LivePerson Announces Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results

-- Revenue of $132.6 million, up 11% Year over Year –

-- Adjusted EBITDA at the high end of guidance –

-- Signed 45 new logo deals, including one of the largest new logo deals in LivePerson's history --

-- Maintains expectation of positive cash flow in the fourth quarter --

NEW YORK, Aug. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPSN) ("LivePerson" or the "Company"), a global leader in conversational AI, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022.

Second Quarter Highlights

Total revenue was $132.6 million for the second quarter of 2022, an increase of 11% as compared to the same period last year. Within total revenue, business operations revenue for the second quarter of 2022 increased 12% year over year to $123.4 million, and revenue from consumer operations decreased 7% year over year to $9.1 million.

LivePerson signed 5 seven-figure deals and 104 deals in total for the second quarter, comprising of 45 new and 59 existing customer contracts. Trailing-twelve-months average revenue per enterprise and mid-market customer increased 23% for the second quarter to another record high of $660,000, up from approximately $535,000 for the comparable prior-year period.

"For the second quarter, LivePerson delivered on its commitments to re-accelerate new logo growth while cutting costs. We signed 104 total deals in the second quarter, including 45 new logos, which was up 55% Year over Year  and up 73% sequentially, and achieved adjusted EBITDA at the top end of our guidance range," said founder and CEO Robert LoCascio. "We continue to make substantial changes to our P&L — focusing on the most differentiated, high value components of our business — intended to drive high gross margins, strong operating margins, and high quality revenue growth. We believe we are putting the right operating framework in place to drive innovation and grow the company in a strong and sustainable way."

"Our second quarter results demonstrate strong execution against our profitable growth plan, " added CFO John Collins. "In addition to expense reductions, we have begun eliminating low-quality sources of revenue in order to further optimize the overall health of the P&L. While we expect the magnitude of both the expense reductions and the elimination of low-quality revenue to impact near-term growth, we believe these strategic moves will set a long term foundation for a best-in-class gross margin, significant free cash flow generation, and a return to a Rule of 40 framework."

Customer Expansion

During the second quarter, the Company signed 5 seven-figure deals out of 104 total deals for the quarter with new customers, including:

• Capitec, the largest retail bank in South Africa
• The largest bank in Canada
• One of the largest Automotive OEM finance companies in the United States
• A global leader in household appliances

The Company also expanded business with:

• One of the world's largest telecommunications companies
• A major airline
• One of the largest consumer banks in the midwest
• The largest telecommunications company in the UK

Net Loss and Adjusted Operating (Loss) Income

Net loss for the second quarter of 2022 was $75.4 million or $0.98 per share, as compared to a net loss of $21.1 million or $0.31 per share for the second quarter of 2021. Adjusted operating loss, a non-GAAP financial metric, for the second quarter of 2022 was $12.6 million, as compared to an adjusted operating income of $6.4 million for the second quarter of 2021. Adjusted operating (loss) income excludes amortization of purchased intangibles and finance leases, stock-based compensation, other litigation and consulting costs, restructuring costs, contingent earn-out adjustments, acquisition costs, interest income (expense), and other expense (income).

Adjusted EBITDA (Loss)

Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, for the second quarter of 2022 was $(5.5) million as compared to $13.4 million for the second quarter of 2021. Adjusted EBITDA excludes amortization of purchased intangibles and finance leases, stock-based compensation, depreciation, other litigation and consulting costs, restructuring costs, contingent earn-out adjustments, provision for (benefit from) income taxes, acquisition costs, interest income (expense), and other expense (income).

A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP measures has been provided in the financial tables included in this press release. An explanation of the non-GAAP financial measures and how they are calculated is included below under the heading "Non-GAAP Financial Measures."

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company's cash balance was $425.9 million at June 30, 2022, as compared to $521.8 million at December 31, 2021. 

Financial Expectations

The following forward-looking measures and the underlying assumptions involve significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, and actual results may vary materially from these forward-looking measures. The Company does not present a quantitative reconciliation of the forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, and non-GAAP gross margin to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures (or otherwise present such forward-looking GAAP measures) because it is impractical to forecast certain items without unreasonable efforts due to the uncertainty and inherent difficulty of predicting, within a reasonable range, the occurrence and financial impact of and the periods in which such items may be recognized. In particular, these non-GAAP financial measures exclude certain items, including amortization of purchased intangibles, stock-based compensation, depreciation, other litigation and consulting costs, restructuring costs, contingent earn-out adjustments, benefit from income taxes, interest income (expense), and other expense (income), which depend on future events that the Company is unable to predict. Depending on the size of these items, they could have a significant impact on the Company's GAAP financial results.

In the short term, due to the P&L optimizations we are undertaking as we execute on our profitable growth plan, including reduction in costs and intentional elimination of low margin revenue, and our ramping sales force, we are revising down our 2022 revenue guidance from $544.8 million - $563.3 million to $507.1 million - $518.3 million, or 8% to 10% growth year-over-year. The revenue guidance range for the third quarter is $120.5 million to $123.6 million, or 1.8% to 4.5% growth year-over-year.

With the strong cost out results of the second quarter demonstrating early signs of building leverage in the business and the Company's commitment to execution on its profitable growth strategy, the Company is maintaining its 2022 adjusted EBITDA guidance to a range of $1.0 million to $10.0 million, or a 0.0% - 2.0% adjusted EBITDA margin. By reaffirming full year guidance for adjusted EBITDA, the implication for operating expenses is approximately $507 million at the midpoint, a reduction of $57 million in-year. The Company is guiding for third quarter adjusted EBITDA in a range of $0 million - $4.3 million or a 0% - 3.5% adjusted EBITDA margin.

Third Quarter 2022

Full Year 2022

The Company is raising guidance of non-GAAP gross margin from 70% - 72% to 72% - 74% for the full year 2022 and the third quarter of 2022.

Stock-Based Compensation

Included in the accompanying financial results are expenses related to stock-based compensation, as follows:

Amortization of Purchased Intangibles and Finance Leases 

Included in the accompanying financial results are expenses related to the amortization of purchased intangibles and finance leases, as follows:

Supplemental Second Quarter 2022 Presentation

LivePerson will post a presentation providing supplemental information for the second quarter 2022 on the investor relations section of the Company's web site at www.ir.liveperson.com.

Earnings Teleconference Information

The Company will discuss its second quarter 2022 financial results during a teleconference today, August 8, 2022. To participate via telephone, callers should dial in five to ten minutes prior to the 5:00 p.m. Eastern start time; domestic callers (U.S. and Canada) should dial 1-877-407-0784, while international callers should dial 1-201-689-8560, and both should reference the conference ID "13731592."

The conference call will also be simulcast live on the Internet and can be accessed by logging onto the investor relations section of the Company's web site at www.ir.liveperson.com.

If you are unable to participate in the live call, the teleconference will be available for replay approximately two hours after the call. To access the replay, please call 1-844-512-2921 (U.S. and Canada) or 1-412-317-6671 (international). Please reference the conference ID "13731592." A replay will also be available on the investor relations section of the Company's web site at www.ir.liveperson.com.

About LivePerson

LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN) is a global leader in customer engagement solutions. We create AI-powered digital experiences that feel Curiously Human. Our customers — including leading brands like HSBC, Orange, and GM Financial — have conversations with millions of consumers as personally as they would with one. Our Conversational Cloud platform powers nearly a billion conversational interactions every month, providing a uniquely rich data set to build connections that reduce costs, increase revenue, and are anything but artificial. Fast Company named us the #1 Most Innovative AI Company in the world. To talk with us or our Conversational AI, please visit liveperson.com.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Investors are cautioned that the following financial measures used in this press release are "non-GAAP financial measures": (i) adjusted EBITDA, or earnings/(loss) before (benefit from) income taxes, interest income (expense), other expense (income), depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation, restructuring costs, acquisition costs and other costs; (ii) adjusted EBITDA margin, or earnings/(loss) before (benefit from) income taxes, interest income (expense), other expense (income), depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation, restructuring costs, acquisition costs and other costs divided by revenue; (iii) adjusted operating (loss) income, or operating income (loss) excluding amortization, stock-based compensation, restructuring costs, acquisition costs, deferred tax asset valuation allowance, and other costs; (iv) free cash flow, or net cash provided by operating activities less purchases of property and equipment, including capitalized software; and (v) non–GAAP gross profit and non–GAAP gross margin, or GAAP gross profit and GAAP gross margin, respectively, adjusted to exclude, as applicable, certain expenses as presented the Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA.

Non-GAAP financial information should not be construed as an alternative to any other measures of performance determined in accordance with GAAP, or as an indicator of our operating performance, liquidity or cash flows generated by operating, investing and financing activities as there may be significant factors or trends that it fails to address. We present non-GAAP financial information because we believe that it is helpful to some investors as one measure of our operations.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release and on our earnings call regarding LivePerson that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future events or results to differ materially from such statements. Any such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to financial guidance, are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. It is routine for our internal projections and expectations to change as the quarter and year progress, and therefore it should be clearly understood that the internal projections and beliefs upon which we base our expectations may change. Although these expectations may change, we are under no obligation to inform you if they do. Some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained herein include, without limitation: major public health issues, and specifically the pandemic caused by the spread of COVID-19, and their effects on the U.S. and global markets; our ability to retain key personnel, attract new personnel and to manage staff attrition; strain on our personnel resources and infrastructure from supporting our existing and growing customer base; the ability to successfully integrate past or potential future acquisitions; our ability to secure additional financing to execute our business strategy; delays in our implementation cycles; payment-related risks; potential fluctuations in our quarterly revenue and operating results; limitations on the effectiveness of our controls; non-payment or late payment of amounts due to us from a significant number of customers; volatility in the capital markets; recognition of revenue from subscriptions; customer retention and engagement; the migration of existing customers to our new platform; our ability to attract new customers and new consumer users of our consumer services; our ability to develop and maintain successful relationships with social media and other third-party consumer messaging platforms and endpoints; the highly competitive markets in which we operate; general economic conditions; privacy concerns relating to the Internet that could result in new legislation or negative public perception; new regulatory or other legal requirements that could materially impact our business; governmental export controls and economic sanctions; industry-specific regulation and unfavorable industry-specific laws, regulations or interpretive positions; future regulation of the Internet or mobile devices; greater than anticipated income, non-income and transactional tax liabilities; failures or security breaches in our services, those of our third party providers, or in the websites of our customers; regulation or possible misappropriation of personal information belonging to our customers' Internet users; technology systems beyond our control and technology-related defects that could disrupt the LivePerson services; our dependence on the continued viability of the Internet; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights or potential infringement of the intellectual property rights of third parties; the use of AI in our product offerings; the presence of, and difficulty in correcting, errors, failures or "bugs" in our products; our ability to license necessary third party software for use in our products and services, and our ability to successfully integrate third party software; potential adverse impact due to foreign currency and cryptocurrency exchange rate fluctuations; additional regulatory requirements, tax liabilities, currency exchange rate fluctuations and other risks as we expand internationally, as we expand into new offerings including AI-assisted healthcare and/or as we expand into direct-to-consumer services; risks related to our operations in Israel and Ukraine, and the civil and political unrest and potential for armed conflict in those regions; potential failure to meeting service level commitments to certain customers; legal liability and/or negative publicity for the services provided to consumers via our technology platforms; technological or other defects that could disrupt or negatively impact our services; our ability to maintain our reputation; our lengthy sales cycles; changes in accounting principles generally accepted in the United States; natural catastrophic events and interruption to our business by man-made problems; potential limitations on our ability to use net operating losses to offset future taxable income; risks related to our common stock being traded on more than one securities exchange; and other factors described in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on February 28, 2022. This list is intended to identify only certain of the principal factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Readers are referred to the Company's reports and documents filed from time to time by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of these and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in forward-looking statements.

Investor Relations contact

ir-lp@liveperson.com
212-609-4214

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SOURCE LivePerson, Inc.