Earnings Labs

Tucows Inc. (TCX)

Q2 2021 Earnings Call· Sun, Aug 8, 2021

$16.34

-1.39%

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Transcript

Monica Webb

Operator

Welcome to Tucows Second 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 Wednesday, August 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, August 17 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 six 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. Now for Management's prepared remarks. On Thursday, August 5, Tucows issued a news release reporting its financial results for the second quarter ended June 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. Q2 marked another quarter of solid performance for Tucows overall, and for each of our three business segments. Our domains business is benefiting from the impact of the growth in domains under management generated by the pandemic impact last year, as well as the continued impact of our focus on maximizing gross margin and overall profitability. Mobile services is moving forward on plan and contributing in line with our expectations for the MSC model. And internet services saw another quarter of record performances across key metrics, including by far our largest CapEx spend, past addresses and growth in the subscriber base. 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 with 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 of the details can refer to our Q3 2020 management remarks. Net income for the second quarter was $1.8 million or $0.17 a share, compared with 200,000 or $0.1 a share. with a reminder of Q2 last year included non-cash non-recurring charges that were excluded resulted in net income of $2.5 million or $0.23 per share, as increased spend on OpEx to fuel growth in our two growth businesses and increased non-cash charges from our CapEx spend drive this number lower. Cash flow from operations was $3.5 million, compared with $8.9 million in Q2 last year, primarily impacted by the operational investments and take fiber, and a number of other items that Dave will discuss in more detail in his section. And adjusted EBITDA was $11.2 million, compared with $12.2 billion in Q2 last year, excluding the impact of the change in…

Dave Singh

Analyst

Thanks, Elliot. I want to remind you at the outset the beginning in Q1 of this year, we reorganize our reporting structure into three segments, fiber internet services, mobile services and Domain Services for each of which we are now reporting down to the adjusted EBIDTA line. Certain corporate costs are excluded from the destiny but for each segment as they are centrally managed. These include finance, human resources, legal, corporate IT, depreciation, amortization expense on premise, 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 new segment structure and prior periods segment, adjusted EBITDA provide. In addition, as Elliott noted at the outset, our second quarter results once again reflect the impact of the transition of our mobile business to the MC model on August 1 of last year. As a reminder, as a result of this transition, gross margin consists of only the legacy mobile retail customer base that was not so to DISH, therefore decreases significantly year-over-year. Or more accurately Tucows no longer owns and therefore does not benefit from the margin on the growing portion of that base. Operating Expenses also decreased because we eliminate retail spends and transition retail staff with staff intended to build and operate a wholesale business. All the revenue associated with customer relationships that were sold to DISH and much of the expenses associated with the previous mobile retail model are now included as other income. We are however, including those earnings in our adjusted results and as such, adjusted DISH may provide a better year-over-year view on the operating performance of the overall Tucows business. Turning now to the results, total revenue for the second quarter of 2021…

Elliot Noss

Analyst

Thanks, Dave. I wanted to start by hopefully being able to welcome a new board member Marlene Karl in September, subject to the results of our AGM. She brings a wealth of experience in capital structures relating to infrastructure in general, and fiber in particular. she is standing for election in the seat currently held by Raleigh Rolls. Raleigh has generously served Tucows since 2009, and has been instrumental in helping me understand the needs of shareholders. We all give him a big thanks for all his time and effort and wish him the best in his future personal and professional endeavors. I will also note with a solid second quarter, both operationally and financially, we reiterate our guidance for 2021 a $43 million in adjusted EBIDTA. Last quarter, I shared my thoughts on the macro environment fiber, all of which points to a huge fiber build out over the next five years in particular. This quarter, I want to look a little bit more at the micro. First, we continue to see serious attention being paid to broadband stimulus in the US, we are pleased to see more focus on affordability. Over the next quarter or two, we hope to see these policies clarified, so we can integrate them into our operating plans. We expect this to impact how we approach the less dense areas surrounding our current builds, and the programs we were able to put in place to help address the serious digital divide issues in the US. We've seen a number of private equity firms invest in a platform, an executive team and an existing operation, which can serve as the basis for building a large number of fiber passes and for acquiring smaller ISVs. What is certainly true is that when you look at the…

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Analyst