Aspen Technology Announces Financial Results for the Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2023

Aspen Technology, Inc. (AspenTech) (NASDAQ: AZPN), a global leader in industrial software, today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2023, ended June 30, 2023.

“The fourth quarter was a strong finish to an important year and showed benefits from our transformation efforts and learnings in fiscal 2023. We delivered a full year of double-digit ACV growth, ending above the midpoint of our guidance range. Demand in most of our end markets and geographies was strong in the quarter and throughout the year. This performance, during an unpredictable macro environment, validates the mission criticality of AspenTech solutions to our customers’ operations and strategic priorities,” said Antonio Pietri, President and Chief Executive Officer of AspenTech.

Fiscal Year 2023 Recent Business Highlights

• Annual Contract Value¹ ("ACV") was $884.9 million at the end of fiscal 2023, increasing 11.8% year over year and 3.5% quarter over quarter.
• Annual Spend for Heritage AspenTech² was $730.9 million at the end of fiscal 2023, increasing 8.5% year over year and 2.7% quarter over quarter.
• Operating cash flow was $299.2 million for fiscal 2023.
• Free cash flow³ was $292.3 million for fiscal 2023.
• AspenTech Board of Directors approved new $300.0 million share repurchase authorization for fiscal 2024; AspenTech set to complete previously announced $100.0 million accelerated share repurchase program in the first quarter of fiscal 2024.

Summary of Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2023 Financial Results^{4, 5}

AspenTech’s total revenue was $320.6 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023 and included the following:

• License and solutions revenue, which represents the portion of a term license agreement allocated to the initial license and Open Systems International, Inc. (OSI) revenue where software and professional services are recognized as one performance obligation, was $222.8 million, compared to $179.3 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022.
• Maintenance revenue, which represents the portion of customer agreements related to ongoing support and the right to future product enhancements, was $82.6 million, compared to $50.2 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022.
• Services and other revenue was $15.2 million, compared to $9.5 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022.

Income from operations was $6.0 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, compared to income from operations of $39.2 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022.

Net income was $27.3 million or $0.42 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, compared to net income of $57.2 million, or $1.13 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022. The Company has elevated amortization of intangible assets following the close of the transaction with Emerson. As a result, the Company expects its amortization of intangible assets to remain elevated for the next several years as the related asset balance is amortized over time.

Non-GAAP income from operations was $148.9 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023. Non-GAAP net income was $138.2 million, or $2.13 per share, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023. These non-GAAP results add back the impact of stock-based compensation expense, amortization of intangibles, fees related to acquisitions and integration planning and realized and unrealized gains and losses in connection with derivatives on foreign currency forward contracts. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results is presented in the financial tables included in this press release.

As of June 30, 2023, AspenTech had cash and cash equivalents of $241.2 million, no borrowings, and $193.1 million available on its revolving credit facility.

During the fourth quarter, AspenTech generated $113.6 million in cash flow from operations and $111.5 million in free cash flow³. Free cash flow is calculated as net cash provided by operating activities adjusted for the net impact of purchases of property, equipment and leasehold improvements and payments for capitalized computer software development costs. Free cash flow was below our guidance for fiscal 2023 due to lower-than-expected cash collections. AspenTech has already received a significant portion of these payments in July 2023.

Recent Developments

Micromine Transaction Update

AspenTech, in collaboration with Potentia, Micromine’s majority owner, has terminated its share sale agreement to acquire Micromine. AspenTech and Potentia were waiting to secure a final Russian regulatory approval as a condition to closing the transaction. As this process continued, the timing and requirements necessary to get this approval became increasingly unclear. This lack of clarity on the potential for, and timing of, a successful review led AspenTech and Potentia to this mutual course of action. AspenTech will not be paying any termination fee as part of this arrangement.

Share Repurchase Programs Update

AspenTech announced today that its Board of Directors has approved a new share repurchase authorization, through which the Company may repurchase up to $300 million of its outstanding shares of common stock in fiscal 2024. This authorization is in addition to the Company’s $100 million accelerated share repurchase program announced on May 5, 2023. The Company expects to complete the accelerated share repurchase program in its first quarter of fiscal 2024. Upon its completion, the Company will begin executing the $300 million share repurchase authorization.

Fiscal Year 2024 Business Outlook

Based on information as of today, August 1, 2023, AspenTech is issuing the following guidance for fiscal 2024.

• ACV¹ growth of at least 11.5% year-over-year.
• GAAP operating cash flow of at least $378 million
• Free cash flow³ of at least $360 million
• Total bookings of at least $1.04 billion
• Total revenue of at least $1.12 billion
• GAAP total expense of approximately $1.22 billion
• Non-GAAP total expense of approximately $675 million
• GAAP operating loss at or better than $100 million
• Non-GAAP operating income of at least $445 million
• GAAP net loss at or better than $7 million
• Non-GAAP net income of at least $424 million
• GAAP net loss per share at or better than $0.11
• Non-GAAP net income per share of at least $6.51

These statements are forward-looking and actual results may differ materially. Refer to the Forward-Looking Statements safe harbor below for information on the factors that could cause AspenTech’s actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements.

Conference Call and Webcast

AspenTech will host a conference call and webcast presentation on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss its financial results, business outlook, and related corporate and financial matters. A live webcast of the call will be available on AspenTech's Investor Relations website, http://ir.aspentech.com/, via its "Webcasts" page. To access the call by phone, please use the following registration link. To avoid delays, we encourage participants to dial into the conference call fifteen minutes ahead of the scheduled start time. A replay of the webcast also will be available for a limited time at http://ir.aspentech.com/.

Expanded Earnings Presentation

AspenTech has provided an expanded earnings presentation for its fourth quarter and fiscal 2023. The Company asks that shareholders refer to this presentation in conjunction with today’s conference call, which can be found at ir.aspentech.com.

Footnotes

1. AspenTech defines ACV as the estimate of the annual value of our portfolio of term license and software maintenance and support, or SMS, contracts, the annual value of SMS agreements purchased with perpetual licenses and the annual value of standalone SMS agreements purchased with certain legacy term license agreements, which have become an immaterial part of our business.
2. AspenTech defines Annual Spend for Heritage AspenTech as the annualized value of all term license and SMS contracts at the end of the quarter for the businesses other than OSI and Subsurface Science and Engineering (SSE). AspenTech will no longer disclose its Annual Spend metric starting in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024.
3. Effective January 1, 2023, we no longer exclude acquisition and integration planning related payments from our computation of free cash flow. Free cash flow for all prior periods presented has been revised to the current period computation.
4. As a result of the transaction between AspenTech and Emerson Electric Co. (“Emerson”), EmerSubCX, the subsidiary Emerson created as part of the transaction, became the surviving entity when the transaction closed on May 16, 2022. The comparable three-month period shown in the financial statements for fiscal 2022 reflects the full quarter results of the OSI and SSE businesses that were contributed to new AspenTech and the results of Heritage AspenTech for the period from May 16, 2022 to June 30, 2022. In addition, in conjunction with the closing of the transaction, EmerSubCX adjusted its fiscal year end from September 30 to June 30 to align with Heritage AspenTech’s fiscal year end. As a result, the financial results for fiscal 2022 are for the nine months from October 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 and include the nine-month results of the OSI and SSE businesses Emerson contributed to new AspenTech and the results of Heritage AspenTech for the period from May 16, 2022 to June 30, 2022.
5. Prior period financial information throughout this press release has been revised to conform with the current period presentation.

About AspenTech

Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AZPN) is a global software leader helping industries at the forefront of the world’s dual challenge meet the increasing demand for resources from a rapidly growing population in a profitable and sustainable manner. AspenTech solutions address complex environments where it is critical to optimize the asset design, operation and maintenance lifecycle. Through our unique combination of deep domain expertise and innovation, customers in capital-intensive industries can run their assets safer, greener, longer and faster to improve their operational excellence. To learn more, visit AspenTech.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical may be “forward-looking” statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve risks and uncertainties, and AspenTech undertakes no obligation to update any such statements to reflect later developments. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our guidance for fiscal 2024, our expectations regarding cash collections and completion of our accelerated share repurchase program. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the following words: “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “strategy,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “continue,” “ongoing,” “opportunity” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: the failure to realize the anticipated benefits of our transaction with Emerson Electric Co.; risks resulting from our status as a controlled company; the scope, duration and ultimate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict; as well as economic and currency conditions, market demand (including related to the pandemic and adverse changes in the process or other capital-intensive industries such as materially reduced spending budgets due to oil and gas price declines and volatility), pricing, protection of intellectual property, cybersecurity, natural disasters, tariffs, sanctions, competitive and technological factors, and inflation; and others, as set forth in AspenTech’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-KT and subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The outlook contained herein represents AspenTech’s expectation for its consolidated results, other than as noted herein.

© 2023 Aspen Technology, Inc. AspenTech, aspenONE, asset optimization and the Aspen leaf logo are trademarks of Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release contains “non-GAAP financial measures” under the rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Non-GAAP financial measures are not based on a comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles. This non-GAAP information supplements, and is not intended to represent a measure of performance in accordance with, disclosures required by generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. Non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for or superior to, financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results is included in the financial tables included in this press release.

Management considers both GAAP and non-GAAP financial results in managing AspenTech’s business. As the result of adoption of new licensing models, management believes that a number of AspenTech’s performance indicators based on GAAP, including revenue, gross profit, operating income and net income, should be viewed in conjunction with certain non-GAAP and other business measures in assessing AspenTech’s performance, growth and financial condition. Accordingly, management utilizes a number of non-GAAP and other business metrics, including the non-GAAP metrics set forth in this press release, to track AspenTech’s business performance. None of these non-GAAP metrics should be considered as an alternative to any measure of financial performance calculated in accordance with GAAP.

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