Tucows Reports Financial Results for Fourth Quarter 2019

/EIN News/ -- TORONTO, Feb. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tucows Inc. (NASDAQ:TCX, TSX:TC), a provider of network access, domain names and other Internet services, today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2019. All figures are in U.S. dollars.

Summary Financial Results
(In Thousands of US Dollars, Except Per Share Data)

	3 Months Ended December 31			12 Months Ended December 31
	2019 (Unaudited)	2018 (Unaudited)	% Change	2019 (Unaudited)	2018 (Unaudited)	% Change
Net revenue	85,946	85,612	0.4%	337,145	346,013	-3%
Net income	5,778	4,436	30%	15,398	17,135	-10%
Basic Net earnings per common share	0.55	0.42	31%	1.45	1.62	-10%
Adjusted EBITDA1,2	16,155	16,623	-3%	51,905	50,054	4%
Net cash provided by operating activities	13,196	10,668	24%	40,381	37,209	9%

1. This Non-GAAP financial measure is described below and reconciled to GAAP net income in the accompanying table.
2. Adjusted EBITDA for the three-month and 12-month periods ended December 31, 2019 reflect the impact of the purchase price accounting adjustment related to the fair value write down of deferred revenue from the Ascio acquisition on March 18, 2019, which lowered Adjusted EBITDA by $0.5 million and $2.5 million, respectively.

Summary of Revenues and Gross profit
(In Thousands of US Dollars)

	Revenue		Gross Profit
	3 Months ended December 31		3 Months ended December 31
	2019 (Unaudited)	2018 (Unaudited)	2019 (Unaudited)	2018 (Unaudited)
Network Access Services:
Mobile Services	21,140	22,511	9,445	11,093
Other Services	3,029	2,320	2,062	1,429
Total Network Access Services	24,169	24,831	11,507	12,522
Domain Services:
Wholesale
Domain Services	46,622	43,396	9,085	7,752
Value Added Services	4,809	4,180	4,128	3,438
Total Wholesale	51,431	47,576	13,213	11,190
Retail	8,648	8,880	4,682	4,475
Portfolio	1,698	4,325	1,526	3,900
Total Domain Services	61,777	60,781	19,421	19,565
Network Expenses:
Network, other costs	-	-	(2,156)	(2,256)
Network, depreciation and amortization costs	-	-	(2,727)	(2,100)
Total Network expenses	-	-	(4,883)	(4,356)
Total	85,946	85,612	26,045	27,731

“Our fourth quarter results were once again demonstrative of the consistency in the Tucows business. Continuing strong cash generation from our Domains and Ting Mobile businesses contributed to record cash from operations for the year of $40 million to support investment in our outsized Ting Internet growth opportunity,” said Elliot Noss, President and Chief Executive Officer, Tucows Inc.

Mr. Noss added, “2019 was a year in which we took meaningful steps to position each of our businesses for long-term success. In our Domains business, we focused on strengthening the quality of the wholesale customer base to maximize gross profit of that channel, which expanded 15% over the prior year, as we made steady progress on our platform work to support future growth. In our Ting Mobile business, we announced positive changes to our service provider agreements that further enhance our already very compelling offering and provide much improved economics, setting the stage for better long-term prospects for our mobile business. And at Ting Internet, we invested more than $32 million in our network build, growing the number of passed homes by more than 60% and expanding our customer base by 46%, while adding four new towns that expanded our potential serviceable addresses by 74%. Tucows remains very well positioned to capitalize the greatest opportunity in telecom in a couple of generations.”

Financial Results

Net revenue for the fourth quarter of 2019 increased 0.4% to $85.9 million from $85.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2018.

Net income for the fourth quarter of 2019 increased 30% to $5.8 million, or $0.55 per share from $4.4 million, or $0.42 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2018. 

Adjusted EBITDA¹ for the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased 3% to $16.2 million from $16.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2018. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2019 reflects the impact of the purchase price accounting adjustment related to the fair value write down of deferred revenue from the Ascio acquisition, which lowered Adjusted EBITDA by $0.5 million.

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the fourth quarter of 2019 was $20.4 million compared with $12.0 million at the end of the third quarter of 2019 and $12.6 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018.

Notes:

1. Adjusted EBITDA

Tucows reports all financial information required in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Along with this information, to assist financial statement users in an assessment of our historical performance, the Company typically discloses and discusses a non-GAAP financial measure, adjusted EBITDA, in press releases and on investor conference calls and related events that exclude certain non-cash and other charges as the Company believes that the non-GAAP information enhances investors' overall understanding of our financial performance.

The Company believes that the provision of this supplemental non-GAAP measure allows investors to evaluate the operational and financial performance of the Company’s core business using similar evaluation measures to those used by management. The Company uses adjusted EBITDA to measure its performance and prepare its budgets. Since adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial performance measure, the Company’s calculation of adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies; and should not be considered in isolation, as a substitute for, or superior to measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. Because adjusted EBITDA is calculated before recurring cash charges, including interest expense and taxes, and is not adjusted for capital expenditures or other recurring cash requirements of the business, it should not be considered as a liquidity measure. Non-GAAP financial measures do not reflect a comprehensive system of accounting and may differ from non-GAAP financial measures with the same or similar captions that are used by other companies and/or analysts and may differ from period to period. The Company endeavors to compensate for these limitations by providing the relevant disclosure of the items excluded in the calculation of adjusted EBITDA to net income based on U.S. GAAP, which should be considered when evaluating the Company's results. Tucows strongly encourages investors to review its financial information in its entirety and not to rely on a single financial measure.

The Company’s adjusted EBITDA definition excludes depreciation, amortization of intangible assets, income tax provision, interest expense, interest income, stock-based compensation, asset impairment, gains and losses from unrealized foreign currency transactions and infrequently occurring items, including acquisition and transition costs. Gains and losses from unrealized foreign currency transactions removes the unrealized effect of the change in the mark-to-market values on outstanding unhedged foreign currency contracts, as well as the unrealized effect from the translation of monetary accounts denominated in non-U.S. dollars to U.S. dollars.

The following table reconciles net income to adjusted EBITDA (dollars in thousands):

	3 months ended December 31		12 months ended December 31
	2019 (unaudited)	2018 (unaudited)	2019 (unaudited)	2018 (unaudited)
Net income for the period	5,778	4,436	15,398	17,135
Depreciation of property and equipment	2,516	1,716	8,961	5,722
Loss on disposition of property and equipment	-	-	73	-
Amortization of intangible assets	2,870	2,290	10,333	9,243
Interest expense, net	1,220	926	4,769	3,687
Provision for income taxes	2,964	5,239	9,173	9,020
Stock-based compensation	836	670	2,876	2,574
Unrealized loss (gain) on change in fair value of forward contracts	(109)	194	(313)	207
Unrealized loss (gain) on foreign exchange revaluation of foreign denominated monetary assets and liabilities	(180)	749	(581)	940
Acquisition and transition costs*	260	403	1,216	1,526
Adjusted EBITDA	16,155	16,623	51,905	50,054
*Acquisition and other costs represent transaction-related expenses, transitional expenses, such as duplicative post-acquisition expenses, primarily related to the Company’s acquisition of Enom in January 2017 and Ascio in March 2019. Expenses include severance or transitional costs associated with department, operational or overall company restructuring efforts, including geographic alignments.

Conference Call
Concurrent with the dissemination of this news release, management’s pre-recorded commentary discussing the quarter and outlook for the Company have been posted to the Tucows web site at http://www.tucows.com/investors/financials. In lieu of a live question and answer period, for the next six days (until Tuesday, February 18), shareholders, analysts and prospective investors can submit questions to Tucows’ management at ir@tucows.com. Management will post responses to questions of general interest to the Company’s web site at http://www.tucows.com/investors/financials/ on Tuesday, February 25 at approximately 4:00 p.m. ET. All questions will receive a response, however, questions of a more specific nature may be responded to directly.

About Tucows
Tucows is a provider of network access, domain names and other Internet services. Ting (https://ting.com) delivers mobile phone service and fixed Internet access with outstanding customer support. OpenSRS (http://opensrs.com), Enom (http://www.enom.com) and Ascio (http://ascio.com) combined manage approximately 24 million domain names and millions of value-added services through a global reseller network of over 36,000 web hosts and ISPs. Hover (http://hover.com) makes it easy for individuals and small businesses to manage their domain names and email addresses. More information can be found on Tucows’ corporate website (http://tucows.com).

Tucows Inc.
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(Dollar amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars)
		December 31,				December 31,
			2019			2018 *
		(unaudited)				(unaudited)
Assets
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents		$	20,393			$	12,637
Accounts receivable			14,564				10,837
Inventory			3,457				3,775
Prepaid expenses and deposits			13,478				15,472
Derivative instrument asset, current portion			731				-
Prepaid domain name registry and ancillary services fees, current portion			91,252				87,782
Income taxes recoverable			1,800				1,423
Total current assets			145,675				131,926
Prepaid domain name registry and ancillary services fees, long-term portion			17,915				18,745
Property and equipment			82,121				48,065
Right of use operating lease asset			11,335				-
Contract costs			1,400				1,390
Intangible assets			57,654				49,395
Goodwill			109,818				90,054
Total assets		$	425,918			$	339,575
Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable		$	6,671			$	8,445
Accrued liabilities			9,373				5,899
Customer deposits			14,074				11,919
Derivative instrument liability			-				1,276
Deferred rent, current portion			-				21
Operating lease liability, current portion			1,413				-
Loan payable, current portion			-				18,400
Deferred revenue, current portion			123,101				116,734
Accreditation fees payable, current portion			952				985
Income taxes payable			1,324				1,668
Total current liabilities			156,908				165,347
Deferred revenue, long-term portion			26,202				26,960
Accreditation fees payable, long-term portion			216				250
Deferred rent, long-term portion			-				116
Operating lease liability, long-term portion			9,424				-
Loan payable, long-term portion			113,503				46,201
Deferred tax liability			25,471				20,925
Stockholders' equity:
Preferred stock - no par value, 1,250,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding			-				-
Common stock - no par value, 250,000,000 shares authorized; 10,585,159 shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2019 and 10,627,988 shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2018			16,633				15,823
Additional paid-in capital			880				3,953
Retained earnings			76,208				60,810
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)			473				(810	)
Total stockholders' equity			94,194				79,776
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity		$	425,918			$	339,575
*The Company has initially applied ASC 2016-02 (Topic 842) using the modified retrospective method. Under this method, the comparative information is not restated.

		Tucows Inc.
		Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income
		(Dollar amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars)
		Three months ended December 31,								Year ended December 31,
		2019				2018 *				2019				2018 *
		(unaudited)								(unaudited)
Net revenues		$	85,946			$	85,612			$	337,145			$	346,013
Cost of revenues:
Cost of revenues		55,018				53,525				217,579				232,103
Network expenses (*)		2,156				2,256				9,190				9,846
Depreciation of property and equipment		2,405				1,601				8,475				5,298
Amortization of intangible assets		322				499				1,124				1,996
Total cost of revenues		59,901				57,881				236,368				249,243
Gross profit		26,045				27,731				100,777				96,770
Expenses:
Sales and marketing (*)		7,904				8,434				34,270				33,063
Technical operations and development (*)		1,566				2,091				9,717				8,748
General and administrative (*)		4,062				4,804				17,880				17,710
Depreciation of property and equipment		111				115				486				424
Loss on disposition of property and equipment		-				-				73				-
Amortization of intangible assets		2,548				1,791				9,209				7,247
Loss (gain) on currency forward contracts		(108		)		232				(198		)		254
Total expenses		16,083				17,467				71,437				67,446
Income from operations		9,962				10,264				29,340				29,324
Other income (expenses):
Interest expense, net		(1,220		)		(926		)		(4,769		)		(3,687		)
Other income, net		-				337				-				518
Total other income (expenses)		(1,220		)		(589		)		(4,769		)		(3,169		)
Income before provision for income taxes		8,742				9,675				24,571				26,155
Provision for income taxes		2,964				5,239				9,173				9,020
Net income before redeemable non-controlling interest		5,778				4,436				15,398				17,135
Redeemable non-controlling interest		-				-				-				(26		)
Net income attributable to redeemable non-controlling interest		-				-				-				26
Net income for the period		5,778				4,436				15,398				17,135
Other comprehensive income, net of tax
Unrealized income (loss) on hedging activities		487				(910		)		1,101				(1,022		)
Net amount reclassified to earnings		15				136				182				212
Other comprehensive income (loss) net of tax (expense) recovery of ($161) and $241 for the three months ended December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, ($412) and $259 for the years ended December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018		502				(774		)		1,283				(810		)
Comprehensive income, net of tax for the period		$	6,280			$	3,662			$	16,681			$	16,325
Basic earnings per common share		$	0.55			$	0.42			$	1.45			$	1.62
Shares used in computing basic earnings per common share		10,577,080				10,621,181				10,623,799				10,604,722
Diluted earnings per common share		$	0.54			$	0.41			$	1.43			$	1.59
Shares used in computing diluted earnings per common share		10,693,430				10,791,940				10,772,812				10,794,170
(*) Stock-based compensation has been included in expenses as follows:
Network expenses		$	82			$	70			$	307			$	223
Sales and marketing		$	395			$	287			$	1,251			$	1,025
Technical operations and development		$	168			$	135			$	596			$	636
General and administrative		$	191			$	179			$	722			$	690
*The Company has initially applied ASC 2016-02 (Topic 842) using the modified retrospective method. Under this method, the comparative information is not restated.

		Tucows Inc.
		Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
		(Dollar amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars)
		Three months ended December 31,								Year ended December 31,
		2019				2018 *				2019				2018 *
Cash provided by:		(unaudited)								(unaudited)
Operating activities:
Net income for the period		$	5,778			$	4,436			$	15,398			$	17,135
Items not involving cash:
Depreciation of property and equipment		2,516				1,716				8,961				5,722
Loss on write off of property and equipment		-				-				142				-
Amortization of debt discount and issuance costs		65				70				297				281
Amortization of intangible assets		2,870				2,290				10,333				9,243
Net amortization contract costs		(2		)		(7		)		(10		)		14
Deferred income taxes (recovery)		(456		)		1,899				1,285				1,038
Excess tax benefits on share-based compensation expense		156				(165		)		(634		)		(697		)
Amortization of deferred rent		-				(5		)		-				(14		)
Net Right of use operating assets/Operating lease liability		(27		)		-				(32		)		-
Loss on disposal of domain names		43				271				115				341
Other income		-				(258		)		-				(429		)
Loss (gain) on change in the fair value of forward contracts		(109		)		194				(313		)		207
Stock-based compensation		836				670				2,876				2,574
Change in non-cash operating working capital:
Accounts receivable		(1,095		)		692				(3,015		)		1,539
Inventory		446				(635		)		318				(831		)
Prepaid expenses and deposits		6,147				(918		)		2,904				(1,286		)
Prepaid domain name registry and ancillary services fees		3,924				4,699				7,678				20,476
Income taxes recoverable		1,210				2,398				(89		)		2,691
Accounts payable		1,556				(877		)		(1,222		)		171
Accrued liabilities		(4,945		)		(978		)		2,329				(513		)
Customer deposits		(846		)		34				27				(3,336		)
Deferred revenue		(4,838		)		(4,798		)		(6,900		)		(16,888		)
Accreditation fees payable		(33		)		(60		)		(67		)		(229		)
Net cash provided by operating activities		13,196				10,668				40,381				37,209
Financing activities:
Proceeds received on exercise of stock options		83				50				395				112
Payment of tax obligations resulting from net exercise of stock options		(4		)		(41		)		(548		)		(445		)
Repurchase of common stock		-				-				(4,986		)		-
Proceeds received on loan payable		12,000				4,500				57,371				7,000
Repayment of loan payable		(3,530		)		(4,384		)		(8,130		)		(19,596		)
Payment of loan payable costs		(2		)		-				(641		)		(8		)
Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities		8,547				125				43,461				(12,937		)
Investing activities:
Additions to property and equipment		(12,913		)		(8,480		)		(44,070		)		(27,919		)
Acquisition of a portion of the minority interest in Ting Virginia, LLC		-				-				-				(1,200		)
Acquisition of Ascio Technologies Inc. (net of cash of $1,437)		(426		)		-				(28,450		)		-
Acquisition of intangible assets		-				(451		)		(3,566		)		(565		)
Net cash used in investing activities		(13,339		)		(8,931		)		(76,086		)		(29,684		)
(Decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents		8,404				1,862				7,756				(5,412		)
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period		11,989				10,775				12,637				18,049
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period		$	20,393			$	12,637			$	20,393			$	12,637
Supplemental cash flow information:
Interest paid		$	1,224			$	931			$	4,785			$	3,712
Income taxes paid, net		$	1,818			$	1,742			$	7,941			$	7,112
Supplementary disclosure of non-cash investing and financing activities:
Property and equipment acquired during the period not yet paid for		$	548			$	1,462			$	548			$	1,462
*The Company has initially applied ASC 2016-02 (Topic 842) using the modified retrospective method. Under this method, the comparative information is not restated.

Reconciliation of Net income to Adjusted EBITDA
(In Thousands of U.S. Dollars)		Three months ended December 31,								Year ended December 31,
(unaudited)		2019 (unaudited)				2018 (unaudited)				2019 (unaudited)				2018 (unaudited)
Net income for the period		$	5,778			$	4,436			$	15,398			$	17,135
Depreciation of property and equipment		2,516				1,716				8,961				5,722
Loss on disposition of property and equipment		-				-				73				-
Amortization of intangible assets		2,870				2,290				10,333				9,243
Interest expense, net		1,220				926				4,769				3,687
Provision for income taxes		2,964				5,239				9,173				9,020
Stock-based compensation		836				670				2,876				2,574
Unrealized loss (gain) on change in fair value of forward contracts		(109		)		194				(313		)		207
Unrealized loss (gain) on foreign exchange revaluation of foreign denominated monetary assets and liabilities		(180		)		749				(581		)		940
Acquisition and other costs1		260				403				1,216				1,526
Adjusted EBITDA		$	16,155			$	16,623			$	51,905			$	50,054
1Acquisition and other costs represents transaction-related expenses, transitional expenses, such as duplicative post-acquisition expenses, primarily related to our acquisition of Enom in January 2017 and Ascio in March 2019. Expenses include severance or transitional costs associated with department, operational or overall company restructuring efforts, including geographic alignments.

This release includes forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding our expectations regarding our future financial results and, including, without limitation, our expectations regarding our ability to realize synergies from the Enom acquisition and our expectation for growth of Ting Internet. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Information about other potential factors that could affect Tucows’ business, results of operations and financial condition is included in the Risk Factors sections of Tucows’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements should be evaluated with the understanding of their inherent uncertainty. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to Tucows as of the date they are made. Tucows assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law. 

Tucows, Ting, OpenSRS, Enom, Ascio and Hover are registered trademarks of Tucows Inc. or its subsidiaries.

Contact:
Lawrence Chamberlain
(416) 519-4196 | lawrence.chamberlain@loderockadvisors.com