Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - April 27, 2018) - Peak Positioning Technologies Inc. (CSE: PKK) ("Peak" or the "Company") today announced its financial results and reviewed highlights for the year ended December 31, 2017. All amounts expressed are in Canadian dollars.
Financial Highlights:
$15.2M in combined exercise of stock options, exercise of warrants and private placement financing
Reduction of $2.0M in short-term liabilities
Total assets of $15.7M
Total revenues of $7.5M
Net loss of $3.2M
Operating Highlights:
Signing of agreement with Cubeler Inc. for exclusive Chinese commercial right to Cubeler fintech platform
Adjustment in business model to have new Chinese financial services subsidiary provide financial services on Gold River and Cubeler platforms
Creation of new Chinese operating subsidiary Asia Synergy Data Solutions ("ASDS")
Deployment of Cubeler fintech commercial lending platform in China
Strategic partnership with Balang Technology Ltd. to bring over 40,000 Industrial and Commercial Bank of China small and medium-sized business clients to Cubeler platform
Strategic partnership with Wuxi Jinxin Internet Small Loans Ltd. to be able to engage in financial services activities until the arrival of the Company's financial services subsidiary
Clear identification of 5 service offerings, expected to be main revenue generators for the Company, to be offered by 3 subsidiaries on the Company's 2 fintech platforms
Launch of GoldLegal™ service in partnership with Zhong Yin Law Firm
First GoldLegal™ facilitated transactions on Cubeler platform
First "Lend with Me" transactions on Cubeler platform
Partnership agreement between ASDS and China Auto Industry Development Ltd.
Arrival of first 2,000 ICBC small and medium-sized business clients to Cubeler platform
Review of 2017:
The Company's subtle, yet very impactful, adjustment to its business model to create a financial services subsidiary and put more emphasis on opportunities in the commercial lending space in China, set the tone for the rest of its operations in 2017. The Company's plans call not only to use cutting edge fintech applications to bring better efficiency to Chinese commercial lending, but also to provide an example of the benefits of those applications to lenders and financial institutions by having its own financial services subsidiary utilize those applications. One of the first steps in the execution of those plans was the signing of the Company's agreement with Cubeler Inc. for the exclusive Chinese commercial rights to the Cubeler commercial lending platform to complement the Company's Gold River product procurement platform. Realizing the need for a new subsidiary to manage Cubeler and to enter into the strategic partnerships that would allow the platform to reach its full potential, the Company created Asia Synergy Data Solutions ("ASDS"). Soon after the deployment of Cubeler in China, ASDS entered into some of those strategic partnerships. Included in ASDS' most noteworthy partnerships in 2017 are its agreement with Balang Technology Ltd. to bring over 40,000 Industrial and Commercial Bank of China small and medium-sized business clients to the Cubeler platform, and its agreement with Zhong Yin Law Firm, which led to the creation of the GoldLegal™ service aimed at protecting Cubeler platform lenders from potential loan defaults.
Although ASDS is not linked to the Company's Gold River platform, the partnership agreement it signed with China Auto Industry Development Ltd. ("CAID") in 2017 is expected to lead to a similar partnership between CAID and the Company's Asia Synergy Technologies ("AST") subsidiary, which manages the Gold River platform and thus have a significant impact on the types of transaction that take place on Gold River in the future.
While ASDS was making strides with the development of service offerings and partnerships related to Cubeler, most of the Company's attention in 2017 was spent on the process of establishing its financial services subsidiary, Asia Synergy Financial Capital ("ASFC"). To that end, the Company signed a strategic partnership with senior executives from Jiu Dong Ltd. ("Jiu Dong"), which included a $20M funding structure in order to meet the minimum financial requirements for the creation of ASFC. It was agreed that the Company would contribute $10.2M of the $20M amount in order to own a 51% majority stake in ASFC. The Company therefore announced that it would aim to close a private placement financing of $10M in order to meet its obligations for ASFC. Support for the creation of ASFC among the Company's shareholders was so strong that the private placement financing finally closed within the prescribed timeframe at $12M.
The launch of the Cubeler platform, the arrival of the first ICBC clients to the platform in late 2017, the limited rollout and testing of a handful of service offerings, combined with the imminent launch of ASFC's operations, allowed the Company to close out 2017 by clearly identifying 5 services to be offered by its 3 subsidiaries on the Company's 2 fintech platforms that are expected to be its main revenue generators for the foreseeable future.
"Our Company ended 2017 being in the best position it's ever been and ready for 2018 to be an exceptional year", commented Johnson Joseph, President and CEO of Peak. "Getting to this point was truly a team effort. I personally would like to take this opportunity to thank our partners in China and all of our shareholders for their continued support and their patience as we continue to build a company we can all be proud of", concluded Mr. Joseph.
Outlook for 2018:
Accessing credit for SMEs in China remains a major challenge as Chinese lenders, for the most part, still rely on processes used decades ago when it comes to qualifying SMEs for credit. This makes the Chinese commercial lending space very inefficient and in serious need of digitization, which in the Company's opinion makes it a very attractive fintech opportunity.
It is with that in mind that the Company launched the Cubeler platform in the fall of 2017 to complement its Gold River platform. The Company expects several lenders, including banks that showed significant interest when they where shown a prototype of Cubeler in 2017, to officially join the platform in 2018 following the arrival of ASFC as the platform's default lender. With ASFC in the picture and able to assume the financial aspects related to its service offerings, the Company's plan for 2018 will focus on having all 3 of its services on Cubeler, as well as its 2 services on Gold River fully operational.
Although the focus of the products traded on Gold River will change from metals and raw materials to auto parts and possibly other finished industrial goods, the revenue model of the platform is expected to remain the same in 2018. This means that AST, as the platform's operator, will source the products ordered by the platform clients and earn a markup on the orders, while financing requests for those orders will be handled by ASFC.
Given that demand for all of the Company's service offerings is predicated on SME demand for financing, the amount of revenue the Company is able to generate in 2018 is expected to largely depend on its capacity to satisfy that demand. Meeting that SME appetite for financing is expected to be a challenge that the Company will need to deal with throughout 2018 and beyond. Fully aware that that would be the case, the Company's Chinese-based management team spent time in 2017 to set up relationships with prospective financial partners able to help the Company meet the anticipated demand for its service offerings. In addition to recruiting as many lenders to Cubeler as possible to increase the platform's overall lending capabilities, the Company's strategy also calls for leveraging ASFC's financial services license to borrow funds from, and enter into strategic alliances with, tier 1 and tier 2 banks to increase ASFC's financial capacity to extend credit to the platforms' registered SMEs.
In management's opinion, the opportunity created by the current state of commercial lending in China, the technologies at the Company's disposal, the Company's service offerings, partnerships in China and the financial position as of the date of this news release, all combine to have it poised to seize on an opportunity to deliver significant value to its shareholders in the form of measurable and steady revenue growth throughout 2018 and beyond.
Fiscal 2017 financial results summary:
The Company generated $7,475,402 in a combination of mostly the sale of raw material products and a few financial services in Fiscal 2017 ($58,091,907 in the sale of raw material products in Fiscal 2016). The sale of raw material products that contributed to the Company's revenues and gross profit were phased out early in the year as the Gold River platform was re-affected to transact other types of products in the future. The significant difference in revenue between Fiscal 2016 and Fiscal 2017 can be attributed to the Company's shift in business model going from transactions involving the sale of raw materials generating large revenues and equally large costs of sales resulting in smaller profit margins, to focussing on financial services transactions generating smaller revenues but larger profit margins. It is also worth noting that the Company's financial services related transactions merely began to take shape in the latter part of Fiscal 2017.
Expenses (excluding the cost of sales) for fiscal 2017 amounted to $3,499,265, compared to $2,649,104 in 2016.
The net loss for the year was $3,456,230 compared to $2,649,104 in 2016. Full details of the Company's 2017 financial results can be found in the Audited Consolidated Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, which are available at www.sedar.com.
About Peak Positioning Technologies Inc.:
Peak Positioning Technologies Inc. is an IT portfolio management company whose mission is to assemble, finance and manage a portfolio of promising companies and assets in some of the fastest-growing tech sectors in China, including fintech, e-commerce and cloud-computing. Peak provides a bridge for North American investors who wish to participate in the continued digitization of China's industrial sectors through the latest advancements in technology. For more information: http://www.peakpositioning.com
Contact information:
Cathy Hume CEO CHF Capital Markets Phone: 416-868-1079 ext.: 231 Email: cathy@chfir.com
Or
Johnson Joseph President and CEO Peak Positioning Technologies Inc. Phone: 514-340-7775 ext.: 501 Email: investors@peakpositioning.com
Forward-Looking Statements / Information:
This news release may include certain forward-looking information, including statements relating to business and operating strategies, plans and prospects for revenue growth, using words including "anticipate", "believe", "could", "expect", "intend", "may", "plan", "potential", "project", "seek", "should", "will", "would" and similar expressions, which are intended to identify a number of these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information reflects current views with respect to current events and is not a guarantee of future performance and is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking information contained in this news release, except as may be required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. Readers are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating any forward-looking information.
