SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwired - Oct 12, 2017) - Generation NEXT Franchise Brands (OTCQB: VEND), whose Reis & Irvy's frozen yogurt robot franchise launched in April of 2016, completed the First Quarter of fiscal 2018, with bookings aggregating approximately $5.5 million, adding to its existing deferred revenue of approximately $25.0 million.
Other highlights and updates from fiscal 2017 and the first quarter of fiscal 2018 are as follows:
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Reis & Irvy's total franchise network aggregates 186 franchises;
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The company has raised proceeds totaling $4.4 million in the form of an equity offering;
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We repaid $622,500 in debt principal during the first quarter of Fiscal 2018;
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The company completed September 2017 with $1.8 million in available cash;
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Receivables increased by over $10.5 million from $2.4 million to $12.9 million during fiscal 2017;
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Our deferred revenue increased from $8.1 million to $25.0 million representing an increase of $17 million during fiscal 2017;
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We acquired all the intellectual property in the form of four separate utility and design patents from Robofusion Inc. We now own all IP related to the robot. This increased our fixed assets by $2.4 million in fiscal 2017;
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We spent $1.6 million on research and development expenses during fiscal 2017, thus rebuilding our next generation frozen yogurt robot;
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During fiscal 2017, we used $340,000 in cash from operations, compared to using $556,000 in fiscal 2016. Furthermore, in fiscal 2017, we increased total cash by $1.1 million compared to generating $200,000 in fiscal 2016;
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We selected Flex, Ltd. as our exclusive contract manufacturer and now have a production schedule that allows for approximately 1,000 units to be manufactured for installation by June 30, 2018. With approximately $24 billion in annual revenue and 200,000 professionals across 30 countries, Flex, Ltd. provides innovative design, engineering, manufacturing, real-time supply chain insight and logistics services to companies of all sizes in various industries and end-markets;
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Our prototype frozen yogurt vending robot developed by Lancer Corporation underwent and has now completed the Intertek - UL and NSF design review phase which means all that is left is the final testing; the final testing will take place over the next few weeks, with Intertek testing to verify the robotic arm meets their safety standards and that our procedures meet all health and food safety regulations. Note: We have independently verified that it does meet their standards and we are confident UL will achieve the same results in their testing;
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We have developed a "burn-in-test" that will ensure all frozen yogurt vending robots are performance tested prior to shipment; This process verifies that the robot is communicating with each sub-system during normal operations and that our control system and components/sensors are functional;
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Our frozen yogurt vending robots have been through rigorous performance testing and have performed extremely well in various humidity and ambient temperature routines including over a million cycles of the robotic arm without fail; in addition to the robotic arm and soft-serve machine testing, we have been validating software communication and integration on the entire unit to ensure all sub-systems are communicating and are functional;
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We engaged Pitney Bowes as our national service network partner to deliver, install and provide on-site training for our robots; backed by a team of over 16,000 dedicated professionals, Pitney Bowes has more than 1.5 million clients in approximately 100 countries around the world that rely on products, solutions and services from Pitney Bowes;
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On August 9th, we announced an $875,000 Licensing Agreement within the Nation of Oman. This is the second international license agreement signed, the other being for the exclusive rights to Israel, which was licensed for $3,637,500 over a five-year period;
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Our first robots will be delivered in November 2017;
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We are excited to announce that our first franchise training begins November 6, 2017 at the Generation Next Corporate Office in San Diego, CA. Each franchisee will spend 2 days learning about their robots and franchise business. Franchisees that attend this inaugural training will be also the first to receive their robots. Representatives from our partners Flex Ltd, Pitney Bowes and Spaceman will be in attendance at this training.