BILL 2Q FY 2023 Analyst Q/A 02/02/2023
Rene Lacerte, CEO
John Rettig, CFO
The following are my notes from the earnings call that ended a moment ago.
Editorial comment from sjo here before you read the following analyst Q/A: Most all of the above analyst questions dealt with the macro and guidance and felt like the same question being asked in a plethora of ways. Not sure to believe if CEO and CFO were attempting to provide non-answers about what was actually baked into their crystal ball re: guidance, however it felt like the analysts were not fully confident in how forthcoming mgt was being. As the call drew to a close, say 10 minutes before the call ended, it felt like the CEO and CFO were anxious to get off the call.
If there are typos, please understand that this was typed live as the CEO and CFO taking questions from the analysts.
Q Few businesses are groing +50%, little bit surprised re: slowdown in Divvy growth. Compare and contrast, please.
A Pursuing a massive opportunity in front of them as in decades. Putting SMBs on standby mode, as they’re distracted by macros currently. Will grow 50% while balancing profitability at BILL. Most business are looking at their spending. The Divvy customer base is slightly larger and is at an earlier stage than BILL. In near-term, they’ve made some adjustments to reflect how SMBs are managing their business.
Q Where are you having success in go to market and where has it slowed?
A From a macro perspective, as small businesses are being impacted by the stand by and wait & see, this is a point in time, and not something they see to be long-term.
Q Guidance for next couple of quarters, how much is built on December through January vs. what we can expect to see in the quarters to come? Transaction size?
A Trends of seasonal March quarter, which is a softer TPV quarter, so seeing both macros and the seasonal softness in the march quarter. Taken all this into consideration which is reflected in lower transaction volume growth they forsee.
Q Mix of customer distribution you have. Non-Divvy customer growth on the direct growth. Core expenses went up pretty notably, investors want to see the core business being profitable and not just the interest impact.
A They have a diverse business from which to be profitable. The direct side monetizes more quickly for BILL. They see this as the macro environment they see over the next few quarters. They’re in a unique position to balance revenue and costs. Focused on driving near-term profitability while making investments as appropriate. They think their estimates over the next couple of quarters are a balance between both of these.
Q Gross margin very healthy. Will be fluctuation in TPV on second half. Provide color, please.
A Non-GAAP gross margin was the highest due to payments, optimization efforts around transaction costs and float revenue. Operating from a gross margin at ranges above what they projected. Feel good about the margin potential of the business from here.
Q Take rate, was that due to macro?
A Been really successful w/ driving expanded monetization, but it’s not linear. Slight US currency (lower) and much higher ACH vs. check payments. BILL is now 85% electronic, and they’re very confident they’ll increase monetization growth.
Q S&M softening?
A Spend mgt market is still very early in its growth. BILL is less influenced by day to day issues than to the trend and where their business Is going.
Q Factoring in a recession in TPV. Can you site specifics? FITB contribution and TPV growth -please provide.
A Stand-by mode is impacting how SMBs are moving forward in the short term. The levers BILL has continues to drive the growth of transaction monetization and diversity system and expect this to continue in the near-term and long term. TPV is $6.2B, TPV per customer is $441K/customer, which is flat.
Q Customer mix, FI channel contributes over ½ of net adds and in the near-term, this isn’t going to have a significant impact. What will this do for you once you get past the current macros and paint a picture of where you see the FI business long-term.
A BMO Bank will now be a partner and every customer that joins BILL.com allows them to grow and scale their business. More opportunities and providing proof points around white label products, will not take off in the short term, but will grow % of overall business in the long-term. % of BILL and FI channel declined slightly and expecting more of this in the next couple of quarters.
Q Trends you’re seeing in January vs. December and how it impacted your guidance?
A Lower TPD growth across Bivvy and BILL and results in lower monetization which reflects that SMBs are pausing in the short term to adjust for the macro conditions.
Q Does the slower spend impact your risk appetite? Comment on stock buyback reasons.
A Divvy -being proactive on managing growth of Divvy and expanding risk mgt around the charge card that has an average cycle of 10 days. Do take macro conditions into account in making these decisions. Stock buyback is an opportunistic buyback.
Q Guidance, drill in more specifically about TPV, same store sales is down, please break it down and provide your expectations.
A Estimated flat on a y/y basis. Less growth coming from existing installed base and some embedded growth w/ companies just getting onto the BILL and DIVVY platform. Subscription revenue is an important part of their packaging their product. Engagement and retention of customers continues to be very strong.
Q Guidance: We’ve been used to BILL raising guidance. What surprised you that you’ve had to adjust the guide down?
A No surprises. For a few quarters they’ve talked about shifting patterns w/ SMBS and now seeing changes in spend, not discretionary, seeing businesses adjust, seeing slower monetization. Economic conditions need to be taken into account for all businesses longer-term vs. short-term.
Q Encouraged to hear pricing comments. Please unpack this.
A In FY 23, announced price increase that impacts Bill Direct and accountant channel.
Q Core transaction business, lighter monetization -did you see impact on ad velorem services?
A No direct monetization impact due to macro. Beyond this uncertain period, they’re very confident they’ll expand monetization, beyond the short-term impact they see in macro.
Q Understanding the slowdown in the guidance. The magnitude doesn’t exactly square with what other companies such as Facebook and others are seeing.
A Generally, it’s the macro environment causing business to slow, companies announcing lay-offs and spending slowdowns.
Q Working capital management model, revenue model, timing, etc.
A BILL drives the electronification of bill payment and how they get paid. Benefitting from learning from the previous products BILL has launched. BILL has engaged with customers aka listened to them to add products that create value for their customer and best way to monetize this.
Q Big picture fluid macro. How predictable is the macro weakness and how should we guage the macro you’ve baked into your guidance?
A BILL has several sources from which they get input from customers (sort of a non-answer).
Other remarks in addition to analyst Q/A:
Recently launched w/ BMO Bank as a new customer
Highest revenue growth in a quarter since inception
No partner exceeds 3% of revenue
435,800 businesses used BILL in 2022
Lower net adds were to customers pushing out transformation decisions due to macros
Gross margin 86.7%
Net income was 19% of revenue
$300M share re-purchase program
Macro environment on SMBs and BILL’s business will impact near-term growth of BILL.
Have proactively decided to slow short-term hiring
Guidance: 47 to 49% y/y growth
SBC of $73M in Q3
sjo