I'll hand it over to you.
Great. Thank you, Simon, and thank you everyone for taking the time to join. We've had a lot of information in the market over the last two months or so in terms of the year-end and the audit, and then the annual report. Pleased to update everyone on the first quarter. It's been a really strong quarter. It's ahead of our plan, ahead of our targets, and Paul will take you through the numbers. We were about 31%-32% up against prior calendar period in terms of exit run rates for our subscription revenue base. Gross margins kept improving. I think the thing that, as owners of the business and shareholders, you'll be most interested in is where we are in terms of coming to market with three new products.
I would like to take you through those, because they will drive, we hope, if we execute well, materially more ARR growth based on a customer council and industry demand in terms of what we are building. We are being a little bit coy at the moment because of competitive factors around exactly what we're shipping through the second half of this year. We do have a new platform coming that takes us into the management of the electrical side of the grid. Taking power from the distribution assets on the street into a home or a business. We've got a next generation product coming that takes us into make-ready engineering. That means electric utility can design and develop more capacity in terms of their grid infrastructure, and we've got a new communications module for the fiber industry.
All of these things are in flow and wanted to make sure everyone's up to speed on that. It's what we got funded to build and develop. Then there's a final thing around AI. We've now got our entire ike-specific platform up and running. This is something everyone's reading about it. We're all looking at the same media, et cetera, but we have a ike-specific platform called Vitruvius, which is now driving a lot of not just how we do things, which is very ike-specific, it's around the electrical grid, but it's also how we put AI inside of our products. I'm going to hand over now to Paul and scroll down this document, please bear with me, and Paul will take you through the numbers. Paul, as you know, is our CFO. We're both based out here in Colorado. Paul.
Thank you, Glenn. I'll just start by clarifying, I know that many of you commented and have seen an amended release. I just want to call out that, being very consistent with what we shared last quarter, our guidance for subscription revenue is a similar growth rate to what we saw last year, and that was an edit that we caught as we went to market. Just wanted to clarify that you are seeing the amended release. The guidance is really the major change. A very high guidance and similar to what we saw in FY 2026. If I look at the exit run rate, this is our ARR run rate at the end of June 30th, you can see a very strong continuation of the growth, NZD 22 million in the end of June FY 2026. Sorry, 2026. That's our FY 2027.
Comparing with NZD 17 million in the period last year, and NZD 13 million the year before. That's a 31% growth rate. Granted, FX helped by three to four basis points, still a very strong quarter for us. That's a continuation of a very strong CAGR at 30%. Our exit run rate ARR growing compound annually at 30%, and it was 31% for the annual comparable. Just moving to subscription revenue. We've talked a lot in the past about growth coming from new logos and upsells, cross-sells to existing customers. One thing we don't talk about too much is the churn. We see very low churn in our business, certainly in the last few months and even looking back last year. We have a very sticky solution. Customers are buying it. We don't lose a lot of revenue.
You can see on our platform subscription revenue chart, it was a 27% growth year-over-year for the first quarter of FY 2027. Just going down to the next slide. It's really the seat comparable. Looking at our products and more from a seat perspective. We do predominantly sell on a per seat model for our subscriptions. We are looking at our new products and pricing models associated with that. You can see 19% seat growth. Really, the 19% seat growth shows that many of the seats we're selling are at a much higher price. Clearly our subscription revenue outpacing seat growth, so definitely getting more from our price increases as well as higher pricing from some of the customers that we're selling to. Again, continued strong seat growth through the first quarter of FY 2027. If you jump, Glenn, now to the next slide.
One thing to talk to is our transactions revenue. This is our services business where we do services work for some of our customers. Most of it, but not all of it, is heavily predicated on our telecommunication broadband fiber. We've commented on past earnings calls or performance updates about BEAD funding, government funding, and a change in the U.S. administration. The bottom line here is it has been slow in terms of projects in the market. Read this slide as Macroeconomic, not execution by the business. We feel this is a low point for us. There is line of sight to projects, but again, freeing up that broadband funding for rural fiber rollouts has taken longer than we anticipated, and that's reflected in these numbers that you see here.
I don't know, Glenn, if you want to comment on that, or you want me to just keep going. Sorry, you're on mute. Hey, Glenn, you're on mute.
Yeah. We believe that the fiber market has not gone away, we've got line of sight, I think, to the next three, four, five years of fiber projects. Yeah, there has been a bump in the road. This is the services-based item. Remember, all of these customers use our software, then we're adding a value-added service over the top of it is the way to think about this business. The next chart actually talks to that quite strongly if you look at how the pure subscription part of the business has grown in terms of ARR.
Yeah. Continuing on, if you look at the stacked bar chart at the bottom of this page. IKE has intentionally gone to evolving to a heavily focused subscription-based model, and you can see that kind of in our dark blue in terms of the mix that the revenue's now coming from subscriptions. I think it's important to note this is a very recurring, predictable model for us. It's also driving a lot of the gross margin accretion that you hear us talk about, which gives us way more operating leverage to invest in some of those new products that Glenn mentioned at the beginning of the call, as well as the AI initiatives that we've got within the company and in our products. That subscription business model shift is reflected, I think, quite well visually on this slide.
You can see how we've moved away from being a hardware one-time revenue business as well as less services revenue. Granted, some of it macroeconomic, but clearly the mix of our business has shifted over these last three years and we'll continue to see that kind of shift as we move forward, leading to higher gross margin. I'll wrap up with just kind of the metrics slide, which kind of summarizes everything. If we can, Glenn, just move down to the last page. You can see revenue flat year-over-year, looking at Q1 of 2027 versus 2026. As I mentioned, gross margin improving by 7%, heavily driven by our product mix, revenue mix. We continue to add significant amount of customers. We're up 8% using a trailing 12-month subscription customer count.
You can see the growth rates that I've talked about already, not just in our subscription revenue, but also our subscription margin. We continue to see improved gross margins in that business as we scale the product lines. Hardware and other performs well. It's a small revenue stream, but you can see fairly decent gross margins on that side. Then really the transaction revenue count is really, as I commented earlier, showing negative margin. We do have a cost structure that requires a certain level of services to support. Again, we are, I would say, cautiously optimistic for second half, but potentially see Q1 as a low point in that business as we look for more funding to free up and more projects to come our way. More to come on that.
I'll wrap up and say thanks everyone for calling in, and hand it back to you, Glenn.
Thanks, Paul. Yeah, look, the items I was just keen to highlight tie into the subscription revenue growth, which we expect to continue, where we also intend to continue to increase pricing through this year in terms of a growth driver. The more capability we build inside of our software, we intend to charge for. Then I think the really exciting thing is what we're doing with new products, which I mentioned, in particular, moving to a new platform that means that we're managing the electrical side of the distribution grid in terms of getting power to customers and all of the infrastructure that's involved. Think of transformers all the way through to smart meters in terms of power management. That's very close to being fully developed.
We're working with a customer council of the biggest utilities in the United States who've asked us to build this for them. This will be applicable to the entire industry, and if we get it right, I think it's something that could be large. I know the question is, hey, what's the TAM? Which is Total Addressable Market. We think more around SOM, which is Serviceable Obtainable Market, and this is large. The per customer pricing for this new product is much more significant than the products we have in the market right now. I won't just yet talk about what we think those numbers look like, but we do think it's exciting.
Last thing is, it's a topic that everybody is looking at, we're all reading the same stuff, is around AI, whether it's a threat or whether it's a tailwind. We do truly believe it's a tailwind for IKE. We're now putting AI inside of our products. We're charging more for our software. We have a proprietary database of more than 20 million human-engineered power assets. We don't think our customers are going to build our software to replace IKE. We're obviously keeping our eye on the ball in terms of usage. We're running dozens and dozens and dozens of agents. Agentic AI, that's where you ask the AI to do work on your behalf rather than a person. We're watching how customers are using that technology.
We just see this as a massive opportunity. Within the next couple of months, we will actually set up a demonstration of our internal system so you can see what we're doing in terms of our internal AI system. We call it Vitruvius. Vitruvius was a Roman architect. That's what we're basing our system around. I think those are the key items that we wanted to cover in this outlook. Again, the takeaway is a very strong quarter. We were ahead of our plans and our targets. We're excited about the quarter ahead. Obviously, both Paul and myself are available anytime to connect. Simon, I might throw to you if I can. For any questions that have come in.
Thanks for that, Glenn. Thanks, Paul. I'll just get to a few of the questions that have already been submitted first. Sinclair Currie at MA Financial asks, "Can the team provide some quantification of how the sales pipeline for the new products is emerging? Have customers already committed to take the new solutions?
What we've done and what we did actually with the IKE Performance product is pull a customer council together. These are not mid-level people. They're the standards directors inside of very large electric utilities. They engage on product design. We do not ask them to contract to a product because that can cause more problems than it can create benefit. The answer to that is no, we don't have forward contracts. We do have total engagement from the decision-makers within these utilities. It worked for us well the last time we followed the same process.
In terms of the revenue model for the new solutions, is it going to be per seat, per module, or something else, and how does management see revenue scaling in 2027 and beyond?
Well, we expect to keep growing at similar growth rates or higher, potentially. The utility market does still operate on a per seat basis, and we want to keep our eye on how that evolves. We do not want to be the first to move to a usage model. Again, it kind of comes back to this AI discussion. Everyone's looking at a usage, token-based revenue model. That may happen in the electric utility space, but right now, it's not something that they are using or considering.
In terms of the forward revenue growth guidance you've spoken about in the releases, how much of that is dependent on the rollout of new products?
I can answer that, Glenn, if you want me to take it.
Yeah.
I think what's important, Simon, I've seen some of the questions, is the timing on these releases. We can't take any revenue until they're launched, and we've said launch is second half. What I would say is we heavily look at our sales pipeline, and in that pipeline, we do see some visibility, or we see a lot of visibility into opportunities to take the new products. With the timing of the launch and the starting of the revenue recognition clock, the impact, at least this year, is likely to be a positive impact, will be more in the fourth quarter. I think what's important is between now and the fourth quarter, again, launch is before that potentially, but we've got to get the deals signed, the products rolled out, and typically you do pilots before you launch.
The takeaway for FY 2027 is there is revenue growth this year, but it's later in the year, just timing with the launch and finishing the sales process. I think just to address another question, online tied to this is, yes, we do need to launch these products for a continued fast growth path into FY 2028. We've not given guidance for 2028, but yes, we need to keep improving or expanding, I should say, our footprint within the utilities. These new products we feel very bullish about, which will impact positively our 2028 growth. Again, just answering the question, we have pipeline visibility, revenue impact likely to be coming later in the year.
Paul, this question around the language around new products has changed quarter-on-quarter from beta launch to coming to market, as well as three products from two modules. Are new products ahead of expectations on delivery?
No, they're on target, they're not ahead. I think the thing that is ahead is we've built a full AI-first system in terms of developing the products. Means we can do it more cost efficiently and faster, ultimately, than what we'd anticipated maybe 12 months ago. The whole world's living in this environment, we're on track in terms of getting to market time-wise.
Just last submitted question from Michael Ardrey at Bells. Are there any existing competing products for the electrical management platform or product?
Yes, there are, that's why we're being somewhat coy around what it is we've built. There is an existing solution that we think has got some significant weaknesses, and it's a product that's been developed by one of the very large industrial technology companies in the electric utility market. We think we can be better on many fronts, not just the product, but on delivery and service and customer experience and support. As I mentioned, we've got more than 12 of the biggest utilities in the United States that are working with us on developing this next generation of this tool.
Got Jules Cooper at Shaw and Partners. Jules, please go ahead.
Thanks, guys, for taking the question. Just a couple of just sort of follow-ups, I suppose, on what you've presented just now. Glenn, you talked about the revenue model being seat-based in the industry. I just wanted to sort of press in a little bit because you'd sort of talked about as you're bringing new AI features to your customers, you will look at price increases. I suppose I just wanted to sort of clarify if it's not usage and we've got some token costs maybe that's sort of being embedded in some of the functionality, how you're thinking about sort of recouping that with your seat-based model. That's the first one.
Second, just when we were talking about the timing of product releases, I think you sort of suggested that there'd be some contribution in the fourth quarter from these product releases and benefit to the business. Could I just ask, have you taken a conservative stance around that, or does the guidance for this year heavily rely on a successful launch? It's really just kind of what you've baked in versus providing some conservatism.
Yeah, look, on the first one, Jules, thanks for the question. We do try to take a conservative stance on guidance because there's no upside in being aggressive on the guidance side of things. I think on the item, we're all watching this, right? Just hearing you talk in the TechRise Conference. Everyone's watching what's happening with consumption-based pricing versus seat-based. Yeah, we need to keep our eye on the industry and see if they become sophisticated enough to use agentic AI to use our software. Then it's always just value-based pricing. It's like, "Hey, this is how much value we add to your business, therefore, this is what you're going to pay." I think it's a bit of a distraction at the moment from certain software companies in terms of pricing model.
So long as your software's delivering a lot of value to a customer, then you can price it accordingly. We're not seeing any evidence at the moment of agent-based usage of software in the electric utility market. It will get there eventually, for sure, but it's not something that we're seeing with our customers just yet.
Excellent. All right. Thank you very much for the sort of additional detail around the new products. Looks really exciting.
It is exciting, I think as shareholders and investors, it's something that we can't over-disclose in terms of what we're building because we've got competitors and things, it does take us into a really interesting new space. Hopefully, it will be if we execute well, and there's still lots of risk around bringing this to market and delivering successfully. We do think it will add a lot of value into the company.
Yeah. Excellent. Well.
James Lindsay at Forsyth Barr. James, please go ahead.
Thanks, Simon, good day, gents. A few from me, if I may. Previously, thanks for the sort of conversation around the pricing side of the new products. Module 1, I think if I recall correctly, you talked about pricing sort of being well north of the NZD 2,000 per sort of seat for IKE PoleForeman. Is that still the case for you, your view?
Yes, if we get this right, I think it's considerably higher value. We're going into actually managing grid infrastructure and the flow of power through a network, and it's a much higher cost problem for a utility, and quality problem for a utility. Lots of work to do, but if we get it right, I believe we'll be able to price for it.
Great. Just with regard to sort of implementation inside customers, is there any customization required for that product to be sort of included within a customer, or could rollout be relatively quick and seamless?
Yeah, it's the latter, and that's the exciting thing. It is more around managing power flows than around the regulatory or standards side of an electric utility. I think that makes it really interesting. It also means if you think about international markets, with what we do today, we're very much based on standards and regulatory rules, et cetera, in terms of how we design assets. This potentially means we can go into other international markets without that constraint.
Yeah. You mentioned, Glenn, just with regard to sort of some level of visibility on that transactional side of things. Obviously, you mentioned that this quarter is a low point for that transaction side of things, and obviously with a negative gross margin, not such a good position to be in. Would you think that the transaction side of things would get to a positive gross margin by the end of the year?
Yeah. Paul can comment on the financial element of the transaction business, but I'll just make the point, we focus heavily on customer experience and brand and full service delivery, and this technology-enabled service is something that certain customers really love, and it goes up and down. It's just like our training and education department. All of these companies are using our software so that they're paying us subscription revenue, then we help them when they need additional capacity in terms of a project. Paul can comment on where we sit in terms of profitability.
Yeah. To date, James, we know the level of revenue we need to break even. As the second quarter progresses, we're keeping an eye on the leading indicators as we go into the second half. Short way of saying we've got to either lower the cost or increase the revenue to ensure that we do have something north of break even as we exit 2027. That would be the goal, yes.
Got it. Yeah, again, reiterate that it's nice to see the extra sort of commentary with regard to the products as well. Just with regard to Module 2, that did look to be just a little bit faster, as you mentioned, that maybe AI has helped you bring that forward a little bit. Just any sort of lead into pricing yet with regard to for that Module 2?
I think on Module 2 that James is referencing here is tied to some make-ready engineering automation inside of IKE Office Pro. That won't directly be tied to price increases. What we're doing with the IKE PoleForeman product, we do intend to increase pricing perhaps 30% through the next few quarters and bringing customers up to a substantially higher price point. Yeah, that obviously just will flow through to the ARR number.
That was actually a good lead into the next question. Yeah. You had obviously previously highlighted that you would be reviewing pricing for IKE PoleForeman after implementation, so that's good to see that flowing through. Just with regard to R&D, obviously, you've had quite a number of products under development at the moment, which is fantastic. Obviously with that funding that you raised money for, just interested in how you would see total spend, either capitalized or expense for next year and how things will flow through.
I can take that one, Glenn. James, if I look at our R&D spend in Q1 versus Q1 last year, we're up about 15% before adjustments for capitalization. We're up about 10% after adjusting for capitalization. We have increased the R&D spend 15% in terms of dollars out the door. A lot of that, as we mentioned in the release, tied to the fundraise to really get these products launched. I would anticipate for the year to be in that high teens growth rate in terms of our spend, just to really make sure that we're investing to ensure the success of those launches. Short answer, 15% year-over-year for Q1. Continue to see that similar growth rate for the year.
I suppose an extension of that question, just with regard to going into the next year, would you expect that number to come back, or now that you've got momentum and new product stuff, that you'll just continue to go harder and faster?
Hard to answer that, I would say right now, given a lot of our roadmap visibility is about 12 months out in terms of tangible release dates and functionality. To me, it depends on strong growth into the second half. Market opportunity remains bullish, if we see investment opportunities to continue to bring products to market, we could spend at that rate. Again, we'd want to make that guidance call later in the year.
Great. Thanks, gents. Again, well done. Cheers.
Thanks.
Thanks. Glenn, Paul, that concludes the Q&A, I'll just hand it back to you, Glenn, for closing remarks.
Thanks, Simon. Appreciate everyone taking the time. As always, both Paul and myself and Simon are available any time for a call or some follow-up questions. Otherwise, our next update will be just in sequence, so it'll be towards the end of the month of October in terms of our half-year financials. Yeah, look forward to being in touch then. I would encourage everyone to subscribe to our LinkedIn channel. In particular, when we're talking about these new product releases, that's the place to see what we are doing in terms of new technology and new capability. There will be some activity there between now and the end of October. Otherwise, thank you, and we'll be in touch.
Thanks, Paul. Thanks all for taking-