Points International Ltd. Reports Third Quarter 2017 Financial Results

Record Revenue of $91.2 Million

Gross Profit¹ Increased 14% Year-Over-Year to $11.4 Million

TORONTO, Nov. 08, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Points (TSX:PTS) (Nasdaq:PCOM), the global leader in powering loyalty commerce, today announced results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2017.

“Our strong third quarter performance demonstrates continued progress toward our strategic goals and financial targets for 2017,” stated Rob MacLean, CEO. “During the third quarter we built on the success of our Loyalty Currency Retailing segment and also saw meaningful strategic and financial gains in our Platform Partners and Points Travel segments.  Momentum coming out of this quarter offers increased confidence in our ongoing diversification efforts and positions us for continued success in 2018.” 

Third Quarter 2017 Financial Results
(Unless otherwise stated, all comparisons are on a year-over-year basis and all amounts are in USD. The complete third quarter Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements and Management Discussion & Analysis, including segmented results, are available at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov.)

• Revenue increased to a record $91.2 million from $82.4 million.  Principal Revenues totaled $87.2 million and Other Partner Revenue was $3.9 million. 
• Gross Profit grew 14% to $11.4 million, compared to $10.1 million.
• Total Adjusted Operating Expenses² were $8.2 million, compared to $7.8 million.
• Net Income totaled $0.6 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, compared to Net Income of $0.3 million, or $0.02 per diluted share. 
• Adjusted EBITDA³ was $3.1 million, compared to $2.3 million.

Recent Business Highlights

• Recently expanded relationship with Shangri-La Hotels in China, for Loyalty Currency Retailing services.
• Announced a partnership with Groupon, the leading daily deals service, to incent customers through our Platform Partnerships services with up to 10 points per dollar spent with popular hotel and airline loyalty programs, including Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, Choice Privileges, IHG Rewards Club, JetBlue TrueBlue, La Quinta Returns and United MileagePlus.
• During the third quarter, Points repurchased for cancellation 153,047 shares of common stock at an average price of $9.41 per share through its Automatic Share Purchase Plan in conjunction with its Normal Course Issuer Bid.

Outlook

The Company is reiterating financial guidance for the year ending December 31, 2017, as follows:

• Gross profit is expected to increase up to 10% from 2016
• Adjusted EBITDA is expected to increase up to 10% from 2016
• Current expectation is to be near the upper end of the range for both metrics

Investor Conference Call

Points' conference call with investors will be held today at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time.  To participate, investors from the US and Canada should dial (877) 407-0784 ten minutes prior to the start time. International callers should dial (201) 689-8560.

In addition, the call is being webcast and can be accessed at the Company's web site: investor.points.com and will be archived online upon completion of the call. A telephonic replay of the conference call will also be available until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, November 15, 2017, by dialing (844) 512-2921 in the U.S. and Canada and (412) 317-6671 internationally and entering the passcode 13672810.

About Points

Points, publicly traded as Points International Ltd. (TSX:PTS) (Nasdaq:PCOM), provides loyalty e-commerce and technology solutions to the world's top brands to power innovative services that drive increased loyalty program revenue and member engagement. With a growing network of over 50 global loyalty programs integrated into its unique Loyalty Commerce Platform, Points offers three core private or co-branded services: its Buy Gift and Transfer service retails loyalty points and miles directly to consumers; its Points Loyalty Wallet service offers any developer transactional access to dozens of loyalty programs and their hundreds of millions of members via a package of APIs; and its Points Travel service helps loyalty programs increase program revenue from hotel bookings, and provides more opportunities for members to earn and redeem loyalty rewards more quickly. Points is headquartered in Toronto with offices in San Francisco and London.

For more information, visit company.points.com, follow Points on Twitter (@PointsLoyalty) or read the Points blog. For Points’ financial information, visit investor.points.com.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains or incorporates forward-looking statements within the meaning of United States securities legislation, and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements include, among other things, opportunities for new products and partners and incremental revenue, potential for growth in revenue and gross margin and our guidance for 2017 with respect to gross profit and adjusted EBITDA expectations. These statements are not historical facts but instead represent only Points' expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events.

Although Points believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to important risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Certain material assumptions or estimates are applied in making forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. In particular, the financial outlooks herein assume Points will be able to maintain its existing contractual relationships and products, that such products continue to perform in a manner consistent with Points' past experience, that Points will be able to generate new business from our pipeline at expected margins, our in-market and newly launched products and services will perform in a manner consistent with the Company's past experience and we will be able to contain costs. Our ability to convert our pipeline of prospective partners and product launches is subject to significant risk and there can be no assurance that we will launch new partners or new products with existing partners as expected or planned nor can there be any assurance that Points will be successful in maintaining its existing contractual relationships or maintaining existing products with existing partners.  Other important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include the risk factors discussed in Points' annual information form, Form-40-F, annual and interim management's discussion and analysis, and annual and interim financial statements and the notes thereto. These documents are available at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov.

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as at the date of this release and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. Except as required by law, Points does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements made or incorporated in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Use of Non-GAAP Measures

The Corporation’s financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”). Management uses certain non-GAAP measures, which are defined in the appropriate sections of this press release, to better assess the Corporation’s underlying performance. These measures are reviewed regularly by management and the Corporation’s Board of Director’s in assessing the Corporation’s performance and in making decisions about ongoing operations. These measures are also used by investors as an indicator of the Corporation’s operating performance. Readers are cautioned that these terms are not recognized GAAP measures and do not have a standardized GAAP meaning under IFRS and should not be construed as alternatives to IFRS terms, such as net income.

Contact:
Points Investor Relations
ICR, Inc.
Garo Toomajanian
ir@points.com


Points International Ltd.
Key Financial Measures and Schedule of Non-GAAP Reconciliations

Gross Profit⁴ Information

Reconciliation of Net Income to Adjusted EBITDA⁵

Reconciliation of Total Expenses to Adjusted Operating Expenses⁶

Points International Ltd.
Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Financial Position       

Expressed in thousands of United States dollars
(Unaudited)

Points International Ltd.
Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Comprehensive Income

Expressed in thousands of United States dollars, except per share amounts
(Unaudited)

Points International Ltd.

Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Changes in Shareholders’ Equity   
                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Points International Ltd.

Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Cash Flows 
Expressed in thousands of United States dollars

Amounts received for interest were reflected as operating cash flows in the condensed consolidated interim statements of cash flows.

¹ Gross profit is defined as total revenues less the direct cost of revenues. Gross profit is considered by Management to be an integral measure of financial performance and represents the amount of revenues retained by the Corporation after incurring direct costs. However, gross profit is not a recognized measure of profitability under IFRS.

² Adjusted Operating Expenses consists of employment expenses excluding stock based compensation, marketing and communications, technology services, and other operating expenses. Adjusted Operating Expenses is not a measure of financial performance under IFRS and should not be considered a substitute for total expenses, which we believe to be the most directly comparable IFRS measure.

³ Adjusted EBITDA (Earnings before income tax expense, depreciation and amortization, foreign exchange, share-based compensation and impairment of long-term investments) is considered by Management to be a useful supplemental measure when assessing financial performance. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA is an important indicator of the Corporation's ability to generate liquidity through operating cash flow to fund future capital expenditures and working capital needs. However, Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under IFRS and should not be considered a substitute for Net Income, which we believe to be the most directly comparable IFRS measure.

⁴ Gross Profit is defined as total revenues less the direct cost of principal revenues. Gross profit is considered by Management to be an integral measure of financial performance and represents the amount of revenues retained by the Corporation after incurring direct costs. However, gross profit is not a recognized measure of profitability under IFRS.

⁵ Adjusted EBITDA (Earnings before income tax expense, depreciation and amortization, foreign exchange, share-based compensation and impairment of long-term investments) is considered by Management to be a useful supplemental measure when assessing financial performance. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA is an important indicator of the Corporation's ability to generate liquidity through operating cash flow to fund future capital expenditures and working capital needs. However, Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under IFRS and should not be considered a substitute for Net Income, which we believe to be the most directly comparable IFRS measure.

⁶ Adjusted Operating Expenses consists of employment expenses excluding stock based compensation, marketing, technology, and other operating expenses. Adjusted Operating Expenses is not a measure of financial performance under IFRS and should not be considered a substitute for total expenses, which we believe to be the most directly comparable IFRS measure.