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Tucows Inc. (TCX)

Q1 2021 Earnings Call· Sun, May 9, 2021

$16.34

-1.39%

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Transcript

Monica Webb

Operator

Welcome to Tucows First Quarter 2021 Management Commentary. We have pre-recorded prepared remarks regarding the quarter and outlook for the company. A Tucows-generated transcripts 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 Tuesday, May 11. Management will address your questions directly or in a recorded audio response and transcript that will be posted to the Tucows' website on Tuesday, May 18 at approximately 4:00 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 five quarters, as well as for 2019, 2020 and 2021 year-to-date 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 This means the mobile metrics that are no longer applicable to our business have been removed.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 Thursday, May 6, Tucows issued a news release reporting its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021. 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, Elliot Noss. Go ahead, Elliott.

Elliot Noss

Analyst

Thanks, Monica. The first quarter was a very solid start to 2021. In our Domains business, the underlying consistency of that business benefited from the accelerated transition to online driven by the pandemic. In Mobile Services, the new iteration of our business is moving forward on plan with our legacy customer base performing as expected and DISH's Mobile business also progressing nicely. And with Ting fiber, we set new records across all of our key metrics, most notably, by far our largest quarterly CapEx investment, as well as our highest ever growth and serviceable addresses. Turning to our financial results. I will again remind you that for comparative purposes, our reported revenue and gross margin do not include results from our legacy mobile customers. But almost all of that revenue and much of the expenses associated with the Mobile business now subsumed in other income. Those looking for a refresher on the details can refer to our Q3 2020 management remarks. Net income for the first quarter was $2.1 million or $0.20 a share, compared with $2.8 million or $0.27 a share, driven primarily by higher depreciation through our continued fiber network build and a slightly higher effective tax rate. Cash flow from operations was essentially unchanged from Q1 last year at $14.1 million and adjusted EBITDA for Q1 was just over $12.7 million, up very slightly from Q1 of last year. Total revenue for Q1 was $70.9 million versus $84 million for Q1 last year and total gross margin was $17.5 million compared with $25.2 million last year, with the decreases reflecting the shift in our Mobile business to the MSE model. Excluding the impact of the change in how our mobile results flow through the P&L. Q1 revenue for just the domains and internet operations was up 4%…

Dave Singh

Analyst

Thanks, Elliot. Before I get into the numbers, as a reminder, we have reorganized our reporting structure into three operating and reportable segments: Fiber Internet Services, Mobile Services and Domain Services. Although we have discussed these operationally in the past, the previously formerly reported in two segments, Network Access Services and Domain Services. The evolution of our business and management structures, especially in light of the transition on Mobile Services to predominantly MSE model has been such that the Network Access segment has become increasingly operationally distinct between the mobile and our Fiber Internet Services. As a result, we have broken those out into separate segments for reporting purposes. We are also now reporting each of our three segments down to the adjusted EBITDA line. Certain corporate costs are excluded from segment, adjusted EBITDA results as they're centrally managed, including finance, human resources, legal, corporate IT, depreciation and amortization expense or impairments, interest expense, stock-based compensation and other income and expense items not monitored as part of our segment operations. Our comparative period financial results have also been reclassified to reflect the reorganized segment structure. I will also remind you here that as Elliott noted at the outset, our first quarter results once again reflect the impact of the transition of our Mobile business to the MSE model in Q3 of last year. With this transition, gross margin, which now it consists of [indiscernible] legacy, mobile retail customer base that was not sold to DISH decreases significantly year-over-year or more accurately, Tucows no longer on the margin on the growing portion of that base. Operating Expenses go down because we replaced retail spends and a retail staff with a staff intended to build and operate at wholesale business. All of the revenue associated with the customer relationships that were sold…

Elliot Noss

Analyst

I would like to start my closing remarks by tidying up some unfinished business for last quarter: guidance for our mobile segment. Before I do that, let me first note that we are reiterating the guidance we provided on last call for both the domains and fiber internet segments of the business. In our Mobile segment last year, we delivered $18.8 million in adjusted EBITDA. In 2021, we expect to increase that adjusted EBITDA by 20% or so. We have noted some of the risks here, again, primarily related to the T-Mobile shutdown of their CDMA network and other T-Mobile deliverables, but we're pleased with where we are in this segment and are happy to see a return to growth here. As I continue to note, DISH's success is our success and we're excited about their prospects. We've had a clear view on the future of networks for a number of years and it is a pleasure to have a partner in the mobile space who sees the future the same way we do. What that mobile guidance means in total, is we have adjusted EBITDA of $71 million in the domains and mobile segments and adjusted EBITDA burn of roughly $14 million in Ting internet, and also a spend of about $14 million in corporate overheads for a net of $43 million in EBITDA in total. The other important topic for me to cover is the continued acceleration of all of the trends in the U.S. transition from coax to fiber as the predominant means of delivering the internet. We've talked about the pandemic, the yield-starved world and the particular history of U.S. telecom, as all contributing to a significant acceleration of already strong trends. When I would speak with bankers and large pools of capital just a few…

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Analyst