LiveRamp Announces Third Quarter Results

·14 min read

Total Revenue up 13% year over year and Subscription Revenue up 14%

$16 million in Operating Cash Flow

$150 million of Stock Repurchased Fiscal Year to Date

Share Repurchase Authorization Extended and Expanded

SAN FRANCISCO, February 07, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LiveRamp® (NYSE: RAMP), the leading data collaboration platform, today announced its financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2022.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230207005323/en/

Q3 Financial Highlights1

  • Total revenue was $159 million, up 13%.

  • Subscription revenue was $126 million, up 14%, and accounted for 80% of total revenue.

  • Marketplace & Other revenue was $32 million, up 9%.

  • GAAP gross profit was $115 million, up 13%. GAAP gross margin of 73% was unchanged. Non-GAAP gross profit was $121 million, up 12%. Non-GAAP gross margin of 76% contracted by 1 percentage point.

  • GAAP operating loss was $24 million compared to $14 million. Non-GAAP operating income was $26 million compared to $15 million. Non-GAAP operating margin of 16% expanded by 6 percentage points.

  • GAAP loss per share was $0.46 and non-GAAP earnings per share were $0.28.

  • Net cash provided by operating activities was $16 million compared to $25 million.

  • In the quarter, the Company repurchased approximately 2.3 million shares for $50 million under its share repurchase program. Fiscal year to date, the Company has repurchased approximately 6.1 million shares for $150 million. Since inception of the program in August 2011, the Company has returned approximately $1.4 billion in capital to shareholders.

  • On December 20, 2022 the Company’s Board of Directors approved an extension of the share repurchase program by two years to December 31, 2024 and a $100 million increase in the authorization. There is currently $218 million available under the authorization.

__________
1 Unless otherwise indicated, all comparisons are to the prior year period.

A reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP results is provided in the schedules to this press release.

"We continue winning with the world's largest brand marketers, reinforcing that we are essential infrastructure for the advertising ecosystem," said LiveRamp CEO Scott Howe. "Our identity and collaboration products, with connections to over 2,000 publishers, uniquely support all of their marketing activities."

"We delivered solid third quarter results, with top-line growth and strong free cash flow," added President and CFO Warren Jenson. "Looking to FY24, we expect to deliver another year of strong operating profit growth and to return a substantial portion of free cash flow to shareowners through share repurchases."

GAAP and Non-GAAP Results

The following table summarizes the Company’s financial results for its third fiscal quarter ($ in millions):

Q3 Fiscal 2023

Q3 Fiscal 2022

Results

Results

GAAP

Non-GAAP

GAAP

Non-GAAP

Subscription revenue

$126

—

$111

—

YoY change %

14%

19%

Marketplace & Other revenue

$32

—

$29

—

YoY change %

9%

12%

Total revenue

$159

—

$141

—

YoY change %

13%

17%

Gross profit

$115

$121

$102

$108

% Gross margin

73%

76%

73%

77%

YoY change, pts

0 pts

(1) pts

4 pts

3 pts

Operating income (loss)

($24)

$26

($14)

$15

% Operating margin

(15%)

16%

(10%)

10%

YoY change, pts

(5) pts

6 pts

3 pts

0 pts

Net earnings (loss)

($30)

$19

($15)

$10

Earnings (loss) per share

($0.46)

$0.28

($0.23)

$0.14

Shares to calculate EPS

64.8

65.4

68.2

69.9

YoY change %

(5%)

(7%)

3%

0%

Net operating cash flow

$16

—

$25

—

Free cash flow to equity

—

$16

—

$24

Totals may not sum due to rounding.

A detailed discussion of our non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP results is provided in the schedules attached to this press release.

Additional Business Highlights & Metrics

  • The Company’s Authenticated Traffic Solution (ATS) has reached global scale. There are currently more than 160 supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-side platforms (DSPs) live or committed to bid on RampID™ and ATS, including The Trade Desk, Xandr, Amobee, Criteo, Roku Oneview, and MediaMath. Further, in March 2022, LiveRamp announced an expanded partnership with The Trade Desk to power European Unified ID (EUID) via its ATS infrastructure.

  • To date, over 2,000 publishers, representing more than 12,000 deployed domains, have integrated ATS worldwide, including Amazon Publisher Services, Microsoft, Hearst, CafeMedia, Leaf Group, Prisma Media and Burda.

  • At its November 2022 re:Invent conference, Amazon Web Services (AWS) named LiveRamp as a key industry partner for its new Marketing and Advertising Initiative and forthcoming AWS Clean Rooms service launch. LiveRamp published its new embedded identity resolution solutions in the AWS Marketplace in December 2022 ahead of the AWS Clean Rooms release in January 2023. Support for AWS Clean Rooms gives customers a collaborative approach to more effective media measurement and planning. As part of LiveRamp’s continued work with AWS, this latest integration reinforces our commitment to help clients improve their customer intelligence through accurate and secure data collaboration in cloud environments.

  • Recently, LiveRamp and Pinterest announced a new partnership to pilot clean rooms for select advertising partners using LiveRamp’s data collaboration technology, Safe Haven. Grocery retailer Albertsons will be the first advertiser to use the new solution to support its retail media network. LiveRamp’s Safe Haven platform provides a protected environment where brands can join select first-party data with Pinterest platform data without having to share or reveal customers’ personal identifiable information. This data sharing will enable enhanced measurement of advertising campaigns, such as closed-loop attribution, without compromising data protection.

  • LiveRamp has 910 direct subscription customers, up from 890 in the prior year period.

  • LiveRamp has 94 customers whose subscription contracts exceed $1 million in annual revenue, up from 86 in the prior year period.

  • During the third quarter, subscription net retention was 101% and platform net retention was 102%.

  • Current remaining performance obligations (CRPO), which is contracted and committed revenue expected to be recognized over the next 12 months, was $324 million, up 12% compared to the prior year period.

Financial Outlook

LiveRamp’s non-GAAP operating income guidance excludes the impact of non-cash stock compensation, purchased intangible asset amortization, and restructuring and related charges.

For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, LiveRamp expects to report:

  • Revenue of between $147 million and $152 million, an increase of between 4% and 7% year-over-year

  • GAAP operating loss of between $26 million and $23 million

  • Non-GAAP operating income of between $13 million and $16 million

For fiscal 2023, LiveRamp updates its guidance and expects to report:

  • Revenue of between $595 million and $600 million, an increase of approximately 13% year-over-year

  • GAAP operating loss of between $105 million and $102 million

  • Non-GAAP operating income of between $60 million and $63 million

Conference Call

LiveRamp will hold a conference call at 1:30 p.m. PT today to further discuss this information. Interested parties are invited to listen to the call which will be broadcast via the Internet and can be found on LiveRamp’s investor site. A slide presentation will be referenced during the call and can be accessed here.

About LiveRamp

LiveRamp is the data collaboration platform trusted by forward-looking global companies to connect customer data from anywhere to everywhere. The category-defining pioneer with decades of expertise in online-offline identity resolution, LiveRamp is setting the new standard for a 360° customer view in the modern data stack through secure, privacy-first collaboration within companies, across companies, and between companies and their media and marketing partners to personalize and improve the customer journey. For more information, visit www.liveramp.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended (the "PSLRA"). These statements, which are not statements of historical fact, may contain estimates, assumptions, projections and/or expectations regarding the Company’s financial position, results of operations for fiscal 2023, fiscal 2024 and beyond, market position, product development, growth opportunities, economic conditions, and other similar forecasts and statements of expectation. Forward-looking statements are often identified by words or phrases such as "anticipate," "estimate," "plan," "expect," "believe," "intend," "foresee," or the negative of these terms or other similar variations thereof.

These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause the Company’s actual results and experiences to differ materially from the anticipated results and expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements.

Among the factors that may cause actual results and expectations to differ from anticipated results and expectations expressed in forward-looking statements are uncertainties related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, rising interest rates, cost increases and general inflationary pressure and the associated impacts on our suppliers, customers and partners; the Company’s dependence upon customer renewals; new customer additions and upsell within our subscription business; our reliance upon partners, including data suppliers; competition; and attracting and retaining talent. Additional risks include maintaining our culture and our ability to innovate and evolve while operating in a hybrid work environment, with some employees working remotely at least some of the time within a rapidly changing industry, while also avoiding disruption from reductions in our current workforce as well as disruptions resulting from acquisition and divestiture activities. Our international operations are also subject to risks, including war and civil unrest, that may harm the Company’s business. The risk of a significant breach of the confidentiality of the information or the security of our or our customers’, suppliers’, or other partners’ computer systems, or the risk that our current insurance coverage may not be adequate for such a breach, that an insurer might deny coverage for a claim or that such insurance will continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, could be detrimental to our business, reputation and results of operations. Other business risks include unfavorable publicity and negative public perception about our industry; interruptions or delays in service from data center hosting vendors we rely upon; and our dependence on the continued availability of third-party data hosting and transmission services. Our clients’ ability to use data on our platform could be restricted if the industry’s use of third-party cookies and tracking technology declines due to technology platform changes, regulation or increased user controls. Changes in regulations relating to information collection and use represents a risk, as well as changes in tax laws and regulations that are applied to our customers which could cause enterprise software budget tightening. In addition, third parties may claim that we are infringing their intellectual property or may infringe our intellectual property which could result in competitive injury and / or the incurrence of significant costs and draining of our resources.

For a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, please refer to LiveRamp’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year 2022 ended March 31, 2022, and LiveRamp's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q issued in fiscal year 2023.

The financial information set forth in this press release reflects estimates based on information available at this time.

LiveRamp assumes no obligation and does not currently intend to update these forward-looking statements.

To automatically receive LiveRamp financial news by email, please visit www.LiveRamp.com and subscribe to email alerts.

ERAMP

LiveRampⓇ, RampIDTM, AbilitecⓇ, Safe HavenⓇ and all other LiveRamp marks contained herein are trademarks or service marks of LiveRamp, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

LIVERAMP HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(Unaudited)

(Dollars in thousands, except per share amounts)

For the Three Months Ended

December 31,

$

%

2022

2021

Variance

Variance

Revenues

158,615

140,604

18,011

12.8

%

Cost of revenue

43,287

38,557

4,730

12.3

%

Gross profit

115,328

102,047

13,281

13.0

%

% Gross margin

72.7

%

72.6

%

Operating expenses:

Research and development

43,175

41,870

1,305

3.1

%

Sales and marketing

47,702

46,324

1,378

3.0

%

General and administrative

36,657

27,639

9,018

32.6

%

Gains, losses and other items, net

11,743

-

11,743

n/a

Total operating expenses

139,277

115,833

23,444

20.2

%

Loss from operations

(23,949

)

(13,786

)

(10,163

)

(73.7

%)

% Margin

-15.1

%

-9.8

%

Total other expense, net

(736

)

(241

)

(495

)

(205.4

%)

Loss from continuing operations before income taxes

(24,685

)

(14,027

)

(10,658

)

(76.0

%)

Income tax expense

5,835

1,348

4,487

332.9

%

Net loss from continuing operations

(30,520

)

(15,375

)

(15,145

)

(98.5

%)

Earnings from discontinued operations, net of tax

836

-

836

n/a

Net loss

(29,684

)

(15,375

)

(14,309

)

(93.1

%)

Basic earnings (loss) per share:

Continuing operations

(0.47

)

(0.23

)

(0.25

)

(108.9

%)

Discontinued operations

0.01

-

0.01

n/a

Basic loss per share

(0.46

)

(0.23

)

(0.23

)

(103.2

%)

Diluted earnings (loss) per share:

Continuing operations

(0.47

)

(0.23

)

(0.25

)

(108.9

%)

Discontinued operations

0.01

-

0.01

n/a

Diluted loss per share:

(0.46

)

(0.23

)

(0.23

)

(103.2

%)

Basic weighted average shares

64,784

68,190

Diluted weighted average shares

64,784

68,190

LIVERAMP HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(Unaudited)

(Dollars in thousands, except per share amounts)

For the Nine Months Ended

December 31,

$

%

2022

2021

Variance

Variance

Revenues

447,957

386,932

61,025

15.8

%

Cost of revenue

126,612

107,951

18,661

17.3

%

Gross profit

321,345

278,981

42,364

15.2

%

% Gross margin

71.7

%

72.1

%

Operating expenses:

Research and development

136,975

112,434

24,541

21.8

%

Sales and marketing

144,931

127,812

17,119

13.4

%

General and administrative

92,519

75,008

17,511

23.3

%

Gains, losses and other items, net

25,593

1,296

24,297

1874.8

%

Total operating expenses

400,018

316,550

83,468

26.4

%

Loss from operations

(78,673

)

(37,569

)

(41,104

)

(109.4

%)

% Margin

-17.6

%

-9.7

%

Total other income, net

2,211

30,510

(28,299

)

(92.8

%)

Loss from continuing operations before income taxes

(76,462

)

(7,059

)

(69,403

)

(983.2

%)

Income tax expense (benefit)

11,712

(2,618

)

14,330

547.4

%

Net loss from continuing operations

(88,174

)

(4,441

)

(83,733

)

(1885.5

%)

Earnings from discontinued operations, net of tax

836

-

836

n/a

Net loss

(87,338

)

(4,441

)

(82,897

)

(1866.6

%)

Basic earnings (loss) per share:

Continuing operations

(1.32

)

(0.07

)

(1.26

)

(1927.9

%)

Discontinued operations

0.01

-

0.01

n/a

Basic earnings (loss) per share

(1.31

)

(0.07

)

(1.24

)

(1908.6

%)

Diluted earnings (loss) per share:

Continuing operations

(1.32

)

(0.07

)

(1.26

)

(1927.9

%)

Discontinued operations

0.01

-

0.01

n/a

Diluted earnings (loss) per share:

(1.31

)

(0.07

)

(1.24

)

(1908.6

%)

Basic weighted average shares

66,761

68,187

Diluted weighted average shares

66,761

68,187

LIVERAMP HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP EPS (1)

(Unaudited)

(Dollars in thousands, except per share amounts)

For the Three Months Ended

For the Nine Months Ended

December 31,

December 31,

2022

2021

2022

2021

Loss from continuing operations before income taxes

(24,685

)

(14,027

)

(76,462

)

(7,059

)

Income tax expense (benefit)

5,835

1,348

11,712

(2,618

)

Net loss from continuing operations

(30,520

)

(15,375

)

(88,174

)

(4,441

)

Earnings from discontinued operations, net of tax

836

-

836

-

Net loss

(29,684

)

(15,375

)

(87,338

)

(4,441

)

Loss per share:

Basic

(0.46

)

(0.23

)

(1.31

)

(0.07

)

Diluted

(0.46

)

(0.23

)

(1.31

)

(0.07

)

Excluded items:

Purchased intangible asset amortization (cost of revenue)

4,209

4,647

13,489

13,904

Non-cash stock compensation (cost of revenue and operating expenses)

29,624

23,758

81,142

61,475

Transformation costs (general and administrative)

4,112

-

5,362

-

Restructuring and merger charges (gains, losses, and other)

11,743

-

25,593

1,296

Gain on retained profits interest (other income)

-

(183

)

-

(30,235

)

Total excluded items, continuing operations

49,688

28,222

125,586

46,440

Income from continuing operations before income taxes and excluding items

25,003

14,195

49,124

39,381

Income tax expense (2)

6,468

4,271

12,262

5,124

Non-GAAP net earnings from continuing operations

18,535

9,924

36,862

34,257

Non-GAAP earnings per share from continuing operations:

Basic

0.29

0.15

0.55

0.50

Diluted

...