Extreme Networks Inc: Form 10-Q for the period ended Mar 31, 2024

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the third quarter ended March 31, 2024 (this “Report”) contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including in particular, our expectations regarding market demands, customer requirements and the general economic environment, future results of operations, and other statements that include words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. We caution investors that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors identified in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in this Report, our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the first and second quarter ended September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2023, respectively, and other filings we have made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risk factors include, but are not limited to: adverse general economic conditions; risks related to supply chain disruptions; fluctuations in demand for our products and services; a highly competitive business environment for network switching equipment; our effectiveness in controlling expenses; the possibility that we might experience delays in the development or introduction of new technology and products; customer response to our new technology and products; fluctuations in the global economy, including as a result of political, social, economic, currency and regulatory factors; risks related to pending or future litigation; a dependency on third parties for certain components and for the manufacturing of our products and our ability to receive the anticipated benefits of acquired businesses.

Business Overview

The following discussion is based upon our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Report. In the course of operating our business, we routinely make decisions as to the timing of the payment of invoices, the collection of receivables, the manufacturing and shipment of products, the fulfillment of orders, the purchase of supplies, and the building of inventory and service parts, among other matters. Each of these decisions has some impact on the financial results for any given period. In making these decisions, we consider various factors, including contractual obligations, customer satisfaction, competition, internal and external financial targets and expectations, and financial planning objectives. For further information about our critical accounting policies and estimates, see the “Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates” section included in this “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

Extreme Networks, Inc. (“Extreme” or “Company”) is a leading provider of cloud networking solutions and industry leading services and support. Extreme designs, develops, and manufactures wired, wireless, and software-defined wide area-network (“SD-WAN”) infrastructure equipment, software and cloud-based network management solutions. The Company’s cloud solution is a single platform that offers unified network management of wireless access points, switches, and SD-WAN. It leverages machine learning, Artificial Intelligence for Information Technology Operations ("AIOps") and analytics to help customers deliver secure connectivity at the edge of the network, speed cloud deployments, and uncover actionable insights to save time, lower costs and streamline operations.

Extreme has been pushing the boundaries of networking technology since 1996, driven by a higher purpose of helping our customers connect beyond the network. Extreme’s cloud networking technologies provide flexibility and scalability in deployment, management, and licensing of networks globally. Our global footprint provides service to over 50,000 customers including some of the world’s leading names in business, hospitality, retail, transportation and logistics, education, government, healthcare, manufacturing and service providers. We derive all our revenues from the sale of our networking equipment, software subscriptions, and related maintenance contracts.

Industry Background

Enterprises across every industry are going through unprecedented changes, such as leading digital initiatives, migrating their workloads to cloud-based environments, modernizing applications, and adopting to a distributed workforce. To accomplish this, they are adopting new Information Technology (“IT”) delivery models and applications that require fundamental network alterations and enhancements spanning from the access edge to the data center. As networks become more complex and more distributed in nature, we believe IT teams in every industry will need more control and better insights than ever before to ensure secure, distributed connectivity and comprehensive centralized visibility. Managing networks from cloud-based applications where customers can run their entire end-to-end networks, from wired or wireless infrastructure to SD-WAN, while ensuring full IT management of the business becomes critical. In addition, Machine Learning (“ML”) and Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) technologies have the potential to vastly improve the network experience in today's world by collating large data sets to increase accuracy and derive resolutions to improve the operation of the network. When ML and AI are applied with cloud-driven networking and automation, administrators can quickly scale to provide productivity, availability, accessibility, manageability, security, and speed, regardless of the distribution of the network.

As the edge of the network continues to expand, our customers are managing more endpoints which comes with a host of challenges. This continued expansion creates issues such as a higher risk of cyberattacks and a need for more bandwidth as a result of an increase in applications running across the network.

Network complexity manifests itself in the form of more endpoints to manage, more applications to monitor, and more services that rely on the network for service delivery and enablement. When performance suffers, and the tug on internal systems and IT staff becomes more intense, technology is often being overworked. Resolving network problems expeditiously and identifying their root cause can improve organizational productivity and result in higher performance of operations.

We believe that the network has never been more vital than it is today. As administrators grapple with more data, coming from more places, more connected devices, and more Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) based applications, the cloud is fundamental to managing and maintaining a modern network. Traditional network offerings are not well-suited to fulfill enterprise expectations for rapid delivery of new services, more flexible business models, real-time response, and massive scalability.

As enterprises continue to migrate increasing numbers of applications and services to either private clouds or public clouds offered by third parties and to adopt new IT delivery models and applications, they are required to make fundamental network alterations and enhancements spanning from device access points (“AP”) to the network core. In either case, the network infrastructure must adapt to this new dynamic environment. Intelligence and automation are key if enterprises are to derive maximum benefit from their cloud deployments. With automation applications becoming increasingly critical in manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, healthcare and other key industries, we believe these changes will continue to create demand for networking technology to serve as a foundation to run these services.

Service providers are investing in network enhancements with platforms and applications that deliver data insights, provide flexibility, and can quickly respond to new user demands and 5G use cases.

We believe Extreme will continue to benefit from the use of its technology to manage distributed campus network architecture centrally from the cloud. Extreme has blended a dynamic fabric attach architecture that delivers simplicity for moves and changes at the edge of the network together with corporate-wide role-based policy. This enables customers to migrate to new cloud managed switching, Wi-Fi, and SD-WAN, agnostic of the existing switching or wireless equipment they already have installed. In the end, we expect these customers to see lower operating and capital expenditures, lower subscription costs, lower overall cost of ownership, and more flexibility along with a more resilient network.

We estimate the total addressable market for our Enterprise Networking solutions consisting of cloud networking, wireless local area networks (“WLAN”), data center networking, ethernet switching, campus local area networks (“LAN”), SD-WAN solutions and management, automation, and elements of the Secure Access Services Edge (“SASE”) market to be over $47 billion, and growing at approximately 12% annually over the next five years. This comprises over $35 billion for networking, infrastructure spanning enterprise and service provider (largely 5G) applications, a $4 billion SD-WAN market, and we also participate in $8 billion of the served addressable market for networking software.

The Extreme Strategy

We are driven to help our customers find new ways to deliver better outcomes. Connectivity is just the foundation. We make the network a strategic asset. The combination of our solutions provides the connectivity, bandwidth, performance and insights that organizations of all sizes need to move their organizations forward. IT leaders are now tasked with ensuring the global, hybrid workforce is functional and successful no matter where they are, and ensuring people can work wherever they want.

We help identify and solve business challenges. We simplify and improve the way our customers work and are relentlessly focused on finding new ways to drive better outcomes.

Cloud networking management allows customers to gain real-time visibility and insights into areas such as application usage, location and workflow patterns across their environment, helping to inform strategic business decisions and create personalized experiences. Customers benefit from visibility, control, and reduced time to resolution. This is the cornerstone of our One Network, One Cloud, One Extreme vision.

Extreme has recognized that the way we and our customers communicate has changed and given rise to these distributed enterprise environments, or in other words, the Infinite Enterprise, which has three tenets:

• Infinitely distributed connectivity is the enterprise-grade reliable connectivity that allows users to connect anywhere, from anywhere. It is always present, available and assured, while being secure and manageable.
• Scalable cloud allows administrators to harness the power of the cloud to efficiently onboard, manage, orchestrate, troubleshoot the network, and find data and insights of the distributed connectivity at their pace in their way.
• Consumer-centric experience designed to deliver a best-in-class experience to users who consume network services.

Extreme’s broad product, solutions and technology portfolio supports these three tenets and continues to innovate and evolve them to help businesses succeed.

Key elements of Extreme’s strategy and differentiation include:

• Creating effortless networking solutions that allow all of us to advance. We believe that progress is achieved when we connect—allowing us to learn, understand, create, and grow. We make connecting simple and easy with effortless networking experiences that enable all of us to advance how we live, work, and share.
• Provide a differentiated end-to-end cloud architecture. Cloud networking is estimated to be a $8 billion segment of the networking market comprised of cloud managed services and cloud-managed products, which are largely WLAN access points and ethernet switches, growing at 14% annually over the next five years, according to data from the 650 Group. Cloud management technology has evolved significantly over the past decade. We believe we deliver a combination of innovation, reliability, and security with the leading end-to-end cloud management platform powered by ML and AI that spans from the Internet of Things (“IoT”) edge to the enterprise data center. Key characteristics of our cloud architecture include:
• A robust cloud management platform that delivers visibility, intelligence, and assurance from the IoT edge to the network core.
• Cloud Choice for customers: Our cloud networking solution is available on all major cloud providers (Amazon Web Services (“AWS”), Google Cloud Platform (“GCP”) and Microsoft Azure).
• Consumption Flexibility: Offer a range of financing and network purchase options. Our value-based subscription tiers (including Connect, Navigator, Pilot and CoPilot) provide customers with flexibility to grow, as well as offer pool-able and portable licenses that can be transferred between products (e.g., access points and switches) at one fixed price.
• “No 9s” Reliability and Resiliency to ensure business continuity for our customers.
• Extreme Cloud IQ cloud platform conforms to ISO/ IEC 27017, is certified by DQS to ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27701 set forth by the International Standards Organization (“ISO”), and is CSA STAR certified.
• Offer customers choice: public or private cloud, or on-premises. We leverage the cloud where it makes sense for our customers and provide on-premises solutions where customers need it and also have a solution for those who want to harness the power of both. Our hybrid approach gives our customers options to adapt the technology to their business. At the same time, all of our solutions have visibility, control and strategic information built in, all tightly integrated with a single view across all of the installed products. Our customers can understand what is going on across their network and applications in real time – who, when, and what is connected to the network, which is critical for bring your own device (“BYOD”) and IoT usage.
• Highest value of cloud management subscriptions. ExtremeCloud IQ Pilot provides our customers with three key applications enabling organizations to eliminate overlays.
• Extreme AirDefense™ is a comprehensive wireless intrusion prevention system ("WIPS") that simplifies the protection, monitoring and security of wireless networks. With the added Bluetooth and Bluetooth low energy intrusion prevention, network administrators can address growing threats against Bluetooth and Bluetooth low energy devices.
• ExtremeLocation™ delivers proximity, presence and location-based services for advanced contact tracing in support of the location-intelligent enterprise.
• ExtremeGuest™ is a comprehensive guest engagement solution that enables IT administrators to use analytical insights to engage visitors with personalized engagements.
• Offers universal platforms for enterprise class switching and wireless infrastructure. Extreme offers universal platforms which support multiple deployment use cases, providing flexibility and investment protection.
• Universal switches (7720/5720/5520/5420/5320) support fabric or traditional networking with a choice of cloud or on-premises (air-gapped or cloud connected) management.
• Universal Wi-Fi 6/6E APs (300/400, 4000 and 5000 series) support campus or distributed deployments with a choice of cloud or on-premises (air-gapped or cloud connected) management.
• Universal licensing with one portable management license for any device and for any type of management. For switches, OS feature licenses are portable, and bulk activated through ExtremeCloud IQ.
• Enable a common fabric to simplify and automate the network. Fabric technologies virtualize the network infrastructure (decoupling network services from physical connectivity) which enables network services to be turned up faster, with lower likelihood of error. They make the underlying network much easier to design, implement, manage, and troubleshoot.
• End-to-End Portfolio. Our cloud-driven solutions provide visibility, control, and strategic intelligence from the edge to the data center, across networks and applications. Our solutions include wired switching, wireless switching, wireless access points, WLAN controllers, routers, and an extensive portfolio of software applications that deliver AI-enhanced access control, network and application analytics, as well as network management. All can be managed, assessed and controlled from a single pane of glass on premises or from the cloud.
• Provide high-quality “in-house” customer service and support. We seek to enhance customer satisfaction and build customer loyalty through high-quality service and support. This includes a wide range of standard support programs to the level of service our customers require, from standard business hours to global 24-hour-a-day, 365-days-a-year real-time responsive support.
• Extend switching and routing technology leadership. Our technological leadership is based on innovative switching, routing and wireless products, the depth and focus of our market experience, and our operating systems- the software that runs on all of our networking products. Our products reduce operating expenses for our customers and enable a more flexible and dynamic network environment that will help them meet the upcoming demands of IoT, mobile, and cloud.
• Expand Wi-Fi technology leadership. Wireless is today’s network access method of choice, and every business must deal with scale, density, and BYOD challenges. Wired and wireless networks are changing as the explosion of mobile and IoT devices increase the demand for high-performance, transparent, and always-on wired to wireless services. The unified access layer requires distributed intelligent components to ensure that access control and resiliency of business services are available across the entire infrastructure and manageable from a single console. We are at a technology inflection point with the pending migration from Wi-Fi 6 solutions to 6 GHz Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7), focused on providing more efficient access to the broad array of connected devices. We believe we have the industry’s broadest 6 GHz indoor and outdoor wireless portfolio, providing intelligence and security for wired/wireless networks by leveraging our cloud architecture, end-to-end fabric services, Universal Zero Trust Network Access, and AIOps management platform with Explainable ML insights.
• Offer a superior quality of experience. Our network-powered application analytics provide actionable business insights by capturing and analyzing context-based data about the network and applications to deliver meaningful intelligence about applications, users, locations, and devices. With an easy-to-comprehend dashboard, our applications help businesses turn their network into a strategic business asset that helps executives make faster and more effective decisions.
• Expand market penetration by targeting high-growth market segments. Within the campus, we focus on the mobile user, leveraging our automation capabilities and tracking WLAN growth. Our data center approach leverages our product portfolio to address the needs of public and private cloud data center providers. We believe that the cloud networking compound annual growth rate will continue to outpace the compound annual growth rate for on-premises managed networking. Our focus is on expanding our technology foothold in the critical cloud networking segment to accelerate not only cloud management adoption, but also subscription-based licensing consumption.
• Leverage and expand multiple distribution channels. We distribute our products through select distributors, a large number of resellers and system-integrators worldwide, as well as several large strategic partners. We maintain a field sales force to support our channel partners and to sell directly to certain strategic accounts. As an independent networking vendor, we seek to provide products that, when combined with the offerings of our channel partners, create compelling solutions for end-user customers.
• Maintain and extend our strategic relationships. We have established strategic relationships with a number of industry-leading vendors to both provide increased and enhanced routes to market, and collaboratively develop unique solutions.
• Expand our reach with ExtremeCloud SD-WAN. ExtremeCloud SD-WAN is a software-defined wide area networks solution offered as an all-inclusive subscription, which includes hardware, the cloud-based SD-WAN service, support and maintenance, and customer success support. This helps customers reduce total cost of ownership as they deliver quality user experience for applications used in site-to-site and site-to-cloud environments. This solution detects and optimizes applications automatically and can apply performance-based dynamic WAN selection for quality and reliability. Included also are security options such as a built-in zone-based firewall, EdgeSentry (in partnership with Check Point) for cloud-based firewall as a service and other advanced security capabilities, and integration with Secure Web Gateway partners such as Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler, and Symantec.

Results of Operations

During the third quarter of fiscal 2024, we achieved the following results:

• Net revenues of $211.0 million compared to $332.5 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2023.
• Product revenues of $106.4 million compared to $241.1 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2023.
• Subscription and support revenues of $104.6 million compared to $91.4 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2023.
• Total gross margin of 56.8% of net revenues compared to 57.7% of net revenues in the third quarter of fiscal 2023.
• Operating loss of $62.5 million compared to operating income of $29.6 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2023.
• Net loss of $64.4 million compared to net income of $22.1 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2023.

During the first nine months of fiscal 2024, we reflected the following results:

• Cash flows provided by operating activities of $40.0 million compared to $168.5 million in the nine months ended March 31, 2023.
• Cash and cash equivalents of $151.0 million as of March 31, 2024 compared to $234.8 million as of June 30, 2023.

Net Revenues

The following table presents net product and subscription and support revenues for the periods presented (in thousands, except percentages):

We generate product revenues primarily from sales of our networking equipment. We derive subscription and support revenues primarily from sales of our subscription and support offerings which includes SaaS offerings, maintenance contracts, professional services and training for its products. Prior to fiscal 2024, we referred to subscription and support revenue as “service and subscription revenue”; however, the composition of subscription and support revenue has not been modified.

Product revenues decreased $134.6 million or 55.8% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 as compared to the corresponding period in fiscal 2023. Product revenues decreased $124.2 million or 18.5% for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 as compared to the corresponding period in fiscal 2023. The decreases in product revenues were primarily driven by lower bookings and shipments as well as elongated sales cycles in the channel caused by current macroeconomic conditions.

Subscription and support revenues increased $13.1 million or 14.4% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 as compared to the corresponding period in fiscal 2023. Subscription and support revenues increased $36.2 million or 13.1% for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 as compared to the corresponding period in fiscal 2023. The increases in subscription and support revenues were primarily due to the continued growth in our subscription business.

The following table presents the product and subscription and support gross profit and the respective gross profit percentages for the periods presented (in thousands, except percentages):

Product gross profit decreased $86.5 million or 65.5% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 as compared to the corresponding period in fiscal 2023. Product gross profit decreased $62.8 million or 17.5% for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 as compared to the corresponding period in fiscal 2023. The decreases in product gross profit were primarily due to lower product revenues and higher reserves for excess and obsolete inventory, partially offset by lower intangible asset amortization due to certain intangible assets being fully amortized, favorable purchase price variance, lower distribution costs due to easing of supply chain constraints and lower warranty reserves.

Subscription and support gross profit increased $14.5 million or 24.3% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 as compared to the corresponding period in fiscal 2023. Subscription and support gross profit increased $38.8 million or 21.3% for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 as compared to the corresponding period in fiscal 2023. The increases in subscription and support gross profits were primarily due to increased subscription and support revenues as well as lower personnel costs.

Operating Expenses

The following table presents operating expenses for the periods presented (in thousands, except percentages):

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel costs (which consist of compensation, benefits and share-based compensation), consultant fees and prototype expenses related to the design, development, and testing of our products.

Research and development expenses decreased by $0.3 million or 0.6% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 as compared to the corresponding period in fiscal 2023. The decrease in research and development expenses was primarily due to a $1.1 million decrease in engineering project costs, partially offset by a $0.8 million increase in personnel costs primarily related to benefits and share-based compensation costs.

Research and development expenses increased by $6.9 million or 4.4% for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 as compared to the corresponding period in fiscal 2023. The increase in research and development expenses was primarily due to a $5.2 million increase in personnel related costs due to higher salaries and benefits costs and higher share-based compensation expense and a $4.4 million increase in contractor costs and professional service fees, partially offset by a $1.9 million decrease in engineering project costs, a $0.5 million decrease in information technology and facility related expenses and a $0.3 million decrease in other expenses primarily due to lower recruiting fees.

Sales and Marketing Expenses

Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of personnel costs (which consist of compensation, benefits and share-based compensation), as well as trade shows and promotional expenses.

Sales and marketing expenses increased by $3.7 million or 4.5% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 as compared to the corresponding period in fiscal 2023. The increase in sales and marketing expenses was primarily due to a $1.4 million increase in personnel cost primarily due to higher commissions and higher benefit costs, a $1.6 million increase in sales promotions and marketing related expenses and a $1.1 million increase in professional fees, partially offset by a $0.4 million decrease in other expenses primarily due to lower travel expenses.

Sales and marketing expenses increased by $21.9 million or 9.0% for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 as compared to the corresponding period in fiscal 2023. The increase in sales and marketing expenses was primarily due to a $14.2 million increase in personnel costs due to higher salaries and benefits costs and higher share-based compensation expense, a $6.3 million increase in sales promotions and marketing related expenses, and a $1.4 million increase in professional fees.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel costs (which consist of compensation, benefits and share-based compensation), legal and professional service costs, and facilities and information technology costs.

General and administrative expenses increased by $3.5 million or 16.3% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 as compared to the corresponding period in fiscal 2023. The increase in general and administrative expenses was primarily due to a $1.7 million increase in personnel costs primarily for share-based compensation, a $1.5 million increase in bad debt provision, a $0.7 million increase in professional fees, and a $0.5 million increase in software licensing costs, partially offset by a $0.9 million decrease in equipment related costs primarily due to lower depreciation expense.

General and administrative expenses increased by $10.2 million or 15.8% for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 as compared to the corresponding period in fiscal 2023. The increase in general and administrative expenses was primarily due to a $4.4 million increase in personnel costs due to higher compensation and benefits costs primarily related to share-based compensation, a $4.4 million increase in professional fees including increases in legal costs related to litigation and preliminary costs associated with the transition of our customer relationship management solution and our configure, price, quote solution, a $1.5 million increase in bad debt provision and a $1.4 million increase in software licensing costs, partially offset by a $1.7 million decrease in equipment related costs primarily due to lower depreciation expense.

Acquisition and Integration Costs

During the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, we did not incur any acquisition and integration costs.

During the nine months ended March 31, 2024, we did not incur any acquisition and integration costs. During the nine months ended March 31, 2023, we incurred acquisition and integration costs of $0.4 million, which primarily consisted of professional fees and certain compensation charges related to the acquisition of Ipanema Tech SAS.

Restructuring and Related Charges

For the three and nine months ended March 31, 2024, we recorded restructuring and related charges of $14.4 million and $26.3 million, which primarily consisted of severance and benefits costs and professional services fees associated with the reduction-in-force actions related to the “Q1 2024 Plan”, “Q2 2024 Plan”, and "Q3 2024 Plan", each as described in Note 13, Restructuring and Related Charges, in Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Report.

For the three and nine months ended March 31, 2023, we recorded restructuring charges of $1.4 million and $2.3 million, respectively, which primarily consisted of facility-related charges related to our previously impaired facilities and $0.8 million in charges associated with the "2023 Plan" to transform our business and facilities infrastructure, as described in Note 13, Restructuring and Related Charges, in Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Report.

Amortization of Intangible Assets

During the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, we recorded $0.5 million of operating expenses for each period related to the amortization of intangible assets.

During the nine months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, we recorded $1.5 million of operating expenses for each period related to the amortization of intangible assets.

Interest Income

During the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, we recorded $1.2 million and $0.8 million, respectively, in interest income. The increase in interest income was primarily due to higher interest earned on our cash balance due to rising interest rates.

During the nine months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, we recorded $3.9 million and $2.1 million, respectively, in interest income. The increase in interest income was primarily due to higher interest earned on our cash balance due to rising interest rates.

Interest Expense

During the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, we recorded $4.2 million and $3.9 million, respectively, in interest expense. The increase in interest expense was primarily due to higher average rates under the new 2023 Credit Agreement.

During the nine months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, we recorded $12.8 million and $11.7 million, respectively, in interest expense. The increase in interest expense was primarily due to higher average rates under the new 2023 Credit Agreement.

Other Income (Expense), Net

During the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, we recorded other income, net of $0.4 million and other expense, net of $0.4 million, respectively. The other income (expense), net for each period primarily related to the foreign exchange impact from the revaluation of certain assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies into U.S. Dollars.

During the nine months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, we recorded other income, net of $0.4 million and $0.1 million, respectively. The other income, net for each period primarily related to the foreign exchange impact from the revaluation of certain assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies into U.S. Dollars.

Provision for Income Taxes

For the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, we recorded income tax benefit of $0.6 million and income tax provision of $3.9 million, respectively.

For the nine months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, we recorded income tax provision of $7.0 million and $8.3 million, respectively.

The income tax provision (benefit) for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 consisted of (1) taxes on the income of our foreign subsidiaries, (2) state taxes in jurisdictions where we have no remaining state net operating losses, (3) foreign withholding taxes, and (4) tax expense associated with the establishment of a U.S. deferred tax liability for amortizable goodwill resulting from the acquisition of Enterasys Networks, Inc., the WLAN business from Zebra Technologies Corporation, the Campus Fabric Business from Avaya LLC and the Data Center Business from Brocade Communications System. In addition, the income tax provision (benefit) for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2024 includes U.S. federal income benefit of $1.6 million, fully reversing the previously recorded U.S. federal income tax expense during the first two quarters of the year, as well as a $0.3 million income tax benefit resulting from establishment of an indefinite lived deferred tax asset for nondeductible interest expense, offsetting the deferred tax liability related to amortizable goodwill.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this Report are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles have been condensed or omitted under SEC rules and regulations. The preparation of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses, and related disclosures. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. In many instances, we could have reasonably used different accounting estimates, and in other instances changes in the accounting estimates are reasonably likely to occur from period to period. Accordingly, actual results could differ significantly from the estimates made by our management. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions. To the extent that there are material differences between these estimates and actual results, our future financial statement presentation, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows will be affected.

As discussed in Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2023, we consider the following accounting policies to be the most critical in understanding the judgments that are involved in preparing our consolidated financial statements:

• Revenue Recognition
• Inventory Valuation and Purchase Commitments

There have been no changes to our critical accounting policies since the filing of our last Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

The following table summarizes information regarding our cash and cash equivalents (in thousands):

As of March 31, 2024, our principal sources of liquidity consisted of cash and cash equivalents of $151.0 million, accounts receivable, net of $94.4 million, and available borrowings under our five-year 2023 Revolving Facility of $135.5 million. Our principal uses of cash include the purchase of finished goods inventory from our contract manufacturers, payroll and other operating expenses related to the development and marketing of our products, purchases of property and equipment, and repayments of debt and related interest and share repurchases. We believe that our $151.0 million of cash and cash equivalents at March 31, 2024, our cash flow from operations and the availability of borrowings from the 2023 Revolving Facility will be sufficient to fund our planned operations for at least the next 12 months and into the foreseeable future.

On May 18, 2022, our Board of Directors (the “Board”) authorized management to repurchase up to $200.0 million shares of our common stock over a three-year period commencing July 1, 2022 (as amended, the "2022 Repurchase Program"). A maximum of $25.0 million may be repurchased in any quarter. On November 17, 2022, the Board increased the authorization to repurchase in any quarter from $25.0 million per quarter to $50.0 million per quarter. Purchases may be made from time to time in the open market or pursuant to 10b5-1 plan. The manner, timing and amount of any future purchases will be determined by our management based on their evaluation of market conditions, stock price, Extreme’s ongoing determination that it is the best use of available cash and other factors. The 2022 Repurchase Program does not obligate us to acquire any shares of its common stock, may be suspended or terminated at any time without prior notice and will be subject to regulatory considerations. During the three months ended March 31, 2024, the Company did not repurchase any shares of its common stock. During the nine months ended March 31, 2024, the Company repurchased a total of 2,365,220 shares of its common stock on the open market at a total cost of $49.9 million with an average price of $21.08 per share. As of March 31, 2024, the Company had $50.3 million available under the 2022 Repurchase Program.

On August 9, 2019, we entered into an Amended and Restated Credit Agreement (the “2019 Credit Agreement”), by and among Extreme, as borrower, several banks and other financial institutions as Lenders, BMO Harris Bank N.A., as an issuing lender and swingline lender, Silicon Valley Bank, as an Issuing Lender, and Bank of Montreal, as administrative agent and collateral agent for the Lenders. On June 22, 2023, we entered into the Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement (the “2023 Credit Agreement”) by and among Extreme, as borrower, BMO Harris Bank, N.A., as an issuing lender and swingline lender, Bank of America, N.A., JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., PNC Bank, National Association and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as issuing lenders, the financial institutions or entities party thereto as lenders, and Bank of Montreal, as an administrative agent and collateral agent, which amended and restated the 2019 Credit Agreement. The 2023 Credit Agreement provides for i) a $200.0 million first lien term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount (the “Term Facility”), ii) a $150.0 million five-year revolving credit facility (the “2023 Revolving Facility”) and iii) an uncommitted additional incremental loan facility in the principal amount of up to $100.0 million plus an unlimited amount that is subject to pro forma compliance with a specified Consolidated Leverage Ratio tests. We may use the proceeds of the loans for working capital and general corporate purposes. On June 22, 2023, we borrowed $25.0 million against the 2023 Revolving Facility, which was subsequently paid off on July 7, 2023.

At our election, the initial term loan (the “Initial Term Loan”) under the 2023 Credit Agreement may be made as either a base rate loan or a Secured Overnight Financing Data Rate loan (“SOFR loan”). The applicable margin for base rate loans ranges from 1.00% to 1.75% per annum, and the applicable margin for SOFR loans ranges from 2.00% to 2.75%, in each case based on the Company’s Consolidated Leverage Ratio. All SOFR loans are subject to a floor of 0.00% per annum and spread adjustment of 0.10% per annum. We also agreed to pay other closing fees, arrangement fees, and administration fees.

The 2023 Credit Agreement requires us to maintain certain minimum financial ratios at the end of each fiscal quarter. The 2023 Credit Agreement also includes covenants and restrictions that limit, among other things, our ability to incur additional indebtedness, create liens upon any of its property, merge, consolidate or sell all or substantially all of its assets. The 2023 Credit Agreement also includes customary events of default which may result in acceleration of the outstanding balance.

During the three and nine months ended March 31, 2024, we were in compliance with all the original terms and financial covenants under the 2023 Credit Agreement.

Key Components of Cash Flows and Liquidity

A summary of the sources and uses of cash and cash equivalents is as follows (in thousands):

Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities

Cash flows provided by operations in the nine months ended March 31, 2024 were $40.0 million, including our net loss of $31.8 million and non-cash expenses of $84.7 million for items such as amortization of intangible assets, share-based compensation, depreciation, reduction in carrying amount of right-of-use assets, deferred income taxes, and interest. Other sources of cash for the period included a decrease in accounts receivable, and increases in deferred revenue and other current and long-term liabilities. This was partially offset by increases in inventories and prepaid expenses and other assets as well as decreases in accounts payable, operating lease liabilities and accrued compensation and benefits.

Cash flows provided by operations in the nine months ended March 31, 2023 were $168.5 million, including our net income of $52.6 million and non-cash expenses of $77.5 million for items such as amortization of intangible assets, share-based compensation, depreciation, reduction in carrying amount of right-of-use assets, deferred income taxes and interest. Other sources of cash for the period included a decrease in accounts receivable and increases in accounts payable and deferred revenue. This was partially offset by increases in inventories and decreases in accrued compensation, operating lease liabilities and other current and long-term liabilities.

Net Cash Used in Investing Activities

Cash flows used in investing activities in the nine months ended March 31, 2024 were $13.6 million for the purchases of property and equipment.

Cash flows used in investing activities in the nine months ended March 31, 2023 were $8.6 million for the purchases of property and equipment.

Net Cash Used in Financing Activities

Cash flows used in financing activities in the nine months ended March 31, 2024 were $109.9 million primarily due to payment of $27.6 million for taxes paid on vested and released stock awards net of proceeds from the issuance of shares of our common stock under our Employee Stock Purchase Plan ("ESPP") and exercise of stock options, share repurchase of $49.9 million under the 2022 Repurchase Program, a $25.0 million payment against our revolving facility, and debt repayments of $7.5 million.

Cash flows used in financing activities in the nine months ended March 31, 2023 were $151.1 million primarily due to debt repayments of $71.6 million, share repurchase of $74.8 million under the 2022 Repurchase Program, $3.0 million for deferred payments on acquisitions and $1.7 million for taxes paid on vested and released stock awards net of proceeds from the issuance of shares of our common stock under our ESPP.

Foreign Currency Effect on Cash and cash equivalents

Foreign currency effect on cash and cash equivalents decreased in the nine months ended March 31, 2024, primarily due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates between the U.S. Dollar and particularly the Indian Rupee, the UK Pound and the Euro.

Contractual Obligations

As of March 31, 2024, we had contractual obligations resulting from our debt arrangement, agreements to purchase goods and services in the ordinary course of business and obligations under our operating lease arrangements.

Our debt obligations relate to amounts owed under our 2023 Credit Agreement. As of March 31, 2024, we had $192.5 million of debt outstanding which is payable on quarterly installments through our fiscal year 2028. We are subject to interest on our debt obligations and unused commitment fee. See Note 7, Debt, in the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in this Report for additional information regarding our debt obligations.

Our unconditional purchase obligations represent the purchase of long lead-time component inventory that our contract manufacturers procure in accordance with our forecast. We expect to honor the inventory purchase commitments within the next 12 months. As of March 31, 2024, we had non-cancelable commitments to purchase $51.5 million of inventory. See Note 8, Commitments and Contingencies, in the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding our purchase obligations.

We have contractual commitments to our suppliers which represent commitments for future services. As of March 31, 2024, we had contractual commitments of $28.0 million that are due through our fiscal year 2027.

We lease facilities under operating lease arrangements at various locations that expire at various dates through our fiscal year 2033. As of March 31, 2024, the value of our obligations under operating leases was $62.6 million.

We have immaterial income tax liabilities related to uncertain tax positions and we are unable to reasonably estimate the timing of the settlement of those liabilities.

We did not have any material commitments for capital expenditures as of March 31, 2024.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as of March 31, 2024.

Interest Rate Sensitivity

Our exposure to market risk for changes in interest rates relates primarily to debt and foreign currencies.

Debt

At certain points in time, we are exposed to the impact of interest rate fluctuations, primarily in the form of variable rate borrowings from the 2023 Credit Agreement, which is described in Note 7, Debt, in the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in this Report. At March 31, 2024, we had $192.5 million of debt outstanding, all of which was from the 2023 Credit Agreement. During the quarter ended March 31, 2024, the average daily outstanding amount was $194.9 million, with a high of $195.0 million and a low of $192.5 million.

The following table presents hypothetical changes in interest expense for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, on the outstanding borrowings under the 2023 Credit Agreement as of March 31, 2024, that are sensitive to changes in interest rates (in thousands):

* The underlying interest rate was 7.44% as of March 31, 2024.

Exchange Rate Sensitivity

A majority of our sales and expenses are denominated in United States Dollars. While we conduct some sales transactions and incur certain operating expenses in foreign currencies and expect to continue to do so, we do not anticipate that foreign exchange gains or losses will be significant, in part because of our foreign exchange risk management process discussed below.

Foreign Exchange Forward Contracts

We record all derivatives on the balance sheet at fair value. From time to time, we enter into foreign exchange forward contracts to mitigate the effect of gains and losses generated by the foreign currency forecast transactions related to certain operating expenses and re-measurement of certain assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies. Changes in the fair value of these foreign exchange forward contracts are offset largely by re-measurement of the underlying foreign currency denominated assets and liabilities. As of March 31, 2024 and 2023 foreign exchange forward contracts not designated as hedging instruments, had a notional amount of $15.5 million and $11.2 million, respectively. These contracts have maturities of less than 40 days. Changes in the fair value of derivatives are recognized in “other income (expense), net”.

Foreign currency transaction gains and losses from operations were gains of $0.7 million and losses of $0.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Foreign currency transaction gains and losses from operations were gains of $0.4 million and $0.5 million for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Disclosure controls and procedures are controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, such as this Report, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC's rules and forms and to ensure that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our CEO and CFO, we evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this Report. Based on this evaluation, our CEO and CFO concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of the end of the period covered by this Report.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a – 15(f) and 15d – 15(f) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) during the three months ended March 31, 2024 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Inherent Limitations on Effectiveness of Controls

Our management, including the CEO and CFO, does not expect that our disclosure controls or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all error and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Our controls and procedures are designed to provide reasonable assurance that our control system’s objective will be met, and our CEO and CFO have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective at the reasonable assurance level. The design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Further, because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within Extreme Networks have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. Controls can also be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management override of the controls. The design of any system of controls is based in part on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events. Projections of any evaluation of the effectiveness of controls in future periods are subject to risks. Over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies or procedures. Notwithstanding these limitations, our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives. Our CEO and CFO have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are, in fact, effective at the “reasonable assurance” level.

Our operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described in Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2023, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, and the trading price of our common stock. There have been no material changes to our risk factors since our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2023 and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the three months period ended September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2023.