Research Solutions, Inc.: Form 10-Q for the period ended Mar 31, 2025

Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024 should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes to those financial statements that are included elsewhere in this report. Our discussion includes forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties, such as our plans, objectives, expectations, and intentions. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024.

We use words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “plan,” “project,” “continuing,” “ongoing,” “expect,” “believe,” “intend,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements included in this report are based on information available to us on the date hereof and, except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.

Overview

Research Solutions was incorporated in the State of Nevada on November 2, 2006, and is a publicly traded holding company with five wholly owned subsidiaries as of March 31, 2025: Reprints Desk, Inc., a Delaware corporation, including its wholly owned subsidiary Resolute Innovation, Inc., a Delaware corporation, Scite, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, Reprints Desk Latin America S. de R.L. de C.V., an entity organized under the laws of Mexico, and RESSOL LA, S. DE R.L. DE C.V., an entity organized under the laws of Mexico.

We are a vertical software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) and artificial intelligence (“AI”) company providing software and related services to help research-intensive organizations simplify the research process, save time and money. We offer various software platforms (“Platform” or “Platforms”) that are typically sold to corporate, academic, government and individual researchers as cloud-based SaaS via auto-renewing license agreements. Corporate, academic, and government customers typically sign up under annual or multi-year agreements paid annually in advance. Individual researchers can sign up under an annual or a month-to-month agreement and are typically billed monthly. Our Platforms also facilitate the sale of published scientific, technical, and medical (“STM”) content sold as individual articles (“Transactions”) either stand alone or via one or more of the research Platform solutions we provide. When one or more of the Platform solutions are used to purchase Transactions, customers pay for those transactions through monthly billing or via credit card for individual researchers. In addition, our Platforms facilitate rights and permissions for customers to re-use content, ensuring copyright compliance for research, regulatory and marketing use cases as well as the utilization of content with AI applications and for the training of AI models. Our Platforms enable life science and other research-intensive organizations to simplify their research and development activities through our advanced search (i.e. Discovery Tools), tools to access and buy STM articles required to support their research (i.e. Access), as well as tools that manage that content across the enterprise and on an individual basis (i.e. Manage). The Platforms also include advanced AI (“Generative AI”) based assistants to help researchers understand the quality of the articles they are reviewing, speed up the review process, and to more fully understand how various research papers relate to each other. In addition to STM content, the Platforms provide additional context to the research process by including the ability to search and assimilate a variety of other types of data such as Patent, Clinical Trial, Regulatory and Competitive Intelligence data. They also typically deliver a return on investment to the customer by reducing the amount of time it takes a research organization to find, acquire and manage content, in addition to also driving down the ultimate cost per article and overall research costs over time.

Platforms

Our cloud-based SaaS Platforms consist of proprietary software and Internet-based interfaces sold to customers through an annual or monthly subscription fee. Legacy functionality falls into three areas.

Discovery Tools – Our Scite.ai and Resolute.ai solutions facilitate search (discovery) across virtually all STM articles available. These solutions include basic search solutions and advanced search tools. These tools allow for searching and identifying relevant research and then purchasing that research through one of our other solutions. In addition, these tools increasingly enable users to find insights in other datasets adjacent to STM content, such as Clinical Trial, Patent, Life Science & MedTech Regulatory information, Competitor and Technology landscape insights, in addition to searching the customer’s internal datasets. Scite.ai includes full text search capability on most of the world’s STM content providing better search results and citation information as supporting or contrasting evidence. This powers our AI assistant and literature search engine and gives researchers better insights into any topic. The advanced search solutions are sold through a seat, enterprise, or individual license. These Platforms are deployed as a single, multi-tenant system across our entire customer base. Customers securely access the Platforms through online web interfaces and via web service APIs that enable customers to leverage Platform features and functionality from within in-house and third-party software systems. The Platforms can also be configured to satisfy a customer’s individual preferences. We leverage our Platforms’ efficiencies in scalability, stability and development costs to fuel rapid innovation and competitive advantage.

Access – Our Article Galaxy® (“AG”) and Article Galaxy Scholar (Academic Library version) (“AGS”) solutions allow for research organizations to load their entitlements (subscriptions, discount or token packages, and their existing content library of articles) and AG/AGS manages those entitlements in the background enabling the researchers to focus on acquiring articles they need quickly and efficiently at the lowest possible cost. When used in conjunction with our Discovery Tools Platforms, customers can initiate orders, route orders based on the lowest cost to acquire, obtain spend and usage reporting, automate authentication, and connect seamlessly to in-house and third-party software systems. In addition, Article Galaxy facilitates rights and permissions for various re-use cases, including the utilization in AI applications and training of AI applications, ensuring copyright compliance for our customers.

Manage – Our References solution offers a comprehensive reference management solution with built-in document delivery capabilities specifically designed to meet the collaboration and security needs of research- intensive organizations. This user-friendly Platform enables researchers to seamlessly organize their literature, collaborate with team members, and access a vast collection of scientific content. By integrating organization tools with instant access to millions of scholarly articles, our References solution streamlines the research workflow and enhances productivity for scientific professionals.

AI models are integral to powering the unique insights our platforms provide as well as the user experience customers enjoy. Natural language processing (“NLP”) and AI models are used to enhance metadata, define connections between topics and content items as well as to generate data and metrics employed to enable users to rapidly identify and understand the value of content they need for their research. We also use state of the art AI models, such as Large Language Models to include Generative AI “assistants” in several parts of the research workflow today and will continually add capability as we move forward. Today we employ Generative AI technologies as a basis for our recommendation engine in our Discovery Tools, Access, and Manage Platform solutions. In addition, Generative AI based “assistants” in some of our solutions allow the researcher to ask questions about articles, groups of articles (folders), and more. We also have the capability to provide near full text search on STM content in the Scite.ai solution where the publisher gives us the rights to do so. The ability to not only mine an article’s full text but also show snippets of full text is unique to our Company and allows our Generative AI assistants to provide highly accurate results with a very low incidence of hallucinations as part of a Retrieval Augmented Generation framework focused just on STM content. We plan to release several new Platform solutions to enhance the research workflows described above and add new solutions to support the analysis functions that exist in our typical customer base.

Our Platforms are generally deployed as a single, multi-tenant system across our entire customer base. Customers securely access the Platforms through online web interfaces and via web service APIs that enable customers to leverage Platform features and functionality from within in-house and third-party software systems. Our Platforms can also be configured to satisfy a customer’s individual preferences. We leverage our Platforms efficiencies in scalability, stability and development costs to fuel rapid innovation and to gain a competitive advantage.

Transactions

We provide our researchers with a single source to the universe of published STM content that includes over 200 million existing STM journal articles for instant download, 50 million journal articles for rent, 10 million online book chapters, and 45 million only in print journal articles. In addition, we add between 2 to 4 million newly published STM articles each year. STM content is rented or sold to our customers on a per transaction basis. Researchers and knowledge workers in life science and other research-intensive organizations generally require single copies of published STM journal articles for use in their research activities. These individuals are our primary users and while they typically purchase the articles via one of our Platform solutions, we do have some customers that just order articles from us on behalf of end-users in their organizations.

Core to many of our Platform solutions is providing our customers with ways to find and download digital versions of STM articles that are critical to their research. Customers submit orders for the articles they need which we source and electronically deliver to them generally in under an hour, in most cases in seconds. This service is generally known in the industry as single article delivery or document delivery. We also obtain the necessary permission licenses from the content publisher or other rights holder so that our customer’s use complies with applicable copyright laws and we are expanding these services to include the use of content in AI applications and for the training of AI models. We have arrangements with hundreds of content publishers that allow us to distribute their content. The majority of these publishers provide us with electronic access to their content, which allows us to electronically deliver single articles to our customers often in a matter of seconds. While a vast majority of the articles are available in electronic form, the Company also has workflows to deliver older paper-based articles through relationships we have built with libraries around the world.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

The preparation of our condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP, requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. When making these estimates and assumptions, we consider our historical experience, our knowledge of economic and market factors and various other factors that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ under different estimates and assumptions.

The accounting estimates and assumptions discussed in this section are those that we consider to be the most critical to an understanding of our financial statements because they inherently involve significant judgments and uncertainties.

Revenue Recognition

We account for revenue in accordance with ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), (“ASC 606”). The underlying principle of ASC 606 is to recognize revenue to depict the transfer of goods or services to customers at the amount expected to be collected.

Revenues are recognized when control of the promised goods or services are transferred to a customer, in an amount that reflects the consideration that we expect to receive in exchange for those goods or services. We derive our revenues from two sources: annual or monthly licenses that allow customers to access and utilize certain premium features of our cloud-based SaaS research intelligence platforms and the transactional sale of STM content managed, sourced and delivered through the Platform.

We apply the following five steps in order to determine the appropriate amount of revenue to be recognized as we fulfill our obligations under each of our agreements:

• identify the contract with a customer;
• identify the performance obligations in the contract;
• determine the transaction price;
• allocate the transaction price to performance obligations in the contract; and
• recognize revenue as the performance obligation is satisfied.

Platforms

We charge a subscription fee that allows customers to access and utilize certain premium features of our Platforms. Revenue is recognized ratably over the term of the subscription agreement, which is typically one year, provided all other revenue recognition criteria have been met. Billings or payments received in advance of revenue recognition are recorded as deferred revenue.

Transactions

We charge a transactional service fee for the electronic delivery of single articles, and a corresponding copyright fee for the permitted use of the content. We recognize revenue from single article delivery services upon delivery to the customer provided all other revenue recognition criteria have been met.

Goodwill

We follow ASC 350 in accounting for goodwill, which states that goodwill is not amortized, rather it is tested for impairment annually, and will be tested for impairment between annual tests if an event occurs or circumstances change that would indicate the carrying amount may be impaired. An impairment loss generally would be recognized when the carrying amount of the reporting unit’s net assets exceeds the estimated fair value of the reporting unit and would be measured as the excess carrying value of goodwill over the derived fair value of goodwill. Our policy is to perform an annual impairment testing for its reporting unit on June 30 of each fiscal year.

Intangible Assets

We follow ASC 360 in accounting for finite-lived intangible assets, which requires impairment losses to be recorded when indicators of impairment are present and the undiscounted cash flows estimated to be generated by the assets are less than the assets’ carrying amounts. For the period ended March 31, 2025 and June 30, 2024, we determined there were no indicators of impairment of its intangible assets.

Stock-Based Compensation

The fair value of our stock options is estimated using the Black-Scholes-Merton Option Pricing model, which uses certain assumptions related to risk-free interest rates, expected volatility, expected life of the stock options and future dividends. Compensation expense is recorded based upon the fair value derived from the Black-Scholes-Merton Option Pricing model and based on actual experience. The assumptions used in the Black-Scholes-Merton Option Pricing model could materially affect compensation expense recorded in current and future periods.

Depending on the type of the restricted stock award, the fair value of our restricted common stock is estimated based on the market price of our common stock on the date of grant or with the assistance of a valuation specialist, using the Monte Carlo simulations on a binomial model with a derived service period. Compensation expense is recorded based upon the fair value derived from the market price of our common stock or the Monte Carlo simulations.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

Please refer to footnote 2 to the condensed consolidated financial statements contained elsewhere in this Form 10-Q for a discussion of Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements.

Comparison of the Three and Nine Months Ended March 31, 2025 and 2024

Results of Operations

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Revenue

Total revenue increased $545,691, or 4.5%, for the three months ended March 31, 2025 compared to the prior year, due to the following:

Total revenue increased $4,129,679, or 12.7%, for the nine months ended March 31, 2025 compared to the prior year, due to the following:

Cost of Revenue

* The difference between current and prior period cost of revenue as a percentage of revenue

Total cost of revenue as a percentage of revenue decreased 4.3%, from 54.8% for the previous year to 50.5%, for the three months ended March 31, 2025.

* The difference between current and prior period cost of revenue as a percentage of revenue

Total cost of revenue as a percentage of revenue decreased 5.7%, from 56.9% for the previous year to 51.2%, for the nine months ended March 31, 2025.

Gross Profit

* The difference between current and prior period gross profit as a percentage of revenue

* The difference between current and prior period gross profit as a percentage of revenue

Operating Expenses

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Net Income (Loss)

Net income increased $140,169, or 183.7%, for the three months ended March 31, 2025 compared to the prior year, primarily due to increased gross profit, partially offset by increase in sales and marketing expenses and change in the net estimated earn out liability associated with the Scite acquisition completed in fiscal year 2024, due to net present value assumptions.

Net loss increased $129,390, or 13.4%, for the nine months ended March 31, 2025 compared to the prior year, primarily due to charges related to increasing the estimated earn out liability associated with the Scite acquisition completed in fiscal year 2024, in addition to an increase in sales and marketing expenses, partially offset by increased gross profit as described above.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Liquidity

As of March 31, 2025, we had cash and cash equivalents of $9,852,007, compared to $6,100,031 as of June 30, 2024, an increase of $3,751,976. This increase was primarily due to cash provided by operating activities.

Operating Activities

Net cash provided by operating activities was $4,764,251 for the nine months ended March 31, 2025 and resulted primarily from an adjustment to contingent earnout liability of $2,812,796, an increase in deferred revenue of $1,331,920 and restricted common stock expense of $1,400,199, partially offset by an increase in accounts receivable of $754,258.

Net cash provided by operating activities was $1,589,791 for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 and resulted primarily from an increase in fair value of vested restricted common stock of $1,603,820 and an increase in deferred revenue of $768,347, partially offset by an increase in accounts receivable of $739,883.

Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities was $11,571 for the nine months ended March 31, 2025 and resulted from the purchase of property and equipment.

Net cash used in investing activities was $10,081,507 for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 and resulted primarily from the payment for the Scite acquisition of $7,305,493 and the payment for the ResoluteAI acquisition of $2,718,253.

Financing Activities

Net cash used in financing activities was $999,567 for the nine months ended March 31, 2025 and resulted from the repurchase of common stock of $908,393 and the payment of contingent acquisition consideration of $91,174.

Net cash used in financing activities was $836,984 for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 and resulted from repurchase of common stock of $522,024 and the payment of contingent acquisition consideration of $314,960.

On April 15, 2024, we entered into a Loan Agreement (the “PNC Loan Agreement”) with PNC Bank, National Association (“PNC”), as lender. Pursuant to the PNC Loan Agreement, we entered into a Revolving Line of Credit Note (the “PNC Note”) with PNC, which provides for a $500,000 secured revolving line of credit that matures on April 15, 2026 and bears interest annually at the daily SOFR rate plus 2.5%, with accrued interest due and payable monthly. The PNC Note contains customary events of default including, among other things, payment defaults, material misrepresentations, breaches of covenants, revocation of guarantee, certain bankruptcy and insolvency events. There were no outstanding borrowings under the line of credit as of March 31, 2025.

Non-GAAP Measure – Adjusted EBITDA

In addition to our GAAP results, we present Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental measure of our performance. However, Adjusted EBITDA is not a recognized measurement under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss), income (loss) from operations or any other performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP or as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities as a measure of liquidity. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss), plus interest expense, other income (expense) including any change in fair value of contingent earnout liability, foreign currency transaction loss, provision for income taxes, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation, income from discontinued operations and gain on sale of discontinued operations, when applicable. Management considers our core operating performance to be that which our managers can affect in any particular period through their management of the resources that affect our underlying revenue and profit generating operations that period. Non-GAAP adjustments to our results prepared in accordance with GAAP are itemized below. You are encouraged to evaluate these adjustments and the reasons we consider them appropriate for supplemental analysis. In evaluating Adjusted EBITDA, you should be aware that in the future we may incur expenses that are the same as or similar to some of the adjustments in this presentation. Our presentation of Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by unusual or non-recurring items.

Set forth below is a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income (loss) for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024:

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We present Adjusted EBITDA because we believe it assists investors and analysts in comparing our performance across reporting periods on a consistent basis by excluding items that we do not believe are indicative of our core operating performance. In addition, we use Adjusted EBITDA in developing our internal budgets, forecasts and strategic plan; in analyzing the effectiveness of our business strategies in evaluating potential acquisitions; and in making compensation decisions and in communications with our board of directors concerning our financial performance. Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, which includes, among others, the following:

• Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect our cash expenditures, or future requirements, for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;
• Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs;
• Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect interest expense, or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments, on our debts; and
• Although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized will often have to be replaced in the future, and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for such replacements.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. For purposes of this section, the term disclosure controls and procedures means controls and other procedures of an issuer that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the issuer in the reports that it files or submits under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by an issuer in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the issuer’s management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Based upon that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that, as of March 31, 2025, the end of the period covered by this report, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at a reasonable assurance level.

Inherent Limitations on the Effectiveness of Controls

Management does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control systems are met. Further, 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. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, no evaluation of internal control over financial reporting 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, have been or will be detected.

These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of a 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, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Projections of any evaluation of controls effectiveness to 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.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

In addition, our management with the participation of our principal executive officer and principal financial officer have determined that no change in our internal control over financial reporting (as that term is defined in Rules 13(a)-15(f) and 15(d)-15(f) of the Exchange Act) occurred during the quarter ended March 31, 2025 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

There have been no material changes from the risk factors disclosed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2024.