News Release
Spok Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results
Continued improvement in net income and adjusted EBITDA
Company provides financial guidance for the full year 2023
Board Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend
Alexandria, Va. (February 22, 2023) – Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPOK), a global leader in healthcare communications, today announced results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2022. In addition, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.3125 per share, payable on March 30, 2023, to stockholders of record on March 16, 2023.
Recent Highlights:
- Strategic business plan continued to progress in the fourth quarter as the Company generated net income of $24.2 million, or $1.21 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $16.7 million, or $0.86 per diluted share in the prior year period
- The fourth quarter 2022 benefit from income taxes increased due to a $21.9 million non-cash gain related to the release of the previously established valuation allowance for net operating losses and research and development tax credits
- For the full year 2022, the Company generated $24.5 million of adjusted EBITDA, excluding one-time costs related to the strategic business plan(1)
- With the renewed focus on Spok Care Connect® clients, full year 2022 software operations bookings totaled $24.7 million, a 16.6% year-over-year increase
- Fourth quarter 2022 software operations bookings included 17 six figure new customer contracts, bringing the full year total to 66 new contracts worth over six figures
- Fourth quarter 2022 wireless average revenue per unit was $7.50, up 3.3% year-over-year, with units in service down only 3.5% for the full year 2022
- Capital returned to stockholders in 2022 totaled $25.0 million in the form of the Company’s regular quarterly dividend
- Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments balance of $35.8 million on December 31, 2022, and no debt
- In October, Spok released the results of its 12th annual survey on communications in healthcare, with more than 200 participants from around the U.S. responding to questions regarding the state of communication at their respective organizations.
“I am proud of what the Spok team has been able to accomplish in 2022 and believe that we have established a solid foundation for the future as we continue to execute our focus on generating cash flow and returning capital to stockholders,” said Vincent D. Kelly, chief executive officer of Spok Holdings, Inc. “Last year, we made progress in several key performance areas, including wireless trends, software bookings and backlog levels, as well as expense management, as we aligned our cost structure with our business plan. In 2023 we will continue to invest in a targeted and limited manner in our Spok Care Connect solutions and leverage the traction that our sales team generated through the 66 six figure new customer contracts booked last year and the growth in our sales pipeline. Spok will also take advantage of new wireless technologies, such as our GenA™ pager, to further minimize unit churn and support average revenue per unit. Going forward, we believe our extensive experience operating our established communication solutions will create significant value for stockholders by maximizing revenue and cash flow generation.”
1) Annual adjusted EBITDA, excluding one-time costs related to the strategic business plan, of $24.5 million is equal to Adjusted EBITDA excluding $7.5 million of payroll and related, and $2.0 million of non-payroll Spok Go and other outside services costs.
Financial Highlights:
For the three months ended December 31, | For the year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
(Dollars in thousands) | 2022 | 2021 | Change (%) | 2022 | 2021 | Change (%) | |||||
Revenue | |||||||||||
Wireless revenue | |||||||||||
Paging revenue | $ 18,450 | $ 18,513 | (0.3) % | $ 73,323 | $ 75,845 | (3.3) % | |||||
Product and other revenue | 571 | 690 | (17.2) % | 2,299 | 2,981 | (22.9) % | |||||
Total wireless revenue | $ 19,021 | $ 19,203 | (0.9) % | $ 75,622 | $ 78,826 | (4.1) % | |||||
Software revenue | |||||||||||
License | $ 1,269 | $ 1,650 | (23.1) % | $ 7,202 | $ 5,917 | 21.7 % | |||||
Professional services | 3,063 | 3,783 | (19.0) % | 12,565 | 17,161 | (26.8) % | |||||
Hardware | 585 | 573 | 2.1 % | 2,211 | 2,267 | (2.5) % | |||||
Maintenance | 9,317 | 9,335 | (0.2) % | 36,934 | 37,982 | (2.8) % | |||||
Total software revenue | 14,234 | 15,341 | (7.2) % | 58,912 | 63,327 | (7.0) % | |||||
Total revenue | $ 33,255 | $ 34,544 | (3.7) % | $ 134,534 | $ 142,153 | (5.4) % | |||||
| For the three months ended December 31, |
| For the year ended December 31, | ||||||||
(Dollars in thousands) | 2022 | 2021 | Change (%) | 2022 | 2021 | Change (%) | |||||
GAAP | |||||||||||
Operating expenses | $ 30,300 | $ 55,355 | (45.3) % | $ 134,296 | $ 169,871 | (20.9) % | |||||
Net income (loss) | $ 24,226 | $ (16,669) | 245.3 % | $ 21,856 | $ (22,180) | 198.5 % | |||||
Cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments (as of period end) | $ 35,754 | $ 59,582 | (40.0) % | $ 35,754 | $ 59,582 | (40.0) % | |||||
Capital returned to stockholders | $ 6,162 | $ 2,435 | 153.1 % | $ 25,011 | $ 10,025 | 149.5 % | |||||
Non-GAAP | |||||||||||
Adjusted operating expenses | $ 28,481 | $ 39,535 | (28.0) % | $ 123,396 | $ 154,284 | (20.0) % | |||||
Adjusted EBITDA | $ 5,647 | $ (3,788) | 249.1 % | $ 14,965 | $ (4,892) | 405.9 % | |||||
For the three months ended December 31, | For the year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
(Dollars in thousands, excluding units and service and ARPU) | 2022 | 2021 | Change (%) | 2022 | 2021 | Change (%) | |||||
Key Statistics | |||||||||||
Wireless units in service | 817 | 847 | (3.5) % | 817 | 847 | (3.5) % | |||||
Wireless average revenue per unit (ARPU) | $ 7.50 | $ 7.26 | 3.3 % | $ 7.34 | $ 7.30 | 0.5 % | |||||
Software operations bookings(2) | $ 5,863 | $ 7,329 | (20.0) % | $ 24,692 | $ 21,184 | 16.6 % | |||||
Software maintenance bookings(3) | $ 9,547 | $ 7,058 | 35.3 % | $ 37,315 | $ 35,902 | 3.9 % | |||||
Software backlog (as of period end) | $ 43,966 | $ 43,361 | 1.4 % | $ 43,966 | $ 43,361 | 1.4 % | |||||
2) Software operations bookings includes net new (i.e. new customers or incremental add-on sales to existing customers) sales of license, professional services, equipment, and first-year maintenance, excluding sales of Spok Go and related services which were discontinued in early 2022.
3) Software maintenance bookings includes the renewal of maintenance and term license contracts.
Financial Outlook:
Regarding financial guidance, the Company expects the following for the full year 2023:
(Unaudited and in millions) | Current Guidance Full Year 2023 | ||||
From | To | ||||
Revenue | |||||
Wireless | $ 71.5 | $ 74.5 | |||
Software | $ 57.5 | $ 62.0 | |||
Total Revenue | $ 129.0 | $ 136.5 | |||
Adjusted EBITDA | $ 24.0 | $ 26.0 | |||
2022 Fourth Quarter Call:
Management will host a conference call and webcast to discuss these financial results on Thursday, February 23, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. The presentation is open to all interested parties and may include forward-looking information.
Conference Call Details
Date/Time: | Thursday, February 23, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. EST |
Webcast: | https://www.webcast-eqs.com/spok_02232023_en/en |
U.S. Toll-Free Dial In: | 877-407-0890 |
International Dial In: | 1-201-389-0918 |
To access the call, please dial in approximately ten minutes before the start of the call. For those unable to join the live call, an OnDemand version of the webcast will be available following the call under the URL link and on the investor relations website.
* * * * * * * * *
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This press release contains the following non-GAAP financial measures: adjusted operating expenses, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA, excluding one-time costs related to the strategic business plan. Adjusted operating expenses excludes depreciation, amortization and accretion, impairment of intangible assets, severance and restructuring costs, and effects of capitalized software development costs. Adjusted EBITDA represents net income/(loss) before interest income/expense, income tax benefit/expense, depreciation, amortization and accretion expense, stock-based compensation expense, impairment of intangible assets, severance and restructuring, and effects of capitalized software development costs. With respect to our expectations under “Financial Guidance” above, reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net income (loss) is not available without unreasonable efforts on a forward-looking basis due to the high variability, complexity and uncertainty with respect to certain items included in net income (loss) that are excluded from adjusted EBITDA, in particular, income tax benefit / expense, stock-based compensation expenses, impairment of intangible assets, severance and restructuring and other non-recurring expenses. These items can have unpredictable fluctuations based on unforeseen activity that is out of our control and /or cannot be reasonably predicted.
We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to management and investors regarding certain financial and business trends relating to Spok’s financial condition and results of operations. We use these non-GAAP measures for financial, operational, and budgetary decision-making purposes, to understand and evaluate our core operating performance and trends, and to generate future operating plans. We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures permit us to more thoroughly analyze key financial metrics used to make operational decisions and allow us to assess our core operating results. We believe that the use of these non-GAAP financial measures provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends and in comparing our financial measures with other software companies who present similar non-GAAP financial measures. We adjust for certain items because we do not regard these costs as reflective of normal costs related to the ongoing operation of the business in the ordinary course. In general, these items possess one or more of the following characteristics: non-cash expenses, factors outside of our control, items that are non-operational in nature, and unusual items not expected to occur in the normal course of business. Adjusted EBITDA excluding one-time costs related to the strategic business plan is a temporary Non-GAAP measure used by management to reflect our financial performance excluding material costs that are included within our financial statements due to the adoption of our new strategic business plan in early 2022. We believe it is important to exclude these costs, given that they do not represent future operational costs under this strategic business plan. This allows us to assess the underlying performance of our core business under this new strategic business plan.
We do not consider these non-GAAP measures in isolation or as an alternative to financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP. The principle of these non-GAAP financial measures is that they exclude significant amounts that are required by GAAP to be recorded in the Company’s financial statements. In addition, they are subject to inherent limitations as they reflect the exercise of judgment by management about which items are excluded or included in determining these non-GAAP financial measures. In order to compensate for these limitations, management presents non-GAAP financial measures in connection with GAAP results. We urge investors to review the reconciliation of our non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP financial measures, which are included in this press release, and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.
Tables to Follow
SPOK HOLDINGS, INC. | ||||||||
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS | ||||||||
(Unaudited and in thousands except share, per share amounts and ARPU) | ||||||||
For the three months ended | For the year Rended | |||||||
12/31/2022 | 12/31/2021 | 12/31/2022 | 12/31/2021 | |||||
Revenue: | ||||||||
Wireless | $ 19,021 | $ 19,203 | $ 75,622 | $ 78,826 | ||||
Software | 14,234 | 15,341 | 58,912 | 63,327 | ||||
Total revenue | 33,255 | 34,544 | 134,534 | 142,153 | ||||
Operating expenses: | ||||||||
Cost of revenue (exclusive of items shown separately below) | 6,859 | 8,290 | 28,267 | 32,470 | ||||
Research and development | 2,281 | 4,851 | 13,625 | 17,514 | ||||
Technology operations | 6,800 | 7,331 | 27,412 | 28,844 | ||||
Selling and marketing | 3,667 | 5,356 | 16,296 | 21,083 | ||||
General and administrative | 8,874 | 11,104 | 37,796 | 43,531 | ||||
Depreciation, amortization and accretion | 938 | 2,694 | 3,571 | 10,446 | ||||
Severance and restructuring | 881 | 66 | 7,329 | 320 | ||||
Goodwill and capitalized software development impairment | — | 15,663 | — | 15,663 | ||||
Total operating expenses | 30,300 | 55,355 | 134,296 | 169,871 | ||||
% of total revenue | 91.1 % | 160.2 % | 99.8 % | 119.5 % | ||||
Operating income (loss) | 2,955 | (20,811) | 238 | (27,718) | ||||
% of total revenue | 8.9 % | (60.2) % | 0.2 % | (19.5) % | ||||
Interest income | 226 | 56 | 592 | 320 | ||||
Other income | 57 | 54 | 167 | 66 | ||||
Income (loss) before income taxes | 3,238 | (20,701) | 997 | (27,332) | ||||
Benefit from income taxes | 20,988 | 4,032 | 20,859 | 5,152 | ||||
Net income (loss) | $ 24,226 | $ (16,669) | $ 21,856 | $ (22,180) | ||||
Basic net income (loss) per common share | $ 1.23 | $ (0.86) | $ 1.11 | $ (1.14) | ||||
Diluted net income (loss) per common share | 1.21 | (0.86) | 1.09 | (1.14) | ||||
Basic weighted average common shares outstanding | 19,703,802 | 19,483,004 | 19,672,423 | 19,404,477 | ||||
Diluted weighted average common shares outstanding | 20,009,234 | 19,483,004 | 19,991,202 | 19,404,477 | ||||
Cash dividends declared per common share | 0.3125 | 0.1250 | 1.2500 | 0.5000 | ||||
SPOK HOLDINGS, INC. | ||||
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS | ||||
(In thousands) | ||||
12/31/2022 | 12/31/2021 | |||
ASSETS | (Unaudited) | |||
Current assets: | ||||
Cash and cash equivalents | $ 35,754 | $ 44,583 | ||
Short-term investments | — | 14,999 | ||
Accounts receivable, net | 26,861 | 26,908 | ||
Prepaid expenses | 6,849 | 6,641 | ||
Other current assets | 587 | 922 | ||
Total current assets | 70,051 | 94,053 | ||
Non-current assets: | ||||
Property and equipment, net | 8,223 | 6,746 | ||
Operating lease right-of-use assets | 13,876 | 15,821 | ||
Goodwill | 99,175 | 99,175 | ||
Deferred income tax assets, net | 52,398 | 31,653 | ||
Other non-current assets | 754 | 706 | ||
Total non-current assets | 174,426 | 154,101 | ||
Total assets | $ 244,477 | $ 248,154 | ||
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY | ||||
Current liabilities: | ||||
Accounts payable | $ 5,880 | $ 5,292 | ||
Accrued compensation and benefits | 11,628 | 13,948 | ||
Deferred revenue | 26,274 | 25,608 | ||
Operating lease liabilities | 5,096 | 5,405 | ||
Other current liabilities | 4,573 | 4,745 | ||
Total current liabilities | 53,451 | 54,998 | ||
Non-current liabilities: | ||||
Asset retirement obligations | 7,237 | 6,355 | ||
Operating lease liabilities | 10,604 | 11,883 | ||
Other non-current liabilities | 1,107 | 1,227 | ||
Total non-current liabilities | 18,948 | 19,465 | ||
Total liabilities | 72,399 | 74,463 | ||
Commitments and contingencies | ||||
Stockholders’ equity: | ||||
Common stock | 2 | 2 | ||
Additional paid-in capital | 99,908 | 97,291 | ||
Accumulated other comprehensive loss | (1,909) | (1,588) | ||
Retained earnings | 74,077 | 77,986 | ||
Total stockholders’ equity | 172,078 | 173,691 | ||
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity | $ 244,477 | $ 248,154 | ||
SPOK HOLDINGS, INC. | |||
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS | |||
(Unaudited and in thousands) | |||
For the year ended | |||
12/31/2022 | 12/31/2021 | ||
Operating activities: | |||
Net income (loss) | $ 21,856 | $ (22,180) | |
Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash provided by operating activities: | |||
Depreciation, amortization and accretion | 3,571 | 10,446 | |
Goodwill and capitalized software development impairment | — | 15,663 | |
Valuation allowance | (21,850) | — | |
Deferred income tax expense (benefit) | 903 | (5,483) | |
Stock-based compensation | 3,827 | 7,239 | |
Provisions for credit losses, service credits and other | 1,777 | 1,162 | |
Changes in assets and liabilities: | |||
Accounts receivable | (1,757) | 1,833 | |
Prepaid expenses and other assets | (88) | 2,594 | |
Net operating lease liabilities | 357 | 763 | |
Accounts payable, accrued liabilities and other | (2,258) | (679) | |
Deferred revenue | 118 | (3,390) | |
Net cash provided by operating activities | 6,456 | 7,968 | |
Investing activities: | |||
Purchases of property and equipment | (3,776) | (4,393) | |
Capitalized software development | — | (10,842) | |
Purchase of short-term investments | (14,967) | (44,990) | |
Maturity of short-term investments | 30,000 | 60,000 | |
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities | 11,257 | (225) | |
Financing activities: | |||
Cash distributions to stockholders | (25,011) | (10,025) | |
Proceeds from issuance of common stock under the Employee Stock Purchase Plan | — | 132 | |
Purchase of common stock for tax withholding on vested equity awards | (1,210) | (1,860) | |
Net cash used in financing activities | (26,221) | (11,753) | |
Effect of exchange rate on cash and cash equivalents | (321) | (136) | |
Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents | (8,829) | (4,146) | |
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period | 44,583 | 48,729 | |
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period | $ 35,754 | $ 44,583 | |
Supplemental disclosure: | |||
Income taxes paid/(refunded) | $ 223 | $ (126) | |
SPOK HOLDINGS, INC. | ||||||||||||||||
UNITS IN SERVICE, MARKET SEGMENTS, | ||||||||||||||||
AND AVERAGE REVENUE PER UNIT (ARPU) (a) | ||||||||||||||||
(Unaudited and in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||
For the three months ended | ||||||||||||||||
12/31/2022 | 9/30/2022 | 6/30/2022 | 3/31/2022 | 12/31/2021 | 9/30/2021 | 6/30/2021 | 3/31/2021 | |||||||||
Account size ending units in service (000’s) | ||||||||||||||||
1 to 100 units | 50 | 51 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 57 | 58 | 59 | ||||||||
101 to 1,000 units | 147 | 147 | 149 | 150 | 154 | 154 | 155 | 163 | ||||||||
>1,000 units | 620 | 626 | 633 | 634 | 638 | 642 | 656 | 652 | ||||||||
Total | 817 | 824 | 835 | 838 | 847 | 853 | 869 | 874 | ||||||||
Market segment as a percent of total ending units in service | ||||||||||||||||
Healthcare | 85.4 % | 85.0 % | 85.0 % | 84.7 % | 84.7 % | 84.6 % | 84.5 % | 84.1 % | ||||||||
Government | 4.4 % | 4.1 % | 4.2 % | 4.7 % | 4.8 % | 4.8 % | 4.9 % | 4.8 % | ||||||||
Large enterprise | 4.0 % | 3.9 % | 4.0 % | 3.9 % | 3.9 % | 4.1 % | 4.1 % | 4.3 % | ||||||||
Other(b) | 6.1 % | 7.0 % | 6.8 % | 6.7 % | 6.6 % | 6.4 % | 6.4 % | 6.8 % | ||||||||
Total | 100.0 % | 100.0 % | 100.0 % | 100.0 % | 100.0 % | 100.0 % | 100.0 % | 100.0 % | ||||||||
Account size ARPU | ||||||||||||||||
1 to 100 units | $ 11.95 | $ 11.80 | $ 11.41 | $ 11.52 | $ 11.58 | $ 11.67 | $ 11.69 | $ 11.72 | ||||||||
101 to 1,000 units | 8.66 | 8.44 | 8.27 | 8.24 | 8.30 | 8.38 | 8.35 | 8.33 | ||||||||
>1,000 units | 6.86 | 6.69 | 6.63 | 6.64 | 6.63 | 6.65 | 6.68 | 6.68 | ||||||||
Total | $ 7.50 | $ 7.40 | $ 7.23 | $ 7.24 | $ 7.26 | $ 7.29 | $ 7.32 | $ 7.34 | ||||||||
(a) Slight variations in totals are due to rounding. | ||||||||||||||||
(b) Other includes hospitality, resort and indirect units | ||||||||||||||||
RECONCILIATION OF ADJUSTED OPERATING EXPENSES | ||||||||
(Unaudited and in thousands) | ||||||||
For the three months ended | For the year ended | |||||||
12/31/2022 | 12/31/2021 | 12/31/2022 | 12/31/2021 | |||||
Operating expenses | $ 30,300 | $ 55,355 | $ 134,296 | $ 169,871 | ||||
Add back: | ||||||||
Depreciation, amortization and accretion | (938) | (2,694) | (3,571) | (10,446) | ||||
Goodwill and capitalized software development impairment | — | (15,663) | — | (15,663) | ||||
Capitalized software development costs | — | 2,603 | — | 10,842 | ||||
Severance and restructuring | (881) | (66) | (7,329) | (320) | ||||
Adjusted operating expenses | $ 28,481 | $ 39,535 | $ 123,396 | $ 154,284 | ||||
RECONCILIATION OF ADJUSTED EBITDA | ||||||||
(Unaudited and in thousands) | ||||||||
For the three months ended | For the year ended | |||||||
12/31/2022 | 12/31/2021 | 12/31/2022 | 12/31/2021 | |||||
Net income (loss) | $ 24,226 | $ (16,669) | $ 21,856 | $ (22,180) | ||||
Add back: | ||||||||
Benefit from income taxes | (20,988) | (4,032) | (20,859) | (5,152) | ||||
Other income | (57) | (54) | (167) | (66) | ||||
Interest income | (226) | (56) | (592) | (320) | ||||
Depreciation, amortization and accretion | 938 | 2,694 | 3,571 | 10,446 | ||||
EBITDA | $ 3,893 | $ (18,117) | $ 3,809 | $ (17,272) | ||||
Adjustments: | ||||||||
Goodwill and capitalized software development impairment | — | 15,663 | — | 15,663 | ||||
Capitalized software development costs | — | (2,603) | — | (10,842) | ||||
Stock-based compensation | 873 | 1,203 | 3,827 | 7,239 | ||||
Severance and restructuring | 881 | 66 | 7,329 | 320 | ||||
Adjusted EBITDA | $ 5,647 | $ (3,788) | $ 14,965 | $ (4,892) | ||||