Release Details

• Q4 2018 revenue of $70.8 million, up 25% over Q4 2017
• GAAP net income from continuing operations of $1.6 million, or $0.02 per share
• New non-GAAP metric media margin of $25.1 million, up 27% over Q4 2017
• Adjusted EBITDA of $11.1 million, up 4% over Q4 2017
• Introducing guidance for 2019

NEW YORK, March 13, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fluent, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLNT), a leading data-driven performance marketing company, today reported results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2018.

“We are pleased to report strong results for Q4 and full-year 2018, which we believe validate the efficacy of Fluent's business model” commented Ryan Schulke, Fluent’s Chief Executive Officer. “Further, our diligent dual-pronged focus on providing consumers with engaging digital experiences, while delivering highly effective performance-based marketing solutions to our clients, remains at the core of our strategic priorities for 2019 and beyond. During the past year, we grew our team by approximately one-third and we recently announced our new corporate headquarters, setting the stage for anticipated future growth, as reflected in our 2019 guidance which we are introducing today."

Fluent's Chief Financial Officer, Alex Mandel, added "Fluent's results speak to the scale, profitability and growth achieved by the Company and enabled by our colleague base, consumer audience and advertiser clients in 2018. Following the Spin-off in Q1 2018, the Company has been laser-focused on expanding the reach and market awareness of our performance-based marketing solutions."

Fourth Quarter Highlights

• Revenue of $70.8 million, an increase of 25% over Q4 2017.
• Net income from continuing operations of $1.6 million, compared to net loss from continuing operations of $2.8 million in Q4 2017.
• Media margin of $25.1 million, representing 35% of revenue and growth of 27% over Q4 2017.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $11.1 million, representing 16% of revenue and growth of 4% over Q4 2017.
• Adjusted net income of $6.0 million, or $0.08 per share.

Full-Year 2018 Highlights

• Revenue of $250.3 million, an increase of 18% over 2017.
• Net income from continuing operations of $3.2 million, compared to net loss from continuing operations of $31.7 million in 2017.
• Media margin of $92.2 million, representing 37% of revenue and growth of 34% over 2017.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $44.1 million, representing 18% of revenue and growth of 35% over 2017.
• Adjusted net income of $22.7 million, or $0.30 per share.

Media margin, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income are non-GAAP financial measures. Media margin is defined as revenue minus cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) attributable to variable costs paid for media and related expenses. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income (loss) from continuing operations, excluding (1) income taxes, (2) non-cash loss on amendment of warrants, (3) interest expense (net), (4) write-off of long-lived assets, (5) depreciation and amortization, (6) share-based compensation expense, (7) acquisition and restructuring costs, and (8) litigation and certain other costs. Adjusted net income is defined as net income (loss) from continuing operations, excluding (1) non-cash loss on amendment of warrants, (2) write-off of long-lived assets, (3) share-based compensation expense, (4) acquisition and restructuring costs, and (5) litigation and certain other costs. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures are provided below.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2018 Fluent had:

• 75,292,383 shares outstanding
• 2,909,917 vested not delivered restricted stock units or shares of common stock grants
• $17.8 million cash and equivalents
• $35.0 million working capital, calculated as current assets minus current liabilities
• $55.5 million of debt

Business Outlook - 2019

Fluent is providing revenue, media margin and adjusted EBITDA guidance for first quarter and full-year 2019, as follows:

For first quarter 2019:

• Revenue is anticipated to be $65.5 - $66.5 million, or 17% - 19% over Q1 2018.
• Media margin is anticipated to be in the range of $22.5 - $23.5 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA is anticipated to be in the range of $8.8 - $9.6 million.

Full-year 2019:

• Revenue is anticipated to be $285 - $293 million, or 14% - 17% over full-year 2018.
• Media margin is anticipated to be in the range of $100 - $106 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA is anticipated to be in the range of $46 - $50 million, or 5% - 14% over full-year 2018. Full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance reflects additions to our colleague base and our new corporate headquarters, among other factors.

Fluent is not able to provide a reconciliation of projected media margin or adjusted EBITDA to the most directly comparable expected GAAP results, due to the unknown effect, timing and potential significance of certain operating costs and expenses, share-based compensation expense, depreciation and amortization expense, interest expense (net), and the provision for (benefit from) income taxes.

Conference Call and Webcast

Fluent, Inc. will host a conference call on Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at 4:30 PM ET to discuss its 2018 fourth quarter and full-year financial results. To listen to the conference call on your telephone, please dial (888) 339-0797 for domestic callers or (412) 317-5248 for international callers. To access the live audio webcast, visit the Fluent website at investors.fluentco.com. Please login at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the call to ensure adequate time for any downloads that may be required. Following completion of the earnings call, a recorded replay of the webcast will be available for those unable to participate. To listen to the telephone replay, please dial (877) 344-7529 or (412) 317-0088 with the replay passcode 10127987. The replay will also be available for one week on the Fluent website at investors.fluentco.com.

About Fluent, Inc.

Fluent (NASDAQ: FLNT) is a leading performance marketing company with expertise in creating meaningful connections between consumers and brands. Leveraging our proprietary first-party database of opted-in consumer profiles, Fluent drives intelligent growth strategies that deliver superior outcomes. Founded in 2010, the company is headquartered in New York City. For more information, visit www.fluentco.com.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

The matters contained in this press release may be considered to be “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations or anticipations of Fluent and members of our management team. Factors currently known to management that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include the following: compliance with a significant number of governmental laws and regulations, including those laws and regulations regarding privacy and data; failure to safeguard the personal information and other data contained in our database; failure to compete effectively against other online marketing and advertising companies; dependence on third-party publishers, internet search providers and social media platforms for a significant portion of visitors to our websites; dependence on our key personnel; dependence on emails, text messages and telephone calls, among other channels, to reach users for marketing purposes; competition we face for web traffic; ability to compete in an industry characterized by rapidly-changing internet media and advertising technology, evolving industry standards, regulatory uncertainty, and changing user and client demands; liability related to actions of third-party publishers; limitations on our or our third-party publishers’ ability to collect and use data derived from user activities; ability to remain competitive with the shift of online interactions from computers to mobile devices; dependence on third-party service providers; management of the growth of our operations; management of unfavorable publicity and negative public perception about our industry; failure to meet our clients’ performance metrics or changing needs; failure to detect click-through or other fraud on advertisements; achievement of some or all of the benefits that we expect to achieve from our separation from red violet; failure to adequately protect intellectual property rights or allegations of infringement of intellectual property rights; compliance with the covenants of our credit agreement; and the potential for failures in our internal control over financial reporting. These and additional factors to be considered are set forth under “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2018 and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fluent undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results or expectations.

FLUENT, INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
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CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
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CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
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Definitions, Use and Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The following non-GAAP measures are used in this release:

Media margin is defined as revenue minus cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) attributable to variable costs paid for media and related expenses. Media margin is also presented as percentage of revenue.

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income (loss) from continuing operations, excluding (1) income taxes, (2) non-cash loss on amendment of warrants, (3) interest expense (net), (4) write-off of long-lived assets, (5) depreciation and amortization, (6) share-based compensation expense, (7) acquisition and restructuring costs, and (8) litigation and certain other costs.

Adjusted net income is defined as  net income (loss) from continuing operations, excluding (1) non-cash loss on amendment of warrants, (2) write-off of long-lived assets, (3) share-based compensation expense, (4) acquisition and restructuring costs, and (5) litigation and certain other costs. Adjusted net income is also presented on a per share (basic and diluted) basis.

Below is a reconciliation of media margin from net income (loss) from continuing operations, which we believe is the most directly comparable GAAP measure.

Below is a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA from net income (loss) from continuing operations, which we believe is the most directly comparable GAAP measure.

Below is a reconciliation of adjusted net income from net income (loss) from continuing operations, which we believe is the most directly comparable GAAP measure.

We present media margin, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income as supplemental measures of our financial and operating performance because we believe they provide useful information to investors. More specifically:

Media margin is a measure of the efficiency of the Company’s operating model. We use media margin and the related measure of media margin as a percentage of revenue as primary metrics to measure the financial return on our media and related costs, specifically to measure the degree by which the revenue generated from our digital marketing services exceeds the cost to attract the consumers to whom offers are made through our services. Media margin is used extensively by our management to manage our operating performance, including evaluating operational performance against budgeted media margin and understanding the efficiency of our media and related expenditures. We also use media margin for performance evaluations and compensation decisions regarding certain personnel.

Adjusted EBITDA is another primary metric by which we evaluate the operating performance of our business, on which certain operating expenditures and internal budgets are based and by which, in addition to media margin and other factors, our senior management is compensated. Adjusted EBITDA excludes from net income (loss) from continuing operations items including (1) income taxes, (2) non-cash loss on amendment of warrants, (3) interest expense (net), (4) write-off of long-lived assets, (5) depreciation and amortization, (6) share-based compensation expense, (7) acquisition and restructuring costs, and (8) litigation and certain other costs, certain of which are recognized and recorded under GAAP in particular periods but which might be viewed as not necessarily coinciding with the underlying business operations for the periods in which they are so recognized and recorded, or may be non-recurring in nature. We consider an item to be non-recurring if it is infrequent or unusual and has not occurred in the past two years or is not expected to recur in the next two years, in accordance with SEC rules.

Adjusted net income and the related measure of adjusted net income per share exclude from net income (loss) from continuing operations items including (1) non-cash loss on amendment of warrants, (2) write-off of long-lived assets, (3) share-based compensation expense, (4) acquisition and restructuring costs, and (5) litigation and certain other costs, certain of which are recognized and recorded under GAAP in particular periods but which might be viewed as not necessarily coinciding with the underlying business operations for the periods in which they are so recognized and recorded, or may be non-recurring in nature. We believe adjusted net income affords investors a different view of the overall financial performance of the Company than adjusted EBITDA and the GAAP measure of net income from continuing operations.

Media margin, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income are not intended to be performance measures that should be regarded as an alternative to, or more meaningful than, net income (loss) from continuing operations as indicators of operating performance. None of these metrics are presented as measures of liquidity. The way we measure media margin, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies and may not be identical to corresponding measures used in our various agreements.

Contact Information:

Investors:
Investor Relations
Fluent, Inc.
(917) 310-2070
InvestorRelations@fluentco.com

Source: Fluent, Inc.