Resources Connection, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGP) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Resources Connection, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGP) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript July 24, 2023

Resources Connection, Inc. beats earnings expectations. Reported EPS is $0.44, expectations were $0.35.

Operator: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Resources Connection, Inc. Conference Call. Currently, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session and instructions will follow at that time. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to remind everyone that management will be commenting on results for fourth quarter ended May 27, 2023. They will also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. An explanation and reconciliation of these measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the press release issued today. Today’s press release can be viewed in the Investor Relations section at RGP’s website and also filed today with the SEC.

Also, during this call, management will make forward-looking statements regarding plans, initiatives, and strategies, and the anticipated financial performance of the company. Such statements are predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. Please see the Risk Factors section in RGP’s report on Form 10-K for the year ended May 28, 2022, for a discussion of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause the company’s business, results of operations, and financial condition to differ materially from what is expressed or implied by forward-looking statements made during this call. Such discussion will also be included in the Risk Factors section in RGP’s report on Form 10-K for the year ended May 27, 2023, which will be filed on July 25, 2023.

I’ll now turn the call over to RGP’s CEO, Kate Duchene.

Kate Duchene: Thank you, operator. Good afternoon everyone and thanks for being with us. We are proud of our performance during the fourth quarter and throughout fiscal ‘23, a year in which we delivered growth and improved profitability despite the choppiness of the macro environment. We strengthened the company financially and improved consultant and client retention. We are continuing to change the way the world works. Coming out of the pandemic, we have seen fundamental and lasting shifts in how professionals want to work and how companies want to get work done. We are delivering agile consulting to clients with experts who execute. Without the constraints of a bench model, we give experts choice and control over their projects so that when they engage on a project, it is because they want to deliver impact in the client’s business.

They are engaging in work that they want to accomplish. This resonates with clients who are weary of the traditional partnership model in which swarms of junior consultants with high bill rates get assigned to engagements without choice and often learn on the client’s dime. We know there’s a better way of getting consulting work done and are delivering that approach to the world’s biggest and best brands. Turning to the numbers. In Q4, we achieved $184.4 million in revenue, which exceeded the high end of guidance. Gross margin remained strong at 41.1%, again exceeding the high end of guidance. Run rate SG&A spend was $52.5 million, coming in more favorable than guidance. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 12.6% for the quarter, in line with our stated goal of improving to mid-teen performance.

With respect to full year performance, I’ll highlight three points. We grew 1% year-over-year organically. Given the declining and uncertain macro environment during the second half of our fiscal year due to heightened inflation, interest rate increases, talent shortages worldwide and ongoing geopolitical conflict, we’re proud to report real growth. We also improved gross margin by 110 basis points to 40.4%. Driven by improved bill rates, this is our highest full year gross margin in over a decade. Adjusted EBITDA was also up for the full year to $100.2 million or 12.9% of revenue, again representing our highest margin in over a decade. As we look ahead to fiscal ’24, we note that in June, the World Economic Forum reported that chief economists are now equally divided on whether a recession will happen.

Last Monday, a leading investment bank cut the probability of a US recession in 2023 to 20% from 25% citing inflation declines and economic resiliency. The conference board’s chief economist predicted in her June report that the growth curve in the US returns broadly in early calendar 2024 and the likelihood of a soft landing for the economy is much higher today. In our client base, the buying environment is starting to show some green shoots in certain geographies and industries. For example, Europe and Asia Pacific revenue trends are improving. Our digital transformation business delivered by Veracity achieved strong double-digit growth over the prior year quarter, supporting our conviction that clients are continuing to pursue digital agendas.

We believe we will see a steadier stream of opportunity as inflation moderates, interest rates stabilize and companies feel more secure that potential recession, if it comes at all, will be short and shallow. Next, I want to spend a few minutes outlining what we are focused on to execute against the opportunity ahead. First, we’re moving into the testing phase of our global technology transformation, Project Phoenix. This project includes replacing our core financial and talent software systems and optimizing Salesforce and Workday HCM. And we will go live with our improved software platform and capability this fiscal year. We are investing in new systems to drive global visibility in our operations, increase efficiency through self-service, automation and generative AI and provide better data and analytics for improved decision making.

We expect the investment to improve financial returns through headcount leverage and supply and demand optimization. We will continue to focus and deepen our service offerings to grow the technology, data and digital business. We have transitioned a part of our project consulting services practice from core RGP into Veracity to enhance our ability to cross-sell and deliver these services. In a recent CEO survey published by the conference board, digital transformation continues to be the number one priority investment for senior leaders. While other investments may be on hold, this category of transformation marches forward and we’re well positioned to deliver. More than 30% of Veracity’s revenue in fiscal ‘23 was delivered in the core RGP client base.

So the cross-selling strategy is paying off. We will also continue to enhance our gross margin. We’ve undertaken a comprehensive review of our rate card versus the competition. We know the caliber and capability of our consultant set and will uplift our rate cards in fiscal ‘24 to reflect value delivered and market dynamics. This move will better reflect the experience and expertise of the consultants who deliver for the RGP brand, while continuing to provide exceptional value to our clients. Our consultants bring both functional expertise and experience in business and professional services, which enables them to drive impact faster. We deliver the rare trifecta, a point of view, independence and judgment. On that topic, I want to highlight at least two workforce trends I believe serve as tailwinds for our business.

Last week, Bain & Company published a global research study on the rise of older workers filling more jobs in the future, which bodes well for RGP and what it offers these more experienced individuals. Specifically, Bain predicts that 150 million jobs across the globe will shift to workers over the age of 55 by 2030. The trend is pronounced in high income countries with significant labor force gaps like the US and Japan, two of our primary markets. Bain also found that these workers want autonomy and flexibility, which again is perfectly aligned to RGP’s model. Bain concludes that companies who embrace a workforce strategy utilizing this talent pool will experience significant competitive advantage. We at RGP certainly agree. In the US, the accounting profession is under serious duress as more than 300,000 accountants left their jobs in the past two years.

Accountants are increasingly rejecting the traditional accounting firm path in favor of finance, technology and consulting roles. They want careers with greater flexibility and choice. This pandemic-induced exodus provides increased opportunity for RGP and HUGO, our digital engagement staffing platform for mid to lower level accounting and finance talent to find project work through self-service. We can provide impactful project work for this in-demand talent set while delivering the choice, flexibility and control they desire. In closing, I want to thank our employees for their hard work and commitment this year. We are united in our purpose to dare to work differently. We take pride in our disruptive brand and are committed to delivering excellence every day for our clients and each other.

We embrace working differently in a collaborative learning-oriented culture focused on people above all else. Backed by the tailwinds of today’s world of work, our vision is to continue to disrupt the professional services marketplace with our unique approach that offers greater flexibility, value and engagement. We’re excited about the year ahead. I’ll now turn the call over to Tim for an update on operations.

Tim Brackney: Thank you, Kate, and good afternoon, everyone. During the fourth quarter, we saw solid revenue performance and operational metrics particularly given the macro environment with revenue of $184.4 million, which exceeded the top end of our quarterly guidance. Overall demand was strong, even as delayed starts and reduced project scopes persisted as clients continue to work through challenges in their business. Pipeline and opportunity endure, although comp conversion into engagements remains slower than traditional pace, driven by more judicious budget planning and scrutiny within our client base. These opportunities represent key initiatives for important clients, which although they require more persistence, represent real upside for our business, as we continue to take share from larger competitors.

Regional performance was reflective of the overall environment with Veracity and Countsy demonstrating solid growth over prior year quarter. Our international business showed fortitude as Europe generated sequential growth and Asia Pacific posted strong results despite macro struggles in China. Our strategic accounts program demonstrated small growth on a year-to-date basis, but was down on a quarter-over-quarter basis. As we start fiscal ‘24, we know the overall market opportunity remains as companies continue to digest change and build transformation agendas that require flexibility in their workforce plan. The pace of required change for companies has not slowed, but the path to get there is more complex given both the dramatic adjustment in employee mindset, and a desire by companies to control the ultimate value of the shifts they make through the use of agile talent and co-delivery of important initiatives.

The current environment provides a useful prism to view these shifts as speed, flexibility and ultimately value are the most important tenants of any solution demanded by clients today. These are hallmark traits of RGP, and we are seeing more opportunity to unseat, augment and manage larger consulting firms and the implementation of transformation initiatives. We call these shift share opportunities and they are becoming more prevalent. We see real demand coming as clients prepare for a push into the next calendar year. To demonstrate, a Fortune 500 consumer goods client is currently going through a multiyear ERP transformation. In past initiatives, this client has utilized one larger firm to deliver all work streams, including both implementation and stabilization of business as usual.

For this current project, however, they chose a larger firm as their system integrator while relying on RGP to play two critical roles, provide stability to the current state financial close process, while also selecting to assist with testing, documentation and other requirements to support the go-live date. Another example of shift share is a new technology client that was carved out of an existing Fortune 500 customer. RGP assisted in the spin process and is now the primary project consulting partner for the new entity. It started with the stand-up of the new entity’s core ERP in which we partnered with another firm who was the system integrator. The system went live a couple of months ago and we are now deep into post go-live support. This includes optimizing and supporting processes for inventory, data management and financial reporting.

RGP is viewed as an essential partner in this client’s journey to stabilization as they completely disengaged from a transaction services agreement with the former parent. On the Canada side of our business, in the fourth quarter, we continued to attract and retain exceptional talent to our platform. While some of the recent trends of restructuring and layoffs have dissipated, the impact on employee mindset has not receded. One of the effects of rapid change is the erosion of stability and traditional employment and that is readily apparent to the workforce. The last two economic cycles and the pandemic have offered generations of workers a front row seat to that dynamic. And more people are choosing the control that agile employment offers.

Given this new norm and the strength of culture community and choice at RGP, we continue to attract a diverse and determined workforce, many working agilely for the first time. As an example, an applicant in our Southwest practice saw the layoffs happening in the energy sector and ahead of announcements at his own company reconnected with our talent team. Our team had established a relationship with him several months ago and continue to stay in touch even though he was not sure if he will leave industry to work in a more agile fashion. Keep up the experience he gained through the years could be used to help other companies solve problems and the current environment prompted this decision to finally leave the traditional workforce and do project consulting with us.

He was immediately deployed on a project and has not looked back. Given the challenges with conversion and project starts, our talent team has stayed really close to new applicants at the timing of the first project will likely take longer than normal. Attrition remains in line sequentially and year-over-year, reflective of a hardworking and an empathetic talent team and the strength of our employment brand. Ultimately, we believe that the current environment will only accelerate a change in employee thinking and make RGP the employer of choice for talent that is daring to work differently. Now, we’ll turn back to our fourth quarter operations. We achieved strong gross margins and were able to increase bill rates year-over-year. Our small investment in the strategic pricing team yielded pricing initiatives which were launched this fiscal year and will be a continued point of emphasis and expansion as we push into fiscal ‘24.

Pricing leverage continues to be an opportunity across the enterprise as clients look for value and seek out the combination of trust and experience that we deliver. Early Q1 trends are in line with expectations given the summer months and increased holiday and vacation time. While we anticipate timing challenges related to project closes and starts to continue through the summer months, we know there is upside based on deals and pipeline. Finally, let me touch on operational leverage. In Q4, we continue to focus on managing costs and operating efficiently, resulting in strong EBITDA margin, particularly given the economic environment. We remain vigilant about discretionary spend in investments as we head into fiscal ‘24. I will now turn the call over to Jenn for a more detailed review of fourth quarter results and our outlook for the first quarter.

Jenn Ryu: Thank you, Tim, and good afternoon, everyone. This quarter, we achieved revenue and gross margin performance, exceeding the high end of our outlook range and we remained disciplined with our costs, performing better than the favorable end of our run rate SG&A outlook, delivering strong adjusted EBITDA of $23.2 million or a 12.6% margin. While we outperformed our top-line outlook range provided in April, compared to Q4 fiscal ’22, we had elevated revenues as clients emerged from the pandemic. Revenue was down 11.5% on a same day constant currency basis and excluding task force divested in May of 2022. North America was down 12.6% while APAC declined 1.7% and Europe excluding task force declined by 5.6%. Bright spots in North America included Veracity and Countsy, both growing by double digits year-over-year.

Despite the tough Q4 year-over-year comparisons, due to different revenue cadence throughout the two fiscal years, on a full year basis, same day, constant currency revenue grew 1% year-over-year after excluding taskforce, which made fiscal ‘23 one of the best years in over a decade, notwithstanding what has been an uncertain and challenging environment. Gross margin in the quarter was 41.1%. We continue to make good progress on raising bill rates, driving an improvement in the pay bill ratio of 146 basis points. Our US average bill rate rose 4% compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal ’22 with Europe and Asia Pac driving 8% and 1% improvement on a constant currency basis. Excluding taskforce, enterprise average bill rate for the quarter was $130 constant currency, up from $129 a year ago, while average pay rate remains flat at $62.

Turning to SG&A, we remain disciplined with cost management and continue to identify opportunities to streamline our cost structure. Our run rate SG&A expense for the quarter was $52.5 million, an improvement versus $56.3 million a year ago primarily as a result of lower incentive compensation expense. As a reminder, run rate SG&A excludes non-cash stock compensation restructuring charges, contingent consideration and technology transformation costs. Turning to liquidity. We continue to demonstrate our ability to generate robust cash flows. Cash from operations for the fiscal year was $82 million. We ended the fiscal year with $117 million of cash and cash equivalents and zero outstanding debt. We distributed nearly $4.8 million of dividends and repurchased $4.7 million worth of shares during the fourth quarter.

With total available financial liquidity of $291 million, we plan to invest in the most critical areas in the business to drive long-term growth and profitability, while continuing to return cash to shareholders through dividends and by opportunistically buying back stocks through our share repurchase program which had $50 million available at the end of the fiscal year. Investments in our multiyear technology transformation project continue to progress. We incurred $4.7 million of costs in the quarter, of which $2.8 million were capitalized with the remaining $1.9 million included as non-run rate operating expense. We expect cash outlay on the transformation project in the first quarter to be in the range of $5 million to $7 million of which approximately $3 million to $4 million would be capitalized.

Post go-live, we anticipate the new technology platform will drive long term value by improving our operating efficiency, enabling scale, enhancing the stickiness of our talent platform. I’ll now close with our first quarter outlook. We’re seeing the typical seasonality so far in weekly revenues as our consultants take time off throughout the summer. Particularly in Europe, we expect even more pronounced vacation impact beginning in August. Given the seasonality impact, coupled with overall economic softness and uncertainty, we estimate Q1 revenue will be in the range of $167 million to $172 million. We expect pay bill ratio in Q1 to remain healthy and offset by less favorable leverage on indirect cost of service as a result of top-line expectations, we expect gross margin to be in the range of 39.2% to 39.7%.

On the SG&A front, we expect our run rate SG&A to be in the range of $56 million to $58 million, non-run rate and non-cash expenses for the first quarter will consist of $2 million to $3 million of technology transformation costs and approximately $3 million of stock compensation expense. While the general macro backdrop is currently posing challenges for our sector, we’re excited about RGP’s business fundamentals and longer-term outlook. With a resilient variable cost model, a pristine balance sheet and ample liquidity, we believe we are well positioned to continue to drive long term value for our shareholders. This concludes our prepared remarks and we will now open up the call for Q&A.

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Q&A Session

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Marc Riddick with Sidoti. You may proceed.

Marc Riddick: Hi, good evening. So thank you for all the detail on the results. I was wondering if you can talk a little bit about the pricing advantages that you’ve had from some of the learnings and maybe you sort of take us through maybe some of the areas of where you’re gaining on those pricing learnings and then I have a follow-up around headcount.

Kate Duchene: Yeah, I’ll start and then I’ll ask Tim to comment with more details. But we’ve undertaken a comprehensive review of our competitive set and really are digging into the opportunity for RGP. We have always been value oriented and believe that we really need to bring our rates up to continue to reinforce the expertise and the caliber of the consultants that are delivering for us. I mean, when you compare our model to the traditional big four, Marc, we’re providing apples to oranges, if you will. The differentiators for RGP are really the speed to impact, the kind of judgment and experience our consultants can bring right away and we need to better reflect that in our pricing. So now I’ll turn it to Tim and he can give you some real [Technical Difficulty] on how we’re moving that initiative forward.

Tim Brackney: Yeah. Hi, Mark. How are you?

Marc Riddick: Very good.

Tim Brackney: I’ll add to what Kate said. Specifically this year, we sort of went about it in two main ways. The first one was to the training and actually going back through and making sure that our entire go-to-market team received strategic pricing training. Some of that honestly was more of a having people kind of get back to the basics of thinking about pricing to value as opposed to thinking about cost plus. I think that’s actually had a very significant impact. The second piece was governance. And honestly I think that has really started to kick-in in the second half where our sales leaders are really more involved in the projects and transactions that occur and ensuring that we are actually adhering to the standard that we set in terms of pricing to value.

And then I think the third thing and Kate alluded to this was like really taking a hard review of our existing rate cards, both internally with respect to geographies enrolled, but also with respect to our existing clients and as we — and using our strategic pricing team to help us with some of those negotiations as we go forward. So a lot of that is prospective and we think there’s also an opportunity for us to look at some of our existing engagements where we’ve had teams out there for long stretches of time where we think there’s some uplift capability there as well.

Marc Riddick: Okay, great. And then, so I can talk a little bit about the headcount that we’re looking at as far as finishing the year a little over 31, consultant headcount around [31, ballpark 3,150] (ph). Is there sort of any thoughts as to sort of what we might see there as far as changes going forward. Hello?

Kate Duchene: Yeah. Hi, Mark. I think that what we’re seeing is consistency as Jenn said as we move into Q1, we will have some seasonality in our consultant week to week as people take time-off. But we’re holding steady right now.

Marc Riddick: Great. And then the last thing I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about some of the — some of the — what we’ve learned over the last — since we last talked around sort of the learnings of the HUGO rollout and maybe some of the benefits. And maybe if there’s been any changes as to given the green shoots that we hopefully are seeing in the economy, just wondering if you’re seeing any differences as to how customers are approaching HUGO during the rollout? Thank you.