Strong Cash Flow from Operations of $15 Million, and Enterprise and Government ARR Growth of 18% year over year
VANCOUVER, British Columbia and SAN JOSE, Calif. – November 8, 2022 – Absolute Software Corporation (Nasdaq: ABST) (TSX: ABST) (the “Company”), the only provider of self-healing, intelligent security solutions, today announced its financial results for its first quarter fiscal 2023 ended September 30, 2022. All dollar figures are stated in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise indicated.
“In Q1, we delivered steady execution against our plan, and I am confident that we are well-positioned to meet the Rule of 40 for the full fiscal year,” said Christy Wyatt, President and CEO of Absolute Software. “With the investments we’ve made this quarter, we are seeing the strategic impact that our self-healing, intelligent security solutions are having on organizations around the world - and the massive opportunity in front of us. Our focus continues to be consistent execution balancing profitability, cash generation and growth to deliver value for our customers, partners, and shareholders.”
First Quarter Fiscal 2023 (“Q1 F2023”) Overview
Key Financial Metrics:
- Revenue was $53.6 million for Q1 F2023, an increase of 23% compared to Q1 of fiscal year 2022 (“Q1 F2022”).
- Adjusted Revenue(1) was $54.2 million for Q1 F2023, an increase of 11% compared to Q1 F2022.
- Net loss was $9.5 million for Q1 F2023, an increase of 25% compared to Q1 F2022.
- Adjusted EBITDA(1) for Q1 F2023 was $11.5 million or 21% of Adjusted Revenue(1), a decrease from $12.8 million or 26% of Adjusted Revenue for Q1 F2022.
- Total ARR(2) at September 30, 2022 was $215.7 million, an increase of 15% year over year.
- The Enterprise & Government portions of Total ARR increased by 18% over the prior year, and represented 78% of Total ARR at September 30, 2022.
- The Education sector portion of Total ARR increased by 7% year over year, and represented 22% of Total ARR at September 30, 2022.
- New Logo ARR(2) was $4.0 million for Q1 F2023, a decrease compared to $4.7 million for Q1 F2022.
- Net Dollar Retention(2) was 108% for Q1 F2023, a decrease compared to 109% for Q1 F2022.
- Cash from operating activities was $15.2 million for Q1 F2023, compared to cash used in operating activities of $0.6 million for Q1 F2022.
- A quarterly dividend of CAD$0.08 per outstanding common share was paid during Q1 F2023.
Notes:
- Adjusted Revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA as percentage of Adjusted Revenue are non-IFRS measures. Refer to the “Use of non-IFRS measures and key metrics” section of the Q1 F23 MD&A for further discussion of these measures.
- Total ARR, New Logo ARR and Net Dollar Retention are key metrics. Refer to the “Use of non-IFRS measures and key metrics” section of the Q1 F23 MD&A for further discussion of these measures.
Financial Highlights
USD millions, except percentages, number of shares, and per share amounts
Notes:
- Recurring revenue represents revenue derived from cloud services, term-based subscription licenses, and recurring managed professional services. Other revenue represents revenue derived from perpetual software licenses, non-recurring professional services and ancillary product lines, including consumer products.
- Adjusted Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA are non-IFRS measures. Refer to the “Use of non-IFRS measures and key metrics” section of the Q1 F23 MD&A for further discussion of these measures.
- Total ARR is a key metric. Refer to the “Use of non-IFRS measures and key metrics” section of the Q1 F23 MD&A for further discussion of this measure.
- Deferred revenue includes current and non-current amounts.
- Total non-current financial liabilities include non-current portion of lease liabilities and long-term debt.
Q1 F2023 Business Highlights
Business and organizational developments:
- In July, we brought our entire company together in person for the first time in three years for Absolute’s annual Company and Sales Kickoff as well as our first Engineering Summit.
- In September, we hosted a Financial Analyst Day in New York City to share an overview of Absolute’s market opportunities, business drivers, new product innovations, go-to-market strategy, and a financial update.
Product and service highlights:
- In Q1, we added Ivanti Neurons for Unified Endpoint Management and Trellix Endpoint Security to our Application Resilience™ ecosystem, enabling joint Absolute Resilience® customers to ensure they remain healthy and undeletable.
- In July, we were featured in Forrester’s “The Future of Endpoint Management” report for our unique firmware-embedded position and persistence-based approach to self-healing.
- In August, we announced new innovations to Absolute Secure Endpoint, including end user messaging enhancements, an expanded catalog of resilient applications, and access to deeper insights needed to optimize existing Web application investments.
- In September, we were named an Overall Leader in the “2022 Leadership Compass: Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)” report, published by KuppingerCole Analysts AG.
- In September, we were named a Leader in the G2 Fall 2022 Grid® Report for Endpoint Management for the eleventh consecutive quarter, as well as a Leader in the Grid Report for Zero Trust Networking.
Partner and other highlights:
- In Q1, we added British Telecom to our growing ecosystem of carrier partners.
- In Q1, we expanded distribution with Ingram Micro US to include Absolute Secure Access.
- In Q1, we drove increased partner interest as a result of our expanded channel team focused on enabling new security and solution focused Value-Added Resellers (VARs).
- In September, we partnered with Insyde Software and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. to enable Absolute Persistence® technology on the Snapdragon® 8cx Gen 3 and Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3 Compute Platforms.
F2023 Financial Outlook
The Company’s financial outlook for its 2023 fiscal year (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023) remains unchanged from the last reporting of financial results.
Quarterly Dividend
On October 19, 2022, we declared a quarterly dividend of CAD$0.08 per share on our common shares, payable in cash on November 25, 2022 to shareholders of record at the close of business on November 17, 2022.
Quarterly Filings and Related Quarterly Financial Information
Management’s Discussion and Analysis (“MD&A”) and Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes thereto for the fiscal period ended September 30, 2022 can be obtained today from Absolute’s corporate website at www.absolute.com. The documents will also be available under Absolute’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Additionally, the Company today will publish on the Investor Relations section of its website (www.absolute.com/company/investors/) a Q1 F2023 Earnings Presentation and a dashboard of Selected Operating and Financial Metrics.
Conference Call
Absolute Software will host a conference call on Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (2:00 p.m. Pacific Time) to discuss its results and business outlook. The call will be accessible by dialing 1-844-763-8274 or 1-412-717-9224; participants should ask to join the Absolute Software call. A live audio webcast of the conference call will also be available via the Absolute Investor Relations website.
The conference call will be archived for replay until Tuesday, November 15, 2022. To access the archived conference call, please dial 855-669-9658 or 1-877-344-7529 and enter the reservation code 6893160. To access the replay using an international dial-in number, please use this link. An archived replay of the audio webcast will be available for one year.
Use of non-IFRS measures and key metrics
Throughout this press release we refer to a number of measures and metrics which we believe are meaningful in the assessment of the Company’s performance. Many of these measures and metrics do not have any standardized meaning under International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board 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.
The purpose of these non-IFRS measures and key metrics is to provide supplemental information that may prove useful to readers who wish to consider the impact of certain non-cash or non-recurring items on the Company’s operating performance, and assist in comparison of our operating results over historical periods. Supplementing IFRS disclosures with non-IFRS measures outlined below provides management with an additional view of operational performance by excluding expenses that are not directly related to performance in any particular period. Management uses both IFRS and non-IFRS measures when planning, monitoring and evaluating the Company’s performance.
These measures and metrics are as follows.
Key Metrics
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Total ARR, Net Dollar Retention, and New Logo ARR
As the majority of our customer contracts are sold under prepaid multi-year term licenses, there is typically a significant lag between the timing of the invoice and the associated revenue recognition. As a result, we focus on the annualized recurring value of all active contracts, measured by ARR, as an indicator of our future recurring revenues. ARR includes multi-year and short-term subscriptions for cloud-based services, as well as managed professional services and professional services with terms greater than one year. Both multi-year contracts and contracts with terms less than one year are annualized by dividing the total committed contract value by the number of months in the subscription term and then multiplying by twelve. We believe that increases in the amount of New Logo ARR, and improvement in our Net Dollar Retention, will accelerate the growth of Total ARR and, in turn, our future revenues. We provide these metrics as they are used to manage the business. We believe there is no similar measure under IFRS to which these measures can be reconciled.
Total ARR is a key metric and measures the aggregate annualized recurring revenues of all active contracts at the end of a reporting period. This measure has historically been a good indicator of our future revenue streams. Total ARR will change over a period through the retention, attrition and expansion of existing customers and the acquisition of new customers.
Net Dollar Retention is a key metric and measures the percentage increase or decrease in Total ARR at the end of a year for customers that comprised Total ARR at the beginning of the year We believe this metric provides useful insight into the effectiveness of our activities to retain and expand the ARR of our existing customers.
New Logo ARR is a key metric and measures the addition to Total ARR from sales to new customers during a period. We believe this metric provides useful insight into the effectiveness of our efforts to secure revenue from new customers.
Non-IFRS Measures
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Adjusted Revenue
Adjusted Revenue is a non-IFRS measure that we define as revenue, excluding fair value adjustments relating to acquired deferred revenue. In connection with the acquisition of NetMotion, NetMotion’s deferred revenue was written down to its fair value at the acquisition date. As a result, related revenue in the post-acquisition period does not reflect the full amount of revenue that would otherwise be recognized. We believe excluding fair value adjustments relating to deferred revenue provides a useful measure of the Company’s performance as it allows for comparability across future periods, where revenue recognized would reflect the transaction price, without acquisition-related fair value adjustments.
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Adjusted Gross Margin and Gross Margin %
Adjusted Gross Margin is defined as gross margin, adjusted for depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation expense, fair value adjustments relating to acquired deferred revenue, acquisition and integration costs, and non-recurring items. Adjusted Gross Margin % is defined as Adjusted Gross Margin as a percentage of Adjusted Revenue.
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Adjusted Operating Expenses
Adjusted Operating Expenses is defined as sales and marketing expense, research and development expense, and general and administrative expense, excluding depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation expense, fair value adjustments relating to acquired deferred commission expense, restructuring or reorganization charges and post-retirement benefits, acquisition and integration costs, litigation costs, impairment losses, and non-recurring items.
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Adjusted Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (“Adjusted EBITDA”)
Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS measure that we define as net income before interest income or expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, foreign exchange gains or losses, share-based compensation expense, fair value adjustments relating to acquired deferred revenue, fair value adjustments relating to acquired deferred commission expense, restructuring or reorganization charges and post-retirement benefits, acquisition and integration costs, litigation costs, impairment losses, and non-recurring items.
We believe Adjusted EBITDA provides a useful measure of the Company’s performance, as it helps illustrate underlying trends in our business that could otherwise be masked by the effect of the income or expenses that are not indicative of the core operating performance of our business.
Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and it should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of other IFRS financial measures. Some of the limitations of Adjusted EBITDA are that it excludes recurring expenses for interest payments, does not reflect the dilution that results from share-based compensation, and does not reflect the cost to replace amortized property and equipment and right-of-use assets. Further, it may be calculated differently by other companies in our industry, limiting its usefulness as a comparative measure.
Reconciliation of non-IFRS measures from IFRS measures are presented below.
Adjusted Revenue
Adjusted Gross Margin
Adjusted Operating Expenses
Notes:
- Depreciation and amortization includes depreciation of property and equipment, amortization of right-of-use assets, and amortization of acquired intangible assets.
Adjusted EBITDA
Notes:
- Depreciation and amortization includes depreciation of property and equipment, amortization of right-of-use assets, and amortization of acquired intangible assets.