As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded for replay purposes. Before we start, I want to read you the company's abbreviated safe harbor statement. I want to remind you that statements made in this conference call concerning future revenues, results of operations, financial position, markets, economic conditions, products and product releases, partnerships, and any other statements that may be construed as a prediction of future performance or events or forward-looking statements. Such statements can involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. We ask you to refer to the full disclaimers in our earnings release. You should also review a description of the risks, the risk factors contained in our annual and quarterly filings with the SEC. Non-GAAP results will also be discussed on this call.
The company believes the presentation of non-GAAP information provides useful supplementary data concerning the company's ongoing operations and is provided for informational purposes only. It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Rekor President and COO, David Desharnais. Please go ahead, David.
All right. Thank you very much. Hello, everyone, and thank you for being here with us today. My name is David Desharnais, President and Chief Operating Officer of Rekor, and I'm pleased to be joined today by our Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Eyal Hen. Our Chairman and CEO, Robert Berman, had an unavoidable conflict today and sends his regrets for not being able to join us this morning. The purpose of today's call is to provide additional details into our recent acquisition of All Traffic Data, or ATD, that we announced on January 2nd, 2024. This acquisition is not just a milestone, it's a leap forward in the evolution of Rekor Systems and a major catalyst for growth in our urban mobility market segment. You will recall that a little over a year ago, we acquired Southern Traffic Services, or STS.
The acquisition of STS was more than a strategic expansion. It laid the groundwork for what we now proudly refer to as our urban mobility market segment and our Discover platform for AI-based traffic data collection and analytics. STS, with its extensive network of data collection sites across hundreds of thousands of miles of roadway, significantly enhanced our AI technologies and distribution capabilities. The combination of STS's thirty-plus years of roadside experience and traffic data expertise with Rekor's cutting-edge AI and machine learning technologies, marked a key step in our mission to collect and connect the world's mobility data and provide unparalleled roadway intelligence and insights to our customers. Following the STS acquisition in the past year, we've seen our urban mobility business grow, not just in the Southeast, but also expanding interest and adoption across the U.S.
This expansion, as evidenced by multiple proof of capability studies and deployments, highlighted the urgent need to grow our local resources and presence in these locations, extending beyond our footprint in the South and Southeast and into the central and western states. The addition of ATD strategically aligns with this need and equips us with the right resources in the right places geographically, enabling us to meet the increasing demand from our customers and accelerate our growth nationwide. We believe the ATD acquisition is poised to be a game-changer for Rekor. In addition to STS's 30-year foundation, ATD brings an additional nearly 25 years of relationships and expertise in advanced traffic data collection and analytics across a diverse client base, including commercial entities, government and DOT agencies, as well as hundreds of architecture and engineering firms.
This combination of more than 50 years of roadside experience gives us a strong edge in the market and positions us well to drive the adoption of our urban mobility offerings more effectively and efficiently, meeting local demands across the country, while also providing additional pull-through, cross-sell, and upsell opportunities for our other product lines, including transportation management and public safety. With both STS and ATD now part of Rekor, we have a powerful combination at our disposal. This synergy enhances our technological capabilities, fast-tracks our deployment processes, and extends our geographic reach. We are not just growing, we're reshaping the landscape of traffic data collection and analytics in the U.S. and advancing our vision to enable smarter, safer, and more efficient roadways and communities. Regarding operational integration and growth, ATD will continue as a wholly owned subsidiary of Rekor, ensuring we retain their invaluable expertise and key employees.
This integration is expected to accelerate our business strategy, broaden our customer base, and further our traffic data collection and analytics capabilities and more. Financially, the ATD purchase required an investment of $19 million, comprised of approximately $9 million in cash and 3.5 million unregistered shares of our common stock. For fiscal year 2023, ATD is projected to contribute approximately $9.5 million in revenue and $3 million in EBITDA. In closing, the strategic acquisitions of Southern Traffic Services, and now most recently, All Traffic Data Services, represent a pivotal chapter in Rekor's journey. These acquisitions do more than just expand our operational footprint. They deepen our expertise and capabilities in digital infrastructure and roadway intelligence.
We are uniquely positioned to accelerate growth, harness the power of AI and machine learning technologies, and lead the revolution in urban mobility and traffic data management. We at Rekor are grateful for your ongoing, ongoing support and belief in our vision. The future is bright, and we eagerly anticipate sharing our continued progress with you in the coming months. Once again, thank you for joining us today, and operator, we're now ready to take any questions that might be on the line. Thank you.
I will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you'd like to be placed in the question queue, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Our first question is coming from Mike Latimore from Northland Capital Markets. Your line is now live.
Great. Yeah, good morning. Congrats on the acquisition here. It looks great.
Thanks, Mike.
So I think ATD spends a lot of time with engineering firms and retail development. One, is that right? And two, can you leverage that for your Rekor Discover statewide deals? You know, do they have much, you know, kind of, touch points with the Department of Transportation?
So, so Mike, that's a very good question, and the answer is, in terms of relationships with architecture and engineering firms, ATD has many, many years, almost two decades of relationships with literally hundreds of the largest and mid-sized architecture and engineering firms, who do a lot of work for commercial entities, but also do a lot of work, or they tee up a lot of work for Departments of Transportation. So ATD's got a very strong relationship in that business stream, but also have direct relationships with DOTs as well, at a state, at a statewide level. And so it's a mix of both, and both of those opportunities are well, well, positioned for our growth.
Got it. And what sort of technologies does ATD use today? And, you know, I assume you can upsell your technology there, but maybe talk a little bit about that.
Yeah, you know, just like many, you know, I would say traditional companies in the traffic data collection space, traditional sort of, you know, rubber tubes across the road and sensors technology, video camera technology on the side of the road that is a recording device, is very typical. And, you know, ATD has definitely a large, large set of capabilities in that space. When we think of the upsell of our technology or the use of our technology, it's an exact fit. That whole world, Mike, as you know, and are learning more and more about, is transitioning rapidly to an AI-based approach. And that is where we come in. So it's a direct fit and a direct pull-through and will be used extensively in that ATD and growing footprint from there on.
Got it. And then just last one for me on the data sources that ATD collects. It, you know, it looks like it talks about vehicle, you know, class, count, and speed, like Rekor generates, but it also mentions, you know, five or six other ones, I think. So what, what is the main data source that ATD has been generating?
Well, it is class, count, and speed. And there's a number of technologies, I would say, legacy technologies that can collect that. It's just a lot more dangerous than, and a lot less accurate than an AI-based approach. So they do that, for sure. Areas of concentration would be class, count, and speed, would be bicycles and pedestrians, would be like, turning movements, which is very common in intersections, for example. And so the equipment that's being used and the types of studies and services provided, there's probably 12-15 different types of studies that a firm like ATD will conduct on a regular basis. And so that's, again, a great expansion opportunity for us.
Just to be clear, these folks will provide you with more resources to help deploy Rekor Discover as well in these Western states?
Yeah, but you know, ATD is headquartered in Colorado and has 16 offices across the central as well as western states, even bridging into the Southeast, to some extent as well. So very, very good footprint. So it's people, it's equipment, it's vehicles, it's expertise, it's relationships. It's all of the above that ATD brings to to Rekor that helps us accelerate.
Okay, great. Thanks very much.
Thanks, Mike. Thanks for the color.
Thank you. Next question is coming from Zach Cummins from B. Riley. Your line is now live.
Yep, hi. Hi, good morning, David. Thanks for making the time for the call this morning. I guess just piggybacking a little bit off of Mike's question, is there any overlap in resources between STS and ATD? It sounds like they have a little bit of a presence in the Southeast, so just curious if there's any sort of overlap prior to this acquisition.
Yeah, and that's a good question. So ATD does business across the U.S. A different type of business when it comes to engaging in states through architecture and engineering firms, which is a substantial book of business for ATD today. And that line of business in the Southeast region, in some overlapping areas, is not in competition. It's actually complementary to the statewide activities that are being performed by STS. The ones that don't happen through STS are the ones that go through other firms or A&E firms. So what would be thought of as an overlap is actually not an overlap. It's a complement to what we do, and then also expands our resources in that region, too, to actually bridge and move faster. So it's not an overlap, it's a complement.
In terms of people working on different types of contracts with different types of sources of business development.
Understood. And it sounds like with your technology, you were starting to expand on your own to the Western United States, but it felt like really the gating factor was having the amount of headcount or appropriate resources to really roll that out. I mean, can you speak to the ability of potentially accelerating some of those opportunities, or how are you thinking about that as you go into 2024?
Well, well, Zach, that's exactly a really great synergy here with ATD, is that we do have substantial activities happening in the Western states, and our ability to reach them is requiring us to send folks and trucks and equipment out to the states where we don't have an office, we don't have a presence, we don't have, frankly, years and years and years of a history. So ATD brings all of that for us. So our ability to execute even more quickly on that with the right people, with the right skill set, with the right equipment, and be able to use that to expand, you know, aggressively in the Western states, is there.
I mean, otherwise we'd be looking to put in offices and hire people and, and go through that, and this really becomes a step function opportunity to, to address that gap and move very quickly.
Understood. And final question for me, may be more of a financial question, but just with ATD already being profitable, and providing nice footprint out in the western United States, I mean, how should we think about maybe Rekor's timeline profitability? It seems like we were tracking towards that on a standalone business, but just thinking, how could that be impacted just by the acquisition here of ATD, excuse me?
So our timeline is not is not changed on that. We're still tracking to our commitments, so I'll have Eyal kind of talk to that in a moment. But in terms of the operational efficiency. We actually gained some synergies in the process as well, that aren't just captured on EBITDA, for example, in the way that ATD has come to us. But our guidance really has not changed on that at all, Zach, and, and, and we'll look forward to updating that in our upcoming earnings call, as well. But Eyal, did you want to comment on that?
No, David, I agree with you, Zach. So we're still on track, as we announced before, to be profitable this quarter, and we will talk more about it, you know, on this call in March.
Understood. Well, thanks for taking my questions, and best of luck in the coming quarter.
Thank you, Zach. Appreciate it.
Thank you. Next question is a follow-up from Mike Latimore from Northland Capital Markets. Your line is now live .
Yeah, great. Just, two other ones here. So will the revenue from ATD will that be a separate, like, services line, or will that go in product or recurring? Which, you know, how will you report that?
The ATD revenues will be under our Urban Mobility segment. That's where we are going to allocate it. It's related to the studies that they do. So, it falls under Urban Mobility in our financial statements.
What about product versus recurring? Will it be in one of those two? Which category will that be?
It will be mainly product at this point. The recurring revenue is not high. As David mentioned, they have a good relationship. A lot of the studies that they do a little bit different than the contracts that STS has with DOTs. So a lot of their revenues will fall under products and services.
Got it. And then Rekor Discover, you know, there's the kind of the healthy public agency budget supported by the Federal Infrastructure Act. Can you talk a little bit about just what, what are the secular drivers for ATD's traditional business, you know, supporting engineering firms and kind of retail development?
Yeah. You know, the commercial studies business is pretty extensive. Anytime a new development happens, Mike, from a shopping center to an apartment building, you need traffic impact studies. So that's a very, very strong market, you know, in addition to what happens at a state agency or Department of Transportation. So the commercial market is robust and it, like, retail establishments and also even, for example, take a retail, let's take a mall, for example, that exists. The need to be able to understand what's coming in and out of those parking lots is often the domain of a commercial study. You know, an entity like an A&E firm and/or, you know, a shopping mall developer will have that technology available and in use. So that's definitely a market segment.
It's clear it's not the Department of Transportation, but it is in the commercial segment, and it's quite varied. The A&E or architecture and engineering firms, they also do extensive amount of work with the Departments of Transportation nationwide. The likes of a Kimley-Horn or an AECOM, HNTB, and there's massive companies that do this all day long. They actually don't do the studies themselves. They actually use contractors to do that, and ATD does a substantial amount of work, and for many, many years, with these architecture and engineering firms for states, directly and indirectly, with the states.
And so, when it comes to ATD, the secular drivers are gonna be growth, population movements, you know, I would say the expansion of cities and roadways clearly, from a Department of Transportation, but also in the commercial sector as well.
Mm-hmm. Okay, great. Thanks very much.
All right, Mike. Thanks.
Thank you. Next question is coming from Casey Verbeck from Shay Capital. Your line is now live.
Okay, great. Thank you very much. A couple questions, please. First question for Eyal. Eyal, if you updated us on kind of breakeven for profitability, can you kind of help us think about how to think about revenues for the first quarter with this new acquisition?
Yeah. Hi, Casey. Yeah, we do not, this is not public information at this point, and we do not provide guidance for this, so unfortunately, we'll not be able to update you with revenues for Q1. But obviously, ATD, as you saw, has expects $9.5 million in 2023, and we anticipate growth in 2024, and this obviously will contribute to our top line starting Q1.
Mm-hmm. Okay, and then a couple questions for David, please. Yesterday, Rekor announced a partnership with Kistler. Can you kind of talk about that, the strategic kind of, you know, thought behind that?
You know, I'm happy to do that. I think I'll give you just sort of a teaser, but we'll cover that more on the upcoming earnings call because it's really not the scope of today's call. To give you sort of a hint, just a sense of that, we have a problem in the nation here. 99% of the roadway wear and tear that happens on a roadway is due to trucks, and it's not my stat, it's the Association of Trucking that produces that. So when you deal with trucks, they contribute to about 11% of all the roadway traffic, but they make 99% of the problems that happen in roadways from deterioration and potholes and failures.
And so the weight of vehicles, in particular, trucks, traditionally has gone through a weighing station that you would have seen on the side of the road. A static weigh station, a truck pulls over, they get weighed, and hopefully they're not overweight, and if they are not overweight, they continue. If they are overweight, then it kicks up a whole process. Well, those stations are becoming obsolete. They're very expensive for states to maintain, build and maintain them. So new technologies, such as Weigh-in-Motion, or WIM for short. WIM technology is sensor technology that's embedded in the roadway, and it's designed to be able to measure the weight of vehicles while they're traveling on the roadway, but without having them move over. So that's just a little bit of context.
The second part in the Kistler relationship that we have becomes really critical when you think about our nation's 650,000 bridges, of which 35% of them are earmarked as in desperate need of repair. Eight percent, so 45,000, are designated to be rebuilt and failing and with an F grade. So if you think of the impact of trucks and overweight trucks, about 30% of all trucks on a roadway at any given time, statistically, are over the regu- the regulator break or weight, excuse me.
The ability to identify that easily, in particular, ahead of bridges or roadways that are, you know, in bad shape, which is very common across the U.S., that relationship with Kistler, we don't intend to be, as Rekor, in the sensor business for WIM. So that's something that a partnership with a tier one player like Kistler, who is exceptional at this, very accurate. That marriage of WIM technology, plus our technology of origin, destination, and the ability to track and trace and identify vehicles, becomes really relevant to departments of transportation that are trying to manage not only the roadways, but the bridges that are in a tough situation. So, Casey, that's hopefully that's a sort of a sense-
Yeah, that's great.
of why that makes sense, but it's a big deal.
Okay. And then just lastly, you know, on the... I was reading the transcript from the third quarter conference call, and Rekor kind of outlined three initiatives. One was the setting up a new funding vehicle to execute and accelerate growth. The second one was a potential new acquisition to increase the footprint, both physically and into new states. And then all this to lead up to cross-selling and enlarging, you know, new and existing statewide contracts. You know, the first and second one you guys have executed on with the December announcement and this announcement with ATD. Now, how should we think about, you know, new state contracts, the cadence of announcements, if they're getting enlarged? Like, how do we think about that?
I think you should feel good about that. I think you should continue to watch the news that comes out. We have a lot of good stuff going on. So both, I'd say one, two, and three, we're moving ahead aggressively.
Okay. Thanks very much. Appreciate it, David.
You bet.
Thank you. We've reached the end of our question and answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over for any further closing comments.
All right. Well, thank you very much, everybody, for attending today. You can see that, you know, we're very aggressively growing and accelerating our urban mobility position in the market, bringing really great technology and really great partnerships to bear, that we're excited to be able to continue to update you in the coming months and throughout the year. So very exciting path forward for us. And again, thank you for your support, and we look forward to updating you in the upcoming earnings call. Thank you.
Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference and webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.