ARC Document Solutions - Q2 2024
August 7, 2024
Executive Summary
- Q2 2024 delivered net sales of $75.1M (+3.8% y/y; +6.1% q/q) and gross margin of 35.1% (+30bps y/y; +290bps q/q), driven by digital color printing and scanning, while plan printing remained pressured by high interest rates.
- Diluted EPS was $0.07 (down from $0.09 y/y; up from $0.06 q/q); Adjusted diluted EPS was $0.08 (flat y/y; up from $0.06 q/q), with higher SG&A from sales/marketing and $0.9M related to the take‑private proposal.
- Operating cash flow was $6.4M (down y/y) due to timing of collections from late‑quarter projects; management expects H2 cash flows to improve similar to last year.
- Dividend maintained at $0.05 per share (paid Aug 30, 2024); buybacks are effectively superseded while a special committee evaluates a non‑binding $3.25/share go‑private proposal involving management and a private investor—an important stock‑specific catalyst.
What Went Well and What Went Wrong
What Went Well
- Digital color printing was the key growth driver; ARC’s national footprint and on‑demand, high‑touch model won share across trade shows, retail, sports/entertainment and brand promotions.
- Scanning and digital imaging grew y/y, supported by enterprise projects and low‑volume “Scan by the Box” offerings; demand for paper‑to‑digital conversions remains robust.
- Gross margin expanded to 35.1% (+30bps y/y), benefiting from easing inflation and better leverage of labor/overhead, with management confident about maintaining margins year‑over‑year even with seasonality.
What Went Wrong
- GAAP diluted EPS declined y/y to $0.07 (from $0.09), primarily due to higher SG&A tied to sales/marketing investments and $0.9M transaction‑related costs.
- Cash from operations fell y/y to $6.4M as late‑quarter project collections pushed into July, muting the typical Q2 OCF uplift.
- Managed Print Services (MPS) remained in the ~$18–$19M quarterly range and declined slightly y/y on restrained onsite print volumes post‑pandemic; digital plan printing stayed pressured by higher rates and weaker construction activity.
Transcript
Operator (participant)
Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to David Stickney, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
David Stickney (VP of Investor Relations)
Thank you, John, and welcome everyone. On the call with me today are Suri Suriyakumar, our CEO and Chairman, our President and Chief Operating Officer, Dilo Wijesuriya, and Jorge Avalos, our Chief Financial Officer. Our second quarter results for 2024 were publicized earlier today in a press release. The press release and other company materials are available from our investor relations pages on ARC Document Solutions website at ir.e-arc.com. Please note that today's call will contain forward-looking statements and are only predictions based on information as of today, August seventh, 2024, and actual results may differ materially as a result of risks and uncertainties that we highlight in our quarterly and annual SEC filings. Any non-GAAP measures discussed today are reconciled in our press release and in our Form 8-K filing.
Before reviewing our second quarter results, we should note that the company has disclosed its receipt of a non-binding proposal outlining a going-private transaction at a purchase price of $3.25 per share in cash. The proposal was submitted by an acquisition group consisting of ARC's C-suite and a private investor. In response to the proposal, a special committee of our board of directors, consisting entirely of independent, disinterested directors, was formed to review and evaluate the proposed transaction and continues to carefully consider it with the assistance of its independent, independent financial and legal advisors.
No assurances can be given regarding the terms and details of any transaction, that any proposal made by the acquisition group regarding a transaction will be accepted by the special committee, that definitive documentation relating to any such transaction will be executed, or that a transaction will be consummated in accordance with that documentation, if at all. For further information, we direct you to the Form 8-K, Form 13D, and the press release available on ARC's Investor Relations website at ir.e-arc.com. No additional information has been released, nor will be on this call. We will now continue with our customary remarks, and at this point, I'll turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Suri Suriyakumar. Suri?
Suri Suriyakumar (Chairman and CEO)
Thank you, David, and good afternoon, everyone. Net sales continued to grow in the second quarter, as did our gross margin and adjusted earnings per share. The execution of our strategic objectives were once again responsible for our success, despite uncertain business conditions caused by the high interest rates and the weakness in commercial construction due to excess supply. Our strategic sales focus drove top-line growth, with digital color printing making an outsized contribution to our overall success, despite a decrease in digital plan printing. Scanning and archiving continued to grow at a healthy pace, as expected. On-site services sales fell slightly, but we continue to believe it'll provide a steady base of sales with upside potential in the future. While we saw an incremental uptick in equipment and supplies, we believe that buying habits have stabilized as customers have adjusted to a new high interest rate environment.
With an increase in sales and our ability to leverage our workforce and our overhead cost, we exceeded our own expectations in gross margins, growing it by 30 basis points year-over-year. Throughout the past several quarters, we also made several investments in our sales force and in new marketing programs. While these quarterly SG&A costs were not inconsequential, putting new initiatives on trial to boost sales must be part of our growth efforts, and we were generally pleased with the results. Our performance in the first half of the year has been gratifying, and it is a testament to our strategic decisions and the company's execution. While we expect difficult market conditions to continue in the second half of the year, we remain focused on our long-term objectives. For more details about our activities in the second quarter, I'll now ask Dilo and Jorge for their comments. Dilo?
Dilo Wijesuriya (President and COO)
Thank you, Suri. The momentum we built in the first quarter has continued, demonstrating solid sales growth in the second quarter. Achieving nearly 4% growth under the current volatile economic conditions is commendable. I want to extend my appreciation to our staff, who remain committed to our company's transformation and the execution of our business plan for the year. While interest rates and uncertain political climate have pressured some of our customers, I believe that companies with good strategies and a relentless focus on quality and customer service will continue to secure new market share and grow. ARC remains steadfast in executing our fundamental strategies to keep the company healthy and growing. Our color digital printing services were the key driver of our sales improvement and easily offset the decline in black and white plan printing.
Both regular and new customers leveraged our services for brand promotion, new product launches, trade shows, and entertainment events.... Our efforts to diversify customer verticals continue to yield impressive results, and those following us on social media will see how we bring customer ideas to life with vibrant graphics. The market for digital color is becoming increasingly competitive, with many traditional print companies transitioning to digital printing. However, ARC stands out with our extensive footprint, comprehensive service offerings, and a seasoned management team characterized by a can-do mindset. Our construction plan printing segment continues to face challenges due to the higher interest rates, which have led to cancellations and delays in new construction projects. Our strategy is to maintain our current customer base, and we prepare to take on new projects as the economy improves and interest rates decline.
While plan printing is important, we are not reliant on this recovery. The transformation initiatives we implemented several years ago are proving successful, as evidenced by our results. Our document scanning services have provided a notable boost in revenue. We are building our reputation by delivering projects on time with high digital accuracy. Our dual sales approach, targeting enterprise customers and offering low volume Scan by the Box services, continues to be effective. Our strong online presence, supported by positive reviews and the ease with which our customers can find us, is helping to organically grow our reputation as one of the best scanning providers in the country. While MPS sales fell slightly during the quarter, it has stabilized over the past two years. Meanwhile, the equipment and supply segment experienced nominal growth. We anticipate further positive results as the general economy shows signs of recovery.
Our international divisions, including Canada, the U.K., and India, have also delivered strong growth by adopting similar strategies to expand customer verticals and implement services that we have introduced in the U.S. We are optimistic about delivering continued strong sales results in the coming quarters. While we experienced gross margin pressures in the first quarter, we reversed the decline with a 30 basis point improvement in the second quarter. Our ability to manage labor and operational costs efficiently, combined with subdued inflationary pressures, drove the gains. Our operational and sales headcount remained stable, providing us with adequate capacity to deliver excellent value to our customers. Our marketing efforts are ongoing, supported by effective demand generation programs. We use social media, Google, and email marketing strategies to attract more visitors to our website and capture warm leads. As always, our focus remains on strong business fundamentals.
Our seasoned management team is unmatched, and we are united in our direction. Regardless of economic conditions, we are confident in our winning solutions that prioritize delivering value and making it easy and enjoyable for our customers to do business with us. I'll now ask Jorge to give you an update of our financial results. Jorge?
Jorge Avalos (CFO)
Thank you, Dilo. As our financial results show, we continue to drive progress on the top line with strategic business sales while taking advantage of opportunities to improve our margins. In the second quarter, our revenue increases came primarily from color and scanning, as we pointed out. But with inflationary pressures easing, we were better able to leverage our labor and our overhead costs, and our gross margins improved by 30 basis points. SG&A costs rose due to our continuing investments in sales and marketing and also included $900,000 related to the previously disclosed take-private proposal. Lower cash flows from operations year-over-year was the outlier for the quarter, but it was due to the timing of sales collections. We won and completed a number of large projects in late May and June of this year.
While this benefited sales, collections for those projects extended into July and hence muted the increase in operating cash we normally see in the second quarter. We are confident that cash flows from operations will continue to improve in the third and fourth quarters, just as it did last year. Of note, we achieved more than 60% of our 2023 cash flows in the second half of the year, and we anticipate a similar performance in 2024. Our strong capital structure remains intact, as does our commitment to return shareholder value. As such, our plan to issue a $0.05 quarterly dividend remains unchanged. We were pleased to build on the progress we made in the first quarter, and we believe we can continue to build on this success for the balance of the year.
With that as a summary of our financial results, I'll turn the call back to Suri. Suri?
Suri Suriyakumar (Chairman and CEO)
Thank you, Jorge. Operator, we are now ready to take questions from our listeners.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. We will now begin our question-and-answer session. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star followed by the number one on your touchtone phone. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. If you are called upon to ask your question and are listening via loudspeaker on your device, please pick up your handset and ensure that your phone is not on mute when asking your question. Thank you. Your first question comes from the line of Greg Burns from Fidelity. Please go ahead.
Speaker 6
Good afternoon. When you look at demand, the demand you're seeing in color printing, have you seen any changes in terms of buying decisions, willingness to spend? Like, what is the outlook for that market look like for the balance of the year, given a more uncertain macro environment that we're seeing now? And then, you know, when we think about the growth opportunity for you there, obviously you're still a relatively smaller part of the overall market. So do you still feel like you can grow even if, you know, maybe the overall market spend rates decline? Thank you.
Jorge Avalos (CFO)
You know, we had attended?
Dilo Wijesuriya (President and COO)
Yeah. So, you know, we haven't seen any. First question is, you know, you want to know whether there were any slowdown in spending opportunities from customers and so forth. No, we haven't seen very much as of this point, because as you said, we are a relatively a smaller organization and a growing organization in this big digital print market. So therefore, you know, we are actually canvassing to different types of customers. As you know, we are canvassing to, you know, medium, regional types of customers because of our footprint capabilities and our ability to do projects anywhere in the U.S. with, you know, more project management, services and so forth. So we haven't seen any significant, you know, slowdown or drop in spending by many of the marketing customers.
But obviously, some of these big macro market news that we hear in the last, what, three, four weeks, have been, you know, maybe alluding to that, but, we haven't seen that. With regard to the growth opportunities, we are certainly positive about our color growth. Again, as I mentioned that, you know, we are not one of, you know, one of those companies where, who has one or two massive locations, that do, you know, thousands and, you know, millions of prints. We are not that. We are that on-demand, short-run, high quality print company, you know, that has a, you know, sizable footprint all across, where we provide that high touch service.
We are continuing to focus, our sales reps are continuing to focus on our core competencies, where we know there is a significant market out there. There is a significant demand from customers out there for companies like us, so we feel still strong about our future growth.
Speaker 6
Okay, and then in terms of your more traditional plan printing, did the decline slow there at all? What is the- Where is that market at? And, you know, I guess obviously, interest rates will help it out, but can you just maybe give us a little bit more insight into, you know, where that business currently is at and what trajectory it's on?
Dilo Wijesuriya (President and COO)
Yeah. So the plain paper printing is continuing to be the same, right? I haven't seen much of a change in the last three or four quarters. I mean, the same trends, trends have been there. You know, we've seen a couple of projects slowing down or, you know, getting delayed. But with regard to the paper, plain paper usage, there is still a lull in that market, you know, and I attribute that quite a bit to the higher interest rates that we're currently experiencing. You know, someday down the line, a couple of quarters down the line, that when we see some easing in interest rates, you know, some of that work is gonna come back, right? The home building, home construction, some of the tenant improvement work, they'll all come back to some level.
But you know, some of the secular changes that we see in the plain paper printing, I don't think it's gonna come back. You know, those things will continue to be moving to digital workflows. So while the business is somewhat now getting stabilized, but I think the same headwinds will be there for a while.
Speaker 6
Okay, and then in terms of margins, obviously, very, very nice improvement in the margins this quarter. How should we think about that going forward, relative to you balancing, continuing to invest for growth, against maybe driving some operating leverage in the model? You know, is this maybe. You know, is this a strong quarter and maybe we see a step back in the coming quarters? How should we think about margin progression from here?
Dilo Wijesuriya (President and COO)
I mean, the way, I'll break it up into two points. From a gross margin perspective, you know, with the easing of inflationary pressures coupled with the increase in revenue, then we're better able to leverage our labor and our overhead. So we feel good about our prospect as we move later in the year. I mean, would we be able to repeat 35% gross margins? Maybe not, if in regards to depending, as you guys, as you know, we have seasonality in sales, for example, fourth quarters are typically lower. But when we look at it from a year-over-year perspective, we feel we have a good chance of being in that range.
Now, the second part of your question in regards to the investments and the impact on our margins, those investments are coming in sales and marketing, which flow through your SG&A. And the levels that you see in the second quarter is a good gauge to use as a predictor moving forward, absent the $900,000 in transaction fees related to the proposed go private transaction. Does that make sense?
Speaker 6
Yep. No, that's, that's, that's helpful. All right. I'll pass it along. Thank you.
Dilo Wijesuriya (President and COO)
Yeah, no problem.
Operator (participant)
Your next question comes from the line of David Marsh from Singular Research. Please go ahead.
David Marsh (Equity Analyst)
Hey, guys. Thank you very much for taking the questions.
Jorge Avalos (CFO)
Sure.
David Marsh (Equity Analyst)
So yeah, if I could start, you know, looks like the share count actually ticked up a bit. Just wondered, you know, I know, you know, repurchasing shares had been a priority, if, you know, if the market opportunity was there. Wondering if this go private transaction kind of supersedes your ability to repurchase any shares?
Jorge Avalos (CFO)
The quick answer is yes, it does.
David Marsh (Equity Analyst)
Okay. And so, you know, it looks like you took some cash and, you know, maybe paid down a little bit of debt in the quarter. Am I, am I reading that right? And then, you know, what would be the kind of, priority uses of cash going forward as you evaluate this transaction?
Jorge Avalos (CFO)
In regards to, we're looking at the business just as a go-forward basis, as running business as usual. So same thing we did last year, we used more of our cash to purchase equipment versus using capital leases. As you could see from our financials, we did that in 2023 because interest rates were high, and I didn't want to pay 9% interest to acquire equipment, and we've continued that strategy moving in here into 2024. So no change in our strategies that we've had over the last couple years.
David Marsh (Equity Analyst)
Okay. So, you know, this is—you know, this proposal, obviously, management is an involved party or some portion of the management team is an involved party in the proposal. But, you know, said again, going back to your comment, looking at it as business more as a, you know, just kind of a continuing operation as a public company, you know, are you seeing any opportunities for acquisitions, that would, you know, either get you into a new business line or a new geography that you're not already in, that might be compelling here, you know, as, you know, as we're starting to see some kind of disruption in the overall financial markets?
Dilo Wijesuriya (President and COO)
So I'll take that one. So in terms of acquisitions, we've not had anything in pipeline. We've always said that we'll be opportunistic about it. If something pops up, it pops up, but we never had anything in the pipeline, or neither were we in consideration to do anything. With regard to the go-private transaction, you know, it's now completely assigned to the special committee appointed by the board. They are independent directors. They'll do whatever they have to do from a legal and accounting perspective. We just run the business as usual, business as usual here, and then nothing, no acquisitions or any other thoughts we just come across our table. If that comes, and if it merits a review, we will do so.
Speaker 6
Okay, that's pretty helpful. I'm sorry, just, yeah, I'm probably repeating the previous caller's question. I apologize if I do. Jorge, I think you said $900,000 in expense related to the evaluation of the go private transaction in the quarter. Is that right? Did I hear you right?
Jorge Avalos (CFO)
Yeah, that-
David Marsh (Equity Analyst)
Did that hit the SG&A line?
Jorge Avalos (CFO)
That is correct on both points.
David Marsh (Equity Analyst)
Okay. So as we go forward, that expense should be demonstrably lower, presumably. Is that a fair assessment?
Jorge Avalos (CFO)
We just don't know, and that's something we can't comment on.
Dilo Wijesuriya (President and COO)
That's completely up to the special committee. They have wide powers to do whatever they have to do to evaluate the proposal. They'll do whatever they are supposed to do as an independent committee, full of independent directors. We have no control over that.
David Marsh (Equity Analyst)
Roger that. Okay, guys, thanks very much for taking the question about platform.
Dilo Wijesuriya (President and COO)
You're welcome.
Operator (participant)
Your next question comes from the line of Glenn Primack from Lucerne Investment Group. Please go ahead.
Speaker 7
Good afternoon.
Dilo Wijesuriya (President and COO)
Good afternoon.
Speaker 7
Digging a little deeper on the increased marketing expense, is that going towards a specific program like the scanning, or is that, you know, can you just touch on, like, what specific programs you're really going after with the extra dollars there?
Dilo Wijesuriya (President and COO)
Yeah. So, there's no I can attribute it to a very specific program, Glenn. You know, it's the extra spend that we've seen year-over-year for the second quarter. There's a component for that goes into headcount. We've added a couple of new sales consultants, especially experienced consultants who are good in digital color, wide format color printing. So we've added them in specific geographical markets, very strategic locations for them. So some amount is in headcount, and the rest of it is, you know, we just launched a new website. You know, I hope you got a chance to see that, the new ARC website is on.
We launched a new Riot Color website a couple of months ago, and we are just focusing on some really strong SEO programs, driving traffic into the website, using keywords and so forth. You know, a little bit of spending on Google advertising as well, but not a heck of a lot. No big investments compared to last year. But we've been very focused on organic driven marketing programs. Email marketing programs are going as well. So the spend is primarily the headcount, and obviously, our sales have grown, especially on the color side. So there is an increased payment of commissions, but rest of it is on the marketing programs.
Speaker 7
All right, great. So on the sales side, there's, you've probably got some payback off of that if it's experienced people that you're putting in these different locations versus a newbie. Is that safe to assume?
Dilo Wijesuriya (President and COO)
Yes. So usually, it takes a couple of months for even experienced people to get comfortable with the company and get used to the systems and start soliciting. So, yes, definitely, they are at the early stages of delivering. Some takes a little bit more extra time. You know, so you know, there are different stages, but our goal is to make them all successful very quickly.
Speaker 7
Yeah. And it's no doubt that you and Jorge will measure everything anyways.
Dilo Wijesuriya (President and COO)
We do.
Jorge Avalos (CFO)
Every time, Glenn, every time.
Speaker 7
Gotta love that. That's it for me. I can't wait to go check out the new website and the Riot and, you know, relatively new website.
Dilo Wijesuriya (President and COO)
Yeah.
Speaker 7
Thank you.
Dilo Wijesuriya (President and COO)
Great.
Operator (participant)
That does conclude the question and answer session. I would like to turn the floor back over to Mr. David Stickney for closing remarks.
David Stickney (VP of Investor Relations)
As usual, we appreciate your continuing interest in ARC, and we encourage you to reach out with any questions about our progress. You can always check our investor relations website at ir.e-arc.com for more information. We look forward to talking with you soon. Take care. Bye-bye.
Operator (participant)
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.