Where Food Comes From reports Q3 EPS 13c vs. 13c last year

Reports Q3 revenue $7M vs. $7.3M last year. “Despite continuing headwinds related to cyclical cattle trends, our core verification and certification revenue increased in both the third quarter and nine-month period,” said John Saunders, chairman and CEO. “These increases reflect growth in our customer base and in the number and type of verifications we are conducting. They also underscore continued momentum in consumer preferences for learning more about how and by whom their food is produced. Lower overall revenue in the third quarter was attributable to a decline in hardware sales due to reduced herd sizes. Hardware sales could continue to be lumpy over the next few quarters until herd sizes begin to cycle back to higher levels. Lower hardware sales also weighed on gross margins, although we continued to deliver solid profitability in the quarter and year-to-date period and will be well positioned to drive profit growth over the long term as we benefit from consumer preferences, continued customer growth and high customer retention rates. More recently, we announced another important milestone in our aquaculture initiative with the acquisition of Smart Catch(TM), a program administered by our Postelsia division that promotes transparency and sustainability in seafood,” Saunders added. “Originally a domestic program of the James Beard Foundation designed to link chefs to place-based seafood sustainability initiatives, Smart Catch has tremendous potential for expansion into other areas of the seafood supply chain, including food service institutions, retailers, seafood distributors, suppliers and producers around the world.”