HOUSTON, Nov. 3, 2015 /satPRnews.com/ -- Mel Payne, Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We achieved record third quarter results which accelerated our high performance growth for the first nine months of 2015 during which we achieved Total Revenue growth of 8.5% to $180.9 million, Adjusted Consolidated EBITDA growth of 19.5% to $53.3 million, Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share growth of 12.4% to $1.09 and Adjusted Free Cash Flow growth of 24.0% to $38.8 million. Excluding a one-time $1.7 million tax benefit in the third quarter of 2014, equal to 9.5 cents per share, the Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share growth year over year for the nine months rose to 24.6%. And excluding the one-time tax benefit last year while including all the overhead and share count changes this year on a proforma basis to December 31, 2014 (explained below and on page 2), the Adjusted Diluted EPS growth year over year for the nine months rose to 36.0%. Because of the acceleration of our earnings growth this year, we are raising our Rolling Four Quarter Outlook of Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share by $0.08 to a range of $1.65 - $1.69 for the period ending September 30, 2016.
The third quarter record revenue and earnings performance was simply remarkable with Total Revenue higher by 7.0%, Total Field EBITDA up 12.9%, and Adjusted Consolidated EBITDA up an amazing 24.7%, pushing up Adjusted Consolidated EBITDA Margin by 400 basis points to 28.1% during what has been historically our weakest seasonal quarter by far - just not this year! Adjusted Diluted EPS of $0.33 for the third quarter was 46.7% higher than last year excluding the 2014 one-time tax benefit. In combination with lower adjusted Total Overhead, our performance was fueled by substantial contributions from both the Funeral and Cemetery Same Store and Acquisition segments with growth rates in Field EBITDA substantially greater than respective growth rates in revenue because of broadly increasing Field EBITDA Margins across the portfolio. Highlights are shown below:
Nine Months Ended September 30, 2015
Three Months Ended September 30, 2015
During May 2015 and again this past September, our Board of Directors approved the repurchase of up to an aggregate of $45 million of the Company's common stock. The repurchases through September 30, 2015 totaled 1.2 million shares at an aggregate cost of $27.3 million and average cost per share of $22.67. These repurchases represent about 6.5% of our previous shares outstanding and on a proforma basis for the first nine months of this year would have added about $0.08 to our Adjusted Diluted EPS. As I said in our September 28, 2015 press release announcing another $20 million to this program, "we view the repurchases of our shares at this time as a 'no brainer'!" Our goal and vision for Carriage as a leadership team is simple:
As I have mentioned repeatedly, both in various publicly available writings and on conference calls, Carriage has entered an enterprise value creation "earning power sweet spot" that is accelerating the Carriage Good To Great Journey. Notwithstanding that this year we have only made one relatively small (but good and growing) acquisition through nine months, our Total Revenue has grown 8.5% (Total Field EBITDA 13.0%), Same Store Funeral Revenue 3.8% (Same Store Funeral EBITDA 8.1%), and Same Store Cemetery Revenue 5.3% (Same Store Cemetery Field EBITDA 18.7%). Our Acquisition Portfolio performance for the nine months is even more impressive, as Acquisition Funeral Revenue (acquisitions since 2010) has grown 28.2% (Acquisition Funeral Field EBITDA 37.8%), and Acquisition Cemetery Revenue 144.3% (Acquisition Cemetery Field EBITDA 236.0%). Our Recognized Financial Revenue has been flat this year but a powerful contributor to our growing earning power over time.
We are simply getting better faster this year across the operating portfolio and leadership platform as a Being The Best operating company, a Being The Best support organization and a Being The Best Consolidation Company that will be patient and disciplined on adding "Only The Best" businesses to our portfolio. And we have made this high performance culture leap forward with a substantially smaller group of 4E senior leaders that comprise the Operations and Strategic Growth Leadership Team (OSGLT), which has been reduced from fifteen members in May to nine currently, drastically reducing our adjusted Total Overhead which we are committed to sustaining going forward as contractual compensation winds down over time and is not replaced. Consequently, our Adjusted Consolidated EBITDA for the first nine months has increased 19.5% on an 8.5% revenue increase, an amazing performance and reflective of our "sweet spot cash earning power" as defined by a nine month Adjusted Consolidated EBITDA Margin of 29.5%, 280 basis points higher than last year and a level never before reached in the over fifty year history of deathcare consolidation by any mature deathcare consolidation company using current accounting methodology.
Including all the overhead and share count changes on a proforma basis to December 31, 2014, we would have produced about $1.19 of Adjusted Diluted Non-GAAP EPS for the nine months ending September 30th (versus $0.88 for 2014 excluding one-time tax benefit) compared to $1.09 that we have reported, a year over year increase of 36.0% and in our view a more accurate reading of the comparative norMalized sustainable earning power of our company at this point. Notwithstanding the $27.3 million cash used for share repurchases and a large amount of growth capital expenditures this year concentrated on construction of a few showcase new funeral homes, substantial capital investment for new growth in the six businesses we acquired from SCI in 2014, and unusually high new product development for a few large cemeteries, our exceptionally strong operating and Free Cash Flow performance this year has enabled us to reduce our total leverage ratio from 5.0x at the beginning of this year to 4.7x at September 30, 2015. Moreover, our Adjusted Free Cash Flow of $46.1 million for the last four quarters beginning October 1, 2014 and ending September 30, 2015 is equivalent to $2.48 per GAAP diluted share (higher if adjusted for recent share repurchases), producing a current Free Cash Flow Equity Yield of about 11.6% at our current price of $21.46. Buying shares at recent prices from Mr. Market of a company getting better fast across the board is indeed "a no brainer" and benefits all remaining long term shareholders "forever!".
More recently, Viki, Ben and I have attended investor conferences for the first time since assuming responsibility for Investor Relations and had the opportunity to hear up close and personal what is on the mind of many of our existing and prospective institutional investors. The growing dichotomy between our increasing performance metrics and declining performance valuation multiples have led to frustration for some of you over why this fundamental gap between performance and valuation remains the case. From what we have learned, the major areas which you believe should be clarified are listed below:
Shareholder Clarification Areas
We will be speaking to all of the above areas on the conference call to address and ultimately close the valuation discount that currently exists in our common shares. We hope you join us for the call", concluded Mr. Payne.
FIELD OPERATIONS
Nine Months Ended September 30, 2015 compared to Nine Months Ended September 30, 2014
Three Months Ended September 30, 2015 compared to Three Months Ended September 30, 2014
ADJUSTED FREE CASH FLOW
We produced Adjusted Free Cash Flow from operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015 of $13.4 million and $38.8 million, respectively, compared to Adjusted Free Cash Flow from operations of $12.0 million and $31.3 million for the corresponding periods in 2014. A reconciliation of Cash Flow Provided by Operations to Adjusted Free Cash Flow for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015 is as follows (in millions):
For the last four quarters ending September 30, 2015, we have generated $46.1 million in Adjusted Free Cash Flow equal to $2.48 per diluted share, producing a Free Cash Flow Equity Yield of about 11.6% at our current price per share of $21.46. Our record operating performance coupled with the growth in Adjusted Free Cash Flow has enabled us to finance the majority of our dividends, capital expenditures, share repurchases and acquisition activity through internally generated sources, simultaneously reducing our total leverage ratio from 5.0x at the end of 2014 to 4.7x at September 30, 2015.
ROLLING FOUR QUARTER OUTLOOK
The Rolling Four Quarter Outlook ("Outlook") reflects management's opinion on the performance of the portfolio of existing businesses, including performance of existing trusts, and excludes size and timing of acquisitions for the Rolling Four Quarter Outlook period ending September 30, 2016 unless we have a signed Letter of Intent and high likelihood of a closing within 90 days. This Outlook is not intended to be management estimates or forecasts of our future performance, as we believe such precise rolling estimates will be precisely wrong all the time. Rather our intent and goal is to reflect a "roughly right range" most of the time of future Rolling Four Quarter Outlook performance as we execute our Standards Operating, Strategic Acquisition and 4E Leadership Models over time.
ROLLING FOUR QUARTER OUTLOOK – Period Ending September 30, 2016
Factors affecting our analysis include, among others, funeral contract volumes, average revenue per funeral service, cemetery interment volumes, preneed cemetery sales, capital expenditures, execution of our funeral and cemetery Standards Operating Model, Withdrawable Trust Income and changes in Federal Reserve monetary policy. Revenues, Adjusted Consolidated EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share for the four quarter period ending September 30, 2016 are expected to improve relative to the trailing four quarter period ending September 30, 2015 due to increases in our existing Funeral Home and Cemetery portfolio, one acquisition in the fourth quarter of 2015, modest increases in the financial performance of our trust funds and modest decreases in overhead as a percentage of revenue.
TRUST FUND PERFORMANCE
For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, Carriage's discretionary trust funds returned (4.5%) versus (3.4%) for the 70/30 index benchmark. The overall performance year-to-date was affected by weakness in the equity markets in the third quarter, and as a result negatively impacted Carriage's discretionary equity portfolio. The equity portion accounts for 29% of Carriage's discretionary trust assets. Year-to-date, the fixed income investments in our discretionary portfolio continued to outperform the High Yield Index. The current yield on the discretionary fixed income portfolio, which comprises 66% of discretionary trust assets, is 8.0% and the estimated annual income for the discretionary portfolio is approximately $11.5 million.
During the third quarter, we took advantage of the recent market volatility to deploy the higher-than-normal cash position we had built in our portfolio during the first half of the year. The activity in our portfolio in the third quarter was consistent with our long-term strategy: to make investments in blue chip companies and high-quality, income-producing securities that will contribute to the recurring Financial Revenue and EBITDA of Carriage.
Shown below are consolidated performance metrics for the combined trust fund portfolios (preneed funeral, cemetery merchandise and services and cemetery perpetual care) at key dates.
CONFERENCE CALL AND INVESTOR RELATIONS CONTACT
Carriage Services has scheduled a conference call for tomorrow, November 4, 2015 at 9:30 a.m. central time. To participate in the call, please dial 866-516-3867 (ID-57625001) and ask for the Carriage Services conference call. A replay of the conference call will be available through November 8, 2015 and may be accessed by dialing 855-859-2056 (ID-57625001). The conference call will also be available at www.carriageservices.com. For any investor relations questions, please contact Ben Brink at 713-332-8441 or Viki Blinderman at 713-332-8568.
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
This press release uses Non-GAAP financial measures to present the financial performance of the Company. Non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed in addition to, and not as an aLTErnative for, the Company's reported operating results or cash flow from operations or any other measure of performance as determined in accordance with GAAP. We believe the Non-GAAP results are useful to investors because such results help investors compare our results to previous periods and provide insights into underlying trends in our business. The Company's GAAP financial statements accompany this release. Reconciliations of the Non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP measures are provided in this press release.
The Non-GAAP financial measures include "Adjusted Net Income", "Adjusted Basic Earnings Per Share", "Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share", "Consolidated EBITDA", "Adjusted Consolidated EBITDA", "Adjusted Free Cash Flow", "Funeral, Cemetery and Financial EBITDA", "Total Field EBITDA" and "Special Items" in this press release. These financial measurements are defined as similar GAAP items adjusted for Special Items and are reconciled to GAAP in this press release. In addition, the Company's presentation of these measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures in other companies' reports. The definitions used by the Company for our internal management purposes and in this press release are as follows:
Certain state regulations allow the withdrawal of financial income from preneed cemetery merchandise and services trust funds when realized in the trust. Under current generally accepted accounting principles, trust income is only recognized in the Company's financial statements at a later time when the related merchandise and services sold on the preneed contract is delivered at the time of death. Carriage has provided financial income from the trusts, termed "Withdrawable Trust Income" and reported on a Non-GAAP proforma basis within Special Items in the accompanying Operating and Financial Trend Report (a Non-GAAP Unaudited Income Statement), to reflect the current cash results. Management believes that the Withdrawable Trust Income provides useful information to investors because it presents income and cash flow when earned by the trusts.
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures:
This press release includes the use of certain financial measures that are not GAAP measures. The Non-GAAP financial measures are presented for additional information and are reconciled to their most comparable GAAP measures below.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain statements made herein or elsewhere by, or on behalf of, the Company that are not historical facts are intended to be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. In addition to historical information, this Press Release contains certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include statements regarding the consummation of the SCI acquisition, any projections of earnings, revenues, asset sales, cash flow, debt levels or other financial items; any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance; any statements of belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing and are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effect on us. The words "may", "will", "estimate", "intend", "believe", "expect", "project", "forecast", "foresee", "should", "would", "could", "plan", "anticipate" and other similar words or expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, which are generally not historical in nature. While management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made, there can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we anticipate. All comments concerning our expectations for future revenues and operating results are based on our forecasts for our existing operations and do not include the potential impact of any future acquisitions. Our forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those summarized below:
For additional information regarding known material factors that could cause our actual results to differ from our projected results, please see "Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements after the date they are made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. A copy of the Company's Form 10-K, other Carriage Services information and news releases are available at www.carriageservices.com.
This press release includes the use of certain financial measures that are not GAAP measures. The Non-GAAP financial measures are presented for additional information and are reconciled to their most comparable GAAP measures in the tables presented above.
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Link: Carriage Services Announces Record Results For Third Quarter And Nine Months 2015 And Raises Rolling Four Quarter Outlook