Tucows Reports Financial Results for Fourth Quarter 2021

TORONTO, Feb. 10, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tucows Inc. (NASDAQ:TCX, TSX:TC), a global internet services leader, today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2021. All figures are in U.S. dollars.

Note on the Financial Impact of Tucows’ Sale of Ting Mobile Customer Relationships and Transition to Mobile Services Enabler Platform:

As previously announced, effective August 1, 2020 most of Tucows’ mobile customers relationships were sold to DISH Networks (“DISH”) as part of Tucows’ transition of its mobile business to a Mobile Services Enabler (MSE) model from a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) model, under which DISH became Tucows’ first
MSE customer. Accordingly, the results of the Mobile Services segment for the full year 2021 reflect operations under the new MSE model for the entire year compared to the year ended 2020 being composed of approximately five months of operations under the new MSE model and approximately seven months of operations under Tucows’ previous MVNO model.

Under the terms of the earn out arrangement for the Ting customer base acquired by DISH, the income generated by the customer base acquired by DISH is recognized (net of expenses) as “Other Income” under the heading “Gain on Sale of Ting Customer Assets”. As a result, revenue and gross margin for the Mobile Services segment for the 2021 year were impacted by the significantly larger MVNO contribution 2020. Tucows will recognize platform fees for customers owned by DISH under the Ting brand as well as customers under other DISH brands that are added to Tucows’ MSE platform, as Mobile Platform Services revenue under the terms of the MSE Agreement signed with DISH. For more information, see Tucows’ Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis for the third quarter of 2021.

Summary Financial Results
(In Thousands of US Dollars, Except Per Share Data)

	3 Months ended December 31					12 Months ended December 31
	2021 (Unaudited)		2020 (Unaudited)	% Change		2021 (Unaudited)	2020 (Unaudited)	% Change
Net revenues	82,476		70,784	16.5	%	304,337	311,202	(2.2	%)
Gross Profit	24,577		17,428	41.0	%	78,293	85,485	(8.4	%)
Gain on Sale of Ting Customer Assets, net1	4,263		6,522	(34.6	%)	20,030	7,612	163.1	%
Net income	(1,967	)	2,068	(195.1	%)	3,364	5,775	(41.7	%)
Basic earnings per common share	(0.18	)	0.19	(194.1	%)	0.32	0.55	(42.1	%)
Adjusted EBITDA1	12,736		12,847	(0.9	%)	48,821	50,972	(4.2	%)
Net cash provided by operating activities	10,542		1,637	544.0	%	29,637	36,081	(17.9	%)

1. This Non-GAAP financial measure is described below and reconciled to GAAP net income in the accompanying table.
   
   

Summary of Revenues, Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA
(In Thousands of US Dollars)

	Revenue		Gross Profit				Adj. EBITDA1
	3 Months ended December 31		3 Months ended December 31				3 Months ended December 31
	2021 (Unaudited)	2020 (Unaudited)	2021 (Unaudited)		2020 (Unaudited)		2021 (Unaudited)		2020 (Unaudited)
Fiber Internet Services:
Fiber Internet Services	8,577	5,049	5,771		3,130		(3,564	)	(835	)
Mobile Services:
Retail Mobile Services	2,523	1,806	753		821
Mobile Platform Services	5,542	188	5,393		132
Other Professional Services	4,473	1,959	2,692		256
Total Mobile Services	12,538	3,953	8,838		1,209		8,597		4,733
Domain Services:
Wholesale
Domain Services	47,137	47,463	10,516		10,312
Value Added Services	5,518	5,097	4,843		4,257
Total Wholesale	52,655	52,560	15,359		14,569
Retail	8,706	9,222	4,329		4,783
Total Domain Services	61,361	61,782	19,688		19,352		11,640		12,132
Network Expenses:
Network, other costs	n/a	n/a	(4,474	)	(2,681	)	n/a		n/a
Network, depreciation and amortization costs	n/a	n/a	(5,347	)	(3,582	)	n/a		n/a
Network, impairment	n/a	n/a	101		n/a		n/a		n/a
Total Network expenses	n/a	n/a	(9,720	)	(6,263	)	n/a		n/a
Total	82,476	70,784	24,577		17,428		n/a		n/a

“Tucows delivered another quarter of solid financial performance, highlighted by year-over-year increases in net revenue and gross profit of 17% and 41%, respectively, driven by growth in the Ting Fiber Internet customer base and the significantly higher contribution of our Mobile Services Enabler platform a year after its launch,” said Elliot Noss, President and Chief Executive Officer, Tucows Inc.“ Adjusted EBITDA decreased slightly by 0.9% year-over-year as we continued to invest in the Ting Fiber Internet opportunity, with the fourth quarter seeing another record for capital expenditure on our Fiber network.”

“The fourth quarter concluded a year of both solid financial results and strategic achievements across the Company. Tucows Domain Services posted a record year for both gross margin and adjusted EBITDA as that business reached a new, higher steady state level following the pandemic related growth of 2020. The first full year of our Mobile Services Enabler business, recently rebranded as our Communication Service Provider software platform, Wavelo, was very much in line with our expectations, as we focused on supporting the success of our first customer, DISH. 2021 also saw significant progress on the accelerated build of the Ting Fiber Internet network, with a 61% increase in capital expenditure, 48% increase in the number of serviceable addresses, and a more than 66% expansion of our subscriber base. All of this positions Tucows to continue to ramp investment of the consistent, strong cash flows generated by Tucows Domain Services and the Wavelo CSP Platform in the outsized Ting Fiber Internet opportunity.”

Financial Results
  
Net revenue for the fourth quarter of 2021 increased 17% to $82.5 million from $70.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. The increase was the result of growth in revenue from the Fiber Internet Services business and both the Mobile Platform Services and Other Professional Services components of the Mobile Services Enabler business.

Gross profit for the fourth quarter of 2021 increased 41% to $24.6 million from $17.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. The increase was driven by the same factors as net revenue.

Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $2.0 million, or a loss of $0.18 per share, compared with net income of $2.1 million, or $0.19 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2020 with the loss driven by a higher effective tax rate.

Adjusted EBITDA¹ for the fourth quarter of 2021 decreased 0.9% to $12.7 million from $12.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. The modest decline in adjusted EBITDA¹ reflects the continued investment in Fiber Internet Services.

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021 were $9.1 million compared with $5.5 million at the end of the third quarter of 2021 and $8.3 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020.

Notes:

1. Adjusted EBITDA

Tucows reports all financial information required in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Along with this information, to assist financial statement users in an assessment of our historical performance, the Company typically discloses and discusses a non-GAAP financial measure, adjusted EBITDA, in press releases and on investor conference calls and related events that exclude certain non-cash and other charges as the Company believes that the non-GAAP information enhances investors' overall understanding of our financial performance.

The Company believes that the provision of this supplemental non-GAAP measure allows investors to evaluate the operational and financial performance of the Company’s core business using similar evaluation measures to those used by management. The Company uses adjusted EBITDA to measure its performance and prepare its budgets. Since adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial performance measure, the Company’s calculation of adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies; and should not be considered in isolation, as a substitute for, or superior to measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. Because adjusted EBITDA is calculated before certain recurring cash charges, including interest expense and taxes, and is not adjusted for capital expenditures or other recurring cash requirements of the business, it should not be considered as a liquidity measure. Non-GAAP financial measures do not reflect a comprehensive system of accounting and may differ from non-GAAP financial measures with the same or similar captions that are used by other companies and/or analysts and may differ from period to period. The Company endeavors to compensate for these limitations by providing the relevant disclosure of the items excluded in the calculation of adjusted EBITDA to net income based on U.S. GAAP, which should be considered when evaluating the Company's results. Tucows strongly encourages investors to review its financial information in its entirety and not to rely on a single financial measure.

The Company’s adjusted EBITDA definition excludes depreciation, impairment and loss on disposition of property and equipment, amortization of intangible assets, income tax provision, interest expense (net), accretion of contingent consideration, stock-based compensation, asset impairment, gains and losses from unrealized foreign currency transactions and costs that are one-time in nature and not indicative of on-going performance (profitability), including acquisition and transition costs. Gains and losses from unrealized foreign currency transactions removes the unrealized effect of the change in the mark-to-market values on outstanding unhedged foreign currency contracts, as well as the unrealized effect from the translation of monetary accounts denominated in non-U.S. dollars to U.S. dollars.

The following table reconciles adjusted EBITDA to income before provision for income taxes (dollars in thousands):

	3 months ended December 31				12 months ended December 31
	2021 (Unaudited)		2020 (Unaudited)		2021 (Unaudited)	2020 (Unaudited)
Adjusted EBITDA	12,736		12,847		48,821	50,972
Depreciation of property and equipment	5,254		3,377		17,986	12,632
Impairment and loss on disposition of property and equipment	(100	)	(17	)	435	1,621
Amortization of intangible assets	2,756		2,644		10,007	11,420
Impairment of definite life intangible assets	-		-		-	1,431
Disposal of Ting Mobile customer assets	-		-		-	3,513
Interest expense, net	1,509		855		4,617	3,611
Accretion of contingent consideration	98		86		383	344
Stock-based compensation	1,235		1,054		4,592	3,718
Unrealized loss (gain) on change in fair value of forward contracts	-		(237	)	606	(500	)
Unrealized loss (gain) on foreign exchange revaluation of foreign denominated monetary assets and liabilities	39		(19	)	219	461
Acquisition and transition costs*	671		441		2,706	1,961
Income before provision for income taxes	1,274		4,663		7,270	10,760
*Acquisition and other costs represent transaction-related expenses, transitional expenses, such as redundant post-acquisition expenses, primarily related to our acquisitions Cedar in January 2020 and Simply Bits in November 2021 and disposition of certain Ting Mobile assets in August 2020. Expenses include severance or transitional costs associated with department, operational or overall company restructuring efforts, including geographic alignments.

Management Commentary

At 6:00 p.m. ET today, Thursday February 10, management’s pre-recorded audio commentary (and transcript) discussing the quarter and outlook for the Company will be posted to the Tucows website at http://www.tucows.com/investors/financials. Prior to reading/listening to management’s commentary on the quarter, interested parties are invited to watch a business background reporting update video by Tucows’ President and Chief Executive Officer, Elliot Noss, which was posted at 5:05 p.m. ET today, Thursday, February 10, on the Investors, videos, decks and reports page of the Investors section of the Company’s web site: https://www.tucows.com/investors/investor-videos/.

In lieu of a live question and answer period, for the subsequent eight days, until Friday, February 18, shareholders, analysts and prospective investors can submit questions to Tucows’ management at ir@tucows.com. Management will post responses to questions of general interest (audio recording and transcript) to the Company’s website at http://www.tucows.com/investors/financials/ on Thursday, March 3, at approximately 4 pm ET. All questions will receive a response, however, questions of a more specific nature may be responded to directly.

About Tucows

Tucows helps connect more people to the benefit of internet access through communications service technology, domain services, and fiber-optic internet infrastructure. Ting (https://ting.com/internet) delivers fixed fiber Internet access with outstanding customer support. Wavelo (https://wavelo.com) is a telecommunications software suite for service providers that simplifies the management of mobile and internet network access, provisioning, billing and subscription, developer tools, and more. OpenSRS (https://opensrs.com), Enom (https://www.enom.com) and Ascio (https://ascio.com) combined manage approximately 25 million domain names and millions of value-added services through a global reseller network of over 35,000 web hosts and ISPs. Hover (https://hover.com) makes it easy for individuals and small businesses to manage their domain names and email addresses. More information can be found on Tucows’ corporate website (https://tucows.com).

Tucows Inc.
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(Dollar amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars)
	December 31,			December 31,
	2021			2020
	(unaudited)			(unaudited)
Assets
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	9 105		$	8 311
Accounts receivable		14 579			15 540
Contract asset, current portion		778			-
Inventory		3 277			1 875
Prepaid expenses and deposits		20 986			16 845
Derivative instrument asset, current portion		299			3 860
Deferred costs of fulfillment, current portion		94 506			93 467
Income taxes recoverable		3 474			1 302
Total current assets		147 004			141 200
Deferred costs of fulfillment, long-term portion		18 205			17 599
Derivative instrument asset, long-term portion		278			-
Property and equipment		172 662			117 530
Right of use operating lease asset		17 515			11 238
Contract costs		1 079			362
Deferred tax asset		22			226
Intangible assets		50 409			47 444
Goodwill		130 410			116 304
Investment		2 012			-
Total assets	$	539 596		$	451 903
Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	$	10 016		$	6 329
Accrued liabilities		15 240			10 235
Customer deposits		16 974			15 402
Derivative instrument liability, current portion		125			99
Operating lease liability, current portion		3 150			1 761
Deferred revenue, current portion		124 116			127 336
Accreditation fees payable, current portion		882			940
Income taxes payable		102			863
Other liabilities, current portion		3 078			-
Total current liabilities		173 683			162 965
Derivative instrument liability, long-term portion		-			114
Deferred revenue, long-term portion		23 677			24 909
Accreditation fees payable, long-term portion		170			195
Operating lease liability, long-term portion		11 853			9 179
Loan payable, long-term portion		190 748			121 733
Other long-term liability		1 804			3 416
Deferred tax liability		22 569			24 694
Stockholders' equity:
Preferred stock - no par value, 1,250,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding		-			-
Common stock - no par value, 250,000,000 shares authorized; 10,747,417 shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2021 and 10,612,414 shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2020		28 515			20 798
Additional paid-in capital		2 764			1 458
Retained earnings		83 470			80 106
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)		343			2 336
Total stockholders' equity		115 092			104 698
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity	$	539 596		$	451 903

 

Tucows Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income
(Dollar amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars)
	Three months ended December 31,							Twelve months ended December 31,
		2021			2020			2021			2020
				(unaudited)						(unaudited)
Net revenues	$	82 476		$	70 784		$	304 337		$	311 202
Cost of revenues:
Direct cost of revenues		48 179			47 093			193 039			200 401
Network expenses (*)		4 474			2 681			14 769			10 194
Depreciation of property and equipment		5 108			3 252			17 452			12 144
Amortization of intangible assets		239			330			583			1 340
Impairment of property and equipment		(101	)		-			201			1 638
Total cost of revenues		57 899			53 356			226 044			225 717
Gross profit		24 577			17 428			78 293			85 485
Expenses:
Sales and marketing (*)	$	11 892		$	7 753		$	39 471		$	34 274
Technical operations and development (*)		4 266			3 447			14 310			12 427
General and administrative (*)		7 138			5 194			22 370			20 268
Depreciation of property and equipment		150			125			534			488
Loss on disposition of property and equipment		-			(17	)		234			(17	)
Amortization of intangible assets		2 515			2 314			9 424			10 080
Impairment of definite life intangible assets		-			-			-			1 431
Loss (gain) on currency forward contracts		-			(284	)		(277	)		(383	)
Total expenses		25 961			18 532			86 066			78 568
Income from operations		(1 384	)		(1 104	)		(7 773	)		6 917
Other income (expenses):
Interest expense, net		(1 509	)		(855	)		(4 617	)		(3 611	)
Gain on sale of Ting Customer Assets, net		4 263			6 522			20 030			7 612
Other expense, net		(96	)		100			(370	)		(158	)
Total other income (expenses)		2 658			5 767			15 043			3 843
Income before provision for income taxes		1 274			4 663			7 270			10 760
Provision for income taxes		3 241			2 595			3 906			4 985
Net income before redeemable non-controlling interest		(1 967	)		2 068			3 364			5 775
Redeemable non-controlling interest		-			-			-			-
Net income attributable to redeemable non-controlling interest		-			-			-			-
Net income for the period		(1 967	)		2 068			3 364			5 775
Other comprehensive income, net of tax
Unrealized income (loss) on hedging activities		458			1 044			572			1 653
Net amount reclassified to earnings		174			(79	)		(2 565	)		210
Other comprehensive income net of tax expense (recovery) of $(235) and $398 for the three months ended June 30, 2021 and June 30, 2020, $(375) and $32 for the six months ended June 30, 2021 and June 30, 2020		632			965			(1 993	)		1 863
Comprehensive income, net of tax for the period	$	(1 335	)	$	3 033		$	1 371		$	7 638
Basic earnings per common share	$	(0,18	)	$	0,19		$	0,32		$	0,55
Shares used in computing basic earnings per common share		10 717 349			10 605 451			10 662 337			10 590 684
Diluted earnings per common share	$	(0,18	)	$	0,19		$	0,31		$	0,54
Shares used in computing diluted earnings per common share		10 883 860			10 745 710			10 817 468			10 692 281
(*) Stock-based compensation has been included in expenses as follows:
Network expenses	$	131		$	139		$	531		$	472
Sales and marketing	$	444		$	475		$	1 941		$	1 678
Technical operations and development	$	214		$	198		$	824		$	756
General and administrative	$	446		$	242		$	1 296		$	812

 

Tucows Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(Dollar amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars)
		Three months ended December 31,						Twelve months ended December 31,
		2021			2020			2021			2020
Cash provided by:		(unaudited)						(unaudited)
Operating activities:
Net income for the period	$	(1 967	)	$	2 068		$	3 364		$	5 775
Items not involving cash:
Depreciation of property and equipment		5 258			3 377			17 986			12 632
Impairment of property and equipment		(101	)		-			201			1 638
Amortization of debt discount and issuance costs		98			67			300			269
Amortization of intangible assets		2 754			2 644			10 007			11 420
Net amortization contract costs		(273	)		(3	)		(717	)		106
Impairment of definite life intangible assets		-			-			-			1 431
Other		-			-			-			223
Accretion of contingent consideration		96			86			383			344
Deferred income taxes (recovery)		40			(3 012	)		(1 328	)		(3 939	)
Excess tax benefits on share-based compensation expense		(686	)		(353	)		(1 554	)		(861	)
Net Right of use operating assets/Operating lease liability		(55	)		(44	)		(2 204	)		205
Loss on disposal of domain names		-			2			1			17
Loss (gain) on change in the fair value of forward contracts		-			(237	)		606			(500	)
Disposal of Ting Mobile customer assets		-			-			-			3 513
Stock-based compensation		1 235			1 054			4 592			3 718
Change in non-cash operating working capital:
Accounts receivable		868			(2 951	)		1 586			(281	)
Contract asset		2 005			-			(778	)		-
Inventory		449			(736	)		(787	)		945
Prepaid expenses and deposits		(2 100	)		(3 142	)		(3 974	)		(3 459	)
Deferred costs of fulfillment		485			2 174			(1 645	)		(1 899	)
Income taxes recoverable		1 108			2 589			(1 394	)		908
Accounts payable		1 779			(1 664	)		4 068			(902	)
Accrued liabilities		2 918			710			4 859			376
Customer deposits		908			1 030			645			1 493
Deferred revenue		(4 237	)		(1 985	)		(4 495	)		2 942
Accreditation fees payable		(38	)		(40	)		(83	)		(33	)
Net cash provided by operating activities		10 542			1 634			29 637			36 081
Financing activities:
Proceeds received on exercise of stock options		1 974			307			4 818			985
Payment of tax obligations resulting from net exercise of stock options		-			(77	)		(387	)		(556	)
Repurchase of common stock		-			-			-			(3 281	)
Proceeds received on loan payable		41 000			8 000			69 000			8 000
Payment of loan payable costs		(296	)		-			(296	)		(32	)
Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities		42 678			8 230			73 136			5 116
Investing activities:
Proceeds on disposal of property and equipment		510			-			510			-
Additions to property and equipment		(23 082	)		(11 708	)		(73 175	)		(44 437	)
Acquisition of Cedar Holdings Group, net of cash of $66		-			-			-			(8 770	)
Acquisition of Simply Bits, net of cash of $801		(24 028	)		-			(24 028	)		-
Acquisition of Uniregistry		(2 499	)		-			(2 499	)		-
Acquisition of intangible assets		(551	)		-			(774	)		(72	)
Investment in securities		-			-			(2 012	)		-
Net cash used in investing activities		(49 651	)		(11 708	)		(101 979	)		(53 279	)
(Decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents		3 570			(1 844	)		794			(12 082	)
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period		5 535			10 155			8 311			20 393
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period	$	9 105		$	8 311		$	9 105		$	8 311
Supplemental cash flow information:
Interest paid	$	1 429		$	813		$	4 485		$	3 573
Income taxes paid, net	$	2 771		$	3 477		$	8 828		$	8 926
Supplementary disclosure of non-cash investing and financing activities:
Property and equipment acquired during the period not yet paid for	$	99		$	1 129		$	99		$	1 129
Fair value of shares issues for acquisition of Cedar Holdings Group		-		$	-		$	-		$	2 000
Fair value of contingent consideration for acquisition of Cedar Holdings Group		-		$	-		$	-		$	3 072

 

Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to Income before Provision for Income Taxes
(In Thousands of U.S. Dollars)		Three months ended December 31,						Twelve months ended December 31,
(unaudited)		2021 (unaudited)			2020 (unaudited)			2021 (unaudited)			2020 (unaudited)
Adjusted EBITDA	$	12 736		$	12 847		$	48 821		$	50 972
Depreciation of property and equipment		5 254			3 377			17 986			12 632
Impairment and loss on disposition of property and equipment		(100	)		(17	)		435			1 621
Amortization of intangible assets		2 756			2 644			10 007			11 420
Impairment of indefinite life intangible assets		-			-			-			1 431
Write-down on disposal of Ting Mobile assets		-			-			-			3 513
Interest expense, net		1 509			855			4 617			3 611
Accretion of contingent consideration		98			86			383			344
Stock-based compensation		1 235			1 054			4 592			3 718
Unrealized loss (gain) on change in fair value of forward contracts		-			(237	)		606			(500	)
Unrealized loss (gain) on foreign exchange revaluation of foreign denominated monetary assets and liabilities		39			(19	)		219			461
Acquisition and other costs1		671			441			2 706			1 961
Income before provision for income taxes	$	1 274		$	4 663		$	7 270		$	10 760
1Acquisition and other costs represent transaction-related expenses, transitional expenses, such as redundant post-acquisition expenses, primarily related to our acquisitions Cedar in January 2020 and Simply Bits in November 2021 and disposition of certain Ting Mobile assets in August 2020. Expenses include severance or transitional costs associated with department, operational or overall company restructuring efforts, including geographic alignments.

This release includes forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding our expectations regarding our future financial results and, including, without limitation, our expectations regarding our ability to realize synergies from the Enom acquisition and our expectation for growth of Ting Internet. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Information about other potential factors that could affect Tucows’ business, results of operations and financial condition is included in the Risk Factors sections of Tucows’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements should be evaluated with the understanding of their inherent uncertainty. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to Tucows as of the date they are made. Tucows assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.

Tucows, Ting, Wavelo, OpenSRS, Enom, Ascio and Hover are registered trademarks of Tucows Inc. or its subsidiaries.

Contact:
Lawrence Chamberlain
(416) 519-4196
lawrence.chamberlain@loderockadvisors.com