Earnings Call Transcript - ASUR Q1 2020

Cheryl Trbula, Vice President of HR

Thank you, operator. And good afternoon, everyone. Before we start, I’d like to mention that some of the statements made by management during today’s call might include projections, estimates and other forward-looking information. This will include any discussion of the company’s business outlook or guidance. These particular forward-looking statements and all of the statements that may be made on this call that are not historical are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could affect their outcome. You’re urged to consider the risk factors relating to the company’s business contained in our reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risk factors are important, and they could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results. I would like to remind everyone that this call will be recorded and it will be made available on the Investor Relations section at www.asuresoftware.com. Finally, I would note that we have posted some slides on our Investor Relations website regarding our COVID response. Please refer to the Events and Presentations section on our IR website. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Pat Goepel, CEO. Pat?

Pat Goepel, CEO

Thank you, Cheryl, and thank you all for being on the call today. We’d like to welcome everyone to the first quarter 2020 earnings call. I appreciate your interest, whether you’re an employee or a client, investor, analyst, or interested third party. First of all, our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been or know someone who has been impacted by COVID-19. We sympathize with the small businesses faced with unavoidable reductions in their workforces and the people who have lost their jobs. I would also like to recognize Asure employees for rising to the challenge and delivering exceptional service to our 60,000 small business clients despite the challenging circumstances they’ve had to face. To them, I want to say thank you. I do want to refer, and Cheryl mentioned it, that we have a COVID deck on our IR website. I’m going to spend the first part of the call talking about COVID and our business. At a macro level, the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home government mandates caused the demand for products and services offered by many small businesses to decline. These unprecedented circumstances forced small and medium-sized businesses to pause operations, reduce headcount, or go out of business. This has resulted in significant economic and operational headwinds, including higher unemployment and higher out-of-business rates, as well as lower same-store sales, lower client fund balances, and lower interest rates. We are making tactical adjustments to effectively navigate these challenging times. We remain optimistic about our long-term strategy and will be well positioned once the macro environment and our clients’ operations normalize. We took multiple decisive actions in response to these unprecedented circumstances and I’ll categorize our responses into three categories: people, clients, and financial. If you’re following along in the deck, particularly Slides four and seven, I would focus on. First of all, on our people. We successfully executed our business resiliency plan while transitioning 98% of our workforce to a work-from-home model. We also made the difficult decision to right-size our overall workforce, really related to the workspace management sale, and we implemented temporary salary cuts to some of our higher-paid employees and benefit reductions. And then we furloughed some of our valued personnel. Still, we are growing and hiring talented personnel to maintain excellent support levels for our small and medium business clients. To categorize the impact of those cuts, it’s about $3 million a quarter, $1.5 million more permanent, $1.5 million temporary to deal with the uncertainty of the environment. Second, our small business clients. We launched the COVID-19 response center for customer and non-customer small businesses alike and significantly increased customer engagement. We also redirected development resources to integrate new legislation into our products, including the Cares specific reports designed to help small businesses apply for and receive PPP loan forgiveness. To give you a magnitude of our efforts, I want to provide you with some stats. We had daily internal and external call bond activities reaching our 10,000 direct clients and approximately 200 resellers to our indirect small business clients, more than 5,000 webinar attendees, over 5,000 hours of compliance programming. Our thought leadership groups were taking and helping craft legislation with the IRS and other groups in Congress around executing on the government changes. PPP report production and corresponding with the various government legislative branches about changing tax laws. Third, our financials. First quarter results were strong, driven by our high recurring revenue business model as well as progress in growing our sales force and cross-selling. We increased our human capital management quota carrying representatives to 45 from 33 at the start of the year. First quarter revenue was $18.9 million, non-GAAP EPS was $0.21. Both exceeded Street expectations despite unexpected interest rate cuts and an unemployment spike in March related to the pandemic. Bookings were up 11% year-over-year through February, demonstrating clear success in our initiatives. But we were down 3% for the quarter due to COVID impacts in the second half of March. We expect to fully complete the workplace business transaction this month, ahead of plan, which enabled us to realize the cost synergies we talked about sooner than expected. We hired human capital management developers, salespeople, and client service personnel to meet the changing requirements for small businesses. Furthermore, our AWS and NetSuite implementations are now complete. And finally, we exited some non-strategic contracts that we previously discussed, allowing us to be laser-focused on our core strategy of a well-rounded human capital management company. With that, before we go any further, I’d like Kelyn to talk about the financial results. Kelyn?

Kelyn Brannon, CFO

Thank you, Pat, and good afternoon, everyone. For comparison purposes, we have provided restated 2010 revenue numbers that exclude non-strategic customer contracts and non-core HCM businesses we exited in December 2019. As usual, all non-revenue financial figures I will discuss today are non-GAAP unless I state them as a GAAP measure. And you will find a reconciliation from GAAP to non-GAAP results and restated revenue numbers in today’s press release. During the quarter, bookings declined 2.7%. Our first quarter saw a ramp of 36% in direct sales representatives that will be impactful in the second half of the year. Prior to the impact of COVID-19, we saw strong year-over-year growth with bookings up 11.5% through February. However, bookings stalled in March with the advent of the pandemic. Revenue for the first quarter decreased 1.6% to $18.9 million from an adjusted $19.3 million in Q1 of last year. Recurring revenue declined 2.9% year-over-year and was 97% of total revenue in Q1 compared to an adjusted 99% in Q1 of 2019. Next, I’ll discuss our profitability metrics. Q1 non-GAAP gross profit was $12.1 million, equating to a non-GAAP gross margin of 64.1%. This compares to $15 million or a gross margin of 73.7% in Q1 of 2019. Gross margins decreased year-over-year by 9.6% due to accounting policy changes and reclasses from OpEx to COG as we focused on our HCM business, as well as higher SaaS hosting fees, as we move completely to AWS. Applying these changes to Q1 2019, gross margin would have been 68.5%. Having said that, taking COVID-19 aside, we are laser focused on gross margin and we are taking actions to drive improvement. Interest on client funds exceeded $330,000 in the first quarter, up from less than $100,000 in Q1 of 2019. Since our last earnings call, there has been additional Fed fund rate reductions and a suspension of tax withholding payments. Therefore, we expect the 2020 level of interest on client funds to be between $850,000 and $925,000 for the year. Q1 non-GAAP EBITDA was $4.3 million, down from $6.1 million in the first quarter of 2019. This decrease was due to the exit of non-strategic customer contracts and a lower gross margin. In the first quarter for 2020, our non-GAAP effective tax rate guidance is still at zero percent, as we feel this more accurately measures our expectations for actual performance. Shifting gears to our balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents were $20.8 million at quarter end. At March 31, 2020, we had $25.6 million in gross debt, which includes amounts payable for our term loan and for seller notes. This is down $1.6 million from $27.2 million at the end of Q4 of 2019 as we paid down seller notes. Total deferred revenue on the balance sheet as of March 31, 2020, including both short and long-term combined, was $3.8 million. DSO in Q1 was 24 days, up from 17 days in the year-ago quarter. Overall headcount decreased sequentially by two employees in Q1 with an ending headcount of 411. During the first quarter, cash generated from operations was negative $3.4 million as we made payments on accounts payable and year-end bonuses. Before I turn the call back over to Pat, I want to discuss how we are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenging macroeconomic conditions we face today. 2020 was to be a transition year as we grew into our infrastructure after the sale of our workspace business. Due to the uncertainty around the depth and length of the pandemic, we have taken a series of preemptive actions to reduce operating costs. Having said that, we will continue to hire employees that are close to our customers and continue to invest in product development. Now, I’ll turn the call back over to Pat.

Pat Goepel, CEO

Thanks, Kelyn. Going forward, I just want to put it in perspective. This year, with the sale of the workspace business, we’re a small business helping small businesses. And there’s nothing more essential than providing them with a payroll check. As with prior uncertain economic environments that I’ve experienced over my 39-year career in payroll and human capital management, things have been much more abrupt than in the past. The buying behavior of our small business clients and prospects has changed since they have become time and resource constrained and focused on maneuvering their own operations and survival. While our products are mission-critical, making vendor change decisions and implementation, once the decision has been made, can both be delayed. As a result, we are withdrawing previously issued full-year 2020 guidance in light of these macroeconomic uncertainties, particularly around employment and business reopenings stemming from the current COVID-19 crisis. Our large market opportunity, recurring business, and attractive value proposition will help us mitigate the pandemic's impact on headcount and business reductions across our customer base. As more information becomes available, we plan to return to providing guidance. With that, I’ll open it up to questions. Operator?

Cheryl Trbula, Vice President of HR

Operator, we will take questions now.

Operator, Operator

Our first question comes from Ryan MacDonald of Needham. Your line is open.

Ryan MacDonald, Analyst

Good afternoon, Pat and Kelyn. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess first off, I’d love to hear what you’re seeing in terms of the mix within your customer base of customers that are actually churning off the platform because of going out of business versus simply lower headcount with existing customers.

Pat Goepel, CEO

Yes, Ryan. We have daily call downs both directly to our clients and then around our payroll schedule. And in our direct segment of the marketplace during our daily call downs, we had about 1,000 delays or so. It’s too early to tell if they're going out of business or what have you. Now, I would say in the last maybe eight or nine days, there’s been about 16% that are returning and some of that is due to either the PPP money, etc. Now, will there be another spike once that money runs out, or is there another program, etc.? It’s hard to predict the opening and stay-at-home extent and how long it will last. So we’re not in a position to provide firm guidance on this. But I would give you a sense that we currently have 1,000 clients in direct. About 16 have returned so far. We’ve heard some encouraging signs that others will return. As the local state and national governments kind of start to reopen or lift some of the shelter-in-place restrictions, we’ll have more visibility. Anecdotally, maybe 20% could be challenged with the potential of going out of business, but really that metric will evolve over time.

Ryan MacDonald, Analyst

Excellent. I appreciate the color. In terms of the new bookings activity, thanks for sort of parsing our February versus March. Can you talk about what you’re seeing in April and if you’ve seen any pipelines start to build again through the month of April as maybe some of these businesses are looking for an opportunity to be better, more responsive within their own businesses on payroll? Thanks.

Pat Goepel, CEO

Yes. I think the first step of this process was businesses coming back to us, and I think that’s been the first step. As far as new bookings, we’ve kind of internally, and we meet daily on this, are planning for about a 50% attainment of bookings. I believe the first phase is getting back to work, then the second phase will involve purchasing more, and then the third phase will be changing providers. It really appears to unfold in that order. What I would say is we’re teaching our salespeople how to sell differently. We’ve transitioned to webinars and have had over 5,000, actually tens of thousands of people attend webinars overall, well over 5,000 just focused on the PPP alone and seeking more information. So really, we’re moving to an online experience, offering a website experience. We have a quick kind of value proposition and getting started. Then we have tailored offers that address their current needs. It’s a more direct offering because frankly, people don’t have as much time and are making a number of different decisions. We’re encouraged that we’re doing the right things, but for now, we’re planning for demand at about 50%.

Ryan MacDonald, Analyst

Excellent. Thank you very much.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Vincent Colicchio of Barrington Research. Your line is open.

Vincent Colicchio, Analyst

Yes, Pat, could you provide some color on what portion of clients are looking for better financial terms, or maybe what overall pricing is looking like?

Pat Goepel, CEO

I think, Vince, and Kelyn, feel free to chime in. From our perspective, they’re looking for a partner right now, and we think this is a tremendous opportunity to build loyalty. We’re attempting to make attractive offers. I don’t see a lot of renegotiation right now, and we’re open to helping people whenever possible. For us, it’s really about extending our personnel, having all hands on deck to help them. That’s where we feel we’ll build loyalty with them over time. This is mission critical; they’ve got to take care of their employees. We’ve offered some additional services at no charge, and we’re approaching it with plenty of feet on the street to assist them, pivoting our development resources to ensure they can respond to changing compliance laws and PPP laws, etc. We’re really trying to support them and help them through this difficult time. We’ll figure it out, and we aim to be long-term partners. That’s how we’ve approached this. Kelyn, do you have anything to add?

Kelyn Brannon, CFO

No, I would agree with that comment. What we’re really seeing is that as you think about cross-sell opportunities, this isn’t the time to focus on that. We’ve been pleased to see our HR consulting reach out and put their arms around our small business customers, helping them with PPP and the changing rules. We also reached out to non-clients to provide support. I expect that as we emerge from this, we’ll have built some strong relationships, and we’ll start to see additional opportunities because of it.

Vincent Colicchio, Analyst

And your sales ramp has been rapid since the beginning of the year. Are you going to – I know you said you’re going to continue to hire, but are you going to slow on the sales side, or are you going to reset that goal for the year right now?

Pat Goepel, CEO

Vince, our plan all along is that, over time, we believe we’re in a significant market opportunity, and we believe we were underserved from a sales perspective. Naturally, we’ll be cautious, but we feel there’s an opportunity, and we’ll be very opportunistic. One of the advantages, although this is a tough environment, is the ability to attract really strong talent. This gives us openings, and to support our small business community and clients, when we find opportunities to bring in talent that can do that well, we’re going to take advantage of it. We’ll see how this plays out, how long COVID lasts, and its impact. But we’re planning to continue to grow, hire, and be opportunistic during these uncertain times.

Kelyn Brannon, CFO

I would add that this has provided a unique opportunity for our new sales representatives. We’ve contacted every one of our 10,000 direct customers and called into our small business owners. This has allowed us to train rather than just dropping them in the deep end. We feel positive about this. Furthermore, I think the fact that we had this sales organization and proactively contacted clients as soon as they encountered trouble speaks volumes about our commitment to service.

Vincent Colicchio, Analyst

Thanks for all the color.

Pat Goepel, CEO

Thanks, Vince.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Derrick Wood of Cowen. Your line is open.

Derrick Wood, Analyst

Good, thanks. Pat, can you talk about how much exposure you have to the retail, hospitality, and travel sectors? Maybe just how much of your business is exposed to some of the more distressed industries today and what areas may be doing better?

Pat Goepel, CEO

Yes, from our perspective, we don't have any individual area of the business representing over 9%. So our base is pretty spread out. Geographically, 99% of our clients are in the United States, spanning the East Coast to the West Coast, and we are quite strong in the Heartland as well. We’ve approached all our clients through partner sources as well as direct outreach, and we’re really staying close to them. For those that have paused, we’re primarily focused on ensuring they have the support they need to be successful, while working with them on local agency and legislative changes that would assist them in reopening.

Derrick Wood, Analyst

Okay. Do you have any sense as to how long companies can endure shelter in place without much commerce? Is it when PPP runs out, or might there be additional headcount cuts? Do you have any timeframe where it could worsen if the economy doesn’t rebound?

Pat Goepel, CEO

Derrick, I’m not a soothsayer, but I think it’s probably a Nike swoosh in terms of improvement over time. Now, that being said, there may be some ups and downs depending on hot spots and if we open too quickly. Regarding individual business, capitalization varies widely. What I see from our daily calls is some companies are very well-capitalized, and some are not. That said, from our daily call downs, 16% have returned in the past week or so, and I believe there’s a direct correlation to them receiving funding. However, how businesses respond to the shelter-in-place laws depends on multiple factors, including health and financial concerns, making it hard to pin down when companies will come back fully.

Derrick Wood, Analyst

Great. That’s great color. If I could squeeze one more in for Kelyn. You mentioned that you’re looking at doing things to improve the gross margin. Could you walk through a little more about what levers or actions you could take?

Kelyn Brannon, CFO

I’d be really excited to share more on that. One of the things we’ve prioritized since the sale of the workspace business is focusing on our payroll sector, and we’ve had daily call downs. We implemented these protocols in January, ahead of the pandemic concerns. What we’re doing now is taking it to the client level with NetSuite in play and using Domo analytics. We’re able to review scheduled payrolls and focus on freight charges. We identified great opportunities to streamline shipping costs amid all the acquisitions we've made, given our various disparate systems and contracts. We are constantly asking if we have the best deal from carriers like FedEx and UPS while ensuring we provide appropriate turnaround times to our customers. Those are some key areas where we’re focusing to enhance our gross margin. As we think about AWS, there are initial costs when we onboard a new SBO, and it may take several months for them to operate fully. Thus, we’re incurring hosting charges that need addressing. We have task teams in place working to improve these costs.

Pat Goepel, CEO

And Derrick, just to add on the AWS aspect, because I think it's a great example, our first objective was to build a quality back office for all our clients. Now, we’re working with our clients on assessing their needs for dedicated backup recovery through AWS. Moreover, we’re aiming to optimize AWS for the client experience while also being cost-effective. We have a dedicated team in place really making sure we optimize both for client satisfaction and ensuring we provide the right cybersecurity and robustness of the data. We see various opportunities here and are quite focused on achieving those goals. Further, we’ve identified some year-over-year challenges around our P&L in terms of geographical costs, which we’re now addressing. I think you will see improvement over time.

Derrick Wood, Analyst

Great. Thanks, guys.

Operator, Operator

Since there are no more questions today and understanding that it's a busy Thursday with many companies reporting, we want to express our gratitude to our employees for their exceptional efforts during this challenging COVID period, their dedication to our clients and the market has been remarkable, and I want to thank them personally. We recognize that these are uncertain times for investors. We aimed to provide insight into our response to COVID and our outlook for the business, along with the actions we are taking. While we had to withdraw our guidance due to market uncertainty, I wanted to share our approach to mitigating risk and ensuring long-term success. Lastly, we appreciate our clients' loyalty every day and believe there are opportunities for our partnership to thrive as COVID lessens. We look forward to conversations that facilitate mutual growth. Thank you for your time, and we look forward to speaking again soon.

Cheryl Trbula, Vice President of HR

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s conference. Thank you for your participation, and have a wonderful day. You may all disconnect.