Smart-lock device company TZ Ltd (ASX:TZL) says it’s on track for growth in 2021 after the business took a number of stabilisation measures during the pandemic.

The company released its 4C filing for the December quarter this morning, which showed cash receipts from customers came in at $4.23m.

To generate those receipts, TZL booked operating costs of $2.38m and paid out staff expenses of $1.5m for the quarter.

But with the help of a $617,000 government grant (related to the R&D tax incentive), the company was able to flag net positive operating cash flows of $58,000.

That marked a healthy gain from the December 2019 quarter, when the company leaked out $1m in cash flows from operations.

Shares in TZL rose by around 10 per cent in morning trade to 11.5c.

Looking ahead, TZ said it plans to maintain that trend despite the “ongoing COVID-19 related challenges in relation to the timing and deployment of projects”.

The company’s operations have been more severely affected in the US market, it said.

But despite that, preliminary revenues for the December half-year still snuck in around eight per cent higher than the previous year.

TZ also used its 4C to highlight various strategic changes it executed on in 2020, a number of which focused on controlling its cost base.

The company closed its Brisbane offices, reduced exec-level salaries and cut head-count across the business, while increasing investment in its systems infrastructure.

That followed board changes in March last year, when Scott Beeton came on as CEO after Peter Graham was appointed as chairman — a move which was “initiated by TZ’s major shareholders”, the company said.

TZ’s electronic lock technology deploys a Shape Memory Alloy (SMA), variations of which are used in its product suite of SMArt devices.

The devices are applied to a primarily commercial client base as a security locking mechanism for things like storage cabinets and display cases.

TZ’s $58,000 in operating cash flows followed on from a net cash outflow figure of ~$350,000 in the September quarter, which the company attributed to capital costs associated with an upgrade of its global systems infrastructure.

Looking ahead, TZ said it’s exploring additional opportunities in Europe with its chief technology officer, Adam Forsyth, having recently relocated to the UK.

It also flagged a proof-of-concept project with “one of the world’s largest retailers” for its click-and-collect lockers in the March quarter.

“We will also finalise delivery and deployment of 130 click-and-collect lockers for a major South African bank, which is pioneering contactless delivery of its debit and credit cards,” TZL said.

“We remain confident that the changes that have been made will enable the business to achieve its stated goal of trading cash flow positive in the near term.”

Featured Companies

You might be interested in