EVERTEC Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results

EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE: EVTC) (“Evertec” or the “Company”) today announced results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2023.

Fourth Quarter 2023 Highlights and Recent Highlights

• Revenue increased 20% to $194.6 million
• GAAP Net Income attributable to common shareholders was $11.5 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, a 61% decrease
• Adjusted EBITDA increased to $71.7 million
• Adjusted earnings per common share was $0.62, or a 6% decrease
• Closed the Sinqia acquisition on November 1
• The Company intends to enter into an accelerated share repurchase (ASR) agreement for $70 million

Full Year 2023 Highlights

• Revenue grew 12% to $694.7 million
• GAAP Net Income attributable to common shareholders was $79.7 million, or $1.21 per diluted share
• Adjusted EBITDA increased 6% to $292.0 million
• Adjusted earnings per common share was $2.82, or a 11% increase
• $49 million returned to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends

Mac Schuessler, President and Chief Executive Officer stated "We are pleased to deliver another year of strong results as we continue to execute in our core markets and benefit from strong organic growth. As we look to 2024 we will continue to focus on delivering great solutions to our clients that will drive growth and on integrating our most recent acquisitions as we become the true provider of Latin America Payments and Solutions.”

Fourth Quarter 2023 Results

Revenue. Total revenue for the quarter ended December 31, 2023 was $194.6 million, an increase of 20.3%, compared with $161.8 million in the prior year. The increase in revenues primarily reflects growth in our Latin America business as it benefited from the Sinqia acquisition we closed during the fourth quarter as well as from strong organic growth and the paySmart acquisition completed in the first quarter. We also benefited from strong POS transaction volumes that positively impacted our Payments Puerto Rico and Caribbean segment.

Net Income attributable to common shareholders. For the quarter ended December 31, 2023, GAAP Net Income attributable to common shareholders was $11.5 million or $0.17 per diluted share, a decrease of $17.2 million, compared with $28.7 million or $0.44 per diluted share in the prior year. Selling, general and administrative expenses increased primarily as a result of expenses incurred as part of closing and integration of Sinqia, as well as an increase in personnel costs. Cost of revenues increased mainly due to an increase in personnel costs, which includes the added headcount from the acquisitions completed throughout the year, and an increase in professional fees and cloud services. The quarter results also reflect an increase in interest expense in connection with financing the Sinqia acquisition.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin. For the quarter ended December 31, 2023, Adjusted EBITDA was $71.7 million, an increase of $2.5 million compared to the prior year. The increase in adjusted EBITDA was mainly driven by the contribution from the Sinqia acquisition. Adjusted EBITDA margin (Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of total revenue) decreased approximately 590 basis points to 36.8% compared with 42.7% in the prior year, partially driven by the completion of the Sinqia acquisition, which contributes at a lower margin, as well as the impact from the increased expenses discussed above.

Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted earnings per common share. For the quarter ended December 31, 2023, Adjusted Net Income was $40.8 million, a decrease of 6% compared with $43.4 million in the prior year. Adjusted earnings per common share was $0.62, a decrease of 6% compared with $0.66 in the prior year. The decrease was primarily driven by higher interest expense resulting from the increased debt raised to finance the Sinqia acquisition, higher operating depreciation and amortization, partially offset by a lower adjusted effective tax rate.

Full Year 2023 Results

Revenue. Total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $694.7 million, an increase of 12% compared with $618.4 million in the prior year, reflecting growth across LATAM Payments and Solutions, Payment Services - Puerto Rico & Caribbean, and the Merchant Acquiring segments. Latin America revenues benefited from strong organic growth throughout the year including the $6.3 million impact from our Getnet Chile contract in the third quarter and the contribution from the BBR, paySmart and Sinqia acquisitions. Puerto Rico revenues benefited from strong sales volume and transaction growth as well as the effect of pricing initiatives impacting our Merchant Acquiring segment.

Net Income attributable to common shareholders. For the year ended December 31, 2023, GAAP Net Income attributable to common shareholders was $79.7 million, or $1.21 per diluted share, a decrease compared with $239.0 million or $3.45 per diluted share in the prior year. The decrease was primarily driven by the impact in the prior year of the $135.6 million gain recognized in connection with closing the Popular Transaction and the loss on foreign currency swap of $24.1 million related to the Sinqia acquisition in 2023. Partially offsetting these negative impacts was the increase in revenues discussed above and a decrease in income tax expense as the prior year reflected the impact from the gain from the Popular transaction.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin. For the year ended December 31, 2023, Adjusted EBITDA was $292.0 million, an increase of 6% compared to the prior year. The increase in Adjusted EBITDA primarily reflects the increase in revenues discussed above, partially offset by an increase in operating expenses. Adjusted EBITDA margin (Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of total revenues) decreased 262 basis points to 42.0% compared with 44.7% in the prior year. The decrease in Adjusted EBITDA margin primarily reflects the expected impact from the Popular transaction on margin due to the sale of higher margin assets in the prior year and the effect of a full year of the Merchant Acquiring sharing agreement, as well as the effect of the Sinqia acquisition which is contributing at a lower margin.

Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted earnings per common share. For the year ended December 31, 2023, Adjusted Net Income was $185.5 million, an increase of 6% compared with $175.1 million in the prior year. The increase was driven by the higher adjusted EBITDA, partially offset by higher operating depreciation and amortization and higher interest expense. Adjusted earnings per common share were $2.82, an increase of 11% compared with $2.53 in the prior year. The increase was driven by the increase in adjusted net income and a lower share count that reflects the impact from the share repurchases and the shares received as part of the Popular Transaction.

Stock Repurchase

The Company intends to enter into an ASR agreement for $70 million of the Company’s common stock. The Company expects the ASR will become effective in the coming weeks and the final settlement of the ASR is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2024.

During the quarter, the Company repurchased 344,715 shares of its common stock at an average price of $36.82 for a total of $12.5 million. For the full year 2023, the Company repurchased 1.0 million shares of its common stock at an average price of $35.75 per share for a total of $36.1 million. At December 31, 2023, the Company's share repurchase program had approximately $137.5 million remaining and authorized for future use. The Company may repurchase shares in the open market, through accelerated share repurchase programs, 10b5-1 plans, or in privately negotiated transactions, subject to business opportunities and other factors.

2024 Outlook

The Company's financial outlook for 2024 is as follows:

• Total consolidated revenue between $844 million and $854 million approximately 21.5% to 22.9% growth.
• Adjusted earnings per common share between $2.82 to $2.94 flat to approximately 4.3% growth as compared to $2.82 in 2023.
• Capital expenditures are anticipated to be approximately $80 million, including Sinqia.
• Effective tax rate of approximately 7% to 8%.

Earnings Conference Call and Audio Webcast

The Company will host a conference call to discuss its fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial results today at 4:30 p.m. ET. Hosting the call will be Mac Schuessler, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Joaquin Castrillo, Chief Financial Officer. The conference call can be accessed live over the phone by dialing (888) 338-7153 or for international callers by dialing (412) 317-5117. A replay will be available one hour after the end of the conference call and can be accessed by dialing (877) 344-7529 or (412) 317-0088 for international callers; the pin number is 3065281. The replay will be available through Wednesday, March 6, 2024. The call will be webcast live from the Company’s website at www.evertecinc.com under the Investor Relations section or directly at http://ir.evertecinc.com. A supplemental slide presentation that accompanies this call and webcast can be found on the investor relations website at ir.evertecinc.com and will remain available after the call.

About EVERTEC

EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE: EVTC) is a leading full-service transaction processing business in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and Latin America, providing a broad range of merchant acquiring, payment services and business process management services. Evertec owns and operates the ATH® network, one of the leading personal identification number (“PIN”) debit networks in Latin America. In addition, the Company processes over six billion transactions annually and manages a system of electronic payment networks in Puerto Rico and Latin America and offers a comprehensive suite of services for core banking, cash processing, and fulfillment in Puerto Rico. Additionally, the Company offers technology outsourcing and payment transactions fraud monitoring to all the regions it serves. Based in Puerto Rico, the Company operates in 26 Latin American countries and serves a diversified customer base of leading financial institutions, merchants, corporations and government agencies with “mission-critical” technology solutions. For more information, visit www.evertecinc.com.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information

The non-GAAP measures referenced in this earnings release are supplemental measures of the Company’s performance and are not required by, or presented in accordance with, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). They are not measurements of the Company’s financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as alternatives to total revenue, net income or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP or as alternatives to cash flows from operating activities, as indicators of operating performance or as measures of the Company’s liquidity. In addition to GAAP measures, management uses these non-GAAP measures to focus on the factors the Company believes are pertinent to the daily management of the Company’s operations and believes that they are also frequently used by analysts, investors and other stakeholders to evaluate companies in our industry. These measures have certain limitations in that they do not include the impact of certain expenses that are reflected in our condensed consolidated statements of operations that are necessary to run our business. Other companies, including other companies in our industry, may not use these measures or may calculate these measures differently than as presented herein, limiting their usefulness as comparative measures.

Reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure are included at the end of this earnings release. These non-GAAP measures include EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Earnings per common share, each as defined below. Effective for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, the Company modified the manner in which it calculates Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted earnings per common share to exclude the impact of unrealized gains and losses from foreign currency remeasurement for assets and liabilities denominated in non-functional currencies. These non-cash unrealized gains and losses are non-operational in nature and we believe that excluding these better presents the overall financial performance of our core business, and helps facilitate comparison with industry peers. The Company has recast prior periods to conform with the modified definition of Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Earnings per common share.

EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA further adjusted to exclude certain non-cash items and unusual expenses such as: share-based compensation, restructuring related expenses, fees and expenses from corporate transactions such as M&A activity and financing, equity investment income net of dividends received, and the impact from unrealized gains and losses on foreign currency remeasurement for assets and liabilities in non-functional currency. This measure is reported to the chief operating decision maker for purposes of making decisions about allocating resources to the segments and assessing their performance. For this reason, Adjusted EBITDA, as it relates to the Company's segments, is presented in conformity with Accounting Standards Codification 280, Segment Reporting, and is excluded from the definition of non-GAAP financial measures under the Securities and Exchange Commission's Regulation G and Item 10(e) of Regulation S-K. The Company's presentation of Adjusted EBITDA is substantially consistent with the equivalent measurements that are contained in the secured credit facilities in testing EVERTEC Group’s compliance with covenants therein such as the secured leverage ratio.

Adjusted Net Income is defined as Adjusted EBITDA less: operating depreciation and amortization expense, defined as GAAP Depreciation and amortization less amortization of intangibles related to acquisitions such as customer relationships, trademarks; cash interest expense defined as GAAP interest expense, less GAAP interest income adjusted to exclude non-cash amortization of debt issue costs, premium and accretion of discount; income tax expense which is calculated on adjusted pre-tax income using the applicable GAAP tax rate, adjusted for uncertain tax position releases, tax true-ups, windfall from share-based compensation, unrealized gains and losses from foreign currency remeasurement, among others; and non-controlling interests, net of amortization for intangibles created as part of the purchase.

Adjusted Earnings per common share is defined as Adjusted Net Income divided by diluted shares outstanding.

The Company uses Adjusted Net Income to measure the Company's overall profitability because the Company believes it better reflects the comparable operating performance by excluding the impact of the non-cash amortization and depreciation that was created as a result of merger and acquisition activity. In addition, in evaluating EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Earnings per common share, you should be aware that in the future the Company may incur expenses such as those excluded in calculating them.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this earnings release constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of, and subject to the protection of, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical facts, including, without limitation, statements regarding our ability to meet our guidance expectations for revenue, earnings per share, Adjusted earnings per common share, capital expenditures and effective tax rate, including for fiscal year 2023, are forward looking statements. Words such as “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “projects,” “estimates,” and “plans” and similar expressions of future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “should,” “would,” “may,” and “could” are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts.

Various factors that could cause actual future results and other future events to differ materially from those estimated by management include, but are not limited to: our reliance on our relationship with Popular, Inc. (“Popular”) for a significant portion of our revenues pursuant to our second amended and restated Master Services Agreement (“MSA”) with them, and as it may impact our ability to grow our business; our ability to renew our client contracts on terms favorable to us, including but not limited to the current term and any extension of the MSA with Popular; our dependence on our processing systems, technology infrastructure, security systems and fraudulent payment detection systems, as well as on our personnel and certain third parties with whom we do business, and the risks to our business if our systems are hacked or otherwise compromised; our ability to develop, install and adopt new software, technology and computing systems; a decreased client base due to consolidations and/or failures in the financial services industry; the credit risk of our merchant clients, for which we may also be liable; the continuing market position of the ATH network; a reduction in consumer confidence, whether as a result of a global economic downturn or otherwise, which leads to a decrease in consumer spending; our dependence on credit card associations, including any adverse changes in credit card association or network rules or fees; changes in the regulatory environment and changes in macroeconomic, market, international, legal, tax, political, or administrative conditions, including inflation or the risk of recession; the geographical concentration of our business in Puerto Rico, including our business with the government of Puerto Rico and its instrumentalities, which are facing severe political and fiscal challenges; additional adverse changes in the general economic conditions in Puerto Rico, whether as a result of the government’s debt crisis or otherwise, including the continued migration of Puerto Ricans to the U.S. mainland, which could negatively affect our customer base, general consumer spending, our cost of operations and our ability to hire and retain qualified employees; operating an international business in Latin America and the Caribbean, in jurisdictions with potential political and economic instability; the impact of foreign exchange rates on operations; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights against infringement and to defend ourselves against claims of infringement brought by third parties; our ability to comply with U.S. federal, state, local and foreign regulatory requirements; evolving industry standards and adverse changes in global economic, political and other conditions; our level of indebtedness and the impact of rising interest rates, restrictions contained in our debt agreements, including the secured credit facilities, as well as debt that could be incurred in the future; our ability to prevent a cybersecurity attack or breach to our information security; the possibility that we could lose our preferential tax rate in Puerto Rico; our inability to integrate Sinqia successfully into the Company or to achieve expected accretion to our earnings per common share; any loss of personnel or customers in connection with the Transaction; any cost and other terms of new debt financing incurred in connection with the Transaction; and any possibility of future catastrophic hurricanes, earthquakes and other potential natural disasters affecting our main markets in Latin America and the Caribbean; and the other factors set forth under "Part 1, Item 1A. Risk Factors," in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on or about February 29, 2024, as any such factors may be updated from time to time in the Company’s filings with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements, to report events or to report the occurrence of unanticipated events unless it is required to do so by law.

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