Acxiom Announces First Quarter Results

Acxiom Announces First Quarter Results

Audience Operating System to Launch September 24 at AdWeek

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Acxiom® (NAS: ACXM) , an enterprise data, analytics and software-as-a-service company, today announced financial results for its first quarter ended June 30, 2013.

Revenue was $266 million, down 2 percent compared to $272 million for the prior-year period. Income from operations decreased 5 percent to $24 million in the current quarter, compared to $25 million in the prior year. Marketing and Data Services revenue decreased 2 percent to $188 million in the quarter, compared to $192 million; IT Infrastructure Management revenue decreased 1 percent to $69 million in the current quarter compared to $70 million. Earnings per diluted share attributable to Acxiom stockholders were flat as compared to $0.17 in the prior year.

Operating cash flow was $169 million for the trailing twelve months, compared to $195 million for the comparable period a year ago. Free cash flow to equity was $70 million for the trailing twelve-month period, compared to $175 million for the comparable period. Free cash flow to equity for the prior-year trailing twelve-month period included $73 million in proceeds from the sale of the company's background screening business. Free cash flow to equity is a non-GAAP financial measure. A reconciliation to the comparable GAAP measure, operating cash flow, is attached.

The company intends to launch the Acxiom Audience Operating System™ on September 24^th in New York City during AdWeek. The Acxiom Audience Operating System is an innovative new technology that powers more effective marketing decisions through better data, valuable insights and powerful applications.

"The Audience Operating System is set to launch at AdWeek," said Acxiom CEO Scott Howe. "We are pleased with our development progress and with the support we are receiving from our customers, prospects and agencies. We believe our technology is ground-breaking and will redefine marketing. For the first time marketers, agencies and publishers will have one to one marketing capabilities at scale across all channels and devices."

The company has recently experienced client losses in the IT Infrastructure Management business, in addition to those previously disclosed in its fiscal 2013 annual report. The company estimates it will report revenue of $65 to $70 million in fiscal 2014 for all IT Infrastructure customers who have given notice of termination. Given the timing of these terminations, the company is not changing its overall financial guidance for fiscal 2014. We do, however, expect the fiscal 2015 revenue contribution from these customers to be negligible.

First Quarter Highlights:

• The company announced the scheduled launch of the Acxiom Audience Operating System. The company intends to launch the Acxiom AOS at AdWeek in New York City on September 24.

• The Company added several new Marketing and Data Services customers during the quarter including:

  • Springleaf Financial. Springleaf will use Acxiom's Acquisition Database Solution, which supports customer and prospect marketing across all customer touch points, including mobile, email and direct mail.

  • Wellmark Inc. Acxiom will assist Wellmark in understanding and executing its consumer marketing programs by providing data and campaign management expertise. The company will also collaborate with Wellmark on analytics and performance reporting.

  • U.S. Cellular. Acxiom will provide customer recognition, data enhancement and analytics services.The company will provide customer data integration and data support for consumer marketing across all touch points, including mobile, email and direct mail.

• Acxiom now has partner relationships with five of the six largest publishers in the U.S. This extends Acxiom's reach to approaching 100 percent of unique visitors across the internet.

• Acxiom repurchased approximately 720,000 shares for $16.1 million during the quarter. Since inception of the share repurchase program in August 2011, the company has repurchased 11.1 million shares, or approximately 13.5 percent of the outstanding common stock, for $156 million. The company's total share repurchase authorization is $200 million.

Segment Results:

• Marketing and Data Services: Revenue for the first quarter decreased slightly to $188 million, as compared to $192 million for the same period a year ago. U.S. revenue of $163 million decreased 2 percent compared to $167 million in the prior period. The quarterly results reflect the move of the company's email business from the Other Services segment to the Marketing and Data Service segment. This change was made as a result of how the company now assesses segment results. Income from operations for the first quarter was $13 million, compared to $19 million in the prior period. Operating margin was 7 percent, compared to 10 percent in the previous year. This decline is primarily related to our investment spending in the Acxiom Audience Operating System and increased selling, general and administrative expense.

• IT Infrastructure Management: Revenue for the first quarter decreased 1 percent to $69 million, compared to $70 million for the same period a year ago. Income from operations for the quarter was $11 million compared to $9 million in the comparable period. Operating margin was approximately 16 percent, compared to 13 percent.

• Other Services: Revenue was $9 million, flat as compared to the prior-year period. Operating income was $1 million compared to a loss of $2 million in the prior period.

Financial Guidance

The following projections are forward looking and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially as detailed in the Forward-Looking Statements section of this press release. Our guidance does not take into account any unusual items. Acxiom's estimates for fiscal 2014 are as follows:

• We expect revenue for the fiscal year to be roughly flat as compared to $1.099 billion in fiscal 2013. Revenue growth in Marketing and Data Services is expected to be offset by a decline in IT Infrastructure Management.

• Earnings per diluted share attributable to Acxiom shareholders are also expected to be roughly flat.

Conference Call

Acxiom will hold a conference call at 4:00 p.m. CDT today to further discuss this information. Interested parties are invited to listen to the call, which will be broadcast via the Internet at www.acxiom.com. A slide presentation will be referenced during the call and can be accessed here.

Web Link to Financials

You may link to http://www.acxiom.com/FY14_Q1_Financials for the detailed financial information we typically attach to our earnings releases.

About Acxiom

Acxiom is an enterprise data, analytics and software-as-a-service company that uniquely fuses trust, experience and scale to fuel data-driven results. For over 40 years, Acxiom has been an innovator in harnessing the most important sources and uses of data to strengthen connections between people, businesses and their partners. Utilizing a channel and media neutral approach, we leverage cutting-edge, data-oriented products and services to maximize customer value. Every week, Acxiom powers more than a trillion transactions that enable better living for people and better results for our 7,000+ global clients. For more information about Acxiom, visit Acxiom.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release and today's conference call may contain forward-looking statements including, without limitation, statements regarding expected levels of revenue and earnings per share as well as statements regarding future investments, new customers and new product launches and capabilities. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. The following are factors, among others, that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements: the possibility that certain contracts may not generate the anticipated revenue or profitability or may not be closed within the anticipated time frames; the possibility that significant customers may experience extreme, severe economic difficulty or otherwise reduce the amount of business they do with us; the possibility that we will not successfully complete customer contract requirements on time or meet the service levels specified in the contracts, which may result in contract penalties or lost revenue; the possibility that data suppliers might withdraw data from us, leading to our inability to provide certain products and services to our clients, which could lead to decreases in our operating results; the possibility that we may not be able to attract, retain or motivate qualified technical, sales and leadership associates, or that we may lose key associates; the possibility that we may not be able to adequately adapt to rapidly changing computing environments, technologies and marketing practices; the possibility that we will not be able to continue to receive credit upon satisfactory terms and conditions; the possibility that negative changes in economic conditions in general or other conditions might lead to a reduction in demand for our products and services; the possibility that there will be changes in consumer or business information industries and markets that negatively impact the company; the possibility that the historical seasonality of our business may change; the possibility that we will not be able to achieve cost reductions and avoid unanticipated costs; the possibility that the fair value of certain of our assets may not be equal to the carrying value of those assets now or in future time periods; the possibility that unusual charges may be incurred; the possibility that changes in accounting pronouncements may occur and may impact these forward-looking statements; the possibility that we may encounter difficulties when entering new markets or industries; the possibility that we could experience loss of data center capacity or interruption of telecommunication links; the possibility that new laws may be enacted which limit our ability to provide services to our clients and/or which limit the use of data; and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual reports on Form 10-K, particularly the discussion under the caption "Item 1A, RISK FACTORS" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2013, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 29, 2013.

With respect to the provision of products or services outside our primary base of operations in the United States, all of the above factors apply, along with the difficulty of doing business in numerous sovereign jurisdictions due to differences in scale, competition, culture, laws and regulations.

We undertake no obligation to update the information contained in this press release or any other forward-looking statement.

Acxiom is a registered trademark of Acxiom Corporation.

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