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Spok Reports First Quarter 2023 Results

Strong improvement in net income and adjusted EBITDA

Company increases financial guidance for the full year 2023

Wireless Revenue Growth on both a Sequential and Year-Over-Year Basis

Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPOK), a global leader in healthcare communications, today announced results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. In addition, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.3125 per share, payable on June 23, 2023, to stockholders of record on May 25, 2023.

Recent Highlights:

  • Generated net income of $3.1 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $7.2 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, in the prior year period
  • Generated $6.9 million of adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter, compared to a loss of $2.1 million in the first quarter of 2022
  • Software operations bookings totaled $5.7 million for the first quarter, compared to $5.2 million in the first quarter of 2022, a nearly 9% year-over-year increase
  • First quarter 2023 software operations bookings included 15 six-figure customer contracts, including four new logo customers
  • First quarter 2023 wireless average revenue per unit (ARPU) was $7.59, up on both a sequential and year-over-year basis, with units in service down less than 1% from the prior quarter
  • First quarter 2023 wireless revenue of $19.0 million, up 1% from revenue of $18.8 million in the year ago period
  • Capital returned to stockholders in the first quarter of 2023 totaled $6.9 million in the form of the Company’s regular quarterly dividend
  • Cash and equivalents balance of $29.5 million on March 31, 2023, and no debt

"I am proud of what the Spok team has been able to accomplish in the first quarter and believe that these results position us well for the remainder of the year, 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 quarter, we made tremendous progress in several key performance areas, including wireless trends, software bookings and backlog levels, as well as expense management, as we continued to see expense declines on both a sequential and year-over-year basis. We were able to accomplish this while investing in our Spok Care Connect and Wireless solutions. I am particularly pleased with our performance in Wireless, as we grew first quarter revenue on both a sequential and year-over-year basis and further minimized unit churn. More than half of the nearly 5% annual growth in ARPU in the first quarter reflects the impacts of pricing actions taken in late 2022 and, to a lesser extent, sales of our new GenA™ pager. We look forward to continued success in the remainder of the year and believe our extensive experience operating our established communication solutions will create significant value for stockholders by maximizing revenue and cash flow generation.”

Financial Highlights:

 

For the three months ended March 31,

(Dollars in thousands)

2023

 

2022

 

Change (%)

Revenue

 

 

 

 

 

Wireless revenue

 

 

 

 

 

Paging revenue

$

18,525

 

$

18,313

 

1.2

%

Product and other revenue

 

503

 

 

533

 

(5.6

) %

Total wireless revenue

$

19,028

 

$

18,846

 

1.0

%

 

 

 

 

 

 

Software revenue

 

 

 

 

 

License

$

1,618

 

$

1,824

 

(11.3

) %

Professional services

 

3,239

 

 

3,336

 

(2.9

) %

Hardware

 

356

 

 

589

 

(39.6

) %

Maintenance

 

8,939

 

 

9,230

 

(3.2

) %

Total software revenue

 

14,152

 

 

14,979

 

(5.5

) %

Total revenue

$

33,180

 

$

33,825

 

(1.9

) %

 

For the three months ended March 31,

(Dollars in thousands)

2023

 

2022

 

Change (%)

GAAP

 

 

 

 

 

Operating expenses

$

28,463

 

$

42,493

 

 

(33.0

) %

Net income (loss)

$

3,117

 

$

(7,214

)

 

143.2

%

Cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments (as of period end)

$

29,550

 

$

46,328

 

 

(36.2

) %

Capital returned to stockholders

$

6,933

 

$

6,524

 

 

6.3

%

 

 

 

 

 

 

Non-GAAP

 

 

 

 

 

Adjusted operating expenses

$

27,217

 

$

37,064

 

 

(26.6

) %

Adjusted EBITDA

$

6,899

 

$

(2,124

)

 

424.8

%

 

For the three months ended March 31,

(Dollars in thousands, excluding units and service and ARPU)

2023

 

2022

 

Change (%)

Key Statistics

 

 

 

 

 

Wireless units in service

 

811

 

 

838

 

(3.2

) %

Wireless average revenue per unit (ARPU)

$

7.59

 

$

7.24

 

4.8

%

Software operations bookings(1)

$

5,678

 

$

5,212

 

8.9

%

Software maintenance bookings(2)

$

11,300

 

$

9,105

 

24.1

%

Software backlog (as of period end)

$

46,540

 

$

40,532

 

14.8

%

1) 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.

2) Software maintenance bookings includes the renewal of maintenance and term license contracts.

Financial Outlook:

The Company also increased its financial guidance and now expects the following for the full year 2023:

(Unaudited and in millions)

 

Current Guidance

Full Year 2023

 

Prior Guidance

Full Year 2023

 

 

From

 

To

 

From

 

To

Revenue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wireless

 

$

73.0

 

$

75.5

 

$

71.5

 

$

74.5

Software

 

$

58.0

 

$

62.0

 

$

57.5

 

$

62.0

Total Revenue

 

$

131.0

 

$

137.5

 

$

129.0

 

$

136.5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adjusted EBITDA

 

$

24.5

 

$

26.5

 

$

24.0

 

$

26.0

2023 First Quarter Call:

Management will host a conference call and webcast to discuss these financial results on Thursday, May 4, 2023, at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The presentation is open to all interested parties and may include forward-looking information.

Conference Call Details

Date/Time:

Thursday, May 4, 2023, at 9:30 a.m. ET

Webcast:

https://www.webcast-eqs.com/register/spok_q12023_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.

Investor Day Program:

Following the First Quarter 2023 call, Spok will host an Investor Day with financial analysts and institutional investors, from 11:00 a.m. ET to 3:00 p.m. ET. Spok’s executive leadership team will present an updated view of the Company’s long-term strategy and capital allocation plans, followed by a live Q&A session.

A live webcast of the earnings conference call and Investor Day, along with the earnings release and Investor Day materials, will be available on Spok’s Investor Relations website at https://investors.spok.com/. A replay of the Investor Day presentation will also be accessible on the Company’s website.

About Spok

Spok, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPOK), headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, is proud to be a global leader in healthcare communications. We deliver clinical information to care teams when and where it matters most to improve patient outcomes. Top hospitals rely on the Spok Care Connect® platform to enhance workflows for clinicians and support administrative compliance. Our customers send over 100 million messages each month through their Spok® solutions. Spok enables smarter, faster clinical communication. For more information, visit spok.com or follow @spoktweets on Twitter.

Spok is a trademark of Spok Holdings, Inc. Spok Care Connect and Spok Mobile are trademarks of Spok, Inc.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release contains the following non-GAAP financial measures: adjusted operating expenses and adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted operating expenses excludes depreciation, amortization and accretion, impairment of intangible assets and severance and restructuring 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 and severance and restructuring. 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. 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.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act

Statements contained herein or in prior press releases which are not historical fact, such as statements regarding our future operating and financial performance, are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results to be materially different from the future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expectations include, but are not limited to, our ability to manage wireless network rationalization to lower our costs without causing disruption of service to our customers; our ability to retain key management personnel and to attract and retain talent within the organization; the productivity of our sales organization and our ability to deliver effective customer support; our ability to identify potential acquisitions, consummate and successfully integrate such acquisitions, and achieve the expected benefits of such acquisitions; risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic; economic conditions such as recessionary economic cycles, higher interest rates, inflation and higher levels of unemployment; competition for our services and products from new technologies or those offered and/or developed from firms that are substantially larger and have much greater financial and human capital resources; continuing decline in the number of paging units we have in service with customers, commensurate with a continuing decline in our wireless revenue; our ability to address changing market conditions with new or revised software solutions; undetected defects, bugs, or security vulnerabilities in our products; our dependence on the U.S. healthcare industry; the sales cycle of our software solutions and services can run from six to eighteen months, making it difficult to plan for and meet our sales objectives and bookings on a steady basis quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year; our reliance on third-party vendors to supply us with wireless paging equipment; our ability to maintain successful relationships with our channel partners; our ability to protect our rights in intellectual property that we own and develop and the potential for litigation claiming intellectual property infringement by us; our use of open source software, third-party software and other intellectual property; the reliability of our networks and servers and our ability to prevent cyber-attacks and other security issues and disruptions; unauthorized breaches or failures in cybersecurity measures adopted by us and/or included in our products and services; our ability to realize the benefits associated with our deferred income tax assets; future impairments of our long-lived assets, amortizable intangible assets or goodwill; risks related to data privacy and protection-related laws and regulation; and our ability to manage changes related to regulation, including laws and regulations affecting hospitals and the healthcare industry generally, as well as other risks described from time to time in our periodic reports and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although Spok believes the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be attained. Spok disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

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

 

 

3/31/2023

 

3/31/2022

Revenue:

 

 

 

 

Wireless

 

$

19,028

 

 

$

18,846

 

Software

 

 

14,152

 

 

 

14,979

 

Total revenue

 

 

33,180

 

 

 

33,825

 

Operating expenses:

 

 

 

 

Cost of revenue (exclusive of items shown separately below)

 

 

6,536

 

 

 

7,804

 

Research and development

 

 

2,493

 

 

 

6,497

 

Technology operations

 

 

6,587

 

 

 

7,013

 

Selling and marketing

 

 

3,901

 

 

 

5,315

 

General and administrative

 

 

7,700

 

 

 

10,435

 

Depreciation, amortization and accretion

 

 

1,236

 

 

 

934

 

Severance and restructuring

 

 

10

 

 

 

4,495

 

Total operating expenses

 

 

28,463

 

 

 

42,493

 

% of total revenue

 

 

85.8

%

 

 

125.6

%

Operating income (loss)

 

 

4,717

 

 

 

(8,668

)

% of total revenue

 

 

14.2

%

 

 

(25.6

) %

Interest income

 

 

272

 

 

 

67

 

Other income (expense)

 

 

53

 

 

 

(13

)

Income (loss) before income taxes

 

 

5,042

 

 

 

(8,614

)

(Provision for) benefit from income taxes

 

 

(1,925

)

 

 

1,400

 

Net income (loss)

 

$

3,117

 

 

$

(7,214

)

Basic net income (loss) per common share

 

$

0.16

 

 

$

(0.37

)

Diluted net income (loss) per common share

 

 

0.15

 

 

 

(0.37

)

Basic weighted average common shares outstanding

 

 

19,897,445

 

 

 

19,599,526

 

Diluted weighted average common shares outstanding

 

 

20,182,692

 

 

 

19,599,526

 

Cash dividends declared per common share

 

 

0.3125

 

 

 

0.3125

 

SPOK HOLDINGS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In thousands)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/31/2023

 

12/31/2022

 

 

 

 

 

ASSETS

 

(Unaudited)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current assets:

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents

 

$

29,550

 

 

$

35,754

 

Accounts receivable, net

 

 

22,644

 

 

 

26,861

 

Prepaid expenses

 

 

7,150

 

 

 

6,849

 

Other current assets

 

 

628

 

 

 

587

 

Total current assets

 

 

59,972

 

 

 

70,051

 

Non-current assets:

 

 

 

 

Property and equipment, net

 

 

7,802

 

 

 

8,223

 

Operating lease right-of-use assets

 

 

13,401

 

 

 

13,876

 

Goodwill

 

 

99,175

 

 

 

99,175

 

Deferred income tax assets, net

 

 

50,706

 

 

 

52,398

 

Other non-current assets

 

 

694

 

 

 

754

 

Total non-current assets

 

 

171,778

 

 

 

174,426

 

Total assets

 

$

231,750

 

 

$

244,477

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current liabilities:

 

 

 

 

Accounts payable

 

$

4,659

 

 

$

5,880

 

Accrued compensation and benefits

 

 

6,063

 

 

 

11,628

 

Deferred revenue

 

 

24,629

 

 

 

26,274

 

Operating lease liabilities

 

 

4,964

 

 

 

5,096

 

Other current liabilities

 

 

4,823

 

 

 

4,573

 

Total current liabilities

 

 

45,138

 

 

 

53,451

 

Non-current liabilities:

 

 

 

 

Asset retirement obligations

 

 

7,353

 

 

 

7,237

 

Operating lease liabilities

 

 

10,064

 

 

 

10,604

 

Other non-current liabilities

 

 

846

 

 

 

1,107

 

Total non-current liabilities

 

 

18,263

 

 

 

18,948

 

Total liabilities

 

 

63,401

 

 

 

72,399

 

Commitments and contingencies

 

 

 

 

Stockholders' equity:

 

 

 

 

Common stock

 

 

2

 

 

 

2

 

Additional paid-in capital

 

 

99,599

 

 

 

99,908

 

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

 

 

(1,897

)

 

 

(1,909

)

Retained earnings

 

 

70,645

 

 

 

74,077

 

Total stockholders' equity

 

 

168,349

 

 

 

172,078

 

Total liabilities and stockholders' equity

 

$

231,750

 

 

$

244,477

 

SPOK HOLDINGS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(Unaudited and in thousands)

 

 

 

 

 

For the three months ended

 

3/31/2023

 

3/31/2022

Operating activities:

 

 

 

Net income (loss)

$

3,117

 

 

$

(7,214

)

Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash provided (used) by operating activities:

 

 

 

Depreciation, amortization and accretion

 

1,236

 

 

 

934

 

Deferred income tax expense (benefit)

 

1,886

 

 

 

(1,024

)

Stock-based compensation

 

936

 

 

 

1,115

 

Provisions for credit losses, service credits and other

 

29

 

 

 

594

 

Changes in assets and liabilities:

 

 

 

Accounts receivable

 

4,187

 

 

 

2,951

 

Prepaid expenses and other assets

 

(282

)

 

 

(1,421

)

Net operating lease liabilities

 

(197

)

 

 

(91

)

Accounts payable, accrued liabilities and other

 

(6,680

)

 

 

879

 

Deferred revenue

 

(1,621

)

 

 

(1,602

)

Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities

 

2,611

 

 

 

(4,879

)

Investing activities:

 

 

 

Purchases of property and equipment

 

(649

)

 

 

(679

)

Purchase of short-term investments

 

 

 

 

(14,967

)

Maturity of short-term investments

 

 

 

 

15,000

 

Net cash used in investing activities

 

(649

)

 

 

(646

)

Financing activities:

 

 

 

Cash distributions to stockholders

 

(6,933

)

 

 

(6,524

)

Purchase of common stock for tax withholding on vested equity awards

 

(1,245

)

 

 

(1,209

)

Net cash used in financing activities

 

(8,178

)

 

 

(7,733

)

Effect of exchange rate on cash and cash equivalents

 

12

 

 

 

25

 

Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents

 

(6,204

)

 

 

(13,233

)

Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period

 

35,754

 

 

 

44,583

 

Cash and cash equivalents, end of period

$

29,550

 

 

$

31,350

 

Supplemental disclosure:

 

 

 

Income taxes paid/(refunded)

$

(6

)

 

$

(39

)

SPOK HOLDINGS, INC.

UNITS IN SERVICE, MARKET SEGMENTS,

AND AVERAGE REVENUE PER UNIT (ARPU) (a)

(Unaudited and in thousands)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the three months ended

 

 

3/31/2023

 

12/31/2022

 

9/30/2022

 

6/30/2022

 

3/31/2022

 

12/31/2021

 

9/30/2021

 

6/30/2021

Account size ending units in service (000's)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 to 100 units

 

 

48

 

 

 

50

 

 

 

51

 

 

 

53

 

 

 

54

 

 

 

55

 

 

 

57

 

 

 

58

 

101 to 1,000 units

 

 

149

 

 

 

147

 

 

 

147

 

 

 

149

 

 

 

150

 

 

 

154

 

 

 

154

 

 

 

155

 

>1,000 units

 

 

614

 

 

 

620

 

 

 

626

 

 

 

633

 

 

 

634

 

 

 

638

 

 

 

642

 

 

 

656

 

Total

 

 

811

 

 

 

817

 

 

 

824

 

 

 

835

 

 

 

838

 

 

 

847

 

 

 

853

 

 

 

869

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Market segment as a percent of total ending units in service

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Healthcare

 

 

85.7

%

 

 

85.4

%

 

 

85.0

%

 

 

85.0

%

 

 

84.7

%

 

 

84.7

%

 

 

84.6

%

 

 

84.5

%

Government

 

 

4.3

%

 

 

4.4

%

 

 

4.1

%

 

 

4.2

%

 

 

4.7

%

 

 

4.8

%

 

 

4.8

%

 

 

4.9

%

Large enterprise

 

 

4.1

%

 

 

4.0

%

 

 

3.9

%

 

 

4.0

%

 

 

3.9

%

 

 

3.9

%

 

 

4.1

%

 

 

4.1

%

Other(b)

 

 

5.9

%

 

 

6.1

%

 

 

7.0

%

 

 

6.8

%

 

 

6.7

%

 

 

6.6

%

 

 

6.4

%

 

 

6.4

%

Total

 

 

100.0

%

 

 

100.0

%

 

 

100.0

%

 

 

100.0

%

 

 

100.0

%

 

 

100.0

%

 

 

100.0

%

 

 

100.0

%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Account size ARPU

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 to 100 units

 

$

12.21

 

 

$

11.95

 

 

$

11.80

 

 

$

11.41

 

 

$

11.52

 

 

$

11.58

 

 

$

11.67

 

 

$

11.69

 

101 to 1,000 units

 

 

8.65

 

 

 

8.66

 

 

 

8.44

 

 

 

8.27

 

 

 

8.24

 

 

 

8.30

 

 

 

8.38

 

 

 

8.35

 

>1,000 units

 

 

6.96

 

 

 

6.86

 

 

 

6.69

 

 

 

6.63

 

 

 

6.64

 

 

 

6.63

 

 

 

6.65

 

 

 

6.68

 

Total

 

$

7.59

 

 

$

7.50

 

 

$

7.40

 

 

$

7.23

 

 

$

7.24

 

 

$

7.26

 

 

$

7.29

 

 

$

7.32

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(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

 

 

3/31/2023

 

3/31/2022

Operating expenses

 

$

28,463

 

 

$

42,493

 

Add back:

 

 

 

 

Depreciation, amortization and accretion

 

 

(1,236

)

 

 

(934

)

Severance and restructuring

 

 

(10

)

 

 

(4,495

)

Adjusted operating expenses

 

$

27,217

 

 

$

37,064

 

RECONCILIATION OF ADJUSTED EBITDA

(Unaudited and in thousands)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the three months ended

 

 

3/31/2023

 

3/31/2022

Net income (loss)

 

$

3,117

 

 

$

(7,214

)

Add back:

 

 

 

 

Provision for (benefit from) income taxes

 

 

1,925

 

 

 

(1,400

)

(Other income) expense

 

 

(53

)

 

 

13

 

Interest income

 

 

(272

)

 

 

(67

)

Depreciation, amortization and accretion

 

 

1,236

 

 

 

934

 

EBITDA

 

$

5,953

 

 

$

(7,734

)

Adjustments:

 

 

 

 

Stock-based compensation

 

 

936

 

 

 

1,115

 

Severance and restructuring

 

 

10

 

 

 

4,495

 

Adjusted EBITDA

 

$

6,899

 

 

$

(2,124

)

 

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