CHICAGO, July 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced its second-quarter 2014 financial results.

The company reported consolidated revenue of $189.4 million in the second quarter, an 8.0% increase from $175.4 million in the second quarter of 2013. Excluding acquisitions, divestitures, and foreign currency translations, revenue rose 6.7% in the second quarter of 2014. Revenue excluding acquisitions, divestitures, and foreign currency translations (organic revenue) is a non-GAAP measure. The accompanying financial tables contain a reconciliation to comparable GAAP measures.

During the second quarter, the company recorded a non-recurring expense of $61.0 million—approximately $38.2 million after taxes, or 85 cents per share—related to a previously announced litigation settlement with Business Logic Holding Corp. As a result, Morningstar reported a consolidated operating loss of $24.8 million in the second quarter of 2014, compared with operating income of $43.6 million in the same period a year ago. Net loss was $9.8 million, or 22 cents per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2014, compared with net income of $31.1 million, or 66 cents per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2013.

Excluding the litigation settlement, Morningstar reported adjusted operating income of $36.2 million in the second quarter of 2014, a decrease of 16.9% compared with the second quarter of 2013. Adjusted operating income declined mainly because of higher compensation expense from additional headcount, reflecting new hires as well as acquisitions. Adjusted operating income is also a non-GAAP measure. The accompanying financial tables contain a reconciliation to comparable GAAP measures.

In June, Morningstar acquired HelloWallet Holdings, Inc., a provider of personalized financial guidance. Because Morningstar previously had a minority stake in HelloWallet, the company recorded a non-cash and non-operating gain of $5.2 million, which had a positive effect of 11 cents per share.

Joe Mansueto, chairman and chief executive officer of Morningstar, said, "We're glad to put the dispute with Business Logic behind us. While the settlement amount is meaningful, we want to move forward and focus on the continued growth and success of our retirement business without the risk, distraction, and uncertainty posed by the lawsuit."

He added, "Organic revenue growth for the second quarter was solid, and we're seeing momentum as we continue to invest in our existing business as well as in new initiatives. During the quarter, we acquired ByAllAccounts, Inc., a provider of data aggregation technology, in addition to HelloWallet. Client response to both acquisitions has been very positive. We also held successful investment conferences around the world—in Chicago, London, Madrid, and Sydney, along with our first pan-Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong."

Financial Highlights

Revenue and Key Operating Metrics

• Investment information revenue was $149.5 million, a 6.8% increase from $140.0 million in the second quarter of 2013. Morningstar DirectSM, Morningstar® Advisor WorkstationSM (primarily Morningstar OfficeSM), and Morningstar® Data were the main contributors to revenue growth, which was partially offset by lower revenue for Morningstar® Principia®. The company is in the process of migrating clients from Principia to Morningstar Advisor Workstation and other Morningstar products.
• Investment management revenue was $39.9 million, a 12.6% increase from $35.4 million in the second quarter of 2013, driven by strong results for Morningstar® Managed PortfoliosSM and Retirement Solutions. Lower revenue for Investment Advisory services partially offset the increase.
• Operating margin was negative 13.1% in the second quarter of 2014, down from 24.8% in the same period in 2013. Excluding the litigation settlement, adjusted operating margin was 19.1% in the second quarter of 2014. Higher compensation expense, reflecting new hires as well as acquisitions, was the primary reason for the decline. Adjusted operating margin is a non-GAAP measure; the accompanying financial tables contain a reconciliation to comparable GAAP measures.

Cash Flow and Balance Sheet

• Morningstar generated consolidated free cash flow of $44.8 million in the second quarter of 2014, reflecting cash provided by operating activities of $54.8 million less $10.0 million of cash used for capital expenditures. Free cash flow was down 8.0% from $48.7 million in the second quarter of 2013. Free cash flow is a non-GAAP measure; the accompanying financial tables contain a reconciliation to cash provided by operating activities. Morningstar defines free cash flow as cash provided by or used for operating activities less capital expenditures.
• As of June 30, 2014, cash, cash equivalents, and investments totaled $221.0 million, compared with $298.6 million as of Dec. 31, 2013. Of the $700 million authorized under its share repurchase program, Morningstar had purchased a total of 7.6 million shares for $486.5 million as of June 30, 2014. In the second quarter of 2014, Morningstar repurchased approximately 200,000 shares for $15.0 million.
• During the second quarter, the company used approximately $64.4 million in cash for the acquisitions of ByAllAccounts and HelloWallet.
• In the third quarter of 2014, Morningstar will pay Business Logic $61.0 million as part of the litigation settlement agreement.
• The company expects to pay approximately $7.6 million for its regular quarterly dividend on July 31, 2014.

Comparability of Year-Over-Year Results

Several items affected the comparability of second-quarter 2014 results versus the same period in 2013.

• The litigation settlement contributed the majority of the $82.3 million increase in operating expense in the second quarter of 2014.
• The company's second-quarter results included $1.2 million in revenue and $4.9 million of incremental operating expense from acquisitions.
• During the second quarter of 2014, commission expense rose $2.1 million compared with the prior-year period, mainly because of a change to the company's sales commission structure that requires a different accounting treatment. Morningstar now expenses sales commissions as incurred instead of amortizing them over the term of the underlying contracts.
• As previously disclosed, about 180 net positions shifted from the general and administrative and sales and marketing categories to cost of revenue as a result of the company's change to a centralized organizational structure in 2013. This shift did not affect total operating expense.

Operating Highlights

• Licenses for Morningstar Direct rose 15.9% to 9,222.
• Assets under management and advisement for Retirement Solutions were approximately $74.4 billion as of June 30, 2014, versus $55.9 billion as of June 30, 2013. Assets under management and advisement for Morningstar Managed Portfolios were approximately $8.6 billion as of June 30, 2014, compared with $5.9 billion as of June 30, 2013. Both product lines benefited from strong market performance and asset inflows.
• Investment Advisory assets under advisement as of June 30, 2014 were $18.7 billion lower versus the same date in 2013 because companies that offer variable annuities have continued to face difficult market conditions. As a result, some of Morningstar's clients have been managing their fund-of-funds portfolios in-house instead of using outside subadvisors.
• Morningstar had approximately 3,800 employees worldwide as of June 30, 2014, compared with 3,425 as of June 30, 2013, reflecting the addition of product and technology roles in the United States, data analysts in India, and the ByAllAccounts and HelloWallet acquisitions.

Investor Communication
Morningstar encourages all interested parties—including securities analysts, current shareholders, potential shareholders, and others—to submit questions in writing. Investors and others may send questions about Morningstar's business to investors@morningstar.com or write to the company at:

Morningstar, Inc.
Investor Relations
22 W. Washington Street
Chicago, IL 60602

Morningstar will make written responses to selected inquiries available to all investors at the same time in Form 8-Ks furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission, generally on the first Friday of every month.

About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors. Morningstar provides data on approximately 473,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 12 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries and had approximately $169 billion in assets under advisement and management as of June 30, 2014. The company has operations in 27 countries.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on our current expectations about future events or future financial performance. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain, and often contain words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," or "continue." These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the events we discuss not to occur or to differ significantly from what we expect. For us, these risks and uncertainties include, among others, liability for any losses that result from an actual or claimed breach of our fiduciary duties; failing to differentiate our products and continuously create innovative, proprietary research tools; failing to respond to technological change, keep pace with new technology developments, or adopt a successful technology strategy; a prolonged outage of our database and network facilities; any failures or disruptions in our electronic delivery systems and the Internet; liability and/or damage to our reputation as a result of some of our pending litigation; liability related to the storage of personal information about our users; general industry conditions and competition, including current global financial uncertainty, trends in the mutual fund industry, and continued growth in passively managed investment vehicles; the impact of market volatility on revenue from asset-based fees; failing to maintain and protect our brand, independence, and reputation; changes in laws applicable to our investment advisory or credit rating operations, compliance failures, or regulatory action; and challenges faced by our non-U.S. operations, including the concentration of development work at our offshore facilities in China and India. A more complete description of these risks and uncertainties can be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013. If any of these risks and uncertainties materialize, our actual future results may vary significantly from what we expected. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To supplement Morningstar's consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Morningstar uses the following measures considered as non-GAAP by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: consolidated revenue excluding acquisitions, divestitures, and foreign currency translations (organic revenue), consolidated operating income excluding the litigation settlement (adjusted operating income), consolidated operating margin excluding the litigation settlement (adjusted operating margin), and free cash flow. These non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

Morningstar presents consolidated revenue excluding acquisitions, divestitures, and foreign currency translations (organic revenue) because the company believes this non-GAAP measure helps investors better compare period-over-period results.

Morningstar presents operating income and operating margin excluding the litigation settlement (adjusted operating income and adjusted operating margin) to show the effect of this non-recurring charge, better reflect period-over-period comparisons, and improve overall understanding of Morningstar's current and future financial performance.

In addition, Morningstar presents free cash flow solely as supplemental disclosure to help investors better understand how much cash is available after Morningstar spends money to operate its business. Morningstar uses free cash flow to evaluate its business. Free cash flow should not be considered an alternative to any measure required to be reported under GAAP (such as cash provided by (used for) operating, investing, and financing activities). For more information about free cash flow, please see the reconciliation from cash provided by operating activities to free cash flow included in the accompanying financial tables.

For more information about these non-GAAP measures, please see the reconciliations provided in the accompanying financial tables.

All dollar and percentage comparisons, which are often accompanied by words such as "increase," "decrease," "grew," "declined, " or "was similar," refer to a comparison with the same period in the previous year unless otherwise stated.

©2014 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

MORN-E

Contacts:
Media: Margaret Kirch Cohen, +1 312-696-6383 or margaret.cohen@morningstar.com
Investors may submit questions to investors@morningstar.com.

SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.