John Kelly
Analyst · William Blair. Your line is now open
Thank you, Jim, and good afternoon, everyone. Before I begin, please note that I will be discussing non-GAAP financial measures such as EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted EPS and free cash flow. Our press release, 10-Q, Investor Relations page on the Huron website have reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures, along with a discussion of why management uses these non-GAAP measures and why management believes they provide useful information to investors regarding our financial condition and operating results. Now, let me walk you through some of the key financial results for the quarter. Revenues for the third quarter of 2017 declined 3.8% to $176.4 million, compared to $183.4 million in the same quarter of 2016. Third quarter 2017 revenues included $15.1 million from our acquisitions of Pope Woodhead and Innosight, which closed after the third quarter of 2016; and the full quarter impact of our acquisition of HSM Consulting, which we completed mid-third quarter of 2016. Third quarter 2017 revenues also included revenues from our 2017 acquisition of the international business of ADI Strategies, which has been fully integrated into our business. Net income from continuing operations was $4.1 million or $0.19 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2017, compared to $12.3 million or $0.57 per diluted share in the same quarter last year. The decline in net income over the prior year period was primarily attributable to the reduction in revenues and an increase in salaries, bonus, and related expense as a percentage of revenues. Our effective income tax rate in the third quarter of 2017 was negative 92.4%, compared to 37.2% a year ago. The Q3 2017 rate reflects a $2.7 million tax benefit related to a previously unrecognized tax benefit from our check-the-box election made in 2014 to treat one of our wholly-owned foreign subsidiaries as a disregarded entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes. We have adjusted this benefit out of adjusted net income and adjusted EPS due to its onetime nature and to treat it consistently with the impact of the initial check-the-box election in 2014. Adjusted EBITDA was $21.5 million in Q3 2017 or 12.2% of revenues compared to $37.5 million in Q3 2016 or 20.4% of revenues. The year-over-year decrease in adjusted EBITDA was primarily attributable to the reduction in net income from continuing operations. Adjusted non-GAAP net income from continuing operations was $9.3 million or $0.43 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2017, compared to $19.7 million or $0.92 per diluted share in the same period of 2016. Now, I'll make a few comments about the performance of each of our operating segments. The Healthcare segment generated 45% of total company revenues during the third quarter of 2017. This segment posted revenues of $79.6 million for the third quarter of 2017, down $23.8 million or 23% from the third quarter of 2016. As Jim mentioned, the decline in revenue was primarily driven by a decrease in performance improvement revenue, and to a lesser extent, softness in our advancing solutions business. Performance-based fees in Q3 2017 were $5.3 million, compared to $13.8 million in the same quarter last year. Our full year expectation for the range of performance-based fees in Healthcare remains $25 million to $30 million. Operating income margin in Healthcare was 32.4% for Q3 2017, compared to 37.5% for the same quarter in 2016. The year-over-year decrease in operating margin was primarily attributable to an increase in salaries, bonus and related expense as a percentage of revenues. We continued to execute on smaller projects during the third quarter of 2017, which offer less contingent fee upside and resource efficiency than large engagements, driving reduced margins for this business. We continue to expect full year operating margin for the Healthcare segment to be approximately 33%. The Education segment generated 24% of total company revenues during the third quarter of 2017. The segment posted quarterly revenues of $41.4 million in Q3 2017, an organic increase of 7.3%, compared to revenues for Q3 2016 of $38.6 million. The operating income margin for the Education segment was 18.7% for Q3 2017, compared to 28.2% for same quarter in 2016. The decrease in operating income margin in the quarter was primarily attributable to an increase in salaries, bonus and related expenses as a percentage of revenues. This increase was largely driven by an increase in bonus accruals based on expected full year performance and increased salary expense for campus hires during the quarter. We continue to expect full year operating margin for the Education segment to be between 24% and 25%. The Business Advisory segment, which includes the ES&A, legacy Business Advisory, strategy and innovation and Life Sciences practices generated 31% of total company revenues in the third quarter. The segment posted revenues of $55.4 million for the third quarter of 2017, an increase of 33.9%, compared to $41.4 million in Q3 2016. Revenues for the third quarter of 2017 included $13.4 million of revenues from our acquisitions of Pope Woodhead and Innosight. Third quarter 2017 revenues also included revenues from our 2017 acquisition of the international business of ADI Strategies, which has since been fully integrated into our Business Advisory segment. The operating income margin for Business Advisory was 23.2% for Q3 2017, compared to 20.8% for the same quarter in 2016. Operating income margin in the quarter was favorably impacted by revenue growth that outpaced salaries, bonuses, and related expenses. We continue to expect full year operating margin for the Business Advisory segment to be between 23% and 24%. Other corporate expenses not allocated at the segment level were $30.3 million in Q3 2017, compared with $27 million in Q3 2016. The quarter included $1.3 million of restructuring charges. In addition, $2.6 million of Pope Woodhead and Innosight's costs are included in unallocated G&A as these activities are consistent with other corporate activities within Huron. Now turning to the balance sheet and cash flows. DSO came in at 63 days for the third quarter of 2017, compared to 59 days for the second quarter of 2017. Total debt includes both the $250 million face value of convertible notes, $139 million in senior bank debt and a $5 million promissory note for total debt of $394 million. We finished the quarter with cash of $9 million for net debt of $385 million, a decrease of approximately $24 million, compared to net debt of $409 million as of the end of the second quarter. We ended Q3 2017 with a leverage ratio as defined in our senior secured credit agreement of approximately 3.5x adjusted EBITDA. Cash provided by operating activities for the first nine months of 2017 was $52 million. We expect cash flows from operating activities for the year of $95 million to $105 million. We still expect capital expenditures for the year to be approximately $25 million. Net of capital expenditures, we expect free cash flow for the year of approximately $70 million to $80 million, net of cash taxes and interest and excluding noncash stock compensation. As Jim mentioned, we're updating our annual revenue guidance to $733 million to $743 million and our annual earnings guidance for GAAP EPS of a loss of $6.15 to $6.05 per share. We are affirming our non-GAAP adjusted EPS of income of $2.20 to $2.30 per share. We expect our effective tax rate, exclusive of the impact of the goodwill impairment charge taken during the second quarter and exclusive of the check-the-box benefit recognized during the third quarter, to be in the range of 44% to 45%, reflective of the impact of the new share-based compensation accounting rules. As a closing reminder, with respect to adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted EPS, there are several items that you will need to consider when reconciling these non-GAAP measures to comparable GAAP measures. The reconciliation schedules that we included in our press release will help walk you through these reconciliations. With that, I would now like to open the call to questions. Operator?