Virtu Announces Third Quarter 2018 Results

NEW YORK, Nov. 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Virtu Financial, Inc. VIRT, a leading technology-enabled market maker and liquidity provider to the global financial markets, today reported results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2018.

Third Quarter Selected Highlights

• Net income of $15.6 million, Normalized Adjusted Net Income* of $42.0 million
• Basic and diluted earnings per share of $0.08; Normalized Adjusted EPS* of $0.22
• Total revenues of $295.1 million; Trading income, net of $235.7 million; Adjusted Net Trading Income* of $177.9 million
• Adjusted EBITDA* of $88.3 million; Adjusted EBITDA Margin* of 49.6%
• Repurchased $61.9 million of Virtu shares to-date; authorized to repurchase up to $100 million per previously approved share buyback program
• Made $115 million of incremental payments on the term loan in the third quarter; $750 million total payments since the closing of the KCG acquisition in July 2017
• Quarterly cash dividend of $0.24 per share payable on December 14, 2018

* Non-GAAP financial measures. Please see "Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Other Items" for more information.

The Virtu Financial, Inc. (the "Company") Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.24 per share. This dividend is payable on December 14, 2018 to shareholders of record as of November 30, 2018.

"Our third quarter results reflected a market characterized by lower volume and muted volatility; however, we performed in-line with opportunities in Q3 and we have seen a substantial uptick in volumes and volatility in the first month of Q4.  In particular, since building and rolling-out a single technology platform around our Virtu Execution Services business in late summer, we have seen a sharp increase in this business whose results are less volatile than our market making business," said Douglas Cifu, Chief Executive Officer of Virtu Financial.

Acquisition of Investment Technology Group, Inc.

On November 6, 2018, the Company and Investment Technology Group, Inc. ("ITG") entered into a definitive agreement (the "ITG Merger Agreement") whereby the Company will acquire ITG in a cash transaction valued at $30.30 per ITG share, or a total of approximately $1.0 billion (the "ITG Acquisition"). The ITG Acquisition is expected to close during the first half of 2019 after receipt of all required regulatory approvals and ITG shareholder approval. The Company intends to finance the ITG Acquisition solely with debt financing (collectively with the ITG Acquisition and related transactions, the "ITG Transactions") and has entered into a debt commitment letter with Jefferies Finance LLC and Royal Bank of Canada for gross new borrowings of $1.5 billion, the proceeds of which will be used to pay the merger consideration and related fees and to refinance the Company's existing first lien term loan.

Form of Presentation

The Company completed its acquisition of KCG Holdings, Inc. on July 20, 2017 and the reported financial results of the Company for the periods following the acquisition reflect KCG's and the Company's balances, and reflect the impact of purchase accounting adjustments.

Third Quarter Financial Results

Total revenues increased 8.8% to $295.1 million for this quarter, compared to $271.3 million for the same period in 2017. Trading income, net, increased 15.6% to $235.7 million for this quarter, compared to $203.9 million for the same period in 2017. Net income increased to $15.6 million for this quarter, compared to a net loss of $40.0 million for the same period in 2017.  

Basic and diluted earnings per share for this quarter were both $0.08, respectively, compared to loss per share of $0.17 each for the same period in 2017.

Adjusted Net Trading Income increased 11.3% to $177.9 million for this quarter, compared to $159.8 million for the same period in 2017. Adjusted EBITDA increased 49.9% to $88.3 million for this quarter, compared to $58.9 million for the same period in 2017. Normalized Adjusted Net Income increased 200.2% to $42.0 million for this quarter, compared to $14.0 million for the same period in 2017.

Assuming all non-controlling interests had been exchanged for common stock, and the Company's Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes was subject to corporation taxation, Normalized Adjusted EPS was $0.22 for this quarter and $0.08 for the same period in 2017.

Operating Segment Information

Prior to the acquisition of KCG, the Company was managed and operated as one business, and, accordingly, operated under one reportable segment.  As a result of the acquisition of KCG, beginning in the third quarter of 2017 the Company has three operating segments: (i) Market Making; (ii) Execution Services; and (iii) Corporate.

Market Making principally consists of market making in the cash, futures and options markets across global equities, options, fixed income, currencies and commodities. As a market maker, the Company commits capital on a principal basis by offering to buy securities from, or sell securities to, broker dealers, banks and institutions.

Execution Services comprises agency-based trading and trading venues, offering execution services in global equities, options, futures and fixed income on behalf of institutions, banks and broker dealers.

Corporate contains the Company's investments, principally in strategic trading-related opportunities, and maintains corporate overhead expenses.

The following tables show the trading income, net, total revenues and Adjusted Net Trading Income by operating segment for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017.

Total revenues by operating segment
(in thousands, unaudited)

Reconciliation of trading income, net to Adjusted Net Trading Income by operating segment
(in thousands, unaudited)

Reconciliation of trading income, net to Adjusted Net Trading Income by category – Market Making segment
(in thousands, unaudited)

The following tables show our Adjusted Net Trading Income and average daily Adjusted Net Trading Income by category for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017:

(In thousands except percentages, unaudited)

Financial Condition

As of September 30, 2018, Virtu had $415.9 million in cash and cash equivalents, and total long-term debt outstanding in an aggregate principal amount of $930.8 million.

Share Repurchase Program

The Virtu Financial, Inc. Board of Directors approved the share repurchase program for $100 million Class A common stock and common units of Virtu Financial LLC in February 2018.  Since the inception of the program, the Company has repurchased approximately 2.37 million shares and units for approximately $61.9 million.  The Company now has approximately $38.1 million remaining capacity for future purchases of common stock and common units under the plan.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Other Items

To supplement our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), we use the following non-GAAP measures of financial performance:

• "Adjusted Net Trading Income", which is the amount of revenue we generate from our market making activities, or trading income, net, plus commissions, net and technology services, plus interest and dividends income and expense, net, less direct costs associated with those revenues, including brokerage, exchange and clearance fees, net and payments for order flow. Management believes that this measurement is useful for comparing general operating performance from period to period. Although we use Adjusted Net Trading Income as a financial measure to assess the performance of our business, the use of Adjusted Net Trading Income is limited because it does not include certain material costs that are necessary to operate our business. Our presentation of Adjusted Net Trading Income should not be construed as an indication that our future results will be unaffected by revenues or expenses that are not directly associated with our market making activities.
• "EBITDA", which measures our operating performance by adjusting Net Income to exclude financing interest expense on our long-term borrowings, debt issue cost related to debt refinancing, depreciation and amortization, amortization of purchased intangibles and acquired capitalized software, and income tax expense, and "Adjusted EBITDA", which measures our operating performance by further adjusting EBITDA to exclude severance, reserve for legal matter, transaction advisory fees and expenses, termination of office leases, acquisition related retention bonus, trading related settlement income, gain on sale of business, connectivity early termination, other, net, write-down of assets, share based compensation, charges related to share based compensation at IPO, 2015 Management Incentive Plan, and charges related to share based compensation at IPO, and "Adjusted EBITDA Margin", which compares Adjusted EBITDA to Adjusted Net Trading Income.
• "Normalized Adjusted Net Income", "Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes", "Normalized provision for income taxes", and "Normalized Adjusted EPS", which we calculate by adjusting Net Income to exclude certain items and other non-cash items, assuming that all vested and unvested Virtu Financial LLC units have been exchanged for Class A Common Stock, and applying a corporate tax rate, which was between 35.5% and 37% for periods prior to January 1, 2018 and decreasing to approximately 23% beginning January 1, 2018 as a result of the Tax Act.
• "Adjusted Operating Expenses", which we calculate by adjusting total operating expenses to exclude severance, share based compensation, reserve for legal matters, connectivity early termination and write-down of assets.

Total Adjusted Net Trading Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, Normalized Adjusted Net Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes, Normalized provision for income taxes, Normalized Adjusted EPS and Adjusted Operating Expenses are non-GAAP financial measures used by management in evaluating operating performance and in making strategic decisions. Additional information provided regarding the breakdown of Total Adjusted Net Trading Income by category is also a non-GAAP financial measure but is not used by the Company in evaluating operating performance and in making strategic decisions. In addition, these non-GAAP financial measures or similar non-GAAP measures are used by research analysts, investment bankers and lenders to assess our operating performance. Management believes that the presentation of Adjusted Net Trading Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, Normalized Adjusted Net Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes, Normalized provision for income taxes, Normalized Adjusted EPS and Adjusted Operating Expenses provide useful information to investors regarding our results of operations because they assist both investors and management in analyzing and benchmarking the performance and value of our business. Adjusted Net Trading Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, Normalized Adjusted Net Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes, Normalized provision for income taxes, Normalized Adjusted EPS and Adjusted Operating Expenses provide indicators of general economic performance that are not affected by fluctuations in certain costs or other items. Accordingly, management believes that these measurements are useful for comparing general operating performance from period to period. Furthermore, our credit agreement contains covenants and other tests based on metrics similar to Adjusted EBITDA. Other companies may define Adjusted Net Trading Income, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, Normalized Adjusted Net Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes, Normalized provision for income taxes, Normalized Adjusted EPS  and Adjusted Operating Expenses differently, and as a result our measures of Adjusted Net Trading Income, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, Normalized Adjusted Net Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes, Normalized provision for income taxes, Normalized Adjusted EPS and Adjusted Operating Expenses may not be directly comparable to those of other companies. Although we use these non-GAAP financial measures as financial measures to assess the performance of our business, such use is limited because they do not include certain material costs necessary to operate our business.
                   
Adjusted Net Trading Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Normalized Adjusted Net Income should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, Net Income in accordance with U.S. GAAP as a measure of performance. Our presentation of Adjusted Net Trading Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, Normalized Adjusted Net Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes, Normalized provision for income taxes, Normalized Adjusted EPS and Adjusted Operating Expenses should not be construed as an indication that our future results will be unaffected by unusual or nonrecurring items. Adjusted Net Trading Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes, Normalized provision for income taxes, Normalized Adjusted EPS and our EBITDA-based measures have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation or as substitutes for analysis of our results as reported under U.S. GAAP. Some of these limitations are:

• they do not reflect every cash expenditure, future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;
• our EBITDA-based measures do not reflect the significant interest expense or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payment on our debt;
• although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized will often have to be replaced or require improvements in the future, and our EBITDA-based measures do not reflect any cash requirement for such replacements or improvements;
• they are not adjusted for all non-cash income or expense items that are reflected in our statements of cash flows;
• they do not reflect the impact of earnings or charges resulting from matters we consider not to be indicative of our ongoing operations; and
• they do not reflect limitations on our costs related to transferring earnings from our subsidiaries to us.

Because of these limitations, Adjusted Net Trading Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Normalized Adjusted Net Income are not intended as alternatives to Net Income as indicators of our operating performance and should not be considered as measures of discretionary cash available to us to invest in the growth of our business or as measures of cash that will be available to us to meet our obligations. We compensate for these limitations by using Adjusted Net Trading Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Normalized Adjusted Net Income along with other comparative tools, together with U.S. GAAP measurements, to assist in the evaluation of operating performance. These U.S. GAAP measurements include Net Income, cash flows from operations and cash flow data. See below a reconciliation of each non-GAAP measure to the most directly comparable GAAP measure.

Virtu Financial, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Unaudited)

Virtu Financial, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Reconciliation to Non-GAAP Operating Data (Unaudited) 

The following tables reconcile Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income to arrive at Adjusted Net Trading Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and selected Operating Margins.

Virtu Financial, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Reconciliation to Non-GAAP Operating Data (Unaudited)
(Continued)

The following tables reconcile Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income to arrive at Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes, Normalized provision for income taxes, Normalized Adjusted Net Income and Normalized Adjusted EPS.

Virtu Financial, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition (Unaudited)

About Virtu Financial, Inc.

Virtu is a leading financial firm that leverages cutting edge technology to deliver liquidity to the global markets and innovative, transparent trading solutions to our clients. As a market maker, Virtu provides deep liquidity that helps to create more efficient markets around the world. Our market structure expertise, broad diversification, and execution technology enables us to provide competitive bids and offers in over 25,000 securities, at over 235 venues, in 36 countries worldwide.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The foregoing information and certain oral statements made from time to time by representatives of the Company contain certain forward-looking statements that reflect the company's current views with respect to certain current and future events and financial performance, including with respect to integration of KCG and synergy realization and with respect to the acquisition of ITG and related integration and synergy realization. These forward-looking statements are and will be, as the case may be, subject to many risks, uncertainties and factors relating to the Company's operations and business environment which may cause the company's actual results to be materially different from any future results, expressed or implied, in these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to the company on the date of this release. The Company does not undertake to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that any statements expressed or implied therein will not be realized. Additional information on risk factors that could potentially affect the Company's financial results may be found in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT              

               Media and Investor Relations
               Andrew Smith
               Virtu Financial, Inc.
               (212) 418-0195
               investor_relations@virtu.com

               media@virtu.com