Alight Reports Second Quarter 2024 Results

Business Wire 6-Aug-2024 7:45 AM

– Announces CEO succession plan –

– Continuing operations BPaaS revenue increased 13% –

– 97% of 2024 Revenue Under Contract –

– Key wins with UPS, Wayfair, American Honda Motor Company & The Adecco Group –

– Completed cloud migration program and fully decommissioned data center –

– Repurchased $80 million of common stock –

Alight, Inc. (NYSE:ALIT), a leading cloud-based provider of integrated digital human capital and business solutions, today reported results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024.

"Alight is entering its next chapter following the accomplishment of several key strategic milestones including its recent divestiture," said CEO Stephan Scholl. "As a simplified and focused wellbeing & benefits company, we have accelerated our financial profile, underscored by the immediate margin expansion and future earnings power. As I look to what is next for Alight, we are well-positioned to navigate a dynamic environment with tremendous long-standing relationships, world class services & technology, and highly impressive colleagues to serve our thousands of clients."

CEO Succession Plan

In line with the closing of the Payroll & Professional Services sale, the Company announced that Stephan Scholl will step down as CEO and member of the Board, effective after the Board names a successor. Scholl will continue as CEO and Director during the search process. In addition, the Board has appointed Dave Guilmette, an independent Director, as Vice Chair of the Board. In this role, he will work closely with Scholl to ensure a smooth transition.

Chair of the Board William P. Foley, II, said, "On behalf of the entire Board, I want to thank Stephan for his commitment and vision. He has made a meaningful impact as our CEO, bringing the company public amidst the challenging COVID environment, and overseeing our path in developing the Alight Worklife^® platform for employee wellbeing and benefits. With the divestiture behind us we are well positioned to deliver differentiated benefit services to our clients and profitable growth with significant margin and cash flow expansion for our shareholders. Stephan's continued efforts and support through this transitionary period will help our next CEO hit the ground running with a substantially improved financial and operating model."

Foley continued, "The Board has for months been actively planning for CEO succession and with the divestiture now closed, we look forward to bringing in a new leader to guide Alight in its exciting next chapter."

Presentation of Results

Beginning with the quarter ended March 31, 2024, the Company began accounting for the assets and liabilities of the Payroll & Professional Services business as "held for sale" and its operating results as discontinued operations. As such, the financial information contained in this release is presented on a continuing operations basis, unless otherwise noted. The Payroll & Professional Services business transaction closed subsequent to the end of the second quarter and accordingly, this press release also presents total company results.

Second Quarter 2024 Continuing Operations Highlights (all comparisons are relative to second quarter 2023)

• Revenue decreased 4.1% to $538 million
• Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) revenue grew 12.7% to $115 million, representing 21.4% of total revenue
• Gross profit of $167 million and gross profit margin of 31.0%, compared to $187 million and 33.3% in the prior year period, respectively, and adjusted gross profit of $196 million and adjusted gross profit margin of 36.4%, compared to $212 million and 37.8%, in the prior year period, respectively
• Net loss of $4 million compared to the prior year period net loss of $72 million primarily driven by non-operating fair value remeasurements of financial instruments and the tax receivable agreement
• Adjusted EBITDA of $105 million compared to the prior year period of $119 million
• Diluted earnings (loss) per share of $(0.01) compared to $(0.14) in the prior year period, and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.05 compared to $0.11 per share in the prior year period
• New wins, including new logos or expanded relationships with companies including UPS, Wayfair, American Honda Motor Company and The Adecco Group
• Repurchased $80 million of common stock under existing share repurchase program

Continuing Operations Second Quarter 2024 Results

Revenue decreased 4.1% to $538 million, as compared to $561 million in the prior year period. Excluding the exited Hosted business, revenue decreased 2.5%. The decrease was driven by lower volumes, net commercial activity, and project revenue within our Employer Solutions segment and the wind-down of our Hosted business operations. Recurring revenues were 91.6% of total revenue.

Gross profit was $167 million, or 31.0% of revenue, compared to $187 million, or 33.3% of revenue in the prior year period. The decrease in gross profit was primarily driven by lower revenue as noted above, and partially offset by productivity savings.

Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased $3 million when compared to the prior year period. This was driven by lower compensation expenses primarily related to share-based awards and lower costs incurred from our previously announced restructuring program, partially offset by professional fees incurred related to the sale of our Payroll & Professional Services business.

Interest expense of $33 million was flat from the prior year period. Interest expense benefited from the opportunistic repricing of our 2028 term loan and higher interest income and was offset by lower swap payments.

The Company's loss from continuing operations before income tax expense was $2 million compared to loss from continuing operations before income tax benefit of $80 million in the prior year period. The improvement was primarily due to the non-operating fair value remeasurements of financial instruments and the tax receivable agreement.

Balance Sheet Highlights

As of June 30, 2024, the Company's cash and cash equivalents balance was $183 million, total debt was $2,780 million and total debt net of cash and cash equivalents was $2,597 million.

During the quarter, the Company completed a repricing of its 2028 term loan that decreased its interest rate by 50 basis points for $10 million of anticipated annualized interest expense savings following the Company's deleveraging in July 2024.

Subsequent Events

On July 12, 2024, the Company announced that it completed the sale of its Payroll and Professional Services business.

On July 15, 2024, the Company commenced its $75 million accelerated share repurchase agreement with final settlement expected in the third quarter of 2024.

Following the repayment of $740 million of debt during July 2024, the interest rates on the Company's debt are 100% fixed through 2024 and 70% through 2025.

Second Half 2024 Business Outlook

For the second half of 2024, we expect:

• Revenue of $1.207 billion to $1.232 billion.
• BPaaS Revenue of $265 to $275 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $326 million to $351 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA margin range of 26.5% to 29.1%.
• Adjusted diluted EPS of $0.31 to $0.36.
• Operating Cash Flow Conversion rate of 55-65%.

Reconciliations of the historical financial measures used in this press release that are not recognized under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") are included below. Because GAAP financial measures on a forward-looking basis are not accessible, and reconciling information is not available without unreasonable effort, we have not provided reconciliations for forward-looking non-GAAP measures. For the same reasons, we are unable to address the probable significance of the unavailable information, which could be material to future results.

Earnings Conference Call and Webcast Information

A conference call to discuss the Company's second quarter 2024 financial results is scheduled for today, August 6, 2024 at 7:30 a.m. Central Time (8:30 a.m. Eastern Time). Interested parties can access the live webcast and accompanying presentation materials by logging on to the Investor Relations section on the Company's website at http://investor.alight.com. A replay of the conference call and the accompanying presentation materials will be available on the investor relations website for approximately 90 days.

About Alight Solutions

Alight is a leading cloud-based human capital technology and services provider for many of the world's largest organizations. Through the administration of employee benefits, Alight powers confident health, wealth, leaves and wellbeing decisions for 35 million people and dependents. Our Alight Worklife^® platform empowers employers to gain a deeper understanding of their workforce and engage them throughout life's most important moments with personalized benefits management and data-driven insights, leading to increased employee wellbeing, engagement and productivity. Learn how Alight unlocks growth for organizations of all sizes at alight.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our management and director succession plans, statements regarding the anticipated benefits of the sale of our Payroll & Professional Services business including the achievement of our financial objectives, statements related to our cloud migration project and its expected impact, statements related to our expected revenue under contract and statements related to the expectations regarding the performance and outlook for Alight's business, financial results, liquidity and capital resources. In some cases, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "outlook," "believes," "expects," "potential," "continues," "may," "will," "should," "could," "seeks," "projects," "predicts," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "anticipates" or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties including, among others, risks related to declines in economic activity in the industries, markets, and regions our clients serve, including as a result of elevated interest rates or changes in monetary and fiscal policies, competition in our industry, risks related to our ability to successfully separate our Payroll and Professional Services business, risks related to the performance of our information technology systems and networks, risks related to our ability to maintain the security and privacy of confidential and proprietary information, risks related to actions or proposals from activist stockholders, risks related to the ability to meet the contingent payment conditions of the seller note, and risks related to changes in regulation, including developments on the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Additional factors that could cause Alight's results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found under the section entitled "Risk Factors" of Alight's Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on February 29, 2024 and in the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on May 8, 2024, as such factors may be updated from time to time in Alight's filings with the SEC, which are, or will be, accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be considered along with other factors noted in this presentation and in Alight's filings with the SEC. Alight undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Other Information

This press release includes supplemental information presenting the results of our operations on a total company basis that includes the Payroll & Professional Services business. This presentation is not considered to be prepared in accordance with GAAP. However, as the Payroll & Professional Services business continued to operate as a business of Alight until the closing of the transaction, we believe the total company results provide a meaningful basis of comparison and are useful in identifying current business trends for the periods presented.

The Company also refers to certain non-GAAP financial measures in this press release, including: Adjusted EBITDA From Continuing Operations, Adjusted EBITDA Margin From Continuing Operations, Adjusted Net Income From Continuing Operations, Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share From Continuing Operations, Operating Cash Flow Conversion, Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin. Please see below for additional information and for reconciliations of such non-GAAP financial measures. The presentation of non-GAAP financial measures is used to enhance our investors' and lenders' understanding of certain aspects of our financial performance. This discussion is not meant to be considered in isolation, superior to, or as a substitute for the directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Adjusted EBITDA From Continuing Operations, which is defined as earnings from continuing operations before interest, taxes, depreciation and intangible amortization adjusted for the impact of certain non-cash and other items that we do not consider in the evaluation of ongoing operational performance. Adjusted EBITDA Margin From Continuing Operations is defined as Adjusted EBITDA From Continuing Operations divided by revenue. Both Adjusted EBITDA From Continuing Operations and Adjusted EBITDA Margin From Continuing Operations are non-GAAP financial measures used by management and our stakeholders to provide useful supplemental information that enables a better comparison of our performance across periods as well as to evaluate our core operating performance.

Adjusted Net Income From Continuing Operations, which is defined as net income (loss) from continuing operations adjusted for intangible amortization and the impact of certain non-cash items that we do not consider in the evaluation of ongoing operational performance, is a non-GAAP financial measure used solely for the purpose of calculating Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share From Continuing Operations.

Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share From Continuing Operations is defined as Adjusted Net Income From Continuing Operations divided by the adjusted weighted-average number of shares of Alight Inc. common stock, diluted. Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share From Continuing Operations is used by us and our investors to evaluate our core operating performance and to benchmark our operating performance against our competitors.

Operating Cash Flow Conversion is defined as cash provided by operating activities divided by Adjusted EBITDA. Operating Cash Flow Conversion is used by management and stakeholders to evaluate our core operating performance.

Adjusted Gross Profit is defined as revenue less cost of services adjusted for depreciation, amortization and share-based compensation, and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin is defined as Adjusted Gross Profit divided by revenue. Management uses Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin as key measures in making financial, operating and planning decisions and in evaluating our performance. We believe that presenting Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin is useful to investors as it eliminates the impact of certain non-cash expenses and allows a direct comparison between periods.

Revenue Under Contract is an operational metric that represents management's estimate of anticipated revenue expected to be recognized in the period referenced based on available information that includes historical client contracting practices. The metric does not reflect potential future events such as unexpected client volume fluctuations, early contract terminations or early contract renewals. Our metric may differ from similar terms used by other companies and therefore comparability may be limited.