JOHNS CREEK, Ga., March 05, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ebix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBIX), a leading international supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries today announced that it is targeting an aspirational revenue goal of $750 million Quarterly Annualized Revenue by Q4 of 2019.
The Company announced that it has set up ambitious targets for itself for the year 2019, towards establishing itself as a leading global player in the field of converging insurance and finance offerings globally –
- Worldwide Revenue Aspirational Goal - In previous quarters, Ebix had set up an aspirational goal of $650 million quarterly annualized revenue by Q4 2019. The Company now has decided to raise that aspirational goal to $750 million quarterly annualized revenue by Q4 2019, implying that Ebix aspires to report $187.5 million or more in worldwide revenues for the fourth quarter of 2019.
- EBITDA Aspirational Goal – The Company declared that it is targeting an aspirational EBITDA goal of 34% or more in the fourth quarter of 2019 to accompany the aspirational revenue goal. As of Q4 2018, Ebix had EBITDA (including stock-based compensation added back) of $45.5 million with 136.3 million of revenues in Q4 2018.
- Investment in Growth – The Company also clarified that it has continued to invest in its growth endeavors and thus is investing its cash flows continually in buying product inventories, as also making pre-payments to meet its obligations with providers and seek additional discounts for growth linked new contracts. The increase in prepaids and deposits as of 31st December 2018, is reflected in the “other assets” and “other current assets” section of the balance sheet, impacting operating cash flows. The Company declared that –
- It is utilizing its cash to fund the entire gross merchandise value (GMV) of all its products (airlines, hotels, foreign exchange etc.) while for most purposes, it only reports its commissions as revenues. For example, for every $3 to $10 of revenue reported by it for a travel and forex transactions, it needs to fund $100 of GMV.
- It funds substantial prepaids to airlines to seek volume incentives as also meet the requirements laid down by airline providers and airports.
- It makes substantial annual advance deposits with international airports to seek multi-year recurring contracts with international airports.
- It needs to fund substantial cash to meet its daily cash settlements with agents for remittance and other retail related financial obligations.
- In the bus exchange area, the Company funds all its firmware and software purchases upfront - retaining all IP rights to the same, while charging its clients a mix of one-time fees and a transaction fee on every bus ticket issued with millions of tickets being issued every year.
- As it grows its business, it will need to keep investing cash to fund its GMV and related growth initiatives. The Company presently conducts in excess of $13 billion of GMV in India.
- At any time, it has millions of dollars of money in transit in one form or another in every aspect of its business. Since GMV is likely to be many times more than the Company’s revenue or income, it will tend to have a time lag between operating cash flows and operating income, especially when the Company is continually trying to grow its expanse and thus the investment required to fund the growth.
- Acquisition Pipeline – The Company also announced that it is presently working on a few acquisition transactions that can be material to its results for 2019, both in terms of revenues and EPS. Ebix expects each of those transactions to be accretive for our shareholders in terms of diluted EPS while being consistent with Ebix’s present operating income percentages.
Ebix chairman and CEO, Robin Raina said, “While there are no guarantees to us achieving these aspirational goals, all our employees across the world including myself are committed to making every attempt to get there. As the operating captain of the ship, I am committed to maximizing shareholder value and accordingly have already aligned my interests with shareholders by agreeing to receive my salary in Ebix stock, rather than in cash. Whether we achieve our aspirational goals or not, rest assured that we will put in our best with utmost sincerity, transparency, diligence and integrity.”
About Ebix, Inc.
With 50+ offices across 6 continents, Ebix, Inc., (NASDAQ: EBIX) endeavors to provide On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries. In the Insurance sector, Ebix’s main focus is to develop and deploy a wide variety of insurance and reinsurance exchanges on an on-demand basis, while also, providing Software-as-a-Service ("SaaS") enterprise solutions in the area of CRM, front-end & back-end systems, outsourced administration and risk compliance services, around the world.
With a "Phygital” strategy that combines 320,000 physical distribution outlets in many Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN”) countries, to an Omni-channel online digital platform, the Company’s EbixCash Financial exchange portfolio encompasses leadership in areas of domestic & international money remittance, foreign exchange (Forex), travel, pre-paid & gift cards, utility payments, lending, wealth management etc. in India and other markets. EbixCash’s Forex operations have emerged as a leader in India’s airport Foreign Exchange business with operations in 32 international airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata, conducting over $4.8 billion in gross transaction value per year. EbixCash’s inward remittance business in India conducts approx. $5 billion gross annual remittance business, confirming its undisputed leadership position in India. EbixCash, through its travel portfolio of Via and Mercury, is also one of Southeast Asia’s leading travel exchanges with over 2,200+ employees, 212,450+ agent network, 25 branches and over 9,800 corporate clients; processing an estimated $2.5 billion in gross merchandise value per year.
Through its various SaaS-based software platforms, Ebix employs thousands of domain-specific technology professionals to provide products, support and consultancy to thousands of customers on six continents. For more information, visit the Company’s website at www.ebix.com
SAFE HARBOR REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
As used herein, the terms “Ebix,” “the Company,” “we,” “our” and “us” refer to Ebix, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its consolidated subsidiaries as a combined entity, except where it is clear that the terms mean only Ebix, Inc.
The information contained in this Press Release contains forward-looking statements and information within the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This information includes assumptions made by, and information currently available to management, including statements regarding future economic performance and financial condition, liquidity and capital resources, acceptance of the Company's products by the market, and management's plans and objectives. In addition, certain statements included in this and our future filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), in press releases, and in oral and written statements made by us or with our approval, which are not statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Words such as "may," "could," "should," "would," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "seeks," "plan," "project," "continue," "predict," "will," "should," and other words or expressions of similar meaning are intended by the Company to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements are found at various places throughout this report and in the documents incorporated herein by reference. These statements are based on our current expectations about future events or results and information that is currently available to us, involve assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, and speak only as of the date on which such statements are made.
Our actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such a difference, include, but are not limited to those discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports filed with the SEC, as well as: the risk of an unfavorable outcome of the pending governmental investigations or shareholder class action lawsuits, reputational harm caused by such investigations and lawsuits, the willingness of independent insurance agencies to outsource their computer and other processing needs to third parties; pricing and other competitive pressures and the Company's ability to gain or maintain share of sales as a result of actions by competitors and others; changes in estimates in critical accounting judgments; changes in or failure to comply with laws and regulations, including accounting standards, taxation requirements (including tax rate changes, new tax laws and revised tax interpretations) in domestic or foreign jurisdictions; exchange rate fluctuations and other risks associated with investments and operations in foreign countries (particularly in Australia, UK and India wherein we have significant operations); equity markets, including market disruptions and significant interest rate fluctuations, which may impede our access to, or increase the cost of, external financing; and international conflict, including terrorist acts.
Except as expressly required by the federal securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update any such factors, or to publicly announce the results of, or changes to any of the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect future events, developments, changed circumstances, or for any other reason.
Readers should carefully review the disclosures and the risk factors described in the documents we file from time to time with the SEC, including future reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K, and any amendments thereto. You may obtain our SEC filings at our website, www.ebix.com under the "Investor Information" section, or over the Internet at the SEC's web site, www.sec.gov.
CONTACT:
Darren Joseph or Gautam Sharma
678 -281-2027 or IR@ebix.com
David Collins or Chris Eddy
Catalyst IR - 212-924-9800 or ebix@catalyst-ir.com