Wi-LAN president and CEO Jim Skippen. (Darren Brown, OBJ)

Wi-LAN Inc. nearly doubled its profits year-over-year in 2007 as revenues soared into the eight figures.

The Ottawa-based patent licensing company saw full-year profits jump to $27.6 million from $14.1 million a year earlier, as revenues shot up to $61.3 million from just $2.1 million in 2006.

The company's said the gains were due to its refocusing on the lucrative patent licensing business, although this meant that its fiscal 2007 results were not directly comparable with the previous year's numbers, "as Wi-LAN was in the process of transforming itself into a licensing business, and discontinuing its products manufacturing and engineering services businesses in the 2006 periods."

"In the fiscal year we generated record revenue and record earnings and acquired Tri-Vision International," said Wi-LAN chief executive Jim Skippen in a statement. "We signed 20 wireless and V-chip licensing agreements, many of which strengthen our recurring revenue base and demonstrate Wi-LAN's ability to monetize, through negotiation, our portfolio of patented innovations."

The company noted that it had significantly expanded its patent portfolio value and other intangibles during the fiscal 2007 year to a net book value of $147 million, including the assets and patents it acquired in its purchase of Toronto-based parental control technology company Tri-Vision, up from just $9.8 million a year earlier. Its larger portfolio also included patents received in licensing agreements with electronics giants Nokia and Fujitsu.

The company's fourth-quarter revenue gains were equally impressive, with sales jumping to $7.2 million from $12,000 a year earlier.

Net profits plummeted by 92.4 per cent to $1.2 million, or a penny per diluted share, but excluding certain items, pro forma earnings grew to $4.9 million, compared to a loss of $912,000 a year earlier.

Mr. Skippen was upbeat in his outlook for the company's fiscal 2008 year, saying, "We hope that a growing momentum for negotiated licences, particularly in the Wi-Fi, WiMAX and V-chip markets, along with the determined efforts of our licensing teams, will generate additional licence agreements."

The company did not provide guidance on future revenues and earnings, but noted that its operating expenses for fiscal 2008 were forecasted to be between $22 million and $27 million.