DFIN Donnelley Financial Solutions Inc

CHICAGO, Oct. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Donnelley Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: DFIN) (the "Company" or "DFIN") today reported financial results for the third quarter of 2024.

Highlights for the third quarter of 2024:

• Record third-quarter software solutions net sales of $82.2 million, an increase of 12.3%, or 13.6% on an organic basis^(a), from the third quarter of 2023; Software solutions net sales accounted for 45.8% of total net sales, up from 40.7% in the third quarter of 2023.
• Total net sales of $179.5 million, a decrease of 0.3%, or an increase of 0.2% on an organic basis^(a), from the third quarter of 2023; net sales change was comprised of:
  • Increase in software solutions net sales of $9.0 million (a 12.3% increase, or 13.6% on an organic basis^(a)),
  • Decrease in tech-enabled services net sales of $5.2 million (a 6.5% decrease), and
  • Decrease in print and distribution net sales of $4.3 million (a 16.3% decrease)
• Net earnings of $8.7 million, or $0.29 per diluted share; Adjusted EBITDA^(a) of $43.2 million and Adjusted EBITDA margin^(a) of 24.1%.
• Operating Cash Flow^(b) of $86.4 million and Free Cash Flow^(a) of $67.3 million, improvements of $5.9 million and $6.0 million, respectively, from the third quarter of 2023.
• Gross leverage^(a) of 0.5x and net leverage^(a) of 0.4x as of September 30, 2024.
• The Company repurchased 208,254 shares for approximately $13.3 million at an average price of $63.96 per share. As of September 30, 2024, the remaining share repurchase authorization was $108.7 million.

"We are pleased with the continued momentum in the growth of our software solutions net sales, which increased 13.6% on an organic basis versus third quarter of 2023, marking the third consecutive quarter of double-digit organic net sales growth. The growth in software solutions net sales continues to be led by the performance of Venue, our virtual dataroom offering, which grew approximately 27% year-over-year. In addition, we experienced improvements in the growth rates of our recurring compliance software products, Arc Suite and ActiveDisclosure. Arc Suite posted stronger sales growth in the third quarter compared to recent trend, reflecting incremental revenue from our Tailored Shareholder Reports offering. Further, ActiveDisclosure subscription revenue growth also improved relative to trend, as we continue to make progress to increase the adoption of ActiveDisclosure," said Daniel N. Leib, DFIN's president and chief executive officer.

Leib continued, "As we anticipated, the level of capital markets deal activity remained soft during the third quarter, with new equity issuances and M&A activity remaining well below historical levels. Despite the ongoing weakness in the capital markets transactional environment that resulted in our third-quarter transactional revenue being down nearly 8% from the prior year, our margin performance remained resilient. Adjusted EBITDA margin in the quarter was 24.1%, which demonstrates our ability to sustainably deliver a solid level of profitability across various market conditions. Additionally, consistent with our first-half performance, we delivered higher year-over-year operating cash flow and free cash flow during the third quarter, primarily as a result of continued improvement in working capital management."

"Moving forward, our solid financial results and strong balance sheet provide us with the financial flexibility to continue to invest in generating a more favorable recurring revenue mix, including capturing recurring revenue opportunities from current and future regulatory changes. In addition, we will continue to prudently manage our cost structure and remain disciplined in the allocation of capital as we execute our transformation to become the market leading provider of regulatory and compliance solutions," Leib concluded.

Net Sales

Net sales in the third quarter of 2024 were $179.5 million, a decrease of $0.5 million, or 0.3% (an increase of 0.2% on an organic basis), from the third quarter of 2023. Net sales decreased primarily due to lower capital markets and investment companies compliance revenue, part of which is related to a reduction in print and distribution volumes, lower capital markets transactional revenue, which decreased $3.8 million year-over-year, and the impact of the eBrevia disposition, partially offset by higher software solutions net sales primarily driven by Venue and Arc Suite.

Net Earnings

For the third quarter of 2024, net earnings were $8.7 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, as compared to $18.1 million, or $0.60 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2023. Net earnings in the third quarter of 2024 included after-tax charges of $5.6 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, primarily related to share-based compensation expense. Net earnings in the third quarter of 2023 included after-tax charges of $3.6 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, primarily related to share-based compensation expense.

Adjusted EBITDA and Non-GAAP Net Earnings

For the third quarter of 2024, Adjusted EBITDA was $43.2 million, a decrease of $6.2 million as compared to the third quarter of 2023. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 24.1%, a decrease of approximately 330 basis points as compared to the third quarter of 2023. The decrease in Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin was primarily due to higher compensation-related expense compared to the third quarter of 2023, part of which is related to overlapping favorable changes in accruals in the third quarter of 2023, and lower capital markets transactional and compliance volumes, partially offset by higher software solutions net sales and cost control initiatives.

For the third quarter of 2024, non-GAAP net earnings were $14.3 million, or $0.48 per diluted share, as compared to $21.7 million, or $0.72 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2023.

Reconciliations of net sales to organic net sales, net earnings to Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin and non-GAAP net earnings are presented in the tables.

Company Results and Conference Call

DFIN's earnings press release for the third quarter of 2024, which is included as Exhibit 99.1 to the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K that has been furnished to the SEC on October 31, 2024, is available on the Company's investor relations website at investor.dfinsolutions.com. A supplemental trending schedule of historical results, including additional breakouts of segment-level net sales, is also available on the Company's investor relations website.

DFIN will hold a conference call and webcast on October 31, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time to discuss financial results for the third quarter of 2024, provide a general business update and respond to analyst questions.

A live webcast of the call will also be available on the Company's investor relations website. Please visit investor.dfinsolutions.com at least fifteen minutes prior to the start of the event to register, download and install any necessary audio software.

If you are unable to participate live, a replay of the webcast will be available following the conference call on the Company's investor relations website, along with the earnings press release and related financial tables.

About DFIN

DFIN is a leading global provider of innovative software and technology-enabled financial regulatory and compliance solutions. We provide domain expertise, enterprise software and data analytics for every stage of our clients' business and investment lifecycles. Markets fluctuate, regulations evolve, technology advances, and through it all, DFIN delivers confidence with the right solutions in moments that matter. Learn about DFIN's end-to-end risk and compliance solutions online at DFINsolutions.com or you can also follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @DFINSolutions or on LinkedIn.

Use of Non-GAAP Information

This news release contains certain non-GAAP financial measures, including non-GAAP gross profit, adjusted non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, adjusted non-GAAP selling, general and administrative expenses ("SG&A"), adjusted non- GAAP income from operations, adjusted non-GAAP operating margin, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, non- GAAP effective tax rate, adjusted non-GAAP net earnings, adjusted non-GAAP diluted earnings per share, Free Cash Flow and organic net sales. The Company believes that these non-GAAP financial measures, when presented in conjunction with comparable GAAP measures, provide useful information about the Company's operating results and liquidity and enhance the overall ability to assess the Company's financial performance. The Company uses these measures, together with other measures of performance under GAAP, to compare the relative performance of operations in planning, budgeting and reviewing the performance of its business.

The Company's non-GAAP statement of operations measures, which include non-GAAP gross profit, adjusted non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, adjusted non-GAAP SG&A, adjusted non-GAAP income from operations, adjusted non- GAAP operating margin, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, non-GAAP effective tax rate, adjusted non-GAAP net earnings and adjusted non-GAAP diluted earnings per share, are adjusted to exclude the impact of certain costs, expenses, gains and losses and other specified items that management believes are not indicative of our ongoing operations. These adjusted measures exclude the impact of expenses associated with the Company's non-income tax, net, accelerated rent expense, share-based compensation and eliminate potential differences in results of operations between periods caused by factors such as historic cost and age of assets, financing and capital structures, taxation positions or regimes, restructuring, impairment and other charges, net and gain or loss on certain investments, business sales and asset sales.

Free Cash Flow is a non-GAAP financial measure and is defined by the Company as net cash flow provided by operating activities less capital expenditures. By adjusting for the level of capital investment in operations, the Company believes that free cash flow can provide useful additional basis for understanding the Company's ability to generate cash after capital investment and provides a comparison to peers with differing capital intensity.

Organic net sales is a non-GAAP financial measure and is defined by the Company as reported net sales adjusted for the changes in foreign currency exchange rates and the impact of dispositions.

These non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, not a substitute for, or superior to, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, these measures are defined differently by different companies in our industry and, accordingly, such measures may not be comparable to similarly-titled measures of other companies.

Use of Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of, and subject to the safe harbor created by, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, with respect to the business, strategy and plans of DFIN and its expectations relating to future financial condition and performance. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about DFIN management's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "aims," "potential," "will," "would," "could," "considered," "likely," "estimate" and variations of these words and similar future or conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. While DFIN believes these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond DFIN's control. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend upon future circumstances that may or may not occur. Actual results may differ materially from DFIN's current expectations depending upon a number of factors affecting the business and risks associated with the performance of the business. These factors include such risks and uncertainties detailed in DFIN periodic public filings with the SEC, including but not limited to those discussed under "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and in Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors of DFIN's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, those discussed under "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" in DFIN's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in other investor communications of DFIN's from time to time. DFIN does not undertake to and specifically declines any obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect future events or circumstances after the date of such statement or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.

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