SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc Q3 FY2020 Earnings Call

Hi, everyone. Welcome and thank you for joining us for our Q3 2020 earnings call. I'm Justine Stone, Investor Relations for SS&C Technologies. With me today is Bill Stone, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Rahul Kanwar, President and Chief Operating Officer; and Patrick Pedonti, our Chief Financial Officer. Before we get started, we need to review the safe harbor statement. Please note that various remarks we make today about future expectations, plans and prospects, including the financial outlook we provide, constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigations Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those discussed in the Risk Factors section of our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, which is on file with the SEC and can also be accessed on our website. These forward-looking statements represent our expectations only as of today, October 28, 2020. While the company may elect to update these forward-looking statements, it specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. During today's call, we'll be referring to certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to comparable GAAP financial measures is included in today's earnings release, which is located in the Investor Relations section of our website at www.ssctech.com. I will now turn the call over to Bill.

Thanks, Justine, and thank you all for being here today. I hope everyone is safe and healthy at home. I will cover our results and outline our expectations for the rest of the year as we continue to navigate the impacts of COVID-19. For this quarter, we reported adjusted revenue of $1.156 billion, representing a 0.5% increase, along with adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.10, which reflects an 18.3% rise. Our adjusted consolidated EBITDA reached $463 million, and we saw an increase in our adjusted consolidated EBITDA margin to 40.3%, up 180 basis points. Our adjusted organic revenue for Q3 declined by 1.4%. While we have experienced some improvement in sales, especially in our recent corporate businesses, we continue to see challenges in our perpetual licenses when we can resume in-person interactions, compounded by COVID-specific challenges in our health care sector. People have struggled to fulfill prescriptions as effectively as they did before the pandemic. Our alternative fund administration performed well with a 4.3% organic growth rate, and the recovery in the M&A market contributed to a 5.9% growth for Intralinks. Over the first nine months ending September 30, 2020, our organic cash flow was $755 million. Our secured net leverage stands at 2.52 times, while total net leverage is at 3.58 times. We repurchased 3.1 million shares of common stock at an average price of $61.44 each, totaling $191.9 million. We continue to prioritize high-quality acquisitions and are assessing several potential assets. In September, we welcomed Frank Egan as our Managing Director of Mergers and Acquisitions. With over 35 years in investment banking and venture capital, Frank will assist us in sourcing new deals and collaborating with our business unit managers to evaluate various acquisition opportunities. The pandemic has introduced significant uncertainty within our global accounts and led to major fluctuations in the stock market. However, SS&C has maintained our core strengths. Our sales team is motivated, and our technology teams are actively innovating. In recent months, we secured two of the largest deals in the retirement sector. We believe retirement will remain a critical focus area for us, and we aim to establish strong references with Nationwide and ICMA. The adoption of our Eclipse platform continues to grow, and we successfully signed a record 20 new clients in September. Since we sell Eclipse on a term basis, this revenue will be recognized gradually over the coming years. We have merged Black Diamond and InnoTrust, and we are beginning to gain momentum. Banks and trust companies are increasingly competing with wirehouses rather than RIAs, a trend we expect to continue into 2021. Our alternatives business has achieved a new record high with $1.89 trillion in alternative assets under administration, exceeding our previous high from last quarter. This counters the narrative about the decline of the alternatives industry. We believe alternative asset managers are well-positioned to navigate these volatile markets. Details of our 2020 scenario analysis can be found on Page 15 of our earnings results slides. We are using our 2021 scenario as the baseline, with an expected decrease of about $25 million based on economic conditions, which are inevitably influenced by the ongoing pandemic. We expect earnings per share to approximate $4.21 as our baseline, representing an increase of $0.11 from last quarter's estimate. I will now hand the call over to Rahul for a more detailed discussion of the quarter.

Thanks, Bill. While a majority of our workforce is still remote, we have opened 4 international offices and are in the planning phase for several more. We are all anxious to return to normalcy, but the health and well-being of our employees is our first priority. We're monitoring guidelines from governments and health authorities around the world, including the CDC here in the United States, and will not open an office unless it's safe to do so. SS&C continues to innovate how our employees collaborate despite working from home. Within Intralinks, we have enhanced our investor vision portal with expanded general partner capabilities, launched Intralinks steel marketing and road show offerings, and integrated Zoom web conferences. Integration between Algorithmics and Singularity brings embedded risk analytics to our Singularity product. We have already signed one client using this expanded functionality and are building momentum. We've also rebranded our Global Transfer Agency Business to Global Investor and Distribution Solutions, GIDS. GIDS delivers transfer agency and investor servicing powered by a single global servicing platform. Nick Wright, previously leading Financial Services International, has assumed the newly created role of Head of GIDS to bring together SS&C's transfer agency capabilities around the world. Now I will mention some key deals for Q3. A $40 billion in asset hedge fund and turn fund administration client licensed Geneva for their internal operations. A long-term Advent client upgraded their APX license to a cloud delivery solution and added Genesis for rinsing capabilities and BD Link as an investor portal. An existing large strategic client looking to consolidate vendors extended our transfer agency services to their European operations. The Boutique Superannuation Fund based in Australia licensed our Bluedoor solution for its ability to meet their complex requirements. An existing SS&C health client absorbing several acquisitions that result in increased membership required additional licenses and infrastructure to support their growth. A large hedge fund based in Boston expanded their fund administration services. A $4 billion in asset hedge fund shows SS&C's fund administration services, including middle office, regulatory reporting and tax preparation, citing our reputation and commitment to implement on a tight timeline. The European alternative investment manager converted to SS&C fund services from a competitor due to our expertise and ability to meet loan servicing requirements. A large DSD insurance client required a reporting solution and chose to license vision, with a successful cross-sell offer between DSD and our institutional and investment management group. I will now turn it over to Patrick to run through the financials.

Thank you. Results for the third quarter 2020 were GAAP revenues of $1.1528 billion, GAAP net income of $159.4 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.60. Adjusted revenues were $1.1562 billion, including the impact of the adoption of the revenue standard 606 and required deferred revenue adjustments for acquisitions. Adjusted revenue was up 0.5%. Adjusted operating income increased 5.5%, and adjusted EPS was $1.10, an 18.3% increase over Q3 2019. Adjusted revenue increased 5.4% over $5.4 million over Q3 2019. Our acquisitions contributed $29.8 million in the quarter. Foreign exchange had a favorable impact of $6.5 million or 0.6% in the quarter. Organic revenue decline on a constant-currency basis was 1.4%, driven by some weakness in the DSD asset management and healthcare businesses. These were offset by strength in the fund administration and the Intralinks businesses. Adjusted operating income for the third quarter was $448.8 million, an increase of $23.2 million or 5.5% in the third quarter. Foreign exchange had a negative impact of $3.2 million on expenses in the quarter. Adjusted operating margins improved from 37% in the third quarter of 2019 to 38.8% in the third quarter of 2020, driven by lower personnel costs, lower costs related to independent cost factors, lower out-of-pocket expenses, and lower travel expenses. Adjusted consolidated EBITDA, which is defined in Note 3 in the earnings release, was $466.3 million or 40.3% adjusted revenue, an increase of $20.5 million or 4.6% over Q3 2019. Net interest expense for the third quarter was $54.7 million and includes $3.4 million of non-cash amortized financing costs and OID. The average interest rate in the quarter for our amended credit facility and senior notes was 3.0% compared to 4.84% in the third quarter of 2019 and resulted in interest expense decrease of $43.8 million. We recorded a GAAP tax provision for the quarter of $58.6 million or 26.9% of pretax income. Adjusted net income, as defined in Note 4 of the earnings release, was $294.2 million, and adjusted diluted EPS was $1.10. The effective tax rate used for adjusted net income was 26%. Diluted shares increased to 266.7 million from 265.8 million in Q2. The impact of an increase in the average share price and option exercises was partially offset by share repurchases. On the balance sheet and cash flow, as of September, we had approximately $184 million of cash and cash equivalents and approximately $6.9 billion gross debt for a net debt position of approximately $6.7 billion. Operating cash flow for the 9 months ended September 2020 was $755.1 million. For the 9 months, we had net debt payments of $330.3 million compared to $629.1 million in 2019. Treasury stock buybacks totaled $219.8 million for purchases of 3.6 million shares at an average price of $61.07 per share compared to treasury stock buybacks of $60.3 million for 1.3 million shares in 2019. The 9 months, we declared and paid $99.9 million of common stock dividends as compared to $76 million in the same period last year, an increase of 31.4%. Year-to-date, we paid interest of $212.7 million compared to $294.6 million last year due to lower debt levels and lower average interest rates. In the 9 months, we paid income taxes of $182.5 million compared to $180.3 million in the same period of 2019. Our accounts receivable DSO improved in the quarter, to 50.4 days compared to 53.3 days as of June 2020. Capital expenditures and capitalized software totaled $80 million or 2.3% of adjusted revenue compared to $99.1 million or 2.9% of adjusted revenue in the prior year. Spending was predominantly for capitalized software, IT infrastructure, and leasehold improvements. Option exercises increased this year to $129.6 million for proceeds and 4.2 million shares compared to $74.5 million of proceeds and 2.7 million shares last year. On an LTM consolidated basis, EBITDA, which is used for our covenant compliance, was $1.876 billion as of September and includes $8 million of acquired EBITDA and cost savings related to our acquisition. Based on net debt of approximately $6.7 billion, our total leverage ratio was 3.58x, and our secured ratio was 2.52x.

Thanks, Patrick. In the past 34 years, we have put together a remarkably diverse portfolio of products and services, supported by a diverse group of talented professionals. Each year has presented challenges but perhaps no year more so than this year, an election year, a global pandemic, and civil unrest. SS&C, like a fine timepiece just keeps ticking away. Adjusted EPS is up 18% for the quarter, and we suspect 2020 will be up 10% for the year. SS&C is a transaction processing and accounting engine, trades, dividend, interest payments, pharmacy claims, tax returns, Medicare, Medicaid, compliance checks, mutual fund redemptions and subscriptions, and hundreds of other regulatory tax and commercial transactions. The world has more people generally doing more things. SS&C will continue to be a trusted partner to our clients, a strong and successful company for our employees, and a haven of value for our investors. And with that, we'll open it up to questions.

The organic revenue for the quarter exceeded expectations significantly. Could you discuss the factors contributing to this organic revenue growth, particularly from the fund administration business, the ease business, and DST? Additionally, please provide insights on the organic revenue growth assumption for the fourth quarter and the key drivers behind your baseline forecast.

Rahul, you want to take that?

Yes, I can start, and perhaps Patrick can add to that regarding the underlying assumptions. I believe the business performed quite well across the board in Q3, particularly highlighting our fund administration segment, which had a strong quarter. Additionally, we observed a resurgence in the M&A business within Intralinks, contributing to a solid performance there as well. Patrick, could you please address the guidance or various scenarios?

Sure. I think at the midpoint of the scenarios, we expect adjusted organic growth to be negative about 5.5%. The challenge in the fourth quarter is the tough comparison to Q4 2019, when revenue was $1.212 billion, and we had very strong license sales during that period. However, we anticipate that the fund administration business will continue to grow, around 5% for the full year, and we're also seeing improvements in our influence business and some recovery in the DSD business.

Got it. That's very helpful. Can you share the actual growth rate for the fund administration business in the third quarter? It would also be great if you could discuss the growth we observed in DST and whether it's feasible to achieve at least low single-digit top line growth in 2021.

The alternatives fund administration business grew by 4.3% in the quarter. In contrast, the DST business, when adjusted, declined by 3.8% in the third quarter.

And if you look forward to 2021. I think these deals that we have had press releases out on are very large deals. And the revenue really starts to kick in throughout the fourth quarter and then really kicks in in 2021. So we have some reason for optimism, and we believe that we have a lot more prospects in the pipeline.

This is Marco on the line for Brad. I wanted to talk a bit about the hiring of Frank. I think this is for you, Bill. So what excites you about this hiring? Is there perhaps a shift in M&A strategy? Or nothing changing in the environment?

Well, I think Frank has been a pretty senior person at a number of different investment banks, including UBS, and then he found something called Lake Ridge Capital and ran that venture capital fund for a number of years. He's very well connected in both fintech and in healthcare. And so he brings a network of people and capabilities that we didn't really have in the organization before. And I think that he's helping our individual business units on how to frame, how to make an offer, and then how to move towards close in a confident way where the target is comfortable with what we're going to do. So we're excited about it. He's been here a couple of months. I think in general, all of us are pretty pleased with his performance.

I think all the contractors transitioned to in-house employees in the quarter, resulting in savings of approximately $6 million during that time.

Just a quick follow-up on some of those retirement services deals, Bill, that you talked about. Can you give us a sense of how those contracts are priced? Are they based on dollars per account similar to the mutual fund accounting business that DST has? And then, any particular revenue recognition and oddities that we should be aware of in those retirement business wins?

I think overall, it's dependent on the number of participants, the size of the assets, and the number of transactions. These are all significant deals, and JPMorgan has likely introduced a new 401(k) service that we will also manage. Again, these are large-scale agreements. While JPMorgan is a newcomer, your organization doesn't hold much market power, leading to high expectations. Additionally, Nationwide has a substantial business at the ICMA, and we anticipate generating tens of millions in revenue in 2021 with an increase in 2022.

Got it. Okay. And then on the fund administration business, I think this is the second quarter in a row that the AUM has actually outpaced the organic revenue growth. And so I'm just curious, is this a signal of pricing pressure is it a signal of maybe the types of assets that are flowing into your customers, maybe where it's more plain vanilla, you're not able to get the same type of basis points on the assets under administration? Any comments you have there?

Bill, I could take a shot at that. So I think what's happening is as our private equity and real assets businesses continue to grow quickly, some of the kinds of mandates we're getting in there are for things like limited partners and private capital and things like that, that are very, very profitable but don't have the same yield in terms of basis points. And that's probably what you're seeing.

Just a couple of quick ones. First, on retention, noticed that tick down. I mean 95.3% is still a very high number. But just curious if you would call out anything why that's come off a little bit. I mean, again, tough environment, but just curious, any particular ideas?

I'd just say that there's been a couple of accounts that we've withdrawn from, and that makes up the bulk of that.

Okay. And then maybe just on the guide, I guess, the updated guide. I know these are scenarios, but at the same time, we're, I guess, at the end of October with 2 months left in the year. So just curious, the $50 million range, what are the biggest swing factors with 2 months left to still have such a wide range? Like what could go awry, what could go wrong still in this year?

We could sign some large-scale licenses where we take a very large chunk of revenue into this fourth quarter, and we could not sign some large-scale licenses where we take a very large chunk of revenue in the fourth quarter. Now I think that's just about it.

Patrick, can you share your thoughts on the closing of the unit, specifically Capita, the timing of that in the quarter, and the type of revenue it contributed?

Capita has not closed.

It has not closed. Okay.

Has not closed. It's still hung up with some regulatory approvals and some other approvals. And we're not sure at this point what it's going to close.

Okay. So there is no acquired revenue from Capita in your updated guidance ranges?

No. There's really no changes from our previous guidance. Last acquisition, I think, was in a vest in May.

Yes. All of our money management businesses are engaged in the capabilities we are developing for Brooks and Macdonald and other large-scale U.K. money managers, as well as in Ireland, Scotland, and Europe. We also see many opportunities in Australia and the rest of Asia. Some of the pandemic-related slowdowns might now allow us to connect with them more effectively and possibly establish partnerships more quickly. Brooks Macdonald is an excellent organization, and we have a significant opportunity to build a strong partnership with them, which can also expand our business throughout the U.K. and Europe. We have the opportunity to close at even higher rates. I believe we have some momentum. It depends on securing the contract and ensuring that the revenue streams are reinstated. However, we are optimistic about our prospects in healthcare and what we can achieve.

Bill, just looking at the portfolio of offerings that you have, any noticeable shifts in competition implications for pricing? And then how have your win rates been trending across the various segments of your portfolio?

Yes. I think the strongest areas continue to be wealth management where you see Black Diamond and then a few of the other add-in products that we've built around and acquired around Black Diamond like other products like that. And then you have real assets that have done a very nice job and continue to have a very full pipeline. We also have a lot of opportunity in private equity. We think that, that continues, as Rahul had spoken about that prior, and that's a very full pipeline and still may come out on a dollars basis, still 70% of the dollars in private equity are still administered in-house. So there's a real opportunity for us to execute into that business even more so. And I think we believe retirement is going to be a very nice sweet spot for us because the deals are large and the contracts are long and as are the tightness of the relationships. So that's really the kind of the essence of the business, by getting Innovest, we get InnoTrust. We have 16 Diamond RIAs and what they're finding as they get into high net worth individuals is a lot of them have trusts, which is you need trust accounting. And Milltrust is a very, very powerful product, and we're excited about our opportunity to cross-sell and upsell into those markets. Yes. I think the margin levels are manageable for SS&C. We can control our expenses, and as we've stated before, we have some flexibility in our spending. Therefore, we are not overly worried about margins or earnings. We have a strong sales team, and while the global pandemic has not diminished our capabilities, it also has not propelled us forward. We have hired many new salespeople and are working on their training, but they lack the interaction and opportunity to share ideas with each other, which has been challenging for closing deals. Clients prefer face-to-face interactions to ensure confidence in our services. In our smart scale and medium-scale fund administration businesses, we are well-established with a wide range of references. And so back to normal seems like a very difficult standard to define. And the further that we get away from February of 2020, the harder it is to remember what normal was, right? So traveling for business and in the airplane, I have not done in 6 months, maybe? That hasn't happened in 30 years. So I just think that we need not to get precipitous, and we need to be able to work methodically, have data to ensure we're supporting our team and our customers. And so that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to be wise. And in October of 2020, that's a difficult proposition.

I have a question about buying behavior during the sales cycle. It appears that you've achieved some significant wins over the past quarter despite ongoing pressure. It sounds like the sales cycle and closure rates are starting to return to normal. Can you share your insights on this? Also, if there is improvement, what changes have you observed heading into the fourth quarter?

Well, again, Andrew, I think trying to be perspicacious about this is very difficult because everybody's crystal ball is a little cloudy. And when you say things are coming back to normal, I would tell you 80% or 90% of our sales needs are now, going soon, are Webex, whatever Microsoft is, or whoever is, right? But some sort of collaboration software where people are in normal places. And as are our preparation meetings, all of our preparation meetings are through Zoom and collaboration software.

Yes. I think it's important to note that there are indications that people are becoming more comfortable. People are adapting, and as Bill mentioned, some of their challenges need to be addressed. However, the key focus is on the rate of buying behavior. We are observing that prospects are making decisions, signing contracts, and moving forward.

Understood. And then just a question on capital allocation. We saw the buyback this quarter. Should we expect consistent buybacks? And then I guess, in terms of the M&A pipeline, just any update there in terms of prospects and things like that?

Well, again, that's another wise discussion point, right? So we'll sit down and we'll talk in there. We can buy back debt. But as Patrick pointed out, our debt is 1-month LIBOR plus our spread, and 1-month LIBOR right now is low. Last year, we generated $5 per share in cash. We want to ensure that if we come across a quality acquisition at a fair price, we have the capability to pursue it. And then we're going to split the rest of our cash flow between paying down debt. And it looks like now we can buy something in the open market and then also buy back shares.

Just looking at the fourth quarter implied net income range. I'm coming up with a range of $266 million, $286 million. You did $294 million in the third quarter. So I guess the question is, why would net income come down from Q3 to Q4?

Well, there's a little bit of decline in sequential revenue. But the midpoint scenario, right? And the fourth quarter also typically has higher costs related to employee reviews and raises that are effective on October 1. So we're going to see that increase in compensation and a few other expenses kind of go up sequentially in Q4. And then at the midpoint, revenue is down a little bit.

So that began on October 1. And I think our ranges for 2020, while more modest than they are generally, still in the $30 million to $40 million range. So $8 million to $10 million a quarter. Well, Chris, I think SS&C is a way bigger place, right? We're at $4.6 billion and we have upwards of 25,000 employees, we have 50 offices, we're in 35, 40 countries, right? There's opportunities all over the world. And we've done a number of acquisitions where those management teams are used to buying stuff too. So in the incoming numbers of acquisitions and then the ability to really project how I think or Rahul thinks or Patrick thinks, we still have full-time jobs, right? I mean, we still try to manage the business. We try to help the sales force on call. We try to help the development people get the right people in and be able to really get to high enough-level people at our prospects and our clients to make sure that what we're building, people are going to buy. We have opportunities to acquire banks in Germany, France, the United States, Asia, and Mexico, among other places. Frank's role in the first 60 days is to assist the business unit managers in understanding how to approach negotiations, how to ensure targets feel positive, and how to keep Patrick and Joe informed, ensuring that finance and legal maintain a consistent rhythm throughout the process.

Just a clarification on the commentary around the capital allocation. From my perspective, obviously, share purchases were a little bit larger than I was anticipating. But on a go-forward basis, as we think about the opportunity set that's out for you, can you help me understand the trade-off between share repurchases versus maybe just paying down debt, I understand that debt is effectively free at 1.9% at this point. But maybe that allowing yourself to increase flexibility in terms of maybe doing even a bigger deal or obviously, one of the challenges with the firm from an outsider's perspective has been just leverage ratios and stuff.

Well, I think, hey, that's a really good question, and that's where you try to be wise. That's why we spent $330 million on paying down debt and buying back debt. And we spent $191 million on buying back shares. We did do an offer of $750 million to buy back shares. And we don't send out press releases on authorizations that we don't have any intention on acting upon. That doesn't mean we're going to buy $750 million worth of shares. I don't think we will. But at the same time, when you're generating $5 a share in cash, that's a pretty compelling cash flow economic analysis as to what's more economically valuable to you. Your point is valid that the market prefers lower debt and faster debt reduction, but our approach to debt repayment is unique. We remain focused and disciplined without altering our philosophy of pursuing good acquisitions, seeking more leverage, and addressing undervalued stock. While we believe our stock is undervalued, the market ultimately determines its value. We are generating significant cash, securing major deals, and developing impressive technology with a strong workforce. Our ambition and discipline are evident; from $329 million in revenue when we went public in 2010 to $1 billion in 2015, and $95 million when we went private in 2005, we've consistently grown. I believe this growth will continue because it's in our nature, and we attract other entrepreneurs who want to be part of our journey. It's a question of being able to have the right products at the right time at the right place and then have a need, right? Nationwide has a need or ICMA may have a need or JPMorgan have a need or we have to have a need, Brooks Macdonald or other ones. They have to have a need and then we have to meet it. And we have to meet it at the right price with the best solution. And I think in general, we do that, and we do that very well. I appreciate everyone being here. As always, we work diligently for our shareholders, and we value your interest in our company. Thank you, and stay safe. Goodbye.

Thank you. And this does conclude today's conference call. You may now disconnect.