Korn/Ferry International Announces First Quarter Fiscal 2014 Results of Operations

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Korn/Ferry International (NYSE: KFY), a premier global provider of talent management solutions, announced first quarter fee revenue of $228.4 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.33, excluding restructuring, separation and integration/acquisition costs of $6.6 million.  Including such costs, diluted earnings per share was $0.24 in the three months ended July 31, 2013.

"I am pleased with our continued momentum and operating results during the first quarter. With our leadership team effectively driving our strategy, we have increased revenue within our flagship Search business and broader talent management offering year over year – most important with strong margin expansion and earnings per share growth in the quarter, on an adjusted basis," said Gary D. Burnison, CEO, Korn/Ferry International. "We are making our brand more elastic with 40 percent of the revenue mix from broader talent management offerings in the quarter. Today's businesses are increasingly borderless and knowledge-based, and asking their workforce to do much more, with much less. Irrespective of industry or geography, talent is a driver of success. Accordingly, Korn/Ferry is transforming its business, helping organizations navigate this complex environment by linking their business and talent strategies."

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Fee revenue was $228.4 million in Q1 FY'14, an increase of $41.7 million, or 22% (23% on a constant currency basis), compared to Q1 FY'13, primarily driven by a $31.7 million and a $9.2 million increase in fee revenue in Leadership & Talent Consulting and Executive Recruitment, respectively.  The overall fee revenue increase was driven by fee revenue growth in the industrial, life science/healthcare, financial services and consumer sectors.  Excluding the PDI Ninth House and Global Novations acquisitions (the "prior year acquisitions"), fee revenue was $199.9 million in Q1 FY'14, an increase of 7% compared to the year-ago quarter (8% on a constant currency basis).

Compensation and benefit expenses were $152.8 million in Q1 FY'14, an increase of $24.8 million, or 19%, compared to Q1 FY'13.  The prior year acquisitions contributed $17.2 million to the increase in compensation and benefit expenses.  The remainder of the increase was due to an increase in performance related bonus expense, separation costs and an increase in the fair value of amounts owed under certain deferred compensation plans, which amounts were offset by an increase in the fair value of marketable securities classified as trading in other income (loss), net.   

General and administrative expenses were $39.9 million in Q1 FY'14, an increase of $6.5 million, or 19%, compared to Q1 FY'13.   The prior year acquisitions contributed $4.5 million to the increase in general and administrative expenses in Q1 FY'14 compared to Q1 FY'13.  The rest of the increase was due to increases in legal and professional fees and marketing and business development expenses. 

As previously disclosed, during Q1 FY'14, the Company continued with the integration of PDI Ninth House by consolidating and eliminating redundant office space in select offices and consolidating certain overhead functions.  As a result, the Company recorded net restructuring charges and incurred integration/acquisition costs, as well as separation costs in Q1 FY'14.  Adjusted EBITDA was $31.9 million in Q1 FY'14, an increase of $11.5 million, or 56%, compared to Q1 FY'13.  Adjusted EBITDA margin was 14.0% and 10.9% in Q1 FY'14 and Q1 FY'13, respectively.

On a GAAP basis, operating income was $16.6 million in Q1 FY'14, a decrease of $0.4 million, or 2% compared to Q1 FY'13 resulting in a margin of 7.3% in the current quarter compared to 9.1% in the year-ago quarter. 

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

Cash and marketable securities were $280.4 million at July 31, 2013, compared to $366.0 million at April 30, 2013.  Cash and marketable securities include $111.7 million held in trust for deferred compensation plans at July 31, 2013, compared to $98.0 million at April 30, 2013.  Cash and marketable securities decreased by $85.6 million from April 30, 2013, mainly due to the payment of FY'13 annual bonuses in Q1 FY'14 and the contingent consideration paid to selling shareholders of PDI Ninth House partially offset by cash provided by operating activities.

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Executive Recruitment

Fee revenue was $136.6 million in Q1 FY'14, an increase of $9.2 million, or 7% (8% on a constant currency basis), compared to Q1 FY'13.  The increase in fee revenue was driven by fee revenue increases in Europe, Asia, and North America partially offset by a decrease in Latin America.  This increase is primarily attributed to a 6% increase in the number of executive recruitment engagements billed and a 1% increase in the weighted-average fee billed per engagement compared to the year-ago quarter. 

On a GAAP basis, operating income was $28.3 million in Q1 FY'14, an increase of $5.9 million, or 26%, compared to Q1 FY'13 resulting in an operating margin of 20.7% in the current quarter compared to 17.6% in the year-ago quarter.  This increase is primarily attributed to the $9.2 million increase in fee revenue in Q1 FY'14 as compared to Q1 FY'13 and a decrease of $1.6 million in general and administrative expenses offset by an increase of $3.8 million in compensation and benefit expenses driven by an increase in performance related bonus expense and we incurred restructuring expenses of $1.3 million in Q1 FY'14, and none in Q1 FY'13.  The decrease in general and administrative expenses was due to a decrease in legal and professional fees and travel expenses as a result of cost control initiatives and a reduction in the foreign exchange loss in Q1 FY'14 compared to Q1 FY'13.

Adjusted EBITDA was $31.8 million during Q1 FY'14, an increase of $6.9 million, or 28%, compared to Q1 FY'13.  Adjusted EBITDA margin was 23.3%, in Q1 FY'14 compared to 19.6% in Q1 FY'13 due to an increase in fee revenue and lower incremental operating costs.

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Leadership & Talent Consulting

Fee revenue was $60.1 million in Q1 FY'14, an increase of $31.7 million, or 112% (113% on a constant currency basis), from the year-ago quarter.   Excluding the prior year acquisitions, the increase in fee revenue in Q1 FY'14 was $3.2 million, or 11% (12% on a constant currency basis) compared to Q1 FY'13.  The increase in fee revenue (excluding the prior year acquisitions) was primarily due to an increase in consulting fee revenue driven by a 14% increase in the number of clients in Q1 FY'14 compared to Q1 FY'13.

On a GAAP basis, operating income was $4.3 million in both Q1 FY'14 and Q1 FY'13, resulting in an operating margin of 7.2% in the current quarter compared to 15.0% in the year-ago quarter.  This decrease in operating margin is primarily attributed to acquisition related increases in operating expenses offset by an increase in fee revenue. 

Adjusted EBITDA was $8.4 million during Q1 FY'14, an increase of $3.5 million, or 71%, compared to Q1 FY'13, primarily due to the prior year acquisitions.  Adjusted EBITDA margin was 14.0% compared to 17.2% in Q1 FY'13 and was negatively impacted, in part by incremental infrastructure and support services costs related to the prior year acquisitions as previously discussed in Q4 FY'13. 

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Futurestep

Fee revenue was $31.7 million in Q1 FY'14, an increase of $0.8 million, or 3%, compared to the year-ago quarter.  The increase in fee revenue was driven by a 3% increase in weighted-average fee billed per engagement in Q1 FY'14 compared to Q1 FY'13, which was driven by increases in recruitment process outsourcing and recruitment.

On a GAAP basis, operating income was $2.5 million in Q1 FY'14, a decrease of $0.7 million, compared to Q1 FY'13 resulting in an operating margin of 8.0% in the current quarter compared to 10.3% in the year-ago quarter.  The decrease in operating income was due to restructuring expenses of $1.2 million and an increase in costs to execute resource process outsourcing engagements offset by an increase in fee revenue.

Adjusted EBITDA was $4.7 million during Q1 FY'14, an increase of $1.2 million, or 34%, compared to Q1 FY'13, due primarily to the increase in fee revenue.  Adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 14.7% in Q1 FY'14 compared to 11.3% in Q1 FY'13 due to an increase in fee revenue.

Outlook                                                         

Assuming worldwide economic conditions, financial markets and foreign exchange rates remain steady, fee revenue is expected to be in the range of $225 million to $237 million in Q2 FY'14 and diluted earnings per share are likely to be in the range of $0.32 to $0.38.

Earnings Conference Call Webcast

The earnings conference call will be held today at 5:00 PM (EDT) and hosted by CEO Gary Burnison, CFO Robert Rozek and SVP Finance Gregg Kvochak.  The conference call will be webcast and available online at www.kornferry.com, accessible through the Investor Relations section.

Korn/Ferry International (NYSE: KFY), with a presence throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is a premier global provider of talent management solutions.  Based in Los Angeles, the firm delivers an array of solutions that help clients to attract, deploy, develop and reward their talent.  Visit www.kornferry.com for more information on the Korn/Ferry International family of companies, and www.kornferryinstitute.com for thought leadership, intellectual property and research.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release and our conference call that relate to future results and events ("forward-looking statements") are based on Korn/Ferry's current expectations.  These statements, which include words such as "believes", "expects" or "likely" include references to our outlook.  Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements.  Actual results in future periods may differ materially from those currently expected or desired because of a number of risks and uncertainties that are beyond the control of Korn/Ferry.  The potential risks and uncertainties include those relating to competition, the dependence on attracting and retaining qualified and experienced consultants, our ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses, maintaining our brand name and professional reputation, potential legal liability, the portability of client relationships, global and local political or economic developments in or affecting countries where we have operations, currency fluctuations in our international operations, risks related to the growth, alignment of our cost structure with our growth, restrictions imposed by off-limits agreements, reliance on information processing systems, cyber security vulnerabilities, limited protection of our intellectual property, our ability to enhance and develop new technology, our ability to develop new products and services, consolidation of industries we serve, our ability to successfully recover from a disaster or other business continuity problems, changes in our accounting estimates/assumptions, impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets, deferred tax assets and employment liability risk.  For a detailed description of risks and uncertainties that could cause differences, please refer to Korn/Ferry's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Korn/Ferry disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release contains financial information calculated other than in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP").  In particular, it includes:

• adjusted operating income and operating margin, adjusted to exclude restructuring (net of recoveries) and/or transaction, integration/acquisition and separation costs;
• adjusted net income, adjusted to exclude restructuring (net of recoveries) and/or transaction, integration/acquisition and separation costs, net of income tax effect;
• adjusted basic and diluted earnings per share, adjusted to exclude restructuring (net of recoveries) and/or transaction,  integration/acquisition and separation costs, net of income tax effect;
• constant currency amounts that represent the outcome that would have resulted had exchange rates in the reported period been the same as those in effect in the comparable prior year period;
• EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and EBITDA margin; and
• adjusted EBITDA, which is EBITDA further adjusted to exclude restructuring (net of recoveries) and/or transaction, integration/acquisition and separation costs, and adjusted EBITDA margin.

This non-GAAP disclosure has limitations as an analytical tool, should not be viewed as a substitute for financial information determined in accordance with GAAP, and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the Company's results as reported under GAAP, nor is it necessarily comparable to non-GAAP performance measures that may be presented by other companies.

Management believes the presentation of non-GAAP financial measures in this press release provides meaningful supplemental information regarding Korn/Ferry's performance by excluding certain charges and other items that may not be indicative of Korn/Ferry's ongoing operating results.  The use of these non-GAAP financial measures facilitate comparisons to Korn/Ferry's historical performance.  Korn/Ferry includes these non-GAAP financial measures because management believes they are useful to investors in allowing for greater transparency with respect to supplemental information used by management in its evaluation of Korn/Ferry's ongoing operations and financial and operational decision-making.  In the case of constant currency amounts, management believes the presentation of such information provides meaningful supplemental information regarding Korn/Ferry's performance as excluding the impact of exchange rate changes on Korn/Ferry's financial performance allows investors to make more meaningful period-to-period comparisons of the Company's operating results, to better identify operating trends that may otherwise be masked or distorted by exchange rate changes and to perform related trend analysis, and provides a higher degree of transparency of information used by management in its evaluation of Korn/Ferry's ongoing operations and financial and operational decision-making.

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SOURCE Korn/Ferry International

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