Constant Contact, Inc., a leading provider of email marketing, event marketing and online survey tools, today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2009.

Constant Contact reported total revenue of $36.5 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, an increase of 43% compared to revenue of $25.5 million for the comparable period in 2008. Constant Contact ended the fourth quarter of 2009 with over 347,500 email marketing customers, an increase of 37% compared to the number of customers at the end of the fourth quarter of 2008.

“We are pleased that the company’s revenue was ahead of our expectations for the quarter, closing out a highly successful year for Constant Contact. While the economic environment for small businesses was very challenging in 2009, Constant Contact was able to grow revenue by 48% and add over 94,000 net new email marketing subscribers, both of which represent significant accomplishments,” said Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact.

Goodman added, “We continue to be optimistic about Constant Contact’s growth opportunity, as evidenced by our expectation for revenue growth in the low-to-mid 30% range in 2010. We have established a clear leadership position in email marketing for small businesses and organizations, and we are leading the industry in building out a suite of integrated solutions designed to help these organizations communicate effectively with their customers, clients, members and other constituents.”

Constant Contact reported an operating loss of $1.9 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, compared to an operating loss of $1.7 million for the comparable period in 2008. Constant Contact reported adjusted EBITDA of $2.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to adjusted EBITDA of $878,000 in the comparable period in 2008.

Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure that is calculated by taking GAAP net income (loss), adding depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation, then subtracting interest and other income. Adjusted EBITDA margin is equal to adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue. A reconciliation of the most comparable GAAP financial measure to the non-GAAP measure used above is included with the financial tables at the end of this release.

Constant Contact reported a GAAP net loss of $1.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to a GAAP net loss of $1.6 million for the comparable period in 2008. Constant Contact reported a GAAP net loss per share of $0.06 for the fourth quarter of 2009, consistent with the comparable period in 2008.

Fourth quarter 2009 non-GAAP net loss per share was $0.01, compared to a non-GAAP net loss of $0.03 per share for the same period in 2008. Non-GAAP net income (loss) per share is a non-GAAP financial measure that is calculated by adding back stock-based compensation expense to GAAP net income (loss) and dividing this total by the weighted average shares outstanding. A reconciliation of the most comparable GAAP financial measure to the non-GAAP measure used above is included with the financial tables at the end of this release.

“In addition to generating significant revenue growth, Constant Contact continues to demonstrate the leverage inherent in its business model,” said Steven R. Wasserman, vice president and chief financial officer of Constant Contact. “Constant Contact expanded its adjusted EBITDA margin by 470 basis points to a record level of 9.2% for the full year 2009. We expect continued adjusted EBITDA margin expansion to drive non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $0.33 to $0.36 in 2010, which would represent year-over-year growth of 165% at the midpoint of our guidance range.”



Emails for Small Business with Constant Contact

Other Fourth Quarter and Recent Highlights

  • Added approximately 23,300 net new email marketing customers, bringing total email marketing customers to over 347,500.
  • In each month and quarter during the year, the monthly retention rate remained in its historical range of 97.8%, plus or minus 0.5% and the average email marketing invoice remained in the $33 range, plus or minus two dollars. The number of email marketing customers in the $15 and $30 revenue bands was at 78.7% for the quarter, 30 basis points out of the historical range of 80%, plus or minus one percent. This was a result of customers increasing their contact list sizes and moving into higher pricing tiers during the quarter.
  • Increased average revenue per email marketing subscriber, ARPU, to $36.19, an increase of $0.60 from $35.59 during the third quarter. This represents an increase of $0.99 from the Company’s $35.20 ARPU for the fourth quarter of 2008.
  • Launched Constant Contact Event Marketing during the fourth quarter. The product has enjoyed significant early success, as evidenced by the more than 5,000 customers using the product as of today, after only a few months of general availability.
  • Ended the year with 625 employees in 15 states across the U.S., an increase of 169 employees during the course of 2009, and provided over 29,000 participant hours of classroom education and training to its employees.
  • Ended the year with over 5,100 active channel partners and email marketing customers in over 140 countries and territories.
  • Significantly added to its force of small business marketing experts. In 18 regions across the U.S., small businesses and organizations can now benefit from free, in-person educational seminars focused on helping them succeed by developing stronger customer relationships.
  • As of today, over 11,000 users have downloaded the recently released QuickView for the iPhone, a mobile email marketing application that enables a small business to manage its contact list and view its campaigns anytime and from anywhere. Constant Contact QuickView for the iPhone is the first commercial product developed by Constant Contact Labs.
  • The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing was selected by readers as a Top 10 book in Small Business Trends’ 2009 Small Business Book Awards.
  • Expanded the breadth of the company’s leadership team in direct and channel sales. Jean-Paul Guilbault recently joined the Company as vice president of direct sales, after spending eight years at Intuit in leadership roles within its Small Business Telesales and Customer Care operations. In addition, Steve Johnson joined Constant Contact’s Global Market Development team as vice president, channel partners. Prior to that, Steve spent five years with Blackbaud/Kintera as vice president of partner programs.

Full Year 2009 Results

Total revenue was $129.1 million, an increase of 48 percent compared to revenue of $87.3 million for the full year 2008.

Loss from operations was $1.8 million, compared to a loss from operations of $4.5 million for the full year 2008. GAAP net loss was $1.3 million, as compared to a GAAP net loss of $2.1 million for the full year 2008. GAAP net loss per share was $0.04 as compared to a GAAP net loss of $0.07 per share for the full year 2008.

Adjusted EBITDA was $11.9 million, representing a full year adjusted EBITDA margin of 9.2% and an increase of 205% from adjusted EBITDA of $3.9 million for the full year 2008. Non-GAAP net income was $3.8 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, compared to $800,000, or $0.03 per diluted share, for the full year 2008.

Business Outlook

Based on information available as of February 4, 2010, Constant Contact is issuing guidance for the first quarter and full year 2010 as follows:

First Quarter 2010: The Company expects first quarter revenue to be in the range of $38.6 million to $38.9 million, adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $2.3 million to $2.6 million and non-GAAP net loss per share of $0.01 to breakeven based on basic weighted average shares outstanding of 28.4 million shares.

GAAP net loss is expected to be in the range of $1.9 million to $2.2 million and GAAP net loss per share to be in the range of $0.07 to $0.08. GAAP net loss per share includes an estimated stock-based compensation expense of $1.8 million.

Full Year 2010: The Company expects full year 2010 revenue to be in the range of $169 million to $173 million, adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $21.3 million to $22.0 million and non-GAAP net income per share to be in the range of $0.33 to $0.36 based on diluted weighted average shares outstanding of 29.9 million shares.

The Company expects full year GAAP net income to be in the range of $1.6 million to $2.4 million and GAAP net income per share to be in the range of $0.05 to $0.08. GAAP net income per share includes an estimated stock-based compensation expense of $7.9 million.

The company expects to incur approximately $0.01 per share of state income taxes for the full year 2010.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release contains the following non-GAAP financial measures: adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP net income per share, non-GAAP net loss, non-GAAP net loss per share and free cash flow. Constant Contact believes that these non-GAAP measures of financial results provide useful information to management and investors regarding certain financial and business trends relating to Constant Contact’s financial condition and results of operations. The Company’s management uses these non-GAAP measures to compare the Company’s performance to that of prior periods for trend analyses, for purposes of determining executive and senior management incentive compensation, and for budgeting and planning purposes. These measures are used in monthly financial reports prepared for management and in monthly and quarterly financial reports presented to the Company’s board of directors. The Company believes that the use of these non-GAAP financial measures provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends and in comparing the Company’s financial measures with other software-as-a-service companies, many of which present similar non-GAAP financial measures to investors.

Management of the Company does not consider these non-GAAP measures in isolation or as an alternative to financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP. The principal limitation of these non-GAAP financial measures is that they exclude significant expenses and income that are required by GAAP to be recorded in the Company’s financial statements. In addition, they are subject to inherent limitations as they reflect the exercise of judgments by management about which expenses and income are excluded or included in determining these non-GAAP financial measures. In order to compensate for these limitations, management of the Company presents non-GAAP financial measures in connection with GAAP results. Constant Contact urges investors to review the reconciliation of its non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP financial measures, which it includes in press releases announcing quarterly financial results, including this press release, and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate the Company’s business.

About Constant Contact, Inc.

With more than 300,000 customers, Constant Contact, Inc. is a leading provider of email marketing, event marketing, and online surveys for small businesses, non-profits, and member associations. Founded in 1995, Constant Contact helps small organizations grow stronger customer relationships by delivering professional, low cost, easy-to-use online tools backed with award-winning support, education and personal coaching. Constant Contact is a publicly traded company (Nasdaq:CTCT) with offices located in Waltham, Mass., Loveland, Colo., and Delray, Fla.

Tagged with: •

Filed under: Email Marketing • Internet Marketing • Technology

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!