Pluralsight Announces Fourth Quarter and Year End 2018 Results

Fourth quarter billings grew 42 percent period over period to $100.6 million; full year 2018 billings grew 43 percent year over year to $293.6 million
Fourth quarter revenue grew 42 percent period over period to $67.3 million; full year 2018 revenue grew 39 percent year over year to $232.0 million

SILICON SLOPES, Utah, Feb. 13, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pluralsight, the enterprise technology skills company, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2018.

“Pluralsight’s fourth quarter capped off a milestone year for the company, highlighted by strong customer additions and 42% revenue growth. We achieved our seventh consecutive quarter of greater than 50% growth in B2B billings, while continuing to demonstrate the inherent levers to profitability in our model,” said Aaron Skonnard, co-founder and CEO of Pluralsight.

Fourth Quarter Financial Highlights

Billings - Q4 2018 billings were $100.6 million, an increase of 42% period over period. Q4 2018 billings from business customers were $87.1 million, an increase of 51% period over period.
Revenue - Q4 2018 revenue was $67.3 million, an increase of 42% period over period.
Gross margin - Q4 2018 gross margin was 76%, compared to 70% in Q4 2017. Q4 2018 non-GAAP gross margin was 77%, compared to 75% in Q4 2017.
Net loss per share - GAAP net loss per share for Q4 2018 was $0.24. Adjusted pro forma net loss per share for Q4 2018 was $0.09, compared to $0.53 in Q4 2017.
Cash flows - Cash provided by operations was $8.4 million for Q4 2018, compared to cash used in operations of $1.3 million in Q4 2017. Free cash flow was $5.2 million for Q4 2018, compared to negative free cash flow of $3.4 million in Q4 2017.

Full Year 2018 Financial Highlights

Billings - 2018 billings were $293.6 million, an increase of 43% year over year. Billings from business customers for 2018 were $248.2 million, an increase of 52% year over year.
Revenue - 2018 revenue was $232.0 million, an increase of 39% year over year.
Gross margin - 2018 gross margin was 73%, compared to 70% in 2017. Non-GAAP gross margin for 2018 was 76%, compared to 74% in 2017.
Net loss per share - GAAP net loss per share for 2018 was $0.65. Adjusted pro forma net loss per share for 2018 was $0.60, compared to $1.34 in 2017.

For information regarding the non-GAAP financial measures discussed in this press release, please see the section titled “Non-GAAP Financial Measures.” Reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures are provided in the tables of this press release.

Financial Outlook

Pluralsight is providing the following financial guidance for the first quarter 2019, and the full year 2019:

First Quarter 2019 guidance:

Revenue is expected to be in the range of $68.0 million to $68.5 million.
Adjusted pro forma net loss per share is expected to be in the range of $0.09 to $0.08, assuming weighted-average shares outstanding of approximately 135 million.

Full Year 2019 guidance:

Revenue is expected to be in the range of $306 million to $314 million.
Adjusted pro forma net loss per share is expected to be in the range of $0.32 to $0.26, assuming weighted-average shares outstanding of approximately 137 million.

Guidance for non-GAAP financial measures excludes equity-based compensation, amortization of acquired intangible assets, and employer payroll taxes on employee stock transactions. Pluralsight has not reconciled its expectations as to adjusted pro forma net loss per share to their most directly comparable GAAP measures because certain items cannot be reasonably predicted. Accordingly, a reconciliation for expectations of adjusted pro forma net loss per share is not available without unreasonable effort.

Conference Call Information

Pluralsight will host a conference call for analysts and investors to discuss its fourth quarter and full year 2018 results and outlook for its first quarter and full year 2019, today at 2:30 p.m., Mountain time (4:30 p.m. Eastern time).

Date:	February 13, 2019
Time:	2:30 p.m. MT (4:30 p.m. ET)
Webcast:	https://investors.pluralsight.com/
Dial-in number:	(877) 350-6732 or (629) 228-0693, conference ID: 8291428

A live audio webcast of the conference call will also be accessible from the Pluralsight website at investors.pluralsight.com. A telephonic replay of the call will be available three hours after the call, will run for seven days, and may be accessed by dialing (855) 859-2056 or (404) 537-3406 and entering the passcode 8291428.

About Pluralsight

Pluralsight is an enterprise technology skills platform that delivers a unified, end-to-end learning experience for businesses across the globe. Through a subscription service, companies are empowered to move at the speed of technology, increasing proficiency, innovation and efficiency. Founded in 2004 and trusted by Fortune 500 companies, Pluralsight provides members with on-demand access to a digital ecosystem of learning tools, including adaptive skill tests, directed learning paths, expert-authored courses, interactive labs and analytics. For more information, visit pluralsight.com.

Pluralsight and the Pluralsight logo are trademarks of Pluralsight, LLC in the United States and in jurisdictions throughout the world.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding our future financial and operating performance, including our financial outlook for the first quarter 2019, and the full year 2019. There are a significant number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from statements made in this press release, including: the pace of market adoption of cloud-based learning solutions; our ability to expand our course library and develop new platform features; competition; our ability to attract and retain customers; our ability to increase sales of subscriptions to our platform to customers; our ability to expand our sales and marketing capabilities; and general market, political, economic, and business conditions.

Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect our financial results are included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our final prospectus filed with the SEC on May 17, 2018 (File No. 333-224301), which is available on our website at investors.pluralsight.com and on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in other filings that we make with the SEC from time to time. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we do not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made, except as required by law.

Key Business Metrics

Billings. Billings represents total revenue plus the change in deferred revenue in the period, as presented in our condensed consolidated statements of cash flows. Billings in any particular period represents amounts invoiced to customers and reflects subscription renewals and upsells to existing customers plus sales to new customers. We use billings to measure our ability to sell subscriptions to our platform to both existing and new customers. We use billings from business customers and our percentage of billings from business customers to measure and monitor our ability to sell subscriptions to our platform to business customers.

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