ACCESS Newswire reports 2% revenue increase and 16% adjusted EBITDA margin, emphasizing subscription growth and operational efficiencies for future expansion.

OPERATOR - (00:00:00)

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and thank you for your patience. This call will begin shortly. Thank you for your patience and this call will begin shortly. Greetings and welcome to the Access Newswire third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen only mode and a question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference today, please press Star one on your telephone keypad. And please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Kristin Iacovelli, Vice President of Webcasting. Kristin, the floor is yours.

Kristin Iacovelli - Vice President of Webcasting - (00:07:23)

Welcome to access Newswire's third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. My name is Kristin Iacovelli and I lead the company's webcast and Events division as the Vice President of Webcasting. I've been with access for nearly 20 years, including my time with an organization that became part of Access through an acquisition about six years ago. It's been an incredible journey with watching the company grow and evolve into what it is today. I'm excited for what's ahead and proud to continue helping some of the world's leading brands and newly public companies share their stories each quarter. But before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that statements made in this conference call concerning future revenues, results from operations, financial position, markets, economic conditions, product releases, partnerships and any other statements that may be construed as predictions of future performance or events are forward looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. We will also discuss certain non GAAP financial measures which are provided for informational purposes and should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for GAAP results. With that said, I'll turn the call over to our Founder and Chief Executive Officer Brian Balberni and our Chief Financial Officer Steve Nur. Brian thank you Kristen.

Brian Balberni - Founder and Chief Executive Officer - (00:08:53)

I think it's fair to say you as well as many of us here at ACCESS have a significant amount of industry experience. But all the credit to you for leading for over 20 years what is probably for 1550,000 webcasts with you and your team. Truly amazing. You are a rare breed and I'm so very grateful for your customer first passion and how you lead and mentor your team. Specifically working over this past weekend for us with one of our new IPO customers who is doing their first earnings call today. Congratulations Fermi America and thank you with that. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today to review ACCESS Newswire's third quarter 2025 results. As always, Steve and I appreciate you taking the time to be with us today, specifically on this 106th Veterans Day. Our 8K and 10Q will follow tomorrow as the SEC is closed on this holiday. Our third quarter results reflect continued progress in our core business and ongoing execution against our strategic priorities. We delivered both sequential and year over year revenue growth, meaningful improvement in profitability and strong operating discipline, all while continuing to invest in our product and platform enhancements that will drive our future growth. Revenue for the quarter came in at 5.7 million, up 2% sequentially and year over year from 5.6. Adjusted EBITDA increased to 933,000, representing 16% of revenue, up from 546,000 or 10% in the same quarter of last year. Our gross margins held steadily at 75%, consistent with prior year levels, and operating loss improved significantly to 184,000 compared to a loss of 604,000 in Q3 of 2024. These results reflect the positive impacts in our operational realignment earlier this year, our continued focus on cost control, and our accelerating shift to subscription based revenue. Before I hand the call to Steve, I want to highlight a few metrics that show the health of our business. Total active customers grew to 12,445, up slightly from the prior quarter, and year subscription customers increased to 972, representing modest sequential growth and continued retention strength. Average recurring revenue per subscribing customer also rose to $11,651, up 14% year over year, evidence that our value proposition is resonating and our upselling strategy is working. We're encouraged by the progress but equally focused on the road ahead, continuing to scale efficiently while driving innovation and expanding our share in the market. With that, I'll turn the call over to Steve to walk you through some of the financial results in more detail.

Steve Nur - Chief Financial Officer - (00:11:27)

Steve thank you Brian and good morning everyone. Happy Veterans Day to all of our former members of the Armed Forces. We are extremely grateful for your service and all you've done for our country. As Brian mentioned Q3 another quarter of generating increased EBITDA and non GAAP net income while increasing revenue and lowering operating expenses. I will now discuss some of the details which led to these results. Total rental revenue for the third quarter of 2025 was $5.7 million, an increase of $84,000 or 1.5%, compared to $5.6 million for the same period of 24. For the first nine months of 2025. Total revenue was 16.8 million, a $411,000 or 2% decrease from from $17.2 million for the same of the prior year. The increase in revenue for the quarter was due to an increase in our core press release revenue of 7% due to an increase in volume. For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, press release revenue increased 1%. However, this was more than offset by declines in revenue from our PRO webcasting and IR website solutions. We anticipate increases in core press release revenue will lead to higher revenue growth rates in the quarters ahead. Gross margin percentages have remained relatively flat for both the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025 as compared to the prior year at 75% and 76% respectively. Although we have experienced increased distribution costs as we continue to expand our distribution footprint, we have been able to offset this with efficiencies in our operations teams in order to build scale. Gross margin increased $40,000 or 1% and decreased $233,000 or 2% for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025 respectively, as compared to the same periods of the prior year. Moving to Operating Loss we posted an operating loss from continuing operations of $184,000 for the third quarter of 2025 and $1.1 million for the first nine months of 2025 compared to operating losses of 604,000 during the same period of 2024. The decrease in operating loss is a result of lower operating expenses which decreased $380,000 or 8% and $1.1 million or 7% for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025 respectively, as we remain committed to developing efficiencies and optimizing our teams. General and Administrative expenses decreased $409,000 or 22% for the third quarter of 2025 compared to the third quarter of 2024 due to a reduction in bad debt expense, employee related expenses, as well as savings from indirect costs associated with the compliance business. For the first nine months of 2025, general and administrative expenses decreased $185,000 or 3% compared to the first nine months of 2024. This is due to the same reasons I just noted, however, was partially offset by a onetime benefit recorded in the first half of 2024 of approximately $340,000 due to the reversal of stock compensation related to the resignation of an executive officer. We will continue to seek opportunities to reduce G and A expenses and are currently negotiating a sublease on our corporate offices which we anticipate could save us over $300,000 a year. Sales and marketing expenses increased $34,000, or 2%, and decreased $924,000, or 16%, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025 as compared to the same periods of 2024. The decrease for the nine month period is due to lower headcount throughout the first six months of the year. However, as of the third quarter the team has been built back to where it was a year ago. Product development expenses have remained consistent for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025 as compared to the same periods of the prior year. Decreases in costs related to consultants were partially offset by declines in capitalized software. Brian will talk further about some product enhancements coming this quarter and the early part of next year, and as such we will expect to begin to capitalize more product development expenses related to such enhancements on a GAAP basis. We reported a loss from continuing operations of $45,000, or $0.01 per diluted share, during the third quarter of 2025 compared to a net loss of $870,000, or $0.23 per diluted share, during the third Quarter of 2024. For the first nine months of 2025, net loss from continuing operations was $1,000,000, or $0.27 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $2.3 million, or $0.61 per diluted share, in the first nine months of 2024. There's no activity for discontinued operations during the third quarter of 2025 Compared to net income of $404,000, or $0.11 per diluted share, during the third year of 2024. For the first nine Months of 2025, net income from discontinued operations was almost $6 million, or $1.53 per diluted share, compared to $1.7 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, for the same period of 2024. The increase is primarily a result of the gain on the sale of the compliance business. Looking to some Non GAAP metrics, third quarter of 2025, EBITDA was $537,000, or 9% of revenue, compared to a loss of $212,000, or 4% of revenue, for the third quarter of 2024. For the first nine months of 2025, EBITDA was 1 million dollars, or 6% of revenue, compared to $70,000 for the first nine months of 2024, adjusted EBITDA increased to $933,000, or 16% of revenue for the third quarter of 2025 compared to $546,000, or 10% of revenue for the third quarter Of 2024. For the first nine months Of 2025, adjusted EBITDA more than doubled to $2.3 million, or 14% of revenue, compared to $961,000, or 6% of revenue for the first nine months of 2024. Non GAAP net income for the third quarter of 2025 increased $573,000 to $760,000, or $0.20 per diluted share, compared to $187,000, or $0.05 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2024. The first nine months of 2025, non GAAP net income increased to $1.5 million, or $0.39 per diluted share compared to a non GAAP loss of $78,000, or $0.02 per diluted share during the first nine months of 2024. We ended the quarter with $3.3 million of cash on hand. However, this was negatively impacted by cash outflow from operating activities of $582,000 during the third quarter of 2025. This was primarily due to the payment of over $1.1 million in taxes, primarily related to the gain on the sale of the compliance business. Cash generated by operating activities was $1.5 million during the third quarter of 2024 where this includes cash generated from the compliance business. For the first nine months of 2025, cash flow generated by operating activities was $300,000 compared to $2.3 million during the first nine months of 2024. Again, the year to date amount for 2025 includes over $1.5 million paid in taxes primarily related to the sale of the compliance business. Adjusted free cash flow was negative $418,000 for the third quarter of 2025 compared to $1.4 million for the third quarter of 2024. For the first nine months of 2025amounted to $799,000 compared to $1.9 million for the first nine months of 2024. I will now turn it back over to Brian who will provide some updates on the business, customers, subscriptions and volumes along with everything else we have planned for the remainder of the year. Brian thank you Steve.

Brian Balberni - Founder and Chief Executive Officer - (00:19:11)

Let me start by saying that the third quarter showed solid execution across the board. Our focus remains on strengthening the core scaling, recurring revenue and driving product led growth. But before I speak on our outlook for the remaining part of the year and into next year, I wanted to reflect on the last nine months and what we've done to put the business in the best place for the future. We rebranded the business in January. We sold our legacy compliance business in February, thus reducing the debt by 83%, also reducing then our OPEX by 7%. We retooled our entire back office systems and processes, increased our focus on subscription first approach sales.