Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc, a leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics, today announced unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021.
A reconciliation of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) to non-GAAP financial measures has been provided in this press release, including the accompanying tables.
- GAAP Revenue for the first quarter of 2021 was $504.5 million, an increase of 27.5% as reported and 26.6% on a constant currency basis compared to the first quarter of 2020; which includes the net impact of lower deferred revenue purchase accounting adjustments of $17.2 million.
- Adjusted Revenue for the first quarter of 2021 was $509.1 million, an increase of 28.6%, or 27.7% on a constant currency basis. Excluding the net impact of the Bisnode acquisition, organic revenue, before the effect of foreign exchange, was $420.4 million, an increase of 5.7% compared to the first quarter of 2020, which also included a 4.4 percentage point impact from the net impact of lower deferred revenue purchase accounting adjustments of $17.2 million.
- Net loss for the first quarter of 2021 was $25.0 million, or diluted loss per share of $0.06, compared to a net income of $41.9 for the prior-year quarter, and adjusted net income of $97.8 million, or adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.23.
- Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2021 was $185.6 million, up 37.4% compared to the first quarter of 2020, and adjusted EBITDA margin of 36.5%, an increase of 240 basis points; which includes the net impact of lower deferred revenue purchase accounting adjustments of $17.2 million.
Excluding the net impact of the Bisnode acquisition, consolidated adjusted EBITDA margin was 39.1% for the three months ended March 31, 2021, an improvement of 500 basis points compared to the prior year quarter, partially due to the lower net purchase accounting deferred revenue adjustments of $17.2 million which had an impact of 280 basis points on the year over year margin improvement.
“We are off to a strong start as we continue with our transformation and the execution of our near-term and long-term objectives. We finished the first quarter with solid financial results and made significant progress with the integration of Bisnode,” said Anthony Jabbour, Dun & Bradstreet Chief Executive Officer.
Segment Results
North America
For the first quarter of 2021, North America’s revenue was $339.4 million, a decrease of $2.1 million or 0.6% as reported and 0.7% on a constant currency basis compared to the first quarter of 2020. North America revenue was negatively impacted by the acquisition of Bisnode with post-acquisition sales treated as intercompany revenue. Excluding the positive impact of foreign exchange of $0.4 million and the negative impact of the Bisnode acquisition of $1.3 million, North America organic revenue decreased less than 1%.
- Finance and Risk revenue for the first quarter of 2021 was $190.5 million, a decrease of $2.3 million or 1.2% as reported and 1.4% on a constant currency basis compared to the first quarter of 2020. Revenues decreased primarily due to lower revenue attributable to the impact of COVID-19, partially offset by new business from our Government solutions and Risk and Compliance solutions.
- Sales and Marketing revenue for the first quarter of 2021 was $148.9 million, an increase of $0.2 million or less than 1% both as reported and on a constant currency basis compared to the first quarter of 2020. The increase was primarily due to increases in Sales and Marketing solution data sales, partially offset by lower royalty revenues from the Data.com legacy partnership.
North America adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2021 was $151.0 million, an increase of 4.5%, with adjusted EBITDA margin of 44.5%, an increase of 220 basis points both compared to the first quarter of 2020.
International
International revenue for the first quarter of 2021 was $169.9 million, an increase of $98.3 million or 137.3% as reported and 130.9% on a constant currency basis compared to the first quarter of 2020. Excluding the net impact of the Bisnode acquisition, organic revenue before the effect of foreign exchange increased 9%.
- Finance and Risk revenue for the first quarter of 2021 was $107.4 million, an increase of $48.8 million or 83.2% as reported, and 78.0% on a constant currency basis compared to the first quarter of 2020. Organic revenue before the effect of foreign exchange increased 7%, driven by growth across all markets, including higher revenue due to increased cross border data sales and growth from our Greater China market related to risk and compliance solutions and newly introduced API offerings.
- Sales and Marketing revenue for the first quarter of 2021 was $62.5 million, an increase of $49.5 million or 381.9% as reported and 369.2% on a constant currency basis compared to the first quarter of 2020. Organic revenue before the effect of foreign exchange increased 18%, attributable to higher revenue from new solution sales in our U.K. market and increased revenue from WWN product royalties.
International adjusted EBITDA increased $27.5 million, or 114.4%, for the three months ended March 31, 2021, compared to the three months ended March 31, 2020. Adjusted EBITDA margin decreased 320 basis points for the three months ended March 31, 2021 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2020. Excluding the net impact of the Bisnode acquisition, adjusted EBITDA margin was 37.8% for the three months ended March 31, 2021, an increase of 430 basis points versus prior year’s margin.
Balance Sheet
As of March 31, 2021, we had cash and cash equivalents of $173.4 million and total principal amount of debt of $3,674.0 million. We had the full capacity available on our $850 million revolving credit facility as of March 31, 2021.
On January 27, 2021, we refinanced our term loan and reduced the spread by 50 basis points, from 375 basis points to 325 basis points which will save us approximately $14 million of annual interest.
Business Outlook
Dun & Bradstreet is reiterating its previously provided full year 2021 outlook as follows:
- Adjusted Revenues are expected to be in the range of $2,145 million to $2,175 million.
- Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $840 million to $855 million.
- Adjusted EPS is expected to be in the range of $1.02 to $1.06.