i3 Verticals - Q1 2024
February 9, 2024
Transcript
Operator (participant)
Good day, everyone, and welcome to the i3 Verticals First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded, and a replay will be available starting today through February 16th. The number of the replay is 877-344-7529, and the code is 418-4683. Again, for the replay, 877-344-7529, with the code 418-4683. The replay may also be accessed for 30 days at the company's website. At this time, for opening remarks, I would like to turn the call over to Geoff Smith, Senior Vice President of Finance. Please go ahead, sir.
Geoff Smith (SVP of Finance)
Good morning, and welcome to the first quarter 2024 conference call for i3 Verticals. Joining me on this call are Greg Daily, our Chairman and CEO, Clay Whitson, our CFO, Rick Stanford, our President, and Paul Christians, our COO. To the extent any non-GAAP financial measure is discussed in today's call, you will also find a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure by reviewing yesterday's earnings release. It is the company's intent to provide non-GAAP financial information to enhance understanding of its consolidated GAAP financial information. This non-GAAP financial information should be considered by each individual in addition to, but not instead of, the GAAP financial statements. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements, among others, regarding the company's expected financial and operating performance.
For this purpose, any statements made during this call that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. You are hereby cautioned that these forward-looking statements may be affected by the important factors, among others, set forth in the company's earnings release and in reports that are filed or furnished to the SEC. Consequently, actual operations and results may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Finally, the information shared on this call is valid as of today's date, and the company undertakes no obligation to update it, except as may be required under applicable law. I will now turn the call over to the company's chairman and CEO, Greg Daily.
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
Thanks, Geoff, and good morning to all of you on the call. We have some big and exciting things to discuss with you this morning, but first, I'd like to highlight the results of our first quarter of fiscal year 2024. Revenue and EBITDA were both 7% higher in Q1 over the same quarter last year, and ARR grew at 9%. We're laser focused on nurturing recurring revenue streams such as SaaS and transaction-based revenue. Sometimes these come at the expense of license revenue, which you will notice is much lower this quarter. I'm sure many of you saw our disclosure yesterday, as we are well along in the process to sell certain assets related to our merchant services business.
Rick is going to give you a full rundown of the process, and first, but first, I want to make a few points. First, our roots lie deep in merchant services. We started this company, and we knew the business well. We understood the power of consistent recurring revenue that could be unlocked when we add value to our customers and take care of them. We have built and acquired best-in-class technologies, attracted amazing customers, and most importantly, assembled an incredible team. I'm extremely proud of the i3 merchant services business and what we've accomplished together. Second, our merchant services capabilities have set the stage for us to build something very special in vertical market software. We've always believed in our scale and our expertise in payments gave us an edge.
We're not just looking for any buyer of our merchant services business, but a long-term partner who wants to help us continue to unlock payment opportunities within our current software businesses. Third, we like the opportunity of the sale because we believe it is beneficial to our customers, our employees, and our shareholders, if we focus. By this narrowing of our focus to our core markets of public sector, healthcare, and education, we will be better poised to capitalize on the expansive opportunities within each. Now I turn the call over to Rick, and he'll provide you more details on the ongoing process, and then he'll. When he finishes, Clay will discuss our financial performance, and then we'll open up the call for questions.
Rick Stanford (President)
Thank you, Greg. Good morning, everyone. I'll start by talking briefly about the process mentioned in last night's press release and then cover M&A. As previously announced, the company's board of directors has directed i3 management to explore the sale of certain assets related to our merchant services business. This decision was made after careful consideration by our board, with input from management and the company's financial advisor, and is consistent with the company's strategic focus on vertical market software. Consistent with the strategy, the board believes that the sale of this discrete portion of our business, and no other part of the business or i3 as a whole, is in the best interest of the company and its shareholders. Merchant services business includes all payment-related assets not tethered to proprietary vertical market software, including the associated payments technology.
This is a leader in the market, and we believe it has tremendous potential with increased attention and resources of external ownership. It is led by highly respected industry veterans with decades of experience, and their sales and technology teams are formidable and top-notch. This business has appropriate leadership, sales, and support to operate on a standalone basis, and we are confident that it will be attractive to many potential buyers. The sale of the merchant services business would generate capital that the company would expect to deploy to pay down debt, and can be used with additional strategic application towards M&A in our three target verticals. Our focus will continue to be growing our industry-leading software businesses in public sector, healthcare, and education, which we believe are the optimal platforms to deliver enhanced shareholder value over the long term.
Each of these verticals includes a large addressable market, a decentralized competitive landscape, and is underserved by technology. We believe these businesses have significant opportunities for growth. Our board, with the benefit of input from management and our financial advisor, has directed us to initiate this process solely to explore the sale of our merchant services business as the best path to create value for our shareholders. As we explore the potential sale of the merchant services business, we will continue to fully support current payments clients and the payments technology platforms. Our clients should not be affected by this decision, and if the sale transaction does occur, it would be a seamless transition for them.
Further, as part of any transaction, we would expect to execute an agreement for ongoing payment partnership with the potential buyer, so that we continue to offer this value-added integrated payment service that our customers expect from us. After this call, i3 does not intend to make any further disclosure concerning these matters, unless or until a definitive transaction agreement is reached, or until i3 determines that additional disclosure is appropriate and warrants it. All inquiries from potential third-party purchasers concerning our merchant services business should be directed to Raymond James & Associates. Regarding M&A, we continued to look at opportunities over the last quarter for potential targets for acquisition. Most of them were in public sector, with a few in healthcare and education. Our pipeline continues to be robust, with target companies largely in public sector and healthcare verticals.
I'll now turn the call over to Clay, and he'll provide more details on first quarter financial performance.
Clay Whitson (CFO)
Thanks, Rick. The following pertains to the first quarter of our fiscal year 2024, which is the quarter ended December 31, 2023. Please refer to the slide presentation titled Supplemental Information on our website for reference with this discussion. Revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 increased 7% to $92 million, from $86 million for Q1 2023, reflecting organic growth and acquisitions. Organic revenue growth for this quarter was a little above 5%. Revenues from software licenses fell to just $0.7 million for Q1 2024, from $1.2 million for Q1 2023, and an average of $2.7 million per quarter in fiscal 2023. As we have communicated in the past, software license sales are the most variable and difficult revenue stream for us to forecast.
It can be feast or famine on this line, depending on customer schedules, particularly in the public sector. We have been deliberately replacing one-time software sales with recurring revenues such as SaaS, and currently expect one-time software sales to be $5 million lower in fiscal 2024 compared with fiscal 2023. The transition is happening a little faster than expected. SaaS grew 13% for Q1 2024 versus Q1 2023. ARR increased 9% to $317 million for Q1 2024, a new record, compared to $290 million for Q1 2023. Over 80% of our revenues in the quarter continued to come from recurring sources. Our revenue yield improved modestly to 148 basis points for the quarter, from 145 basis points for Q1 2023.
Software and related services represented 47% of total revenues for Q1, with payments 48% and other 5%. Adjusted EBITDA increased 7% to $25.2 million for Q1 2024, from $23.6 million for Q1 2023. Adjusted EBITDA, as a percentage of revenues, remained steady at 27.4% for Q1 2024 and 2023. The adjusted EBITDA margins in both the software and services segment and merchant services segment improved, but were offset by an increase in our corporate expenses, principally healthcare insurance costs and duplicative hosting costs as we transition from our private cloud with Rackspace to AWS and Microsoft Azure. Pro forma adjusted diluted earnings per share was $0.36 for Q1 2024, compared to $0.37 for Q1 2023. Again, please refer to the press release for a full description and reconciliation.
Segment performance. Revenues in our software and services segment increased 6% to $56.6 million for Q1 2024, from $53.2 million for Q1 2023, reflecting growth in healthcare and public sector, including education. The Celtic acquisition anniversaried this quarter and declined by $1 million Q1 to Q1, reflecting the strike in Manitoba, which we discussed on our Q4 conference call. While the strike has ended, our projects have not yet resumed. Payment revenues represented 25% of the software and services segment's revenues. The segment's adjusted EBITDA improved 7% to $20.2 million for Q1 2024, from $18.9 million for Q1 2023.
Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenues improved to 35.6% for Q1 2024, from 35.4% for Q1 2023, reflecting cost efficiencies gained from an internal realignment within verticals we discussed on the Q4 call. Revenues for our merchant services segment increased 8% to $35.4 million for Q1 2024, from $32.8 million for Q1 2023, reflecting broad-based growth in our ISO, ISV, B2B, and POS channels. Adjusted EBITDA for our merchant services segment increased 14% to $10.7 million for Q1 2024, from $9.4 million for Q1 2023, outpacing revenues. Our revenue yield moved up a few basis points with continued expense control. The balance sheet. Our balance sheet remains strong and well-positioned for 2024.
During January, we repurchased $90.8 million face value of convertible notes, utilizing the revolver for a discounted amount of approximately $86.6 million. There are $26.2 million of notes remaining, 19% of the original $138 million issued, which addresses a springing maturity clause in our revolving credit agreement. We currently expect to allow the remaining notes to remain outstanding until maturity. While we saved roughly $4 million from the repurchase, we will have a similar amount of additional interest expense for fiscal 2024, associated with the higher interest rate from the revolver. As of December thirty-first, borrowings under the revolver, net of cash and pro forma for the repurchases in January, approximated $348 million. Our total leverage ratio, pro forma for the note repurchase, was 3.6 times.
The current constraint is 5 times under our $450 million revolving credit. The interest rate for the convertible notes is 1%, while the interest rate for the revolver is currently around 8.5%. We have remained disciplined in our approach to growth and acquisitions. Our estimate for earn-out payments for the remainder of fiscal 2024 is approximately $5 million. In the absence of acquisitions, we currently expect to finish fiscal 2024 with a leverage ratio around 3 times. We want to be clear on our rationale for the proposed merchant services sale. Once the sale is completed, we should have very little, if any, remaining debt. This will free up even more resources to deploy towards the public sector, education, and healthcare verticals.
We believe that the remaining public companies should trade at a higher EBITDA multiple as a pure play software and services company. Outlook. Looking forward, our Q1 results gives us confidence in the following guidance for fiscal year 2024. It excludes acquisitions that have not yet closed, transaction-related costs, and the potential asset sale discussed on this call. Revenues, $385 million-$400 million. Adjusted EBITDA, $109 million-$115 million. Depreciation and internally developed software amortization, $11 million-$13 million. Cash interest expense, $26 million-$29 million. Pro forma adjusted diluted EPS, $0.52-$0.64. From a seasonal standpoint, we currently expect the quarters of fiscal year 2024 to follow a similar pattern to those of fiscal year 2023.
Although actual results on the one-time software line can vary significantly, our current expectations for software license sales are $800,000 for Q2, $1 million for Q3, and $3 million for Q4. We currently expect to resume high single-digit organic revenue growth in fiscal 2025. As Manitoba gets back to a normal cadence, our opportunities in the utilities market progresses, and the SaaS transition becomes less of a short-term drag. This concludes my comments, Marlise. At this time, we will open the call for Q&A, please.
Operator (participant)
Thank you very much. We will begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touchtone phone, and if you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If you need to withdraw your question, please press star then two. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Our first question comes from John Davis, from Raymond James. John, please go ahead.
John Davis (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst on Payments & Financial Technology)
Hey, good morning, guys. Maybe first, Clay, just on the, the lower revenue outlook, it sounds like it's just $5 million less of licensed revenue this year. Anything else to call out on the kind of the reduced outlook for the top line?
Clay Whitson (CFO)
No, I think you've that's the correct point. Just to do some math around it, what would have been $5 million of one-time license revenue might turn into $800,000 of SaaS revenue, because let's assume a three-year contract, and maybe it comes in halfway through the year. So it's quite a short-term headwind, although in the long term, it's a much better model.
John Davis (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst on Payments & Financial Technology)
Okay. No, that, that's helpful. And then as we think about the margin guide, you know, I think it's about, you know, for about 150 basis points of expansion year-over-year. I think margins were roughly flat in the first quarter. So how should we think about kind of the cadence of the margin expansion throughout the rest of the year, and kind of what gives you confidence, and what's driving the higher margins in the back three quarters here in 2024?
Clay Whitson (CFO)
Well, one-time revenues is a big factor when looking at a quarter's margin. It, 90% of that, maybe even 95% of that revenue drops to the bottom line. So in a quarter light on one-time revenues, it's remarkable we could keep the margin as we did flat. The internal realignment is ongoing and continues, and so we'll get the full effect of that as the quarters progress in 2024.
John Davis (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst on Payments & Financial Technology)
Okay, and then last one for me, quickly, just on the EPS guide. It looks like the majority of that is just higher interest expense, you know, $0.08-$0.09 and a few pennies for slightly lower EBITDA. Just curious if that's the right way to think about it, or anything else that's going on, on the EPS line.
Clay Whitson (CFO)
That's correct. It's about $4 million, more than $4 million of interest expense, for the eight and a half months, we, you know, from mid-January. We did get a $4 million discount, approximately, on our bond repurchase, but one hits the balance sheet and the other hits the PNL.
John Davis (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst on Payments & Financial Technology)
Okay, great. Thanks, guys.
Clay Whitson (CFO)
Thanks.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from Peter Heckmann, from D.A. Davidson. Peter, please go ahead.
Peter Heckmann (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Hey, good morning, everyone.
Clay Whitson (CFO)
Morning. Good morning.
Peter Heckmann (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Wanted to see if you could maybe provide a little bit, finer, detail in terms of the portion of the merchant services business, that is being considered for divestiture. If I heard correctly, it's those portions that either are not integrated with software or not integrated with i3's proprietary software. Could you confirm that and then just maybe give a little bit of better idea of what we're talking about in terms of percent of revenue and potentially percent of EBITDA for 2023 or 2024?
Clay Whitson (CFO)
Yeah. Pete, it corresponds pretty closely to the merchant services segment. We don't know exactly what assets will be included, depending on a buyer. For example, they might not want the PayFac platform if they already have one, and we'd love to keep the PayFac platform. So there's a little bit of play, but for planning purposes, I would just use the segments, revenues and EBITDA.
Peter Heckmann (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Okay. Okay, great. And then, and then in terms of the kind of the determination of, of whether or not you proceed, I, I certainly valuation is a part of that, but, how do you think about then, kind of that long-term partnership and, and how that might work, in terms of, of servicing current clients? Is, is that a significant part of the decision-making process?
Clay Whitson (CFO)
Yeah, I mean, our customers still want bundled payments and integrated software, and we intend to continue to provide that. In our software and services segment, 25% of our revenues are payment revenues. We just don't feel like we have to own the payments capability, so we would like to partner with whoever we sell the business to, to continue to provide that to our customers.
Peter Heckmann (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Got it. Got it. And so just confirm I heard this right, but you believe that divestiture could eliminate the majority or all of the company's debt, and divestiture would probably be modestly dilutive or somewhat dilutive to earnings, but eliminating the debt could really provide the company with a lot of flexibility going forward in terms of thinking about alternatives, primarily M&A, right?
Clay Whitson (CFO)
Yeah, I mean, number one goal, we want to be a software business. Number two, we fix our balance sheet, to your point, in-
... debt-free, if not close. And then, we've been public six years. We, we have to make a change, and, this, we're very excited about it. This, this should put us, in a good spot over the next three or four years.
Peter Heckmann (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Great. Thanks for the additional color.
Operator (participant)
Now we will proceed with a question from Matt VanVliet from BTIG. Matt, you may proceed.
Matt VanVliet (Director and Equity Research Analyst)
Yeah, thanks for taking the question. I guess when you look at the public sector software market out there, given the backdrop of the quarter's performance, you know, how are you assessing the demand environment out there? Which areas or some verticals of public sector are still driving the results here? And maybe, where are you seeing either elongated sales cycles or just sort of indecisiveness on behalf of customers?
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
So there's a lot of exciting stuff going on in utilities and education. Healthcare is great, but the public sector, dealing with counties, municipalities, states, that seems to be a lower or a slower process. You know, we've got a huge pipeline. There's been a lot of delays. It seems like things have pushed back, and most of it is at the state or the county level.
Matt VanVliet (Director and Equity Research Analyst)
I think courts are a big opportunity on top of utilities going forward.
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
Yeah, that could be huge.
Matt VanVliet (Director and Equity Research Analyst)
Okay, very helpful. And then, maybe just one more on the potential sale of the merchant services. You know, I guess it seems like over the last couple of years, being able to go in with a combination offering of, you know, powerful software with embedded payments into it, would run a little counter to then being, looking to sell off the business. So, you know, I guess, what type of stipulations or contractual obligations might you include in terms of keeping that, the payment side of the business, if sold to a third party, involved in kind of what you're doing, maybe more importantly, on the growth pipeline ahead? And then how does that change your go-to-market strategy if it's not an internally owned merchant services attached to the software?
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
Okay, great question. I'm glad it's... So let's make this clear. We're still in the payments business. We're still selling payments every day through our software in public sector, government, utilities, education, and healthcare. We're selling everything else, so we're keeping payments in our own software within public sector. But if there was business that's not in those verticals, that's where- that's what we're selling.
Clay Whitson (CFO)
A good way to think about it is we're going to continue to sell the payments in our primary verticals. Once the sale is complete, we'll flip it over the fence for onboarding and support thereafter with the buyer.
Matt VanVliet (Director and Equity Research Analyst)
Okay.
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
You're right.
Matt VanVliet (Director and Equity Research Analyst)
Thank you.
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
Our plan is to go to market, buying software companies, and then, you know, the cream on top is being able to sell payments into their installed base and new customers.
Matt VanVliet (Director and Equity Research Analyst)
Okay, thank you.
Operator (participant)
Now we have a question from Charles Nabhan, from Stephens. Charles, please go ahead.
Charles Nabhan (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)
Good morning, and thank you for taking my question. I wanted to follow up Pete's earlier question around a potential deal, and could appreciate that there's a range of possible outcomes, but curious how we should think about the breakout of corporate across the segments.
Clay Whitson (CFO)
You know, corporate expenses in the low $20 million, we think 20% of that might be reduced with a sale of the merchant services segment, roughly.
Charles Nabhan (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)
Okay.
Clay Whitson (CFO)
That's what we've identified so far. You know, that number will likely increase-
Charles Nabhan (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)
Got it.
Clay Whitson (CFO)
Over time as we examine it a little more closely.
Charles Nabhan (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)
Got it. Okay. Good to see the strike in Manitoba has been resolved, but curious if you could quantify the impact that's had on the financials thus far this year. Speak to your expectations in terms of, like, getting things up and running again there, as well as what that could mean for growth.
Geoff Smith (SVP of Finance)
Yeah, this is Geoff. So while the strike is over, the project has continued to push out as they've kind of had to ramp back up and get people back to, back to the table, get the stakeholders back reengaged. So there's three phases to it. The second phase will go live later this year. It's been ready for the better part of the last year, but the strike delayed all of that. And then the requirements for the third phase will be getting built out later this year. There won't be a lot of revenue from that, though, until the following year, and it'll trail out from there.
... It's a meaningful amount of revenue that has pushed back out of this year from when we guided back in the fall. You know, ballpark, you know, nearly $2 million just from that one deal.
Charles Nabhan (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)
Got it. Okay. And if I could sneak in one more. Any comments you could make on the vertical or channel exposure within merchant services? I know a chunk of it is restaurant, but any color you could provide based on previous disclosures would be, I think, helpful.
Clay Whitson (CFO)
Well, we have what we think of as partners, ISOs and ISVs. POS is a good portion of the business. We're a reseller of Aloha, and we have our own proprietary POS system. B2B is a good category. But those would be the biggest portions of it.
Charles Nabhan (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)
Got it. Appreciate all the color, guys. Thank you.
Clay Whitson (CFO)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from Alex Markgraff, from KeyBanc Capital Markets. Alex, you may proceed.
Alex Markgraff (VP and Equity Research Analyst)
Thank you, and thanks for taking my questions here. Greg, just wanted to follow up on your, your earlier comment on kind of the, you know, the go-to-market thought process in the event of the sale of the merchant services business. It sounds like the kind of bottom line is little to no change. I'm just curious, categorically, are there any sort of dyssynergies associated with that potential sale? I mean, again, it sounds like no, but just want to maybe put a finer point on that topic of dyssynergies.
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
There's not. I mean, obviously, 100% of our focus being on public sector education and healthcare, you know, I think is a primary goal also. So, you know, better balance sheet, 100% focus on our software businesses. The merchant service, it's been a great business, steady, fantastic team. They've always kind of been separate from our software business.
Alex Markgraff (VP and Equity Research Analyst)
Okay, that's great. And then just one more quick one on the exploration of the sale. I mean, it sounds like, you know, as you all have shared this morning, just more narrow and focused on, you know, certain aspects of software. I guess, is there any way that, you know, your MO around M&A might change in the event of a sale? I mean... Or is it simply just kind of accelerating and, you know, pushing further into the pipeline than you maybe could have with the merchant services business on board?
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
Yeah, I mean, since going public, all we've done is software businesses, that will continue. Most of them will be public sector, but we do have some things in our pipeline of education and healthcare.
Clay Whitson (CFO)
I don't think any change.
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
No.
Alex Markgraff (VP and Equity Research Analyst)
Okay. So nothing that, I mean, I guess, is not addressable today, having the merchant services business in the model, it's more just, you know, pushing further into that pipeline. Is that a fair characterization?
Clay Whitson (CFO)
Yeah, that's correct.
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
Right.
Alex Markgraff (VP and Equity Research Analyst)
Okay, thank you.
Operator (participant)
Let me remind, remind you that if you still have a question to pose, please press star one, and we'll proceed with a question from Rufus Hone, from BMO Capital Markets. Rufus, please go ahead.
Rufus Hone (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Hey, guys. Good morning. Thanks for the question. Just two quick ones. You mentioned using the proceeds of any sale, mostly going to paying down debt. I don't know if you could give us a sense of the leverage ratio you're potentially going to be targeting as a pure software and services business. And then the second question is really around the size of target acquisitions you're expecting to complete this year. I know in the past you've talked about sort of $1 million-$5 million of EBITDA being your sweet spot. Just seeing if there's any update to that. Thanks.
Clay Whitson (CFO)
Well, our leverage will start off at near zero. I think we haven't put a number on it, but I don't think we will run quite as high in the future, and, and that's a big driver for doing this. As far as acquisition size, I don't think much changes. It's still our sweet spot, $1 million-$5 million, but we've done larger deals. We've done $10 million. I really don't think that changes in the future.
Operator (participant)
We have a follow-up question from Peter Heckmann, from D.A. Davidson. Peter, you go, go ahead, please.
Peter Heckmann (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Thank you. Thank you. So just to put a little bit of a, again, finer point on it, and, and I know that the any sale is going to be contingent on the buyer and, and what assets they want and don't want. But, if we look at fiscal 2023, under your kind of alternative revenue breakdown, payments was-
... 45% of revenue in last year, and in merchant services was 37. So if you consider divesting majority of merchant services, then kind of on a pro forma basis, payments would go from being 45% of the revenue stream to kind of maybe like 15%-20%, with the vast majority of the rest being, you know, software, either maintenance or SaaS. Is that the way to think about it?
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
Well, that's very close, Pete. In the last quarter, payments were 25% of the software and services segment, so that's probably a better number to use.
Peter Heckmann (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Okay. Okay, 25. All right. Thanks. All right, we will... Do you have any timeline for this type of transaction? Should we expect to hear something in the next 3-4 months, or, or could it take longer?
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
Hopefully, it's sooner.
Peter Heckmann (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Great. Okay, we'll look forward to hearing more details.
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thanks, Pete. We have a question now from James Faucette, from Morgan Stanley. James, please go ahead.
James Faucette (Research Analyst)
Hey, good morning. Thanks a lot. I'm just wanted to ask, just from a, a like you guys, and, and you've highlighted multiple times, is that you've been focused on building out the, the software, part of your business and, and that kind of thing. And from a strategic focus, especially the direction you'd like to go, I think that's consistent. I'm just wondering how you're thinking about, the proceeds and capital allocation and, and, you know, if you're able to execute a sale, should we expect that that, pace of, of acquisition and can accelerate? Or are you feeling like, this is something that makes sense, given what you're seeing in the, from a valuation perspective in the market?
Just wondering if there's pricing and capital related considerations in the timing, or is this purely just you've reached the stage of next and strategic focus that now is the right time? Just trying to tease out that nuance.
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
So I think our timing is good. We do plan to spend around $100 million a year. It feels about right. That's what we're able to digest. We're not gonna do stock buybacks. It's, it's gonna be, our capital is gonna be deployed toward M&A in our software verticals.
James Faucette (Research Analyst)
Got it. Got it. Got it. All right. That's, that's really helpful. Thank you so much. Good luck.
Operator (participant)
Thanks, James.
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Greg Daily for some closing remarks.
Greg Daily (Chairman and CEO)
Well, thanks, guys. This has been a very interesting three or four months to be able to get to this point. We're excited about the next couple of months, and appreciate everybody's time this morning. Call us if you need us. Thank you.
Operator (participant)
The conference has now concluded. Thank you very much for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect, and have a great day.