Absolute Reports Fiscal 2019 Third Quarter Financial Results

6 May by Vitaliy Dadalyan

Absolute Reports Fiscal 2019 Third Quarter Financial Results

Net Income and Adjusted EBITDA(1) Increase by More Than 100 Percent Over Prior Year Period

VANCOUVER, British Columbia–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Absolute (TSX: ABT) (“Absolute” or the “Company”), the leader in endpoint resilience, today announced its financial results for the three and nine month periods ended March 31, 2019. All dollar figures are unaudited and stated in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise indicated.

“Enterprises are expected to spend over $124 billion on IT security this year(2), much of it on endpoint controls, and yet, 70 percent of all breaches occur on the endpoint(3). The layering of multiple agents, the fragmentation, complexity and scale, can result in the vulnerability or decay of endpoint controls,” said Christy Wyatt, Chief Executive Officer at Absolute. “Absolute’s opportunity is tremendous, being uniquely positioned to help the modern enterprise with our persistence and resilience offerings which fill a critical gap in healing endpoints and maintaining compliance.”

Key Financial Metrics

  • Total revenue in Q3-F2019 was $24.9 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 7%. Year-to-date total revenue was $73.6 million, representing an increase of 6% over the prior year-to-date period.
  • Commercial recurring revenue in Q3-F2019 was $24.0 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 8%. Year-to-date commercial recurring revenue was $70.5 million, representing an increase of 7% over the prior year-to-date period.
  • Adjusted EBITDA in Q3-F2019 was $5.8 million, up 139% from $2.4 million in Q3-F2018. Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 23% in Q3-F2019 compared to 10% in the prior year period. Year-to-date Adjusted EBITDA was $14.4 million, representing an increase of 136% from $6.1 million in the prior year-to-date period. Year-to-date Adjusted EBITDA margin of 20% compares to 9% in the prior year-to-date period.
  • Cash generated from operating activities in Q3-F2019 was $0.8 million, compared with $2.3 million in Q3-F2018. Year-to-date cash from operating activities was $6.8 million, compared with $7.6 million in the prior year-to-date period.
  • The Annual Contract Value (“ACV”) Base at March 31, 2019 was $95.2 million, an increase of 5% year-over-year and relatively unchanged from the prior quarter. This performance was driven by a combination of incremental ACV from new customers of $1.1 million in Q3-F2019, compared to $0.8 million in Q3-F2018, and Net ACV Retention from existing customers of 99%, compared to 100% a year ago.
  • The Enterprise(4) sector portion of the ACV Base increased 9% year-over-year and was relatively unchanged sequentially. Enterprise customers represented 53% of the ACV Base at March 31, 2019.
  • The Government(4) sector portion of the ACV Base increased 19% year-over-year and was up 2% sequentially. Government customers represented 12% of the ACV Base at March 31, 2019.
  • The Education(4) sector portion of the ACV Base decreased 3% from the prior year and decreased 1% sequentially. Education customers represented 35% of the ACV Base at March 31, 2019.
  • Absolute paid a quarterly dividend of CAD$0.08 per common share during Q3-F2019.

Organizational Developments

  • In March 2019, Absolute announced the appointment of Dr. Nicko van Someren as the Company’s new Chief Technology Officer. Dr. van Someren has more than two decades of experience leading, developing and bringing to market disruptive security technologies. He previously served as Chief Security Officer and Chief Information Officer at nanopay, a financial services technology company where he was responsible for all security and IT operations. Dr. van Someren has also served as Chief Technology Officer at the Linux Foundation, Good Technology (now a part of BlackBerry) and nCipher (recently acquired by Entrust Datacard), as well as the Chief Security Architect at Juniper Networks, and also serves as an advisor to numerous startups and security businesses.
  • In February 2019, Absolute was recognized as a leader in the G2 Crowd Grid® Winter 2019 Report for Endpoint Management. The report spotlights top-reviewed endpoint management solutions that enable companies to manage and secure endpoint infrastructure and ensure their endpoint protection software is present and healthy. All reviewers gave either four-star or five-star ratings for the Absolute platform, recognizing Absolute for Best Overall Endpoint Management Software, Best Mid-Market Endpoint Management Software and Best Customer Relationships. The rankings for Absolute indicate very high customer satisfaction with 97% of reviewers providing an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars and 91% confirming they would recommend Absolute.
  • In February 2019, Absolute was again selected for the British Columbia’s Top Employers of the Year list. The BC’s Top Employers of the Year annual ranking recognizes those organizations that serve as an example within their industry, offering exceptional benefits and professional development opportunities for staff while achieving and sustaining business growth. Absolute was also selected as a BC Top Employer in 2018.
       

Summary of Key Financial Metrics

                 
USD Millions, except per share data Q3 YTD
  F2019   F2018   Change   F2019   F2018   Change
Revenue $ 24.9   $ 23.3 7% $ 73.6   $ 69.5 6%
Commercial recurring(5) $ 24.0 $ 22.2 8% $ 70.5 $ 66.0 7%
Other $ 0.9 $ 1.1 (18%) $ 3.1 $ 3.5 (12%)
 
Adjusted EBITDA(1) $ 5.8 $ 2.4 139% $ 14.4 $ 6.1 136%
As a percentage of revenue 23% 10% 20% 9%
 
Net Income $ 2.5 $ 1.1 139% $ 5.5 $ 0.6 891%
Per share (basic) $ 0.06 $ 0.03 $ 0.14 $ 0.01
Per share (diluted) $ 0.06 $ 0.03 $ 0.14 $ 0.01
 
Cash from operating activities $ 0.9 $ 2.3 (62%) $ 6.8 $ 7.6 (10%)
 
Dividends paid $ 2.5 $ 2.5 (2%) $ 7.4 $ 7.6 (2%)
Per share (CAD) $ 0.08 $ 0.08 $ 0.24 $ 0.24
 
Cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments $ 35.5 $ 31.9 11%
Total assets $ 93.0 $ 90.8 2%
Deferred revenue $ 128.3 $ 136.5 (6%)
 
Common shares outstanding   41.6   40.2   3%            

Notes:

1. “Adjusted EBITDA” is used as a profitability measure. Please refer to the “Non-IFRS Measures” section of our Q3-F2019 MD&A for further discussion on this measure.

2. Gartner forecasts worldwide information security spending to exceed 124 billion in 2019.

3. IDC says 70% of breaches originate on the endpoint.

4. In Q1-F2019, we modified the allocation of some customer accounts between industry verticals, primarily the allocation of some quasi-governmental organizations from the Enterprise vertical to the Government vertical, which was previously included in a “Public” vertical. This reallocation was applied retrospectively, and has resulted in a revision to previously reported ACV Base and ACV Base growth figures for those verticals in historical periods. Please refer to the “Annual Contract Value Base” section of our Q3-F2019 MD&A.

5. Commercial recurring revenue represents revenue derived from Cloud Services (as defined in our Q3-F2019 MD&A) and recurring managed professional services, both of which are included as part of our ACV Base. Other revenue represents revenue derived from non-recurring professional services and ancillary product lines, including consumer products.

F2019 Corporate Outlook

The Company is updating its outlook for F2019 as follows:

  • The Company is narrowing its expectation for revenue from between $96.0 million and $99.0 million to between $97.5 million and $99.0 million;
  • The Company is increasing its expectation for Adjusted EBITDA from between 16% and 19% of revenue to between 18% and 20% of revenue;
  • The Company is decreasing its expectation for cash from operating activities from between 10% and 14% of revenue to between 8% and 12% of revenue; and
  • The Company is decreasing its expectation for F2019 capital expenditures from between $3.5 million and $4.0 million to between $3.0 million and $3.5 million.

The foregoing expectations constitute forward-looking information and financial outlook and are qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statement below.

Quarterly Dividend
On April 19, 2019, the Company declared a quarterly dividend of CAD$0.08 per share on its common shares, payable in cash on May 29, 2019 to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 8, 2019.

Quarterly Filings
Management’s Discussion and Analysis (“MD&A”) and Interim Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes thereto for Q3-F2019 can be obtained today from Absolute’s corporate website at www.absolute.com. The documents will also be available under Absolute’s profile at www.sedar.com.

Notice of Conference Call
Absolute will hold a conference call to discuss its Q3-F2019 results on Monday, May 6, 2019, at 5:00 p.m. ET (2:00 p.m. PT). All interested parties can join the call by dialing 647-427-7450 or 888-231-8191. Please dial in 15 minutes prior to the call to secure a line. The conference call will be archived for replay until Monday, May 13, 2019, at midnight ET. To access the archived conference call, please dial 416-849-0833 or 1-855-859-2056 and enter the reservation code 4608779.

A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available at www.absolute.com and https://bit.ly/2UopV4B. Please connect at least 15 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be required to join the webcast. An archived replay of the webcast will be available on the Company’s website for 90 days.

Non-IFRS Measures and Definitions
Throughout this press release, the Company refers to a number of measures that the Company believes are meaningful in the assessment of the Company’s performance. All these metrics are nonstandard measures under International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”), and are unlikely to be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. Readers are cautioned that the disclosure of these items is meant to add to, and not replace, the discussion of financial results or cash flows from operations as determined in accordance with IFRS. For a discussion of the purpose of these non-IFRS measures, please refer to the Company’s Q3-F2019 MD&A.

These measures, as well as their method of calculation or reconciliation to IFRS measures, are as follows:

1) ACV Base, Net ACV Retention and ACV from New Customers
As the majority of the Company’s customer contracts are sold under multiyear term licenses, there is a significant lag between the timing of the billing and the associated revenue recognition. As a result, the Company focuses on the aggregate annualized value of its subscriptions under contract, measured by Annual Contract Value, as an indicator of its future revenues.

The ACV Base measures the amount of recurring annual revenue Absolute will receive from its commercial customers under contract at a point in time, and therefore is an indicator of the Company’s future revenue streams. Net ACV Retention measures the percentage increase or decrease in the Commercial ACV Base at the end of a period for the customers that made up the Commercial ACV Base at the beginning of the same period. This metric provides insight into the effectiveness of Absolute’s customer retention and expansion functions. ACV from New Customers measures the addition to the Commercial ACV Base from sales to new commercial customers during the quarter.

We believe that increases in the amount of ACV from New Customers, and improvement in the Company’s Net ACV Retention, will grow our Commercial ACV Base and, in turn, our future revenues.

2) Adjusted EBITDA
Management believes that analyzing operating results exclusive of significant noncash items or items not controllable in the period provides a useful measure of the Company’s performance. The term “Adjusted EBITDA” refers to earnings before deducting interest and investment gains (losses), income taxes, amortization of intangible assets and property and equipment, foreign exchange gain or loss, share-based compensation, and restructuring and reorganization charges and post-retirement benefits. The items excluded in the determination of Adjusted EBITDA are share-based compensation, amortization of intangibles, amortization of property and equipment, and restructuring and reorganization charges and certain post-retirement benefits.

3) Adjusted Operating Expenses
A number of significant noncash or nonrecurring expenses are reported in the Company’s Cost of Revenue and Operating Expenses. Management believes that analyzing these expenses exclusive of these noncash or nonrecurring items provides a useful measure of the cash invested in the operations of its business. The items excluded in the determination of Adjusted Operating Expenses are share-based compensation, amortization of intangible assets, amortization of property and equipment, and restructuring and reorganization charges and certain post-retirement benefits. For a description of the reasons these items are adjusted, please refer to the “Non-IFRS Measures” section of the Q3-F2019 MD&A.

About Absolute
Absolute empowers more than 12,000 customers worldwide to protect devices, data, applications, and users against theft or attack—both on and off the corporate network. With the industry’s only tamper-proof endpoint visibility and control solution, Absolute allows IT organizations to enforce asset management, security hygiene, and data compliance for today’s remote digital workforces. Absolute’s patented Persistence® technology is embedded in the firmware of Dell, HP, Lenovo, and 22 other leading manufacturers’ devices for vendor-agnostic coverage, tamper-proof resilience, and ease of deployment. See how it works at www.absolute.com and follow us on Twitter at @absolutecorp.

©2019 Absolute Software Corporation. All rights reserved. ABSOLUTE and PERSISTENCE are registered trademarks of Absolute Software Corporation. Other names or logos mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. For patent information, visit www.absolute.com/patents. The Toronto Stock Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the information contained in this press release.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, “forward-looking statements”) which relate to future events or Absolute’s future business, operations, and financial performance and condition. Forward-looking statements normally contain words like “will”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “could”, “should”, “may”, “might”, “expect”, “estimate”, “forecast”, “plan”, “potential”, “project”, “assume”, “contemplate”, “believe”, “shall”, “scheduled”, and similar terms and, within this press release, include, without limitation, the information under the heading “F2019 Corporate Outlook” and any statements (express or implied) respecting: Absolute’s future plans, strategies, and objectives; projected growth, revenues, margins, Adjusted EBITDA, profitability, expenses, cash from operating activities, capital expenditures, and earnings; existing and new product functionality and suitability; and expectations for the size of the IT security industry. Forward-looking statements, including the F2019 Corporate Outlook, are provided for the purpose of presenting information about management’s current expectations and plans relating to the future and allowing investors and others to get a better understanding of our anticipated financial position, results of operations, and operating environment. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes.

Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, actions, or developments and are based on expectations, assumptions and other factors that management currently believes are relevant, reasonable, and appropriate in the circumstances. The material expectations, assumptions, and other factors used in developing the forward-looking statements set out herein include or relate to the following, without limitation: Absolute will be able to successfully execute its plans, strategies, and objectives; Absolute will be able to successfully manage cash flow, operating expenses, interest expenses, capital expenditures, and working capital and credit, liquidity, and market risks; Absolute will be able to leverage its past investments to support growth and increase profitability; the size of the IT security industry will be in line with industry experts’ and Absolute’s expectations; Absolute will maintain and enhance its competitive advantages within its industry and certain markets; Absolute will keep pace with or outpace the growth, direction, and technological advancement in its industry; Absolute will be able to adapt its technology to be compatible with changes to existing, and new, operating systems such as Microsoft Windows; Absolute will be able to maintain and develop its partner and reseller network; Absolute’s current and future OEM partners (if any) will continue to provide embedded firmware and distribution and resale support; Absolute’s existing and new products will function as intended and will be suitable for the intended end users; Absolute will be able to design, develop, and release new products, features, and services and enhance its existing products and services; Absolute will be able to protect against the improper disclosure of data we may process, store, and/or manage; Absolute’s revenues will not become subject to increased seasonality; future financing will be available to Absolute on favourable terms when and if required; Absolute will be in a financial position to buy back some of its shares and/or issue dividends in the future; fluctuations in applicable tax rates, foreign exchange rates, and interest rates will not have a material impact on Absolute; certain tax credits will remain or become available to Absolute; Absolute will be able to attract and retain key personnel; Absolute will be successful in its brand awareness and other marketing initiatives; Absolute will be able to successfully integrate businesses, intellectual property, products, personnel, and/or technologies that it may acquire (if any); Absolute will be able to maintain and enhance its intellectual property portfolio; Absolute’s protection of its intellectual property is sufficient and its technology does not and will not materially infringe third party intellectual property rights; Absolute will be able to obtain any necessary third party licenses on favourable terms; Absolute will not become involved in material litigation; Absolute will not face any material unexpected costs related to product liability or warranties; foreign jurisdictions will not impose unexpected risks; and Absolute will maintain or enhance its accounting policies and standards and internal controls and over financial reporting.

Although management believes that the forward-looking statements herein are reasonable, actual results could be substantially different due to the risks and uncertainties associated with and inherent to Absolute’s business, as more particularly described in the “Risk Factors” sections of Absolute’s most recently filed Management’s Discussion and Analysis and Annual Information Form, both of which are available at www.absolute.com and under Absolute’s profile on www.sedar.com. Additional material risks and uncertainties applicable to the forward-looking statements herein include, without limitation, unforeseen events, developments, or factors causing any of the aforesaid expectations, assumptions, and other factors ultimately being inaccurate or irrelevant. Many of these factors are beyond the control of Absolute.

All forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as at the date hereof and Absolute undertakes no obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws.

   

ABSOLUTE SOFTWARE CORPORATION

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Financial Position

(Expressed in United States dollars) (Unaudited)

 
March 31, 2019   June 30, 2018
 
ASSETS
 
CURRENT
Cash and cash equivalents $ 35,106,880 $ 33,956,988
Short-term investments 372,316 372,316
Trade and other receivables 14,075,753 17,302,871
Income taxes receivable 824,755 345,228
Prepaid expenses and other 2,688,995 2,455,977
Contract acquisition assets – current 6,494,160   6,810,142
59,562,859 61,243,522
PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT 4,620,585 5,962,829
DEFERRED INCOME TAX ASSETS 22,762,918 23,318,605
CONTRACT ACQUISITION ASSETS 4,972,274 5,405,987
GOODWILL 1,100,000   1,100,000
$ 93,018,636   $ 97,030,943
 
LIABILITIES
 
CURRENT
Trade and other payables $ 15,763,454 $ 13,676,397
Income taxes payable 39,556 407,226
Accrued warranty 170,000 270,000
Deferred revenue – current 74,423,688   75,325,574
90,396,698 89,679,197
DEFERRED REVENUE 53,830,606   63,861,112
144,227,304 153,540,309
 
CONTINGENCIES
 
SHAREHOLDERS’ DEFICIENCY
Share capital 76,200,341 68,362,445
Equity reserve 36,301,108 36,972,197
Treasury shares (359,973) (359,973)
Deficit (163,350,144)   (161,484,035)
(51,208,668)   (56,509,366)
$ 93,018,636   $ 97,030,943
   

ABSOLUTE SOFTWARE CORPORATION
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income
Three and nine months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018
(Expressed in United States dollars) (Unaudited)

 
Three months ended

March 31,

  Nine months ended

March 31,

2019   2018   2019   2018
   
 
REVENUE $ 24,883,198 $ 23,336,655 $ 73,633,064 $ 69,546,664
 
COST OF REVENUE 2,917,043   3,798,961   9,385,226   11,014,456
 
GROSS MARGIN 21,966,155 19,537,694 64,247,838 58,532,208
 
OPERATING EXPENSES
Sales and marketing 9,402,454 10,249,816 28,130,718 30,698,594
Research and development 4,709,491 4,904,448 14,201,974 15,236,233
General and administration 2,923,579 2,825,748 10,130,642 8,949,724
Share-based compensation 1,397,537   443,605   3,906,346   1,646,605
18,433,061   18,423,617   56,369,680   56,531,156
 
OPERATING INCOME 3,533,094 1,114,077 7,878,158 2,001,052
 
OTHER INCOME
Interest income, net 51,947 39,036 199,275 59,668
Foreign exchange gain (loss) 78,392   68,531   (35,371)   (41,715)
130,339   107,567   163,904   17,953
 
NET INCOME BEFORE INCOME TAXES 3,663,433 1,221,644 8,042,062 2,019,005
 
INCOME TAX EXPENSE (1,152,000)   (169,000)   (2,504,000)   (1,460,000)
 
NET INCOME AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME $ 2,511,433  

$ 1,052,644

  $ 5,538,062  

$ 559,005

 
BASIC INCOME PER SHARE $ 0.06   $ 0.03   $ 0.14   $ 0.01
DILUTED INCOME PER SHARE $ 0.06   $ 0.03   $ 0.13   $ 0.01
 
WEIGHTED AVERAGE NUMBER OF COMMON SHARES OUTSTANDING, BASIC

41,101,229

 

40,136,234

  40,626,709  

39,969,935

         

ABSOLUTE SOFTWARE CORPORATION
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Shareholders’ Deficiency
(Expressed in United States dollars) (Unaudited)

 
Share Capital
Number of Common shares   Amount   Equity reserve   Treasury Shares   Deficit   Total
 
BALANCE, JUNE 30, 2017 39,681,749 $ 64,875,130 $ 36,254,893 $ (499,443) $ (154,354,741) $ (53,724,161)
Shares issued on options exercised 330,500 2,303,329 (674,628) 1,628,701
Shares issued under Employee Share Purchase Plan 99,477 440,714 440,714
Shares issued under Phantom Share Unit Plan 50,812 297,786 (297,786)
Shares issued under Performance and Restricted Share Unit plan 80,922 322,565 (367,320) 41,123 (3,632)
Shares repurchased and cancelled under the Normal Course Issuer Bid (49,800) (73,181) (172,243) (245,424)
Share-based compensation 1,355,143 1,355,143
Dividends paid (7,571,004) (7,571,004)
Net income and total comprehensive income         559,005   559,005
BALANCE, MARCH 31, 2018 40,193,660   $ 68,166,343   $ 36,270,302   $ (458,320)   $ (161,538,983)   $ (57,560,658)
Shares issued on options exercised 4,250 24,587 (2,619) 21,968
Shares issued under Performance and Restricted Share Unit plan 26,321 171,515 (275,413) 98,347 (5,551)
Share-based compensation 979,927 979,927
Dividends paid (2,496,900) (2,496,900)
Net loss and total comprehensive loss         2,551,848   2,551,848
BALANCE, JUNE 30, 2018 40,224,231   $ 68,362,445   $ 36,972,197   $ (359,973)   $ (161,484,035)   $ (56,509,366)
Shares issued on options exercised 729,984 4,822,165 (1,076,029) 3,746,136
Shares issued under Employee Share Purchase Plan 90,254 395,372 395,372
Shares issued under Phantom Share Unit Plan 19,821 113,570 (113,570)
Shares issued under Performance and Restricted Share Unit plan 489,878 2,506,789 (2,506,789)
Shares repurchased and cancelled under the Normal Course Issuer Bid
Share-based compensation 3,025,299 3,025,299
Dividends paid (7,404,171) (7,404,171)
Net income and total comprehensive income         5,538,062   5,538,062
BALANCE, MARCH 31, 2019 41,554,168   $ 76,200,341   $ 36,301,108   $ (359,973)   $ (163,350,144)   $ (51,208,668)

Contacts

Media Relations
Jill Rosenthal, InkHouse
[email protected]
781.966.4167

Investor Relations
Joo-Hun Kim
MKR Group
[email protected]
212.868.6760

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