Xerox Releases Second-Quarter Results

Business Wire 25-Jul-2024 6:30 AM

Reinvention drives sequential operating and financial improvements in Q2; Company revises full-year outlook, reiterates three-year adjusted operating income improvement target

Financial Summary

Q2 2024

• Revenue of $1.58 billion, down 10 percent, or 9.6 percent in constant currency.
• GAAP net income of $18 million, or $0.11 per share, up $79 million or $0.52 per share, year-over-year, respectively.
• Adjusted net income of $41 million, or $0.29 per share, down $31 million or $0.15 per share, year-over-year, respectively.
• Adjusted operating margin of 5.4 percent, down 70 basis points year-over-year.
• Operating cash flow of $123 million, up $28 million year-over-year.
• Free cash flow of $115 million, up $27 million year-over-year.
• Lowered 2024 revenue guidance to a range of -5% to -6% in constant currency to reflect incremental strategic actions, adjusted operating income guidance to at least 6.5%, and free cash flow guidance to at least $550 million.
• Maintained $300 million adjusted operating income improvement target over 2023 levels by the end of 2026.

Xerox Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:XRX) today announced its 2024 second-quarter results.

"The comprehensive and strategic operating model changes implemented in Q1 caused a short period of disruption but are delivering the intended improvements in financial results. Adjusted operating income margin, free cash flow and revenue trajectory improved sequentially in Q2. Momentum in orders, enhanced sales operations and new product initiatives are expected to drive a return to revenue growth in the second half of the year," said Steve Bandrowczak, chief executive officer at Xerox. "Q2 results give us confidence Xerox's new operating model, which is more streamlined and closely aligned to the economic buyers of our products and services, is enabling the operating improvements required to deliver an incremental $300 million of adjusted operating income over 2023 levels and a return to double-digit adjusted operating income margin by 2026."

Second-Quarter Key Financial Results

Second-Quarter Segment Results

2024 Guidance Update

• Revenue: from a decline of 3% to 5% to a decline of 5% to 6% in constant currency ¹
• Adjusted ¹ Operating Margin: from at least 7.5% to at least 6.5%
• Free cash flow¹: from at least $600 million to at least $550 million

2024 revenue guidance was lowered to reflect additional reductions in non-strategic revenue, including those associated with incremental Reinvention actions. Adjusted ¹ operating income margin guidance was lowered primarily to reflect the reduction in revenue guidance, as well as higher-than-expected freight and product costs. Free cash flow ¹ guidance was lowered to reflect lower revenue and adjusted ¹ operating income margin guidance.

Guidance assumes growing Print demand and growth in Digital and IT Services in the second half of the year. The expected year-over-year decline in full-year revenue is attributable to the following: around 200 basis points of headwind from prior-year backlog reduction and 350 basis points from a reduction in certain non-strategic revenue, including lower sales of paper, financing income and Reinvention actions. Adjusted¹ Operating Margin guidance implies full-year improvement of at least 90 basis points, primarily reflecting structural reductions in operating expense associated with our Reinvention.

The company maintains its three-year target of $300 million of incremental adjusted¹ operating income above 2023 levels and a return to double-digit adjusted¹ operating income margin by the end of 2026.

Non-GAAP Measures

This release refers to the following non-GAAP financial measures:

• Adjusted¹ Gross Profit and Margin, which exclude the inventory impact related to the exit of certain Production Print manufacturing operations, included in Cost of services, maintenance and rentals.
• Adjusted¹ EPS, which excludes Restructuring and related costs, net, Amortization of intangible assets, non-service retirement-related costs, and other discrete adjustments from GAAP EPS, as applicable.
• Adjusted¹ operating income and margin, which exclude the EPS adjustments noted above as well as the remainder of Other expenses, net from pre-tax income (loss) and margin.
• Constant currency (CC) revenue change, which excludes the effects of currency translation.
• Free cash flow¹, which is operating cash flow less capital expenditures.

A reconciliation of the estimated three-year target for Adjusted¹ Operating Income and Margin to the closest GAAP financial measures, Net Income (loss) and Pre-tax Margin, is not provided. GAAP measures for those periods are not available without unreasonable effort, in part because certain incremental costs related to the Reinvention, as well as Restructuring and related costs, net, Amortization of intangible assets, amounts included in Other expenses, net, which are primarily non-financing interest expense and certain other non-operating costs and expenses, and other discrete, unusual or infrequent items, are not available at this time.

Forward Looking Statements

This release and other written or oral statements made from time to time by management contain "forward looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "will", "should", "targeting", "projecting", "driving" and similar expressions, as they relate to us, our performance and/or our technology, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current beliefs, assumptions and expectations and are subject to a number of factors that may cause actual results to differ materially. Such factors include but are not limited to: Global macroeconomic conditions, including inflation, slower growth or recession, delays or disruptions in the global supply chain, higher interest rates, and wars and other conflicts, including the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine; our ability to succeed in a competitive environment, including by developing new products and service offerings and preserving our existing products and market share as well as repositioning our business in the face of customer preference, technological, and other change, such as evolving return-to-office and hybrid working trends; failure of our customers, vendors, and logistics partners to perform their contractual obligations to us; our ability to attract, train, and retain key personnel; execution risks around our Reinvention; the risk of breaches of our security systems due to cyber, malware, or other intentional attacks that could expose us to liability, litigation, regulatory action or damage our reputation; our ability to obtain adequate pricing for our products and services and to maintain and improve our cost structure; changes in economic and political conditions, trade protection measures, licensing requirements, and tax laws in the United States and in the foreign countries in which we do business; the risk that multi-year contracts with governmental entities could be terminated prior to the end of the contract term and that civil or criminal penalties and administrative sanctions could be imposed on us if we fail to comply with the terms of such contracts and applicable law; interest rates, cost of borrowing, and access to credit markets; risks related to our indebtedness; the imposition of new or incremental trade protection measures such as tariffs and import or export restrictions; funding requirements associated with our employee pension and retiree health benefit plans; changes in foreign currency exchange rates; the risk that our operations and products may not comply with applicable worldwide regulatory requirements, particularly environmental regulations and directives and anti-corruption laws; the outcome of litigation and regulatory proceedings to which we may be a party; laws, regulations, international agreements and other initiatives to limit greenhouse gas emissions or relating to climate change, as well as the physical effects of climate change; and other factors as set forth from time to time in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023. The Company intends these forward-looking statements to speak only as of the date of this release and does not undertake to update or revise them as more information becomes available, except as required by law.

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Second Quarter 2024 Overview

In the second quarter of 2024, Xerox progressed in the design, planning and implementation of structural changes that will drive the Company's multi-year Reinvention strategy. The intended benefits of the new operating model implemented in the first quarter 2024 are materializing in financial results. In second quarter 2024, adjusted¹ operating income margin, cash flow and revenue trajectory all improved sequentially. These improvements, and ongoing enhancements to management processes, further our confidence that we have the right strategy in place to deliver our targeted $300 million of improvement in adjusted¹ operating income by the end of 2026.

Equipment sales of $356 million in the second quarter 2024 declined 15.2% in actual currency, or 14.9% in constant currency¹, as compared to the second quarter 2023. The prior year effect of backlog² reduction and geographic simplification drove an approximate 14-percentage point year-over-year decline. Total equipment revenue declines outpaced equipment installation activity, due to unfavorable product mix. Revenue declined across all product groups, primarily due to the effects of backlog² fluctuations in the current and prior year. Post-sale revenue of $1.2 billion declined 8.4% in actual currency, or 7.9% in constant currency¹, as compared to second quarter 2023. The decline was primarily due to lower outsourcing and service revenue, reductions in non-strategic, lower margin IT endpoint device placements and paper sales, as well as the effects of geographic simplification. Excluding non-strategic effects, post sale revenue decreased mid-single digits.

Pre-tax income of $25 million for the second quarter 2024 increased by $114 million as compared to a pre-tax (loss) of $(89) million in the second quarter 2023, and was primarily driven by the net pre-tax charge of $132 million related to the donation of our Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), in the prior year period. The increase also reflects lower Selling, administrative and general expenses, due to actions taken to improve our cost structure, and lower Restructuring and related costs, net. These benefits were partially offset by lower revenues and associated gross profit. Adjusted¹ operating income decreased $22 million as compared to second quarter 2023, due to lower equipment and post sale revenue, and associated gross profits. These impacts were partially offset by benefits from cost reduction actions associated with structural simplification efforts and lower bad debt expense.

Due primarily to incremental reductions in revenue associated with geographic simplification and the decision to exit the manufacturing of certain Production equipment, we are lowering our full-year revenue guidance from a decline of 3% to 5% in constant currency¹ to a decline of 5% to 6% in constant currency¹. Core business revenue in 2024 is expected to be roughly flat year-over-year in constant currency¹, consistent with our prior outlook, reflecting growing demand for our products and services in the second half of the year.

As a result of lower expected revenues, and to a lesser extent rising freight and product costs, we are lowering adjusted¹ operating income margin guidance from at least 7.5% to at least 6.5%.

Free cash flow¹ is now expected to be at least $550 million in 2024 versus prior guidance of at least $600 million. The reduction in free cash flow¹ is in-line with the after-tax reduction in adjusted¹ operating income expectations.

Print and Other

Print and Other includes the design, development and sale of document management systems, solutions and services as well as associated technology offerings including IT and software products and services.

Detail by product group is shown below.

Xerox Financial Services

Xerox Financial Services (XFS), represents a global financing solutions business, primarily enabling the sale of our equipment and services.

Revenue

Forward-Looking Statements

This release and other written or oral statements made from time to time by management contain "forward looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "will", "should", "targeting", "projecting", "driving" and similar expressions, as they relate to us, our performance and/or our technology, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current beliefs, assumptions and expectations and are subject to a number of factors that may cause actual results to differ materially. Such factors include but are not limited to: Global macroeconomic conditions, including inflation, slower growth or recession, delays or disruptions in the global supply chain, higher interest rates, and wars and other conflicts, including the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine; our ability to succeed in a competitive environment, including by developing new products and service offerings and preserving our existing products and market share as well as repositioning our business in the face of customer preference, technological, and other change, such as evolving return-to-office and hybrid working trends; failure of our customers, vendors, and logistics partners to perform their contractual obligations to us; our ability to attract, train, and retain key personnel; execution risks around our Reinvention; the risk of breaches of our security systems due to cyber, malware, or other intentional attacks that could expose us to liability, litigation, regulatory action or damage our reputation; our ability to obtain adequate pricing for our products and services and to maintain and improve our cost structure; changes in economic and political conditions, trade protection measures, licensing requirements, and tax laws in the United States and in the foreign countries in which we do business; the risk that multi-year contracts with governmental entities could be terminated prior to the end of the contract term and that civil or criminal penalties and administrative sanctions could be imposed on us if we fail to comply with the terms of such contracts and applicable law; interest rates, cost of borrowing, and access to credit markets; risks related to our indebtedness; the imposition of new or incremental trade protection measures such as tariffs and import or export restrictions; funding requirements associated with our employee pension and retiree health benefit plans; changes in foreign currency exchange rates; the risk that our operations and products may not comply with applicable worldwide regulatory requirements, particularly environmental regulations and directives and anti-corruption laws; the outcome of litigation and regulatory proceedings to which we may be a party; laws, regulations, international agreements and other initiatives to limit greenhouse gas emissions or relating to climate change, as well as the physical effects of climate change; and other factors as set forth from time to time in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023. The Company intends these forward-looking statements to speak only as of the date of this release and does not undertake to update or revise them as more information becomes available, except as required by law.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We have reported our financial results in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). In addition, we have discussed our financial results using the non-GAAP measures described below. We believe these non-GAAP measures allow investors to better understand the trends in our business and to better understand and compare our results. Management regularly uses our supplemental non-GAAP financial measures internally to understand, manage and evaluate our business and make operating decisions. These non-GAAP measures are among the primary factors management uses in planning for and forecasting future periods. Compensation of our executives is based in part on the performance of our business based on these non-GAAP measures. Accordingly, we believe it is necessary to adjust several reported amounts, determined in accordance with GAAP, to exclude the effects of certain items as well as their related income tax effects.

However, these non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed in addition to, and not as a substitute for, the Company's reported results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Our non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for comparable GAAP measures and should be read only in conjunction with our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP are set forth below, as well as in the second quarter 2024 presentation slides available at www.xerox.com/investor.

Adjusted Earnings Measures

• Adjusted Net Income and Earnings per share (Adjusted EPS)
• Adjusted Effective Tax Rate

The above measures were adjusted for the following items:

Restructuring and related costs, net: Restructuring and related costs, net include restructuring and asset impairment charges as well as costs associated with our transformation programs beyond those normally included in restructuring and asset impairment charges. Restructuring consists of costs primarily related to severance and benefits paid to employees pursuant to formal restructuring and workforce reduction plans. Asset impairment includes costs incurred for those assets sold, abandoned or made obsolete as a result of our restructuring actions, exiting from a business or other strategic business changes. Additional costs for our transformation programs are primarily related to the implementation of strategic actions and initiatives and include third-party professional service costs as well as one-time incremental costs. All of these costs can vary significantly in terms of amount and frequency based on the nature of the actions as well as the changing needs of the business. Accordingly, due to that significant variability, we will exclude these charges since we do not believe they provide meaningful insight into our current or past operating performance nor do we believe they are reflective of our expected future operating expenses as such charges are expected to yield future benefits and savings with respect to our operational performance.

Amortization of intangible assets: The amortization of intangible assets is driven by our acquisition activity which can vary in size, nature and timing as compared to other companies within our industry and from period to period. The use of intangible assets contributed to our revenues earned during the periods presented and will contribute to our future period revenues as well. Amortization of intangible assets will recur in future periods.

Non-service retirement-related costs: Our defined benefit pension and retiree health costs include several elements impacted by changes in plan assets and obligations that are primarily driven by changes in the debt and equity markets as well as those that are predominantly legacy in nature and related to employees who are no longer providing current service to the Company (e.g. retirees and ex-employees). These elements include (i) interest cost, (ii) expected return on plan assets, (iii) amortization of prior plan amendments, (iv) amortized actuarial gains/losses and (v) the impacts of any plan settlements/curtailments. Accordingly, we consider these elements of our periodic retirement plan costs to be outside the operational performance of the business or legacy costs and not necessarily indicative of current or future cash flow requirements. This approach is consistent with the classification of these costs as non-operating in Other expenses, net. Adjusted earnings will continue to include the service cost elements of our retirement costs, which is related to current employee service as well as the cost of our defined contribution plans.

Transaction and related costs, net: Transaction and related costs, net are costs and expenses primarily associated with certain major or significant strategic M&A projects. These costs are primarily for third-party legal, accounting, consulting and other similar type professional services as well as potential legal settlements that may arise in connection with those M&A transactions. These costs are considered incremental to our normal operating charges and were incurred or are expected to be incurred solely as a result of the planned transactions. Accordingly, we are excluding these expenses from our Adjusted Earnings Measures in order to evaluate our performance on a comparable basis.

Discrete, unusual or infrequent items: We exclude these item(s), when applicable, given their discrete, unusual or infrequent nature and their impact on the comparability of our results for the period to prior periods and future expected trends.

• Inventory-related impact - exit of certain production print manufacturing operations
• PARC donation
• Divestitures
• Loss on early extinguishment of debt

Adjusted Operating Income and Margin

We calculate and utilize adjusted operating income and margin measures by adjusting our reported pre-tax (loss) income and margin amounts. In addition to the costs and expenses noted above as adjustments for our adjusted earnings measures, adjusted operating income and margin also exclude the remaining amounts included in Other expenses, net, which are primarily non-financing interest expense and certain other non-operating costs and expenses. We exclude these amounts in order to evaluate our current and past operating performance and to better understand the expected future trends in our business.

Adjusted Gross Profit and Margin

We calculate non-GAAP gross Profit and Margin by excluding the inventory impact related to the exit of certain Production Print manufacturing operations, included in Cost of services, maintenance and rentals.

Constant Currency (CC)

To better understand trends in our business, we believe that it is helpful to adjust revenue to exclude the impact of changes in the translation of foreign currencies into U.S. dollars. We refer to this adjusted revenue as "constant currency." This impact is calculated by translating current period activity in local currency using the comparable prior year period's currency translation rate. This impact is calculated for all countries where the functional currency is not the U.S. dollar. Management believes the constant currency measure provides investors an additional perspective on revenue trends. Currency impact can be determined as the difference between actual growth rates and constant currency growth rates.

Free Cash Flow

To better understand trends in our business, we believe that it is helpful to adjust operating cash flows by subtracting amounts related to capital expenditures. Management believes this measure gives investors an additional perspective on cash flow from operating activities in excess of amounts required for reinvestment. It provides a measure of our ability to fund acquisitions, dividends and share repurchase.

Adjusted Net Income and EPS reconciliation