ShoreTel Reports Financial Results for Second Quarter of Fiscal Year 2013

Cloud Division Growth Drives 29 Per Cent Year Over Year Revenue Improvement. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) February 01, 2013 - ShoreTel, the leading provider of brilliantly simple unified communications platforms, including business phone systems, applications and mobile UC solutions, today announced financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2013, which ended 31 December 2012.

Revenue of US$74.6 million for the second quarter of fiscal year 2013 was up 29 per cent from the second quarter of fiscal year 2012. The non-GAAP net loss for the second quarter was US$(2.6) million, or US$(0.04) per share, which excludes stock-based compensation charges, amortisation of acquisition-related intangibles, other charges and related tax adjustments. This compares with non-GAAP net income of US$1.4 million, or US$0.03 per share, in the second quarter of fiscal 2012.

"Our ShoreTel Sky business continues to be very strong with December marking our best month of cloud bookings in our history", said Peter Blackmore, President and CEO of ShoreTel. "We were also pleased to sign a record number of new cloud customers, which together with a strong backlog and low churn, drove 9 per cent sequential cloud revenue growth in the quarter and has driven our recurring revenue base up to 35 per cent of our total revenue."

Blackmore added, "In early January, we took meaningful action to reorganise our global sales organisation to drive improved sales productivity. I am confident these changes will yield improved results over the long term and put ShoreTel on a solid path to profitability."

Second Quarter of Fiscal 2013 Financial Highlights

GAAP gross margin for the second quarter of fiscal year 2013 was 58.8 per cent, compared with 65.4 per cent in the second quarter of fiscal year 2012. The decline in gross margin percentage from last year is the result of the addition of the ShoreTel cloud division including the amortisation of acquisition related intangibles, which were not included in the prior year's results.

Non-GAAP gross margin for the second quarter of fiscal year 2013, which excludes stock-based compensation charges, amortisation of acquisition-related intangibles, other charges and related tax adjustments, was 61.8 per cent, compared with 66.1 per cent in the year-ago quarter. GAAP net loss was US$(10.4) million, or US$(0.18) per share, in the second quarter of fiscal year 2013, compared with a GAAP net loss of US$(2.5) million, or US$(0.05) per share, in the second quarter of fiscal 2012. The GAAP net loss in the second quarter of fiscal year 2013 includes a US$1.9 million charge for a change in estimates for sales, telecom taxes and regulatory fees related to prior periods.

As of 31 December 2012, the company had US$52.1 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, and generated US$1.1 million in cash flow from operations in the quarter.

Line of Business Results

Cloud

The cloud division continued to deliver strong revenue growth of 9 per cent sequentially over the first fiscal quarter, with revenues of US$17.1 million. Monthly recurring revenue grew by 25 per cent from the second fiscal quarter of 2012, and the total number of installed customer seats increased 38 per cent over the same period. Partnerships with previously premise-only channel partners continued to develop and there is a strong pipeline of new partners waiting to become certified cloud business partners.

Premise

The company's premise-business revenues were US$57.5 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2013, down 1 per cent from the prior year. Revenue from the company's international locations was up 8 per cent over the year-ago quarter and represented 13 per cent of its premise revenue in the quarter. The company's typical second quarter seasonal growth was muted due to an increase in deals being delayed beyond the end of the quarter.

Select Operational Metrics

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Business Highlights

ShoreTel's Cloud Division Earns Frost & Sullivan's Award for Hosted IP Telephony and UC Services

In November, the company announced that Frost & Sullivan had given its 2012 North American Customer Value Enhancement Award in the Hosted IP Telephony and UC Services Market to ShoreTel's Cloud Division. The Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Value Enhancement is presented each year to the company that has demonstrated excellence in implementing strategies that proactively create value for its customers with a focus on improving the return on the investment that customers make in its services or products.

ShoreTel Positioned in the Leaders Quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service

The company was positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the Leaders quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, North America* based on ShoreTel's cloud division with its ShoreTel Sky family of products.

Business Outlook

ShoreTel is providing the following outlook for the quarter ending 31 March 2013:

• Revenue is expected to be in the range of US$73 million to US$79 million.

• GAAP gross margin is expected to be in the range of 60 per cent to 61 per cent, including approximately US$1.2 million in stock-based compensation charges and amortisation of acquisition-related intangibles. Non-GAAP gross margin, which excludes stock-based compensation and other charges, is expected to be in the range of 62 per cent to 63 per cent.

• GAAP operating expenses are expected to be in the range of US$53 million to US$54 million, including approximately US$3.3 million in stock-based compensation charges and amortisation of acquisition-related intangibles and US$0.7 million in severance costs related to sales reorganisation actions in January 2013. Non-GAAP operating expenses, which exclude stock-based compensation and other charges listed above, are expected to be in the range of US$49 million to US$50 million.

Conference Call Information

The company will host a corresponding conference call and live webcast today at 2 pm Pacific Standard Time. To access the conference call, dial +1-877-317-6789 for callers in the U.S. and +1-412-317-6789 for international callers and provide the operator with the conference identification number of 10023317. A live webcast will be available in the Investor Relations section of the company's corporate website at http://ir.shoretel.com/ and an archived recording will be available beginning approximately two hours after the completion of the call until the company's announcement of its financial results for the next quarter. An audio telephonic replay of the conference call will also be available beginning at approximately 4 pm Pacific Standard Time today until approximately 6 am Pacific Standard Time on 7 February 2013, by dialling +1-877-344-7529 or +1-412-317-0088 for callers outside the U.S. and Canada and providing the conference identification number of 10023317.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

ShoreTel reports all required financial information in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP"), but it believes that evaluating its ongoing operating results may be difficult to understand if limited to reviewing only GAAP financial measures. Many investors have requested that ShoreTel disclose this non-GAAP information because it is useful in understanding the company's performance as it excludes non-cash charges, other non-recurring adjustments and related tax adjustments, that many investors feel may obscure the company's true operating performance. Likewise, management uses these non-GAAP measures to manage and assess the profitability of its business and does not consider stock-based compensation charges and amortisation charges related to acquisition-related intangible assets, which are non-cash charges, or other non-recurring items in managing its core operations. ShoreTel has provided a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures following the text of this press release. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.

Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

ShoreTel assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements included in this release. This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbour" provisions of the federal securities laws, including, without limitation, statements by Peter Blackmore, statements regarding future products and statements in the "Business Outlook" section regarding ShoreTel's anticipated future revenues, gross margins, operating expenses and other financial information. The forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. The risks and uncertainties include the intense competition in our industry, our reliance on third parties to sell and support our products, supply and manufacturing risks, our ability to control costs as we expand our business, increased risk of intellectual property litigation by entering into new markets, our ability to attract, retain and ramp new sales personnel, uncertainties inherent in the product development cycle, uncertainty as to market acceptance of new products and services, the potential for litigation in our industry, risks related to our acquisition of M5 Networks, including technology and product integration risks, ability to retain key personnel and customers and the risk of assuming unknown liabilities, and other risk factors set forth in ShoreTel's Form 10-K for the year ended 30 June 2012, and in its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 September 2012.

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About ShoreTel
ShoreTel, Inc. (NASDAQ: SHOR) is a provider of business communication solutions whose brilliantly simple unified communications platforms, applications and mobile UC solutions promise a new rhythm of workforce engagement and collaboration. With costly complexity eliminated by design from its award-winning, all-in-one IP phone system, UC and contact center solution, and its industry-leading hosted phone system, workers enjoy a freedom and self-reliance that other providers can't match. Users have full control to engage and collaborate, no matter the time, place or device, for the lowest cost and demand on IT resources in the industry. ShoreTel is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., and has regional offices and partners worldwide. For more information, visit shoretel.com or shoretelsky.com.

M5, ShoreTel, ShoreTel Sky, and the ShoreTel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of ShoreTel, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

*Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in our research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organisation and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Investor contact:
Tonya Chin
tchin ( @ ) shoretel dot com
+1 408 962 2573

Media contact:
Citra Prasetyo
Asia-Pacific Connections for ShoreTel
citra ( @ ) apconnections dot com
+65 6334 9045

ShoreTel Financial Results for Second Quarter of Fiscal Year 2013

(http://apconnections.com/images/ShoreTel/shoretel-financial-results-for-second-quarter-of-fiscal-year-2013.pdf)

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