OPAY Official Payments Holdings, Inc. (MM)

NORCROSS, Ga., Dec. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Official Payments Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: OPAY), a leading provider of electronic payment solutions, reported results today for its fiscal 2012 fourth quarter (Q4 '12) and fiscal year ended September 30, 2012 (Fiscal 2012 or FY '12). The Company will host a call/webcast today at 5:00 p.m. EST to review its results:

FY' 12 Highlights:
Official Payments Holdings, Inc. reported revenue from continuing operations of $135.7 million for fiscal 2012, an increase of 4.3% over fiscal 2011. Fiscal 2012 Payment Solutions net revenue, which reflects Payment Solutions revenues less related processing and interchange fees, improved by 36.2% in fiscal 2012 versus fiscal 2011. The improvement was principally due to lower debit card fees established by the Durbin Amendment in October 2011, as well as negotiated reductions in credit interchange rates and other processing costs. General and administrative and selling and marketing expenses increased a combined 31.0% versus 2011, primarily as a result of increases in performance-based compensation, a one-time restructuring charge associated with the relocation of company headquarters to Norcross, Georgia, an increase in share based compensation and an increase in technology-related personnel expense.

Official Payments reported a net loss from continuing operations of $6.0 million, or $0.36 per share, compared to the prior year's net loss from continuing operations of $7.4 million, or $0.43 per share. Continuing operations consists of the Payment Solutions segment, which contributed more than 99% of the company's revenue from continuing operations in fiscal 2012, with nominal revenue contributions from the legacy voice and systems automation (VSA) operations that are in the process of being wound down.

Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations improved to positive $4.8 million in fiscal 2012 from negative $0.5 million in fiscal 2011.

Payment Solutions net revenue and Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations are non-GAAP financial measures.  These measures are defined and reconciled to GAAP financial measures below.

Q4 '12 Overview:
Q4 is seasonally the Company's slowest period of payment volume, given the timing of annual taxes, semiannual tuition and other non-monthly payments. Fiscal Q4 2012 revenue from continuing operations improved by 1.5% versus fiscal Q4 2011, Payment Solutions net revenue improved by 38.5% versus fiscal Q4 2011, while general and administrative and selling and marketing expenses increased a combined 14.8% to $9.5 million versus fiscal Q4 2011.

Official Payments reported a net loss from continuing operations of $2.1 million in fiscal Q4 2012, or $0.12 per share, as compared with a loss of $3.6 million, or $0.21 per share, in fiscal Q4 2011.

Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations rose to positive $0.2 million in fiscal Q4 2012 versus negative $1.4 million in fiscal Q4 2011. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter of positive Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations and the first time since 2004 that the Company has recorded positive Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations in all four quarters of a fiscal year.

Cash Position and Use of Cash
Official Payments' year-end cash and cash equivalents decreased by approximately $0.7 million from $39.8 million at fiscal year-end 2011 to $39.1 million at fiscal year-end 2012, and by approximately $1.7 million versus June 30, 2012. Our $39.1 million in cash and cash equivalents included $5.6 million of accrued discount fees and $17.0 million of funds that have settled or will settle to us that we had not yet distributed to our clients due to the timing of bank transactions.  Offsetting these liabilities was $15.3 million of cash which we received within two days of the fiscal year end as settlements from credit card companies or banks.

Management Overview
Alex P. Hart, President and CEO, stated, "In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 we initiated a plan to turn around the Company's operations and financial performance. Our Q4 and full fiscal year operating results in 2012 highlight the significant progress we have made in this effort."

"Central to the turnaround were major upgrades we made to our payment services infrastructure. During fiscal 2012 we completed the bulk of the upgrade work, allowing us to shift our focus to the consolidation of our three payment processing platforms onto a single platform. We now expect to be substantially complete with this process by the end of calendar 2013 at an anticipated cost of approximately $3 million – well below the $10 to $12 million we projected two years ago.  Upon completion of this consolidation we expect to realize significant ongoing cost savings and to be able to deploy new products and services more quickly and efficiently."

Mr. Hart added, "With the operational turnaround largely complete and our platform consolidation project expected to be substantially concluded in a year, we are now able to focus our attention on increasing adoption within our existing client base and expanding our list of clients through direct sales, expanded alliances, and tuck-in acquisitions. A key to increasing both adoption and new client acquisition is the delivery of new products and services that enable our customers to pay their bills where, when, and how they want to pay them.  Two of the exciting products that we'll be launching after the first of the year will give our customers unprecedented levels of convenience and ease of use – an electronic bill presentment solution that will enable our clients to deliver interactive ebills with all of the rich functionality that customers have come to expect from their online service providers, and mobile payment apps for the iPad, iPhone, and Android phones and tablets that extend that great online experience to wherever they happen to be when they have a moment to pay a bill."

Financial Guidance
Based on the Company's current expectations of continued operational improvements and initial benefits from its sales and marketing efforts, it is providing the following financial guidance for fiscal 2013:

• The Company believes that Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations will be approximately $7.2 million in fiscal year 2013, approximately 50% above fiscal year 2012;

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Official Payments uses the following non-GAAP financial measures in this press release:  Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations and Payment Solutions net revenue. We define Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations as net loss from our continuing operations before interest expense net of interest income, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, restructuring charges and share-based compensation expense. We define Payment Solutions net revenue as Payment Solutions gross revenue less discount fees. Discount fees include interchange fees and other processing-related dues, assessments and fees. Payment Solutions gross revenue is defined as revenue from continuing operations less revenue from VSA operations.

Management believes these measures are useful for evaluating our performance against the performance of peer companies within the electronic payments industry, and that they provide investors with additional transparency on the financial measures used in management's decision-making.  Management believes that Payment Solutions net revenue provides additional information about our business, as we wind-down our VSA operations.  We also use Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations, together with other criteria, in our executive compensation program. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered a substitute for the reported results prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or US GAAP.  Our definitions used to calculate non-GAAP financial measures may differ from those used by other companies.

These measures are reconciled to GAAP financial measures in the tables below:  

About Official Payments Holdings, Inc. (www.OPAY.OfficialPayments.com):
Official Payments provides electronic payment solutions for over 3,000 clients across all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. During the past year more than 12 million Customers and Constituents of our Clients utilized our services. Official Payments' solutions enable government agencies, educational institutions, utility companies, charitable organizations, and other billers to seamlessly accept secure, convenient payments by credit card, debit card and electronic check via mobile, web (www.OfficialPayments.com), telephone and point of sale. 

Forward looking statements
Statements made in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These forward-looking statements relate to future events or Official Payments' future financial and/or operating performance and generally can be identified as such because the context of the statement includes words such as "may," "will," "intends," "plans," "believes," "anticipates," "expects," "estimates," "shows," "predicts," "potential," "continue," or "opportunity," the negative of these words or words of similar import.  Official Payments undertakes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.  Each of these statements is made as of the date hereof based only on current information and expectations that are inherently subject to change and involve a number of risks and uncertainties.  Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in any of such statements due to various factors, including, but not limited to: intense competition in the marketplace; our ability to increase Payment Solutions revenues and reduce operating costs, including discount fees; our ability to execute on our sales, marketing and product development strategy and expand our business including introduction of new services, products, and product enhancements into the marketplace; completion of our infrastructure upgrade and timely consolidation of our payment platforms; maintaining secure systems and protecting against security breaches, loss of privacy/data, and fraud; unanticipated claims as a result of the failure of software providers, processors, vendors, or subcontractors to satisfactorily perform and complete engagements; the renewal, extension or early termination of client contracts or projects; and compliance with government regulations and the impact of regulatory requirements.    For a discussion of these and other factors which may cause our actual events or results to differ from those projected, please refer to the sections, "Risk Factors" and "Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q that we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Official Payments Holdings, Inc.