Wilhelmina International, Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Results

Annual Financial Highlights

• Annual revenues of $56.8 million for 2021 improved by 36.6% from the prior year.
• Annual operating income of $2.2 million for 2021 was the highest since 2015.
• Annual net cash flows provided by operating activities were $5.5 million in 2021, benefitted by employee retention payroll tax credit.
• Annual pre-tax income of $5.3 million, net income of $4.5 million and EBITDA were $6.2 million for 2021, aided by PPP loan forgiveness and employee retention payroll tax credit.
• Annual Adjusted EBITDA and Pre-Corporate EBITDA for 2021 of $3.6 million and $4.5 million were the highest since 2011 and 2013, respectively.
  

DALLAS, March 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wilhelmina International, Inc. (Nasdaq: WHLM) ("Wilhelmina" or the "Company") today reported revenues of $15.2 million and net income of $23 thousand for the three months ended December 31, 2021, compared to revenues of $12.0 million and net income of $0.4 million for the three months ended December 31, 2020. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, Wilhelmina reported revenues of $56.8 million and net income of $4.5 million compared to revenue of $41.6 million and net loss of $4.9 million for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020. During the three months and fiscal years of 2021 and 2020, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had a material impact on revenues. In recent quarters, the Company’s revenue has trended positively as the cities where it operates are reopening and COVID-19 vaccination rates increase.

Financial Results

Net income for the three months ended December 31, 2021 was $23 thousand, or $0.00 per fully diluted share, compared to net income of $0.4 million, or $0.08 per fully diluted share, for the three months ended December 31, 2020. Net income for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 was $4.5 million, or $0.88 per fully diluted share, compared to net loss of $4.9 million, or $0.96 per fully diluted share, for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.

EBITDA was $0.3 million and $6.2 million for the three months and fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $1.0 million and ($2.7) million for the three months and fiscal year ended December 31, 2020. Adjusted EBITDA was $0.9 million and $3.6 million for the three months and fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $1.1 million and ($1.9) million for the three months and fiscal year ended December 31, 2020. Pre-Corporate EBITDA was $1.1 million and $4.5 million for the three months and fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $1.3 million and ($1.0) million for the three months and fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.  

The following table reconciles reported net income under generally accepted accounting principles to EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Pre-Corporate EBITDA for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.

Changes in net income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Pre-Corporate EBITDA for the three months and fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, when compared to the three months and fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, were primarily the result of the following:

• Revenues net of model costs for the three months and fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 increased by 27.0% and 36.6% primarily due to increased bookings as the cities where Wilhelmina operates reopened and business activity increased as COVID-19 vaccination rates rose;
  
• Salaries and service costs increased 57% for the three months ended December 31, 2021 primarily due to temporary reductions in staff salaries in the prior year, which returned to full salary in July 2021, as well as new employee hires during 2021. Salaries and service costs decreased 5.4% for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 primarily due to employee layoffs in July 2020, temporary reductions in staff salaries and the closure of the hair and makeup artist division in the second half of 2020, partially offset by new employee hires during 2021;
  
• Office and general expenses for the three months and fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 decreased by 10.3% and 17.6%, primarily due to reduced rent expense, computer expenses, recruiting costs, and other office expenses, partially offset by an increase in legal expense in 2021;
  
• Amortization and depreciation expense for the three months and fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 decreased by 68.3% and 31.5%, primarily due to reduced depreciation of assets that became fully amortized in 2020;
  
• Non-recurring items included $2.0 million of gain on forgiveness of PPP loans and $1.3 million of employee retention payroll tax credit in the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, as well as $0.6 million of cybersecurity incident expenses in the three months and fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, all compared to a $0.8 million goodwill impairment charge in the fiscal year December 31, 2020; and
  
• Corporate overhead increased by 29.6% and 1.0% for the three months and fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, primarily due to temporary reduction in fees paid to corporate employees and the Company’s directors in the prior year that returned to full fee in July 2021.
  

Cybersecurity Incident Expenses

In November 2021, the Company determined that it had recently been the victim of criminal fraud known to law enforcement authorities as “business e-mail compromise fraud” which involved employee e-mail impersonation and fraudulent payment requests targeting the finance department of a division of the Company. The Company recorded a charge of $0.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 for unrecovered unauthorized payments and professional service fees associated with the fraud. The Company is continuing to pursue the recovery of the remaining unauthorized payments and is cooperating with U.S. federal law enforcement authorities who are actively pursuing an investigation.

WILHELMINA INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(In thousands, except share data) 

WILHELMINA INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)
For the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
 (In thousands, except per share data)

WILHELMINA INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES`
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
For the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
(In thousands)

WILHELMINA INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOW
For the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
 (In thousands)
                                                                                              

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Pre-Corporate EBITDA represent measures of financial performance that are not calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“non-GAAP financial measures”). The Company considers EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Pre-Corporate EBITDA to be important measures of performance because they:

• are key operating metrics of the Company's business;
• are used by management in its planning and budgeting processes and to monitor and evaluate its financial and operating results; and
• provide stockholders and potential investors with a means to evaluate the Company's financial and operating results against other companies within the Company's industry. 
  

The Company's calculation of non-GAAP financial measures may not be consistent with similar calculations by other companies in the Company's industry. The Company calculates EBITDA as net income plus interest expense, income tax expense, and depreciation and amortization expense. The Company calculates “Adjusted EBITDA” as EBITDA plus foreign exchange gain/loss plus share-based payment expense and certain significant non-recurring items that the Company may include from time to time. For 2020, these non-recurring items represented goodwill impairments. For 2021, these non-recurring items represented cybersecurity incident expenses, gain on forgiveness of PPP loans and employee retention payroll tax credit. The Company calculates “Pre-Corporate EBITDA” as Adjusted EBITDA plus corporate overhead expense, which includes director compensation, securities laws compliance costs, audit and professional fees, and other public company costs.

Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as alternatives to net and operating income as an indicator of the Company's operating performance or cash flows from operating activities as a measure of liquidity or any other measure of performance derived in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

Form 10-K Filing

Additional information concerning the Company's results of operations and financial position is included in the Company's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 2022.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain “forward-looking” statements as such term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements relating to the Company are based on the beliefs of the Company’s management as well as information currently available to the Company’s management. When used in this report, the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect” and “intend” and words or phrases of similar import, as they relate to the Company or Company management, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, in particular, projections about the Company’s future results, statements about its plans, strategies, business prospects, changes and trends in its business and the markets in which it operates. Additionally, statements concerning future matters such as gross billing levels, revenue levels, expense levels, and other statements regarding matters that are not historical are forward-looking statements. Management cautions that these forward-looking statements relate to future events or the Company’s future financial performance and are subject to business, economic, and other risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements of its business or its industry to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements. Should any one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected or intended. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements. As a result, no person should place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

About Wilhelmina International, Inc. (www.wilhelmina.com):

Wilhelmina, together with its subsidiaries, is an international full-service fashion model and talent management service, specializing in the representation and management of leading models, celebrities, artists, photographers, athletes, and content creators. Established in 1967 by fashion model Wilhelmina Cooper, Wilhelmina is one of the oldest and largest fashion model management companies in the world. Wilhelmina is publicly traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol WHLM. Wilhelmina is headquartered in New York and, since its founding, has grown to include operations in Los Angeles, Miami and London. Wilhelmina also owns Aperture, a talent and commercial agency located in New York and Los Angeles. For more information, please visit www.wilhelmina.com and follow @WilhelminaModels.