EVOP - EVO Reports First Quarter 2019 Results

ATLANTA, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EVO Payments, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVOP) (“EVO” or the “Company”) today announced its first quarter 2019 financial results.  For the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, reported revenue was $111.5 million, compared to $128.3 million in the prior year, which reflects the adoption of Accounting Standards Codification Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASC 606”), effective January 1, 2019.  Adjusted revenue for the first quarter was $135.4 million, compared to $128.3 million in the prior year, an increase of 10% on a currency neutral basis. On a GAAP basis for the first quarter, net loss was $19.0 million or a loss of $0.20 per basic and diluted share attributable to EVO Payments, Inc.  Adjusted EBITDA increased 7% to $30.6 million for the quarter, compared to $28.6 million in the prior year.  On a currency-neutral basis, adjusted EBITDA grew 13% over the prior year. 

“We are pleased with our first quarter performance in both our North American and European segments,” stated James G. Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of EVO.  “In the first quarter, we delivered solid results due to our strong sales performance, bank partnerships, and tech-enabled acquisitions.  We will continue to execute on these strategies to deliver growth in our markets for the remainder of 2019.”

Outlook
“Based on our Q1 performance and outlook for the remainder of the year, we are providing an update to our 2019 guidance,” stated James G. Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of EVO.  “We now expect reported revenue with the impact of ASC 606 to range from $496 million to $505 million.  On an adjusted basis, adding back the impact of ASC 606, we now expect revenue to range from $601 million to $610 million for growth of 6% to 8% over 2018.  We continue to expect FX headwinds for the remainder of 2019 to be approximately 350 basis points.  On a currency neutral basis, we now expect adjusted revenue to grow 10% to 12% compared to 2018 results.

Net loss is expected to be in a range of $19 million to $14 million compared to a net loss of $99 million in 2018.  Adjusted EBITDA is now expected to be in a range of $159 million and $163 million, reflecting growth of 7% to 10% over 2018 adjusted EBITDA or 11% to 14% on a currency-neutral basis.  Adjusted EBITDA margin is now expected to range from 26.5% to 26.7%, reflecting expansion of 40 to 60 basis points over 2018 currency-neutral adjusted EBITDA margin.  Net loss per share attributable to EVO on a GAAP basis is now expected to be 29 cents to 23 cents, compared to a net loss per share attributable to EVO of 70 cents in 2018.  Pro forma adjusted net income per share is now expected to be in the range of 55 cents to 58 cents, reflecting growth of 12% to 18% on a currency neutral basis.  These numbers are calculated based on pro forma share count of 84 million shares which includes all share classes.  We now expect capital expenditures to be in a range from $45 million to $50 million with 60% being comprised of point-of-sale terminals.  Our updated outlook does not consider the pending Eurobic and SF Systems acquisitions.”

Conference call
EVO’s management will host a conference call for investors at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, May 2, 2019 to discuss the results.  Participants may access the conference call via the investor relations section of the Company’s website at www.evopayments.com, or participants may also dial (877) 356-5729 inside the U.S. and Canada and (629) 228-0718 outside the U.S. and Canada to listen.  The conference ID number is 6991647.  A recording of the call will be archived on the Company's investor relations website following the live call.

Forward-Looking Statements
This release and the accompanying earnings conference call contain statements about future events and expectations that constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often identified by words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “continues,” “estimates,” “expects,” “goal,” “objectives,” “intends,” “may,” “opportunity,” “plans,” “potential,” “near-term,” “long-term,” “projections,” “assumptions,” “projects,” “guidance,” “forecasts,” “outlook,” “target,” “trends,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “will” and similar expressions. We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs, assumptions, estimates and expectations, taking into account the information currently available to us and are not guarantees of future results or performance. Forward-looking statements are not statements of historical fact. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations of future results we express or imply in any forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on such statements. Factors that could contribute to these differences include the following: (1) our ability to anticipate and respond to changing industry trends and the needs and preferences of our customers and consumers; (2) the impact of substantial and increasingly intense competition; (3) the impact of changes in the competitive landscape, including disintermediation from other participants in the payments chain; (4) the effects of global economic, political and other conditions; (5) our compliance with governmental regulations and other legal obligations, particularly related to privacy, data protection and information security, and consumer protection laws; (6) our ability to protect our systems and data from continually evolving cybersecurity risks or other technological risks; (7) failures in our processing systems, software defects, computer viruses and development delays; (8) degradation of the quality of the products and services we offer, including support services; (9) risks associated with our ability to successfully complete, integrate and realize the expected benefits of acquisitions; (10) continued consolidation in the banking and payment services industries; (11) increased customer, referral partner, or sales partner attrition; (12) the incurrence of chargebacks; (13) failure to maintain or collect reimbursements; (14) fraud by merchants or others; (15) the failure of our third-party vendors to fulfill their obligations; (16) failure to maintain merchant and sales relationships and financial institution alliances; (17) ineffective risk management policies and procedures; (18) our inability to retain smaller-sized merchants and the impact of economic fluctuations on such merchants, (19) damage to our reputation, or the reputation of our partners; (20) seasonality and volatility; (21) our inability to recruit, retain and develop qualified personnel; (22) geopolitical and other risks associated with our operations outside of the United States; (23) any decline in the use of cards as a payment mechanism or other adverse developments with respect to the card industry in general; (24) increases in card network fees; (25) failure to comply with card networks requirements; (26) a requirement to purchase our eService subsidiary in Poland; (27) changes in foreign currency exchange rates; (28) future impairment charges; (29) risks relating to our indebtedness, including our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations on economized terms or at all and exposure to interest rate risks; (30)  changes to, or the potential phasing out of, LIBOR; (31) restrictions imposed by our credit facilities and outstanding indebtedness; (32) participation in accelerated funding programs; (33) failure to enforce and protect our intellectual property rights; (34) failure to comply with, or changes in, laws, regulations and enforcement activities, including those relating to corruption, anti-money laundering, data privacy and financial institutions; (35) impact of new or revised tax regulations; (36) legal proceedings; (37) our dependence on distributions from EVO, LLC to pay our taxes and expenses, including certain payments to the Continuing LLC Owners and, in the event that any tax benefits are disallowed, our inability to be reimbursed for payments made to the Continuing LLC Owners; (38) our organizational structure, including benefits available to the Continuing LLC Owners that are not available to holders of our Class A common stock to the same extent; (39) the risk that we could be deemed an investment company under the 1940 Act; (40) the significant influence the Continuing LLC Owners continue to have over us, including control over decisions that require the approval of stockholders; (41) certain provisions of Delaware law and antitakeover provisions in our organizational documents could delay or prevent a change of control; (42) the effect of the Jumpstart our Business Startups Act of 2012 which allows us to reduce our SEC disclosure and postpone compliance with certain laws and regulations intended to protect investors; (43) certain provision in our organizational documents, including those that provide Delaware as the exclusive forum for litigation matters and that renounce the doctrine of corporate opportunity; (44) our ability to establish and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures; (45) changes in our stock price, including relating to downgrades, analyst reports, and future sales by us or by existing stockholders; and (46) the other risks and uncertainties contained from time to time in our filings with the SEC, including our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and our annual report on From 10-K. We qualify any forward-looking statements entirely by the cautionary factors listed above, among others. Other risks, uncertainties and factors, not listed above, could also cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements we make. We assume no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

Non-GAAP financial measures
EVO Payments, Inc. has supplemented revenue, segment profit, net income/(loss) and earnings per share information determined in accordance with GAAP by providing these and other measures on an adjusted basis in this release to assist with evaluating performance.  The non-GAAP financial measures presented herein should not be considered in isolation of, as a substitute for, or superior to, financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP, and such measures may not be comparable to those reported by other companies.  Management uses these adjusted financial performance measures for financial and operational decision making and as a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons.  Management also uses these non-GAAP financial measures, together with other metrics, to set goals for and measure the performance of the business and to determine incentive compensation.  The Company believes that these adjusted measures provide useful information to investors about the Company’s ongoing underlying operating performance and enhance the overall understanding of the financial performance of the Company’s core business by presenting the Company’s results without giving effect to equity-based compensation, giving pro forma effect to the Company’s going forward effective tax rate following its Up-C reorganization, costs related to restructuring transactions, acquisition costs and other transitionary costs.  This release also contains information on various financial measures presented on a currency-neutral basis.  The Company believes these currency-neutral measures provide useful information to investors about the Company’s performance without taking into account fluctuations caused by currency exchange rates in the non-U.S. jurisdictions where the Company operates. Reconciliations of each non-GAAP measure to the most directly comparable GAAP measure are included in the schedules to this release. The Company also presents adjustments to its reported segment profit in this release. Segment profit is adjusted to exclude the impact of share-based compensation, transition, acquisition-related and integration costs.

Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure presented in this release. Adjusted EBITDA does not purport to be an alternative to net income as a measure of operating performance or to cash flows from operating activities as a measure of liquidity. Additionally, adjusted EBITDA is not intended to be a measure of free cash flow available for management’s discretionary use as it does not consider certain cash requirements such as interest payments, tax payments and debt service requirements.

Adjusted EBITDA is included in this release because it is a key metric used by the Company’s management and board of directors to assess the Company’s financial performance. The presentation of Adjusted EBITDA is intended to provide additional information to investors about the Company’s results of operations that management utilizes on an ongoing basis to assess the Company’s core operating performance.  Adjusted EBITDA is also frequently used by analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate companies in our industry.

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as income before provision for income taxes, net interest expense, and depreciation and amortization, excluding the impact of share-based compensation, transition, acquisition-related and integration costs. The calculation of adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, including: (a) it does not reflect the Company’s cash expenditures, or future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments; (b) it does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, the Company’s working capital needs; (c) it does not reflect the interest expense or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments on the Company’s indebtedness; (d) it does not reflect the Company’s tax expense or the cash requirements to pay the Company’s taxes; and (e) 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.

About EVO Payments, Inc.
EVO Payments, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVOP) is a leading payment technology and services provider.  EVO offers an array of innovative, reliable, and secure payment solutions to merchants ranging from small and mid-size enterprises to multinational companies and organizations across North America and Europe.  As a fully integrated merchant acquirer and payment processor in over 50 markets and 150 currencies worldwide, EVO provides competitive solutions that promote business growth, increase customer loyalty, and enhance data security in the international markets it serves.

EVO Payments, Inc.
Contact:
Sarah Jane Perry
Investor Relations & Corporate Communications Manager
770-709-7365
investor.relations@evopayments.com