Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM) 8-KBright Horizons Family Solutions Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Financial Results

Revenue increased $86.1 million, or 16%, in the fourth quarter of 2023, from the fourth quarter of 2022, based on enrollment gains and price increases at our centers, as well as expanded sales and increased utilization of back-up care.

Income from operations was $28.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $39.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2022, a decrease of 29%. The decrease in income from operations is primarily related to incremental impairment losses of $21.8 million, as well as reduced funding from pandemic-related government support programs, partially offset by incremental gross profit contributions from enrollment growth and price increases in our full service child care centers, and higher utilization of back-up care services. Net income was $5.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $18.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2022, a decrease of 69%, due to the decrease in income from operations noted above, higher interest expense and a higher effective tax rate. Diluted earnings per common share was $0.09 for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $0.31 for the fourth quarter of 2022.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, adjusted EBITDA* increased by $8.7 million, or 10%, to $99.2 million, and adjusted income from operations* increased by $8.1 million, or 15%, to $63.6 million from the fourth quarter of 2022, due to contributions from the full service center-based child care and back-up care segments. Adjusted net income* increased by $3.8 million, or 9%, to $48.0 million, as a result of the increase in adjusted income from operations, partially offset by higher interest expense and a higher effective tax rate. Diluted adjusted earnings per common share* was $0.83 for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $0.77 in the same period in 2022.

As of December 31, 2023, the Company had more than 1,450 client relationships with employers across a diverse array of industries, and operated 1,049 early education and child care centers with the capacity to serve approximately 120,000 children and their families.

Based on current trends and expectations, we currently expect fiscal year 2024 revenue to be in the range of $2.6 billion to $2.7 billion and diluted adjusted earnings per common share to be in the range of $3.00 to $3.20. The Company will provide additional information on its outlook during its earnings conference call.

This press release includes forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The Company’s actual results may vary significantly from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements, which can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms “believes,” “expects,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “projects,” “approximately,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates” or “anticipates,” or, in each case, their negatives or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts, including statements regarding the Company’s intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, operating expectations, impact of our services and solutions, business trends, our future growth opportunities, enrollment and occupancy levels, back-up care utilization, long-term growth strategy, estimated effective tax rate, tax expense, our future business and financial performance, and our 2024 financial guidance. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. The Company believes that these risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, changes in the demand for child care, dependent care and other workplace solutions, including variations in enrollment trends and lower than expected demand from employer sponsor clients as well as variations in workforce demographics and work environments; the constrained labor market for teachers and staff and ability to hire and retain talent, including the impact of increased compensation and labor costs; the availability or lack of government support and impact of government child care benefit programs; our ability to respond to changing client and customer needs; the possibility that acquisitions may disrupt our operations and expose us to additional risk; our ability to pass on our increased costs; our indebtedness and the terms of such indebtedness; our ability to withstand seasonal fluctuations in the demand for our services; our ability to implement our growth strategies successfully; changes in general economic, political, business and financial market conditions, including the impact of inflation and interest rate fluctuations; fluctuations in currency exchange rates; the effects of a cyber-attack, data breach or other security incident on our information technology system or software or those of our third party vendors; changes in tax rates or policies; impacts to our brand or reputation; and other risks and uncertainties more fully described in the “Risk Factors” section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 28, 2023, and other factors disclosed from time to time in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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.

In addition to the results provided in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) throughout this press release, the Company has provided certain non-GAAP financial measures that present operating results on a basis adjusted for certain items. The Company uses these non-GAAP financial measures as key performance indicators for the purpose of evaluating performance internally, and in connection with determining incentive compensation for Company management, including executive officers. Adjusted EBITDA is also used in connection with the determination of certain ratio requirements under our credit agreement. We believe these non-GAAP measures provide investors with useful information with respect to our historical operations. These non-GAAP measures are not intended to replace, and should not be considered superior to, the presentation of our financial results in accordance with GAAP. The use of the terms adjusted EBITDA, adjusted income from operations, adjusted net income and diluted adjusted earnings per common share may differ from similar measures reported by other companies and may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures.

With respect to our outlook for diluted adjusted earnings per common share, we do not provide the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure or corresponding reconciliation to such GAAP financial measure on a forward-looking basis. We are unable to predict with reasonable certainty and without unreasonable effort certain items such as the timing and amount of future impairments, net excess income tax benefits, transaction costs, and other non-recurring costs, as well as the outcome from legal proceedings. These items are uncertain, depend on various factors outside our management’s control, and could significantly impact, either individually or in the aggregate, our future period earnings per common share as calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

For more information regarding adjusted EBITDA, adjusted income from operations, adjusted net income and diluted adjusted earnings per common share, refer to the reconciliation of GAAP financial measures to the non-GAAP financial measures in the attached table “Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. Non-GAAP Reconciliations.”