“Our Q4 financial performance exceeded our expectations for every metric and delivered record revenue, record gross margin and record EBITDA.” – Sanjay Dhawan, CEO, Cerence
Cerence is closing out a successful first year as an independent company. The provider of conversational AI technology for the automotive sector officially split from parent company Nuance Communications last October, and is now reporting heightened revenues and income.
For its fiscal Q4 ended September 30, Cerence saw revenues of $90.9 million, compared to revenues of $83 million in Q4 of 2019, when it was still a part of Nuance. For the full fiscal year, Cerence is reporting revenues of $329.6 million, compared to revenues of $303.3 million a year ago.
Revenues for the latest quarter showed a 21 percent increase sequentially, and a 10 percent year-over-year increase.
The picture of Cerence’s net result is somewhat more ambiguous. Cerence reports a GAAP net income of $6.8 million for Q4 of 2020, compared to a GAAP net income of $95.8 million in the same period last year. Its GAAP result for the full fiscal year is a net loss of $20.6 million, down from a positive result of $100.3 million last year.
By Cerence’s non-GAAP reckoning, however, it posted a higher net income for the quarter, at $25.7 million compared to $19.1 million a year ago; and its full-year result went from a net income of $62.7 million last year to $64.3 million this year.
“Our Q4 financial performance exceeded our expectations for every metric and delivered record revenue, record gross margin and record EBITDA,” said Cerence CEO Sanjay Dhawan. “Cerence’s first year as a stand-alone business established the company as a major player in conversational AI for the car.”
Dhawan went on to highlight the company’s launch of new products and upgraded technologies despite the challenges of separating the organization from Nuance and, perhaps more importantly, the COVID-19 pandemic. “I’m especially proud of the recognition that the Cerence team has received from our customers regarding our support in helping them achieve their start of production dates without delay,” he said.
Looking ahead to Cerence’s first fiscal quarter of 2021 (the period ending December 31, 2020), the company anticipates revenues in the range of $85 million to $90 million, and full-year revenues of $360-380 million for fiscal 2021.
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