Press Release Details

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Dec. 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) today released its financial results for the fiscal 2019 second quarter ended October 31, 2018.  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 percent of annual revenues and less than 15 percent of annual expenses.

Fiscal Second Quarter Highlights¹

• Fiscal second quarter financial results were in line with expectations.
• Revenues increased $8 million, or 6 percent, to $149 million primarily due to increased Assisted tax preparation revenues and the timing of revenues related to the company's Tax Plus products.
• Pretax loss from continuing operations improved 2 percent to $232 million; loss per share from continuing operations² increased $0.12 to $0.83 due to a lower effective tax rate, which negatively impacts those fiscal quarters with a seasonal net loss.
• The company reiterated its financial outlook for the full fiscal year.

"We’re implementing a number of initiatives for the upcoming tax season that will significantly improve the way clients interact with H&R Block, including our industry-leading announcement of upfront, transparent pricing in all of our channels," said Jeff Jones, H&R Block's president and chief executive officer.  "This, combined with our innovative virtual tax offerings will help us deliver unique and better experiences to consumers, bring our brand promise to life, and allow us to deliver for the long term."

Fiscal 2019 Second Quarter Results From Continuing Operations

"The fiscal second quarter results reflect planned increases in expenses related to strategic investments being made in the business," said Tony Bowen, H&R Block's chief financial officer.  "We are focused on executing the operational elements of our strategy for the upcoming tax season, and remain on track to achieve our financial outlook for the fiscal year."

Key Financial Metrics

• Total revenues increased $8.0 million, or 5.7 percent, to $148.9 million primarily due to increased Assisted tax preparation revenues and the timing of revenues from Tax Identity Shield^®, partially offset by lower international revenues related to fluctuations in exchange rates.
  
• Total operating expenses increased $7.3 million, or 2.0 percent, to $364.1 million primarily due to increases in occupancy and compensation expenses, partially offset by lower depreciation and amortization and the timing of marketing expense.
  
• Pretax loss improved $4.3 million, or 1.8 percent, to $232.0 million.
  
• Loss per share from continuing operations increased $0.12, from $0.71 to $0.83, due to a lower effective tax rate, which negatively impacts those fiscal quarters with a seasonal net loss.

Dividends

As previously announced, a quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per share is payable on January 2, 2019 to shareholders of record as of December 3, 2018.  H&R Block has paid quarterly dividends consecutively since the company went public in 1962.

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 2019 second quarter results, future 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 8:30 a.m. Eastern time on December 6, 2018. To access the call, please dial the number below approximately 10 minutes prior to the scheduled starting time:

U.S./Canada (855) 702-5257 or International (213) 358-0868
Conference ID: 8661109

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 Webcasts and Presentations page at http://investors.hrblock.com following the conclusion of the call.

A replay of the call will be available beginning at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time on December 6, 2018, and continuing until January 6, 2019, by dialing (855) 859-2056 (U.S./Canada) or (404) 537-3406 (International). The conference ID is 8661109. The webcast will be available for replay beginning on December 7, 2018 and continuing for 90 days at http://investors.hrblock.com.

About H&R Block

H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) is a global consumer tax services provider.  Tax return preparation services are provided by professional tax preparers in approximately 12,000 company-owned and franchise retail tax offices worldwide, and through H&R Blocktax software products for the DIY consumer.  H&R Block also offers adjacent Tax Plus products and services.  In fiscal 2018, H&R Block had annual revenues of over $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, 2018 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, guidance from the Internal Revenue Service, SEC, or the Financial Accounting Standards Board about the Tax Legislation, 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.

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.
³ The company reports non-GAAP financial measures of performance, including earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) from continuing operations, EBITDA margin 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).

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

⁽¹⁾ See "Non-GAAP Financial Information" for a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL INFORMATION

The accompanying press release contains non-GAAP financial measures.  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 may consider whether 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 EBITDA from continuing operations, EBITDA margin from continuing operations, and free cash flow. We also use EBITDA from continuing operations and pretax income from continuing operations, each subject to permitted adjustments, as performance metrics in incentive compensation calculations for our employees.

Source: HRB Tax Group, Inc.