Third Quarter 2023 Highlights¹

• Generated Revenues of $200.4 million
• Delivered Net Income of $10.8 million; Adjusted Net Income was $40.0 million
• Produced Adjusted EBITDA of $64.8 million
• Realized GAAP Diluted Net Income Per Share of $0.07; Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share was $0.28
• Achieved Cash Flows from Operations of $34.4 million
• On August 31, 2023, paid a one-time special dividend of $1.50 per share, which represented a greater than 10% return of capital to shareholders
• On September 1, 2023, acquired Infinite ID, a U.S.-based digital identity solutions company for $41 million, funded with cash from the balance sheet
• Board of Directors approved a one-year extension of the existing share repurchase program, extending it through December 2024

2023 Full-Year Guidance

• The Company reiterates its full-year 2023 guidance ranges, expecting results at the low end of these ranges. This reflects the current hiring environment and expectations that existing macroeconomic conditions and similar labor market trends will continue through the end of fiscal year 2023.
  
  

ATLANTA, Nov. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Advantage Corporation (NASDAQ: FA), a leading global provider of employment background screening and verification solutions, today announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2023.

Key Financials
(Amounts in millions, except per share data and percentages)

“We continue to deliver results in-line with the expectations we previously communicated, even as we navigate these uncertain times. Third quarter Revenues and Adjusted EBITDA improved sequentially, with the Americas segment showing particular resilience. Our disciplined cost management along with flexible business model enabled us to maintain industry-leading Adjusted EBITDA Margins of 32.3% and generate strong operating cash flow of $34.4 million this quarter. We are pleased with our continued ability to invest in market-leading solutions that meet the needs of our customers, enabled by our healthy and well-capitalized balance sheet,” said Scott Staples, Chief Executive Officer.

“During the third quarter, we continued to build on our solid foundation and further strengthen our digital strategy with the acquisition of Infinite ID. This acquisition expands our portfolio of innovative products and differentiated solutions while strengthening our core business. Infinite ID’s technology complements our other identity verification and identity fraud solutions, enabling us to continuously roll-out state-of-the-art digital solutions to our customers. Digital identity has been a core part of our strategy, and we will continue to innovate in this space,” added Mr. Staples.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

As of September 30, 2023, First Advantage had cash and cash equivalents of $164.9 million, short-term investments of $2.2 million, and total debt of $564.7 million, resulting in net debt of $397.6 million and a net leverage ratio of 1.7x. The Company also has full availability of $100 million under its revolving credit facility as of September 30, 2023. There are no principal debt payments due until 2027.

Cash Flow and Capital Allocation

During the third quarter of 2023, the Company generated $34.4 million of cash flow from operations and spent $7.5 million on purchases of property and equipment, including capitalized software development costs.

On August 31, 2023, the Company paid a one-time special dividend of $1.50 per share, totaling $217.7 million. This one-time special dividend represented a greater than 10% return of capital to shareholders.

On September 1, 2023, the Company acquired Infinite ID, a U.S.-based digital identity solutions company. The $41 million transaction was funded with cash from the balance sheet.

During the third quarter, the Company repurchased 244,782 shares of its common stock for an aggregate outlay of approximately $3.6 million under its $200 million share repurchase program. As of November 6, 2023, the Company has repurchased approximately 9.0 million shares for an aggregate outlay of approximately $118.4 million since the authorization of the share repurchase program. As of September 30, 2023, the Company had 145,217,657 shares of common stock outstanding.

Additionally, in September, the Company’s Board of Directors approved a one-year extension of its existing $200 million share repurchase authorization through December 31, 2024.

“We are committed to a balanced capital allocation approach and creating value for our shareholders. We continue to generate strong cash flow from operations, which provides funding for long-term growth, while returning capital to shareholders. During the quarter, we executed several strategic capital allocation initiatives including the acquisition of Infinite ID, paying our one-time special dividend, and continuing to repurchase shares, all while maintaining a healthy balance sheet. Additionally, the extension of our existing share repurchase authorization reflects our confidence in the trajectory of our business as we continue to execute against our strategic priorities,” commented David Gamsey, EVP and Chief Financial Officer.

Full Year 2023 Guidance

The Company reiterates its full-year 2023 guidance ranges, expecting results at the low end of these ranges. This reflects the current hiring environment and expectations that existing macroeconomic conditions and similar labor market trends will continue through the end of fiscal year 2023.

Guidance ranges have not been adjusted upward or downward for the impact of the one-time special dividend or the contribution from Infinite ID, acquired in September 2023.

The following table summarizes our reaffirmed full-year 2023 guidance:

Actual results may differ materially from First Advantage’s full-year 2023 guidance as a result of, among other things, the factors described under “Forward-Looking Statements” below.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

First Advantage will host a conference call to review its results today, November 9, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. ET.

To participate in the conference call, please dial 800-267-6316 (domestic) or 203-518-9783 (international) approximately ten minutes before the 8:30 a.m. ET start. Please mention to the operator that you are dialing in for the First Advantage third quarter 2023 earnings call or provide the conference code FA3Q23. The call will also be webcast live on the Company’s investor relations website at https://investors.fadv.com under the “News & Events” and then “Events & Presentations” section, where related presentation materials will be posted prior to the conference call.

Following the conference call, a replay of the webcast will be available on the Company’s investor relations website, https://investors.fadv.com. Alternatively, the live webcast and subsequent replay will be available at https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/4326081/C6E9971F47D1DCACB2860D6B2664D5FD.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, our operations and financial performance. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements relate to matters such as our industry, business strategy, goals, and expectations concerning our market position, future operations, margins, profitability, capital expenditures, liquidity and capital resources, and other financial and operating information. In some cases, you can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “future,” “will,” “seek,” “foreseeable,” "target," “guidance,” the negative version of these words, or similar terms and phrases.

These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties, assumptions, or changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict or quantify. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following:

• negative changes in external events beyond our control, including our customers’ onboarding volumes, economic drivers which are sensitive to macroeconomic cycles, such as interest rate volatility and inflation, geopolitical unrest, uncertainty in financial markets (including as a result of recent events affecting financial institutions), and the COVID-19 pandemic;
• our operations in a highly regulated industry and the fact that we are subject to numerous and evolving laws and regulations, including with respect to personal data, data security, and artificial intelligence;
• inability to identify and successfully implement our growth strategies on a timely basis or at all;
• potential harm to our business, brand, and reputation as a result of security breaches, cyber-attacks, or the mishandling of personal data;
• our reliance on third-party data providers;
• due to the sensitive and privacy-driven nature of our products and solutions, we could face liability and legal or regulatory proceedings, which could be costly and time-consuming to defend and may not be fully covered by insurance;
• our international business exposes us to a number of risks;
• the timing, manner and volume of repurchases of common stock pursuant to our share repurchase program;
• the continued integration of our platforms and solutions with human resource providers such as applicant tracking systems and human capital management systems as well as our relationships with such human resource providers;
• our ability to obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary information;
• disruptions, outages, or other errors with our technology and network infrastructure, including our data centers, servers, and third-party cloud and internet providers and our migration to the cloud;
• our indebtedness could adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry, and prevent us from meeting our obligations; and
• control by our Sponsor, "Silver Lake" (Silver Lake Group, L.L.C., together with its affiliates, successors, and assignees), and its interests may conflict with ours or those of our stockholders.
  
  

For additional information on these and other factors that could cause First Advantage’s actual results to differ materially from expected results, please see our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), as such factors may be updated from time to time in our filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise, except as required by law.

Non-GAAP Financial Information

This press release contains “non-GAAP financial measures” that are financial measures that either exclude or include amounts that are not excluded or included in the most directly comparable measures calculated and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). Specifically, we make use of the non-GAAP financial measures “Adjusted EBITDA,” “Adjusted EBITDA Margin,” “Adjusted Net Income,” “Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share,” “Constant Currency Revenues,” and “Constant Currency Adjusted EBITDA.”

Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share, Constant Currency Revenues, and Constant Currency Adjusted EBITDA have been presented in this press release as supplemental measures of financial performance that are not required by or presented in accordance with GAAP because we believe they assist investors and analysts in comparing our operating performance across reporting periods on a consistent basis by excluding items that we do not believe are indicative of our core operating performance. Management believes these non-GAAP measures are useful to investors in highlighting trends in our operating performance, while other measures can differ significantly depending on long-term strategic decisions regarding capital structure, the tax jurisdictions in which we operate, and capital investments. Management uses Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share, Constant Currency Revenues, and Constant Currency Adjusted EBITDA to supplement GAAP measures of performance in the evaluation of the effectiveness of our business strategies, to make budgeting decisions, to establish discretionary annual incentive compensation, and to compare our performance against that of other peer companies using similar measures. Management supplements GAAP results with non-GAAP financial measures to provide a more complete understanding of the factors and trends affecting the business than GAAP results alone.

Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share, Constant Currency Revenues, and Constant Currency Adjusted EBITDA are not recognized terms under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss) as a measure of financial performance or cash provided by (used in) operating activities as a measure of liquidity, or any other performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP. The presentations of these measures have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Because not all companies use identical calculations, the presentations of these measures may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies and can differ significantly from company to company.

We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, and as further adjusted for loss on extinguishment of debt, share-based compensation, transaction and acquisition-related charges, integration and restructuring charges, and other non-cash charges. We define Adjusted EBITDA Margin as Adjusted EBITDA divided by total revenues. We define Adjusted Net Income for a particular period as net income before taxes adjusted for debt-related costs, acquisition-related depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation, transaction and acquisition-related charges, integration and restructuring charges, and other non-cash charges, to which we then apply the related effective tax rate. We define Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share as Adjusted Net Income divided by adjusted weighted average number of shares outstanding—diluted. We define Constant Currency Revenues as current period revenues translated using prior-year period exchange rates. We define Constant Currency Adjusted EBITDA as current period Adjusted EBITDA translated using prior-year period exchange rates. For reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, see the reconciliations included at the end of this press release. Numerical figures included in the reconciliations have been subject to rounding adjustments. Accordingly, numerical figures shown as totals in various tables may not be arithmetic aggregations of the figures that precede them.

About First Advantage

First Advantage (NASDAQ: FA) is a leading global provider of employment background screening and verification solutions. The Company delivers innovative services and insights that help customers manage risk and hire the best talent. Enabled by its proprietary technology, First Advantage helps companies protect their brands and provide safer environments for their customers and their most important resources: employees, contractors, contingent workers, tenants, and drivers. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, First Advantage performs screens in over 200 countries and territories on behalf of its approximately 33,000 customers. For more information about First Advantage, visit the Company’s website at https://fadv.com/.

Investor Contact

Stephanie Gorman
Vice President, Investor Relations
Investors@fadv.com
(888) 314-9761

Condensed Financial Statements

Reconciliation of Consolidated Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Reconciliation of Consolidated Non-GAAP Financial Measures (continued)