NATURE OF OPERATIONS

9 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2023

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

NATURE OF OPERATIONS

NATURE OF OPERATIONS

Steel Connect, Inc. (the "Company," "Steel Connect," "STCN," "we," "us" or the "Parent"), is a holding company which operates through its wholly-owned subsidiary ModusLink Corporation ("ModusLink" or "Supply Chain").

ModusLink is a supply chain business process management company serving clients in markets such as consumer electronics, communications, computing, medical devices, software and retail. ModusLink designs and executes elements in its clients' global supply chains to improve speed to market, product customization, flexibility, cost, quality and service. ModusLink also produces and licenses an entitlement management solution for activation, provisioning, entitlement subscription and data collection from physical goods (connected products) and digital products.

Disposition of IWCO Direct

On February 25, 2022 (the "Disposal Date"), the Company entered into a transaction agreement (the “Transaction Agreement”) with (a) IWCO Direct Holding Inc. (''IWCO Direct" or "Direct Marketing") and its indirect subsidiaries, (b) Cerberus Business Finance, LLC, in its capacities as collateral agent and administrative agent under a financing agreement (in such capacities, the “Agent”), dated as of December 15, 2017, between IWCO Direct, IWCO Direct’s direct and indirect subsidiaries, the Agent and the lenders party thereto (the “Lenders”) (the “Financing Agreement”), (c) the Lenders, (d) the Lenders or their respective designees listed on the signature pages to the Transaction Agreement under the caption “Participating Lender Purchasers” (the “Participating Lender Purchasers”), (e) SPH Group Holdings LLC (the “Sponsor”) and (f) Instant Web Holdings, LLC (the “Buyer”), an entity owned by the Participating Lender Purchasers. On the Effective Date (as defined in the Transaction Agreement) and pursuant to the terms of the Transaction Agreement, the Company transferred all of its interests in IWCO Direct to the Buyer as part of a negotiated restructuring of the capital structure and certain financial obligations of IWCO Direct under the Financing Agreement as contemplated by the Transaction Agreement. The results of operations of the IWCO Direct business are reported as discontinued operations for the prior year period presented. See Note 4 - "Discontinued Operations" for additional information.

All references made to financial data in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are to the Company's continuing operations, unless otherwise specifically noted.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Historically, the Parent financed its operations and met its capital requirements primarily through funds generated from operations, the sale of its securities, borrowings from lending institutions and sales of facilities that were not fully utilized. The Parent believes it has access to adequate resources to meet its needs for normal operating costs, capital expenditures, debt obligations and working capital for at least the next twelve months. Upon a redemption request by the holder of the Series C Convertible Preferred Stock (as discussed in Note 16 - "Related Party Transactions" and in the Company's Fiscal Year 2022 Form 10-K filed), the Parent believes it is probable that it has access to adequate resources, including cash on hand and potential dividends from ModusLink, to pay the redemption price and continue its operations.

As of April 30, 2023, these resources include cash and cash equivalents and ModusLink's credit agreement with Umpqua Bank (the “Umpqua Revolver”), as lender and as agent. The Umpqua Revolver provides for a maximum credit commitment of $12.5 million and a sublimit of $5.0 million for letters of credit and expires on March 31, 2025. There was no balance outstanding on the Umpqua Revolver as of April 30, 2023. See Note 9 - "Debt" for further details regarding the Umpqua Revolver.

ModusLink believes that if dividends to the Parent are required, it would have access to adequate resources to meet its operating needs while remaining in compliance with the Umpqua Revolver's covenants over the next twelve months. However, there can be no assurances that ModusLink will continue to have access to its line of credit under the Umpqua Revolver if its financial performance does not satisfy the financial covenants set forth in its financing agreement, which could also result in the acceleration of its debt obligations by its lender, adversely affecting liquidity.

In addition to the above, on April 30, 2023, the Company executed a series of agreements with Steel Partners Holdings L.P. (“Steel Partners”), in which Steel Partners and certain of its affiliates (the "Steel Partners Group") transferred certain marketable securities held by the Steel Partners Group to the Company in exchange for 3.5 million shares of Series E Convertible Preferred Stock of the Company (the "Series E Convertible Preferred Stock", and such transfer and related transactions, the "Transaction"). The Transaction closed on May 1, 2023. The purpose of the Transaction is to provide Steel Connect with access to approximately

$203 million of new capital which will be used for working capital, complementary and strategic acquisitions, and general corporate purposes. See Note 16 - "Related Parties" and Note 18 - "Subsequent Events" for further details.

As of April 30, 2023 and July 31, 2022, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $62.7 million and $53.1 million, respectively. As of April 30, 2023, the Company had excess working capital of $34.5 million.