ePlus Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2014 Results

For Fourth Quarter 2014

• Revenue increased 10% to $259.9 million, driven by 11.6% growth in Technology segment
• Gross profit margin of 21%; 18.8% on Products and Services
• Earnings Per Diluted Share of $1.03, up 8.4%

For Fiscal Year 2014

• Revenue increased 7.6% to $1.1 billion
• Gross profit margin of 20.5%; 18.3% on Products and Services
• Earnings Per Diluted Share of $4.37, up from $4.32
• Build out of engineering and sales capabilities to drive future growth

HERNDON, Va., June 3, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ePlus inc., (Nasdaq:PLUS) a leading provider of technology solutions, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2014.

Management Comment

"Fiscal 2014 was a year of continued progress for ePlus and demonstrated our ability to generate solid revenue growth, significantly ahead of the overall IT spending growth rate," said Phillip G. Norton, CEO, Chairman and President of ePlus. "Technology revenues increased 8.3% for the year, supported by higher services revenues, as we continued to emphasize this value-added, higher margin part of our business and provide existing and new customers with increasingly complex IT solutions. Our technology segment, which accounted for 96.6% of total revenue, produced a 10.3% increase in earnings before taxes, thanks to our ongoing focus on containing and even reducing certain administrative costs, while expanding our engineering and sales headcount. This positive performance more than offset the year-over-year decrease in revenues from our financing business, where comparisons tend to be more uneven. Demand for our financing services from new and existing customers, however, remains strong.

"After a more muted first half, our technology product and services sales re-accelerated in the second half of fiscal 2014. We ended fiscal 2014 with positive momentum, posting year-over-year improvements in revenues and diluted earnings per share and a 20.5% gross profit margin.

"Our balance sheet remained strong, with cash and cash equivalents of $80.2 million at the end of fiscal 2014 and unfunded financing portfolio assets which could generate up to $71 million in cash proceeds if funded. This provides us with the financial resources and flexibility to take advantage of organic and acquisition growth opportunities in the periods ahead," Mr. Norton noted.

Fiscal Fourth Quarter 2014 Results

• For the quarter ended March 31, 2014, consolidated revenues increased 10.0% to $259.9 million from $236.3 million in last year's fourth quarter.
   
• Technology revenues increased 11.6% to $251.9 million, up from $225.7 million a year earlier.
   
• Financing revenues were $8.0 million, down from $10.6 million in the fiscal 2013 fourth quarter.
   
• Net earnings rose 6.8% to $8.2 million, or $1.03 per diluted share, compared with $7.7 million, or $0.95 per diluted share, in last year's fourth quarter.

Fiscal 2014 Results

• For fiscal year 2014, consolidated revenues rose 7.6% to $1.1 billion, from $983.1 million a year earlier.
   
• Technology revenues were $1.0 billion, an increase of 8.3% from the $943.2 million reported last year.
   
• Financing revenues for fiscal 2014 were $36.1 million, compared with $39.9 million a year earlier.
   
• Net earnings rose 1.3% to $35.3 million, or $4.37 per diluted share, compared with $34.8 million, or $4.32 per diluted share in fiscal 2013.

Balance Sheet Highlights

At March 31, 2014, the Company had $80.2 million of cash and cash equivalents and short term investments, compared to $53.7 million on March 31, 2013. Total stockholders' equity was $266.4 million and total diluted shares outstanding were 8.0 million, compared to $238.2 million and 7.9 million diluted shares, respectively, at March 31, 2013.

Summary and Outlook

"Fiscal 2014 was another year of solid performance for ePlus and has set the stage for continued growth and progress. Ongoing investments to expand our engineering capabilities and headcount and increase our sales and marketing personnel and programs, we believe should enable us to continue to grow revenues at a faster pace than the overall IT market and to continue to post significant year-over-year increases in services revenues. We believe that we are competitively well-positioned to achieve organic growth by providing complex IT solutions to a diversified and expanding roster of over 2,800 customers, and that there will be significant opportunities ahead to make accretive acquisitions designed to further broaden our customer base and capabilities, and build out the geographic coverage of our national footprint," Mr. Norton concluded.

Results of Operations – Three Months Ended March 31, 2014

The Company's operations are conducted through two business segments. The technology segment includes sales of information technology products, third-party software, third-party maintenance contracts, advanced professional services and managed services, and licensing of the Company's proprietary software to commercial, and state and local governments and educational institutions. The financing segment consists of the financing of equipment, software and related services to commercial, state and local governments, educational institutions and government contractors.

Technology Segment

The results of operations for the technology segment for the three months ended March 31, 2014 and 2013 were as follows (dollars in thousands):

Total revenues increased 11.6% to $251.9 million, compared to $225.7 million in last year's fourth quarter, reflecting higher sales of products and services to large and middle-market customers. Total costs and expenses increased 11.2% to $239.1 million, compared with $215.1 million in the year-ago quarter, due to a combination of higher revenues and related costs, and a 6.6% increase in engineering and sales and marketing headcount.

Gross margin on sales of products and services was 18.8%. The 19.7% reported for the same quarter last year included product mix and pricing benefits specific to that period.

Technology segment earnings were $12.8 million, compared with $10.6 million a year earlier.

Financing Segment

The results of operations for the financing segment for the three months ended March 31, 2014 and 2013 were as follows (dollars in thousands):

Total revenues fell 24.1% to $8.0 million, compared to $10.6 million a year earlier, primarily due to lower transactional gains. Total costs and expenses fell 19.4% to $6.9 million, compared with $8.5 million a year earlier, in line with the revenue decline.

Financing segment earnings were $1.2 million, compared to $2.1 million a year earlier.

Results of Operations – Year Ended March 31, 2014

Technology Segment

The results of operations for our technology segment for the years ended March 31, 2014 and 2013 were as follows (dollars in thousands):

Total revenues for the year ended March 31, 2014 increased 8.3% to $1.0 billion, from $943.2 million a year earlier, assisted by an increase in professional service revenues.

The Company maintained its balanced portfolio of customer end markets. The breakdown of sales of products and services as a percentage of total was as follows:

Total costs and expenses for the year ended March 31, 2014 increased 8.2% to $970.1 million, from $896.6 million a year earlier, reflecting an increase in revenues and related costs and a 6.6% increase in engineering and sales and marketing headcount to 643 from 603. Gross margin on sales of product and services was 18.3%, up from 18.0% in last fiscal year. Segment earnings were $51.3 million compared to $46.5 million in the prior year.

Financing Segment

The results of operations for our financing segment for the years ended March 31, 2014 and 2013 were as follows (dollars in thousands):

Revenues decreased 9.5% to $36.1 million, from $39.9 million a year earlier. Transactional gains increased by 18.8% to $8.5 million, but were more than offset by lower post-contract earnings, as last fiscal year's results benefitted from the early termination of certain lease agreements.

Total costs and expenses fell 1.4% to $27.3 million, from $27.7 million a year earlier, and segment earnings fell 28.1% to $8.8 million, from $12.2 million in fiscal 2013.

Recent Corporate Developments

• In May 2014, ePlus completed a secondary common stock offering by existing stockholders of 1,810,000 shares, including shares sold in the overallotment, at a price to the public of $50.00 per share. ePlus did not receive any proceeds from the transaction. In connection with the offering, the Company repurchased from the underwriters 400,000 shares of ePlus common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $19.0 million, using proceeds generated by funding a portion of the financing portfolio with non-recourse notes payable.
   
• On February 4, 2014, ePlus announced the opening of a new managed services center in the Raleigh, NC area. The 12,000 square-foot facility is ePlus' third Managed Services Center in the United States.

Recognitions

• On December 4, 2013, ePlus was awarded top partner ranking in FlexPod sales for the first half of NetApp's fiscal year 2014. FlexPod is a pretested and validated solution that combines networking, computing and storage in a shared infrastructure and supports multiple applications and workloads to help customers accelerate and simplify their transition to the cloud.
   
• On April 1, 2014, ePlus received a Cisco Partner Summit Global award, recognized as Cloud Builder of the Year. In addition, ePlus received the following recognitions at the summit:
  • Commercial Partner of the Year, Americas
  • Architectural Excellence - Collaboration, US/Canada: East
  • Cisco Meraki Elevate East Partner of the Year, US/Canada: East
  • SLED Partner of the Year, US/Canada: West
     
• On April 8, 2014, ePlus was named co-winner in the Enterprise Group U.S. 2014 Top Growth Partner HP Storage VAR category at Hewlett-Packard's Global Partner Conference in Las Vegas, NV. ePlus is an HP Platinum Partner with HP specializations in Converged Infrastructure and Printing and Computing Systems. 

Conference Call Information

The Company will host a conference call on Tuesday, June 3, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time to review and discuss the Company's results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2014. The call can be accessed live over the phone by dialing (877) 870-9226, or for international callers, (973) 890-8320. Passcode 42332044. A live webcast will be available via the Company's investor relations Web site at http://www.eplus.com/investors.

A replay will be available shortly after the call and can be accessed by dialing (855) 859-2056, or for international callers, (404) 537-3406. Passcode 42332044. The replay will be available until June 5, 2014, and the webcast will also remain available for replay via the Company's investor relations page of its Web site.

About ePlus inc.

ePlus is a leading integrator of technology solutions. ePlus enables organizations to optimize their IT infrastructure and supply chain processes by delivering complex information technology solutions, which may include managed and professional services and products from top manufacturers, flexible financing, and proprietary software. Founded in 1990, ePlus has more than 900 associates serving commercial, state, municipal, and education customers nationally. The Company is headquartered in Herndon, VA. For more information, visit www.eplus.com, call 888-482-1122, or email info@eplus.com. Connect with ePlus on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ePlusinc and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ePlus. 

ePlus^® and ePlus products referenced herein are either registered trademarks or trademarks of ePlus inc. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements." Actual and anticipated future results may vary materially due to certain risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, possible adverse effects resulting from financial market disruption and general slowdown of the U.S. economy such as our current and potential customers' delaying or reducing technology purchases, increasing credit risk associated with our customers and vendors, reduction of vendor incentive programs, the possibility of additional goodwill impairment charges, and restrictions on our access to capital necessary to fund our operations; significant adverse changes in, reductions in, or losses of relationships with major customers or vendors; our ability to implement comprehensive plans to achieve customer account coverage, cost containment, asset rationalization, systems integration and other key strategies; our ability to secure our electronic and other confidential information; changes to our senior management team; the demand for and acceptance of, our products and services; our ability to adapt our services to meet changes in market developments; our ability to adapt to changes in the IT industry and/or rapid change in product standards; our ability to hire and retain sufficient personnel; our ability to realize our investment in leased equipment; our ability to protect our intellectual property; our ability to consummate and integrate acquisitions; the creditworthiness of our customers; our ability to raise capital and obtain non-recourse financing for our transactions; our ability to reserve adequately for credit losses; the impact of competition in our markets; the possibility of defects in our products or catalog content data; and other risks or uncertainties detailed in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information set forth in this press release is current as of the date of this release and ePlus undertakes no duty or obligation to update this information.