Exela Technologies, Inc.

First quarter revenue was $258.8 million, down 5.4% year over year, or down 4.3% pro forma for the sale of the high-speed scanner business. Gross margin was 22%, up 17 basis points year over year. Net loss was $25.6 million, an improvement of $20 million year over year, and adjusted EBITDA was $12.9 million. On a segment basis, Information and Transaction Processing Solutions declined 9% year over year, Healthcare Solutions grew about 3% to 4%, and Legal and Loss Prevention Services grew about 6% year over year, though LLPS was down 12% sequentially due to project fluctuations. Looking ahead, management did not give formal quarterly or full-year financial guidance, but said it expects continued margin improvement, revenue stabilization, and liquidity progress through 2024.

The call did not include the CEO, so the strategic commentary came from interim CFO Matt Brown. His message was that Exela is pushing revenue stabilization while improving profitability through automation, operational leverage, and a shift from CapEx to OpEx as data center infrastructure moves to the cloud. He sounded cautiously optimistic, saying the company is making good progress on savings initiatives and remains focused on strategic growth areas such as Reaktr.ai.

Matt Brown emphasized several financial improvements: gross margin reached 22%, SG&A fell 43 basis points year over year, current liabilities were down 23%, and interest expense was down 52% year over year. He also said the net loss improved to $25.6 million and adjusted EBITDA was $12.9 million. On liquidity, he noted unrestricted cash of approximately $10 million after the interest payment and said the company is pursuing financing initiatives while managing rising taxes as NOLs are reduced.

There was no analyst Q&A on the call. The operator opened the line for questions, but no questions were asked, so there were no additional management answers or follow-up concerns discussed.