Lyrtech Inc. announces its 2009 year-end financial results

QUEBEC CITY, April 30 /CNW Telbec/ - Lyrtech Inc. (Lyrtech or the Company) (TSX-V: LTK), a firm specializing in digital signal processing technologies, today announced its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2009. The Company's financial statements and management report are available at www.sedar.com.

2009 highlights

    
    - Loss before financial charges of $0.3 M.
    - Closing of an important 12-month engineering contract in excess of
      $4.5 M.
    - Increase of financing limits to meet growing business.
    - Launch of a new, high-performance intelligent occupancy sensing
      solution.
    - Backlog of over $6.5 M to be delivered in 2010.
    

"2009 has been challenging in the aftermath of the Innovator disposal, the resulting balance sheet, and global economy slowdown. We have focused on maximising our resources on projects generating the highest returns. We signed major engineering contracts and important projects were granted to Lyrtech, all of which should generate positive results for Lyrtech in the coming months. Our backlog is growing every day and now totals $8.0 M," declared Louis N. Bélanger, president and CEO of Lyrtech.

Financial review

During 2009, total revenues reached $7.2 M, compared to $8.4 M in 2008. The variation mainly results from the decrease in the revenues of Q2 2009 versus Q2 2008. The decrease in revenues results from the global economy slowdown; more specifically, some projects with major customers have been postponed. The major decreases have been in the sale of DSP solutions, as well as non-recurring engineering activities.

The gross margin reached 30 % of revenues during 2009, a small decrease compared to 2008 and results from the product mix.

Selling and marketing expenses decreased by 20 % to $0.9 M during 2009 compared to 2008. This variation is the result of restrictions applied by management, considering the Company's limited financial resources and a more efficient management of the resources. More precisely, the sales vice president and two sales representatives left the Company at the beginning of Q1 2009 and in Q3 2008, respectively, for total salary savings of approximately $0.2 M during the said period.

Administrative expenses totalled $1.4 M during 2009, a decrease of 4 % of less than $0.1 M from 2008. The decrease mainly results from the implementation of an employee time-share program, the favourable adjustments of two provisions made in 2008 and some expense restrictions.

Research and development expenses, net of tax credits, reached $1.1 M during 2009, a similar level compared to 2008.

Financial expenses reached $1.6 M during 2009, an increase of $0.7 from 2008. This increase mainly results from the higher level of factoring financing during 2009 compared to 2008 when the Company financed some work in process and tax credits receivable.

During 2009, the Company successfully negotiated with unpaid suppliers of the discontinued activities for repayments below their face value on terms the Company could afford and in the respect of said suppliers. This effort concluded in a gain of $0.9 M on forgiveness of debt. This gain also created the recuperation of $0.2 M of losses on foreign exchange recorded in the past.

The net loss for 2009 was $1.9 M, or $0.077 per basic and diluted share, compared to a loss of $4.3 M, or $0.177 per basic and diluted share, during 2008.

As of April 30, 2010, Lyrtech had 24,673,792 class A shares issued and paid, 16,137,283 warrants outstanding and 1,931,042 options outstanding for a total of 42,741,580 shares on a fully diluted basis.

Forward-looking statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning the future performance of the Company's business, its operations and its financial results and condition. These forward-looking statements, by their nature, necessarily involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. We consider the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are based to be reasonable, but caution the reader that these assumptions regarding future events, many of which are beyond our control, may ultimately prove to be incorrect since they are subject to risks and uncertainties that affect us.

About Lyrtech

Lyrtech develops and manufactures advanced digital signal processing solutions for companies worldwide, a vital technology to network and wireless communications, audio and video processing, as well as electronic systems in all fields of technology. Lyrtech offers a full range of DSP-FPGA development platforms, as well as design, prototyping, and manufacturing of electronic products. Lyrtech works in partnership with industry leaders such as Texas Instruments, The MathWorks, and Xilinx. Lyrtech's customers include many prestigious names of the consumer electronics, telecommunications, aerospace and defence fields. For more information, visit www.lyrtech.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange Inc. nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange Inc.) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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For further information: Louis N. Bélanger, president and CEO, Lyrtech Inc., [phone], [email protected]