John Roberts
Analyst · Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead
Great, thanks Mike. I will begin by summarizing our finial performance for the first quarter of 2016 and then we will open up the calls to questions. As previously reported, we sold the Slashdot Media business in January, so we are appropriate I will speak to the financials excluding that business. Additionally, we have changed our finical segment reporting to align with recent changes and how we operate the business. We now have three reportable segments; One, Tech & Clearance, which include Dice, Dice Europe and ClearanceJobs. Two, Health Care, which is our Healthy Careers business, and three Global Industry Group or GIG which consist of eFinancialCareers, Rigzone, Hcareers and BioSpace. On our website, you can find a recast of our quarterly segments going back to Q1 2014, which incorporates the new segments structure and also shows the segments excluding the Slashdot Media business. My comments today will reflect results excluding the impacts of both the Slashdot Media sale and the severance cost associated with the implantation of the new GIG structure. The impacts of both of these items are included in the disposition related and other cost line item in the statement of operations. With that as context, I'll turn to the quarter. This quarter we saw progress across the organization in spite of continued headwinds in energy and the negative impacts of foreign currency translation. We believe the recent strategic initiatives and investments we have made will help to drive growth over time and better position us to execute against our long term goal of being a Talent focused Global Digital Media Company. Some of the key growth drivers for the first quarter include one, higher year-over-year revenue for average per recruitment package customer at Dice, showing them measureable influence of Open Web and increased service levels. And two, double digit revenue and billings growth for both our ClearanceJobs and Healthy Careers brands highlighting the strong value proposition of these businesses. In the first quarter revenues were up 3% year-over-year on a constant currency basis excluding Slashdot Media and Energy. For the Tech & Clearance segment revenues were up 1% excluding currency impacts. Within that segment Dice U.S. revenues, which constitute approximately 84% of total segment revenues were down 1%. As of March 31, Dice Recruitment Package Customer account was 7450 which is down slightly from last quarter. Of Dice's Recruitment Package Customers, 92% were under an annual contract at quarter end. The renewal rate on annual contracts was 67% with more than 2100 customers up for renewal in Q1. In the first quarter, Recruitment Package Customers on average spent $1118 per month up 4% with customers increasing their levels of service to Dice products and services like Open Web which constitutes roughly half of the year-over-year increase. ClearanceJobs are continuing success in Q1 with revenue growth of 20%. Primary drivers for the business includes favorable market conditions, increased interest and usage of its pay per performance product and a growing number of active job postings. Today there are approximately 15,000 postings on ClearanceJobs up from just over 10,000 from this time last year. Dice Europe revenues were down 11% on a reported basis and 7% on a constant currency basis due to anticipated contract changes with the large client and weakness in legacy non recruitment products. Q1 billings for the Tech & Clearance segment were up 1% year-over-year with a decline in Dice Europe billings offset by billings growth of 26% at ClearanceJobs. Turning to our healthcare segment, revenues were $7 million, up 14%. The revenue increase for the quarter reflects growing customer usage of Healthy Careers products and services with revenues principally driven by core products such as jobs postings and resume access, as well as new products such as Spotlight and pay per performance products. Billings were up 15% as well reflecting stronger sales. Now I’ll review the financial results of the global industry group or GIG. Overall GIG revenues were down 17% but excluding energy and currency impacts, revenues were up 4%. The same pattern holds for billings with GIG, billings down 16% and without energy and currency billings were up 5%. Revenue at our eFinancialCareers brand increased 4% to $8.9 million and on a constant currency basis revenues increased 8% with most of the growth driven by performance in the U.K. and Asia-Pac. Today market sentiment is mixed across all of the major financial centers with conditions in North America more uncertain. Despite financial market volatility however, overall business trends remain positive. On a constant currency basis, U.K. revenues increased 6% in Sterling, Asia Pacific revenues were up 11% in Singapore Dollars, Continental Europe and the Middle East revenues increased 9% and in the U.S. revenues were up 5%. On a reported basis, eFinancialCareers billings were up 1% and 5% on a constant currency basis. Turning to energy, Q1 revenues were $2.9 million, down 54% and in Q1 billing a decrease 56% as a result of ongoing uncertainty within the energy market with customers pausing or curving recruitment. As we look ahead to the rest of 2016, we do not see immediate improvement in the energy business, although we continue to remain dedicated to our leadership position within the energy market. Hcareers or hospitality brand reported $3.8 million in revenues this quarter, a 5% decline. The decline was partially attributable to more customer contracts completing in Q1 of last year and therefore the full value of those contracts being recognized into revenues at that time. In Q1 of this year, contracts with several new key customers and a pickup in transactional business drove billings up 6% for the quarter. Differed revenue for the quarter excluding Slashdot Media totaled $88.8 million down 1% year-over-year but up 7% from Q4 2015. The primary driver for this year-over-year decrease was energy which was down 54%, largely offset by the Tech & Clearance segment which increased by 6% and the healthcare segment which increased by 44%. Expenses excluding disposition related and other costs were down approximately $2.2 million. This largely relates to decreases for one, to sale of Slashdot since 2015 had a full quarter's worth of expenses. Two, lower expenses at our energy business, and three lower amortization expense partially offset by increases and investments within the BrightMatter Group and Healthcare. Adjusted EBITDA excluding Slashdot Media and severance related to the GIG realignment was $14 million or a margin of 24%. While this was within our expectations for the quarter, EBITDA is down approximately $3 million from Q1 2015. There are few main items contributing to the decline in EBITDA. One, the decline in energy revenue and EBITDA reflected in GIG EBITDA declining by $1.2 million excluding severance. Two, additional investment in the BrightMatter Group of approximately $1 million. And three, approximately $400,000 in expenses for professional fees related to the agreement to add a member to our Board of Directors. This quarter, the effective tax rate was 36.7% compared to a rate of 38.8% in Q1 last year. The rate was lower this year primarily as a result of the mix in U.S. and non-U.S. income. On a reported basis, the company posted net income of $1.1 million in the quarter or $0.02 per share excluding Slashdot and severance diluted EPS was $0.07 in the quarter. In the first quarter, we generated free cash flow of $10.1 million, lower than last year primarily due to the timing of tax payments. I’d now like to take a few minutes to discuss guidance for the rest of 2016. For reference, please turn to the table provided in the business outlook section of our press release. Before I discuss the numbers, I want to point out how we will be providing outlook consisting with our new segment structure. We are providing estimated revenue growth rates based on three segments; Tech & Clearance, Healthcare and GIG. We will also be breaking down GIG into the brand level to highlight revenue contributions. So in Q2 we expect revenues of $57.5 million to $59 million and talent acquisition brand, adjusted EBITDA plus corporate expenses of $16.5 million to $17.5 million or 29% to 30% of revenues. We also expect to invest $2.5 million to $3 million of that EBITDA as a continued investment in the BrightMatter Group in Q2. For 2016, we now anticipate revenues in the range of $240 million to $246 million and Talent acquisition brand adjusted EBITDA of $74 million to $78 million or approximately 31% to 32% of revenues. Our outlook reflects continuing declines in our energy business, slower uptake of new products in the healthcare business, strategic investments to drive innovation, i.e. the BrightMatter Group, and the negative currency impacts to revenue of approximately $600,000 in Q2 and $2.1 million for the full year. In closing, our first quarter consisted of some solid wins such as strong performance in Healthcare, eFinancialCareers and ClearanceJobs and the formation of the global industry group to improve efficiencies, drive future growth, and foster collaboration. Looking ahead to the rest of the year, I believe we remain well positioned to deliver upon what we set out to accomplish at the beginning of this year. In 2016, we will continue to work to drive additional improvement in our core talent acquisition brands while investing a next generation recruitment products and services to further evolve our business and drive growth longer term. With that, we are ready to open the call up for questions.