H&R Block Announces Fiscal 2020 Second Quarter Results and Reiterates Fiscal Year Outlook

H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) today released its financial results for the fiscal 2020 second quarter ended October 31, 2019.  The company normally reports a fiscal second quarter loss due to the seasonality of its tax business.  The fiscal second quarter typically represents less than 5% of annual revenues and less than 15% of annual expenses.

Fiscal Second Quarter Highlights¹

• Fiscal second quarter financial results were in line with expectations, and the company reiterated its revenue growth and margin outlook for the full fiscal year.
• Revenues increased 8%, to $161 million due to Wave and improved tax return volumes.
• Loss per share from continuing operations² increased $0.10 to $0.93; adjusted loss per share from continuing operations^2,3 increased $0.07 to $0.85.
• The company repurchased and retired 5.7 million shares at an aggregate price of $137 million, or $23.94 per share.

“We’ve made significant progress to digitally enable all facets of our business to deliver expertise and care in new and compelling ways,” said Jeff Jones, H&R Block’s president and chief executive officer.  “These efforts, along with Wave and our momentum from last year, position us well to deliver for this fiscal year and for the long term.”

“We were pleased with our strong revenue growth in the fiscal second quarter,” said Tony Bowen, H&R Block’s chief financial officer.  “We’re well-positioned for success in the upcoming tax season and have reiterated our revenue growth and margin outlook for the fiscal year.”

Key Financial Metrics

• Fiscal second quarter results were in line with expectations.
• Total revenues increased $11.9 million, or 8.0%, to $160.8 million due to Wave and improved tax return volumes.
• Total operating expenses increased $39.4 million, or 10.8%, to $403.5 million due to Wave, planned investments in our technology roadmap, and legal expenses, which were partially offset by lower occupancy costs.
• Pretax loss increased $29.3 million, or 12.6%, to $261.3 million.
• Loss per share from continuing operations increased $0.10 to $0.93; adjusted loss per share from continuing operations increased $0.07 to $0.85. The change in pretax loss, along with lower shares outstanding, impacted loss per share.  While beneficial on a full-year basis, the lower share count negatively impacts EPS in quarters in which the company reports a loss.  These impacts were partially offset by an increased tax benefit.

Share Repurchases and Dividends

• During the second quarter of fiscal 2020, the company repurchased and retired approximately 5.7 million shares at an aggregate price of $136.9 million, or $23.94 per share. Fiscal year-to-date repurchases total 7.3 million shares at an aggregate price of $181.0 million, or $24.75 per share.
• As previously announced, a quarterly cash dividend of $0.26 per share is payable on January 2, 2020 to shareholders of record as of December 9, 2019. H&R Block has paid quarterly dividends consecutively since the company went public in 1962 and has increased its dividend in each of the past four fiscal years.

Discontinued Operations

For information on Sand Canyon, please refer to disclosures in the company’s reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and other filings with the SEC.

Conference Call

Discussion of the fiscal 2020 second quarter results, outlook, and a general business update will occur during the company’s previously announced fiscal second quarter earnings conference call for analysts, institutional investors, and shareholders. The call is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Eastern time on December 4, 2019. To access the call, please dial the number below approximately 10 minutes prior to the scheduled starting time:

U.S./Canada (866) 987-6821 or International (630) 652-5951

Conference ID: 9677027

The call, along with a presentation for viewing, will also be webcast in a listen-only format for the media and public. The link to the webcast can be accessed directly at http://investors.hrblock.com.  The presentation will be posted on the Quarterly Results page at http://investors.hrblock.com following the conclusion of the call.

A replay of the call will be available beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time on December 4, 2019 and continuing for seven days by dialing (855) 859-2056 (U.S./Canada) or (404) 537-3406 (International). The conference ID is 9677027. The webcast will be available for replay beginning on December 5, 2019 and continuing for 90 days at http://investors.hrblock.com.

¹  All amounts in this release are unaudited.  Unless otherwise noted, all comparisons refer to the current period compared to the corresponding prior year period.
² All per share amounts are based on weighted average fully diluted shares over the corresponding period.
³ Adjusted loss per share from continuing operations is a non-GAAP financial measure. See “About Non-GAAP Financial Information” below for more information regarding financial measures not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
⁴ Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) from continuing operations is a non-GAAP financial measure. See “About Non-GAAP Financial Information” below for more information regarding financial measures not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).

About H&R Block

H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) is a global consumer tax and small business services provider.  Tax return preparation services are provided by professional tax preparers in approximately 11,000 company-owned and franchise retail tax offices worldwide, as well as through virtual channels and H&R Block tax software products for the DIY consumer.  H&R Block offers small business financial solutions through its retail locations and online through Wave.  In fiscal 2019, H&R Block had revenues of $3.1 billion with over 23 million tax returns prepared worldwide.  For more information, visit the H&R Block Newsroom.

About Non-GAAP Financial Information

This press release and the accompanying tables include non-GAAP financial information. For a description of these non-GAAP financial measures, including the reasons management uses each measure, and reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, please see the section of the accompanying tables titled “Non-GAAP Financial Information.”

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the securities laws. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They often include words or variation of words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “commits,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “projects,” “forecasts,” “targets,” “would,” “will,” “should,” “goal,” “could” or “may” or other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements provide management’s current expectations or predictions of future conditions, events or results. All statements that address operating performance, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future are forward-looking statements. They may include estimates of revenues, client trajectory, income, effective tax rate, earnings per share, cost savings, capital expenditures, dividends, share repurchases, liquidity, capital structure, market share, industry volumes or other financial items, descriptions of management’s plans or objectives for future operations, products or services, or descriptions of assumptions underlying any of the above. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and reflect the company’s good faith beliefs, assumptions and expectations, but they are not guarantees of future performance or events. Furthermore, the company disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions, factors, or expectations, new information, data or methods, future events or other changes, except as required by law. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to a variety of economic, competitive and regulatory factors, many of which are beyond the company’s control, that are described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019 in the section entitled “Risk Factors” and additional factors we may describe from time to time in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You may get such filings for free at our website at http://investors.hrblock.com. In addition, factors that may cause the company’s actual estimated effective tax rate to differ from estimates include the company’s actual results from operations compared to current estimates, future discrete items, changes in interpretations and assumptions the company has made, and future actions of the company. You should understand that it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors and, consequently, you should not consider any such list to be a complete set of all potential risks or uncertainties.

For Further Information

Investor Relations:          Colby Brown, (816) 854-4559, colby.brown@hrblock.com
Media Relations:             Susan Waldron, (816) 854-5522, susan.waldron@hrblock.com

TABLES FOLLOW

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. Because these measures are not measures of financial performance under GAAP and are susceptible to varying calculations, they may not be comparable to similarly titled measures for other companies.

We consider our non-GAAP financial measures to be performance measures and a useful metric for management and investors to evaluate and compare the ongoing operating performance of our business.

We measure the performance of our business using a variety of metrics, including earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) from continuing operations, EBITDA margin from continuing operations, adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations and free cash flow. We also use EBITDA from continuing operations and pretax income of continuing operations, each subject to permitted adjustments, as performance metrics in incentive compensation calculations for our employees.

During the quarter we added adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations as a non-GAAP measure, which excludes amortization of intangibles related to our acquisition of Wave and tax franchisee and competitor businesses. Due to the recent acquisition of Wave, we believe removing the impacts of amortization of acquired intangibles provides a more meaningful indicator of performance and will assist in understanding our financial results.

We may consider whether other significant items that arise in the future should be excluded from our non-GAAP financial measures.