Earnings Labs

Deluxe Corporation (DLX)

Q1 2011 Earnings Call· Thu, Apr 28, 2011

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the First Quarter 2011 Deluxe Corporation Earnings Conference Call. My name is Mary, and I will be your coordinator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will be facilitating a question-and-answer session towards the end of this conference. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to turn the presentation over to your host for today’s call, Mr. Jeff Johnson, Treasurer, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please proceed.

Jeff Johnson

Management

Thank you, Mary. Welcome to Deluxe Corporation's 2011 First Quarter Earnings Call. I'm Jeff Johnson, Deluxe's Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer. Joining me on the call today are Lee Schram, Deluxe's Chief Executive Officer; and Terry Peterson, Deluxe's Chief Financial Officer. Lee, Terry, and I will take questions from analysts after the prepared comments. At that time, the operator will instruct you how to ask a question. In accordance with Regulation FD, this call is open to all interested parties. A replay of the call will be available via telephone and Deluxe's Website. I will provide instructions for accessing the replay at the conclusion of our teleconference. Before I begin, let me make this brief cautionary statement. Comments made today regarding financial estimates and projections and any other statements addressing management's intentions and expectations regarding the company's future performance are forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. As such, these comments are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Additional information about various factors that could cause results to differ from those projected are contained in the news release that we issued this morning, and in the company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2010. In addition, the financial and statistical information that will be reviewed during this call is addressed in greater detail in today's press release, which is posted in the News and Investor Relations section of our Website, www.deluxe.com. In particular, any non-GAAP financial measures are reconciled to the comparable GAAP financial measures in the press release. Now, I will turn the call over to Lee.

Lee Schram

Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Jeff and good morning everyone. In the continued sluggish economic environment, we delivered another strong quarter and are off to a solid start to the year. We reported revenue at the top of our expected range, while adjusted earnings per share was above the high end of our range. Both Small Business Services and Direct Checks grew over the prior year. Checks and forms both performed well against our expectations and business services revenues grew 19% over the prior year. We had strong execution against our cost reduction program. Improved product mix drove better-than-expected EPS. Adjusted diluted EPS from continuing operations grew 3% over our strong prior year. We generated strong operating cash flow and we were not drawn on our credit facility as we ended the quarter. We issued $200 million in new eight-year senior notes and repurchased almost 70% of our 2012 notes and $10 million of our 2014 notes. In early April, we completed the acquisition of Bankers Dashboard to expand our financial services analytics and profitability services capability. We continued to invest in improved brand awareness to help better position our new business services offerings and drive future revenue growth. We also expanded our process improvement and cost reduction initiatives, while driving strong operating cash flow as we continue to transform Deluxe. In a few minutes, I will discuss more details around our recent progress and next steps, but first, Terry will cover our financial performance.

Terry Peterson

Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Lee. Earlier today, we reported diluted earnings per share for the first quarter of $0.63, which included losses of $0.10 per share on long-term debt repurchases in the quarter and restructuring-related costs of $0.02. Excluding these costs, adjusted EPS from continuing operations of $0.75 was $0.02 favorable to the upper end of our previous outlook and 3% higher than the $0.73 reported in the first quarter of 2010. Favorable product mix drove better-than-expected EPS performance. The restructuring-related costs were primarily driven by infrastructure consolidations. Revenue for the quarter came in at $350 million, which was right at the upper end of the range of our previous outlook. Revenue was up 4% from 2010 and was roughly flat on a sequential quarterly basis. Small Business Services revenue of $200 million also grew 4% versus last year. While we continue to operate in a weak economic environment, we did deliver growth in business services, the Safeguard distributor channel and Canada, and our core printing business benefited from a routine price increase. Financial Services revenue of $88 million was down 13% versus the first quarter of last year, but was flat on a sequential quarterly basis with the fourth quarter of 2010. The impact of price increases and higher non-check services revenue as more than offset by the amortization of a 2009 contract settlement in the prior-year quarter and lower check orders. Excluding the impact of the contract settlement amortization, revenue in Financial Services declined less than 6% from the last year. Direct Checks revenue totaled $61.8 million and was up 49% on a year-over-year basis due to the Custom Direct acquisition. Excluding the impact of the acquisition, Direct Checks revenue was down only 5% due to lower check orders. Gross margin for the quarter was 65.6% of revenue, up slightly…

Lee Schram

Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Terry. I will continue my comments with an update on what we are focused on overall and then highlight progress in each of our three segments. I will also include throughout a perspective on what we hope to accomplish during the balance of 2011. In 2011, our primary focus is on revenue growth, as we now have what we believe is the best products and services portfolio in the history of the company. Our improved solutions start with more differentiated technology-led check offers through investments in automated flat check packaging, digital printing and online portals and dashboards. They also include enhanced Internet and web-to-print capabilities and improved segmentation and distributor and dealer channel expansion. Finally, the most significant new solutions growth opportunity is new business services, including web services, logo design, search engine marketing, payroll and fraud and security services, plus offers that help financial institutions with customer acquisition, regulatory compliance and profitability. All new business services are expected to generate approximately $155 million to $165 million in revenue in 2011, up from approximately $122 million in 2010. So, we expect to continue to build scale capability here. We will continue to assess potential small-to-medium sized acquisitions that complement our large customer bases, with a focus on new business services. We also continue to refine our channel capabilities. In addition to financial institutions and direct-to-the-consumer, we have strengthened our channels in small business to include online, retail, wholesale, distributors, dealers, and national accounts. Deluxe is now more capable of helping small businesses get and keep customers and helping small-to-mid sized financial institutions with customer acquisition, regulatory compliance and profitability offers. These new solutions and channels are driving new differentiated opportunities for us to execute on our strategic focus, and will further enable us to deliver the best personalized…

Operator

Operator

(Operator instructions) And our first question comes from the line of Charles Strauzer, CJS Securities. Please proceed. Charles Strauzer – CJS Securities: Hi, good morning.

Lee Schram

Chief Executive Officer

Hi Charles. Charles Strauzer – CJS Securities: Hi, two quick things. One is if you could expand a little bit more on your discussion about the Financial Services segment if flat from Q4 and it sounded pretty decent percentage year-over-year. Can you give a little more color into kind of what the mechanisms are in that segment right now?

Lee Schram

Chief Executive Officer

I think actually it’s pretty simple here. If you think about the quarter, we perform in the unit check decline of about, in that 7% to 8% range. We had the price increase that we talked about in the January call starting to come into play, and we improved our performance in the non-check area. And so, the real number is really down in the less than 6% range. And then, we again had the hurdle that we discussed last year and just reminded everybody on the call of the 2009 contract settlement that hit in the first quarter of last year. So, I think it’s pretty set, pretty straightforward and really came in pretty much exactly in line of what we expected. Charles Strauzer – CJS Securities: Okay, great. And then, maybe Terry, if you can just give me, if you have the full-year assumption for D&A, just so we can kind of get our models right on that, because it seems to be a little bit higher in Q1 than it has been in our models there?

Terry Peterson

Chief Financial Officer

Yes, the full-year D&A was $72 million is what I said. $72 million and $23 million of acquisition-related amortization. So, the $23 million is included as part of the $72 million.

Lee Schram

Chief Executive Officer

Charlie, I think you reacted because it was $20 million [ph] in Q1. So, obviously we expect it to improve over the balance of the year.

Terry Peterson

Chief Financial Officer

And what’s driving that, Charlie, is as we have stated on past calls, too, CDI has been short-lived intangible assets when we acquired that last April. That’s set to roll off in the second quarter. Charles Strauzer – CJS Securities: Great, thanks a lot. Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from the line of John Kraft, D.A. Davidson. John Kraft – D.A. Davidson: Good morning, guys.

Lee Schram

Chief Executive Officer

Hi, John. John Kraft – D.A. Davidson: Hi, congrats on that win of the target [ph] in Q3. I guess along those lines, you addressed two those of three and you said there were some others, can you quantify, I mean, are there five more or just a couple of more or what sort of a grouping are we look at for RFPs outstanding?

Lee Schram

Chief Executive Officer

This would say again as a significant number. If you recall the question on the last call that we had, and rather than getting the specific number, what can happen sometimes, John, is that things get pushed out into a linear or they can through another quarter before an RFP comes out or before somebody makes a decision. So, the way I would just frame without giving a specific number, there are still many opportunities out there that we are working and pursuing. John Kraft – D.A. Davidson: Okay. That’s fair. And if we can talk a little bit about what allowed you to win that contract, I mean, presumably there was some price in there, but was it the business advantage, was it – I mean, what was it that really you could call out that was the difference and allowed you to win that contract?

Lee Schram

Chief Executive Officer

John, I think what we are focused on, when we are going out with our customers right now is we have invested in what we call technology in the check space. So, we are believer in the flat check package for delivery, we believe it allows us to have a potentially lower rate that we can charge through the banks and they can charge on to their customers, because it’s lower to ship that package and a parcel package. We also invested in the latest digital technology and we have the online tools and dashboards for our clients as well. Another thing that helped with this deal was they also liked the reach of some of our other non-check initiatives. So, the client that we won here, they actually liked the customer acquisition, and initiatives that we have and are very interested in some of the offers that we have in that space. And again, while we haven’t started with them yet, we do expect that they are going to move on some of those over the life of the contract. So, I think it’s just a look at holistically what Deluxe has to offer. And John, as you know, of course, you have to be competitive from a pricing standpoint, but I think it’s all those other pieces, it’s just a differentiated play. John Kraft – D.A. Davidson: Got you. And Terry, I think I must have missed this, can you clarify what your expectations are for taxes? I think you had said it’s expected to be lower going forward, but did you give a specific?

Terry Peterson

Chief Financial Officer

Yes, the full-year rate is expected to be about 33% in our adjusted EPS guidance. John Kraft – D.A. Davidson: 33%, okay. You said 34% before I think, okay.

Terry Peterson

Chief Financial Officer

34% was what we had originally guided. John Kraft – D.A. Davidson: Great, thanks guys. See you in a couple of weeks.

Terry Peterson

Chief Financial Officer

Okay, John.

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from the line of Davis Hebert of Wells Fargo Davis Hebert – Wells Fargo: Good morning. Just a quick housekeeping question, what was your revolver balance at the end of Q1, and what is it post the acquisition?

Terry Peterson

Chief Financial Officer

The revolver balance at the end of first quarter was actually nothing. We had nothing drawn on that at the end of March, and we did $35 million cash purchase for Bankers Dashboard, and we indicated that we funded that partially with cash on hand and partially with credit facilities. We usually don’t give out interim (inaudible) what our borrowings are in that facility. Davis Hebert – Wells Fargo: Okay. So, the debt as it stands of $331 million [ph] consists only of bonds including the newly placed ones in March?

Terry Peterson

Chief Financial Officer

That is correct. Davis Hebert – Wells Fargo: Okay. Thank you.

Lee Schram

Chief Executive Officer

You are welcome.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. There are no other questions in queue. I would like to hand the call to Lee Schram.

Lee Schram

Chief Executive Officer

Okay. Again, thank you everybody for your participation, and for those that asked questions, we appreciate that. Again, as I normally say, we are going to get back to work now, and we look forward to providing a positive progress support at our next earnings call, and I will turn it back to Jeff to wrap up.

Jeff Johnson

Management

Thank you, Lee. This is a reminder that a replay of this call will be available until May 12th, by dialing 888-286-8010. When instructed, provide the access code 98653998. The accompanying slides are archived in the News and Investor Relations section of Deluxe's Website at www.deluxe.com. Again, thank you for joining us, have a good afternoon.

Operator

Operator

Thank you for your participation in today’s conference. This concludes the presentation and you may now disconnect. Have a wonderful day.