Kingtone Wirelessinfo Solution Holding Ltd Reports Fiscal Year 2012 Financial Results; Provides Fiscal Year 2013 Revenue and Net Income Guidance

XI'AN, China, January 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Kingtone Wirelessinfo Solution Holding Ltd (Nasdaq: KONE - News) ("Kingtone", or the "Company"), a China-based developer and provider of mobile enterprise solutions, today announced financial results for its fiscal year ended September 30, 2012. The financial statements and other financial information included in this press release are prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("U.S. GAAP").

Fiscal Year 2012 Financial Highlights

• Revenues decreased by 77.1% to approximately $1.5 million from approximately $6.3 million in the prior year period.
• Gross profit decreased by 108.1% to approximately $0.2 million loss from approximately $2.9 million in the prior year period.
• Gross margin decreased to minus 16.4% from 46.2% in the prior year period.
• Net loss of approximately $9.0 million as compared to net loss of approximately $1.0 million in the prior year period.
• Basic and diluted loss per share were $6.40* as compared to loss per share of $0.74* in the prior year period with weighted average shares outstanding of 1,405,000* as compared to 1,405,000* in the prior year period.

"We had a difficult fiscal year as the macro economy in China was slowing down, and overall gross profit for the software solution business became very slim," said Mr. Peng Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of the Company. "We believe that this situation may be temporary and hope our investors can be more patient with our business and capital market performance. In the meantime, we have taken a number of measures to improve our performance and strengthen our business model to achieve sustainable growth. We won a substantial contract with Hualu Engineering & Technology Co., Ltd. ("Hualu") to provide wireless system service to Hualu's coal chemical factory in Jingbian Energy and Chemical Projects and Comprehensive Utilization of Industrial Park in Shaanxi, China. It is expected to contribute RMB108.6 million or approximately $17.2 million revenue to the Company in the fiscal year of 2013. We believe this Contract will be a great addition to the Company's revenue in the coming year."

Fiscal Year 2012Financial Performance

Results of Operations - The year ended September 30, 2012 compared to the year ended September 30, 2011.

Revenues. For the year ended September 30, 2012, total revenues decreased by 77.1% to approximately $1.5 million from approximately $6.3 million in the year ended September 30, 2011.

Our revenue from software solution sales decreased by 88.6% to approximately $0.3 million in the year ended September 30, 2012 from approximately $2.4 million in the year ended September 30, 2011. As a percentage of total revenue, software solution sales decreased from 38.0% to 19.0%. The significant decrease in our software solution revenue was mainly because as the macro economy is slowing down, the governments are more conservative on the investment on the software solution, especially mobile enterprise software for some vertical industries such as police and emergency agency, who are our major customers. Another contributing factor was that our new contracts were of substantially smaller value than our contracts in the prior year period.

Our revenue from wireless system solution sales decreased by 70.1% to approximately $1.2 million in the year ended September 30, 2012 from approximately $3.9 million in the year ended September 30, 2011. As a percentage of total revenue, wireless system solution revenue increased from 62.0% to 81.0% of our total revenue. Given the competitive circumstances, we devoted more resources into communicating with some major customers but we didn't successfully sign a contract until September 15, 2012 when we signed a contract with Hualu Engineering & Technology Co., Ltd. ("Hualu") to provide wireless system service to Hualu's coal chemical factory in Jingbian Energy and Chemical Projects and Comprehensive Utilization of Industrial Park in Shaanxi, China ("Jinbian Industrial Park"). Pursuant to the agreement, we will provide engineering services to Hualu's coal chemical factory in Jingbian Industrial Park. The services to be performed under this contract include installation, debugging and initial training the staff operating the tank, engineering instruments and telecommunications. It is expected to contribute RMB108.6 million, or approximately $17.2 million revenue to the company during the fiscal year of 2013.

Cost of Sales. Cost of sales decreased by 50.4% to approximately $1.7 million in the year ended September 30, 2012 from approximately $3.4 million in the year ended September 30, 2011. As a percentage of our total revenues, our cost of sales increased to 116.4% of revenues in the year ended September 30, 2012 from 53.8% of our total revenues in the year ended September 30, 2011. The decrease in cost of sales was primarily attributable to the decrease in revenue from both software business and wireless system solutions business.

Cost of sales for software decreased by 46.9% to approximately $0.6 million in the year ended September 30, 2012 from approximately $1.2 million in the year ended September 30, 2011, representing 37.9% and 35.4% of our total cost of sales and 232.7% and 50.0% of our software revenue in the fiscal years ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively. Cost of sales for wireless system solutions decreased by 52.4% to approximately $1.0 million in the year ended September 30, 2012 from approximately $2.2 million in the year ended September 30, 2011, representing 62.1% and 64.6% of total cost of sales and 89.2% and 56.1% of wireless system solution revenues in the fiscal years ended September 2012 and 2011, respectively. The decreased percentage of cost of sales to total cost of sales was attributable to the decreased revenue from wireless system solutions, which was brought by the small and limited orders of wireless system solutions and harsh competition of the wireless industry. The increased percentage of cost of sales to wireless system solution revenues from September 30, 2011 to September 30, 2012 was due to the higher weighted average decrease of corresponding revenue from September 30, 2011 to September 30, 2012 as a result of harsh competition of the wireless industry and economic slow-down effect.

Gross Profit and Gross Margin. Total gross profit decreased by 108.1% to approximately $0.2 million loss in the year ended September 30, 2012 from approximately $2.9 million in the year ended September 30, 2011. Our total gross margin was minus 16.4% and 46.2% in the years ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively. This decrease of gross profit and gross margin was primarily due to the national slow-down economy, which resulted in the overall of decrease of decrease in industry profit and profit margin.

Our gross profit for software solution sales decreased by 130.3% to approximately $0.4 million loss in the year ended September 30, 2012 from approximately $1.2 million in the year ended September 30, 2011. Our gross margin for software solutions sales decreased to minus 132.7% in the year ended September 30, 2012 from 50.0% in the year ended September 30, 2011.

Our gross profit for wireless system solution sales decreased by 92.6% to approximately $0.1 million in the year ended September 30, 2012 from approximately $1.7 million in the year ended September 30, 2011. Our gross margin for wireless system solution sales decreased to 10.8% in the year ended September 30, 2012 from 43.9% in the year ended September 30, 2011.

(Loss) Income from Operations. We incurred a loss of $9.4 million in the year ended September 30, 2012, 630.5% increase in such a loss from approximately loss of $1.3 million in the year ended September 30, 2011. The increase in loss from operations was mainly due to significantly lower revenues from software solutions and wireless system solutions business compounded by increased operating expenses.

Net (Loss) Income and EPS. We incurred a net loss of $9.0 million in the year ended September 30, 2012 as compared to net loss of approximately $1.0 million in the year ended September 30, 2011, representing a decrease of 766.8%. Basic and diluted loss per share was $6.40 in the year ended September 30, 2012, compared to loss per share $0.74 in the prior year period. The number of weighted average ordinary shares outstanding for the year ended September 30, 2012 was 1,405,000, compared to 1,405,000 a year ago. The numbers in loss per share in both years retrospectively reflect the effect of the Reverse Split.

Liquidity and Capital Resources.

Cash and Cash Equivalents. As of September 30, 2012, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $6.4 million, compared to $8.7 million in the prior year period.

Net cash used in operating activities was approximately $2.4 million for the year ended September 30, 2012 as compared to $5.1 million for the year ended September 30, 2011. During 2012, the Company had a net loss of $9.0 million, out of which $0.5 million was depreciation and amortization and $4.9 million was bad debt expense. In addition, the Company had net investment in sales-type leases of $0.07 million, decreased accounts and notes receivable by $1.2 million, increased unbilled revenue by $0.4 million and decreased income tax payable by $0.1 million. Net cash provided by operating activities was approximately $4.3 million for the year ended September 30, 2010.

Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended September 30, 2012 was approximately $0.1 million as compared to approximately $0.08 million for the year ended September 30, 2011. The cash used in investing activities in fiscal year 2012 and 2011 were mainly attributable to purchasing property and equipment. Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended September 30, 2010 was approximately $0.31 million for the purpose of purchasing a building for the Company's research and development center.

Net cash used in financing activities for the year ended September 30, 2012 totaled approximately $9 thousand as compared to net cash used in financing activities of approximately $1.19 million for the year ended September 30, 2011. The cash used in financing activities for the year ended September 30, 2011 was mainly attributable to a loan and guarantee agreement with an unrelated third party, and a $4.2 million guarantee for a $3 million (RMB27.9 million) loan offshore to cover oversea expenses. The cash provided by financing activities for the year ended September 30, 2010 was mainly attributable to the proceeds we received from our initial public offering in May 2010.

Financial Outlook.

For the fiscal year ending September 30, 2013, management expects revenues of $8.7 million to $11.0 million and net income of $0.6 million to $0.9 million.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call to discuss its fiscal year 2012 financial results at 8:00 a.m. ET on Friday, January 18, 2013. Mr. Tao Li, Chairman, Mr. Peng Zhang, Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Li Wu, Chief Financial Officer and Ms. Yao Ti, Assistant to the Chief Financial Officer, will be on the call.

To participate in the conference call, please dial any of the following numbers:

A replay of the call will be available until 11:59 PM ET on Jan. 19, 2013.

To access the replay, please dial any of the following numbers:

The conference call will be webcast live by Vcall and can be accessed at http://www.InvestorCalendar.com.

About Kingtone Wirelessinfo Solution Holding Ltd

Kingtone Wirelessinfo Solution Holding Ltd (Nasdaq:KONE - News) is a China-based software and solutions developer focused on wirelessly enabling businesses and government agencies to more efficiently manage their operations. The Company's products, known as mobile enterprise solutions, extend a company's or enterprise's information technology systems to include mobile participants. The Company develops and implements mobile enterprise solutions for customers in a broad variety of sectors and industries, to improve efficiencies by enabling information management in wireless environments. At the core of its many diverse packaged solutions is proprietary middleware that enables wireless interactivity across many protocols, devices and platforms.

For more information, please visit Kingtone's website at http: www.kingtoneinfo.com. The Company routinely posts important information on its website.

Safe Harbor Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including certain plans, expectations, goals, and projections, which are subject to numerous assumptions, risks, and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements containing words such as "may," "could," "would," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "expects," "intends", "future" and "guidance" or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are subject to change at any time. These forward-looking statements are based upon management's current expectations and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond the Company's control that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable law.