Cardlytics Announces Second Quarter 2018 Financial Results

ATLANTA, Aug. 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cardlytics, Inc., (NASDAQ: CDLX), a purchase intelligence platform that helps make marketing more relevant and measurable, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018.

“We are pleased to deliver another quarter of solid financial results, which outperformed our prior expectations,” said Scott Grimes, CEO & Co-Founder of Cardlytics. “We are increasingly confident in our ability to drive substantial MAU growth by consolidating the US Banking market for Purchase Intelligence. Significantly increased MAU scale creates new opportunities for us to serve the needs of advertisers, providing further opportunity to drive ARPU growth.”

“We are happy to announce the signing of an agreement with Wells Fargo to launch Cardlytics Direct nationally and across all digital channels,” said Lynne Laube, COO & Co-Founder of Cardlytics. “Adding Wells Fargo to the Cardlytics purchase intelligence platform will further strengthen our ability to provide actionable insights for our marketing clients. Marketers can act on these insights, reaching a scaled audience inside banks’ secure digital channels – where consumers are already thinking about their money.”

Second Quarter 2018 Financial Results

• Total revenue was $35.6 million, an increase of 8% year-over-year compared to $32.8 million in the second quarter of 2017.
• Cardlytics Direct revenue was $35.1 million, an increase of 21% compared to $28.9 million in the second quarter of 2017.
• GAAP net loss attributable to common stockholders was $(13.1) million, or $(0.64) per diluted share based on 20.3 million weighted-average common shares outstanding, compared to a loss of $(5.4) million, or $(3.48) per diluted share based on 3.9 million weighted-average common shares outstanding in the second quarter of 2017.
• Adjusted contribution, a non-GAAP metric, was $16.2 million compared to $13.5 million in the second quarter of 2017.
• Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP metric, was a loss of $(2.2) million compared to a loss of $(2.8) million in the second quarter of 2017.
• Non-GAAP net loss was $(4.3) million, or $(0.21) per diluted share based on 20.3 million non-GAAP weighted-average common shares outstanding, compared to a loss of (6.0) million, or $(0.43) per diluted share based on 13.9 million non-GAAP weighted-average common shares outstanding in the second quarter of 2017.

“We delivered solid second quarter financial results highlighted by 21% year-over-year growth in Cardlytics Direct revenue,” said David Evans, CFO of Cardlytics. “Our strong second quarter outperformance for non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA compared to our guidance reflects our top line beat, as well as timing of planned investments, which we would expect to accelerate in the second half of the year related to the Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase rollouts.”

Key Metrics

• FI MAUs were 58.8 million, an increase of 9% compared to 53.7 million in the second quarter of 2017.
• ARPU was $0.60 compared to $0.54 in the second quarter of 2017.

Definitions of FI MAUs and ARPU are included below under the caption “Non-GAAP Measures and Other Performance Metrics.”

2018 Financial Expectations

Cardlytics anticipates revenue and non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA to be in the following ranges for the periods indicated (in millions):

1. With respect to our expectations above under the caption “2018 Financial Expectations,” a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net loss on a forward looking basis is not available without unreasonable efforts due to the high variability, complexity and low visibility with respect to the items excluded from this non-GAAP measure. We have provided a reconciliation of historical non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP measures in the financial statement tables included in this press release.
2. The adjusted EBITDA expectations for the full year of 2018 includes the impact of an anticipated $1.0 million expense in the fourth quarter of 2018 related to an expected shortfall in meeting a minimum FI Share commitment. 

Earnings Teleconference Information

Cardlytics will discuss its second quarter 2018 financial results during a teleconference today, August 14, 2018, at 5:00 PM ET / 2:00 PM PT. The conference call can be accessed at (866) 385-4179 (domestic) or (210) 874-7775 (international), conference ID# 9293446. A replay of the conference call will be available through 8:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM PT on August 21, 2018 at (855) 859-2056 (domestic) or (404) 537-3406 (international). The replay passcode is 9293446. The call will also be broadcast simultaneously at http://ir.cardlytics.com/. Following the completion of the call, a recorded replay of the webcast will be available on Cardlytics’ website.

About Cardlytics

Cardlytics (NASDAQ: CDLX) uses purchase intelligence to make marketing more relevant and measurable. We partner with more than 2,000 financial institutions to run their banking rewards programs that promote customer loyalty and deepen banking relationships. In turn, we have a secure view into where and when consumers are spending their money. We use these insights to help marketers identify, reach, and influence likely buyers at scale, as well as measure the true sales impact of marketing campaigns. Headquartered in Atlanta, Cardlytics has offices in London, New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Learn more at www.cardlytics.com.