KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 10, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) (the "Company") today released its financial results¹ for the fiscal 2022 third quarter ended March 31, 2022.

• The Company increased its fiscal year 2022 outlook due to strong tax season performance
• Third quarter revenue was $2.1�billion, an increase of $78�million, or 4% to the prior year
• Repurchased $226 million of shares outstanding in the quarter at an average price of $23.29; in fiscal year 2022, the Company has repurchased $550 million, retiring 13% of its shares outstanding

"I'm very pleased with our overall tax season, led by another year of share gains in Assisted. As a result of our strong financial results, we are raising our fiscal 2022 guidance," said Jeff Jones, H&R Block's president and CEO. "We grew small business clients, increased adoption of our virtual tools, and launched Spruce, our new mobile banking platform."

Fiscal 2022 Third Quarter Results and Key Financial Metrics

"Our third quarter financial performance and tax season results give us confidence to raise our fiscal year revenue and EBITDA outlook," said Tony Bowen, H&R Block's chief financial officer. "We also continued to be aggressive in share buybacks, retiring another 6% of shares outstanding, bringing the total amount retired since 2016 to nearly one third."

• Total revenue of $2.1 billion increased by $78 million, or 4%, to the prior year. The increase was primarily driven by positive mix from a higher net average charge in the Assisted channel.
• Total operating expenses of $1.2 billion increased by $44 million, or 4%, primarily due to greater field compensation and marketing expenses, partially offset by lower amortization and depreciation.
• Pretax income increased by $33 million to $862 million.
• Earnings per share from continuing operations² decreased from $4.09 to $4.06 due to higher tax expense. Adjusted earnings per share² from continuing operations was $4.11, flat to last year.

Capital Structure

The Company reported the following related to its capital structure:

• Repurchased and retired approximately 10 million shares at an aggregate price of $226 million, or $23.29 per share in the fiscal third quarter.
• A quarterly cash dividend of $0.27 per share will be paid on July 1, 2022 to shareholders of record as of June 8, 2022. H&R Block has paid quarterly dividends consecutively since the Company became public in 1962.

Since 2016, the Company has returned over $2.6 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends.

Fiscal Year 2022 Outlook

The Company increased its fiscal year 2022 outlook:

• Previously, revenue was expected to be in the range of $3.25 to $3.35 billion. The Company now expects revenue to be in the range of $3.375 to $3.425 billion.
• Previously, EBITDA³ was expected to be in the range of $765 to $815 million. The Company now expects EBITDA to be in the range of $850 to $875 million.

Depreciation & amortization and interest expense are now expected to be near the low end of previously given ranges. The tax rate is now expected to be lower, in the range of 14-16%.

Please refer to the supplemental presentation provided as part of today's webcast at https://investors.hrblock.com/financial-information/quarterly-results�for more information.

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 2022 third quarter results, preliminary tax season results, outlook, and a general business update will occur during the Company�s previously announced fiscal third quarter earnings conference call for analysts, institutional investors, and shareholders. The call is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Eastern time on May 10, 2022. To access the call, please dial the number below approximately 5 minutes prior to the scheduled starting time:

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

Conference ID: 8081918

The call, along with a presentation for viewing, will also be webcast in a listen-only format for the media and public. The webcast can be accessed directly https://investors.hrblock.com/financial-information/quarterly-results, and the presentation will be posted following the conclusion of the call.

A replay of the call will be available beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time on May 10, 2022 and continuing for seven days by dialing (855) 859-2056 (U.S./Canada) or (404) 537-3406 (International). The conference ID is 8081918. The webcast will be available for replay beginning on May 11, 2022 and continuing for 90 days at https://investors.hrblock.com/financial-information/quarterly-results.

About H&R Block
H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) provides help and inspires confidence in its clients and communities everywhere through global tax preparation services, financial products, and small-business solutions. The company blends digital innovation with human expertise and care as it helps people get the best outcome at tax time and also be better with money using its mobile banking app, Spruce. Through Block Advisors and Wave, the company helps small-business owners thrive with innovative products like Wave Money, a small-business banking and bookkeeping solution, and the only business bank account to manage bookkeeping automatically. For more information, visit H&R Block News or follow @HRBlockNews on Twitter.

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. They also include the expected impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including, without limitation, the impact on economic and financial markets, the Company�s capital resources and financial condition, the expected use of proceeds under the Company�s revolving credit facility, future expenditures, potential regulatory actions, such as extensions of tax filing deadlines or other related relief, changes in consumer behaviors and modifications to the Company�s operations related thereto.�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, 2021 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 https://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, future actions of the Company, or increases in applicable tax rates in jurisdictions where the Company operates. 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.

^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 fully diluted shares at the end of the corresponding period. The company reports non-GAAP financial measures of performance, including adjusted earnings per share (EPS), earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) from continuing operations, and free cash flow, which it considers to be useful metrics for management and investors to evaluate and compare the ongoing operating performance of the company. See "About Non-GAAP Financial Information" below for more information regarding financial measures not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
³Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) from continuing operations is a non-GAAP financial measure. Specific quantifications of the amounts that would be required to reconcile the company�s EBITDA outlook for FY22 to net income, the most directly comparable GAAP metric, are not available. Because of the variability of these and other items as well as the impact of future events on these items, management is unable to reconcile without unreasonable effort the expected range of EBITDA for FY22 to a comparable GAAP range.

⁽¹⁾ All non-GAAP measures are results from continuing operations. See "Non-GAAP Financial Information" for a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures.

⁽¹⁾Tax effect of adjustments is the difference between the tax provision calculated on a GAAP basis and on an adjusted non-GAAP basis.

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 make adjustments for certain non-GAAP financial measures related to amortization of intangibles from acquisitions and goodwill impairments. We may consider whether other significant items that arise in the future should be excluded from our non-GAAP financial measures.

We measure the performance of our business using a variety of metrics, including earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) from continuing operations, adjusted 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.