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November 15, 2019 | Acorn EnergyEstimated reading time: 1 minute
Acorn Energy, a provider of remote monitoring and control systems and IoT services for generators, pipelines, compressors and other industrial equipment, through its OmniMetrix subsidiary, today announced results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2019 (Q3'19). Acorn will host an investor call tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. EST to review its results and outlook (see details below for the call and Q&A session).
Walter Czarnecki, President and CEO of OmniMetrix, said, “OmniMetrix delivered another profitable quarter with revenue growth and margin expansion. We achieved a 66.5% gross margin, benefitting from continued deployment of next generation products, including our Hero 2 Rectifier Monitor, as well as our ongoing focus on higher-margin commercial and industrial applications such our TrueGuard-Pro industrial generator monitor. By continuously improving our products and services, we deliver a better, more valuable customer experience to support growth and profitability improvements. This progress is reflected in Q3’19 operating profit of $106,000 versus $21,000 in Q3’18 and $40,000 in Q2’19 for OmniMetrix.
“As we’ve seen with weather-related catastrophes in the past, we do anticipate a rise in demand for stand-by generators and related monitoring and control solutions in the wake of California wildfire power blackouts that affected millions of consumers. Going forward, we expect increasing demand, coupled with our ongoing investments in product development and sales and marketing, will continue to drive our growth and profitability to new levels.”
Jan Loeb, President and CEO of Acorn, added, “Higher revenue, improved gross margin and overall cost containment, allowed Acorn to further reduce our consolidated operating loss to $121,000 in Q3’19 versus $203,000 in Q2’19. Our consolidated operating loss was reduced by nearly 50% compared to Q3’18.
“As anticipated, we were able to reacquire a 19% interest in OmniMetrix for $1.273 million, including accrued dividends, using a portion of the proceeds from our recent rights offering. The purchase, effective July 1, 2019, enabled Acorn to increase our ownership in the business to 99%, on very attractive terms. We believe this was a significant, value-creating transaction for Acorn shareholders, given the steadily improving results and prospects at OmniMetrix and purchase terms that were based on its business profile back in November 2015.
“We will continue to make incremental investments in sales and marketing at OmniMetrix in order to leverage its market leadership and to pursue what we believe are substantial growth opportunities. We are seeking and evaluating external opportunities to expand our business and enhance value for our shareholders on an opportunistic basis.”
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