Laureate Education Reports First Quarter 2019 Financial Results

BALTIMORE, May 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Laureate Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: LAUR) today announced financial results for the first quarter 2019.

First Quarter 2019 Highlights (compared to first quarter 2018):

New enrollments increased 8% on an organic basis.
Revenue of $621.8 million was up 4% on an organic constant currency basis¹. On a reported basis, revenue decreased (2)% and was affected by the weakening of foreign currencies against the US Dollar.
Operating loss decreased $8.1 million for a 9% improvement.
Net income (including discontinued operations) for the first quarter of 2019 was $194.3 million, which included a $248.0 million gain, net of tax, related primarily to the completion of the previously announced divestitures of our St. Augustine and Thailand institutions. Net income for the first quarter of 2018 was $171.5 million, which included a $318.3 million gain, net of tax, related to the sales of our Cyprus, Italy and China institutions.
Adjusted EBITDA increased by $8.1 million to $(21.6) million, an improvement of 10% on an organic constant currency basis.

“We are pleased to report 2019 is off to a good start following completion of the large intake cycle in South America,” said Eilif Serck-Hanssen, Chief Executive Officer. “Throughout the quarter we continued to make progress on our strategic priorities, including divestitures of non-core assets at accretive valuations. The management team remains focused on utilizing scale as an enabler to drive strong outcomes for students and value creation for shareholders.”

First Quarter 2019 Results

New enrollments for the first quarter of 2019 increased 8% on an organic basis, compared to our new enrollment activity for the first quarter of 2018. New enrollment performance reflects strong growth of 8% in the Andean region, as well as increased performance in Brazil, which was up 12%, led by 76% growth in new enrollments in Distance Learning. Mexico new enrollments grew 1% and Rest of World grew new enrollments by 6%. New enrollments for Online & Partnerships increased 2% for the core U.S. domestic market, but were more than offset by the planned transition away from lower revenue and margin producing students in our international partnership business, resulting in a net 10% reported decline in new enrollments for that segment.

For the three months ended March 31, 2019, revenue was $621.8 million, a decrease of $10.4 million compared to the three months ended March 31, 2018. Operating loss decreased $8.1 million compared to the first quarter of 2018. Net income (including discontinued operations) for the first quarter of 2019 was $194.3 million, which included a $248.0 million gain, net of tax effect, related primarily to the completion of the previously announced divestitures of our St. Augustine and Thailand institutions. Basic and diluted earnings per share for the three months ended March 31, 2019 were $0.85.

Adjusted EBITDA was $(21.6) million for the three months ended March 31, 2019, an improvement of 27% compared to the three months ended March 31, 2018. On an organic constant currency basis, revenue increased 4% and Adjusted EBITDA increased 10% compared to the first quarter of 2018.

¹Organic constant currency results exclude the period-over-period impact from currency fluctuations, acquisitions and divestitures, and other items.

Balance Sheet and Capital Structure

Laureate ended the first quarter of 2019 with $278.8 million of cash on hand and $633.8 million in total liquidity, including our undrawn revolver capacity. These amounts do not include $215.8 million of cash recorded at subsidiaries that are classified as held for sale at March 31, 2019.

Outlook for Fiscal 2019

We are reaffirming guidance for the full year on an organic constant currency basis, but adjusting the absolute amounts to reflect the anticipated sale of UniNorte, which is not accounted for as a discontinued operation, and updating for FX rates.

Based on the current foreign exchange spot rates², Laureate currently expects its performance for full-year 2019 to be as follows:

Continuing Operations

Total enrollments to be approximately 865,000, post the sale of UniNorte (Brazil), which has approximately 25,000 students;
Revenues to be in the range of $3.330 billion to $3.365 billion reflecting the sale of UniNorte, which was anticipated to generate approximately $20 million of revenue in the second half of 2019; and
Adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $640 to $650 million reflecting the sale of UniNorte, which was anticipated to generate approximately $5 million of Adjusted EBITDA in the second half of 2019.

² Based on actual FX rates for January-April 2019, and current spot FX rates (local currency per US dollar) of MXN 18.94, BRL 3.93, CLP 673.00, PEN 3.32, EUR 0.90 and AUD 1.42 for May – December 2019. FX impact may change based on fluctuations in currency rates in future periods.

An outlook for 2019 net income and a reconciliation of the forward-looking 2019 Adjusted EBITDA outlook to net income is not being provided as Laureate does not currently have sufficient data to accurately estimate the variables and individual adjustments for such outlook and reconciliation.

Please see the “Forward-Looking Statements” section in this release for a discussion of certain risks related to this outlook.

Conference Call

Laureate will host an earnings conference call today at 8:30 am ET. Interested parties are invited to listen to the earnings call by dialing 1-888-517-2513 (for U.S.- based callers) or 1-847-619-6533 (for international callers), and request to join the Laureate conference call, conference ID 6604008. Replays of the entire call will be available through May 16, 2019, at 1-888-843-7419 (for U.S.- based callers) and at 1-630-652-3042 (for international callers), conference ID 6604008. The webcast of the conference call, including replays, and a copy of this press release and the related slides will be made available through the Investor Relations section of Laureate’s web site at www.laureate.net.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes statements that express Laureate’s opinions, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or projections regarding future events or future results and therefore are, or may be deemed to be, ‘‘forward-looking statements’’ within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which involve risks and uncertainties. Laureate’s actual results may vary significantly from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements. You can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as ‘‘believes,’’ ‘‘expects,’’ ‘‘may,’’ ‘‘will,’’ ‘‘should,’’ ‘‘seeks,’’ ‘‘approximately,’’ ‘‘intends,’’ ‘‘plans,’’ ‘‘estimates’’ or ‘‘anticipates’’ or similar expressions that concern our strategy, plans or intentions. All statements we make relating to (i) guidance (including, but not limited to, total enrollments, revenues, Adjusted EBITDA, costs, capital expenditures, cash interest expense, Free Cash Flow and reported earnings per share), (ii) the impact from the implementation of ASC 842 and (iii) our planned divestitures are forward-looking statements. In addition, we, through our senior management, from time to time make forward-looking public statements concerning our expected future operations and performance and other developments. All of these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may change at any time, and, therefore, our actual results may differ materially from those we expected. We derive most of our forward-looking statements from our operating budgets and forecasts, which are based upon many detailed assumptions. While we believe that our assumptions are reasonable, we caution that it is very difficult to predict the impact of known factors, and, of course, it is impossible for us to anticipate all factors that could affect our actual results. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations are disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 28, 2019, our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on May 9, 2019 and other filings made with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the time of this release and we do not undertake to publicly update or revise them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Presentation of Non-GAAP Measures

In addition to the results provided in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) throughout this press release, Laureate provides the non-GAAP measurement of Adjusted EBITDA. We have included this non-GAAP measurement because it is a key measure used by our management and board of directors to understand and evaluate our core operating performance and trends, to prepare and approve our annual budget and to develop short- and long-term operational plans.

Adjusted EBITDA consists of income (loss) from continuing operations, adjusted for the items included in the accompanying reconciliation. The exclusion of certain expenses in calculating Adjusted EBITDA can provide a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our core business. Additionally, Adjusted EBITDA is a key input into the formula used by the compensation committee of our board of directors and our Chief Executive Officer in connection with the payment of incentive compensation to our executive officers and other members of our management team. Accordingly, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management and board of directors.

Laureate’s calculation of Adjusted EBITDA is not necessarily comparable to calculations performed by other companies and reported as similarly titled measures. This non-GAAP measure should be considered in addition to results prepared in accordance with GAAP, but should not be considered a substitute for or superior to GAAP results. Adjusted EBITDA is reconciled from the respective measures under GAAP in the attached table “Non-GAAP Reconciliation.”

We evaluate our results of operations on both an as reported and an organic constant currency basis. The organic constant currency presentation, which is a non-GAAP measure, excludes the impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, acquisitions and divestitures, and other items. We believe providing organic constant currency information provides valuable supplemental information regarding our results of operations, consistent with how we evaluate our performance. We calculate organic constant currency amounts using the change from prior-period average foreign exchange rates to current-period average foreign exchange rates, as applied to local-currency operating results for the current period, and then exclude the impact of acquisitions and divestitures and other items described in the accompanying presentation.

About Laureate Education, Inc.

Laureate Education, Inc. is the largest international network of degree-granting higher education institutions, primarily focused in Latin America, with approximately 875,000 students enrolled at over 25 institutions with more than 150 campuses, which we collectively refer to as the Laureate International Universities network. Laureate offers high-quality, undergraduate, graduate and specialized degree programs in a wide range of academic disciplines that provide attractive employment prospects. Laureate believes that when our students succeed, countries prosper and societies benefit. This belief is expressed through the company’s philosophy of being ‘Here for Good’ and is represented by its status as a certified B Corporation® and conversion in 2015 to a Delaware public benefit corporation, a new class of corporation committed to creating a positive impact on society.

Key Metrics and Financial Tables

(Dollars in millions, except per share amounts, and may not sum due to rounding)