Denselight buyer leaves POET $2.5M short
POET looks forward to focusing on Optical Interposer platform and the design of optical engines for transceivers
POET Technologies, a developer of optoelectronics for data centres and telecomms, has reported its unaudited condensed consolidated financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2020.
The company reported a net loss of $6.2 million, or $0.02 per share, in Q2 2020 compared with a net loss of $3.8 million, or $0.01 per share, in Q2 2019 and net loss of $3.5 million, or $0.01 per share, in Q1 2020.
Notably, after taking into consideration the length of time it had taken for Denslight's buyer to make payments and the likelihood of receiving any more, POET has accepted partial payments as final payment on the company’s remaining $5M receivable. After negotiating payments of $1.5M, received on June 29, 2020 and $1M, received on July 3, 2020 (subsequent to the quarter end), POET decided the remaining $2.5M was not going to be forthcoming. As a result, the company recognised a credit loss of $2.5M during the period ended June 30, 2020.
The loss in Q2 2020 also included r&d costs of $1.3 million compared to $0.4 million in Q2 2019 and $1.4 million in Q1 2020. The increase compared to the prior year period reflects a redistribution of r&d activities and costs that were previously accounted for by DenseLight and reported as discontinued operations when the organisation operated as a single entity.
These costs are now accounted for solely by POET. Non-cash expenses in Q2 2020 included stock-based compensation of $0.8 million and depreciation and amortisation of $0.2 million. Non-cash stock-based compensation and depreciation and amortisation were $0.7 million and $35,000 in Q2 2019 and $0.8 million and $0.2 million respectively in Q1 2020.
“Our continued progress during the second quarter was highlighted by the signing of an LOI for the formation of a $50 million joint venture with one of the world’s largest manufacturers of light sources,” commented Suresh Venkatesan, chairman & CEO.
“The sale of our DenseLight subsidiary in late 2019 provided us the ability to focus entirely on the POET Optical Interposer platform and the design of optical engines for transceivers. Demonstrating that optical engines can be produced at wafer-scale is the final step in validating our long-standing vision for POET’s technology and is an important prerequisite to both the joint venture and for engaging with additional prospective customers on product design and development programs.”
“Complementing these efforts, we’ve recruited and added to the POET team a number of accomplished individuals with proven expertise in photonics technology, product and application development and manufacturing. With this highly experienced team in place, we are actively working to establish the critical processes for the rapid scaling of production to supply optical engines in high volume. Additionally, we recently began testing POET’s Optical Interposer platform technology with potential partners for markets beyond optical transceivers, including high-speed computing for artificial intelligence.”
During Q2 2020, the company had debt related finance costs of $229,000 compared to $198,000 in Q2 2019 and $217,000 in Q1 2020. Of the finance costs recognised in Q2 2020, $130,000 was non-cash compared to $62,000 in Q2 2019 and non-cash finance costs of $108,000 in Q1 2020.
