NetSol Technologies - Earnings Call - Q3 2025

Executive Summary

• Q3 FY2025 delivered double-digit growth with total net revenues up 13% to $17.54M, gross margin expanded to 50%, and GAAP net income rose to $1.42M ($0.12 diluted EPS) versus $0.33M ($0.03) in Q3 FY2024.
• Services revenue surged 24% to $9.65M, aided by a ~$2.3M cumulative catch-up tied to a contract amendment; subscription and support grew 10% to $7.89M, though mix declined to 45% of sales (from 56% in Q1–Q2).
• Strategic wins and deployments (Kubota go-live in Australia, contracts in Oman and Indonesia) plus launch of Transcend AI Labs and appointment of a VP of AI bolster medium-term narrative; FX was a tailwind in Q3 (+$0.32M) versus a loss in Q2.
• No formal guidance issued; management signaled optimism and potential to provide guidance after year-end; watch for normalization post catch-up effects and subscription mix trajectory as near-term stock catalysts.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Services strength and margin expansion: Services up 24% YoY to $9.65M; gross margin rose to 50% from 48% in Q3 FY2024, with CFO citing a ~$2.3M services catch-up as a driver.
• Commercial momentum: CEO highlighted Kubota’s finance operations go-live in Australia and new multi-million-dollar wins in Oman and Indonesia, reinforcing global delivery and sector credibility (“mission-critical solutions at scale”).
• AI strategy advancing: Launch of Transcend AI Labs and hiring of a VP of AI to embed intelligence across the portfolio; management emphasized becoming an AI-first organization.

What Went Wrong

• Subscription mix and volatility: Subscription & support revenue grew 10% YoY but fell to 45% of sales (vs 56% in Q1–Q2), tempering recurring revenue narrative in the quarter.
• License fees minimal: License revenue remained de minimis at $1.2K vs $558K in Q3 FY2024, underscoring reliance on services/subscription and inherent quarterly variability.
• Opex still elevated: Operating expenses increased to $7.19M (41% of sales) vs $6.16M (40%) in Q3 FY2024, reflecting growth investments; cash declined sequentially to $18.77M, though working capital held at $23.7M.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good morning and welcome to NETSOL Technologies' fiscal third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. On the call today are Najeeb Ghauri, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer; Roger Almond, Chief Financial Officer; and Patti McGlasson, General Counsel, who I would like to turn the call over to in order to provide the necessary cautions regarding the forward-looking statements made by management during this call. Please go ahead, Patti.

Patti McGlasson (General Counsel)

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Following our review of the company's business highlights and financial results, we will open the call for questions. Before we begin, I will now provide the necessary cautions regarding the forward-looking statements made by management during this call. Please note that all the information discussed on today's call is covered under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. The company's discussion may include forward-looking statements reflecting management's current forecast of certain aspects of the company's future, and our actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied. These forward-looking statements are qualified by the cautionary statements contained in NETSOL's press release and SEC filings, including our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. I would also like to point out that we will be discussing certain non-GAAP measures.

The press release issued earlier today contains a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial results to their most comparable GAAP measures. Finally, I would like to remind everyone that this call will be recorded and made available for replay at www.netsoltech.com and via a link available in today's press release. Now I'll turn the call over to Najeeb Ghauri, our Founder, Chairman, and CEO. Najeeb.

Najeeb Ghauri (Founder, Chairman, and CEO)

Thank you, Patti, and good morning, everyone. Today, I'm happy to be dialing in from my Encino office in California. We delivered solid performance in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, with strong growth in our services revenue and continued momentum in our subscription business. Our results reflect the growing demand for our digital solutions for the global finance and leasing industry under our unified Transcend Platform, alongside the strength of our global delivery model. As we continue transitioning towards revenue generated from a recurring revenue model, we remain focused on driving innovation, operational efficiency, and long-term value for our customers and shareholders. This quarter, we successfully completed a major deployment of our Transcend Finance platform for a financial institution in Australia, an existing customer of NETSOL, further deepening our partnership and expanding the use of our technology for their operations.

Following this successful implementation, Kubota, a leading Japanese powerhouse that provides products and technologies in various fields, including tractors and other agricultural machinery, is now using our solutions for their financial operations in both Australia and New Zealand. In addition, we signed two new multi-million dollar contracts with financial services providers in both the country of Oman and Indonesia. We signed an agreement with Sindbad Management SPC in Oman for the implementation of Transcend Finance. The customer is a major in Muscat, which is the capital of Oman. It's an Oman-based company which provides big-ticket asset financing and leasing, covering various asset types such as marine vessels, aircraft, machinery, and other equipment, alongside vehicles in Oman and other countries.

The successful implementation of this project will serve as a model for future collaborations in the Middle East, reinforcing our commitment to expanding our footprint and delivering world-class technology solutions to a region that is ripe for growth and innovation. The second multi-million dollar agreement signed during this quarter was with a Chinese leasing company known as Yulong, which is acquired by BYD, a Chinese giant, for the implementation of Transcend Finance in Indonesia. This marks the customer's expansion into the Indonesian market. The company offers a diverse range of leasing solutions across various industries, with a strong focus on equipment leasing, asset financing, and commercial leasing. Our powerful technology platform, combined with tailored regional customization, makes us the ideal partner to support their success in the Indonesian market. These wins are a clear signal of the growing confidence our clients place in us to drive the digital transformation agendas.

At a time when institutions are under pressure to modernize and differentiate, our ability to consistently deliver mission-critical solutions at scale sets us apart and cements our position as a preferred technology partner for financial institutions worldwide. The go-live for Kubota in Australia during this period, plus these two major multi-million dollar signings, reinforce our reputation as a trusted strategic technology partner to the global asset finance and leasing industry. These developments serve as a powerful endorsement of the products, innovation, and service excellence we deliver in an increasingly competitive marketplace. At the core of our transition to becoming an AI-first organization is our commitment to redefining how technology can drive smarter, faster, and more secure decision-making across the financial services ecosystem.

In Q3, we announced the launch of Transcend AI Labs, our dedicated innovation hub focused on developing cutting-edge AI solutions tailored primarily for the asset retail, finance, and leasing sectors. Transcend AI Labs brings together our deep domain expertise with advanced machine learning and generative AI capabilities, enabling us to create next-generation solutions for our clients that unlock real business value, whether through intelligent automation, hyper-personalized experiences, or predictive analytics that empower risk decisions and overall operations. As part of our ongoing AI initiatives, we appointed Dario Morelli as our new Vice President of Artificial Intelligence in this quarter. Dario is a proven business leader and AI strategist with over 15 years of experience spanning data analytics and AI. His vision and leadership will be instrumental in scaling our AI capabilities and embedding intelligence across every layer of our product portfolio.

With Dario at the helm and the launch of Transcend AI Labs, we are well-positioned to lead our industry into the AI-powered future. Further, a quick update: our BMW USA retail platform rollout in 350 dealerships in the U.S. is on track. Looking at our business through a long-term lens, I'm pleased with the progress we have achieved this quarter, and I'm optimistic about the momentum carrying into the final quarter of fiscal 2025 and beyond. I'm confident that our strategic investments, especially in AI, and the ongoing evolution of our revenue mix will drive stronger profitability and deliver lasting value for our shareholders. I now like to turn the call over to our CFO, Roger Almond, who will go through the financial Q3 of fiscal year 2025. Over to you, Roger.

Roger Almond (CFO)

Thanks, Najeeb. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us to review NETSOL's financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025. I'll take you through our key financial metrics and provide some context on our performance drivers. We delivered solid top-line growth in the third quarter, driven by continued strength in our services business and stable subscription revenue performance. Total net revenues for Q3 fiscal year 2025 increased 13% to $17.5 million, compared to $15.5 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2024. This increase was primarily fueled by significant growth in services revenue. Services revenue increased 24% to $9.7 million, compared to $7.8 million in Q3 of last year. The increase was primarily driven by cumulative catch-up of approximately $2.3 million related to a contract amendment for an ongoing implementation project.

Total subscription, SaaS, and cloud and support revenues increased 10% to $7.9 million, compared to $7.1 million in the prior year period. Gross profit for the quarter was $8.7 million, or 50% of total revenues, compared with $7.5 million, or 48%, in Q3 of fiscal year 2024. Operating expenses for the quarter totaled $7.2 million, or 41% of sales, compared to $6.2 million, or 40% of sales in Q3 of fiscal year 2024. This increase aligns with our ongoing investment in growth areas, including customer delivery, marketing, R&D, and employee development. GAAP net income attributable to NETSOL was $1.4 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, compared to $328,000, or $0.03 per diluted share in Q3 of fiscal year 2024. Included in our GAAP net income in the quarter was a foreign currency exchange gain of $322,000, compared to a foreign currency exchange loss of $964,000 in the prior year period.

Because we operate in several geographical regions, a significant portion of our business is conducted in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. A decrease in the value of the U.S. dollar compared to foreign currency exchange rates generally has the effect of increasing our revenues, but it also increases our expenses denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Similarly, as the U.S. dollar gains strength relative to foreign currency exchange rates, it tends to reduce our revenues, but it also reduces our expenses denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Moving to our non-GAAP metrics, non-GAAP EBITDA for the third quarter of fiscal 2025 was $2.2 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, compared with non-GAAP EBITDA of $767,000, or $0.07 per diluted share in the prior year period.

Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of fiscal 2025 was $1.8 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, compared with a non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA of $810,000, or $0.07 per diluted share in the third quarter of the previous fiscal year. Please see the reconciliation schedules contained in our earnings release for our revised calculations of adjusted EBITDA for the quarters ended March 31, 2025, and 2024. Turning to our balance sheet, as of March 31, 2025, we held $18.8 million in cash and cash equivalents compared to $19.1 million at June 30, 2024. Our working capital was $23.7 million as of March 31, 2025, compared to $23.6 million at June 30, 2024. In summary, Q3 of fiscal year 2025 was a strong quarter across the board, comprising of double-digit revenue growth, increased gross margins, and a significantly improved net income. These results reinforce the strength of our operating model.

As we continue to execute our strategy, we remain committed to sustainable growth, product innovation, and delivering long-term value to our shareholders. Back to you, Najeeb.

Najeeb Ghauri (Founder, Chairman, and CEO)

Thank you, Roger. Much appreciated. Before I hand the call over for questions, let me take this opportunity to remind our shareholders that our Annual Meeting is scheduled for June 24, 2025. We encourage all shareholders to please vote at this meeting and ask that you vote yes for each of the proposals approved by the Board of Directors. Finally, as mentioned earlier, I'm very pleased with the progress we achieved in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. We continue to focus on innovation and are actively investing in our products and services under our Transcend Platform. We are also encouraged by the growing number of opportunities we are seeing across the diverse markets we operate in. As always, we remain committed to a long-term strategic approach, and we believe we are well-positioned for continued growth in the final quarter of fiscal 2025 and into the future.

With that, I now turn the call over to operator for questions. Operator.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. We will now be conducting the question-and-answer segment. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Once again, a reminder to all the participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Thank you. Our first question comes from a line of Todd Felte with StoneX Wealth Management. Please proceed with your question.

Todd Felte (Analyst)

Hey, guys. Thank you for taking my questions. Congratulations on an outstanding quarter. It's nice to see the subscription and support revenue grow to $7.9 million for the quarter. Do you expect that to be at least a baseline that continues to grow moving forward?

Najeeb Ghauri (Founder, Chairman, and CEO)

Thank you for your comments, Todd. Yes, I think we do because our sales revenue is in a very positively growing side, and there's numerous things happening in the retail front. I believe this trend will continue.

Todd Felte (Analyst)

Okay. Now that we're moving more towards a stable profitability, I hope you anticipate for the next fiscal year possibly giving out a revenue and earnings guidance.

Najeeb Ghauri (Founder, Chairman, and CEO)

I think we will do that, absolutely, as we close the year in the next couple of months. We are pretty optimistic, Todd, because one thing I want to address here or say, company initiated a few months back, and I was driving this whole exercise in the company to look at all the areas of productivity and efficiency improvement and, at the same time, look at the headcount. I think we made good progress, and I am enjoying the results. This is, to me, just a start, and we will maintain the same the way we have managed this company in this nice nine months. I think the future is quite bright for the company, both from the revenue and from the bottom line.

Todd Felte (Analyst)

Sure. A final question. The results today are outstanding, and it seems like the future looks very promising. Do you plan on kind of letting the investor community know, or are you planning on engaging another IR company or getting analyst coverage?

Najeeb Ghauri (Founder, Chairman, and CEO)

I think let us deliver the year-end first, and we'll weigh in carefully. One of the advantages we've seen by using our in-house is that they have a lot more knowledge, understanding of the business in the technical terms. For now, I'm enjoying the in-house service, but we'll see how we plan in the next fiscal year budget if we can bring back an IR firm. We'll decide at the time. Right now, I'm happy with what they're doing, but we'll see. We'll definitely weigh in and pay attention to your suggestion.

Todd Felte (Analyst)

Okay. Thank you for taking my questions, and congratulations again.

Najeeb Ghauri (Founder, Chairman, and CEO)

Thank you, Todd, again.

Operator (participant)

As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, press star one on your telephone keypad. One moment, please, while we repoll for any additional questions. Thank you. This concludes our question-and-answer segment. If your question was not addressed during the Q&A session, please contact NETSOL's Investor Relations team by emailing them at [email protected] or by calling them at 818-222-9195. I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Ghauri for closing comments.

Najeeb Ghauri (Founder, Chairman, and CEO)

Thank you, operator, and thank you for joining us today for our fiscal third quarter 2025 earnings call. We appreciate the time you have taken to join us today and look forward to providing further updates on our next earnings call. Until then, we wish you a pleasant day. Thank you all.

Operator (participant)

Thank you for joining us today for NETSOL's fiscal third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. You may now disconnect.

Najeeb Ghauri (Founder, Chairman, and CEO)

Thank you, everyone.