Q-CTRL overcomes GPS-denial with quantum sensing, achieves quantum advantage
'We achieved an accuracy in some trials comparable to a sharpshooter hitting a bullseye from 1,000 yards away,''— Michael J. Biercuk, CEO and Founder of Q-CTRL
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, April 14, 2025 / EINPresswire.com / -- Q-CTRL, the global leader in quantum infrastructure software, announced successful field trials of a new generation of quantum-assured navigation solutions validated to outperform comparable conventional alternatives in challenging real-world settings. This marks the first achievement of commercial quantum advantage for any of the recently posed applications of quantum technology, cementing Q-CTRL's role as the dominant leader in the quantum sector.
Today, almost all navigation in vehicles, from airliners to passenger cars, relies on the Global Positioning System (GPS). But amidst growing international conflict, GPS denial is becoming a weapon of both traditional warfare and nontraditional economic sabotage; an outage is estimated to cost $1 billion per day, over 1,000 flights per day are now disrupted by GPS jamming incidents, and the adoption of autonomous systems is becoming challenged by the unreliability of GPS.
Meanwhile, existing GPS backups face major shortcomings that have made new solutions for GPS-free navigation a strategic technology of the highest importance.
Q-CTRL has produced a new generation of quantum-assured navigation systems, Ironstone Opal, that delivers GPS-like positioning, is completely passive and undetectable, and cannot be jammed or spoofed. It solves the most pressing navigation challenges in the defense and civilian domains, enabling new missions, streamlining transport operations, and powering autonomous systems.
In a world-first, Q-CTRL conducted real-world ground and airborne trials showing its quantum-assured navigation solution enabled successful GPS-free navigation, outperforming a high-end conventional GPS alternative by up to 50x. These tests deliver true commercial and strategic quantum advantage in navigation, an elusive goal across the entire quantum industry.
The Q-CTRL quantum-assured navigation system uses quantum sensors to detect tiny, otherwise imperceptible signals arising from Earth's structure that serve as magnetic 'landmarks' for navigation -- only quantum sensors provide the sensitivity and stability needed to continuously 'see' these landmarks from a moving vehicle.
'We achieved an accuracy in some trials comparable to a sharpshooter hitting a bullseye from 1,000 yards away,' said Q-CTRL CEO and Founder Michael J. Biercuk. 'But because our quantum-assured navigation system allows a vehicle to position itself accurately irrespective of how far it's travelled, by analogy that sharpshooter can hit the same bullseye no matter how far away they move from the target.'
'Unlike quantum supremacy [in quantum computing], the technology is truly innovative and meets a growing market need in aerospace, defense, and autonomous cars,' said Jean-Francois Bobier, Partner & Vice President, Deep Tech, at the Boston Consulting Group. Bobier noted the BCG estimate of quantum sensing becoming a $3bn industry by 2030 and added, 'Q-CTRL is paving the way to unlocking this potential with a proven quantum advantage.'
Q-CTRL provides a new solution from top to bottom, built around the concept of 'software ruggedized hardware.' This validated concept uses proprietary AI-powered quantum control software to shield the delicate quantum sensors against interference encountered in the real world and allows the systems to be miniaturized by trading hardware for software to enable deployment on nearly any vehicle.
'At Q-CTRL, we're thrilled to be the global pioneer in taking quantum sensing from research to the field, being the first to enable real capabilities that have previously been little more than a dream,' said Biercuk from Q-CTRL. 'This is our first major system release and we're excited that there is much more to come as we introduce new quantum-assured navigation technologies tailored to other commercial and defense platforms.'
Q-CTRL's quantum magnetic navigation system is small enough to fit on small fixed-wing drones or autonomous cars, and powerful enough to enable navigation in passenger airliners. Nothing in the industry approaches the combination of performance, stealth, and SWaP (size, weight, and power), making this a truly unique technology. The company is working with government agencies, including the Australian Department of Defence, the UK Royal Navy, and the US Department of Defense, to deliver new quantum-sensing technologies for defense platforms. In addition, Q-CTRL is working with Airbus on quantum navigation solutions for commercial aviation.
Editor's note:
'Quantum advantage' indicates when a quantum solution outperforms its competitive classical counterparts under realistic conditions in a commercially relevant task. It has been an elusive milestone across a range of candidate applications of quantum technology; the first quantum advantage dates back to the realization of the atomic clock in 1955 but few other clear demonstrations exist. Quantum advantage has recently been the subject of intense speculation and competition among tech companies vying to claim the upper hand in the application of quantum computing. The lack of verifiable quantum advantage in the most prominent contemporary areas of exploration - quantum computing, quantum sensing, and quantum communications - has been used as a criticism of the sector's true commercial relevance.
The Q-CTRL demonstration showcases that quantum navigation has delivered a near term application achieving true commercial advantage, and rewrites the narrative on when current developments in quantum technology might provide relevant and useful solutions.
The Q-CTRL quantum-assured navigation solution was based on magnetic navigation. It leveraged in-house, high-stability magnetometers in a unique architecture combined with proprietary software ruggedization to detect the Earth's magnetic fingerprint - small variations in the Earth's magnetic field due to changing composition. The measured information about the local magnetic field in the moving vehicle could be compared against a known map drawn from a public domain or commercial database to estimate the vehicle's position relative to the map.
Software ruggedization
Achieving these results required a concerted effort to ensure quantum technology solutions worked in real operating environments. Heavy vibrations and electromagnetic interference have blocked the transition of most experimental quantum navigation solutions from the lab to the real world, but are counteracted by unique Q-CTRL technology.
Core to the Q-CTRL achievement was the development and integration of the world's best (publicly known) 'magnetic denoising' software. The Q-CTRL team combined advanced machine learning techniques with physics expertise to produce an algorithm for interference rejection that was both highly effective and efficient. In a head-to-head comparison against a competitor's algorithm using open-source magnetic flight data, the Q-CTRL software achieved 3x better positioning with 15x faster learning on the same data.
More importantly, the Q-CTRL denoising software was able to learn all relevant information about the interference experienced 'on the fly', meaning it did not require any pretraining, calibration, or special vehicle maneuvers as commonly required in competitive approaches. This is a major operational advantage for end users who are not obligated to perform hours of special training tests before use.
Field-trial details
The Q-CTRL team performed tests in both ground vehicles and in flight. It achieved quantum advantage in both, delivering superior performance to a strategic-grade GPS alternative strategic-grade known as an inertial navigation system (INS), a gold-standard GPS backup system that operates by measuring vehicle motion. In these trials magnetic map information was taken from publicly available databases, requiring no special surveys in advance of the trials.
During flight tests, the Q-CTRL system achieved 99.97% uptime and operated successfully under a wide range of operating conditions, temperatures, altitudes, and maneuvers. The team achieved a maximum of 50x lower positioning uncertainty over a ~500km flight vs an INS, with positioning uncertainty just ~0.03% of the total distance traveled via externally mounted quantum sensors. The best trials achieved ~0.01% final positioning uncertainty; this places the new MagNav solution's performance as outcompeting public-domain figures for a range of other GPS backups, including Doppler radar, Doppler velocity lidar, and visual odometry, without the need to emit external signals that give away your position to an adversary (as in radar) or subject to weather conditions in flight.
Magnetic navigation in flight was successful with multiple sensor configurations, and outperformed the INS by at least 11x with the entire full-stack system located inside the aircraft, where magnetic interference from avionics and other equipment is over ten times larger than typical external sensor mounting points. This is a testament to the efficacy of Q-CTRL's software-ruggedization technology.
Q-CTRL's quantum-assured magnetic navigation system also successfully enabled navigation in a ground-based vehicle with the system strapped into the cargo bay of a van. As in flight tests, position was inferred relative to a magnetic map provided from public-domain databases. In these trials the Q-CTRL technology outperformed the INS by over 6x, and represents the first ever successful demonstration of magnetic navigation in any ground vehicle.
DoD Engagement:
Q-CTRL announced in 2023 a partnership with the Australian Department of Defence to deliver quantum-assured navigation for defence platforms. In addition, it has been contracted by the UK's DASA accelerator, and supported by the UK Royal Navy via the Disruptive Capabilities and Technologies Office, to field trial mobile quantum-assured gravimetry for maritime operations
Luke Keding
HKA Marketing Communications
315-575-4491
email us here
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Farmland Partners Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2025 Results
DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Farmland Partners Inc. (NYSE: FPI) ('FPI' or the 'Company') today reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2025. Selected Highlights During the quarter ended June 30, 2025, the Company: recorded net income (loss) of $7.8 million, or $0.15 per share available to common stockholders, compared to ($2.1) million, or ($0.06) per share available to common stockholders for the same period in 2024; recorded AFFO of $1.3 million, or $0.03 per share, compared to $0.5 million, or $0.01 per share, for the same period in 2024; completed dispositions of 32 properties for aggregate consideration of $71.6 million and recognized an aggregate gain on sale of $24.2 million; repurchased 2,099,756 shares of its common stock at a weighted average price of $11.19 per share; and recorded impairments on California properties totaling $16.8 million. Subsequent to June 30, 2025, the Company: repurchased 181,989 shares of common stock at a weighted average price of $11.48 per share; and made repayments of $23.0 million against the Company's lines of credit. CEO Comments Luca Fabbri, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: 'We continue to deliver strong total returns to our shareholders by generating consistent cash flow from efficient operations and recognizing significant gains on the strategic sale of appreciated farmland assets. In the first half of 2025, we realized meaningful gains on over $80 million of farm sales—clear evidence of asset appreciation and value creation for our shareholders. We are redeploying sale proceeds to repurchase our undervalued stock and reduce high-cost debt, actions that we believe enhance long-term returns. At the same time, we recorded impairments on the California permanent crop portion of our portfolio, as we concluded that some of our farms have experienced a longer-term loss of value due to crop and water dynamics. We remain confident in both our business model and the enduring strength of farmland as a low-volatility, total-return asset class. We look forward to a strong remainder of the year.' Financial and Operating Results The table below shows financial and operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024 (unaudited). ___________________________ NM = Not Meaningful (1) Basic net income per share available to common stockholders. See 'Note 9—Stockholders' Equity and Non-controlling Interests' in the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, when filed, for more information. (2) The six months ended June 30, 2024 includes approximately $1.2 million of income from forfeited deposits due to the termination of a repurchase agreement. The six months ended June 30, 2025 includes approximately $1.0 million of income as a result of a solar lease arrangement with a tenant. Expand See 'Non-GAAP Financial Measures' below for complete definitions of AFFO, Adjusted EBITDAre, and NOI and the financial tables accompanying this press release for reconciliations of net income to AFFO, Adjusted EBITDAre and NOI. Acquisition and Disposition Activity During the six months ended June 30, 2025, the Company acquired five properties for total consideration of $6.5 million. During the six months ended June 30, 2025, the Company completed 34 property dispositions for approximately $81.6 million in aggregate consideration and recognized an aggregate gain on sale of $25.0 million. Balance Sheet The Company had total debt outstanding of approximately $193.4 million at June 30, 2025 compared to total debt outstanding of approximately $204.6 million at December 31, 2024. At June 30, 2025, the Company had access to liquidity of $211.1 million, consisting of $51.1 million in cash and $160.0 million in undrawn availability under its credit facilities, compared to liquidity of $245.8 million, consisting of cash of $78.4 million and $167.4 million in undrawn availability under its credit facilities at December 31, 2024. As of July 18, 2025, the Company had 44,913,381 shares of common stock outstanding on a fully diluted basis. Dividend Declarations On July 22, 2025, the Company's Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.06 per share of common stock and Class A Common OP unit. The dividends are payable on October 15, 2025 to stockholders and common unit holders of record as of October 1, 2025. 2025 Earnings Guidance and Supplemental Package The Company's 2025 AFFO per share earnings guidance remains unchanged compared to the prior quarter. For details, please see page 15 of the supplemental package, which can be accessed through the Investor Relations section of the Company's website. Conference Call Information The Company has scheduled a conference call on July 24, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. (U.S. Eastern Time) to discuss the financial results and provide a company update. The call can be accessed live over the phone by dialing 1-800-715-9871 and using the conference ID 4868033. The conference call will also be available via a live listen-only webcast that can be accessed through the Investor Relations section of the Company's website, A replay of the conference call will be available beginning shortly after the end of the event until August 3, 2025, which can be accessed by dialing 1-800-770-2030 and using the playback ID 4868033. A replay of the webcast will also be accessible on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website for a limited time following the event. About Farmland Partners Inc. Farmland Partners Inc. is an internally managed real estate company that owns and seeks to acquire high-quality North American farmland and makes loans to third-party farmers (both tenant and non-tenant) and landowners secured by farm real estate and/or other agricultural related assets. As of June 30, 2025, the Company owned and/or managed approximately 125,500 acres of farmland in 15 states, including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia. In addition, the Company owns land and buildings for four agriculture equipment dealerships in Ohio leased to Ag Pro under the John Deere brand. The Company elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, commencing with the taxable year ended December 31, 2014. Additional information: or (720) 452-3100. Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including, without limitation, statements with respect to our outlook and the outlook for the farm economy generally, proposed and pending acquisitions and dispositions, financing activities, crop yields and prices and anticipated rental rates. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as 'may,' 'should,' 'could,' 'would,' 'predicts,' 'potential,' 'continue,' 'expects,' 'anticipates,' 'future,' 'intends,' 'plans,' 'believes,' 'estimates' or similar expressions or their negatives, as well as statements in future tense. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, beliefs and expectations, such forward-looking statements are not predictions of future events or guarantees of future performance, and our actual results could differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Some factors that might cause such a difference include the following: the ongoing war in Ukraine and the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and their impacts on the world agriculture market, world food supply, the farm economy generally, and our tenants' businesses; changes in trade policies in the United States and other countries that import agricultural products from the United States, including the imposition of tariffs; high inflation and elevated interest rates; the onset of an economic recession in the United States and other countries that impact the farm economy; extreme weather events, such as droughts, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires or floods; the impact of future public health crises on our business and on the economy and capital markets generally; general volatility of the capital markets and the market price of the Company's common stock; changes in the Company's business strategy, availability, terms and deployment of capital; the Company's ability to refinance existing indebtedness at or prior to maturity on favorable terms, or at all; availability of qualified personnel; changes in the Company's industry, interest rates or the general economy; adverse developments related to crop yields or crop prices; the degree and nature of the Company's competition; the outcomes of ongoing litigation; the timing, price or amount of repurchases, if any, under the Company's share repurchase program; the ability to consummate acquisitions or dispositions under contract; and the other factors described in the section entitled 'Risk Factors' in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking information presented herein is made only as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or otherwise. June 30, December 31, 2025 2024 ASSETS Land, at cost $ 594,507 $ 645,592 Grain facilities 7,476 7,714 Groundwater 8,858 11,033 Irrigation improvements 23,532 28,890 Drainage improvements 7,273 8,243 Permanent plantings 27,138 42,461 Other 3,953 3,983 Construction in progress 1,359 1,484 Real estate, at cost 674,096 749,400 Less accumulated depreciation (25,525 ) (31,557 ) Total real estate, net 648,571 717,843 Cash and cash equivalents 51,073 78,441 Assets held for sale 23 61 Loans and financing receivables, net 64,066 55,305 Right of use asset, net 641 194 Accounts receivable, net 470 3,199 Derivative asset 428 498 Inventory 2,591 2,659 Equity method investments 4,053 4,101 Intangible assets, net 1,364 1,374 Goodwill 2,706 2,706 Prepaid and other assets 685 2,179 TOTAL ASSETS $ 776,671 $ 868,560 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY LIABILITIES Mortgage notes and bonds payable, net $ 192,747 $ 203,683 Lease liability 641 194 Dividends payable 2,763 57,253 Accrued interest 2,326 3,062 Accrued property taxes 1,224 1,650 Deferred revenue 175 65 Accrued expenses 2,795 6,096 Total liabilities 202,671 272,003 Commitments and contingencies Redeemable non-controlling interest in operating partnership, Series A preferred units 100,485 101,970 EQUITY Common stock, $0.01 par value, 500,000,000 shares authorized; 44,344,606 shares issued and outstanding at June 30, 2025, and 45,931,827 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2024 443 459 Additional paid in capital 533,422 551,994 Retained earnings 96,507 88,352 Cumulative dividends (165,829 ) (160,406 ) Other comprehensive income 1,068 1,512 Non-controlling interests in operating partnership 7,904 12,676 Total equity 473,515 494,587 Expand Farmland Partners Inc. Consolidated Statements of Operations Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2025 and 2024 (Unaudited) (in thousands except per share amounts) June 30, June 30, 2025 2024 2025 2024 OPERATING REVENUES: Rental income $ 6,024 $ 9,539 $ 12,994 $ 19,746 Crop sales 1,439 935 2,286 1,595 Other revenue 2,497 971 4,932 2,094 Total operating revenues 9,960 11,445 20,212 23,435 OPERATING EXPENSES Depreciation, depletion and amortization 1,130 1,430 2,303 2,911 Property operating expenses 1,606 1,870 3,086 3,668 Cost of goods sold 1,464 761 2,128 1,302 Acquisition and due diligence costs (3 ) — 2 27 General and administrative expenses 2,413 3,737 5,034 6,364 Legal and accounting 657 407 1,101 740 Impairment of assets 16,821 — 16,821 — Other operating expenses 5 — 17 36 Total operating expenses 24,093 8,205 30,492 15,048 OTHER (INCOME) EXPENSE: Other (income) expense (123 ) 52 (256 ) (68 ) (Income) from equity method investment (3 ) (18 ) (2 ) (95 ) (Gain) loss on disposition of assets, net (24,228 ) 10 (24,991 ) 96 (Income) from forfeited deposits — — — (1,205 ) Interest expense 2,437 5,249 5,075 10,285 Total other (income) expense (21,917 ) 5,293 (20,174 ) 9,013 Net income (loss) before income tax (benefit) expense 7,784 (2,053 ) 9,894 (626 ) Income tax (benefit) expense (8 ) (1 ) 9 18 NET INCOME (LOSS) 7,792 (2,052 ) 9,885 (644 ) Net (income) loss attributable to non-controlling interests in operating partnership (190 ) 50 (244 ) 15 Net income (loss) attributable to the Company 7,602 (2,002 ) 9,641 (629 ) Dividend equivalent rights allocated to performance-based unvested restricted shares (4 ) (2 ) (8 ) (4 ) Nonforfeitable distributions allocated to time-based unvested restricted shares (19 ) (22 ) (39 ) (44 ) Distributions on Series A Preferred Units (743 ) (743 ) (1,486 ) (1,486 ) Net income (loss) available to common stockholders of Farmland Partners Inc. $ 6,836 $ (2,769 ) $ 8,108 $ (2,163 ) Basic and diluted per common share data: Basic net income (loss) available to common stockholders $ 0.15 $ (0.06 ) $ 0.18 $ (0.05 ) Diluted net income (loss) available to common stockholders $ 0.14 $ (0.06 ) $ 0.18 $ (0.05 ) Basic weighted average common shares outstanding 45,248 47,798 45,418 47,751 Diluted weighted average common shares outstanding 53,984 47,798 54,184 47,751 Dividends declared per common share $ 0.06 $ 0.06 $ 0.12 $ 0.12 Expand Farmland Partners Inc. Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2025 and 2024 (Unaudited) For the three months ended June 30, For the six months ended June 30, (in thousands except per share amounts) 2025 2024 2025 2024 Net income (loss) $ 7,792 $ (2,052 ) $ 9,885 $ (644 ) (Gain) loss on disposition of assets, net (24,228 ) 10 (24,991 ) 96 Depreciation, depletion and amortization 1,130 1,430 2,303 2,911 Impairment of assets 16,821 — 16,821 — FFO (1) $ 1,515 $ (612 ) $ 4,018 $ 2,363 Stock-based compensation 528 512 1,047 1,037 (3 ) — 2 27 Distributions on Series A Preferred Units (743 ) (743 ) (1,486 ) (1,486 ) Severance expense — 1,373 — 1,373 AFFO (1) $ 1,297 $ 530 $ 3,581 $ 3,314 AFFO per diluted weighted average share data: AFFO weighted average common shares 46,765 49,379 46,972 49,325 Net income (loss) available to common stockholders of Farmland Partners Inc. $ 0.15 $ (0.06 ) $ 0.18 $ (0.05 ) Income available to redeemable non-controlling interest and non-controlling interest in operating partnership 0.03 0.02 0.03 0.04 Depreciation, depletion and amortization 0.02 0.03 0.05 0.06 Impairment of assets 0.36 0.00 0.36 0.00 Stock-based compensation 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.02 (Gain) on disposition of assets, net (0.52 ) 0.00 (0.53 ) 0.00 Distributions on Series A Preferred Units (0.02 ) (0.02 ) (0.03 ) (0.03 ) Severance expense 0.00 0.03 0.00 0.03 AFFO per diluted weighted average share (1) $ 0.03 $ 0.01 $ 0.08 $ 0.07 Expand For the three months ended June 30, For the six months ended June 30, (in thousands) 2025 2024 2025 2024 Net income (loss) $ 7,792 $ (2,052 ) $ 9,885 $ (644 ) Interest expense 2,437 5,249 5,075 10,285 Income tax (benefit) expense (8 ) (1 ) 9 18 Depreciation, depletion and amortization 1,130 1,430 2,303 2,911 Impairment of assets 16,821 — 16,821 — (Gain) loss on disposition of assets, net (24,228 ) 10 (24,991 ) 96 EBITDAre (1) $ 3,944 $ 4,636 $ 9,102 $ 12,666 Stock-based compensation 528 512 1,047 1,037 Real estate related acquisition and due diligence costs (3 ) — 2 27 Severance expense — 1,373 — 1,373 Adjusted EBITDAre (1) $ 4,469 $ 6,521 $ 10,151 $ 15,103 Expand (1) The six months ended June 30, 2024 includes approximately $1.2 million of income from forfeited deposits due to the termination of a repurchase agreement. The six months ended June 30, 2025 includes approximately $1.0 million of income as a result of a solar lease arrangement with a tenant. Expand Farmland Partners Inc. Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2025 and 2024 (Unaudited) For the three months ended June 30, For the six months ended June 30, ($ in thousands) 2025 2024 2025 2024 OPERATING REVENUES: Rental income $ 6,024 $ 9,539 $ 12,994 $ 19,746 Crop sales 1,439 935 2,286 1,595 Other revenue 2,497 971 4,932 2,094 Total operating revenues 9,960 11,445 20,212 23,435 Property operating expenses 1,606 1,870 3,086 3,668 Cost of goods sold 1,464 761 2,128 1,302 NOI 6,890 8,814 14,998 18,465 Depreciation, depletion and amortization 1,130 1,430 2,303 2,911 Acquisition and due diligence costs (3 ) — 2 27 General and administrative expenses 2,413 3,737 5,034 6,364 Legal and accounting 657 407 1,101 740 Impairment of assets 16,821 — 16,821 — Other operating expenses 5 — 17 36 Other (income) expense (123 ) 52 (256 ) (68 ) (Income) from equity method investment (3 ) (18 ) (2 ) (95 ) (Gain) loss on disposition of assets, net (24,228 ) 10 (24,991 ) 96 (Income) from forfeited deposits — — — (1,205 ) Interest expense 2,437 5,249 5,075 10,285 Income tax (benefit) expense (8 ) (1 ) 9 18 NET INCOME (LOSS) $ 7,792 $ (2,052 ) $ 9,885 $ (644 ) Expand Non-GAAP Financial Measures The Company considers the following non-GAAP measures to be useful to investors as key supplemental measures of its performance: FFO, NOI, AFFO, EBITDAre and Adjusted EBITDAre. These non-GAAP financial measures should be considered along with, but not as alternatives to, net income or loss as a measure of the Company's operating performance. FFO, NOI, AFFO, EBITDAre and Adjusted EBITDAre, as calculated by the Company, may not be comparable to other companies that do not define such terms in exactly the same way as the Company. FFO The Company calculates FFO in accordance with the standards established by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, or Nareit. Nareit defines FFO as net income (loss) (calculated in accordance with GAAP), excluding gains (or losses) from sales of depreciable operating property, real estate related depreciation, depletion and amortization (excluding amortization of deferred financing costs), impairment write-downs of depreciated property, and adjustments associated with impairment write-downs for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures. Management presents FFO as a supplemental performance measure because it believes that FFO is beneficial to investors as a starting point in measuring the Company's operational performance. Specifically, in excluding real estate related depreciation and amortization and gains and losses from sales of depreciable operating properties, which do not relate to or are not indicative of operating performance, FFO provides a performance measure that, when compared year over year, captures trends in occupancy rates, rental rates and operating costs. The Company also believes that, as a widely recognized measure of the performance of REITs, FFO will be used by investors as a basis to compare the Company's operating performance with that of other REITs. However, other equity REITs may not calculate FFO in accordance with the Nareit definition as the Company does, and, accordingly, the Company's FFO may not be comparable to such other REITs' FFO. AFFO The Company calculates AFFO by adjusting FFO to exclude the income and expenses that the Company believes are not reflective of the sustainability of the Company's ongoing operating performance, including, but not limited to, real estate related acquisition and due diligence costs, stock-based compensation and incentive, deferred impact of interest rate swap terminations, distributions on the Company's preferred units and severance expense. Changes in GAAP accounting and reporting rules that were put in effect after the establishment of Nareit's definition of FFO in 1999 result in the inclusion of a number of items in FFO that do not correlate with the sustainability of the Company's operating performance. Therefore, in addition to FFO, the Company presents AFFO and AFFO per share, fully diluted, both of which are non-GAAP measures. Management considers AFFO a useful supplemental performance metric for investors as it is more indicative of the Company's operational performance than FFO. AFFO is not intended to represent cash flow or liquidity for the period and is only intended to provide an additional measure of the Company's operating performance. Even AFFO, however, does not properly capture the timing of cash receipts, especially in connection with full-year rent payments under lease agreements entered into in connection with newly acquired farms. Management considers AFFO per share, fully diluted to be a supplemental metric to GAAP earnings per share. AFFO per share, fully diluted provides additional insight into how the Company's operating performance could be allocated to potential shares outstanding at a specific point in time. Management believes that AFFO is a widely recognized measure of the operations of REITs and presenting AFFO will enable investors to assess the Company's performance in comparison to other REITs. However, other REITs may use different methodologies for calculating AFFO and AFFO per share, fully diluted and, accordingly, the Company's AFFO and AFFO per share, fully diluted may not always be comparable to AFFO and AFFO per share amounts calculated by other REITs. AFFO and AFFO per share, fully diluted should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss) or earnings per share (determined in accordance with GAAP) as an indication of financial performance, or as an alternative to net income (loss) earnings per share (determined in accordance with GAAP) as a measure of the Company's liquidity, nor are they indicative of funds available to fund the Company's cash needs, including its ability to make distributions. EBITDAre and Adjusted EBITDAre The Company calculates Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization for real estate ('EBITDAre') in accordance with the standards established by Nareit in its September 2017 White Paper. Nareit defines EBITDAre as net income (calculated in accordance with GAAP) excluding interest expense, income tax, depreciation and amortization, gains or losses on disposition of depreciated property (including gains or losses on change of control), impairment write-downs of depreciated property and of investments in unconsolidated affiliates caused by a decrease in value of depreciated property in the affiliate, and adjustments to reflect the entity's pro rata share of EBITDAre of unconsolidated affiliates. EBITDAre is a key financial measure used to evaluate the Company's operating performance but should not be construed as an alternative to operating income, cash flows from operating activities or net income, in each case as determined in accordance with GAAP. The Company believes that EBITDAre is a useful performance measure commonly reported and will be widely used by analysts and investors in the Company's industry. However, while EBITDAre is a performance measure widely used across the Company's industry, the Company does not believe that it correctly captures the Company's business operating performance because it includes non-cash expenses and recurring adjustments that are necessary to better understand the Company's business operating performance. Therefore, in addition to EBITDAre, management uses Adjusted EBITDAre, a non-GAAP measure. The Company calculates Adjusted EBITDAre by adjusting EBITDAre for certain items such as stock-based compensation and incentive, real estate related acquisition and due diligence costs and severance expense that the Company considers necessary to understand its operating performance. The Company believes that Adjusted EBITDAre provides useful supplemental information to investors regarding the Company's ongoing operating performance that, when considered with net income and EBITDAre, is beneficial to an investor's understanding of the Company's operating performance. However, EBITDAre and Adjusted EBITDAre have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the Company's results as reported under GAAP. In prior periods, the Company has presented EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA. In accordance with Nareit's recommendation, beginning with the Company's reported results for the three months ended March 31, 2018, the Company is reporting EBITDAre and Adjusted EBITDAre in place of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA. The Company calculates net operating income (NOI) as total operating revenues (rental income, tenant reimbursements, crop sales and other revenue), less property operating expenses (direct property expenses and real estate taxes), less cost of goods sold. Since net operating income excludes general and administrative expenses, interest expense, depreciation and amortization, acquisition-related expenses, other income and losses and extraordinary items, it provides a performance measure that, when compared year over year, reflects the revenues and expenses directly associated with owning and leasing farmland real estate, providing a perspective not immediately apparent from net income. However, net operating income should not be viewed as an alternative measure of the Company's financial performance since it does not reflect general and administrative expenses, interest expense, depreciation and amortization costs, other income and losses.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Three things veteran planetary health investors look for in a startup
Ask any founder or investor: Fundraising is never easy. And in a market with this level of uncertainty, the difficulties are compounded. 'Everyone has to go through fundraising, and it's a relatively challenging market right now,' Kyle Teamey, managing partner at RA Capital Planetary Health, told TechCrunch. 'That's good for a bit of empathy.' Teamey and his colleague Brigid O'Brien, also a managing partner with the firm, know this as well as anyone. They just closed a $120 million fund, their first for RA Capital Planetary Health. In the two years the team was fundraising, the market changed course dramatically. When they started, the ink was barely dry on the Inflation Reduction Act, and global trade was humming along. All of that changed in the past six months. 'All of this is cyclical,' O'Brien said. 'Kyle and I have often talked about this, and thinking about our careers and the highs and lows of the market that we've gone through multiple times.' Both have seen their share of ups and downs in the market. O'Brien started as an investor at In-Q-Tel and BPH, the mining giant. Teamey, for his part, was a founder in the first clean tech era over a decade ago before becoming an investor at In-Q-Tel and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Over the years, the pair have developed a rubric that helps them decide where to place their fund's money. 'We have three screening criteria,' O'Brien said. First on their list is time to market. How quickly can a prospective company begin generating revenue? 'We saw a lot of success in companies, even seed-stage companies that were able to do that,' she said. 'We look for companies that can be in-market in less than five years.' Second, they look at product-market fit. 'We really want to have some sense that they're building something that people actually want to buy,' Teamey said. 'A common mistake among entrepreneurs is the 'if you build it they will come' mentality.' Lastly, Teamey and O'Brien look for companies that efficiently use the money they have. 'How fast can you graduate from venture capital?' O'Brien said. For many investors, the answer to those questions is usually 'software,' though it doesn't always have to be. 'There's a lot of things that are different,' Teamey said, though he adds that one common misconception — that deep tech startups aren't capital efficient — doesn't add up. 'Capital efficiency can actually be somewhat analogous [to software], but the capital intensity is often very different,' he said. That's part of why the company will write first checks with figures in the hundreds of thousands all the way up to $10 million, with rounds ranging from seed to Series C. 'The name of the round doesn't really matter, right? What matters is, what's your time to market and does their return profile fit our strategy?' RA Capital Planetary Health has written checks to Koloma, which is prospecting for geologic hydrogen, and AM Batteries, which has developed a new lithium-ion battery manufacturing process that promises to slash costs dramatically. AI-enabled recycling startup Sortera also made the cut, as did solar power electronics company Optivolt and energy retailer Bia. It's a wide range of sectors, and the choices were informed by market maps the RA Capital Planetary Health team has been assembling over the last couple of years. The maps help the team 'understand what matters most in a market, what are those adoption barriers, and then what companies can overcome those adoption barriers,' O'Brien said. 'It also helps us inform what are the average time-to-markets.' That detail is top of mind for the team as they navigate the current downturn in the market. 'This won't be the first time or the last time there will be a cycle,' O'Brien said. 'It's not always going to be like rocket ships.' 'There's pluses and minuses of every part of the cycle,' Teamey added. 'If you can figure it out now, you're going to crush it as the markets get better.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
8 hours ago
- Forbes
Swift Navigation Lands Major Investment For Tech That Improves GPS
Swift Navigation has landed $50 million from a group of investors. The company's Skylark Precision ... More Location software improves GPS accuracy. Global positioning systems, or GPS, are great for helping to guide motorists to a location, or at least let them know where they are. However, GPS basically only gets you close, rather than to a precise spot. That may be fine for casual navigation, but it's not okay for advance driver assistance systems, or ADAS, which include automatic lane-centering, or for semi-autonomous driving systems that allow motorists to take their hands off the wheel for long stretches or make hands-off lane changes, or completely self-driving vehicles. As the auto industry moves towards vehicles with even higher levels of autonomy, the need for precise location technology becomes even more acute. A company that has developed such technology has captured the eyes, and financial backing of investors. San Francisco-based Swift Navigation completed its $50 million Series E financing round, the company announced Wednesday, bringing its total capitalization to more than $250 million. The round was led by led by Crosslink Capital, with participation from existing investors NEA, Eclipse, EPIQ Capital Group, First Round Capital, Telus, and Potentum alongside new investors Niterra Ventures, Alti Tiedemann Global, Grids Capital, Essentia Ventures, Shea Ventures, and Enertech Capital. 'We're expanding the reach of our global network, and then we're launching millions upon millions of cars live in our service,' said Swift co-founder and CEO Timothy Harris, in an interview. 'We already have several million on the road, but we have many different customer programs with different OEMs, and we're excited for some launches next year with some new OEMs that are launching next year as well.' 'Swift Navigation has built a game-changing solution for high-precision positioning, enabling autonomy and automation at scale," said Michael Stark, managing director and founder of Crosslink Capital, in a statement. GPS is actually a subset of Global Navigation Satellite System, or GNSS, which includes all navigation systems. While GPS is accurate to anywhere from three to ten meters, adding Swift's cloud-based application Skylark Precise Positioning Service vastly improves on that to a matter of centimeters by making corrections as the satellite signal travels through Earth's atmosphere, according to Harris. What can go wrong? Anything from inherent errors in satellites that are not in perfect orbits, to disruptions to GPS signals on their way to Earth-bound receivers. 'We actually model the atmosphere in real time. That's the core of our product now. Skylark itself just looks like a data service to get you centimeter accurate positioning behind that. We're modeling the atmosphere in real time. We're modeling the satellites, but it's really a software over-layer to the GPS,' Harris explained. While virtually all automakers use GNSS, about 70% of auto brands are currently using precise GNSS. Swift is working with around 20 automakers, according to Harris. Accuracy comparison between standard GPS and precise GPS provided by Swift Navigation. The urgency to improve a vehicle's location awareness comes as customers desiring, and willing to pay for, so-called L2+ autonomy systems such as General Motors Co.'s Super Cruise or Ford Motor Co.'s Blue Cruise, demand greater capabilities. 'So as we expand automated driving to new environments, what happens? We see more trees. We see more buildings,' said GM technical fellow Curtis Hay, during an April panel discussion on the subject at the American Center for Mobility, in which Swift also participated . 'We've got to solve those, as they become more important problems to tackle the automated drive down highways.' Indeed, Swift's Harris points out that precise positioning not only improves safety but its more exact location detection improves occupant comfort through greater reliability and with less jarring moves from automatic lane-keeping technology. There's a cost, however to all this, in an era where the average transaction prices of a new vehicles hovered at $48,907 in June, according to Kelly Blue Book. 'I cannot put this technology into a vehicle to force another $2,000, $3,000 on top of that, the price of that vehicle,' said Mark Barrott, a partner at management consultants Plante Moran, during the April panel discussion. 'It has to be affordable. It has to be useful, and my consumer has to understand how to use it, what benefit they're going to get.' Swift's Skylark addresses the cost issue by being able to provide precise location on lower-cost standard definition maps, rather than more expensive high-definition version, Harris pointed out. 'It's a data service that goes into the vehicle based on the distributed network. So there is an ongoing software cost element, but relative to the cost of putting in other big sensors, like LiDAR, it is a tiny fraction of cost,' said Harris. 'What that means is it hits the kind of the more mass market price point for ADAS systems. You're not talking about adding a huge amount of cost of the vehicle.'As Swift enjoys new investor support Harris says the company is expanding applications of its precise positioning technology to improving location accuracy for outdoor robotics, micromobility vehicles such as scooters, and fleet tracking and package delivery.
