Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc. Reports 2019 Third Quarter Financial Results

NEW YORK, Oct. 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Third Quarter 2019 Highlights:

• Tour revenues increased 16% to $101.0 million
• Net loss available to common stockholders was $0.5 million, including a $2.7 million non-cash deemed dividend related to the warrant exchange
• Adjusted EBITDA increased 41% to $24.1 million
• Lindblad segment Net Yield increased 7% to $1,054 and Occupancy increased to 94%
• Completed exchange offer and redeemed all outstanding warrants

Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: LIND; the "Company" or "Lindblad"), a global provider of expedition cruises and adventure travel experiences, today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2019.

Sven-Olof Lindblad, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Lindblad delivered another quarter of strong financial growth and sustained operating momentum this past quarter as the strategic investments we have made to expand our capacity are being met by the robust demand for high quality and immersive adventure travel.   Over the past two years we have dramatically increased the available berths across our fleet and, as we have added inventory, we have also been able to grow Occupancy and Net Yields.  At the same time, bookings for future travel have remained strong for both our existing ships, as well as for our two new state of the art polar builds, the National Geographic Endurance, scheduled for delivery in 2020, and the recently named National Geographic Resolution, scheduled for delivery in 2021.  With continued demand from loyal past guests and a rapidly growing population of new travelers looking for unique expedition experiences with a proven operator, we are well positioned to create additional shareholder value in the years ahead."

THIRD QUARTER RESULTS

Tour Revenues

Third quarter tour revenues of $101.0 million increased $13.7 million, or 16%, as compared to the same period in 2018. The increase was driven by growth of $12.1 million at the Lindblad segment and $1.7 million at Natural Habitat.

Lindblad segment tour revenues of $76.6 million increased $12.1 million, or 19%, compared to the third quarter a year ago primarily due to a 14% increase in Available Guest Nights, mostly from the launch of the National Geographic Venture in December 2018. The year on year growth also reflects a 7% increase in Net Yield to $1,054 due primarily to higher pricing and changes in itineraries, as well as an increase in Occupancy to 94%.

Natural Habitat revenues of $24.4 million increased $1.7 million, or 7%, compared to the third quarter a year ago due primarily to higher ticket revenue from additional departures and increased pricing.

Net Income

Net loss available to common stockholders for the third quarter was $0.5 million, $0.01 per diluted share, as compared with net income available to common stockholders of $5.1 million, $0.11 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2018. The $5.6 million decrease primarily reflects improved operating results that were more than offset by a $4.7 million increase in income tax expense, a $2.7 million non-cash deemed dividend related to completing the warrant exchange, a $2.3 million loss on foreign currency and a $1.2 million increase in depreciation and amortization due largely to the addition of the National Geographic Venture to the fleet in December 2018.

Adjusted EBITDA

Third quarter Adjusted EBITDA of $24.1 million increased $7.0 million, or 41%, as compared to the same period in 2018. The increase was driven by growth of $5.9 million at the Lindblad segment and $1.1 million at Natural Habitat. 

Lindblad segment Adjusted EBITDA of $20.6 million increased $5.9 million, or 40%, as compared to the third quarter a year ago as the increased tour revenues were partially offset by operating costs on the National Geographic Venture. The third quarter also included increased costs due to higher marketing spend to drive long-term growth initiatives, higher commission expense related to the revenue growth and increased personnel costs partially offset by lower value-added tax expense.

Natural Habitat Adjusted EBITDA of $3.5 million increased $1.1 million, or 43%, as compared to the third quarter a year ago as the revenue growth was partially offset by increased operating costs related to additional departures and higher marketing and personnel costs to drive long-term growth initiatives.

Liquidity

The Company's cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash were $112.1 million as of September 30, 2019, as compared with $122.2 million as of December 31, 2018. The decrease primarily reflects purchases of property and equipment of $76.7 million, mostly related to the construction of two new vessels, partially offset by $41.6 million in net cash provided by operating activities due to the strong operating performance.  The current year also includes $25.1 million in net cash provided by financing activities primarily due to $30.5 million borrowings under our second export credit agreement in conjunction with our second installment payment on the National Geographic Resolution.  The loan bears interest at a floating interest rate equal to three-month LIBOR plus a margin of 3.00% per annum.

Free cash flow use was $35.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 as compared with a use of $6.3 million in the same period of 2018 primarily due to higher capital expenditures for the construction of new vessels. Free cash flow is defined as net cash provided by operating activities less purchases of property and equipment.

LINDBLAD FLEET ACTIVITIES

The Company expanded its travel offerings in December 2018 with the launch of the National Geographic Venture, which sailed in Baja during the winter season before heading to Alaska for the summer months.

The Company is currently building two new state-of-the-art polar ice class vessels to further capitalize on the growth in high quality adventure travel and broaden the immersive and authentic itineraries we offer to our guests. The National Geographic Endurance is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2020 and, in February 2019, we signed a contract for her sister ship, the National Geographic Resolution, scheduled for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2021. These two vessels will join the National Geographic Explorer and the National Geographic Orion to dramatically increase the polar capacity of the Lindblad National Geographic fleet. They will be capable of exploring deep into the Antarctic and Arctic waters and will be built with the Ulstein X-BOW® design, allowing for greater comfort and speed through rough waters.

STOCK AND WARRANT TRANSACTIONS

On August 1, 2019 the Company completed an Exchange Offer and Consent Solicitation relating to its outstanding warrants in order to simplify its corporate structure and reduce the potential dilutive impact of the warrants. Each holder of the warrants was offered 0.385 shares of common stock in exchange for each warrant and consent to amend the warrant agreement to permit the Company to require that each outstanding warrant that was not tendered in the Exchange Offer be converted into 0.36575 shares of common stock.  The Company issued 3,824,959 shares of common stock under the Exchange Offer with the remaining warrants converted into 45,981 shares of common stock.  Following the Exchange Offer and Consent Solicitation, no warrants remain outstanding. As the fair value of the warrants exchanged in the Warrant Exchange offer was less than the fair value of the common stock issued, the Company recorded a non-cash deemed dividend of approximately $2.7 million for the incremental fair value provided to the warrant holders.

The Company currently has a $35 million stock repurchase plan in place. As of October 29, 2019, the Company had repurchased 6.0 million warrants and 866,701 shares under the plan for a total of $22.9 million and had $12.1 million remaining under the plan. As of October 29, 2019, there were 49.6 million shares of common stock outstanding.

FINANCIAL OUTLOOK 

The Company's current expectations for the full year 2019 are as follows:

• Tour revenues of $341 - $346 million (10 - 11% growth)
• Adjusted EBITDA of $67 - $70 million (22 - 28% growth)

As of October 29, 2019, Lindblad segment bookings for travel during 2019 have increased 11% as compared with bookings for 2018 as of the same date a year ago. Additionally, the Lindblad segment had 100% of revised full year 2019 projected guest ticket revenues on the books versus 100% of full year 2018 guest ticket revenue at the same time last year.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

The Company uses a variety of operational and financial metrics, including non-GAAP financial measures such as Adjusted EBITDA, Occupancy, Net Yields and Net Cruise Costs, to enable it to analyze its performance and financial condition. The Company utilizes these financial measures to manage its business on a day-to-day basis and believes that they are the most relevant measures of performance. Some of these measures are commonly used in the cruise and tourism industry to evaluate performance. The Company believes these non-GAAP measures provide expanded insight to assess revenue and cost performance, in addition to the standard GAAP-based financial measures. There are no specific rules or regulations for determining non-GAAP measures, and as such, they may not be comparable to measures used by other companies within the industry.

The presentation of non-GAAP financial information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. The definitions of non-GAAP financial measures along with a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial information to GAAP are included in the supplemental financial schedules.

Conference Call Information

The Company has scheduled a conference call at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time on October 30, 2019 to discuss the earnings of the Company. The conference call can be accessed by dialing (844) 378-6487 (United States), (855) 669-9657 (Canada) or (412) 542-4182 (outside the U.S.). A replay of the call will be available at the Company's investor relations website, investors.expeditions.com.

 About Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc.

Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc. is an expedition travel company that focuses on ship-based voyages through its Lindblad Expeditions brand and on land-based travel through its subsidiary, Natural Habitat Adventures, an adventure travel and ecotourism company with a focus on responsible nature travel.

Lindblad Expeditions works in partnership with National Geographic to inspire people to explore and care about the planet. The organizations work in tandem to produce innovative marine expedition programs and to promote conservation and sustainable tourism around the world. The partnership's educationally oriented voyages allow guests to interact with and learn from leading scientists, naturalists and researchers while discovering stunning natural environments, above and below the sea, through state-of-the-art exploration tools.

Natural Habitat partners with the World Wildlife Fund to offer and promote conservation and sustainable travel that directly protects nature. Natural Habitat's adventures include polar bear tours in Churchill, Canada, Alaskan grizzly bear adventures and African safaris.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain matters discussed in this press release are "forward-looking statements" intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include the Company's financial projections and may also generally be identified as such because the context of such statements will include words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would" or words of similar import. Similarly, statements that describe the Company's financial guidance or future plans, objectives or goals are also forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from those expected, including, but not limited to, the following: (i) changes adversely affecting the business in which the Company is engaged; (ii) management of the Company's growth and its ability to execute on its planned growth; (iii) general economic conditions; (iv) our ability to maintain our relationship with National Geographic (v) the Company's business strategy and plans; (vi) unscheduled disruptions in our business due to weather events, mechanical failures, or other events; (vii) compliance with laws and regulations; (viii) compliance with the financial and/or operating covenants in the Company's credit agreements; (ix) adverse publicity regarding the cruise industry in general; (x) loss of business due to competition; (xi) the result of future financing efforts; (xii) the inability to meet revenue and Adjusted EBITDA projections; (xiii) delays and costs overruns with respect to the construction and delivery of newly constructed vessels; and (xiv) those risks described in the Company's filings with the SEC. Stockholders, potential investors and other readers are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements made herein are made only as of the date of this press release and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. More detailed information about factors that may affect the Company's performance may be found in its filings with the SEC, which are available at http://www.sec.gov or at http://www.expeditions.com in the Investor Relations section of the Company's website.