Aurora Spine Corporation Announces Record First Quarter Financial Results

- Company to host conference call Today, Thursday, May 22^nd at 11am ET/8am PT - 

/EIN News/ -- NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OR OVER UNITED STATES WIRE SERVICES

CARLSBAD, Calif., May 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aurora Spine Corporation (“Aurora Spine” or the “Company”) (TSXV: ASG) (OTCQB: ASAPF), a leader in spine and interventional spine technology that improves spinal surgery outcomes, today announced its financial results for first quarter ended March 31, 2025.

All figures are in U.S. dollars.

Financial and Business Highlights

• FDA Clearance for AERO™ - the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted 510(k) clearance for the Company’s newest product, the AERO™ Facet Fusion System.
  
  
• Record Q1 revenue – The company reported a record level of revenues for its first quarter. Q1 2025 sales of $4,417,027 represent an increase of $403,226 or 10.0% compared to sales of $4,013,801 in the same period the previous year.
  
  
• Patient Studies – The Company has closed data collection in its REFINE study of its ZIP™ Interspinous Fixation device for patients suffering from back pain due to symptomatic degenerative disc disease. Data from the study will be published out to one year, with a subsequent cohort publication extending to two years, offering long-term insights into patient outcomes. An abstract will be presented at the American Society of Pain and Neuroscience (ASPN) annual conference in July 2025, spotlighting Aurora Spine’s commitment to evidence-based innovation.
  
  
• DEXA-C increased sales – The Company renewed its focus on the cervical spine market in Q1 2025 with $415K in cervical sales. This is a $204K increase over Q1 2024 and a $112K increase over Q4 2025. The majority of the increase is due to sales of the DEXA-C cervical implant.
  
  
• Spine Sales – Spine sales have stabilized with the hiring of a spine focused sales director representing $1.03 million in sales in Q1 2025, as compared to $867K in Q1 2024 and $902K in Q4 2024. The Company expects that the continued focus will expand spine sales in 2025, especially DEXA-C cervical implants, Apollo cervical plating system, DEXA-L, and the Company’s minimally invasive lumbar fusion portfolio.
  
  

Management Commentary

"Operational performance during the first quarter has put fiscal 2025 on a solid start to the year for Aurora Spine, with it being the best first quarter on Company record," said Trent Northcutt, CEO of Aurora Spine. "The company’s success continues to come from our key proprietary product platforms, especially the SiLO-TFX system and the ZIP-51, which offers patients and doctors best-in-class products to conduct fusion in the lumbar/sacral region of the spine without the need for any screws. Our DEXA franchise also continues to make significant strides, and we are looking forward to the launch of our DEXA-L series later this year. Rounding off our proprietary product portfolio is the data behind the usage of these products, which we expect to share regarding our proprietary ZIP device at the upcoming ASPN conference in July."

"Our prospects for the future are extremely positive, as there are several catalysts in place for the Company to grow revenues in fiscal 2025 by at least 20%. We feel confident in our future growth given the immense R&D push we committed to in the past few years. Our confidence for the remainder of 2025 and beyond also stems from the launch of two products later this year, with the DEXA-L, a specialized lumbar interbody fusion device designed to match a patient's bone density, to promote bone in-growth, and improve fusion rates in ALIF and LLIF procedures and our newest product platform AERO™, a facet fusion system. We are in the midst of producing initial kits for the AERO and gearing up to conduct initial surgeries in the coming months.”

“We now have a very encompassing portfolio of proprietary products, all of which provide ease of use for the doctor and applied in minimally invasive procedures. This will also create better outcomes for patients with smaller incisions, which limit blood loss and allow patients to return home the same day of the procedure and experience faster recovery times. These are all ‘win-wins’ for the doctors and patients and we believe Aurora’s products are paving the way for many of these procedures to occur in a minimally invasive manner for years to come."

Chad Clouse, Chief Financial Officer of Aurora Spine, commented, “The Company continues to demonstrate good progress with another record quarter from a revenue perspective and additional growth over the prior year period. We continue to be mindful of our expenses and maintain tight expense controls to preserve cash. We are confident in the company’s future and are well positioned to capitalize on additional growth opportunities in the remainder of the year.

The company’s financial performance in fiscal 2024 was improved and moving in the right direction. During 2024, the company reported its first profitable quarter in company history and is on a trajectory for additional success. We have made significant progress on lowering our accounts receivable, which has enabled the company to fund additional product training with doctors and build out our internal sales team. We are very proud of our achievements in 2024 and have really executed on putting the company into a great position for continued growth and sustainable profitability during 2025 and beyond.”

Financial Results

Revenue Growth: Total revenues for the first quarter of 2025 were $4.42 million, an increase of 10.0% when compared to $4.01 million in the same quarter one year ago. The improvements in revenues over 2024 were due to more procedures conducted in ambulatory surgical and pain centers that incorporated Aurora products like the ZIP and SiLO TFX. The Company targeted the pain market with increased marketing, training, new product releases, and an increase in the sales staff.

Gross Margin: Gross margin on total revenues were 58.0% for the first quarter of 2025, compared to 61.9% in Q1 of 2024. Gross margin was lower compared to last year due to increased shipping costs and higher distributor commissions, offset by lower royalty costs. Higher distributor commissions were due to a higher percentage of sales to ortho/neurosurgeons through distributors.

Operating Expenses: Total operating expenses were $2.90 million for the first quarter of 2025, compared to $2.75 million in the first quarter of 2024. Operating expenses in Q1 2025 included $0.285 million of non-cash expenses, compared to $0.339 million of non-cash expenses. Operating expenses are higher during the current quarter primarily due to an increase in total compensation, discretionary education and training spend, and health insurance offset by a decrease in consulting, professional fees and research and development.

EBITDAC: EBITDAC (a non-GAAP figure non IFRS measure defined as Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, Amortization and Stock based compensation) was $(0.02) million for the first quarter of 2025, compared to $0.12 million in the first quarter of 2024. EBITDAC was slightly lower from year ago results due to higher expenses from the implementation of internal sales team.

Net loss: Net loss was $(0.350) million for the first quarter of 2025, compared to the first quarter of 2024 with a loss of $(0.267) million. Basic and diluted net (loss) income per share was $(0.00) per share in the first quarter of 2025 and $(0.00) per share for the first quarter of 2024.

Full financial statements can be found on SEDAR at (www.sedarplus.ca).

SELECTED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION INFORMATION

The following table summarizes selected key financial data.

As at	March 31, 2025	December 31, 2024	December 31, 2023
	$	$	$
Cash	488,693	825,621	766,829
Receivables	4,098,086	3,784,857	3,968,439
Prepaid and other current assets	229,444	276,084	204,173
Inventory	3,817,659	3,613,557	3,562,349
Current assets	8,633,882	8,500,119	8,501,790
Note receivable	295,871	323,663	454,628
Intangible assets	785,314	801,625	753,180
Property and equipment	2,038,936	2,047,989	2,275,478
Total assets	11,754,003	11,673,387	11,985,076
Current liabilities	4,263,792	3,884,233	3,273,058
Non-current liabilities	3,361,493	3,391,892	3,414,695
Share capital	27,720,815	27,657,591	27,657,591

SELECTED QUARTERLY INFORMATION

The Company’s functional currency is the US dollar (USD). The functional currency of the Company’s US subsidiary Aurora is USD.

Operating results for each quarter for the last two fiscal years are presented in the table below.

Quarters End	March 31, 2025		December 31, 2024		September 30, 2024		June 30, 2024		March 31, 2024		December 31, 2023		September 30, 2023		June 30, 2023
	$		$		$		$		$		$		$		$
Revenue	4,417,027		4,702,317		4,767,121		4,079,543		4,013,801		4,044,234		3,949,530		3,568,583
Cost of goods sold	(1,854,244	)	(1,982,273	)	(1,884,637	)	(1,532,173	)	(1,529,538	)	(1,749,216	)	(1,592,530	)	(1,537,410	)
Gross profit	2,562,783		2,720,044		2,882,484		2,547,370		2,484,263		2,295,018		2,357,000		2,031,173
Operating expenses	2,879,114		3,372,741		2,811,364		2,701,478		2,751,188		2,580,613		2,606,618		2,513,587
Loss on FV remeasurement	(33,347	)	(153,543	)	-		-		-		-		-		-
EBITDAC*	(20,924	)	(320,362	)	380,117		105,522		117,171		109,734		120,796		(163,660	)
Net loss***	(349,678	)	(652,697	)	71,120		(154,108	)	(266,925	)	(285,595	)	(249,618	)	(482,414	)
Basic and diluted loss per share**	(0.00	)	(0.01	)	0.00		(0.00	)	(0.00	)	(0.00	)	(0.00	)	(0.01	)

* EBITDAC is a non-GAAP, non IFRS measure defined as Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, Amortization and Stock based compensation. This amount includes Gains (losses) on sale of property and equipment and Other income (expense).
** Outstanding options and warrants have not been included in the calculation of the diluted loss per share as they would have the effect of being anti-dilutive.
***Net loss includes the FV remeasurement on the note receivable.

First Quarter Fiscal Year 2025 Conference Call Details

Date and Time: Thursday, May 22, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. ET / 8:00 a.m. PT

Call-in Information: Interested parties can access the conference call by dialing (844) 861-5497 or (412) 317-5794.

Webcast: Interested parties can access the conference call via a live webcast, which is available via the following link: https://app.webinar.net/4O85dp8dRGw.

Replay: A teleconference replay of the call will be available until May 29, 2025, at (877) 344-7529 or (412) 317-0088, replay access code 7940866. Additionally, a replay of the webcast will be available at https://app.webinar.net/4O85dp8dRGw for 90 days.

About Aurora Spine

Aurora Spine is focused on bringing new solutions to the spinal implant market through a series of innovative, minimally invasive, regenerative spinal implant technologies. Additional information can be accessed at www.aurora-spine.com or www.aurorapaincare.com. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking information that involves substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, most of which are beyond the control of Aurora Spine, including, without limitation, those listed under "Risk Factors" and "Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information" in Aurora Spine's final prospectus (collectively, "forward-looking information"). Forward-looking information in this news release includes information concerning the proposed use and success of the company’s products in surgical procedures. Aurora Spine cautions investors of Aurora Spine's securities about important factors that could cause Aurora Spine's actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements included in this news release. Any statements that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not historical facts and may be forward-looking and may involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ unilaterally from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that the expectations set out herein will prove to be correct and, accordingly, prospective investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release and Aurora Spine does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances.

Company Contacts:

Aurora Spine Corporation

Trent Northcutt
President and Chief Executive Officer
(760) 424-2004

Chad Clouse
Chief Financial Officer
(760) 424-2004
www.aurora-spine.com

Investor Contact:

Adam Lowensteiner
Lytham Partners
(646) 829-9702

Email: asapf@lythampartners.com