Vertex Announces Third Quarter 2022 Financial Results

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King of Prussia, PA – November 9, 2022

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ: VERX) (“Vertex” or the “Company”), a leading global provider of indirect tax solutions, today announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2022.

“In the third quarter, Vertex once again delivered healthy double-digit revenue growth and solid operating results.” said David DeStefano, Chief Executive Officer. “These results reflect the strength of our business, the talent of our team, and the diversity of our world-class customer base.”

Third Quarter 2022 Financial Results

• Total revenues of $126.2 million, up 14.0% year-over-year.
• Software subscription revenues of $106.4 million, up 15.3% year-over-year.
• Cloud revenues of $43.8 million, up 31.3% year-over-year. 
• Annual Recurring Revenue (“ARR”) of $411.5 million in the third quarter, up 16.6% year-over-year.
• Average Annual Revenue per direct customer (“AARPC”) was $97,300 at September 30, 2022, compared to $82,900 at September 30, 2021 and $93,850 at June 30, 2022.
• Net Revenue Retention (“NRR”) was 109% in the third quarter of 2022, an increase from 106% for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 and down slightly from 110% for the second quarter of 2022.
• Gross Revenue Retention (“GRR”) was 96% in the third quarter of 2022, an increase from 95% for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 and consistent with the second quarter of 2022.
• Loss from operations of $(0.9) million, compared to a net loss of $(3.6) million for the same period prior year. Non-GAAP operating income of $17.8 million, compared to $18.3 million for the same period prior year.
• Net loss of $(1.1) million, compared to net loss of $(3.9) million for the same period prior year. 
• Net loss per basic and diluted Class A and Class B shares of $(0.01) for 2022 compared to net loss of $(0.03) for the same period prior year. 
• Non-GAAP net income of $13.0 million and Non-GAAP diluted EPS of $0.08. 
• Adjusted EBITDA of $20.7 million, compared to $21.4 million for the same period prior year. Adjusted EBITDA margin of 16.4%, compared to 19.3% for the same period prior year.

John Schwab, Chief Financial Officer, stated, “The strong third quarter financial results exceeded our third quarter guidance for both revenue and Adjusted EBITDA. We are seeing continued positive momentum throughout the business which is translating to durable topline growth while we continue to invest in future growth opportunities.”

Definitions of certain key business metrics and the non-GAAP financial measures used in this press release and reconciliations of such measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included below under the headings “Definitions of Certain Key Business Metrics” and “Use and Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

Financial Outlook

For the fourth quarter of 2022, the Company currently expects:

• Revenues of $124 million to $127 million, representing growth of 11% to 14% from the fourth quarter of 2021; and
• Adjusted EBITDA of $15.4 million to $19.4 million, representing a decrease of $3.9 million from the fourth quarter of 2021 at the low end of the range.

For the full-year 2022, the Company currently expects:

• Revenues of $484.5 million to $487.5 million, representing growth of 14% to 15% from the full-year 2021;
• Cloud revenue growth of 33% from the full-year 2021; and
• Adjusted EBITDA of $73 million to $77 million.  At the low end of the range, this represents a decrease of $5 million from the full-year 2021, reflecting ongoing investments in research and development and selling and marketing expenses to drive growth, as well as investments in internal infrastructure to drive future operating leverage. 

The Company is unable to reconcile forward-looking Adjusted EBITDA to net income (loss), the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, without unreasonable efforts because the Company is currently unable to predict with a reasonable degree of certainty the type and extent of certain items that would be expected to impact net income (loss) for these periods but would not impact Adjusted EBITDA. Such items may include stock-based compensation expense, depreciation and amortization of capitalized software costs and acquired intangible assets, severance, acquisition contingent consideration, transaction costs, and other items. The unavailable information could have a significant impact on the Company’s net income (loss). The foregoing forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s expectations as of today's date. Given the number of risk factors, uncertainties and assumptions discussed below, actual results may differ materially. The Company does not intend to update its financial outlook until its next quarterly results announcement. 

Important disclosures in this earnings release about and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are provided below under “Use and Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

Conference Call and Webcast Information

Vertex will host a conference call at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time today, November 9, 2022, to discuss its third quarter 2022 financial results. 
Those wishing to participate via webcast should access the call through the Company’s Investor Relations website at https://ir.vertexinc.com. Those wishing to participate via telephone may dial in at 1-844-825-9789 (USA) or 1-412-317-5180 (International). The conference call replay will be available via webcast through the Company’s Investor Relations website. 
The telephone replay will be available from 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time on November 9, 2022, through November 23, 2022, by dialing 1-844-512-2921 (USA) or 1-412-317-6671 (International). The replay passcode will be 1017683.

About Vertex

Vertex, Inc. is a leading global provider of indirect tax solutions. The Company’s mission is to deliver the most trusted tax technology enabling global businesses to transact, comply and grow with confidence. Vertex provides solutions that can be tailored to specific industries for major lines of indirect tax, including sales and consumer use, value added and payroll. Headquartered in North America, and with offices in South America and Europe, Vertex employs over 1,300 professionals and serves companies across the globe. 

For more information, visit www.vertexinc.com or follow on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Forward Looking Statements

Any statements made in this press release that are not statements of historical fact, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements and should be evaluated as such. Forward-looking statements include information concerning possible or assumed future results of operations, including descriptions of our business plan and strategies. Forward-looking statements are based on Vertex management’s beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, them. Because such statements are based on expectations as to future financial and operating results and are not statements of fact, actual results may differ materially from those projected. Factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to: potential effects on our business of the COVID-19 pandemic; our ability to attract new customers on a cost-effective basis and the extent to which existing customers renew and upgrade their subscriptions; our ability to sustain and expand revenues, maintain profitability, and to effectively manage our anticipated growth; our ability to identify acquisition targets and to successfully integrate and operate acquired businesses; our ability to maintain and expand our strategic relationships with third parties; and the other factors described under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 as filed with the Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”), as may be subsequently updated by our other SEC filings. Copies of such filings may be obtained from the Company or the SEC. 

All forward-looking statements reflect our beliefs and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

Definitions of Certain Key Business Metrics   

Annual Recurring Revenue (“ARR”)

We derive the vast majority of our revenues from recurring software subscriptions. We believe ARR provides us with visibility to our projected software subscription revenues in order to evaluate the health of our business. Because we recognize subscription revenues ratably, we believe investors can use ARR to measure our expansion of existing customer revenues, new customer activity, and as an indicator of future software subscription revenues. ARR is based on monthly recurring revenues (“MRR”) from software subscriptions for the most recent month at period end, multiplied by twelve. MRR is calculated by dividing the software subscription price, inclusive of discounts, by the number of subscription covered months. MRR only includes direct customers with MRR at the end of the last month of the measurement period. AARPC represents average annual revenue per direct customer and is calculated by dividing ARR by the number of software subscription direct customers at the end of the respective period.

Net Revenue Retention Rate (“NRR”)

We believe that our NRR provides insight into our ability to retain and grow revenues from our direct customers, as well as their potential long-term value to us. We also believe it demonstrates to investors our ability to expand existing customer revenues, which is one of our key growth strategies. Our NRR refers to the ARR expansion during the 12 months of a reporting period for all direct customers who were part of our customer base at the beginning of the reporting period. Our NRR calculation takes into account any revenues lost from departing direct customers or those who have downgraded or reduced usage, as well as any revenue expansion from migrations, new licenses for additional products or contractual and usage-based price changes.

Gross Revenue Retention Rate (“GRR”)

We believe our GRR provides insight into and demonstrates to investors our ability to retain revenues from our existing direct customers. Our GRR refers to how much of our MRR we retain each month after reduction for the effects of revenues lost from departing direct customers or those who have downgraded or reduced usage. GRR does not take into account revenue expansion from migrations, new licenses for additional products or contractual and usage-based price changes. GRR does not include revenue reductions resulting from cancellations of customer subscriptions that are replaced by new subscriptions associated with customer migrations to a newer version of the related software solution.

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Investor Relations Contact:
Joe Crivelli
Vertex, Inc.
ir@vertexinc.com

Media Contact:
Rachel Litcofsky
Vertex, Inc.
mediainquiries@vertexinc.com