EX-99.3 5 mdaf24q4.htm EX-99.3 Document











sangoma.jpg


Management discussion and analysis of financial
condition and results of operations for the
Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2024






TABLE OF CONTENTS






INTRODUCTION

As used in this Management Discussion and Analysis (“MD&A”), unless the context indicates or requires otherwise, all references to the “Company”, “Sangoma”, “we”, “us”, or “our” refer to Sangoma Technologies Corporation, together with our subsidiaries, on a consolidated basis as constituted on June 30, 2024. The MD&A is for the Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2024 as compared to the same periods in the previous year. This MD&A should be read in conjunction with Sangoma’s audited annual consolidated financial statements and related notes as at and for the year ended June 30, 2024 (“Financial Statements”), which have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (“IFRS Accounting Standards”). All amounts are in thousands of United States dollars except where otherwise indicated.

Additional information about us, including copies of our continuous disclosure materials, is available on our website at www.sangoma.com, through the EDGAR website at www.sec.gov or through the SEDAR+ website at www.sedarplus.ca.

This MD&A is dated as of September 18, 2024.



NON-IFRS MEASURES

This MD&A contains references to certain non-IFRS financial measures such as Adjusted EBITDA. Non-IFRS financial measures are used by management to evaluate the performance of the Company and do not have any meaning prescribed by IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other reporting issuers. Non-IFRS financial measures used herein have been applied on a consistent basis. “Adjusted EBITDA” means earnings before income taxes, interest expense (net), share-based compensation, depreciation (including for right-of-use assets), amortization, restructuring and business integration costs, goodwill impairment and change in fair value of consideration payable. Adjusted EBITDA is a measure used by many investors to compare issuers. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA is useful supplemental information as it provides an indication of the results generated by the Company's main business activities before taking into consideration how they are financed, taxed, depreciated or amortized. Investors are cautioned that non-IFRS financial measures, such as those presented herein, should not be construed as an alternative to net income or cash flow determined in accordance with IFRS. The reconciliation of the closest IFRS measure to the non-IFRS measure is set out on pages 18 herein.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This MD&A contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the future success of our business, development strategies and future opportunities. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of presenting information about management’s current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to management’s guidance on revenue and Adjusted EBITDA, statements relating to expected inventory levels, statements relating to future lease and interest payments, , statements concerning estimates of expected expenditures, statements relating to expected future production and cash flows, and other statements which are not historical facts.
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When used in this document, the words such as “could”, “plan”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “may”, “potential”, “should” and similar expressions indicate forward-looking statements.

Although Sangoma believes that its expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties and no assurance can be given that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date that the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are based will occur. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other events contemplated by the forward-looking statements will not occur. Although Sangoma believes that the expectations represented by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct as these expectations are inherently subject to business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Some of the risks and other factors which could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with changes in exchange rate between the Canadian dollar and other currencies (in particular the United States’ (“US”) dollar), changes in technology, changes in the business climate, changes to macroeconomic conditions, including (i) inflationary pressures and potential recessionary conditions, as well as actions taken by central banks and regulators across the world in an attempt to reduce, curtail and address such pressures and conditions, including any increases in interest rates, and (ii) the effects of adverse developments at financial institutions, including bank failures, that impact general sentiment regarding the stability and liquidity of banks, and the resulting impact on the stability of the global financial markets at large, risks related to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and any resurgence thereof, our ability to identify and effectively remediate material weaknesses and significant deficiencies in our internal controls, our current level of indebtedness and the ability to incur additional indebtedness in the near- and long-term; changes in the regulatory environment, the imposition of tariffs, the decline in the importance of the PSTN (as hereinafter defined), impairment of goodwill and new competitive pressures, political disturbances, geopolitical instability and tensions, or terrorist attacks, and associated changes in global trade policies and economic sanctions, including, but not limited to, in connection with (x) the ongoing conflict in Ukraine (the “Russo-Ukraine War”) and (y) any impact, effect, damage, destruction and/or bodily harm directly or indirectly relating to the ongoing hostilities in the Middle East, and technological changes impacting the development of our products and implementation of our business needs, including with respect to automation and the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) and the other risk factors described in our most recently filed Annual Information Form for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024.

The forward-looking statements contained in this MD&A are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Sangoma undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management’s estimates or opinions should change except as required by law.
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OVERVIEW

Sangoma’s products and services are used by leading companies throughout the world and in leading UC, PBX, IVR, contact center, carrier networks, and data communication applications worldwide. Sangoma’s portfolio of products also enable service providers, carriers, enterprises, SMBs, and OEMs alike to leverage their existing infrastructure for maximum financial return, while still delivering the most advanced applications and services from the latest technologies available. Please refer to the Glossary of Terms for detailed definitions of terms used throughout this MD&A.

Communications as a Service (CaaS) Portfolio

Sangoma is a trusted leader in delivering value-based Communications as a Service solutions for businesses of all sizes. The value-based communications segment includes small businesses to large enterprises who are looking for all the advantages of cloud-based communications at a fair price. Sangoma’s current Communications as a Service offerings are typically offered with monthly, yearly, or multi-year contracts and include:

Unified Communications as a Service (“UCcaS”)
Trunking as a Service (“TaaS”)
Contact Center as a Service (“CCaaS”)
Communications Platform as a Service (“CPaaS”)
Video Meetings as a Service (“MaaS”)
Collaboration as a Service (“Collab aaS”)

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS)

Sangoma’s UC solutions are business communication systems (PBX’s with advanced UC features, such as presence/chat, conferencing, mobility, fax, and more) that can be deployed on-premise or hosted in the Cloud, allowing businesses to select the best option for their needs. Unified Communication systems, because of their mobility features such as having the business phone number ring on an app on your smartphone and/or desktop and instant messaging capability, enable remote work and work from home much more efficiently. Sangoma’s Unified Communication solutions fully integrate with our phones, soft clients, and network interoperability products to provide a fully interoperable solution from a single vendor.

Cloud-Based Business Phone Solution

Sangoma offers its customers full-scale cloud-based Unified Communications solutions. With Sangoma, businesses can get contact center, mobility, softphone, call control, and productivity features included for every user at a reasonable price. Sangoma’s hosted phone service delivers the customer experience businesses demand at an affordable price point. Customers can also choose pre-provisioned phones that customers simply plug into their network.

On-Premise Business Phone Solution

Sangoma also offers the more traditional on-premise UC phone system, for businesses still wanting to deploy their business phone system on premise. Whether deployed on a dedicated appliance or in the customer’s virtual environment, Sangoma provides the power and connectivity necessary.

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IP Deskphones, Headsets and UC Clients: Sangoma provides desktop and softphone collaboration clients that integrate seamlessly with our UC solution offerings and deliver UC features (presence, contacts, chat, calling, audio and video conferencing, etc.) from a single application, on any device, at any location.

IP Deskphones: Sangoma offers a full line of phones that work with both our cloud and on-premise systems that are perfect for every user type, from casual to call center to managers and executives.

Sangoma’s product line includes entry-level, mid-range, and executive-level phones. All models include HD Voice and plug-and-play deployment. Sangoma’s range of IP phones are customized to seamlessly integrate with all of our UC Systems and provide zero touch installation, simplified system management, and instant access to a wide range of features.

Headsets: Sangoma also offers headsets that either work in conjunction with the desktop phones (by plugging into the phone) or work in conjunction to our desktop soft client (by plugging directly into the computer). These headsets enable roaming of up to 325 feet from the phone or desk computer.

UC Clients and Softphones: Unified Communication Clients (or softphones) are used to make or receive phone calls with your business phone number and can be used as your main phone or as an extension of your desk phone. They are available as an app on your smartphone or computer. These UC clients have enabled employees to work remote seamlessly by enabling phone calls to customers and other employees as if they were in a physical office. Sangoma offers UC clients with all of our Unified Communication / Business phone system product lines.

Trunking as a Service (TaaS)

SIP trunks deliver Internet-based telephony services to businesses using their existing internet connection, eliminating the need for separate traditional PSTN or digital telecom connections. SIP trunking is fast becoming the technology of choice to interconnect an IP PBX system to a telephone company. The main drivers are cost efficiencies (over fixed lines such as ISDN or analog lines from incumbent telcos) and end-to-end UC features/transparency. Cost efficiencies are realized because SIP trunking uses already-available broadband connections at customer premises. Sangoma offers both retail and wholesale SIP Trunking which allows our customers to choose the service that best meets their needs. Either service offers DIDs and number porting.

Retail SIP Trunking

Retail SIP trunking offers predictable monthly expenses with pricing based per trunk. SIPStation, Sangoma’s retail SIP trunking service, is seamlessly integrated into our various UC platforms, making it easy to get up and running. It also includes an integrated fax service option, enabling a business to send and receive faxes from a web interface or from a local fax machine. Typically, small to mid-sized businesses and enterprises would utilize this type of service.

Wholesale SIP Trunking

Sangoma’s wholesale SIP trunking offer is now available following the acquisition of VoIP Innovations. Pricing for wholesale SIP trunking is usage-based but with a larger monthly minimum commitment. This
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includes origination, termination, SMS/MMS, e911, and fraud mitigation. Typically, very large businesses or service providers who resell SIP trunks would utilize this type of service.

Fax as a Service

Faxing remains an important communications tool, yet VoIP networks are sometimes unable to send faxes reliably because fax standards are based on very specific timing that can be interrupted in VoIP systems, especially where there is substantial latency. Sangoma’s FoIP service, FaxStation, is a hosted service to remedy this problem, available with our TaaS. It features a telecom appliance with up to four analog connections for fax machines and operates in concert with Sangoma’s fax server data center to encrypt and package the fax communication to make it fail-safe. This is particularly useful for small businesses that rely on fax communications but also for industries with challenging network conditions, such as mining, oil rigs, and ship-to-shore over satellite.

Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS)

Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) is our cloud-based contact center, or customer experience, offering. It provides robust contact center capabilities running in various ways: either standalone, in conjunction with our other cloud services (such as UCaaS), or integrated “inside” our UCaaS product in a simplified version. This latter solution is intended for ‘departmental’ type usage, by companies that are not pure-play contact centers, but that might have a department such as customer service or technical support that operate inside that company almost like a mini contact center.

Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS)

Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) allows developers to easily build services and applications using real-time communication features, such as voice, video, chat, and SMS, via the cloud. Our platform enables Sangoma, our integrator/developer partners, and advanced customers to build new communications services based on voice, rest APIs, WebRTC, and SMS. When running an application on a CPaaS platform, performance is critical. To ensure peak performance, Sangoma offers its own SIP trunking service, providing optimized connectivity in addition to easy access to phone numbers. Sangoma also sells a series of ‘applications’ (or Apps) based upon our CPaaS product that customers can purchase.

Video Meetings as a Service (MaaS)

Sangoma Meet is our video meetings, cloud-based service accessible from any device, be it desktop or mobile. It enables file sharing on screen so collaboration with co-workers is enhanced, integrates seamlessly with your calendar, and enables PSTN phone calls. Sangoma Meet is available in free and chargeable tiers.

Collaboration as a Service (Collab aaS)

Collaboration as a Service (Collab aaS) is Sangoma’s cloud-based offering for enabling people to work together more productively. This service is called TeamHub. It allows users to interact using any of the various forms of communications, including chatting, calling, and video. TeamHub integrates Sangoma’s softphone client software applications (desktop and mobile) and is designed to allow communications to start in one mode (such as chat), and move through different modes very elegantly, in effect ‘upgrading’
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that mode of communications to a voice call in real time, and/or upgrading that voice call to a video meeting.

MSP Portfolio

Sangoma’s cloud-based Managed Service Provider (“MSP”) offerings deliver mission critical communication services that businesses need and complement our full line of Communications as a Service solutions. The MSP product line is built upon a tightly integrated, enterprise grade, and end-to-end managed network, which is all supported by an expert 24/7 network engineering team. The current MSP offering includes three primary services:

Managed Security: Sangoma provides a cloud-based service, sometimes called Unified Threat Management (“UTM”), whereby the customers network, including voice and data traffic, are secured by intrusion prevention and detection capabilities. The network security service helps protect customers against attacks and data losses from spam, viruses, ransomware, botnets, etc.

Managed SD-WAN: Sangoma offers a cloud-based software-defined approach to managing a customers wide area network. The SD-WAN service enables network redundancy through the ability to manage multiple internet connections from multiple providers, which is seen as one seamless connection for the customer. If one connection fails, the customer does not lose connectivity and has uninterrupted uptime. The service also provides traffic shaping whereby certain types of traffic can be given priority or forced in priority.

Managed Access: Sangoma also provides a robust broadband connectivity solution, including network monitoring, analytics, backup, and a fully PCI-compliant offering for payment card and credit card transactions. Additionally, our Managed Access solution integrates with Managed Security and Managed SD-WAN services, delivering unique capabilities such as secure, end-to-end peering connections to critical destinations (such as Public Cloud sites like AWS and Azure) and Quality of Service commitments.

Network Interconnection Products

In addition to the CaaS and MSP offerings described above, Sangoma also offers network interconnection products. These products connect different types of networks together, such as VoIP networks to PSTN networks, or VoIP networks to mobile networks or different types of VoIP networks.

Session Border Controllers (SBCs)

Anytime two VoIP networks interconnect, issues of security and interoperability arise. SBCs can manage these issues, including provider-to-provider connections, provider-to-enterprise connections, and enterprise-to-enterprise connections. Sangoma’s SBCs are available as hardware appliances, as software-only solutions running on a virtual machine in hosted environments, or as a hybrid of both. The hybrid solution is unique to Sangoma and provides all the flexibility expected from virtual machine capability coupled with the scalability that is found in hardware-based solutions. Sangoma’s SBCs have broad interoperability certifications.

VoIP Gateways

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VoIP gateways are needed any time voice traffic moves from a VoIP network to a traditional PSTN telephone network. As the traffic traverses these networks, there are issues that need to be resolved regarding both the media (the sound of the caller’s voice) and the signaling (the method used to control the media traveling over that connection).

In a service provider or carrier network, much larger gateways perform these same tasks. In addition, there are signaling protocols that are only used when carrier networks communicate with other carrier networks that are not included in the enterprise product line.

All Sangoma’s gateways have broad interoperability certifications.

PSTN Interface and Media Processing Boards

Sangoma’s complete line of boards connect and interface to the PSTN. Even though IP networks are growing and quickly becoming the standard, the PSTN still exists, and new communication solutions often need to connect to the PSTN. These boards are primarily used by communications solution developers in PC/Server based telecommunications systems that connect to the PSTN. They perform a very similar task to VoIP gateways, but are installed inside the server rather than being stand-alone devices. By providing customers with the option of using a PSTN interface board or a VoIP gateway, Sangoma maximizes flexibility based on installation requirements, particularly when space and power are at a premium. They may also be used in harsh conditions that require ruggedized servers.

Open-Source Software Products

Asterisk and FreePBX

Sangoma is the primary developer and sponsor of the Asterisk project, the world’s most widely used open-source communications software, and the FreePBX project, the world’s most widely used open-source PBX software.

Sangoma also offers revenue-generating products and services, beyond the open-source Asterisk or FreePBX software, to users of these open-source software projects. The types of products and services Sangoma offers includes software add-ons to Asterisk or FreePBX, IP phones, SIP trunking, cloud-based fax, training, technical support, maintenance, PSTN cards, VoIP gateways, session border controllers, and commercial/hardened versions of the PBX/UC software.


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OVERALL PERFORMANCE

Operational

Sangoma is a trusted leader in delivering cloud-based CaaS and MSP solutions for businesses of all sizes. Customers include companies from small/medium businesses (SMB’s) right up to large enterprises who are looking for all the advantages of cloud-based communications and managed network services at a fair price. In addition to those cloud-based Services, Sangoma also has a broad suite of Products to complement its Services.

Enterprises, SMBs and carriers globally rely on Sangoma’s technology as part of their mission-critical infrastructures. Through a worldwide network of distribution partners, Sangoma delivers high-quality services and products, some of which carry the industry’s first lifetime warranty.

Sangoma has always been operated and managed as a single economic entity. There is one management team that directs the activities of all aspects of the Company and it is managed globally by our executive team. As a result, we believe that we have one reporting segment, being the consolidated Company. Over time, this may change as the Company grows and when this occurs, we will reflect the change in our reporting practice.

Revenue

Sangoma generates revenue from both Services and Products. Our Services revenue is generated primarily from customers entering recurring revenue agreements. Product revenues are comprised of the sale of products and services that generate non-recurring revenue.

Innovation

As a technology company, Sangoma is continuously working on a large number of projects across its broad portfolio of existing products and services. While the Company has introduced several new additions to its portfolio over the last few years, the majority of the Company’s investment in Research and Development (“R&D”) is dedicated to sustaining, improving on and enhancing its broad portfolio of existing products and services. Sangoma believes that innovation is essential to a technology company’s future. The Company also believes that R&D investment is necessary in order to address the needs of the Company’s wide-ranging group of customers (which include business of all sizes including service providers, enterprises, small-medium sized businesses, and original equipment manufacturers) in over 150 countries, to keep pace with technology developments in the cloud communications industry, to meaningfully compete in that industry, and to achieve and maintain market acceptance.

The Company focuses on creating and introducing products to the market as soon as commercially practical and, thereafter, focuses on enhancements to further improve its products. Such product introductions enable the Company to validate product acceptance to some degree, and to get products to market efficiently to start generating revenue. Furthermore, the Company focuses on keeping its product development costs for new projects under control in a number of ways, including by reusing its existing code base where applicable and by leveraging open-source software.

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Sangoma continues to invest in R&D to develop new products and to improve existing offerings with spending on R&D increasing each year.

Sales and marketing

Sangoma continues to increase its investment in both Sales and in Marketing, to promote awareness of the Company, to communicate the critical shift from single products to full solutions to cloud, and to drive customer acquisition.

Sales

Sangoma uses a dual sales path ‘go to market’ approach: direct sales to some of our largest customers and indirect distribution to most of our other clients.

Direct Sales is typically used for selling to ‘service providers’, OEMs and large enterprise type businesses.

Service Providers is a broad category of customers that included telcos, ISPs, ITSPs, wireless/mobile operators, MSPs, UCaaS operators, etc. These types of organizations are customers and potential customers for Sangoma.

OEM partners are companies that ‘design in’ Sangoma products as a component of their solutions. OEM customers tend to be committed participants in their given markets and have longer-term focus. It is important to reach these potential customers in the early days of any project to secure ‘design wins’ and to have sales and marketing programs that will ensure close collaboration during product and sales development cycles.

Enterprise customers are the classic ‘larger’ companies who buy products or services for their own use. This type of customer has similar ‘use cases’ to a SMB type customer but is large enough that some prefer to do business directly with Sangoma, the Company often wants a direct relationship with them as well, and they are buying enough for Sangoma to cost effectively service them directly.

Indirect Sales: In most cases, Sangoma uses the indirect or channel model. We value the ‘multiplier effect’ of a channel model (i.e., one of our salespeople sells to dozens of partners who sell to hundreds/thousands of customers), the more ‘local nature’ of a channel partner who is often based quite near to their end customers, and the more cost-effective structure of indirect distribution in a typical sales cycle. In such cases, Sangoma utilizes this indirect distribution model to reach the full breadth of customers, often based upon a two-tier Channel model:

The ‘upper tier’ of the indirect model is typically made up of Distributors or Master Agents, who normally sell not to the end customer, but to the ‘second tier’ of the channel. Master Agents are now sometimes called Technology Service Brokers or Telecom Solution Distributors. This upper tier of the channel tends to be larger organizations and cover broader geographic regions.

The ‘second tier’ of the indirect model is normally made up of Resellers and Agents. Distributors typically sell to resellers, and Master Agents typically sell to Agents. The Resellers and Agents then sell to end users (with some performing other ancillary services such as installation and/or support). The second tier tend to be smaller organizations (though not always) and are usually more ‘local’ in nature.
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Sangoma has parts of its sales team that focus on Direct customers, whereas the majority focuses on the Channel. In the Channel, partners require frequent attention to keep Sangoma ‘on their mind’ in a crowded product marketplace. Therefore, a portion of the Channel sales team services the distributors and master agents as the upper tier of the channel, while a different part of the team focuses on the resellers/agents. Finally, Sangoma has professional sales teams across all our key geographic regions as well.

Marketing

Sangoma also continues to increase its efforts in marketing. The Company has assembled corporate marketing programs with two key objectives in mind:

to promote the Sangoma brand and positioning, which included conveying the message about the Company’s full solutions and its Cloud-First approach.

leads generation as one of the front-end steps in customer acquisition.

Sangoma is now using various marketing techniques typical of technology firms to accomplish those two objectives. This includes participation in tradeshows, speaking at selected industry events, attending specialized seminars run by Sangoma’s distribution channel and other partners, investing in electronic marketing strategies (e.g., web presence, social media and blogging, online advertising, search engine campaigns, etc.), conducting lead generation campaigns via email/social media/etc., webinars, creating thought leadership pieces, PR, etc.

In addition to the overall corporate messaging, in support of the above two objectives, Sangoma has developed a comprehensive set of channel promotion programs, aimed at the Company’s indirect partners described above, both distributors/master agents as well as resellers/agents. The Company seeks to attract new channel partners and to grow the business with existing partners. Sangoma has implemented several incentive programs to reward its channel partners for performance and behaviours that Sangoma believes will grow revenues.

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RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

All amounts are in thousands of United States dollars except where otherwise indicated.

SUMMARY

The following table outlines our consolidated statements of loss and comprehensive loss for the periods indicated:

Three month periods ended
June 30,
Years ended
June 30,
20242023ChangeChange20242023ChangeChange
$$$%$$$%
Revenue60,934 63,680 (2,746)(4.31)%247,284 252,530 (5,246)(2.08)%
Cost of sales19,127 21,439 (2,312)(10.78)%74,463 79,739 (5,276)(6.62)%
Gross profit41,807 42,241 (434)(1.03)%172,821 172,791 30 0.02%
Expenses
Sales and marketing13,018 15,671 (2,653)(16.93)%57,840 61,922 (4,082)(6.59)%
Research and development10,034 9,317 717 7.70%39,543 37,470 2,073 5.53%
General and administration10,213 10,515 (302)(2.87)%43,191 42,416 775 1.83%
Amortization of intangible assets8,335 8,205 130 1.58%33,309 33,932 (623)(1.84)%
Interest expense (net)1,464 1,891 (427)(22.58)%6,639 6,767 (128)(1.89)%
Restructuring and business integration costs105 115 (10)(8.70)%1,596 2,710 (1,114)(41.11)%
Loss (gain) on change in fair value of consideration payable 810 (810)(100.00)%202 (2,975)3,177 (106.79)%
Goodwill impairment 22,507 (22,507)(100.00)% 22,507 (22,507)(100.00)%
Loss before income tax(1,362)(26,790)25,428 (94.92)%(9,499)(31,958)22,459 (70.28)%
Provision for income taxes
Current404 (1,687)2,091 (123.95)%2,203 (172)2,375 (1380.81)%
Deferred(58)(1,473)1,415 (96.06)%(3,043)(2,760)(283)10.25%
Net loss(1,708)(23,630)21,922 (92.77)%(8,659)(29,026)20,367 (70.17)%
Other comprehensive income
Items to be reclassified to net income
Change in fair value of interest rate swaps, net of tax
(174)204 (378)(185.29)%(709)496 (1,205)(242.94)%
Comprehensive loss(1,882)(23,426)21,544 (91.97)%(9,368)(28,530)19,162 (67.16)%
Loss per share
Basic and diluted$(0.05)$(0.72)$0.66 (92.80)%$(0.26)$(0.88)$0.62 (70.74)%
Weighted average shares outstanding (thousands)
Basic and diluted33,159 33,038 121 0.37%33,250 33,119 131 0.40%
Other pertinent information
Total assets400,645 443,019 (42,374)(9.56)%
Non-current financial liabilities67,844 95,503 (27,659)(28.96)%
    
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REVIEW OF OPERATIONS

Revenue

Three month periods ended
June 30,
Years ended
June 30,
20242023ChangeChange20242023ChangeChange
$$$%$$$%
Service revenues49,92550,214(289)(0.58)%202,138198,5123,6261.83%
Percent of total revenues82%79%3%3.91%82%79%3%3.80%
Product revenues11,00913,466(2,457)(18.25)%45,14654,018(8,872)(16.42)%
Percent of total revenues18%21%(3)%(13.97)%18%21%(3)%(14.65)%
Total revenues60,93463,680(2,746)(4.31)%247,284252,530(5,246)(2.08)%

Sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 ended June 30, 2024 were $60,934, down 4.31% from the $63,680 in the comparable fourth quarter of fiscal 2023. The year-over-year decrease in quarterly revenue primarily resulted from the the decline in Product revenue. Product revenue declined in response to the global economic uncertainty, combined with a deemphasis on the sale of certain products, which we anticipate to increase slightly as we redefine our Go-To-Market strategy and approach to the sale of certain legacy products. Services revenue was down 0.58% from the same quarter of the prior year and 0.85% from the immediately preceding quarter. Service revenue represented 82% of total revenue this quarter, up from 79% in the same quarter of the prior year, primarily due to the decrease in Product revenue.

Fiscal Year Comparisons

Sales for the year ended June 30, 2024 were $247,284, down 2.08% from the $252,530 in the comparable period of fiscal 2023.

The year over year decrease in total revenue was due to lower Product revenue, which was partially offset by the increase in Services revenue. Overall, Services revenue grew as a percentage of total revenue from 79% in fiscal year 2023 to 82% for fiscal year 2024.

Cost of revenue and gross profit

Three month periods ended
June 30,
Years ended
June 30,
20242023ChangeChange20242023ChangeChange
$$$%$$$%
Cost of sales19,12721,439(2,312)(10.78)%74,46379,739(5,276)(6.62)%
Gross profit41,80742,241(434)(1.03)%172,821172,791300.02%
Gross margin69%66%3%4.52%70%68%2%2.94%

The cost of sales for the fourth quarter ended June 30, 2024 was $19,127 compared to $21,439 in the comparable fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, driven primarily by the decrease in Product revenues.

Gross profit for the fourth quarter ended June 30, 2024 was $41,807, down 1.03% from the $42,241 realized in the same quarter ended June 30, 2023. Gross margin for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 was
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approximately 69% of revenue which was 3% higher from 66% in the same quarter last year driven by the favourable Services/Product revenue mix of 82%/18% as compared to 79%/21% in the prior year period.

Fiscal Year Comparisons

The cost of sales for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 was $74,463 down $5,276 or 6.62% compared to $79,739 in fiscal 2023, primarily driven by the decrease of $8,872 in Product revenues which have lower profit margin.

Gross profit for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 was $172,821, 0.02% over the $172,791 realized in fiscal year 2023. Gross margin for the fiscal year was 70%, up 2% from 68% in fiscal year 2023.

Expenses

Costs are allocated to four categories as follow:

Three month periods ended
June 30,
Years ended
June 30,
20242023ChangeChange20242023ChangeChange
$$$%$$$%
Sales and marketing13,018 15,671 (2,653)(17)%57,840 61,922 (4,082)(7)%
Research and development10,034 9,317 717 8%39,543 37,470 2,073 6%
General and administration10,213 10,515 (302)(3)%43,191 42,416 775 2%
Amortization of intangible assets8,335 8,205 130 2%33,309 33,932 (623)(2)%

Sales and marketing

Sales and marketing expense was $13,018 for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, down from the $15,671 incurred in the same quarter of fiscal 2023, at approximately 21% of revenue compared to 25%. The decrease was from the reorganization and merging of sales teams to better provide unified solutions, along with other cost savings initiatives undertaken by the Company in the latter part of the second quarter of fiscal 2024 while the Company reviewed its go-to-market strategy and corresponding marketing efforts.

Fiscal Year Comparisons

Sales and marketing expense was $57,840 at approximately 23% of revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 compared to $61,922 at approximately 25% of revenue in fiscal 2023. The saving of $4,082 was primarily driven by the reorganization and merging of sales team to better provide unified solutions along with other cost savings initiatives undertaken by the Company in the latter part of the second quarter of fiscal 2024, and which benefited the remainder of the fiscal year.







15




Research and development

A portion of the Company’s R&D costs are capitalized each period and amortized on a straight-line basis over three years (see the audited consolidated financial statements and related notes for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, available at www.sedarplus.ca and www.sec.gov).

The engineering expenses incurred, and the development costs amortized during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 were $10,034. This was up from the $9,317 incurred in the same quarter of fiscal 2023, mostly as a result of higher capitalization of labour costs on development projects. For the quarter ended June 30, 2024, the Company did not have any significant projects that have not yet generated revenue, nor did it have any products or services that are not fully developed, and which are material to the Company.

Fiscal Year Comparisons

The engineering expenses incurred, and the development costs amortized during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 were $39,543 at approximately 16% of revenue, compared to $37,470 at approximately 15% of revenue in fiscal 2023. The increase year over year was a result of the Company’s ongoing investment in innovation and higher amortization expense on the higher capitalization of labour costs on development projects.


General and administration

Starting in the second quarter of fiscal 2024 the Company removed amortization of intangible assets from the general and administration expense to give a more accurate view of the Company’s hard costs.

During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, general and administration expenses were $10,213 at approximately 17% of revenue, down slightly from the $10,515 incurred in the same quarter of fiscal 2023, but representing the same percent of revenue.

Fiscal Year Comparisons

General and administration expenses were $43,191 for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, up from $42,416, but in each case representing approximately 17% of revenue in the applicable fiscal year. The increase is primarily a result of the implementation of a new Enterprise Resource Planning ("ERP") system that will improve the Company businesses systems architecture, enabling the Company for future organic and inorganic growth.

Amortization of intangible assets

Amortization of intangible assets was $8,335 for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, an increase from the $8,205 incurred in the same quarter of fiscal 2023.






16




Fiscal Year Comparisons

Amortization of intangible assets was $33,309 for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, a decrease from the $33,932 incurred in fiscal 2023.


Three month periods ended
June 30,
Years ended
June 30,
20242023ChangeChange20242023ChangeChange
$$$%$$$%
Interest expense (net)1,464 1,891 (427)(22.58)%6,639 6,767 (128)(1.89)%
Restructuring and business integration costs105 115 (10)(8.70)%1,596 2,710 (1,114)(41.11)%
Loss (gain) on change in fair value of consideration payable 810 (810)(100.00)%202 (2,975)3,177 (106.79)%

Interest expense (net)

Net interest expense was $1,464 for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, down from the $1,891 incurred in the same quarter of fiscal 2023. The saving on the interest expense was primarily driven by the quarterly repayments of the term loans and the repayment of 40% of the swingline credit facility.

Fiscal Year Comparisons

Net interest expense for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 was $6,639 a decrease of 1.89% from $6,767 in fiscal 2023. The primary driver for the decrease was the repayment of $17,700 on the term loans during fiscal 2024 and $5,300 on the swingline credit facility during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024.

Restructuring and business integration costs

The restructuring cost was $105 for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, down from the $115 incurred in the same quarter of fiscal 2023.

Fiscal Year Comparisons

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, the Company recorded $1,596 of costs from the reorganization and merging of sales teams to better provide unified solutions, a decrease of 41.11% from the $2,710 of restructure and integration costs directly associated with the reduction of staff.
Net loss

Net loss for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 was $1,708 ($0.05 loss per share fully diluted), compared to a net loss of $23,630 ($0.72 loss per share fully diluted) for the equivalent quarter of the prior year.



Fiscal Year Comparisons

Net loss for fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 was $8,659 ($0.26 loss per share fully diluted), compared to net loss of $29,026 ($0.88 loss per share fully diluted) for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023.
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Adjusted EBITDA

The derivation of Adjusted EBITDA and the reconciliation of net loss to Adjusted EBITDA for the comparable quarter and each fiscal year is shown in the table below.

Three month periods ended
June 30,
Years ended
June 30,
20242023ChangeChange20242023ChangeChange
$$$%$$$%
Net loss(1,708)(23,630)21,922 (92.77)%(8,659)(29,026)20,367 (70.17)%
Tax expense (recovery)346 (3,160)3,506 (110.95)%(840)(2,932)2,092 (71.35)%
Interest expense (net)1,464 1,891 (427)(22.58)%6,639 6,767 (128)(1.89)%
Share-based compensation701 362 339 93.65%2,983 3,100 (117)(3.77)%
Depreciation of property and equipment1,203 1,095 108 9.86%4,495 4,729 (234)(4.95)%
Depreciation of right-of-use assets664 861 (197)(22.88)%2,870 3,778 (908)(24.03)%
Amortization of intangibles8,335 8,205 130 1.58%33,309 33,932 (623)(1.84)%
Restructuring and business integration costs105 115 (10)(8.70)%1,596 2,710 (1,114)(41.11)%
Federal compliance costs relating to prior year position 1,804 (1,804)(100.00)% 1,804 (1,804)(100.00)%
Loss (gain) on change in fair value of consideration payable 810 (810)(100.00)%202 (2,975)3,177 (106.79)%
Goodwill Impairment 22,507 (22,507)(100.00)% 22,507 (22,507)(100.00)%
Adjusted EBITDA11,110 10,860 250 2.30%42,595 44,394 (1,799)(4.05)%
Percentage of revenue18%17%1%6.91%17%18%(1)%(5.69)%

Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 was $11,110, up 2.30% from $10,860 in the equivalent quarter of fiscal 2023. Year over year Adjusted EBITDA was fairly consistent at 17% of Revenue in fiscal 2024 and 18% of Revenue in fiscal 2023. The year over year decrease in Adjusted EBITDA was primarily due to the cost incurred on the new ERP project which were not incurred in fiscal 2023.


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QUARTERLY RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Selected financial information over the prior eight quarters is shown in the table below.
    
 FirstSecondThirdFourthFirstSecondThirdFourth
 quarterquarterquarterquarterquarterquarterquarterquarter
 20232023202320232024202420242024
Sales$64,051 $62,035 $62,764 $63,680 $63,028 $62,276 $61,046 $60,934 
Gross Profit$43,337 $42,789 $44,424 $42,241 $44,028 $43,986 $43,000 $41,807 
Operating Expenses1
$44,406 $44,258 $43,368 $43,708 $45,001 $44,537 $42,745 $41,600 
Net loss$(1,976)$(2,735)$(685)$(23,630)$(2,444)$(3,239)$(1,268)$(1,708)
Net loss per share
Basic and diluted basis$(0.06)$(0.08)$(0.02)$(0.72)$(0.07)$(0.10)$(0.04)$(0.05)
Adjusted EBITDA$10,725 $10,566 $12,243 $10,860 $9,882 $10,448 $11,155 $11,110 
AEBITDA % Revenue16.74 %17.03 %19.51 %17.05 %15.68 %16.78 %18.27 %18.23 %
change %0.29 %2.47 %(2.45)%(1.38)%1.10 %1.50 %(0.04)%

1 Operating Expenses consist of sales and marketing, research and development, general and administration and amortization of intangible assets.

Sales and Net Loss by Quarter

As expected, Revenue for the quarter has declined slightly over the comparative periods as the Company’s transforms it’s go-to-market-strategy, during which time there will be a lag in revenue. Over the measurement period, the Product business continues to decline as a result of a continued hold on Capex spending by customers due to macro global economic conditions and uncertainty, along with a deemphasis on certain lower margin Product sales in our previous Go-To-Market strategy. However, Services revenue continues to account for the majority of our revenue at 82% of total revenue this quarter, and combined with operational efficiencies and cost saving initiatives are having a positive impact on Adjusted EBITDA, which increased from 15.68% in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 to 18.23% in the fourth quarter.
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LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES


As of June 30, 2024, Sangoma had current assets of $57,109 and current liabilities of $60,104, compared with $61,896 and $63,464 at June 30, 2023, respectively. The decrease in current assets is mainly due to the collection of trade and other receivables and sale of inventories, while the decrease in current liabilities is primarily due to the payment of accounts payable and accrued liabilities including the $2,096 full and final payment for the consideration payable.

Cash of $16,231 on June 30, 2024 was 45.49% higher than the $11,156 on June 30, 2023. The Company used a portion of its cash to continue servicing the debts, accounts payable, accrued liabilities and a repayment of $5,300 on the swingline credit facility in the fourth quarter, in line with its capital allocation strategy to accelerate the reduction in its debt level throughout Fiscal 2025.

Trade receivables of $16,025 on June 30, 2024, were slightly lower than the $16,060 on June 30, 2023, primarily as a result of the tightening of credit policies and increased focus on collection efforts.

Inventories were $14,768 on June 30, 2024, $3,202 lower than the $17,970 at June 30, 2023 as the Company continues to focus on selling existing inventories first while managing new purchases.



The Company’s net cash flows from operating activities in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 was $11,703, and $44,246 in fiscal 2024, an increase of approximately 8% and 67% from the prior year periods. The substantial increase was primarily due to fiscal 2024 cost control initiatives and effective net working capital management.

Net cash provided by operating activities as a percentage of Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter reached 105%, leading the Company to finish the fiscal year at 104%, representing a significant increase as compared to 60% in Fiscal 2023.

















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Credit Facility

On October 18, 2019, the Company entered into a new credit agreement (the “Original Credit Agreement”) in favour of its subsidiaries, Sangoma Technologies Inc. and Sangoma US Inc. (the “Borrowers”) with inter alia The Toronto-Dominion Bank and The Bank of Montreal, as lenders (the “Lenders”). Under the terms of the Original Credit Agreement, the Lenders provided the Borrowers with a term loan facility to refinance the Company’s existing credit facilities and to fund part of the purchase of Voip Innovation Acquisition.

On March 31, 2021, the Company entered into an amended and restated credit agreement (the “Amended and Restated Credit Agreement”) which amended and restated the Original Credit Agreement to allow the Company to fund part of the StarBlue Acquisition.

On March 28, 2022, the Company entered into the Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement (the “Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement”) which amended and restated the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement to allow the Company to fund part of the NetFortris Acquisition. The Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement is comprised of: (i) a $6,000 revolving credit facility, (ii) a $21,750 term credit facility, which was used to partially fund the Voip Innovation Acquisition (iii) a $52,500 term credit facility, which was used to partially fund the StarBlue Acquisition, (iv) a $45,000 term credit facility, which was used to partially fund the NetFortris Acquisition (the “Term 3 Facility”), and (v) a $1,500 swingline credit facility.

On June 28, 2022, the Company entered into the first amendment to the Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement to reflect certain administrative amendments and to amend the amount of the Term 3 Facility quarterly principal installments.

On October 19, 2022 and January 31, 2023 the Company drew down $3,000 and $2,300 from the revolving credit facility, respectively. As of June 30, 2024, these amounts were fully repaid.

On April 6, 2023 the Company entered into a second amendment to the Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement to reflect certain administrative amendments and to amend the amount of the revolving credit facility from $6,000 to $20,000 and the amount of the swingline credit facility from $1,500 to $5,000.

On April 23, 2023 the Company, as was originally intended on closing of the NetFortris acquisition, drew down $8,600 from the revolving credit facility primarily to fund the earn-out owing to the sellers pursuant to the stock purchase agreement dated March 28, 2022 (the “NetFortris Purchase Agreement”). As of June 30, 2024, the amount of $8,600 remains outstanding.

On June 4, 2024, the Company entered into the third amendment to the Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement to reflect certain administrative amendments.

Under its Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement with its lenders, the Company must satisfy certain financial covenants, principally in respect of total funded debt to earnings before interest, taxes and amortization, and debt service coverage ratio. As at June 30, 2024, the Company was in compliance with all covenants related to its Credit Agreement.

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CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS

The following table shows the movement in contractual liabilities from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024:

$
Opening balance, July 1, 2022
15,067 
Revenue deferred during the year
23,839 
Deferred revenue recognized as revenue during the year
(24,355)
Ending balance, June 30, 2023
14,551 
Revenue deferred during the year
38,500 
Deferred revenue recognized as revenue during the year
(40,397)
Ending balance, June 30, 2024
12,654 
Contract liabilities - Current9,582 
Contract liabilities - Non-current3,072 
12,654 

Commitments

The table below outlines our contractual commitments as of June 30, 2024:

within 12 months13-24 months25-36 months>37 monthsTotal
$ $ $ $ $
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities21,450    21,450 
Sales tax payable5,955    5,955 
Operating facility and loans19,875 22,050 18,413 17,488 77,825 
Lease obligations on right of use assets3,021 2,028 1,693 5,694 12,436 
Other non-current liabilities— — — 1,332 1,332 
50,301 24,078 20,106 24,513 118,998 

OFF-BALANCE SHEET ARRANGEMENTS

There are no off-balance sheet arrangements that have, or are reasonably likely to have, a current or future effect on the results of operations or financial condition of Sangoma.

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Except as disclosed in the notes to the consolidated financial statements, the Company is not party to any material transactions with related parties.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ESTIMATES

The preparation of our consolidated financial statements in conformity with IFRS requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We review these estimates on an ongoing basis based on management’s best knowledge of current events and actions that we may undertake in the future. Actual results could differ
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from these estimates. All significant estimates and critical judgments, estimates, and assumptions are described in Note 3 of the Company’s Financial Statements.

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS

The fair values of the cash and cash equivalents, trade and other receivables, contract assets, other current assets, accounts payable and accrued liabilities, approximate their carrying values due to the relatively short-term nature of these financial instruments or as these financial instruments are fair valued at each reporting period. The fair values of operating facility and loans approximate their carrying values due to variable interest loans or fixed rate loan, which represent market rate. Derivative assets and liabilities and consideration payable are recorded at fair value. Further details relating to our financial instruments, the risks associated with the financial instruments and how we manage those risks, are described in Note 4 of the Company’s Financial Statements.

OUTSTANDING SHARE INFORMATION


We are currently authorized to issue an unlimited number of common shares. As of the date hereof, 33,537,684 common shares, 448,376 stock options and 1,081,518 share units are issued and outstanding.

GUIDANCE

2024 Achievements against Guidance

On February 9, 2024, the Company provided guidance for fiscal 2024. On May 8, 2024, the Company narrowed its guidance of revenue from $245-$250 million to $246.5-$248.5 million and Adjusted EBITDA from $41-44 million to $41.5-$43.5 million.

The company’s actual fiscal 2024 revenue was $247.3 million, and actual Adjusted EBITDA was $42.6 million, both in line with our expectations.

Fiscal 2025 Guidance

The Company is providing guidance for the fiscal 2025. The Company expects revenue in the range of $250 million to $260 million and Adjusted EBITDA from $42 million to $46 million, with Q1 revenue expected in the range of $61 million to $62 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $9 million to $10 million.

Our guidance is based on the Company’s assessment of many material assumptions, including:

The Company’s ability to manage current supply chain constraints, including our ability to secure electronic components and parts, manufacturers being able to deliver ongoing quantities of finished products on schedule, no further material increases in cost for electronic components, and no significant delay or material increases in cost for shipping
The successful transformation of the Company’s go-to-market strategy
The revenue trends the Company experienced in fiscal 2025 to-date, the trends we expect going forward in fiscal 2025, the impact of our transformation of our go-to-market strategy and the impact of growing economic headwinds globally
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The continuing effects of recent macro factors such as inflation, interest rates, recessions, invasions or declarations of war
There being continuing growth in the global UCaaS and cloud communications markets more generally
There being continuing demand and subscriber growth for our Services and continuing demand as anticipated for our Products
The impact of changes in global exchange rates on the demand for the Company’s Products and Services
The ability of the Company’s customers to continue their business operations without any material impact on their requirements for the Company’s Products and Services
The Company’s forecasted revenue from its internal sales teams and via channel partners will meet current expectations, which is based on certain management assumptions, including continuing demand for the Company’s products and services, no material delays in receipt of products from its contract manufacturers, no further material increase to the Company’s manufacturing, labour or shipping costs
That the Company is able to attract and retain the employees needed to maintain the current momentum
The timely execution of our ERP implementation in line with our forecasted budget

CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

Management of the Company, under the supervision of the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, is responsible for establishing and maintaining (i) disclosure controls and procedures, and (ii) adequate internal control over financial reporting (“ICFR”) (as defined under applicable Canadian securities laws and by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in Rule 13a-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) for the company to ensure that (i) material information relating to the Company is made known to management by others, particularly during the period in which the annual and interim filings are being prepared; and (ii) information required to be disclosed by the Company in its annual and interim filings or other reports filed or submitted under securities legislation is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time period specified in securities legislation.

Management, under the supervision and with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer and oversight of the Board of Directors evaluated the effectiveness of our ICFR as of June 30, 2024 against the criteria set forth in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based upon the evaluation, management has concluded that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures and ICFR were effective.

The Company disclosed in its annual MD&A for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 that management identified a significant deficiency related to aggregated deficiencies in the areas of standardized policies and procedures, inadequate segregation of duties, and a combination of information technology general control across multiple systems. Management has and continues to enhance controls over policy compliance in the area of accounts reconciliation, designing appropriate reviews to monitor policy compliance related to timely completion of account reconciliation, and enhanced designs on ITGCs specific to the impacted software solutions. We have taken steps to implement our remediation plan, and
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will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the improved controls and refine our internal controls as we implement our enterprise resource project.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS


Analog
Analog telephony is the telephone system that dates back to the original experiments by Alexander Graham Bell. The voice signal is picked up by a microphone and transmitted to the central office. Voice signals from the central office consist of voltages that drive a headset to produce sound. Analog means that the voice pressure signals are represented by voltages levels on the line.

API
Application Program Interface: An API is a purpose-built interface that allows fourth party software to interact with a particular application. A typical API is the user interface for Windows that allows programmers to write programs for Windows that use all its built-in utilities. APIs do not depend on revealing source code, in general. They are usually well documented and include sample programs that make development easy.

Codec
In the telephony context a codec is a mechanism of digitally encoding voice. On the PSTN a voice channel takes up 64kbps in a codec standard called G.711. Cell phones use a codec called GSM that compresses the voice further so that a GSM call consumes about 24kbps. Other compressed codecs are used in VoIP to conserve bandwidth. These include standards such as G.729, G.723. Most audio codecs are lossy, in that some of the voice quality is degraded by the compression. On the other hand, as bandwidth becomes cheaper, VoIP allows one to use other codecs that in fact use more bandwidth than the PSTN, the so-called broadband codecs that have DVD-like voice quality.

Digital telephony
In the modern PSTN only the “last mile” line to the customer is still analog, all other internal parts of the network are digital. Digital in this case means that at the central office the analog signal from the subscriber’s telephone is sampled digitally, converting the line voltages to a series of numbers that can be easily transmitted error free over long distances. See T1, E1 below.

DID
Direct Inward Dialing (“DID”) is a virtual phone number that uses the existing phone lines to route incoming calls. Callers can connect to a phone extension directly without an operator. This offers convenience for both employees and callers alike. DID offers a cost saving on its own and is less expensive when purchased with a SIP trunk.

Gateway
In the telephony context this is typically a separate unit with its own case and power supply that provides VoIP-to-PSTN services for a VoIP network. Almost all gateway devices use SIP interfaces to the VoIP system over Ethernet and have analog or digital telephony interfaces that connect to the PSTN. VoIP gateways are available from many manufacturers including Audiocodes, Cisco, Grandstream, Patton Electronics and many others.

ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network (“ISDN”) is a set of communications standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the traditional circuits of the public switched telephone network. Of the many variations of ISDN, Sangoma supports BRI (Basic Rate Interface) which is essentially an all-digital replacement for ordinary analog lines and PRI (Primary Rate Interface) which is used over T1 and E1 lines. BRI is very popular outside of North America. PRI is used worldwide.

IoT
Internet of Things (“IoT”) refers to a system of interrelated, internet-connected objects that are able to collect and transfer data over a wireless network without human intervention.

IP
The Internet Protocol (“IP”) is the primary protocol in the internet layer of the Internet protocol suite, and delivers data packets from the source host to the destination host solely based on the IP address.

ISP
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Internet Service Provider

ITSP
Internet Telephony Service Provider who offer telecommunications service including voice over internet type connections.


IVR
Interactive Voice Response: IVR systems use the phone to navigate a menu, for example those used by banks to allow access to customer’s account information. IVR systems have typically been driven by dial tones as the buttons on your phone are pressed, but increasingly they are using voice recognition for navigation.

Open Source
Open Source software is distributed free subject to certain conditions. Open Source licenses usually stipulate that source code must always be distributed or made available, and any improvements in the code have to be donated back to the community. It is possible to have dual licensing: Open Source to the community and also a closed, commercial license of the same or similar software.

NetBorder
This is the trade name of a Sangoma SIP to PSTN gateway product. It includes several other functions in addition to the PSTN gateway function. The mass marketed version is known as NetBorder Express or NBE.

PBX
Private branch exchange. A PBX is a premised basis device to deliver calls from the PSTN or VOIP network to phones in a single or multiple locations.

PSTN
Public Switched Telephone Network: This is the standard telephone network that has been in operation for many decades. A telephone or FAX or PBX or other telephony device is generally connected to an analog line at a wall plug, which is connected by “last mile” cabling to the central office. The analog signal from the device is converted to a digital signal at the Telco central office and is multiplexed, 24 simultaneous voice channels per line (in North America) onto a T1 for onward transmission. At the other end of the line the digital channel is reconverted to analog for transmission over the “last mile” to the receiving phone or other device.

SBC
A Session Border Controller (“SBC”) is a device deployed in Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) networks to exert control over the signaling and usually also the media streams involved in setting up, conducting, and tearing down telephone calls or other interactive media communications. SBCs are deployed as demarcation points between enterprises and service providers and between service provider networks.

SD-WAN
A Software-defined Wide Area Network (“SD-WAN”) uses software to control and manage connectivity across a customers wide area network. While traditional wide area networks rely on physical routers to connect remote users, this centralized software solution can help customers monitor their performance of the network and manage traffic.

Signalling
Call setup and tear down is remarkably complicated, involving such things as responding to the different tones as well as generating them, caller identification and handling the different features like hook-flash and voicemail properly. There are different signalling mechanisms for different types of circuits. Analog circuits use tones such as out-of-order, busy, ringing as well as the dialling tones. T1 lines often use a data protocol called ISDN PRI, where packets of control data are exchanged on a separate data channel. ISDN PRI is a simplification of the general signalling protocol used internally by the telecommunications networks known as SS7. In all cases signalling has to be exactly compatible with what the Telco expects, so interoperability and standards are important.

SIP
Session Initiation Protocol: SIP is the emerging standard signalling protocol for VoIP, though it has much broader applications. SIP is responsible for setting up and teardown of two party and multiparty calls, as well as a host of management features. To a great and increasing extent, VoIP calls are SIP based. The term SIP Trunk is used to describe the provision of a SIP line to an end customer.
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T1, E1
A T1 line is a circuit that carries 24 digital telephone calls simultaneously. At higher densities, 28 T1s are aggregated into a T3 line carrying 672 calls. Larger offices can also connect to the central office via T1 directly, so as to have only one circuit for up to 24 calls. T1 is standard in North America and Japan while E1 is the standard in the rest of the world. E1 carries 30 channels of digitized voice per line.

TDM
Time Division Multiplexing (“TDM”) is used in circuit switched networks to increase the number of calls carried simultaneously on any one circuit and formed the basis for the digital telephony networks.
Unified Communications
Unified communications is a concept in which voice, email, messaging, video and any other type of communication are all considered forms of data that can be combined, manipulated and used in intelligent applications in a seamless way.


VoIP
Voice over IP: The transfer of voice traffic over the Internet Protocol. IP is used universally for all networking including local area networks and private networks, not just the Internet. VoIP is not necessarily voice over the Internet, but voice over general data networks.


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