Unisys Corporation - Unisys Announces 4Q and Full-Year 2023 Results

Unisys Announces 4Q and Full-Year 2023 Results

Company Exceeds 2023 Upwardly Revised Revenue and Profitability Guidance, Delivers Strong Growth in Contract Signings in 4Q

• Full-year revenue growth of 1.8% year over year (YoY), or 1.6% in constant currency(1); Excluding License and Support (Ex-L&S)(15) revenue growth of 4.9% YoY both as reported and in constant currency
• 4Q revenue up 0.1% YoY, a decline of 2.1% in constant currency; 4Q Ex-L&S revenue growth of 6.8% YoY, or 4.3% in constant currency
• Full-year operating profit margin of 3.8%; non-GAAP operating profit(8) margin of 7.0%
• Full-year operating cash flow of $74.2 million compared to $12.7 million for 2022, and free cash flow(11) of ($4.5) million compared to ($73.2) million for 2022
• Ex-L&S Total Contract Value (TCV)(4) increased 27% YoY for the full-year and 137% YoY in the fourth quarter, including New Business(6) TCV growth of 18% YoY for the full-year and 84% YoY in the fourth quarter
• Company issues full-year 2024 guidance of (1.5)% to 1.5% YoY constant currency revenue growth and 5.5% to 7.5% non-GAAP operating profit margin
• Constant currency revenue guidance implies (1.0)% to 2.0% revenue growth as reported, based on recent exchange rates, and assumes Ex-L&S full-year revenue growth of 1.5% to 5.0% and License and Support (L&S)(14) revenue of approximately $375 million

BLUE BELL, Pa., Feb. 21, 2024/ -- Unisys (NYSE: UIS) reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2023.

"Our fourth quarter performance capped a successful year for Unisys," said Unisys Chair and CEO Peter A. Altabef. "In 2023, we exceeded our upwardly revised full-year guidance ranges. During the year, we grew our backlog, signed 18% more New Business TCV than the prior year, and expanded our New Business pipeline."

"This year, we progressed towards our long-term financial goals," said Unisys Chief Financial Officer Deb McCann. "We are particularly pleased with our full-year free cash flow performance, which improved by nearly $70 million year-over-year. We also continued to execute our pension management strategy with two annuity purchases that transferred an aggregate of approximately $500 million in pension liabilities to a third-party insurer."

Financial Highlights
Please refer to the accompanying financial tables for a reconciliation of the GAAP to non-GAAP measures presented except for financial guidance since such a reconciliation is not practicable without unreasonable effort.

Fourth Quarter 2023 Results

Revenue was up 0.1% YoY, a decline of 2.1% in constant currency. Gross profit margin was down 160 bps YoY driven by the timing of software license renewals.

Ex-L&S revenue increased 6.8% YoY, or 4.3% in constant currency, primarily driven by New Business with existing clients. Gross profit margin was up 470 bps YoY primarily driven by lower cost reduction charges as well as New Business with existing clients.

Net loss attributable to Unisys Corporation included a non-cash pension settlement loss of $167.2 million related to the purchase of an annuity contract that reduced pension liabilities.

Financial Highlights by Segment

Fourth Quarter 2023 Segment Results

DWS revenue increased 8.9% YoY, or a 6.3% increase in constant currency. DWS gross profit margin was 15.3%, an increase of 20 bps YoY. The increase in revenue and gross profit margin was primarily driven by New Business with existing clients.

CA&I revenue increased 0.1% YoY, a 0.5% decline in constant currency. CA&I gross profit margin was 16.3%, a decrease of 270 bps YoY, as the prior year quarter gross profit included a benefit from the sale of surplus IP addresses. Full-year CA&I gross profit was 15.4%, up 630 bps, as the result of delivery improvements.

ECS revenue declined in the fourth quarter 10.0% YoY, or a 12.2% decline in constant currency. ECS gross profit margin was 67.4%, a decrease of 590 bps YoY. The decrease in revenue and gross profit margin was primarily driven by the timing of software license renewals, as expected.

Balance Sheet and Cash Flow

Full-year 2023 free cash flow improved by $68.7 million YoY due to improvements in working capital.

Cash and cash equivalents at December 31, 2023 were $387.7 million.

The company continued its pension de-risking strategy during 2023 with the purchase of two annuity contracts relating to its U.S. pension plans. The aggregate purchase price for the two transactions was approximately $516 million, which was funded by plan assets and resulted in a similarly sized reduction in plan liabilities. These actions resulted in non-cash pension settlement losses of $348.2 million.

Other Key Performance Metrics

Sequential pipeline decline was due to elevated client signings during the fourth quarter while YoY decline was the result of renewal timing, partially offset by growth in New Business pipeline.

In the fourth quarter and full-year of 2023, TCV growth was driven by strong growth in New Business TCV.

Backlog was $3.01 billion for the fourth quarter 2023 compared to $2.92 billion for the fourth quarter of 2022 and $2.38 billion in the third quarter of 2023. The sequential and YoY increase was primarily driven by timing of Ex-L&S contract renewals and strong New Business signings during the fourth quarter.

2024 Financial Guidance

The company has issued full-year 2024 revenue growth and profitability guidance:

Constant currency revenue guidance implies (1.0)% to 2.0% revenue growth as reported, based on recent exchanges rates, and assumes Ex-L&S full-year revenue growth of 1.5% to 5.0% and L&S revenue of approximately $375 million.

Conference Call

Unisys will hold a conference call with the financial community on Wednesday, February 21 at 8 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss the results and 2024 financial guidance.

The live, listen-only webcast, as well as the accompanying presentation materials, can be accessed on the Unisys Investor Website at www.unisys.com/investor. In addition, domestic callers can dial 1-844-695-5518 and international callers can dial 1-412-902-6749 and provide the following conference passcode: Unisys Corporation Call.

A webcast replay will be available on the Unisys Investor Website shortly following the conference call. A replay will also be available by dialing 1-877-344-7529 for domestic callers or 1-412-317-0088 for international callers and entering access code 4909173 from two hours after the end of the call until March 6, 2024.

(1) Constant currency – A significant amount of the company's revenue is derived from international operations. As a result, the company's revenue has been and will continue to be affected by changes in the U.S. dollar against major international currencies. The company refers to revenue growth rates in constant currency or on a constant currency basis so that the business results can be viewed without the impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates to facilitate comparisons of the company's business performance from one period to another. Constant currency is calculated by retranslating current and prior-period revenue at a consistent exchange rate rather than the actual exchange rates in effect during the respective periods.

(2) Backlog – Represents future revenue associated with contracted work which has not yet been delivered or performed. Although the company believes this revenue will be recognized, it may, for commercial reasons, allow the orders to be cancelled, with or without penalty.

(3) Pipeline – Represents qualified prospective sale opportunities for which bids have been submitted or vetted prospective sales opportunities which are being actively pursued. There is no assurance that pipeline will translate into recorded revenue.

(4) Total Contract Value (TCV) – Represents the estimated revenue related to contracts signed in the period without regard for cancellation terms. New Business TCV represents TCV attributable to expansion and new scope for existing clients and new logo contracts.

(5) Book-to-bill – Represents total contract value booked divided by revenue in a given period.

(6) New Business – Represents expansion and new scope for existing clients and new logo contracts.

(7) Next-Gen Solutions – Includes our Modern Workplace solutions within DWS, Digital Platforms and Applications (DP&A) solutions within CA&I, Specialized Services and Next-Gen Compute (SS&C) solutions within ECS, as well as Micro-Market solutions. The company uses estimated Next-Gen Solutions metrics to provide insight into the company's progress in shifting the revenue mix towards solutions that are generally higher-growth and higher-margin.

(8) Non-GAAP operating profit – This measure excludes pretax postretirement expense and pretax charges in connection with certain legal matters related to professional services and legal fees, including legal defense costs, associated with certain legal proceedings, and cost-reduction activities and other expenses.

(9) EBITDA & adjusted EBITDA – Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) is calculated by starting with net income (loss) attributable to Unisys Corporation common shareholders and adding or subtracting the following items: net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests, interest expense (net of interest income), provision for (benefit from) income taxes, depreciation and amortization.  Adjusted EBITDA further excludes postretirement expense; certain legal matters related to professional services and legal fees, including legal defense costs, associated with certain legal proceedings; environmental matters related to previously disposed businesses; cost-reduction activities and other expenses, non-cash share-based expense, and other (income) expense adjustments.  

(10) Non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share – These measures excluded postretirement expense and charges in connection with certain legal matters related to professional services and legal fees, including legal defense costs, associated with certain legal proceedings; environmental matters related to previously disposed businesses; and cost-reduction activities and other expenses.  The tax amounts related to these items for the calculation of non-GAAP diluted earnings (loss) per share include the current and deferred tax expense and benefits recognized under GAAP for these items.

(11) Free cash flow – Represents cash flow from operations less capital expenditures.

(12) Pre-pension free cash flow – Represents free cash flow before postretirement contributions.

(13) Adjusted free cash flow – Represents free cash flow less cash used for postretirement funding; certain legal matters related to professional services and legal fees, including legal defense costs, associated with certain legal proceedings; environmental matters related to previously disposed businesses; and cost-reduction activities and other payments.

(14) License and Support (L&S) – Represents software license and related support revenue within the company's ECS segment.

(15) Excluding License and Support (Ex-L&S) – These measures exclude revenue, gross profit and gross profit margin in connection with software license and support revenue within the company's ECS segment. The company provides these measures to allow investors to isolate the impact of software license renewals, which tend to be significant and impactful based on timing, and related support services in order to evaluate the company's business outside of these areas.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Unisys cautions readers that the assumptions forming the basis for forward-looking statements include many factors that are beyond Unisys' ability to control or estimate precisely, such as estimates of future market conditions, the behavior of other market participants and that TCV is based, in part, on the assumption that each of those contracts will continue for their full contracted term. Words such as "anticipates," "estimates," "expects," "projects," "may," "will," "intends," "plans," "believes," "should" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements and such forward-looking statements are made based upon management's current expectations, assumptions and beliefs as of this date concerning future developments and their potential effect upon Unisys. There can be no assurance that future developments will be in accordance with management's expectations, assumptions and beliefs or that the effect of future developments on Unisys will be those anticipated by management. Forward-looking statements in this release and the accompanying presentation include, but are not limited to, any projections or expectations of revenue growth, margin expansion, achievement of operational efficiencies and savings, future growth of our Next-Gen solutions, TCV and New Business TCV, backlog, pipeline, book-to-bill, full-year 2024 revenue growth and profitability guidance, including constant currency revenue, Ex-L&S revenue growth, L&S revenue, non-GAAP operating profit margin and the assumptions and other expectations made in connection with our full-year 2024 financial guidance, our pension liability and statements regarding future economic conditions or performance. 

Additional information and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Unisys' expectations are contained in Unisys' filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including Unisys' Annual Reports on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other SEC filings, which are available at the SEC's web site, http://www.sec.gov. Information included in this release is representative as of the date of this release only and while Unisys periodically reassesses material trends and uncertainties affecting Unisys' results of operations and financial condition in connection with its preparation of management's discussion and analysis of results of operations and financial condition contained in its Quarterly and Annual Reports filed with the SEC, Unisys does not, by including this statement, assume any obligation to review or revise any particular forward-looking statement referenced herein in light of future events.

Non-GAAP Information

This release includes certain non-GAAP financial measures that exclude certain items such as postretirement expense; certain legal and other matters related to professional services and legal fees, including legal defense costs, associated with certain legal proceedings; environmental matters related to previously disposed businesses; and cost-reduction activities and other expenses that the company believes are not indicative of its ongoing operations, as they may be unusual or non-recurring. The inclusion of such items in financial measures can make the company's profitability and liquidity results difficult to compare to prior periods or anticipated future periods and can distort the visibility of trends associated with the company's ongoing performance. Management also believes that non-GAAP measures are useful to investors because they provide supplemental information about the company's financial performance and liquidity, as well as greater transparency into management's view and assessment of the company's ongoing operating performance.

Non-GAAP financial measures are often provided and utilized by the company's management, analysts, and investors to enhance comparability of year-over-year results and to isolate in some instances the impact of software license renewals, which tend to be lumpy, and related support services in order to evaluate the company's business outside of these areas. These items are uncertain, depend on various factors, and could have a material impact on the company's GAAP results for the applicable period. These measures should not be relied upon as substitutes for, or considered in isolation from, measures calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and reported in accordance with GAAP can be found below except for financial guidance and other forward-looking information since such a reconciliation is not practicable without unreasonable efforts as the company is unable to reasonably forecast certain amounts that are necessary for such reconciliation. This information has been provided pursuant to the requirements of SEC Regulation G.

About Unisys

Unisys is a global technology solutions company that powers breakthroughs for the world's leading organizations. Our solutions – cloud, data and AI, digital workplace, logistics and enterprise computing – help our clients challenge the status quo and unlock their full potential. To learn how we have been helping clients push what's possible for 150 years, visit unisys.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

RELEASE NO.: 0221/9939

Unisys and other Unisys products and services mentioned herein, as well as their respective logos, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Unisys Corporation. Any other brand or product referenced herein is acknowledged to be a trademark or registered trademark of its respective holder.

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