Earnings Labs

Tucows Inc. (TCX)

Q3 2021 Earnings Call· Sat, Nov 6, 2021

$16.34

-1.39%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Monica Webb

Operator

Welcome to Tucows' Third Quarter 2021 Management Commentary. We have prerecorded 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 e-mail at ir@tucows.com until Friday, November 12. Management will address your questions directly or in a recorded audio response and transcript that will be posted to the Tucows website on Thursday, November 18th, 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 seven 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, November 4th, Tucows issued a news release reporting the financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 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, Elliot.

Elliot Noss

Analyst

Thanks, Monica. The third quarter once again saw solid financial performance across Tucows' businesses. Domains Services continued to deliver consistent performance, benefiting from the higher level of domains under management driven by the pandemic impact last year as well as our success in maximizing gross margin. In our Mobile Services business, our Q3 results reflect the growing contribution of our MSE platform business, which continues to move forward in line with our expectations. And in our Ting Internet business, we continued to make strong, steady progress in the accelerated build out of our network and our customer base. Turning to our financial results. Total revenue for the third quarter was $75.9 million, up from $74.3 million for the same period last year, driven by growth in Fiber Internet Services revenue. In addition, for the first time, we are benefiting from the year-over-year growth in revenue generated by the MSE model as well as the impact of only one month of legacy mobile customer revenue included in last year's number. Gross margin before network costs was $26.4 million, up 1% from $26 million from last year. I note that the DISH deal took place one third of the way through Q3 of last year. Thus, the year-over-year comparisons and the currently choppy nature of the MSE revenue have a positive gross margin effect of roughly $700,000. Those looking for a refresher on the details can refer to our Q3 2020 management remarks. Net income for the third quarter was $1.4 million or $0.13 per share compared with $700,000 or $0.07 per share for the same period last year. Cash flow from operations was $1.5 million compared with $11.4 million in Q3 last year. This primarily results from two things; a short-term accounting impact from our MSE business that Dave will explain…

Dave Singh

Analyst

Thanks, Elliot. As Elliot noted at the outset, August 1st marked the one-year anniversary of the sale of the majority of our Ting Mobile customers to DISH and the change in our mobile model from our previous MVNO model to our current MSE model. When comparing our results for Q3 to the same period last year, Q3 last year includes one month of gross margin generated by the customer base sold to DISH and two months of fees generated under the new MSE model. As a result, revenue and gross margin reflect the absence of the mobile customer base sold to DISH but does reflect the contribution of the MSE model and once again, adjusted EBITDA may provide a better year-over-year view on the operating performance of the overall Tucows business. Beginning in Q4, our results will be directly comparable on a quarter-over-quarter basis. Turning now to the results. Total revenue for the third quarter of 2021 was $75.9 million, a 2% increase from $74.3 million for the third quarter of 2020. The return to positive year-over-year growth is the result of growth in Fiber Internet Services revenue as well as the diminished impact of the sale of the Ting customers to DISH as a result of having just one month of revenue from those customers in Q3 last year. Fiber Internet services revenue was up 42% year-over-year as the subscriber base continues to grow, per Elliot's earlier comments. Domains services revenue was essentially unchanged from Q3 last year, and Mobile Services revenue was down 4%, which reflects a 30-day loss of revenue from the customers sold to DISH, which was substantially offset by the over 200% year-over-year increase in MSE revenue. Excluding the impact of the shift in the Mobile business to the MSE model, revenue for the combined…

Elliot Noss

Analyst

Thanks, Dave. First, I would like to reiterate our previous guidance of $43 million for 2021. In fact, there is likely a little upside there. As I intimated last quarter, for 2022, we will be moving further down the road of separating our three businesses. You're hearing me use the term businesses, not business segments as I think they have now outgrown the term. Next quarter, there will be a lot of detail to share, so I felt that this quarter, I should provide a high-level overview of what we are thinking about. Over my quarter century at Tucows, we have repeatedly nurtured new business opportunities inside of our existing businesses. The Wholesale Domains business leveraged our download business. The Retail Domains business grew up inside of wholesale. The mobile business was nurtured by domains infrastructure, and the fiber business leveraged the mobile business. As each of those businesses reached a level of scale, they stood up as separate operations. Starting with the DISH deal, in August of 2020, we began a process of pushing further into separate businesses. That process had a transitional phase in 2021, allowing investors to understand the simple yet complicated transaction with DISH in a year-over-year way. In 2022, we will move to a structure that looks much more like three separate businesses with the parent, TCX, acting as more of a holder of a portfolio of assets and a capital allocator. In terms of why we are doing this, I want to focus on three reasons; operations, capital, and investor clarity. Operationally, there are real efficiency advantages to sharing a number of overheads while nascent, but as the businesses mature, it can lead to limitations on growth and focus. Each business has a unique set of needs technically. They also compete for talent, both…