Note 3 - Liquidity and Capital Resource and Going Concern Evaluation

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2024

Notes to Financial Statements

Liquidity and Management’s Plan, Policy [Policy Text Block]

3. Liquidity and capital resource and going concern evaluation

For the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, the Company incurred a loss from operations of US$3.76 million and US$6.01 million, respectively. Net operating cash outflow for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 was US$2.06 million and US$2.01 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2024, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of US$0.81 million and working capital of US$3.33 million.

The Company experienced decreased revenue but increased gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2024. The decreased in revenue was primarily attributable to the winding down of our distribution of the right to use search engine marketing service in the PRC but the improvement in gross profit is due to increased revenue in higher margin internet advertising and related services such as influencer marketing.

Our current core business is to provide advertising and marketing services to small and medium enterprises (“SMEs”), which is particularly sensitive to changes in general economic conditions. However, as we wind down our search engine marketing distribution service in the PRC, we are seeing an improvement in our gross margins as well as significantly reduced operating expenses that will improve our cash flow and liquidity in the next 12 months.

In order to improve operation performance, from early 2022, we started to introduce our new SaaS services to our customers. The SaaS services were designated to provide one-stop blockchain-powered enterprise management solutions via our Blockchain Integrated Framework (“BIF”) platform in forms of unique NFT generations, data record, share and storage modules subscriptions etc. We generated approximately US$0.75 million of revenues from this new SaaS services in fiscal 2024. Although revenues from the new SaaS services business and its profitability have not met our expectations, it is expected to bring us positive cash flow and help to improve our liquidity, as these services are provided based on technologies of our self-developed software platform, which does not need any further material cash outflow to other third-party service providers.

In addition, for the next 12 months from the date hereof, we anticipate to generate additional cash inflows and/or improve our liquidity through the following: (1) our short-term working capital loans provided to unrelated parties will mature within the next 12 months that we anticipate collecting these loan principals and the related interest income within the next 12 months; (2) if at any time we anticipate insufficiency of our working capital, we can apply for revolving credit facility from commercial banks in the PRC to supplement our short-term liquidity deficit. We have not experienced any difficulties in obtaining such credit facility before, and this could result in fixed obligations and incremental cost of interest; (3) we plan to reduce our operating costs through optimizing the personnel structure among different offices and reduce our office leasing spaces, if needed. This may incur incremental costs related to employee layoff compensation and contract termination penalty.

If the Company fails to achieve these goals, the Company may need additional financing to execute its business plan. If additional financing is required, the Company cannot predict whether this additional financing will be in the form of equity, debt, or another form, and the Company may not be able to obtain the necessary additional capital on a timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all. In the event that financing sources are not available, or that the Company is unsuccessful in increasing its gross profit margin and reducing operating losses, the Company may be unable to implement its current plans for expansion, repay debt obligations or respond to competitive pressures, any of which would have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued.

The consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2024 have been prepared under the assumption that the Company will continue as a going concern, which contemplates, among other things, the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business over a reasonable period of time. The Company's ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon its uncertain ability to increase gross profit margin and reduce operating loss from its core business and/or obtain additional equity and/or debt financing. The accompanying financial statements as of December 31, 2024 do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of these uncertainties. If the Company is unable to continue as a going concern, it may have to liquidate its assets and may receive less than the value at which those assets are carried on the financial statements.