Mimecast Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2017 Financial Results

Watertown, MA – (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Mimecast Limited (NASDAQ: MIME), a leading email and data security company, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended March 31, 2017.

“2017 was a year of outperformance for Mimecast.  We exceeded our expectations for both top and bottom line growth.  We hired aggressively and acquired industry leading talent across the organization. We expanded our ecosystem with channel and marketing partners.  Importantly, we launched new products, like Internal Email Protect, to support our future success.” stated Peter Bauer, CEO of Mimecast.

Mimecast’s CFO Peter Campbell noted, “We are very pleased that our revenue growth accelerated to 42% as reported and 45% on a constant currency basis in the fourth quarter. We are also pleased that we signed on more mid and large customers this quarter, driving higher average order values.”

Fourth Quarter 2017 Financial Highlights

• Revenue: GAAP revenue for the fourth quarter of 2017 was $52.4 million, an increase of 42% compared to $36.9 million of GAAP revenue in the fourth quarter of 2016. Revenue on a constant currency basis increased 45% compared to the fourth quarter of 2016.
• Customers: Added 1,500 net new customers in the fourth quarter of 2017. We now serve over 26,400 organizations globally.
• Revenue Retention Rate: Revenue retention rate was 111% in the fourth quarter of 2017, up from 109% in the fourth quarter of 2016.
• Gross Profit Percentage: Gross profit percentage was 74% in the fourth quarter of 2017, up from 70% in the fourth quarter of 2016.
• GAAP Net Loss: GAAP net loss was $2.6 million, or $(0.05) per basic and diluted share, based on 55.4 million weighted-average shares outstanding.
• Adjusted EBITDA: Adjusted EBITDA was $3.6 million, representing an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 6.8% up from 1.3% in the fourth quarter of 2016.
• Non-GAAP Net Loss: Non-GAAP net loss was $0.2 million, or $(0.00) per share, based on 55.4 million diluted shares outstanding.
• Free Cash Flow and Cash: Mimecast generated $4.8 million of free cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2017. Cash and short-term investments as of March 31, 2017 were $111.7 million.

Full Year 2017 Financial Highlights

• Revenue: GAAP revenue for 2017 was $186.6 million, an increase of 32% compared to the $141.8 million of GAAP revenue in 2016. Revenue on a constant currency basis grew 39% compared to 2016.
• Customers: Added 8,400 net new customers in 2017.
• Revenue Retention Rate: Revenue retention rate was 111% for 2017.
• Gross Profit Percentage: Gross profit percentage was 73% in 2017, up from 71% in 2016.
• GAAP Net Loss: GAAP net loss was $5.4 million, or $(0.10) per basic and diluted share, based on 54.8 million weighted-average shares outstanding.
• Adjusted EBITDA: Adjusted EBITDA was $11.8 million, representing an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 6.3% down from 11.2% in 2016.
• Non-GAAP Net Income: Non-GAAP net income was $4.6 million, or $0.08 per share, based on 59.0 million diluted shares outstanding.
• Cash and Free Cash Flow: Mimecast generated $14.0 million of free cash flow in 2017.

Reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures provided in this press release to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are provided in the financial tables included at the end of this press release. An explanation of these measures and how they are calculated is also included below under the heading “Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

Fourth Quarter 2017 Business Highlights

• Sales of Targeted Threat Protection increased during the fourth quarter, with more than 1,400 new customers and over 600 existing customers purchasing the service. Organizations continue to be challenged by advanced threats and increasingly are turning to Mimecast for protection. A total of 38% of our customers are now using Targeted Threat Protection.
• A total of 21% of customers used Mimecast in conjunction with Microsoft^® Office 365™ during the fourth quarter compared to 19% in the third quarter of 2017. More than 5,600 customers of all sizes have selected Mimecast to enhance their security, archive their data, and to provide uptime assurance for their Office 365 investments.
• Mimecast launched, Internal Email Protect a new component of our Target Treat Protection suite of services.  We are now providing customers the ability to analyze and remediate email traffic that originates and is delivered inside an organization, protecting against threats that operate behind the corporate firewall.   This first-to-market service is unique in that it can be deployed to any email environment weather on premise, in the cloud or hybrid.
• Mimecast introduced, Email Security Risk Assessor (ESRA).  This tool has uncovered millions of email attacks that have gotten through incumbent email systems.  Prospective customers now have the ability to identify security threats that Mimecast can block but pass through their current email gateways.

Business Outlook

Mimecast is providing guidance for the first quarter and fiscal year 2018.

First Quarter 2018 Guidance:

For the first quarter of 2018, constant currency revenue growth is expected to be in the range of 35% to 36% and revenue is expected to be in the range of $54.7 million to $55.3 million. Our guidance is based on exchange rates as of April 30, 2017 and includes an estimated negative impact of $1.0 million resulting from the strengthening of the U.S. dollar compared to the prior year. This resulted from a negative impact related to the British Pound of $2.0 million but was offset by positive impacts from the South African Rand of $1.0 million.  Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter is expected to be in the range of $3.3 million to $4.3 million. 

Full Year 2018 Guidance:

For the full year 2018, revenue is expected to be the range of $239.4 million to $247.6 million or 28% to 32% revenue growth in constant currency.  Foreign exchange rate fluctuations are positively impacting this guidance by an estimated $0.9 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $18.7 million to $20.7 million.

GAAP net loss is the most comparable GAAP measure to Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA differs from GAAP net loss in that it excludes depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation expense, interest income and interest expense, the provision for income taxes and foreign exchange income. Mimecast is unable to predict with reasonable certainty the ultimate outcome of these exclusions without unreasonable effort. Therefore, Mimecast has not provided guidance for GAAP net loss or a reconciliation of forward-looking Adjusted EBITDA guidance to GAAP net loss.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

Mimecast will host a conference call to discuss these financial results for investors and analysts at 4:30 pm EDT (UTC-05:00) on May 9, 2017.  To access the conference call, dial (844) 815-2878 for the U.S. and Canada and (615) 800-6885 for international callers and enter conference ID# 4843836.  The call will also be webcast live on the investor relations section of the Company’s website http://investors.mimecast.com.  An audio replay of the call will be available two hours after the live call ends by dialing (855) 859-2056 for U.S. and Canada or (404) 537-3406 for international callers, and entering passcode ID# 4843836.  In addition, an archive of the webcast will be available on the investor relations section of the company’s website http://investors.mimecast.com

About Mimecast Limited

Mimecast Limited (NASDAQ: MIME) makes business email and data safer for more than 26,400 customers and millions of employees worldwide. Founded in 2003, the Company’s next-generation cloud-based security, archiving and continuity services protect email, and deliver comprehensive email risk management in a single, fully-integrated subscription service. Mimecast reduces email risk and the complexity and cost of managing the array of point solutions traditionally used to protect email and its data. For customers that have migrated to cloud services like Microsoft^® Office 365™, Mimecast mitigates single vendor exposure by strengthening security coverage, combating downtime and improving archiving.

Mimecast and the Mimecast logo are registered trademarks of Mimecast. All other third party marks and logos contained in this press release are the property of their respective owners.

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release regarding management’s future expectations, beliefs, intentions, goals, strategies, plans or prospects, including, without limitation, the statements relating to the future success of new products, including Internal Email Protect, the expected continued momentum of Mimecast in the marketplace and Mimecast’s future financial performance on both a GAAP and non-GAAP basis under the heading “Business Outlook” above, may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including statements containing the words “predicts,” “plan,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “goal,” “target,” “estimate,” “potential,” “may,” “might,” “could,” “see,” “seek,” “forecast,” and similar words. Mimecast intends all such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 21E of the Exchange Act and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors including those risks, uncertainties and factors detailed in Mimecast’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a result of such risks, uncertainties and factors, Mimecast’s actual results may differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements discussed in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. Mimecast is providing the information in this press release as of this date and assumes no obligations to update the information included in this press release or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We have provided in this release financial information that has not been prepared in accordance with GAAP. We use these non-GAAP financial measures internally in analyzing our financial results and believe they are useful to investors, as a supplement to GAAP measures, in evaluating our ongoing operational performance. We believe 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 our financial results with other companies in our industry, many of which present similar non-GAAP financial measures to investors.

Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures provided in the financial statement tables included below in this press release.

Revenue Constant Currency Growth Rate. We believe revenue constant currency growth rate is a key indicator of our operating results. We calculate revenue constant currency growth rate by translating revenue from entities reporting in foreign currencies into U.S. dollars using the comparable foreign currency exchange rates from the prior fiscal period. To determine projected revenue growth rates on a constant currency basis for the first quarter and full year 2018, expected revenue from entities reporting in foreign currencies will be translated into U.S. dollars using the comparable prior year period’s monthly average foreign currency exchange rates.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin are key indicators of our operating results. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net loss, adjusted to exclude: depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation expense, interest income and interest expense, the provision for income taxes and foreign exchange income predominantly related to the elimination of intercompany balances. We define Adjusted EBITDA margin as Adjusted EBITDA over revenue in the period.

Non-GAAP net (loss) income. We define non-GAAP net (loss) income as net loss less share-based compensation expense and the related income tax effects of excluding share-based compensation expense. We consider this non-GAAP financial measure to be a useful metric for management and investors because it excludes the effect of share-based compensation expense and related income tax effects so that our management and investors can compare our recurring core business net results over multiple periods. There are a number of limitations related to the use of non-GAAP net (loss) income versus net loss calculated in accordance with GAAP. For example, as noted above, non-GAAP net (loss) income excludes share-based compensation expense and related income tax effects. In addition, the components of the costs that we exclude in our calculation of non-GAAP net (loss) income may differ from the components that our peer companies exclude when they report their non-GAAP results of operations. Management compensates for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from non-GAAP net (loss) income and evaluating non-GAAP net (loss) income together with net loss calculated in accordance with GAAP.

Free cash flow. We define free cash flow as net cash provided by operating activities minus capital expenditures. We consider free cash flow to be a liquidity measure that provides useful information to management and investors about the amount of cash generated by the business that, after the acquisition of property and equipment, can be used for strategic opportunities, including investing in our business, and strengthening the balance sheet. Analysis of free cash flow facilitates management’s comparisons of our operating results to competitors’ operating results. A limitation of using free cash flow versus the GAAP measure of net cash provided by operating activities as a means for evaluating our company is that free cash flow does not represent the total increase or decrease in the cash balance from operations for the period because it excludes cash used for capital expenditures during the period. Management compensates for this limitation by providing information about our capital expenditures on the face of the cash flow statement and in the liquidity and capital resources discussion included in our annual and quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.