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

Patent licensing firm Wi-LAN saw revenues surge dramatically in the second quarter of its fiscal 2008 year, as the company added 17 new licensees for its wireless and V-chip patents, but losses also doubled.

The Ottawa-based company said sales soared to $3.2 million from just $75,000 a year earlier, and for the first time, the company decided to release its guidance for full-year revenue and pro forma earnings, as an indication of the company's growing strength.

"Our business has now reached a maturity level that permits us to be more confident in our licensing program," said Wi-LAN chief executive Jim Skippen in a statement. "The confidence that we have in our business is demonstrated, in part, by our decision to provide more fulsome financial disclosure."

The company said full-year revenues would be between $15 million and $20 million, while pro forma earnings would be in the range of $2 million to $5 million. It also said that its estimated revenue backlog as of April 30 was approximately $140 million.

As well, the company's operating expenses, which have been the only measure that it has been willing to release up until now, are expected to narrow to between $16 million and $19 million. In the first quarter, the company said operating expenses would likely be $19 million to $23 million in fiscal 2008.

In an interview, Mr. Skippen said the company had come a long way since he got on board two years ago, and that Wi-LAN was currently positioned in two markets where several positive developments are occurring.

"We're essentially a two-year-old startup ...When I joined two years ago, we had no employees, no revenues, and were essentially just a public shell," he said. "But already we're now providing people with guidance, when most startup companies don't have a clue what's going to happen next quarter. We're now in a position where we're confident enough about the revenue we're going to generate."

Mr. Skippen added that the company's WiMAX division would likely benefit from industry-wide changes, such as the merger of Sprint and Clearwire's WiMAX businesses which brought in investments from big players including Intel, Google and Time Warner Cable, as well as the announcement of Intel's new wireless-enabled Centrino 2 platform, which would likely incorporate some of Wi-LAN's patented technology.

While the news was generally positive for the company, Wi-LAN also noted that net losses grew to $4.1 million or four cents per share, from $2.3 million or three cents per share.

Pro forma earnings amounted to a loss of roughly $500,000 or one cent per share, which was narrower than a year earlier when there was a loss of $2 million on a cash basis, but losses were deeper than in the previous two quarters. Wi-LAN saw pro forma earnings of roughly $2 million in the first quarter and $4.9 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, although Mr. Skippen noted that the company's fourth-quarter results included $4.6-million-worth of patents.

He also added that the doubling in net losses was largely because of amortization for its $108-million Tri-Vision acquisition.

"This is not indicative of the value of the company; as time goes on, we're adding more and more licences, and our expenses are relatively stable," said Mr. Skippen. "I think we've just scratched the surface of the licences we think we're going to sign, so there's a huge upside."