Wire Stories

H&R Block Reports Fiscal 2023 Third Quarter Results; Provides Update on FY23

By
Posted on

KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) (the "Company") today released its financial results1 for the fiscal 2023 third quarter ended March 31, 2023.

  • For the third quarter, the Company delivered revenue of $2.1 billion, an increase of 2%; earnings per share from continuing operations2of $4.14, an increase of 2%; and adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations2of $4.20, an increase of 2%
  • Tax season ended with strong performance in DIY; Assisted realized 4% growth in net average charge alongside positive customer satisfaction metrics
  • The Company is updating its fiscal year 2023 outlook due to softer than expected industry volume, its own Assisted volume, and the expected impact of foreign exchange rates

"Tax season 2023 was not the return to normal as anticipated post-pandemic. Consumers adjusted to smaller refunds, and many shifted to balance due. The industry contracted as those not required to file didn’t, and there was an impact from the IRS’ extending the filing deadline in certain states,” said Jeff Jones, H&R Block's president and chief executive officer. “Despite these unusual dynamics, we were pleased to see our strategy work in DIY, continued strong growth in our virtual Assisted offering, and the benefit from pricing power and positive customer sentiment in our Assisted business as we grew penetration with higher income filers.”

Fiscal 2023 Third Quarter Results and Key Financial Metrics

  • Total revenue of $2.1 billion, increased by $31.9 million, or 2%, to the prior year. The increase was primarily driven by a higher net average charge in the Assisted category, partially offset by lower software sales and a decline in online paid returns during the quarter compared to the prior year.
  • Total operating expenses of $1.2 billion increased by $52.8 million, primarily due to higher field wages and the timing of advertising, partially offset by lower bad debt, legal fees, and consulting and outsourced services.
  • Pretax income decreased by $6.4 million to $855.4 million.
  • Earnings per share from continuing operations2 increased from $4.06 to $4.14 and adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations2 increased from $4.11 to $4.20, due to fewer shares outstanding from share repurchases.

Capital Allocation

  • The Company has approximately $900.0 million remaining on its latest $1.25 billion share repurchase authorization available through fiscal year 2025.
  • As previously announced, a quarterly cash dividend of $0.29 per share will be paid on July 6, 2023 to shareholders of record as of June 7, 2023. H&R Block has paid quarterly dividends consecutively since the Company became public in 1962.

Since 2016, the Company has returned more than $3 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends, buying back over one third of its shares outstanding3.

Fiscal Year 2023 Outlook

"Due to lighter than expected Assisted client volumes this season, as well as an expected foreign exchange impact of about $20 million, we are updating our full year outlook. Despite this change, I’m pleased that we still expect EBITDA and EPS to grow," said Tony Bowen, H&R Block's chief financial officer. "As we have shared, regardless of nuances year to year, we produce significant cash flow, pay a growing dividend, and buy back a meaningful amount of shares. We are confident in our ability to drive ongoing value for shareholders with these practices."

Due to softer industry volumes, the Company now expects:

  • Revenue to be in the range of $3.440 to $3.465 billion, from $3.535 to $3.585 billion
  • EBITDA4 to be in the range of $895 to $910 million, from $915 to $950 million
  • Adjusted diluted earnings per share4 to be in the range of $3.65 to $3.80, from $3.70 to $3.95

The Company continues to expect:

  • Effective tax rate to be approximately 22%
  • Double-digit adjusted earnings per share4 growth annually through 2025

Conference Call

A conference call for analysts, institutional investors, and shareholders will be held at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, May 9, 2023. During the conference call the company will discuss fiscal 2023 third quarter results, tax season results, outlook, and give a general business update. To join live, participants must register at https://register.vevent.com/register/BI68ce638aa0fa4494a9cbc71e80cc3880. Once registered, the participant will receive a dial-in number and unique PIN to access the call. Please join approximately 5 minutes prior to the scheduled start time.

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 at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/rmcscxmc and will be available for replay 2 hours after the call is concluded and continuing for 90 days.

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 year-round bookkeeping, payroll, advisory, and payment processing solutions. 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," "calls for," "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 June 30, 2022 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.

1All amounts in this release are unaudited. Unless otherwise noted, all comparisons refer to the current period compared to the corresponding prior year period.

2All 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, free cash flow, and free cash flow yield, 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).

3Shares outstanding calculated as of April 30, 2016.

4Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share (EPS) and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) from continuing operations are non-GAAP financial measures. Future period non-GAAP outlook includes adjustments for items not indicative of our core operations, which may include, without limitation, items described in the below section titled “Non-GAAP Financial Information” and in the accompanying tables. Such adjustments may be affected by changes in ongoing assumptions and judgments, as well as nonrecurring, unusual, or unanticipated charges, expenses or gains, or other items that may not directly correlate to the underlying performance of our business operations. The exact amounts of these adjustments are not currently determinable but may be significant. It is therefore not practicable to provide the comparable GAAP measures or reconcile this non-GAAP outlook to the most comparable GAAP measures.

For Further Information
     
Investor Relations:   Michaella Gallina, (816) 854-3022, [email protected]
    Jordyn Eskijian, (816) 854-5674, [email protected]
Media Relations:   Angela Davied, (816) 854-5798, [email protected]
    Heather Woodard, (660) 864-3836, [email protected]

FINANCIAL RESULTS (unaudited, in 000s - except per share amounts)
  Three months ended March 31,   Nine months ended March 31,
  2023   2022   2023   2022
REVENUES:              
U.S. tax preparation and related services:              
Assisted tax preparation $ 1,453,049     $ 1,392,142     $ 1,530,577     $ 1,456,594  
Royalties   150,163       158,786       161,337       169,548  
DIY tax preparation   167,022       175,184       182,330       188,455  
Refund Transfers   117,384       132,223       120,210       134,665  
Peace of Mind® Extended Service Plan   16,750       17,222       58,840       59,373  
Tax Identity Shield®   8,720       9,078       19,237       19,431  
Other   10,972       10,584       28,845       27,736  
Total U.S. tax preparation and related services   1,924,060       1,895,219       2,101,376       2,055,802  
Financial services:              
Emerald Card® and SpruceSM   44,358       50,660       68,448       103,748  
Interest and fee income on Emerald AdvanceSM   33,750       30,535       47,267       43,438  
Total financial services   78,108       81,195       115,715       147,186  
International   69,417       65,232       156,297       151,464  
Wave   22,064       20,111       66,651       58,745  
Total revenues $ 2,093,649     $ 2,061,757     $ 2,440,039     $ 2,413,197  
Compensation and benefits:              
Field wages   480,779       435,345       618,656       561,482  
Other wages   73,503       78,584       207,786       200,715  
Benefits and other compensation   100,368       91,051       169,477       146,708  
    654,650       604,980       995,919       908,905  
Occupancy   118,111       111,405       316,874       306,523  
Marketing and advertising   210,508       196,582       236,299       223,796  
Depreciation and amortization   32,313       36,116       98,660       107,462  
Bad debt   34,273       45,051       57,018       59,760  
Other   179,292       182,258       363,081       373,458  
Total operating expenses   1,229,147       1,176,392       2,067,851       1,979,904  
               
Other income (expense), net   13,224       238       21,020       1,989  
Interest expense on borrowings   (22,298 )     (23,746 )     (57,107 )     (69,661 )
Pretax income   855,428       861,857       336,101       365,621  
Income taxes   209,351       186,884       78,254       29,666  
Net income from continuing operations   646,077       674,973       257,847       335,955  
Net loss from discontinued operations   (2,648 )     (1,796 )     (6,418 )     (4,984 )
Net income $ 643,429     $ 673,177     $ 251,429     $ 330,971  
               
DILUTED EARNINGS PER SHARE              
Continuing operations $ 4.14     $ 4.06     $ 1.62     $ 1.92  
Discontinued operations   (0.02 )     (0.01 )     (0.04 )     (0.03 )
Consolidated $ 4.12     $ 4.05     $ 1.58     $ 1.89  
               
WEIGHTED AVERAGE DILUTED SHARES   155,561       165,612       158,488       174,142  
               
Adjusted diluted EPS(1) $ 4.20     $ 4.11     $ 1.80     $ 2.11  
EBITDA(1) $ 910,039     $ 921,719     $ 491,868     $ 542,744  
               

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

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS   (unaudited, in 000s - except per share data)
As of   March 31, 2023   June 30, 2022
         
ASSETS        
Cash and cash equivalents   $ 909,075     $ 885,015  
Cash and cash equivalents - restricted     25,270       165,698  
Receivables, net     249,150       58,447  
Income taxes receivable     32,584       202,838  
Prepaid expenses and other current assets     86,736       72,460  
Total current assets     1,302,815       1,384,458  
Property and equipment, net     136,132       123,912  
Operating lease right of use assets     372,175       427,783  
Intangible assets, net     293,447       309,644  
Goodwill     769,557       760,401  
Deferred tax assets and income taxes receivable     226,527       208,948  
Other noncurrent assets     57,254       54,012  
Total assets   $ 3,157,907     $ 3,269,158  
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY        
LIABILITIES:        
Accounts payable and accrued expenses   $ 236,388     $ 160,929  
Accrued salaries, wages and payroll taxes     208,560       154,764  
Accrued income taxes and reserves for uncertain tax positions     284,124       280,115  
Operating lease liabilities     179,415       206,898  
Deferred revenue and other current liabilities     207,095       196,107  
Total current liabilities     1,115,582       998,813  
Long-term debt     1,488,457       1,486,876  
Deferred tax liabilities and reserves for uncertain tax positions     256,119       226,362  
Operating lease liabilities     199,086       228,820  
Deferred revenue and other noncurrent liabilities     135,055       116,656  
Total liabilities     3,194,299       3,057,527  
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES        
STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY:        
Common stock, no par, stated value $.01 per share     1,854       1,936  
Additional paid-in capital     775,269       772,182  
Accumulated other comprehensive loss     (44,281 )     (21,645 )
Retained earnings (deficit)     (109,384 )     120,405  
Less treasury shares, at cost     (659,850 )     (661,247 )
Total stockholders' equity (deficiency)     (36,392 )     211,631  
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity   $ 3,157,907     $ 3,269,158  
         

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS   (unaudited, in 000s)
Nine months ended March 31,   2023   2022
         
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES:        
Net income   $ 251,429     $ 330,971  
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:        
Depreciation and amortization     98,660       107,462  
Provision     49,174       59,778  
Deferred taxes     6,685       (85,122 )
Stock-based compensation     26,785       19,988  
Changes in assets and liabilities, net of acquisitions:        
Receivables     (237,395 )     (233,362 )
Prepaid expenses, other current and noncurrent assets     (17,438 )     (16,525 )
Accounts payable, accrued expenses, salaries, wages and payroll taxes     122,025       122,112  
Deferred revenue, other current and noncurrent liabilities     22,054       36,960  
Income tax receivables, accrued income taxes and income tax reserves     179,692       36,244  
Other, net     (3,285 )     (5,378 )
Net cash provided by operating activities     498,386       373,128  
         
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES:        
Capital expenditures     (56,661 )     (52,718 )
Payments made for business acquisitions, net of cash acquired     (47,740 )     (25,465 )
Franchise loans funded     (21,566 )     (18,468 )
Payments from franchisees     14,963       17,714  
Other, net     9,717       7,831  
Net cash used in investing activities     (101,287 )     (71,106 )
         
CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES:        
Repayments of line of credit borrowings     (970,000 )     (705,000 )
Proceeds from line of credit borrowings     970,000       705,000  
Dividends paid     (133,762 )     (143,435 )
Repurchase of common stock, including shares surrendered     (365,852 )     (555,247 )
Proceeds from exercise of stock options     1,427       4,605  
Other, net     (7,400 )     (13,389 )
Net cash used in financing activities     (505,587 )     (707,466 )
         
Effects of exchange rate changes on cash     (7,880 )     (1,666 )
         
Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents, including restricted balances     (116,368 )     (407,110 )
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period     1,050,713       1,584,164  
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period   $ 934,345     $ 1,177,054  
         
SUPPLEMENTARY CASH FLOW DATA:        
Income taxes paid (received), net   $ (110,028 )   $ 76,894  
Interest paid on borrowings     59,429       58,009  
Accrued additions to property and equipment     4,378       1,336  
New operating right of use assets and related lease liabilities     131,949       126,726  
Accrued dividends payable to common shareholders     44,163       43,041  
         

(in 000s)
    Three months ended March 31,   Nine months ended March 31,
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURE - EBITDA   2023   2022   2023   2022
                 
Net income - as reported   $ 643,429   $ 673,177   $ 251,429   $ 330,971
Discontinued operations, net     2,648     1,796     6,418     4,984
Net income from continuing operations - as reported     646,077     674,973     257,847     335,955
Add back:                
Income taxes     209,351     186,884     78,254     29,666
Interest expense     22,298     23,746     57,107     69,661
Depreciation and amortization     32,313     36,116     98,660     107,462
      263,962     246,746     234,021     206,789
EBITDA from continuing operations   $ 910,039   $ 921,719   $ 491,868   $ 542,744
                 

(in 000s, except per share amounts)
    Three months ended March 31,   Nine months ended March 31,
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURE - ADJUSTED EPS   2023   2022   2023   2022
                 
Net income from continuing operations - as reported   $ 646,077     $ 674,973     $ 257,847     $ 335,955  
Adjustments:                
Amortization of intangibles related to acquisitions (pretax)     13,011       13,979       38,546       43,141  
Tax effect of adjustments(1)     (3,190 )     (4,545 )     (9,198 )     (10,102 )
Adjusted net income from continuing operations   $ 655,898     $ 684,407     $ 287,195     $ 368,994  
Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations - as reported   $ 4.14     $ 4.06     $ 1.62     $ 1.92  
Adjustments, net of tax     0.06       0.05       0.18       0.19  
Adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations   $ 4.20     $ 4.11     $ 1.80     $ 2.11  
                 

(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, adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations, free cash flow and free cash flow yield. 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.

More from miscw.com

To Top