Resources Connection Inc (RGP) 2015 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. And welcome to the Resources Global Professionals Q1 2015 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session and instructions will follow at that time.

(Operator Instructions)

As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would like to introduce your host for today's conference, Ms. Kate Duchene, Chief Legal Officer. Ma'am, please begin.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon everyone and thank you for participating today. Joining me on this call are Don Murray, Executive Chairman, Tony Cherbak, Chief Executive Officer, Tracy Stephens, Chief Operating Officer, and Nate Franke, our Chief Financial Officer.

During this call we will be providing you with comments on our results for the first quarter of FY15. By now you should have a copy of today's press release. If you need a copy and are unable to access one via our website, please call Patricia Marquez, at 714-430-6314 and she'll be happy to fax a copy to you.

Before introducing Tony, I would like to read an important announcement about certain statements that we may make during this call. Specifically, we may make forward-looking statements. In other words, statements regarding future events or future financial performance of the Company. We wish to caution you that such statements are just predictions and actual events or results may differ materially.

We refer you to our Form 10-K report for the year ended May 31, 2014, for a discussion of some of the risks, uncertainties, and other factors such as seasonal and economic conditions that may cause our business, results of operations and financial condition to differ materially from results of operations and financial conditions expressed or implied by forward-looking statements made during this call.

I'll now turn the call over to Tony Cherbak.

Thanks, Kate. And good afternoon and welcome to the Resources first quarter conference call. I'm going to start by giving you a brief overview of our first quarter operating results.

Total revenue for the first quarter of FY15 was $143.4 million, a 8.9% increase from the comparable quarter a year ago. After excluding the 14th week included in our fourth quarter of 2014, our revenues declined 2.4%, sequentially. The sequential decline results from summer vacations taken by our consultants during the mid-July through August time frame. First quarter gross margin was 39.2%, representing an increase of 150 basis points from the comparable quarter a year ago and a sequential increase of 30 basis points from last quarter.

During the first quarter, our SG&A cost, excluding European severance charges, were $43.6 million, a $2 million increase from the comparable quarter a year ago and $1.1 million less than last quarter, which consisted of 14 weeks.

In Q1, adjusted EBITDA increased 38% quarter-over-quarter to $13.5 million, or 9.4% of revenues. Cash flows used in operations was $8.7 million. For the quarter, our pretax income was $10.7 million.

After applying an effective tax rate of 49.6%, our first quarter GAAP net income increased 46% quarter-over-quarter to $5.4 million or $0.14 per share, which includes $0.02 per share impact from the European severance charges recorded in the first quarter. Excluding the severance charge, net income per share would have been $0.16.

During the first quarter, we were pleased to announce a 14% increase in our quarterly dividend to $0.08 per share. This marked the fourth consecutive year we've increased the dividend. Now let's go to revenue trends.

As we had reported in July, weekly revenues during the first six weeks of the first quarter totaled $66.4 million. During that six week period, weekly revenues averaged $11.1 million. During the final seven weeks of the quarter, average weekly revenues declined modestly to $11 million per week, as summer vacations kicked in.

During the first quarter, revenue in the US grew 13.3% quarter-over-quarter. After adjusting for Memorial Day, which fell in our first quarter a year ago but not in our first quarter of FY15, US revenues was still up 11.9%. A portion of our US gains were offset by a 12.9% quarter-over-quarter revenue decrease in Europe, which continues to be a difficult operating environment for us.

In an effort to improve our European operations, I'm pleased to announce that Mark Campbell will be joining RGP in November as a Vice President of our European Region. Mark will be based in London and will be responsible for all aspects of our European operations, reporting directly to our Chief Operating Officer, Tracy Stephens. Mark comes to us most recently from Hitachi Consulting, having previously worked in various client service and operational roles within the consulting industry.

During the first four weeks of our second quarter of FY15, our weekly revenues totaled $44.6 million, which is approximately 5.2% higher than the comparable weeks a year ago.

With that, I will now turn the call over to Nate for a detailed review of our financial results.

Thanks, Tony.

As mentioned, revenues for the quarter were $143.4 million versus $131.7 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2014, a quarter-over-quarter increase of 8.9% and a sequential decrease of 2.4%, excluding the extra week in our fourth quarter. Our first quarter revenues were moderately impacted by summer vacations, both in the US and Europe.

On a constant currency basis, revenue increased 8.7% quarter-over-quarter and declined sequentially by 2.2%, excluding the extra week in the fourth quarter. I'll now discuss some highlights of our revenues geographically.

For the first quarter, revenues in the US were $115.8 million, an increase of 13.3% quarter-over-quarter and down 7/10% sequentially on a comparable 13 week basis.

For the first quarter, total revenues internationally were $27.6 million versus $29.5 million in the first quarter a year ago, a decrease of 6.4% quarter-over-quarter and 8.9% sequentially, again, on a comparable 13 week basis. International revenue accounted for approximately 19% of total revenues for the quarter, compared to 21% last quarter.

Europe's first quarter revenue decreased 12.9% quarter-over-quarter and 13.4% sequentially, while Asia-Pacific saw first quarter revenues increase 1.1% quarter-over-quarter and were flat sequentially. The aforementioned sequential data is again on a comparable 13 week basis.

On a constant currency basis, total international revenue decreased 7.1% quarter-over-quarter and 8.3% sequentially on a comparable week basis. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, the US dollar was weaker against most currencies in Europe and stronger in Asia-Pacific.

As a result, on a constant currency basis, Europe's revenue decline quarter-over-quarter would have been 15.7% and Asia-Pacific's increase would have been 2.2%. On a sequential comparable week basis, Europe's revenue decrease would have been 11.7% and Asia-Pacific would have been flat.

I'll now discuss early revenue trends for the second quarter of fiscal 2015. Weekly revenues for the first four weeks of the second quarter totaled $44.6 million. They were $9.8 million during Labor Day week, $11.5 million, $11.7 million, and $11.6 million last week.

As we closed out the summer vacation season, it is nice to see our weekly revenue trends exceeding non-holiday summer weekly levels. Using the average of the recent non-holiday weekly run rate over the remaining weeks of the second quarter and adjusting for certain local and international holidays, we would achieve second quarter revenues of approximately $145.5 million in the second quarter.

This computation is purely mathematical and does not consider potential increases or decreases in the weekly run rates over the balance of the quarter. Please note that the Thanksgiving holiday will fall in our second quarter this fiscal year, whereas it fell in our third quarter last year. Last year we estimated the dollar amount of the revenue shift associated with Thanksgiving was $3.3 million.

Let me now discuss gross margins. Gross margin for the first quarter was 39.2% versus 37.7% in the year-ago quarter and 38.9% in the fourth quarter of FY14. The sequential increase of 30 basis points was slightly higher than anticipated and resulted from a slight increase in bill pay spreads, resulting from a higher percentage of total revenue coming from the US.

The quarter-over-quarter increase of 150 basis points results primarily from improved bill pay spreads of 60 basis points, one less holiday occurring during the quarter, 60 basis points, and lower healthcare cost, comprising 30 basis points.

Excluding reimbursable expenses, our first quarter gross margin was 39.8%, which compares to 38.3% in the first quarter a year ago. The average billing rate for the quarter was approximately $123, compared to $125 in the fourth quarter and $126 in the year-ago quarter. The average pay rate for the first quarter was approximately $62, compared to $63 in the fourth quarter and $64 one year ago.

The primary reason for the sequential decline in hourly bill pay rates stems from a significant client engagement in which a portion of the work is being handled in the Philippines, where bill rates and pay rates are much lower than most metropolitan areas. Please remember these hourly rates are derived based upon prevailing exchange rate during each given period.

We expect gross margin in the second quarter of FY15 to decline approximately 70 basis points from the first quarter's gross margin, resulting from the impact of the Thanksgiving holiday. For the first quarter, gross margin in the US was 40.5% and our international gross margins was 33.6%.

Now to headcount. For the first quarter, the average consultant FTE count was 2,365. This compares to 2,309 in the previous quarter and 2,173 in the year-ago quarter. Quarter end consultant headcount was 2,434 versus 2,237 a year ago. Total headcount of the Company was 3,165 at quarter end.

Selling, general and administrative expenses, excluding European severance charges, for the first quarter were $43.6 million or 30.4% of revenue. SG&A was $41.6 million or 31.6% of revenue in the first quarter of FY14.

During the first quarter of FY15, we recorded approximately $700,000 for severance costs related to European personnel and anticipate recording an additional $250,000 in the second quarter. Excluding the aforementioned severance cost, we anticipate SG&A expenses in the second quarter of FY15 to decrease approximately $600,000 from the first quarter level.

Stock compensation expense was $1.5 million or 1.1% of total revenue, similar to amounts recorded in the fourth quarter last year and $200,000 less than the first quarter of FY14. We would anticipate quarterly stock compensation expense in the upcoming quarters to approximate the amount recorded in the first quarter.

At the end of the first quarter, our office count was 69, 45 domestic and 24 international. During the quarter, we opened a small office in Manila to facilitate a significant engagement for a large client.

Related to other components of our financial statements, depreciation and amortization was $1.3 million for the quarter, the same as last quarter. We would expect depreciation and amortization expense for the upcoming quarter to approximate $1.3 million and then decline to $1 million in the third and fourth quarter.

Our adjusted EBITDA or cash flow margin, which we define as EBITDA before stock compensation, was 9.4% in the first quarter, an increase from 7.4% a year ago and down from 10.5% in the fourth quarter of FY14. Severance costs reduce our EBITDA margin by 50 basis points.

Our pretax income was $10.7 million for the quarter. During the first quarter, we recorded a provision for income taxes of $5.3 million, representing an effective tax rate of 49.6%. Excluding the European severance charge, for which we recorded no tax benefit, our first quarter effective rate would have been 46.6%.

Our effective tax rate is impacted by our current inability to offset income in tax jurisdictions in which we are profitable with losses in several tax jurisdictions in which we are not.

Our GAAP tax rate for each of the upcoming quarters is difficult to predict and could be volatile as the rate will be dependent on several factors, including the operating results of our US and foreign locations. Each of which are taxed or benefited at different statutory rates and the offset of the tax benefit of foreign losses in certain locations by valuation allowances.

On a cash basis, our tax rate was about 42% and we expect that rate to continue over the next couple of quarters. For the second quarter of FY15, we anticipate a tax rate of approximately 48.5%, excluding the impact of the residual European severance charges. In summary, including the $0.02 impact of the severance charge, our GAAP per share income was $0.14 during the first quarter.

Now to the balance sheet. Cash and investments at the end of the first quarter were $100.1 million, a $14.2 million decrease from the end of FY14. The decrease stems primarily from cash used in operations of $8.7 million, share repurchases and dividends approximating $8.4 million, offset in part by stock purchases by employees of $3.5 million.

Cash flow used in operations during the first quarter was impacted by the payment of annual incentive based compensation and the timing of biweekly compensation payments due to the 14th week in the fourth quarter. Capital expenditures were $400,000 during the quarter.

During the first quarter, we repurchased approximately 383,000 shares of our common stock at an aggregate cost of $5.7 million or $14.84 per share. Our current Board authorization for our stock buyback program has approximately $37.3 million remaining.

We will continue to return cash to shareholders through our dividend and share repurchases, while maintaining a balance between the capital requirements of growing our business and fiscal prudence. Our shares outstanding at the end of the first quarter were approximately 38.1 million.

Receivables at quarter end were approximately $91.7 million, compared to $90.3 million at the end of the fourth quarter. Days of revenue outstanding were approximately 55 days, compared to 56 days in the fourth quarter of FY14.

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Don for some closing thoughts.

Thank you, Nate.

We are pleased to see the improvement in our revenue and profitability metrics during the quarter. While I think it's fair to say our clients remain cautious in managing their initiative based investments, we do continue to see clients commencing projects that they had previously deferred.

Additionally, as US regulators expand the scope and depth of Dodd-Frank regulations, focus on the financial services industry, our clients require more assistance executing the financial and operational changes that compliance with the numerous regulations require.

Last quarter we mentioned the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued a new accounting standard related to revenue recognition. During the last few months, we have held several client round tables and other educational seminars for our clients and consultants.

While most companies are in the very early stages of assessing this new standard, we believe this presents a significant opportunity for us to assist our clients and targets to implement the standard. For many companies, implementation will require a multifunctional effort, including an accounting and IT department at a minimum. And even though it's still in the early stages of planning, we have already been awarded five assignments to assist with this new standard.

Let me now share some additional statistics, which we believe reflect the continuing health and strength of our core business. Client continuity remains outstanding. During our first quarter, we served all of our top 50 clients from FY14 and 47 of the 50 from 2013.

In FY15, we have 237 clients for whom we provide services exceeding $500,000 in fees on a run rate basis, up from 225 in 2014. In addition, our top 50 clients represented 41.6% of total revenues, while 50% of our revenues come from 75 clients.

Our loyal client following is reflective of our client service approach and the quality of the work performed by our consultants. Our largest client for the quarter was approximately 2.5% of revenues.

And through the first quarter, 90% of our top 50 clients have used more than one practice area and 60% of those top 50 clients have used three or more practice areas. This practice area penetration reflects the diversity of relationships we have within our client organizations.

So this concludes our prepared remarks. And we would be happy to answer your questions at this time.

Thank you.

(Operator Instructions)

Our first question comes from the line of Kevin McVeigh from Macquarie. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Great. Thanks and nice job. Hey, with these new assignments, any sense of what they could be worth from a revenue perspective? And then, just how's the candidate environment as things start to firm in terms of sourcing candidates?

So good question, Kevin.

Thanks, Tony.

The expected revenue streams from the revenue recognition standard will be all over the board. Some of these early engagements are just to evaluate the implementation efforts that it's going to take to look at this. So it's like just an assessment versus the actual implementation. So they'll vary in size. But we think it can be pretty significant on an overall basis and it will get more significant as we get closer to the implementation date. But we do believe that there's a lot of work now. Relative to the candidate environment, one of the things that we've always been good at is recruiting. And we're kind of a recruiting machine.

So we believe that we'll be able to attract candidates with the relevant experience. We have candidates -- we have current consultants with the relevant experience so we're not really concerned about having the capacity to deal with this revenue recognition standard and implementation for a lot of our clients.

Let me just add to that. This revenue recognition standard is a global type of standard that has really been adopted in Europe also. So it's not just US-based multi-nationals. It's going to be most of the global-based multi-nationals are going to have to implement it too. So it's probably far more extensive than the effort to implement Sarbanes-Oxley, which was just for US registrants.

It's a converged standard between the FASB and the [AISB]. So it applies not only to companies that are following US GAAP, but also IFRS.

Got it. And then in terms of -- how are things been trending along just in Europe in general, the environment overall?

I'd say the European environment is still difficult for us. It's not all bad news. We have a handful of offices that are actually growing and growing profitably. But where we're struggling is really in some of our bigger markets like the Netherlands and Sweden. And that's what's leading to the overall declines in revenues.

Tracy, do you want to comment on something? We have Tracy Stephens, our Chief Operating Officer with us and he's been spending a lot of time on this European issue.

Yes, I guess what I would like to say is that, like Tony said, the Netherlands and Sweden are a big focus area for us right now. Some of our smaller markets are trending the right direction. We started several quarters ago with a pretty extensive plan in Europe and we continue to execute on it. We continue to feel better about where we're headed down the road but in the meantime we're running a stream of trying to get short-term revenue back up over the next couple of quarters. We really focus on the infrastructure and the operating leverage and the platform that we can bring to Europe in general.

So I would say we're making progress on some of the fronts. But we continue to struggle in a couple of key markets that are really hurting our revenue trends in Europe right now that we hope to turn around the next time period.

Got it. Thanks so much.

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Andrew Steinerman with JPMorgan. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

I wanted to talk about the new momentum in the US business. When I look back at 2014 for your US business, some quarters were up, some quarters was down, and it surely wasn't a trend. And now you have really two solid quarters in a row for US business being strong. Why do you think it's this part of the cycle for your domestic business to really kick into gear?

Well, I think there's three things, Andrew, and it's -- when we look at what is -- what our clients are buying, we're doing a lot of services in regulatory compliance for financial services clients. There's a lot of M&A activity out there that is also giving us business for M&A integration.

And then when we look at this new standard on revenue recognition, although the majority of our work currently has been more educational in nature, as Don mentioned, we do have a few projects we think that will drive significant additional revenues for us. It's a good environment in the US and all of our offices now are kind of clicking and contributing, so --

And with the revenue, I mean the regulatory compliance comment, Tony, is that stronger over the last two quarters? Because I work at a bank and just seems like regulatory compliance needs have been a big focus for years now.

But it's always been kind of a what has been driving our business in financial services, but over the last couple of quarters it's been especially intense. So we're very pleased with it. When we look at our financial services business, it's up 9% this quarter and it was up last quarter as well. So it's really driving a lot of revenue these last six months.

When you look at your big four peers, how do you think they're doing now?

I think they're probably doing a lot of work in the same areas. We often times run into them in the proposal processes. I'd say that they're the ones that we see most in competing for some of the work that we're winning.

Perfect. Thank you very much.

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Jeff Silber with BMO. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

It's Henry Chien calling in for Jeff. Did you guys give the hourly bill rate for the quarter?

Yes, the hourly bill rate was $123, which was down a couple of dollars from the last quarter. But as we stated, that's being primarily driven by a large engagement in the Philippines.

And you've seen a nice uptick in gross margins from bill [price] spreads and lower healthcare costs. Can you comment on to what extent you think that can continue for the next couple quarters?

Well, obviously as the demand environment improves, something our people are constantly trying to do is improve the bill pay spread to achieve our long-term goal of that 39% gross margin. So that's something that's a continual focus. Relative to healthcare, that is something that over the last several years has been somewhat volatile. We are self-insured. We continue to drive in our plans what we call consumer oriented plans, so trying to change -- that brings in changing behavior. But that's a very hard thing -- it's a hard thing to predict quarter to quarter how those costs go. But we're pleased, somewhat, with the direction they've taken currently.

Got it. Thank you.

Thank you.

(Operator Instructions).

Our next question comes from the line of Mark Marcon with Robert W. Baird. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon. Nice to see the strong progress, particularly in the US. Can you talk a little bit more about the opportunities that are starting to come up? You talked about the five engagements, but what does that pipeline look like six months, a year, 1.5 years from now, given that the deadlines are still a ways out? How do you think that's going to shape up?

We think it's going to continue to build momentum, Mark, especially as it gets out towards 2017. But if you think about the nature of this revenue recognition standard and what public companies do, they report five years of data in their selected financial data in their 10-Ks. So they have to get into this now and figure out what the impacts are going to be, what systems changes that they have to make and just how they're going to get the whole thing done. This is a huge process for big companies. It could be 50,000 to 60,000 hours, max. So we think it's going to continue to build momentum.

But there's other pieces of our business that are doing equally as well in the IM space. We're doing a lot of work around data governance, security, privacy, BI, and such. In accounting and finance, which actually it was kind of nice to see this quarter, it went up 16% on a quarter-over-quarter basis. We're doing a lot of finance transformation. Nate referenced the project that's going on down in the Philippines. That's a big -- that's a global project that's just got a lot of work in the Philippines, but that's all about finance transformation. So we're very encouraged by a lot of the different segments in the US.

That's great. With regards to that Philippines project, is that for one specific client? And what's the duration of that project going to be?

It is for one specific client and the duration is about roughly -- we believe it'll run over a period of about 36 months.

36 months?

Right. But remember, the bill rates in the Philippines are relatively low.

Can you size it at all?

No.

It's not going to tail off anytime soon? It wasn't the reason for the big jump?

No.

No, Mark, what I would tell you, this is a very large, global institution that is basically moving their business onto a global platform. And so the work will actually rotate through different regions, where the institution has significant operations. And so that's where the clients estimate of the duration is that three-year period.

Great. And with regards to Europe and specifically the Netherlands. The Netherlands has obviously been, for people who have followed you, been a drag for quite some time. What are the specific steps that are going to be undertaken to try to address that? Because we've tried to address it before.

Well, I would say that we're -- that's still ongoing with us. We've had extensive conversations and movement in different directions and what we're trying to do in the Netherlands. And we're exploring some different options to leverage that. I would say that operating in Europe, compared to RGPs in the US culture takes more time than we would like to see sometimes, with some of their environment over there. And it's something that we certainly see as a big opportunity for us to get that area back into a highly leveraged, growing position.

I would say one additional thing, Mark, is that it's primarily over the years has been kind of an accounting and finance shop. And we are trying to integrate some of the other service lines. I think that's what will be different about how we go forward with that practice.

I see. And with regards to the consultants that you currently have in place over there, how stable is that group? In other words, what's your voluntary attrition rate looking like over there?

It's not much. I would tell you with the most recent headcount reductions that we've had, I would say that the balance of the people are pretty stable.

Okay. So at this point you feel like you've -- we just need to see some billings pick up in terms of engagements?

Exactly. That's what we're focused on.

But you've got the right people in place?

We also will add to that team as we add these new service lines around IM and supply chain. We'll probably have to add a few people with those skills to take advantage of the revenue opportunity over there.

And in terms of the addition of Mark Campbell, what were the things that were important in terms of bringing him on-board?

He's got experience with Hitachi Consulting. He kind of almost came into the identical situation that we have now, kind of slow growth or not -- or very little growth, an unprofitable situation. He was part of a team at Hitachi that turned their business around. So I believe he's got the sense of urgency and kind of the background to fix our businesses over there.

Great. And then with regards to the -- to SG&A on a go-forward basis. You obviously gave us guidance for this coming quarter, but how should we think about if we continue to leverage here in the US and gross margins continue to show, at least on the bill pay side, 60 basis points of improvement. How should we think about the SG&A stability? Where are you from a capacity perspective, et cetera?

I would tell you, Mark, is clearly we have the capacity varies by region right now. We're obviously going to actively manage the SG&A, trying to continue to leverage revenue growth and take as much as possible to the bottom line. That said, in certain areas like the reg compliance, where -- have added some people for the rev rec that have some deep special knowledge to help us sell that work. But what I would tell you is our goal over the near term is to continue to leverage those dollars. But we don't have necessarily a mathematical computation because we'll be opportunistic as we identify the right people with the right skill sets in some of these markets that are growing rapidly, so --

Great. Just to confirm, you did say that the F&A business is up 16% year-over-year?

Quarter-over-quarter. Yep, that's correct, year-over-year.

Great. Congrats.

Thank you. I'm showing a follow-up question from the line of Kevin McVeigh with Macquarie. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Great. I don't know if you can -- just on that Philippines contract is it at scale now or would you expect the revenue to continue to step up? And then just any sense of the -- I guess you can't say the size, but is it kind of where it's going to be on a quarterly basis or should we expect more revenue contribution from that?

What I would tell you is the project is -- right now, at the client, about half of the folks are in the Philippines, the rest are in different geographic markets. So as they complete work in certain geographies, teams will be moving to other geographies. So I don't necessarily anticipate that it's going to ramp up significantly from here. But as the client goes through the implementation process, things can always change, especially as you're moving from their different geographies.

Okay. Thank you.

I think one thing to remember, Kevin, is we don't have any client right now that's greater than about 2% of our revenues. Although this is a good project for us, it's not the only one that we have going on and it's definitely not one that is overly driving the US business.

And Tony, all the revenue, is it all recorded in the US or whatever's done in the Philippines would be international? How does it sit from a revenue perspective?

Wherever the people's feet are on the ground is the geography that the revenue's in. Philippines is included in the Asia-Pac region.

Thank you.

Thank you. And I'm showing no further questions at this time. And I would like to turn the call back to Tony Cherbak for any further remarks.

Thanks, everybody, for joining and we look forward to talking with you again when we report our Q2 earnings. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in today's conference. This does conclude the program and you may all disconnect. Everyone have a great day.