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Text: Joining me are Jeff Jones, our president and chief executive officer; and Tony Bowen, our chief financial officer.
For a description of these risks and uncertainties, please see H&R Block's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q as updated periodically with the company's other SEC filings.
Please note, some metrics we'll discuss today are presented on a non-GAAP basis.
We're really happy to be with you today and excited to talk about our first quarter, and we have a lot to share.
Over the past several months, we've met with many investors and analysts.
And today, beyond our thoughts on the quarter, we'll address many of the themes that have emerged.
I'll begin by summarizing our results and providing thoughts on tax season '22.
Then I'll share perspective on the value we have created over the last several years and the levers we have to achieve our long-term revenue growth target of 3% to 6%.
Finally, Tony will review our financials, fiscal '22 outlook and provide his thoughts on the value of Block today.
Turning to our first quarter results.
We continue to see momentum in the business.
As a reminder, given that the tax season extended through July 15 last year versus only May 17 this year, our quarter ending September 30 is not comparable and does not clearly depict our performance and progress as we're off to a great start.
We saw strong revenue growth from the Emerald Card and Wave and effectively managed costs while appropriately investing in our growth initiatives.
On the capital allocation front, which we'll dig into in a minute, we reduced shares outstanding by another 4% this quarter.
As we look to tax season '22, we are well-positioned for a number of reasons.
Over the past several years, we've invested meaningfully in technology and digital capabilities and have made significant product and experience improvements via our Block Experience imperative.
We pivoted quickly and learned to operate more efficiently during the pandemic.
And our customers have taken note as we have gained market share and just completed our best tax season in over a decade.
Our value proposition is strong, and we are continuing to add product enhancements, including help for retail and crypto investors.
Overall, we feel really good about the platforms we're building and our efforts to retain the clients we serve.
With that backdrop and before we dig into our growth plans, I want to highlight the progress we have made and where we are today.
Our business is strong.
We have a proven track record of generating cash flow, driving earnings per share growth and returning capital to shareholders.
Since 2016, we've averaged annual free cash flow of $465 million, an increase of 29%.
Including the most recent quarter, we've grown the dividend by 35% and repurchased nearly 1/4 of shares outstanding.
In total, these actions have led to an adjusted earnings-per-share growth of 78%.
We've done all this while investing in the business and have strategically positioned ourselves for sustainable long-term growth.
Regardless of year-to-year dynamics, our robust cash flow and capital allocation strategy are evidence of our ability to deliver shareholder value.
With that foundation, let's now discuss what we are doing to drive growth.
We have had our foot on the gas since announcing Block Horizons at our Investor Day last December where we shared our long-term revenue growth target of 3% to 6%.
While we are in the early innings of this next phase of our transformation, we're focused on demonstrating meaningful progress to build investor confidence.
We have multiple levers in place to achieve our goal.
Let's start with the industry.
The tax industry has grown consistently for a long period of time, averaging a historical CAGR of 1%.
As the industry grows, so will we.
We have proven we can hold and grow market share, which we've done in four of the last five years.
We have simultaneously increased customer satisfaction scores, and we will continue to make improvements to the Block Experience.
We anticipate that holding share at a minimum will add about 1 point of growth annually to our top line.
Now let's discuss the revenue contribution from pricing.
As you recall, in 2018, we moved to an upfront transparent pricing model in our Assisted channel, and we have essentially held pricing flat since then.
In DIY, we have a 10% to 20% price advantage relative to our largest competitor.
As a result of our significant product and experience improvements, we plan to take modest price increases in Assisted this year, something we'll evaluate annually.
In DIY, our product is competitive.
And because of our price advantage, we see additional opportunity over time.
In summary, we believe we can add a couple of points of revenue growth to our top line from price adjustments.
We have a long track record of acquiring franchise partners, which will remain part of our ongoing strategy.
Over the past five years, we have purchased on average 125 locations annually, typically from franchisees who are ready to exit for family or retirement reasons.
We believe we can acquire a similar number each year through 2025, which will contribute nearly 1 point of growth to our top line.
We view this to be a good use of capital given we're able to repurchase locations at attractive EBITDA multiples, optimize our footprint and integrate the business into our company operations.
Now let's walk through contributions from our three strategic imperatives.
As you have heard throughout our call, Block Experience is about modernizing and growing the consumer tax business.
It underpins much of the progress and ongoing strategy that we have discussed in our industry share and pricing assumptions.
Our other two strategic initiatives, Small Business and Financial Products, layer on additional new growth levers.
Starting with Wave, we're focused on increasing the value of the existing customer base and acquiring new clients.
The value of the customer as measured in average revenue per business has grown significantly as we continue to innovate with new products and position Wave money at the center of the experience.
Wave's total revenue continues to grow more than 30% year-over-year.
This is contributing about 1 point of growth annually to our consolidated top line.
Beyond Wave, upside in the Small Business imperative exists as we lean into tax services and bookkeeping with an emphasis on human health.
We learned a lot last year and have evolved our marketing messaging in order to drive efficiency and better target customers who can benefit from these products.
We also see additional upside in our Financial Products imperative.
The mobile banking solution we announced as part of our strategy last year supports our goal of serving and engaging with clients year-round.
We've performed extensive market research to understand the consumer needs and, as a result, understand what it takes to succeed.
We know there are 35 million underbanked consumers in the United States alone, a group we view as financially vulnerable and financially coping.
Of this population, 8 million are current Block customers.
They trust us with their most intimate financial details, use our existing products and have an unmet need for additional banking.
Thus, we're uniquely positioned as compared to other competitors who are starting from scratch to build brand awareness and trust.
We've launched the beta product internally and plan to launch nationally in the early part of next tax season with our marketing efforts focused on existing DIY clients.
As you would expect, we will leverage our interactions to incentivize clients to set up direct deposits.
We'll continue to roll out features throughout the year and look forward to sharing more once it has officially launched.
In summary, with respect to revenue growth, we have many levers working in tandem to reach our annual 3% to 6% growth target.
Additionally, we're able to leverage our fixed cost structure, so that EBITDA will grow faster than revenue.
It's also important to note that we're funding our investments by reducing expenses across the company as part of our Fund the Future initiative.
I want to emphasize how great I feel about the progress we've made and the path that we're on.
We're continuing to execute against our strategic imperatives and are gaining momentum.
I am more confident now than ever in our plans for Block Horizons 2025.
Lastly, I'd like to mention that we published our second annual corporate responsibility report in September.
We recognize the importance of environmental stewardship, social responsibility and sound corporate governance.
Some of our initiatives include championing diversity and inclusion, understanding and reducing our climate impact, supporting the communities we live and serve in and transparent governance practices.
Together, these enabled us to achieve our long-term financial goals and benefit all our stakeholders.
Today, I will review our results from the first fiscal quarter, recap our outlook and then provide thoughts on the value we have created in the business.
As you recall, this summer, we adjusted our fiscal year-end from April to June.
In August, we released a QT for the stub period of May and June 2021 to bridge the fiscal year.
And today, we are reporting our first fiscal quarter of 2022, which ends September 30.
As Jeff shared, given that the tax season extended through July 15 last year versus only May 17 this year, Q1 is not comparable to the prior year and does not clearly depict our performance and the progress we are making.
We delivered $193 million of revenue, down 54% or $225 million.
This decline was entirely due to the estimated $246 million related to the tax season extension in the first quarter of last year.
We saw incremental Emerald Card revenue due to child tax payments and continued strong growth from Wave.
Regarding expenses, we were disciplined in achieving our cost savings while appropriately investing in our Block Horizons imperatives.
The ongoing rigor to drive our Fund the Future initiative allows us to invest with the savings we generate versus spending incremental capital.
Total operating expenses in the quarter were $367 million, a decrease of 12%, primarily driven by lower tax pro compensation as a result of the prior year extension I just discussed.
Interest expense was $23 million, a decrease of 34% due to lower draws on our line of credit.
We feel great about the changes we have made in our debt position to reduce interest expense by refinancing our line of credit and issuing long-term debt at very attractive rates, which will positively impact our P&L and cash flow.
For the quarter, our pre-tax loss was $197 million, compared to $33 million in the prior year.
Our effective tax rate was 24%.
We continue to expect the tax rate to be in the 16% to 18% range for the full fiscal year as we realize the benefits of certain discrete items later in fiscal '22.
Turning to share repurchases, we bought a total of $166 million in the quarter, allowing us to retire 6.8 million shares at an average price of $24.37.
As Jeff highlighted earlier, share repurchase is a core element of our commitment to returning capital to shareholders.
Since taking over this post in 2016, we have now retired nearly 1/4 of our shares outstanding and have approximately $400 million remaining on our share repurchase authorization.
Loss per share from continuing operations increased from $0.32 to $0.84, while adjusted loss per share from continuing operations increased from $0.24 to $0.78.
In summary, we feel good about the start to the year, and we are reiterating our fiscal year '22 outlook.
Regarding discontinued operations, there were no changes to accrued contingent liabilities related to Sand Canyon during the quarter.
Before closing, I'd like to provide some overarching thoughts on how we view H&R Block's value.
A few years ago, we deliberately made significant changes that put short-term pressure on our financials yet were foundational to a better future.
These choices included major investments in technology, a pricing reset and operational improvements.
Our actions have yielded robust results.
We've dramatically changed our Assisted business trajectory.
And as Jeff reminded us, we just completed our best tax season in over a decade.
While we have provided normalizations to make it easier to assess our results, the changing tax deadlines and fiscal year-end adjustment have created noise.
But the bottom line is we generate strong free cash flow, have grown our dividend and dramatically reduced shares outstanding.
Over the past five years, we've returned nearly $2 billion to shareholders or approximately 84% of our total free cash flow.
These capital allocation principles will remain intact despite year-to-year nuances in the industry.
Further, we significantly reduced our effective tax rate and lowered our borrowing cost by refinancing our debt and line of credit.
These achievements have translated into adjusted earnings per share growth of 78%, and that's even after normalizing fiscal year '21 for the tax season extension.
We've derisked the business and created growth levers that didn't exist in the past.
Yet our trading multiple is compressed over this time period despite the broader market rally.
H&R Block is on solid footing and will continue to drive earnings per share growth through disciplined capital allocation and core business performance.
And as Jeff discussed earlier, we are creating additional upside opportunity with Block Horizons.
I look forward to all that lies ahead.
In summary, we are proud of the progress that we have made, the momentum in the business and the opportunities to come.
We're confident in our ability to drive shareholder value with both our capital allocation approach and our future with Block Horizons.

user
h&r block reiterates fiscal year financial outlook.
qtrly adjusted loss per share$0.78.

assistant