Judgment is required in determining whether each performance obligation within a customer contract is distinct. The Company’s products and services generally do not require a significant amount of integration or interdependency. Therefore, multiple products and services contained within a customer contract are generally considered to be distinct and are not combined for revenue recognition purposes. We allocate the transaction price for each customer contract to each performance obligation based on the relative SSP (the determination of SSP is discussed below) for each performance obligation within each contract. We recognize the amount of transaction price allocated to each performance obligation within a customer contract as revenue as each performance obligation is delivered.
We use judgment in determining the SSP for products and services. For substantially all performance obligations except on-premise licenses, we are able to establish the SSP based on the observable prices of products or services sold separately in comparable circumstances to similar customers. We typically establish an SSP range for our products and services, which is reassessed on a periodic basis or when facts and circumstances change. SSP for our products and services can evolve over time due to changes in our pricing practices that are influenced by intense competition, changes in demand for our products and services, and economic factors, among others. Our on-premise licenses have not historically been sold on a standalone basis, as substantially all customers elect to purchase license support contracts at the time of a on-premise license purchase. License support contracts are generally priced as a percentage of the net fees paid by the customer to access the license. We are unable to establish the SSP for our on-premise licenses based on observable prices given the same products are sold for a broad range of amounts (that is, the selling price is highly variable) and a representative SSP is not discernible from past transactions or other observable evidence. As a result, the SSP for an on-premise license included in a contract with multiple performance obligations is determined by applying a residual approach whereby all other performance obligations within a contract are first allocated a portion of the transaction price based upon their respective SSPs, with any residual amount of transaction price allocated to on-premise license revenues.
Income Taxes. We provide for the effect of income taxes on our financial position and results of operations in accordance with the Income Tax Topic of the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC"). Under this accounting guidance, income tax expense is recognized for the amount of income taxes payable or refundable for the current year
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and for the change in net deferred tax assets or liabilities resulting from events that are recorded for financial reporting purposes in a different reporting period than recorded in the tax return. Management must make significant assumptions, judgments and estimates to determine our current provision for income taxes and also our deferred tax assets and liabilities and any valuation allowance to be recorded against our net deferred tax asset. Our judgments, assumptions and estimates relative to the current provision for income tax take into account current tax laws, our interpretation of current tax laws, allowable deductions, tax planning strategies, projected tax credits and possible outcomes of current and future audits conducted by foreign and domestic tax authorities. Changes in tax laws or our interpretation of tax laws and the resolution of current and future tax audits could significantly impact the amounts provided for income taxes in our financial position and results of operations. Our assumptions, judgments and estimates relative to the value of our deferred tax asset take into account our expectations of the amount and category of future taxable income. Actual operating results and the underlying amount and category of income in future years, which could significantly increase tax expense, could render inaccurate our current assumptions, judgments and estimates of recoverable net deferred taxes.
Business Combinations and Intangible Assets Including Goodwill. We account for business combinations using the acquisition method of accounting and accordingly, the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed are recorded based upon management’s estimates of current fair values as of the acquisition date. The estimation process includes analyses based on income and market approaches. Goodwill represents the excess purchase price over the fair value of net assets, including the amount assigned to identifiable intangible assets. The goodwill generated is due in part to the synergies that are not included in the fair value of identifiable intangible assets. Goodwill recorded in an acquisition is assigned to applicable reporting units based on expected revenues. Identifiable intangible assets with finite lives are amortized over their useful lives. Amortization of current technology is recorded in cost of revenues-license and amortization of all other intangible assets is recorded in amortization of acquisition-related intangibles. Acquisition-related costs, including advisory, legal, accounting, valuation and other costs, are expensed in general and administrative expenses in the periods in which the costs are incurred. The results of operations of acquired businesses are included in the consolidated financial statements from the acquisition date.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following table sets forth certain revenue and expense items as a percentage of total revenues for the three years ended April 30, 2019, 2018, and 2017 and the percentage increases and decreases in those items for the years ended April 30, 2019 and 2018:
Percentage of Total Revenues | Pct. Change in Dollars | Pct. Change in Dollars | ||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2019 vs. 2018 | 2018 vs. 2017 | ||||||||||
Revenues: | ||||||||||||||
License | 7 | % | 14 | % | 15 | % | (54 | )% | (2 | )% | ||||
Subscription fees | 13 | 7 | 4 | 58 | 102 | |||||||||
Professional services and other | 39 | 40 | 41 | (6 | ) | 2 | ||||||||
Maintenance | 41 | 39 | 40 | 4 | 3 | |||||||||
Total revenues | 100 | 100 | 100 | (4 | ) | 6 | ||||||||
Cost of revenues: | ||||||||||||||
License | 6 | 6 | 7 | 13 | (7 | ) | ||||||||
Subscription fees | 5 | 3 | 3 | 34 | 16 | |||||||||
Professional services and other | 29 | 27 | 29 | 3 | (2 | ) | ||||||||
Maintenance | 8 | 8 | 9 | (10 | ) | (4 | ) | |||||||
Total cost of revenues | 48 | 44 | 48 | 4 | (2 | ) | ||||||||
Gross margin | 52 | 56 | 52 | 14 | 14 | |||||||||
Research and development | 12 | 11 | 11 | 10 | — | |||||||||
Sales and marketing | 19 | 18 | 19 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
General and administrative | 16 | 14 | 13 | 6 | 13 | |||||||||
Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles | — | 1 | 1 | (33 | ) | (44 | ) | |||||||
Total operating expenses | 47 | 44 | 44 | 4 | 4 | |||||||||
Operating income | 5 | 12 | 8 | (61 | ) | 74 | ||||||||
Other income: | ||||||||||||||
Interest income | 2 | 1 | 1 | 33 | 25 | |||||||||
Other, net | — | 1 | 12 | (55 | ) | (95 | ) | |||||||
Earnings before income taxes | 7 | 14 | 21 | (51 | ) | (27 | ) | |||||||
Income tax expense | 1 | 3 | 7 | (77 | ) | (48 | ) | |||||||
Net earnings | 6 | % | 11 | % | 14 | % | (44 | )% | (18 | )% | ||||
Economic Overview and Significant Trends in Our Business
Corporate capital spending trends and commitments are the primary determinants of the size of the market for business software. Corporate capital spending is, in turn, a function of general economic conditions in the U.S. and abroad and in particular may be affected by conditions in U.S. and global credit markets. In recent years, the weakness in the overall global economy and the U.S. economy in particular has resulted in reduced expenditures in the business software market.
In April 2019, the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”) provided an update to the World Economic Outlook for the 2019 and 2020 world economic growth forecast. The update noted that, “After strong growth in 2017 and early 2018, global economic activity slowed notably in the second half of last year, reflecting a confluence of factors affecting major economies. China’s growth declined following a combination of needed regulatory tightening to rein in shadow banking and an increase in trade tensions with the United States. The euro area economy lost more momentum than expected as consumer and business confidence weakened and car production in Germany was disrupted by the introduction of new emission standards; investment dropped in Italy as sovereign spreads widened; and external demand, especially from emerging Asia, softened. As a result of these developments, global growth is now projected to slow from 3.6 percent in 2018 to 3.3 percent in 2019, before returning to 3.6 percent in 2020. Growth for 2018 was revised down by 0.1 percentage point relative to the October 2018 World Economic Outlook (WEO), reflecting weakness in the second half of the year, and the forecasts for 2019 and 2020 are now marked down by 0.4 percentage point and 0.1 percentage point, respectively.”
For fiscal 2020, we expect the global economy to improve when compared to the prior year, which could result in an improved selling environment. Overall information technology spending is improving as a result of the current global economic environment. We believe information technology spending will incrementally improve over the long term as increased global competition forces companies to improve productivity by upgrading their technology systems. Although this improvement could slow or regress at any
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time, due in part to concerns in global capital markets and general economic conditions, we believe that our organizational and financial structure will enable us to take advantage of any sustained economic rebound. Customers continue to take long periods to evaluate discretionary software purchases.
We believe the improvement in economic conditions may be driving some businesses to invest in achieving more process and efficiency enhancements in their operations and to invest in solutions that improve operating margins, rather than make large infrastructure-type technology purchases. If this trend continues, we believe it may tend to favor solutions such as our Logility supply chain solutions, which are designed to provide a more rapid return on investment and are targeted at some of the largest profit drivers in a customer’s business. While the recent low growth environment has had a particularly adverse impact on the weaker companies in our target markets, we believe a large percentage of our customers are seeking to make investments to strengthen their operations, and some are taking advantage of current economic conditions to gain market share.
Business Opportunities and Risks
We currently view the following factors as the primary opportunities and risks associated with our business:
• | Dependence on Capital Spending Patterns. There is risk associated with our dependence on the capital spending patterns of U.S. and international businesses, which in turn are functions of economic trends and conditions over which we have no control. |
• | Acquisition Opportunities. There are opportunities for selective acquisitions or investments to expand our sales distribution channels and/or broaden our product offering by providing additional solutions for our target markets. |
• | Acquisition Risks. There are risks associated with acquisitions of complementary companies, products and technologies, including the risks that we will not achieve the financial and strategic goals that we contemplate at the time of the transaction. More specifically, in any acquisition we will face risks and challenges associated with the uncertain value of the acquired business or assets, the difficulty of assimilating operations and personnel, integrating acquired technologies and products and maintaining the loyalty of the customers of the acquired business. |
• | Competitive Technologies. There is a risk that our competitors may develop technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to our technology. |
• | Competition in General. There are risks inherent in the market for business application software and related services, which has been and continues to be intensely competitive; for example, some of our competitors may become more aggressive with their prices and/or payment terms, which may adversely affect our profit margins. |
For more information, please see “Risk Factors” in Item 1A. above.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
For information with respect to recent accounting pronouncements, if any, and the impact of these pronouncements on our consolidated financial statements, if any, see Note 1(n) of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Form 10-K.
Market Conditions by Operating Segment
We operate and manage our business in three segments based on software and services provided in three key product markets: (1) SCM, which provides collaborative supply chain solutions to streamline and optimize the production, distribution and management of products between trading partners; (2) IT Consulting, which consists of IT staffing and consulting services; and (3) Other, which consists of (i) American Software ERP, a provider of purchasing and materials management, customer order processing, financial, human resources, and manufacturing functions, and (ii) unallocated corporate overhead expenses. The SCM segment represents the business of Logility, DMI, Halo and NGC.
Our SCM segment experienced a 6% decrease in revenues during fiscal 2019 when compared to fiscal 2018, primarily due to a 54% decrease in license fees and a 16% decrease in professional services and other revenues partially offset by a 58% increase in subscription fees and a 4% increase in maintenance revenues. Our SCM segment experienced a 9% increase in revenues during fiscal 2018 when compared to fiscal 2017, primarily due to a 102% increase in subscription fees, an 8% increase in professional services and other revenues and a 4% increase in maintenance revenue partially offset by a 1% decrease in license fees.
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Our IT Consulting segment experienced an approximately 8% increase in revenues in fiscal 2019 when compared to fiscal 2018 and a decrease in revenues of approximately 6% in fiscal 2018 when compared to fiscal 2017, due primarily to fluctuations in IT staffing work at our largest customer and in fiscal year 2018 a decrease in customer project work. As companies have moved to cut costs and limit IT budgets, they have utilized more outsourcing services, which tend to be more cost-effective for them. In the past, this trend has resulted in increased business for this segment. However, there is a countervailing trend to outsource IT to international markets that historically have been more price competitive than domestic sources like ourselves. Our largest consulting customer comprised 47% of our IT Consulting revenues in fiscal 2019, 45% in fiscal 2018 and 42% in fiscal 2017. The loss of this customer would negatively and materially affect our IT Consulting business.
The Other segment revenues decreased 9% in fiscal 2019 when compared to fiscal 2018, primarily due to a 19% decrease in license fees and a 14% decrease in maintenance revenues, partially offset by a 3% increase in professional services and other revenues. The Other segment revenues increased 1% in fiscal 2018 when compared to fiscal 2017, primarily due to a 15% increase in professional services and other revenues that was partially offset by a 12% decrease in license fees and a 4% decrease in maintenance revenues.
REVENUES
Years Ended April 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | % Change | % of Total Revenues | ||||||||||||||||||||||
2019 to 2018 | 2018 to 2017 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
License | $ | 7,126 | $ | 15,344 | $ | 15,584 | (54 | )% | (2 | )% | 6 | % | 13 | % | 15 | % | ||||||||||
Subscription fees | 14,026 | 8,855 | 4,381 | 58 | % | 102 | % | 13 | % | 8 | % | 4 | % | |||||||||||||
Professional service and other | 42,154 | 44,663 | 43,932 | (6 | )% | 2 | % | 39 | % | 40 | % | 41 | % | |||||||||||||
Maintenance | 45,400 | 43,841 | 42,389 | 4 | % | 3 | % | 42 | % | 39 | % | 40 | % | |||||||||||||
Total revenues | $ | 108,706 | $ | 112,703 | $ | 106,286 | (4 | )% | 6 | % | 100 | % | 100 | % | 100 | % | ||||||||||
For the year ended April 30, 2019, the 4% decrease in total revenues was attributable primarily to a 54% decrease in license revenue and a 6% decrease in professional services and other revenues offset by a 58% increase in subscription fee and a 4% increase in maintenance revenues.
For the year ended April 30, 2018, the 6% increase in total revenues was attributable primarily to a 102% increase in subscription fees, a 3% increase in maintenance and a 2% increase in professional services and other revenues partially offset by a 2% decrease in license revenues.
Due to intensely competitive markets, we discount license fees from our published list price due to pricing pressure in our industry. Numerous factors contribute to the amount of the discounts provided, such as previous customer purchases, the number of customer sites utilizing the software, the number of modules purchased and the number of users, the type of platform deployment, as well as the overall size of the contract. While all these factors affect the discount amount of a particular contract, the overall percentage discount has not materially changed in the recent reported fiscal periods.
The change in our revenues from period to period is primarily due to the volume of products and related services sold in any period and the amounts of products or modules purchased with each sale.
International revenues represented approximately 20% of total revenues for the year ended April 30, 2019, 19% of total revenues for the year ended April 30, 2018, and 18% for the year ended April 30, 2017. Our international revenues may fluctuate substantially from period to period primarily because we derive these revenues from a relatively small number of customers.
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License Revenues
Years Ended April 30, | |||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | % Change | ||||||||||||||
2019 to 2018 | 2018 to 2017 | ||||||||||||||||
(in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||
Supply Chain Management | $ | 6,992 | $ | 15,177 | $ | 15,394 | (54 | )% | (1 | )% | |||||||
Other | 134 | 167 | 190 | (20 | )% | (12 | )% | ||||||||||
Total license revenues | $ | 7,126 | $ | 15,344 | $ | 15,584 | (54 | )% | (2 | )% | |||||||
For the year ended April 30, 2019, license fee revenues decreased by 54% when compared to the previous year due primarily to lower overall business information technology spending. SCM experienced a 54% decrease in license fees primarily due to the increased sales of our products on our Cloud Services platform that require revenue to be deferred over the life of the contracted period, which is typically one to three years. Our Other business segment experienced a 20% decrease in license fees for the year ended April 30, 2019 when compared to the same period in the prior year due to the timing of selling into the installed customer base. SCM constituted 98%, 99% and 99% of our total license fee revenues for the years ended April 30, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.
For the year ended April 30, 2018, license fee revenues decreased by 2% when compared to the previous year due primarily to lower overall business information technology spending. SCM experienced a 1% decrease in license fees primarily due to the increased sales of our products on our Cloud Services platform that require revenue to be deferred over the life of the contracted period, which is typically one to three years. Our Other business segment experienced a 12% decrease in license fees for the year ended April 30, 2018 when compared to the same period in the prior year due to the timing of selling into the installed customer base.
The direct sales channel provided approximately 84% of license fee revenues for the year ended April 30, 2019, compared to approximately 85% in fiscal 2018 and 77% in fiscal 2017. The decrease in direct license fees from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2019 was largely the result of increased sales of our products on our Cloud Services platform that require revenue to be deferred over the life of the contracted period. The decrease in indirect license fees from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2018 was largely due to lower overall business information technology spending.
For the year ended April 30, 2019, our margins after commissions on direct sales were approximately 87%, and our margins after commissions on indirect sales were approximately 55%. For the year ended April 30, 2018, our margins after commissions on direct sales were approximately 84%, and our margins after commissions on indirect sales were approximately 36%. For the year ended April 30, 2017, our margins after commissions on direct sales were approximately 85%, and our margins after commissions on indirect sales were approximately 46%. The margins after commissions for direct were relatively consistent in a range of 84% to 87%, while the range for indirect sales had a wider spread of 36% to 55%. The indirect channel margins for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2018 decreased when compared to the same periods in the prior year due to the mix of value-added reseller (“VAR”) commission rates. DMI is the source of the bulk of our indirect sales and the commission percentage varies based on whether the sale is domestic or international.
Subscription Fees
Years Ended April 30, | |||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | % Change | ||||||||||||||
2019 to 2018 | 2018 to 2017 | ||||||||||||||||
(in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||
Supply Chain Management | $ | 14,026 | $ | 8,855 | $ | 4,381 | 58 | % | 102 | % | |||||||
Total subscription fees revenue | $ | 14,026 | $ | 8,855 | $ | 4,381 | 58 | % | 102 | % | |||||||
For the year ended April 30, 2019, Cloud Services Annual Contract Value ("ACV") increased approximately 36% to $17.3 million compared to $12.7 million in the same period of the prior year due to increased sales of our products on our Cloud Services platform that require revenue to be deferred over the life of the contracted period, which is typically one to three years. ACV is a forward-looking operating measure used by management to better understand Cloud Services (SaaS and other related cloud services) revenue trends within our business, as it reflects our current estimate of revenue to be generated under existing client contracts in the forward 12-month period.
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Professional Services and Other Revenues
Years Ended April 30, | |||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | % Change | ||||||||||||||
2019 to 2018 | 2018 to 2017 | ||||||||||||||||
(in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||
Supply Chain Management | $ | 21,190 | $ | 25,272 | $ | 23,492 | (16 | )% | 8 | % | |||||||
IT Consulting | 20,007 | 18,460 | 19,633 | 8 | % | (6 | )% | ||||||||||
Other | 957 | 931 | 807 | 3 | % | 15 | % | ||||||||||
Total professional services and other revenues | $ | 42,154 | $ | 44,663 | $ | 43,932 | (6 | )% | 2 | % | |||||||
The 6% decrease in total professional services and other revenues for the year ended April 30, 2019 was due to a 16% decrease in professional services and other revenues from our SCM segment due primarily to the timing of implementation project work. This decrease was partially offset by an 8% increase in our IT consulting segment and a 3% increase in our Other segment due to utilization from project implementation services and services revenues.
The 2% increase in total professional services and other revenues for the year ended April 30, 2018 was due to a 15% and 8% increase in professional services and other revenues from our Other and SCM segments, respectively, due to improved customer retention and additional license sales. This increase was partially offset by a 6% decrease in our IT Consulting segment due to the completion in the first half of fiscal 2017 of an IT project from one of our larger customers.
In our software segments, we have observed that there is a tendency for professional services and other revenues to lag changes in license revenues by one to three quarters, as new licenses in one quarter often involve implementation and consulting services in subsequent quarters, for which we recognize revenues only as we perform those services.
Maintenance Revenues
Years Ended April 30, | |||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | % Change | ||||||||||||||
2019 to 2018 | 2018 to 2017 | ||||||||||||||||
(in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||
Supply Chain Management | $ | 44,088 | $ | 42,309 | $ | 40,790 | 4 | % | 4 | % | |||||||
Other | 1,312 | 1,532 | 1,599 | (14 | )% | (4 | )% | ||||||||||
Total maintenance revenues | $ | 45,400 | $ | 43,841 | $ | 42,389 | 4 | % | 3 | % | |||||||
The 4% increase in total maintenance revenues for the year ended April 30, 2019 was due to a 4% increase in maintenance revenues from our SCM segment, increased revenue from our recent Halo acquisition and additional license sales. This increase was partially offset by a 14% decrease in our Other segment due to fewer customer renewals and lower software license sales.
The 3% increase in total maintenance revenues for the year ended April 30, 2018 was due to a 4% increase in maintenance revenues from our SCM segment due to improved customer retention and additional license sales. This increase was partially offset by a 4% decrease in our Other segment due to fewer customer renewals and lower software license sales.
The SCM segment’s maintenance revenues constituted 97% of total maintenance revenues for the years ended April 30, 2019 and 2018 and 96% for the year ended April 30, 2017. Typically, our maintenance revenues have had a direct relationship to current and historic license fee revenues, since new licenses are the potential source of new maintenance customers.
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GROSS MARGIN
The following table provides both dollar amounts and percentage measures of gross margin:
Years Ended April 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Gross margin on license fees | $ | 696 | 10 | % | $ | 9,083 | 59 | % | $ | 8,871 | 57 | % | ||||||||
Gross margin on subscriptions fees | 8,267 | 59 | % | 5,038 | 57 | % | 1,091 | 25 | % | |||||||||||
Gross margin on professional services and other | 10,733 | 25 | % | 14,067 | 31 | % | 12,558 | 29 | % | |||||||||||
Gross margin on maintenance | 37,044 | 82 | % | 34,515 | 79 | % | 32,682 | 77 | % | |||||||||||
Total gross margin | $ | 56,740 | 52 | % | $ | 62,703 | 56 | % | $ | 55,202 | 52 | % | ||||||||
The total gross margin percentage for the year ended April 30, 2019 decreased to 52% in fiscal 2019 when compared to the same period in the prior year, due to the decrease in gross margin percentage for license fees and professional services and other gross margins, partially offset by an increase in subscription fees and maintenance gross margins. The total gross margin percentage for the year ended April 30, 2018 increased to 56% when compared to the same period in the prior year, due to the increase in gross margin percentages across all lines of business.
Gross Margin on License Fees
The decrease in license fee gross margin percentage for the year ended April 30, 2019 when compared to fiscal 2018 was primarily due to lower license fee revenue and higher amortization of intangibles expense. This was partially offset by lower capitalized software amortization expense and agent commission expense. License fee gross margin percentage tends to be directly related to the level of license fee revenues due to the relatively fixed cost of computer software amortization expense, amortization of acquired software and the sales mix between our direct and indirect channels.
The increase in license fee gross margin percentage for the year ended April 30, 2018 when compared to fiscal 2017 was primarily due to a decrease in amortization of capitalize software and agent commissions in fiscal 2018.
License fee gross margin percentage tends to be directly related to the level of license fee revenues due to the relatively fixed cost of computer software amortization expense, amortization of acquired software and the sales mix between our direct and indirect channels.
Gross Margin on Subscription Fees
For the year ended April 30, 2019, our gross margin percentage on subscription fees increased from 57% in fiscal 2018 to 59% primarily due to higher gross margins in our SCM segment services gross margin primarily due to an increase in our Subscription Service revenue which has higher margins.
For the year ended April 30, 2018, our gross margin percentage on subscription fees increased from 25% in fiscal 2017 to 57% entirely due to higher gross margins in our SCM segment, which increased from 25% in fiscal 2017 to 57% in fiscal 2018 due to increased sales of our products on our Cloud Services platform that require revenue to be deferred over the life of the contracted period, which is typically one to three years and a lower relative increase in subscription expenses to service the incremental subscription fee revenue.
Gross Margin on Professional Services and Other
For the year ended April 30, 2019, our gross margin percentage on professional services and other decreased from 31% in fiscal 2018 to 25% primarily due to lower gross margins in our SCM segment which decreased from 39% in fiscal 2018 to 28% due to lower revenues and lower billing utilization. Our IT Consulting segment professional services and other revenue gross margin increased from 21% in fiscal 2018 to 22% in fiscal 2019 due to an increase in project related billing. Our other segment increased from 44% in fiscal 2018 to 47% in fiscal 2019 due to improved billing utilization rates.
For the year ended April 30, 2018, our gross margin percentage on professional services and other increased from 29% in fiscal 2017 to 31% due to higher gross margins in our SCM segment of 37% from 39% in fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017, respectively. Our IT Consulting segment services gross margin increased from 18% in fiscal 2017 to 21%. Our Other segment increased from 33% in fiscal 2017 to 44% in fiscal 2018 due to improved billing utilization rates.
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As discussed above, our IT Consulting segment typically has lower margins when compared to the Other segments that have higher margin implementation service revenue. The IT Consulting segment was 47%, 41% and 45% of the Company’s professional services and other revenues in fiscal 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Our SCM segment was 50%, 57% and 53% of the Company’s professional services and other revenues in fiscal 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Our Other segment was 3%, 2% and 2% of the Company’s professional services and other revenues in fiscal 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.
Gross Margin on Maintenance
Maintenance gross margin increased to 82% in fiscal 2019 from 79% in fiscal 2018 due to an increase revenue from our Halo acquisition in the third quarter of fiscal 2018 and costs containment efforts. The primary cost component is maintenance staffing, which is relatively inelastic in the short term.
EXPENSES
Years Ended April 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | % of Revenues | |||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Research and development | $ | 13,078 | $ | 11,877 | $ | 11,889 | 12 | % | 11 | % | 11 | % | ||||||||
Sales and marketing | 20,992 | 20,658 | 20,287 | 19 | % | 18 | % | 19 | % | |||||||||||
General and administrative | 17,006 | 16,057 | 14,219 | 16 | % | 14 | % | 13 | % | |||||||||||
Amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets | 388 | 580 | 1,041 | — | % | 1 | % | 1 | % | |||||||||||
Other income, net | 2,365 | 2,184 | 13,849 | 2 | % | 2 | % | 13 | % | |||||||||||
Income tax expense | 838 | 3,662 | 6,994 | 1 | % | 3 | % | 7 | % | |||||||||||
Research and Development
Gross product research and development costs include all non-capitalized and capitalized software development costs. A breakdown of the research and development costs is as follows:
Years Ended April 30, | |||||||||||||||||
2019 | Percent Change | 2018 | Percent Change | 2017 | |||||||||||||
Total capitalized computer software development costs | $ | 5,961 | 24 | % | $ | 4,804 | 29 | % | $ | 3,724 | |||||||
Percentage of gross product research and development costs | 31 | % | 29 | % | 24 | % | |||||||||||
Total research and development expense | 13,078 | 10 | % | 11,877 | — | % | 11,889 | ||||||||||
Percentage of total revenues | 12 | % | 11 | % | 11 | % | |||||||||||
Total research and development expense and capitalized computer software development costs | $ | 19,039 | 14 | % | $ | 16,681 | 7 | % | $ | 15,613 | |||||||
Percentage of total revenues | 18 | % | 15 | % | 15 | % | |||||||||||
Total amortization of capitalized computer software development costs* | $ | 4,627 | 25 | % | $ | 3,690 | (13 | )% | $ | 4,250 | |||||||
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* | Included in cost of license fees and cost of subscription fees |
For the year ended April 30, 2019, gross product research and development costs increased by 14% primarily due to increased headcount from additional third-party contractors and the Halo acquisition. Capitalized software development costs increased in fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018 due to the timing of project work. Amortization of capitalized software development increased 25% in fiscal 2019 when compared to fiscal 2018 due to the timing of project releases.
For the year ended April 30, 2018, gross product research and development costs increased by 7% primarily due to increased headcount from the Halo acquisition and additional hiring. Capitalized software development costs increased in fiscal 2018 compared
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to fiscal 2017 due to the timing of project work. Amortization of capitalized software development decreased 13% in fiscal 2018 when compared to fiscal 2017 due to the timing of project work.
Sales and Marketing
In the year ended April 30, 2019, the slight uptick in sales and marketing expenses compared to fiscal 2018 was due primarily to an increase in costs related to the Halo acquisition and an increase in marketing spend which was partially offset by lower sales commissions. In the year ended April 30, 2018, the increase in sales and marketing expenses compared to fiscal 2017 was due primarily to a higher headcount and higher sales commissions.
General and Administrative
For the year ended April 30, 2019, the increase in general and administrative expenses compared to fiscal 2018 was primarily due to overhead costs related to the Halo acquisition and an increase in depreciation from office improvements partially offset by lower variable compensation.
For the year ended April 30, 2018, the increase in general and administrative expenses compared to fiscal 2017 was primarily due to an increase in the overhead costs related to the Halo acquisition and an increase in variable compensation expense.
The total number of employees was 424 on April 30, 2019, 462 on April 30, 2018 and 372 on April 30, 2017.
Amortization of Acquisition-related Intangible Assets
For the year ended April 30, 2019, we recorded $2,4 million in intangible amortization expense, of which $0.4 million is included in operating expenses and $2.0 million is included in cost of license fees.
For the year ended April 30, 2018, we recorded $1.9 million in intangible amortization expense, of which $0.6 million is included in operating expenses and $1.3 million is included in cost of license fees.
Operating Income/(Loss)
Years Ended April 30, | |||||||||||||||||
% Change | |||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2019 to 2018 | 2018 to 2017 | |||||||||||||
(in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||
Supply Chain Management | $ | 15,967 | $ | 19,580 | $ | 13,103 | (18 | )% | 49 | % | |||||||
IT Consulting | 964 | 985 | 890 | (2 | )% | 11 | % | ||||||||||
Other* | (11,655 | ) | (7,034 | ) | (6,227 | ) | 66 | % | 13 | % | |||||||
Total Operating Income | $ | 5,276 | $ | 13,531 | $ | 7,766 | (61 | )% | 74 | % | |||||||
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* | Includes certain unallocated expenses. |
Our SCM segment operating income decreased by 18% in fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018 primarily due to a 6% decrease in revenues. Our SCM segment operating income increased by 49% in fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2017 primarily due to a 9% increase in revenues and an increase in gross margins related to an increase in Cloud Services revenue. This was partially offset by the increased costs associated with the Halo acquisition.
Our IT Consulting segment operating income decreased 2% in fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018 primarily due to an increase in sales and marketing costs. Our IT Consulting segment operating income increased 11% in fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2017 primarily due to an increase in higher margin billable project services.
The increase in the Other segment operating loss in fiscal 2019 when compared to fiscal 2018 was due primarily to the 9% decrease in revenues in fiscal 2019. The increase in the Other segment operating loss in fiscal 2018 when compared to fiscal 2017 was due primarily to an increase in corporate variable compensation.
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Other Income
Other income was approximately $2.4 million in the year ended April 30, 2019 compared to $2.2 million in fiscal 2018. The increase was primarily due higher interest income of $1.8 million in fiscal 2019 compared to $1.3 million in fiscal 2018. This increase was partially offset by higher exchange rate losses of approximately $486,000 compared to $16,000 for the same period last year.
Other income is comprised of net interest and dividend income, rental income net of related depreciation expenses, exchange rate gains and losses, realized and unrealized gains and losses from investments and gains from the sales of real estate. Other income was approximately $2.2 million in the year ended April 30, 2018 compared to $13.8 million in fiscal 2017. The decrease was primarily due to the sale of real estate for $11.8 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017 and lower rental income from the leases on our Atlanta property of $357,000 in fiscal 2018 compared to $774,000 in fiscal 2017. This decrease was partially offset by higher interest income of $1,575,000 in fiscal 2018 compared to $1,257,000 in fiscal 2017 and lower exchange rate losses of approximately $16,000 compared to $285,000 for the same period last year.
For the years ended April 30, 2019 and 2018, our investments generated an annualized yield of approximately 1.32% and 1.36%, respectively.
Income Taxes
On December 22, 2017, the U.S. enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”), which significantly changed U.S. tax law. The Act lowered our U.S. statutory federal income tax rate from 35% to 21% effective January 1, 2018. For fiscal year 2018, our blended U.S. federal statutory tax rate was 30.3%. This is the result of using the tax rate of 35% for the first eight months of fiscal year 2018 and the reduced tax rate of 21% for the final four months of fiscal year 2018. During the year ended April 30, 2018, we recorded a $1.2 million benefit from the impact of changes in the tax rate, primarily on deferred tax assets and liabilities, which was included in income tax expense on our consolidated statement of operations and deferred income taxes on our consolidated balance sheet. We remeasured our deferred taxes to reflect the reduced rate that will apply when these deferred taxes are settled or realized in future periods. To calculate the remeasurement of deferred taxes, we estimated when the existing deferred taxes will be settled or realized.
Operating Pattern
We experience an irregular pattern of quarterly and annual operating results, caused primarily by fluctuations in both the number and size of software license contracts received and delivered from quarter to quarter and our ability to recognize revenues in that quarter and annually in accordance with our revenue recognition policies. We expect this pattern to continue.
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
Sources and Uses of Cash
We have historically funded, and continue to fund, our operations and capital expenditures primarily with cash generated from operating activities. The changes in net cash that our operating activities provide generally reflect the changes in net earnings and non-cash operating items plus the effect of changes in operating assets and liabilities, such as investment trading securities, trade accounts receivable, trade accounts payable, accrued expenses and deferred revenue. We have no debt obligations or off-balance sheet financing arrangements, and therefore we used no cash for debt service purposes.
The following tables provide information about our cash flows and liquidity positions as of and for the fiscal years ended April 30, 2019, 2018 and 2017. You should read these tables and the discussion that follows in conjunction with our consolidated statements of cash flows contained in Item 8 of this report.
Years ended April 30, | |||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |||||||||
(in thousands) | |||||||||||
Net cash provided by operating activities | $ | 23,930 | $ | 6,754 | $ | 19,780 | |||||
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities | (7,213 | ) | (15,382 | ) | 4,238 | ||||||
Net cash used in financing activities | (8,223 | ) | (4,579 | ) | (7,021 | ) | |||||
Net change in cash and cash equivalents | $ | 8,494 | $ | (13,207 | ) | $ | |||||