Earnings Labs

Tucows Inc. (TCX)

Q4 2020 Earnings Call· Tue, Feb 9, 2021

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Transcript

Monica Webb

Management

Welcome to Tucows’ Fourth Quarter 2020 Management Commentary. We have pre-recorded prepared remarks regarding the quarter and outlook for the Company. A Tucows-generated transcript of these remarks, with relevant links, is also available on the Company’s website. In lieu of a live question and answer period following the remarks, shareholders, analysts and prospective investors are invited to submit their questions to Tucows’ management via email at ir@tucows.com, until Wednesday, February 17. Management will address your questions directly, or in a recorded audio response and transcript that will be posted to the Tucows website on Tuesday, February 23 at approximately 4 p.m. eastern time. We would also like to advise that the updated Tucows Quarterly KPI Summary, which provides key metrics for all of our businesses for the last eight quarters, as well as 2018, 2019, and 2020, is available in the Investors section of the website, along with the updated Ting Build Scorecard and Investor Presentation. Please note that the KPI Summary has been modified to reflect our transition from a Mobile Virtual Network Operator to a Mobile Services Enabler. This means the mobile metrics that are no longer applicable to our business have been removed. Now for management’s prepared remarks: On Tuesday, February 9, Tucows issued a news release reporting its financial results for the fourth quarter ending December 31, 2020. That news release, and the Company’s financial statements are available on the Company's website at tucows.com, under the Investors section. Please note that the following discussion may include forward-looking statements, which, as such, are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risk factors are described in detail in the Company's documents filed with the SEC, specifically the most recent reports on the Forms 10-K and 10-Q. The company urges you to read its security filings for a full description of the risk factors applicable for its business. I would now like to turn the call over to Tucows’ President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Elliot Noss.

Elliot Noss

Management

Thanks, Monica. Q4 2020 was a strong finish to a very solid year across all Tucows’ businesses. Domains delivered another quarter of elevated transaction activity on top of the underlying consistency of that business, and had it’s highest growth in Adjusted EBITDA in years. It was the first full quarter under our new Mobile Service Enabler, or MSE model. And in our Fiber Internet business, we nearly matched our highest CapEx spend to date achieved in Q3, and had by far our highest quarterly add in serviceable addresses at 5,100, nearly double that of Q3. Turning to our financial results, as a reminder, with the transition of our Mobile business to the MSE model, our reported revenue and gross margin results are negatively impacted, with all of that revenue and much of the expenses associated with the Mobile business now subsumed in “Other Income,” toward the bottom of the P&L. We are, however, including these earnings in our adjusted EBITDA results, and as such, adjusted EBITDA may provide a better year-over-year view on operating results. For those that might require a refresh on the details of impact, please refer to my opening comments in the Q3 2020 management remarks. For comparative purposes, the best way to view our revenue and gross margin performance for Q4 is by confining those to the Domains and Ting Internet businesses -- that is, absent the impact of Mobile. Revenue from our Domains and Ting Internet operations for Q4 was $66.8 million, an increase of 3% from $64.8 million for the same period last year. And I will remind you that Q4 2019 benefited from the $1.5 million portfolio sale as we exited that business. Excluding that portfolio sale, Q4 revenue was up 6%. And for the year, revenue for the Domains and Ting Internet…

Dave Singh

Management

Thanks, Elliot. Again, as a reminder, our fourth quarter results reflect the transition of our Mobile business to the MSE model. Total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2020 was $70.8 million, an 18% decrease from $85.9 million for the same period of 2019, with the majority of the decrease attributable to the sale of the Ting Mobile customer relationships during the third quarter, which therefore did not contribute any revenue in Q4 of this year, but also due in part to the large bulk domains sale in our Portfolio business in Q4 of 2019, which we subsequently exited at the end of that year. Those decreases were partially offset by continued strong growth in Ting Internet revenue, largely the result of the Cedar acquisition in January of 2020, but also the result of the continued growth in the Internet Services customer base, which notably crossed the 15,000 mark in the fourth quarter. As Elliot discussed, when factoring out the impact on revenue of the change in the Mobile model, revenue for the combined Domains and Ting Internet businesses, excluding the Portfolio sales increased 6%. Cost of revenues before network costs, decreased 14% to $47.1 million from $55 million for Q4 the prior year, with the decline primarily due to the lower revenue. As a percentage of revenue, cost of revenues before network costs increased slightly to 67% from 64% as the improved mix in the Domains business was offset by the shift in mobile revenues, including the addition of low margin transition services to DISH. Gross margin before network costs for the fourth quarter decreased 23% to $23.7 million from $30.9 million, with the decrease primarily related to the sale of Ting Mobile assets and to a lesser extent the outsized portfolio sale in Q4 2019. As a reminder,…

Elliot Noss

Operator

At the close of our corporate planning cycle, after goals and measurement setting, and budgeting, and detailed product roadmaps, comes communication throughout the organization. Coming out of this year's communications to the whole company, I find myself feeling particularly optimistic. The budget numbers are good. Sure. The opportunities are plentiful in each business. But when I tried to identify the source of my optimism, I realized that it was a feeling that the business was closer to what it should be, than at any time in the past. Starting with the Q1, 2021 results, we will be presenting the business to investors in segments. In this first year of communicating to you with the results presented by segment, I want to set the table, both for the year, and for my optimism and to ask for your patience, as we learn a new language together. In Domains, the story of the last few years has been one of steady growth. And even that has masked the improvement in revenue quality. Specifically, we no longer have revenue from portfolio sales. And we have lower revenue from some of the lower quality eNom retail streams. We have more than made-up for both of these declines with growth in the core offerings. While it continues to be a moderate growth business, the foundation keeps getting stronger and the opportunities for outsized growth continue to increase with the improvements in our underlying technology. In Mobile, we are consumed with helping DISH migrate Boost and launch their 5G network. As noted above, things are progressing at an impressive pace, but the timing of all of the moving parts is quite dynamic. In addition, there is some reliance on third parties outside of either our or DISH’s control. That will make 2021 both unpredictable and uneven,…