ACI Worldwide (ACIW), a leading global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions, today announced financial results for the quarter and full year ended December 31, 2015.
“We delivered our strongest organic SNET growth of the year in Q4 and set a new sales bookings record. With the retailer segment showing particular interest in our omni-channel offering and with the introduction of our new Universal Payments support for our legacy BASE24 customers, we are increasingly confident our recent strategic moves position the Company well for long-term growth,” commented Phil Heasley, President and CEO, ACI Worldwide. “We look forward to capitalizing on the acceleration in broad market interest we are seeing for our payment solutions in 2016 and beyond.”
Q4 FINANCIAL SUMMARY
During the quarter new sales bookings, net of term extensions, (SNET) grew 10% after adjusting for foreign currency fluctuations. Overall bookings, including term extensions, grew 14% after adjusting for foreign currency fluctuations. This term extension growth was higher than anticipated, which resulted in higher commissions and related selling expenses, resulting in a near-term impact to profit.
GAAP revenue in Q4 was $309 million, up 6% from last year. Excluding incremental contribution from the PAY.ON acquisition and adjusting for foreign currency fluctuations, Q4 revenue increased 7% from the same quarter last year.
Q4 adjusted EBITDA of $115 million grew $8 million, or up 8%, from Q4 2014.
We ended the year with a 60-month backlog of $4.3 billion and a 12-month backlog of $918 million. Excluding incremental PAY.ON contribution and adjusting for foreign currency fluctuations, our 60-month backlog increased $110 million and our 12-month backlog grew $27 million from Q3 2015.
FULL YEAR 2015 FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Full year new sales bookings, net of term extensions (SNET) grew 8% after adjusting for foreign currency fluctuations. Overall bookings, including term extensions, grew 19% to $1.24 billion after adjusting for foreign currency fluctuations.
Full year GAAP revenue was $1.046 billion, up $55 million, or 5% over 2014, after adjusting for foreign currency fluctuations.
Adjusted EBITDA of $260 million was flat with last year. After adjusting for pass through interchange revenues of $130 million and $118 million in 2015 and 2014, respectively, net adjusted EBITDA margin represented 28.4% in 2015 versus 28.9% in 2014. Adjusted EBITDA figures exclude significant transaction-related expenses of $15 million and $23 million in 2015 and 2014, respectively.
GAAP net income for the year was $85 million, or $0.72 per diluted share, up 26% and 24%, respectively. Operating free cash flow for the year was $143 million, up 6% from $134 million in 2014. GAAP cash flow from operations was $183 million, up 23% from last year. As of December 31, 2015, we had $102 million in cash on hand, a debt balance of $939 million, and $138 million remaining under our share repurchase authorization.
2016 GUIDANCE
Excluding contribution from the CFS business, we expect to generate revenue from ongoing operations in a range of $990 million to $1.02 billion in 2016, which represents 4-7% organic growth after adjusting for the PAY.ON acquisition and foreign currency fluctuations. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in a range of $265 million to $275 million, which excludes any contribution from the CFS business and approximately $15 million in one-time integration related expenses for PAY.ON, the CFS divestiture, data center and facilities consolidation, and bill payment platform rationalization. We expect to generate between $205 million and $215 million of revenue in the first quarter, which excludes up to $23 million in incremental revenue from the CFS business, depending on transaction close date. We expect full year 2016 net new sales bookings to grow in the upper single digit range.