Ware Grove
Analyst · CJS Securities. Please go ahead
Thank you, Jerry, and good morning, everyone. I want to take a few minutes to run through further details and the highlights of the numbers we released this morning. The total revenue growing by 1.6% for the full year and margin on pretax earnings from continuing operations increasing by 90 basis points. We were pleased to report earnings per share of $1.42 for the full year, up 11.8% over $1.27 reported a year ago. To recap a few important points. As the impact of the COVID pandemic unfolded, there was considerable risk and uncertainty everywhere. We took a number of immediate actions to protect our liquidity, and we took measures to prudently control expenses with a view toward preserving our ability to serve clients in order that we could emerge as a strong and healthy business ready to resume growth. We have not been completely immune, but with many actions we took, coupled with the dedication of our CBIZ team, we are pleased that our business model has weathered the storm, and we are now a stronger company for the experiences in 2020. Our primary concern operating under the pandemic environment was to protect our liquidity. Perhaps the best measure of our success in 2020 is the continuing nature of our strong positive cash flow. We ended 2020 with $108 million of outstanding debt on our credit facility, increasing only $2.5 million from $105.5 million at year-end a year ago. After an active first quarter in 2020, repurchasing 1.2 million shares and closing three acquisitions, we paused both acquisitions and share repurchase activity from mid-March through mid-September until we could develop more confidence with the stability of our cash flow trends. For the full year of '20, we closed seven acquisitions and utilized $89.7 million of capital for acquisition activities. We also deployed $57.6 million to repurchase approximately 2.3 million shares for the full year, including the repurchase of one million shares in the fourth quarter. For the full year, with $147.3 million of capital used for these two purposes, our borrowing increased by only $2.5 million. This results in a leverage ratio of approximately 0.8 times on adjusted EBITDA of $132.1 million, with $286 million of unused capacity. Going into '21, this offers us great flexibility to continue to deploy capital for acquisitions and for continuing our share repurchase activity. Through February 16 to date this year, we have repurchased an additional 600,000 shares, and we intend to continue to repurchase shares. With this recent activity, when combined with shares repurchased in 2020, this has resulted in the repurchase of more than 5% of our shares outstanding. When you also consider the 1.2 million shares repurchased in the prior year 2019, we have repurchased approximately 4.1 million shares or roughly 7.5% of shares outstanding within the past two years, and we've utilized nearly $100 million of capital for these activities. Considering our strong balance sheet and cash flow attributes, we can repurchase this level of shares without compromising our capacity for acquisitions. With the seven acquisitions closed in 2020, plus an eighth transaction we announced effective on January one this year, collectively these newly acquired operations will generate approximately $48 million of annualized revenue. Strategically, these acquired operations will further strengthen Benefits and Insurance services. We'll add an important component to our financial advisory services and we'll add capacity in order to accelerate the rollout of our integrated payroll services platform that focuses on upmarket clients. Acquisition-related payments for earn-outs from previously closed transactions are estimated at $13.6 million in 2021. In 2022, we estimate a use of approximately $15.4 million, approximately $9.1 million in 2023, $13 million in 2024 and approximately $800,000 in 2025. For 2020, capital spending for the full year was $11.7 million, of which $2.2 million was in the fourth quarter. We expect capital spending within a range of $12 million to $15 million, looking ahead into 2021. Depreciation and amortization expense for the full year of '20 was $23.1 million, $9.6 million of depreciation with $13.5 million of amortization. In the fourth quarter, depreciation and amortization expense was $5.9 million. A major concern for us as the pandemic unfolded in 2020 was our clients' ability to pay receivables. As we transition to remote work conditions at the end of the first quarter in 2020, our team did a great job refining and adopting new processes and digital tools for billing and management of receivables. These tools are now a more permanent fixture in our workflow processes and in our communication with clients. Days sales outstanding performance on receivables improved this past year despite the volatile conditions and financial stress throughout the economy. At the end of the year, days sales outstanding stood at 72 days compared with 75 days a year earlier. Although not completely immune to financial stress, this is also good evidence that with our diverse client base, there is no significant concentration of clients in the more severely impacted areas of the economy, such as hospitality, travel, restaurant or entertainment businesses. At the end of the first quarter in 2020, we recorded an additional $2 million of reserve for bad debt. With continuing uncertainty in the economy, although days sales outstanding performance has improved, we continue to carry that level of reserves for bad debt. For the full year of '20, bad debt expense was 45 basis points of total revenue compared with 25 basis points of total revenue for 2019. Total consolidated revenue for the full year was up 1.6%, with same unit revenue declining slightly by 0.4%. In the fourth quarter, total revenue grew by 3.9% and same unit revenue grew by 1.1%. Within Financial Services, total revenue for the full year was up 2.1%, with same unit revenue up 0.8%. In the fourth quarter, total revenue in Financial Services was up 6.6% with same unit revenue up 3.3%. Turning to Benefits and Insurance. For the year, total revenue grew by 0.5%, with same unit revenue declining by 3.0%. And in the fourth quarter, revenue declined by 0.8% and same unit revenue declined by 3.2%. As I indicated in our third quarter conference call, revenue growth numbers were impacted by a relatively small number of our operations, where the nature of advisory or transactional services was more severely impacted by economic conditions. For the full year, these businesses represented 16% of our total revenue, but collectively, these businesses declined by 12.8% in 2020 compared with the prior year. Adjusting total revenue to exclude the impact of these businesses, the remaining core revenue would reflect growth of 4.9% rather than the 1.6% reported. Same unit revenue would reflect growth of 2.5% rather than the 0.4% decline reported. Fourth quarter revenue adjusted to exclude these businesses, grew by 8.3% versus the reported 3.9% and same unit revenue grew by 4.7% versus the reported 1.1%. With pretax income margin improving by 90 basis points to 10.7% from 9.8% the prior year, we saw a favorable impact resulting from the cost control measures we took in deferring discretionary items, plus the favorable impact from the natural reduction in travel, entertainment expense and from the lower cost for our self-funded health care benefits. Among other things, for 2020, T&E costs came in at approximately 30% of the prior year levels, and health care costs came in at approximately 85% of expectations as discretionary and elective medical procedures were deferred. Adjusting the reported operating margin to remove the impact of accounting for gains and losses on assets held in the deferred compensation plan, operating income was 11.2% for the full year, up 70 basis points compared with 10.5% in 2019. As Jerry outlined, we think business conditions in 2021 will look very much like the environment we experienced during the second half of 2020. Of course, the timing and impact of a successful COVID vaccination rollout is very unclear, and there is still risk and uncertainty ahead. Considering the stability and performance of our core businesses in 2020, together with the impact of recent acquisitions, we think revenue will continue to grow in a similar matter, as I just described. We are projecting total revenue growth in 2021 within a range of 5% to 8%. As a reminder, we do not provide guidance for quarterly results. But as you think about the year ahead, bear in mind, the first quarter last year was a relatively strong quarter before we felt a COVID impact in the second half of March. With the 5% to 8% revenue growth expectation, we are looking to increase earnings per share within a range of 8% to 12% over the $1.42 recorded for 2020. Consistent with our longer-term goals, we can manage a number of discretionary items, and we expect to improve margin within a range of 20 to 50 basis points. You will note the effective tax rate was 24.3% in 2020. Aside from any change in tax law that may arise from the new administration, there are a number of variables that can impact our tax rate, either up or down. But as we look ahead to 2021, we are projecting a 25% effective tax rate. Ongoing share repurchase activity will impact the fully diluted weighted average share count. At this time, we are estimated 54.5 million fully diluted shares for the full year, down from 55.4 million shares in 2020. As I mentioned, we are continuing to repurchase shares, and we will update this estimate at the end of the first quarter and throughout the year. Adjusted EBITDA for 2020 came in at $132.1 million or 13.7% of revenue, a 9.6% increase from the prior year, and we expect to further improve that margin in '21. So in conclusion, we were pleased to see stability in client demand and cash flow as we progress through the year. We have emerged from the challenge of 2020 as a stronger company with stronger processes. Going into 2021, we think our business will continue to reflect the stability, evidenced by the performance this past year. We recognize the uncertainty and risks ahead, and we will plan to update our expectations as conditions dictate throughout the balance of the year. So with these comments, I'll turn it back over to Jerry.