VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 30, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Imagis Technologies, Inc. ("Imagis") (OTCBB:IMTIF) (TSX-V:WSI) (XETRA:IGYA) announced today that its fiscal year revenues at December 31, 2004 were $1,032,970, a decrease of 24 percent over the previous fiscal year level of $1,355,742. Software revenues decreased by 27% to $639,805 for the year compared to the prior year level of $877,438. Support and services revenues for the year declined 18% to $385,075 from the prior year level of $469,575. As of March 15, 2005 Imagis has received orders totalling $2,100,000 that are not recorded as at December 31, 2004. Consequently, Imagis expects that revenues will increase in the first two quarters of 2005 when compared to the first two quarters of 2004 and will continue to increase as the company's new products and solutions continue to gain increasing customer acceptance.
Operating expenses totalled $6,490,907 for 2004, which is 20 percent higher than the 2003 operating expenses of $5,414,599. The 2004 expenses include stock-based compensation of $1,204,307 due to the restructuring of Imagis' employee stock option plan and $1,524,525 in amortization, which includes $1,290,852 in amortization costs of intellectual property. Excluding these non-cash charges the 2004 operating expenses total $3,762,075. The 2003 expenses include one-time charges of $266,950 and amortization of $359,241. Excluding these items, the operating expenses for 2003 were $4,788,408. The difference of $1,026,333 between 2004 and 2003 represents a 21% reduction in operating expenses over the prior year. The current cash operating expense level is approximately $4,300,000 per year as a result of increased staffing levels required to meet increased demand for Imagis' products and services.
Overall, the Company incurred a net loss for the year ended December 31, 2004 of $5,457,937 or $0.39 per share, which is 34 percent higher than the net loss incurred during the year ended December 31, 2003 of $4,058,857 or $0.74 per share. The loss per share figure for 2003 has been adjusted to take into account the Company's share consolidation that occurred in November of 2003. Adjusting the loss to take into account the non-cash and one-time expenses described above, the losses become $2,729,105 for 2004 and $3,432,666 for 2003, representing a 20% reduction. The rate of loss at December 31, 2004 on an EBITDA basis was $280,000 per month and management believes that the Company will be able to achieve break even operations on an EBITDA basis during the first six months of 2005. The Company received significant sales orders during the final quarter of 2004 and the first quarter of 2005; however, installation did not commence until 2005 and the revenue will not be recognised until then. The timing of the revenue recognition will depend on the schedule of completion of contracts.
The Company does not currently have sufficient cash flow from operations to fund its operations. The company has cash sufficient to fund its operations through April 30, 2005. The Company has also received orders that if completed will generate cash sufficient to fund its operations through September 30, 2005. If no further sales are received the Company may need to raise additional funds through private placements of its securities or seek other forms of financing. There can be no assurance that such financing will be available to the Company on terms acceptable to it, if at all. If the Company's operations are substantially curtailed, it may have difficulty fulfilling its current and future contract obligations.
Full details of Imagis financial results are available by reviewing the Company's Form 10K-SB filed on both the SEDAR and EDGAR filing systems.
For the past few years, government legislation in the United States and around the world has mandated two key improvements: security and information sharing. The Company has found that the former cannot be effectively accomplished without the latter. Nevertheless, there remain a large number of information silos within and throughout government, law enforcement and security agencies, as well as with information systems in the health care and financial services sectors.
The merger with Briyante Software Corporation in November of 2003 brought a unique capability to Imagis and its customers. The Company can rapidly and cost-effectively deliver data integration and unified query solutions-incorporating these core capabilities with facial recognition and image matching when necessary-to address legislated market needs and priorities.
"The extended nature of our sales cycles takes time to bear fruit, but new business opportunities and closings clearly show our re-vamped business model and focus on information sharing is accelerating our turnaround," says Roy Trivett, President and CEO, Imagis Technologies Inc. "It is important to note that the company's core technologies and solutions are still receiving enthusiastic validation from customers and partners alike. The justice information sharing networks that utilized our products over the past couple of years are now spreading into other jurisdictions, and our partnerships in the United States and United Kingdom have also been instrumental in developing new, exciting opportunities. We continue to work on extending our industry-leading integration solutions into the financial services, health care, public services, telecommunications and other vertical market sectors."
About Imagis Technologies Inc.
Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Imagis specializes in developing and marketing software products that enable integrated access to applications and databases. The company also develops solutions that automate law enforcement procedures and evidence handling. These solutions often incorporate Imagis' proprietary facial recognition algorithms and tools. Using industry standard Web Services, Imagis delivers a secure and economical approach to true, real-time application interoperability. The corresponding product suite is referred to as the Briyante Integration Environment (BIE).
Numerous production deployments of BIE have demonstrated remarkable reductions in the time, complexity, and risk associated with defining, implementing, and supporting integrated access to physically and technologically disparate computers. The broad ranging applicability of BIE into a variety of areas (e.g., health care, financial services, government services, telecommunications, etc.) has been clearly demonstrated by recent, highly-successful deployments in the United States and Canada. Imagis booking and facial recognition systems are deployed in Canada, the United Kingdom, United States, Mexico and the Far East.
Imagis is a Microsoft Certified Partner.
For information about Imagis or the company's products and services, please refer to www.imagistechnologies.com.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS "Roy Trivett" President and CEO, Imagis Technologies Inc.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Forward Looking Statements: This press release may contain statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results include the risks and uncertainties described in Imagis Technologies Inc.'s Form 10-KSB filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.