Patriot Scientific
(OTCBB:PTSC) announced today operating results for the third fiscal
quarter ended February 29, 2008.
Patriot Scientific reported Q3 FY‘08 pre-tax
income of $10.7 million, an increase of 9% over Q3 FY’07.
The company’s operating results include $11.7
million in equity earnings from Phoenix Digital Solutions, the joint
venture entity owned half by Patriot Scientific and half by The TPL
Group. Net income for Q3 FY’08 was $6.3
million, with basic and diluted earnings per share of $0.02. On February
29, Patriot had $25.6 million in current assets, inclusive of $23.2
million in cash and short-term investments. Current liabilities of $4.6
million included $4.0 million in income taxes payable that will be
remitted prior to the end of the fourth fiscal quarter.
For the nine months ended February 29, 2008, the company received cash
distributions from Phoenix Digital totaling $16.7 million. Phoenix
Digital receives its income from licenses purchased by manufacturers who
use technologies protected by the MMP™
Portfolio. From these cash flows $5.8 million was invested by Patriot in
the repurchase of outstanding shares and warrants, while significant tax
liabilities of $9.2 million were paid.
Revenues for Phoenix Digital from technology license agreements for the
three and nine-month periods ended February 29, 2008 were $27.9 million
and $48.9 million, respectively. Net income for Phoenix Digital
increased by 8%, compared to Q3 FY’07, to
$25.2 million. As stated in previous company announcements, the dollar
amount for each licensing deal varies depending upon factors that
include, among other things, the relevance of the patents to each
licensee's product revenues and the extent to which the patented
technology is incorporated into specific products. Currently more than
40 major electronic companies have signed licenses for the MMP Portfolio.
“Patriot’s strong
cash position and public market listing will become the foundation for
investing in other businesses,” said recently
appointed Patriot Scientific CEO Rick Goerner. “We
are aggressively seeking to put the company’s
capital to work in the acquisition of new IP technologies and operating
businesses that we believe will provide a platform for incremental,
sustainable and predictable future growth.”
Goerner confirmed the company’s commitment,
and priority, to create increased shareholder value by expanding the
business through strategic acquisitions in key technology segments.
“We have been fortunate to benefit from
strong past cash flows and it is now time for the company to focus on
finding alternative uses for our cash and stock. Many growth companies,
and their technologies, could benefit from Patriot’s
cash and network resources and its access to the public market. We
believe this is a particularly good time to capitalize on these
opportunities. The recent addition of Paul Bibeau as Patriot’s
vice-president of business development expands our capability to support
the evaluation effort of these opportunities. Paul’s
background and experience is proving invaluable in allowing us to
efficiently sort through and evaluate potential acquisition candidates.”
Goerner added, “I know many current, and
prospective, shareholders desire more information about Patriot’s
business and future plans. We will provide a supplemental news release
with additional details about our business plans and the direction we
are moving, as well as answer questions we see commonly posed to us by
the investor community.”
Patriot Scientific is a leading intellectual-property licensing company
that develops, markets, and enables innovative technologies that satisfy
the demands of fast-growing markets for wireless devices, smart cards,
home appliances, network gateways, set-top boxes, entertainment
technology, automotive telematics, biomedical devices, industrial
controllers and more. Headquartered in Carlsbad, Calif., information
about the company can be found at http://www.patriotscientific.com.
An investment profile on Patriot Scientific may be found at http://www.hawkassociates.com/profile/ptsc.cfm.
Copies of Patriot Scientific press releases, current price quotes, stock
charts and other valuable information for investors may be found at http://www.hawkassociates.com
and http://www.americanmicrocaps.com.
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About the MMP Portfolio
The Moore
Microprocessor Patent (MMP) Portfolio contains intellectual property
that is jointly owned by the publicly held Patriot Scientific
Corporation (OTCBB:PTSC) and privately held The TPL Group. The portfolio
includes seven U.S. patents as well as their European and Japanese
counterparts. It is becoming widely recognized that these patents
protect fundamental technology used in designing microprocessors,
microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), embedded processors
and system-on-chip (SoC) devices. The MMP portfolio is exclusively
managed by Alliacense, the
licensing arm of The TPL Group.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995: Statements in this news release looking forward in time
involve risks and uncertainties, including the risks associated with the
effect of changing economic conditions, trends in the products markets,
variations in the company's cash flow, market acceptance risks, patent
litigation, technical development risks, seasonality and other risk
factors detailed in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission
filings.
Moore Microprocessor Patent (MMP) and Alliacense are trademarks of
Technology Properties Limited (TPL). PTSC is a trademark of Patriot
Scientific Corporation. All other trademarks belong to their respective
owners.
