First Advantage Posts Solid Q2 2024 Results; Anticipates Sterling Acquisition Closure by Q4

First Advantage Corporation reported second quarter 2024 results, showing revenue of $184.5 million and a net income of $1.9 million, which includes $9.2 million in expenses related to the acquisition of Sterling Check Corp. Adjusted net income was $30.8 million, and adjusted EBITDA stood at $55.8 million, maintaining a margin of 30.2%. The company reaffirmed its full-year 2024 guidance, projecting revenues between $750 million to $800 million. The Sterling acquisition, announced in February, is anticipated to close in the fourth quarter of 2024, aimed at enhancing First Advantage’s background screening and verification solutions.

Reaffirms Full-Year 2024 Guidance; Sterling Acquisition Expected to Close in Q4

Second Quarter 2024 Highlights¹

• Revenues of $184.5 million
• Net Income of $1.9 million, a net income margin of 1.0%, includes $9.2 million of expenses incurred related to the acquisition of Sterling Check Corp. (“Sterling”)
• Adjusted Net Income of $30.8 million
• Adjusted EBITDA of $55.8 million; Adjusted EBITDA Margin of 30.2%
• GAAP Diluted Net Income Per Share of $0.01, includes $0.06 per share of expenses incurred related to the Sterling acquisition
• Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share of $0.21
• Cash Flows from Operations of $32.0 million; Cash Flows from Operations would have been $40.7 million after adjusting for $8.7 million of cash costs paid directly related to the Sterling acquisition
• Chief Financial Officer transition announced; David Gamsey to retire in December, to be succeeded by Steven Marks, Chief Accounting Officer
• Acquisition of Sterling, announced on February 29, 2024, continues to progress towards closing in the fourth quarter of 2024

Reaffirming Standalone First Advantage Full-Year 2024 Guidance

• Reaffirming full-year 2024 guidance ranges for Revenues of $750 million to $800 million, Adjusted EBITDA of $228 million to $248 million, Adjusted Net Income of $127 million to $142 million, and Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share of $0.88 to $0.98²

ATLANTA, Aug. 08, 2024 — First Advantage Corporation (NASDAQ: FA), a leading provider of employment background screening, identity, and verification solutions, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024.

Key Financials
(Amounts in millions, except per share data and percentages)

“In the second quarter, we delivered solid financial results in line with our communicated expectations, even considering the normalization that is occurring within the labor market. Our team demonstrated outstanding execution with important upsell and new logo bookings. Additionally, we have been early adopters of integrating responsible Generative AI into our business and we are continuing to expand our use of AI to both enhance our customer value proposition with solutions like our SmartHub™ verifications router and to optimize our operations with initiatives like our Click. Chat. Call. program for customer and applicant support,” said Scott Staples, Chief Executive Officer.

“Our acquisition of Sterling continues to progress, and we are working to advance our integration planning initiatives for this exciting combination. We are committed to facilitating a seamless integration of our corporate cultures, minimizing disruptions to customers, and quickly and effectively executing our synergy plans. This acquisition will extend our high-quality and cost-effective background screening, identity, and verification technology solutions for the benefit of both companies’ customers. The Sterling acquisition represents a significant advancement in our value creation framework, and we expect it will support and accelerate our strategic priorities. As we announced at the end of May, we now expect our acquisition of Sterling to close in the fourth quarter of 2024 based on our latest view of the regulatory review process,” Staples concluded.

Liquidity, Cash Flow, and Capital Allocation

As of June 30, 2024, First Advantage had cash and cash equivalents of $269.6 million and total debt of $564.7 million.

During the second quarter of 2024, the Company generated $40.7 million of cash flow from operations after adjusting for $8.7 million of cash costs paid directly related to the Sterling acquisition.

“We are reaffirming our full-year 2024 guidance given our performance in the first half of the year and our outlook for the second half of the year,” commented David Gamsey, EVP and Chief Financial Officer. “We are pleased to have delivered results in line with our communicated expectations, including sequential quarter-over-quarter growth for revenues, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA Margin, with margins returning to over 30%, and we expect this trend to continue through the second half of the year. Looking forward, we will continue to execute on our operational strategies to control what we can control and deliver value for our customers while preparing to close on the Sterling acquisition. Post-closing, we will maintain our product and customer focus while endeavoring to conduct a smooth integration, achieve synergies, and reduce leverage.”

Chief Financial Officer Transition

The Company announced today that David Gamsey, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, has decided to retire after a long and distinguished career spanning 45 years. As part of its formal succession plan, the Board of Directors has selected Steven Marks, the Company’s Chief Accounting Officer, to succeed Mr. Gamsey. Mr. Gamsey will remain in his current role until November 8, 2024, and then transition to an advisory role through December 1, 2024.

“I want to thank David for his tremendous contributions to First Advantage over the past eight plus years, as well as for being a great partner to me, the rest of the leadership team, and our Board,” said Scott Staples, Chief Executive Officer. “David has been instrumental in building this company into the industry leader we are today. He has been a critical member of our team as we have substantially grown the business, executed our IPO and M&A strategies, and most recently, announced our acquisition of Sterling. I congratulate David and wish him well in his upcoming retirement.”

“I look forward to working with Steven as our next CFO and I join the Board in expressing our confidence in his appointment,” Staples continued. “Steven is an accomplished finance professional and respected leader, bringing over 15 years of financial leadership experience to the role, including the last eight years with First Advantage. He knows this company very well and we expect him to continue to advance our history of creating value for our shareholders. Steven has been intimately involved with, and has helped spearhead, our acquisition of Sterling, including leading the finance workstream for our post-close integration planning, and we believe that he will be an excellent CFO of the combined companies.”

Steven Marks has served as Chief Accounting Officer since February 2022. He joined the company in 2016 and previously served as Senior Vice President, Accounting and Controller. Before joining the Company, Mr. Marks held roles in accounting and financial reporting at Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC. Mr. Marks began his career in public accounting at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Standalone First Advantage Full-Year 2024 Guidance

The following table summarizes our full-year 2024 guidance, which excludes contributions from the pending Sterling acquisition and will be adjusted accordingly upon closing:

_{² A reconciliation of the foregoing guidance for the non-GAAP metrics of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income to GAAP net (loss) income and Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share to GAAP diluted net (loss) income per share cannot be provided without unreasonable effort because of the inherent difficulty of accurately forecasting the occurrence and financial impact of the various adjusting items necessary for such reconciliation that have not yet occurred, are out of our control, or cannot be reasonably predicted. For the same reasons, the Company is unable to assess the probable significance of the unavailable information, which could have a material impact on its future GAAP financial results.}

The Company’s full-year 2024 guidance ranges reflect the current hiring environment and expectations that existing macroeconomic conditions and similar labor market trends will continue throughout 2024, with the high-end of the guidance ranges reflecting some macroeconomic recovery towards year end. Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share guidance ranges include the impacts from the 2023 one-time special dividend, expired interest rate swaps, and share buybacks.

Actual results may differ materially from First Advantage’s full-year 2024 guidance as a result of, among other things, the factors described under “Forward-Looking Statements” below.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

First Advantage will host a conference call to review its second quarter 2024 results today, August 8, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. ET.

To participate in the conference call, please dial 800-343-4136 (domestic) or 203-518-9843 (international) approximately ten minutes before the 8:30 a.m. ET start. Please mention to the operator that you are dialing in for the First Advantage second quarter 2024 earnings call or provide the conference code FA2Q24. The call will also be webcast live on the Company’s investor relations website at https://investors.fadv.com under the “News & Events” and then “Events & Presentations” section, where related presentation materials will be posted prior to the conference call.

Following the conference call, a replay of the webcast will be available on the Company’s investor relations website, https://investors.fadv.com. Alternatively, the live webcast and subsequent replay will be available at https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/4615983/29A49BF68C43A0526A4F5D06705D5F4E.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, our operations and financial performance. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements relate to matters such as our industry, business strategy, goals, and expectations concerning our market position, future operations, margins, profitability, capital expenditures, liquidity and capital resources, and other financial and operating information. In some cases, you can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “future,” “will,” “seek,” “foreseeable,” “target,” “guidance,” the negative version of these words, or similar terms and phrases.

These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties, assumptions, or changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict or quantify. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following:

• negative changes in external events beyond our control, including our customers’ onboarding volumes, economic drivers which are sensitive to macroeconomic cycles, such as interest rate volatility and inflation, geopolitical unrest, and uncertainty in financial markets;
• our operations in a highly regulated industry and the fact that we are subject to numerous and evolving laws and regulations, including with respect to personal data, data security, and artificial intelligence;
• inability to identify and successfully implement our growth strategies on a timely basis or at all;
• potential harm to our business, brand, and reputation as a result of security breaches, cyber-attacks, or the mishandling of personal data;
• our reliance on third-party data providers;
• due to the sensitive and privacy-driven nature of our products and solutions, we could face liability and legal or regulatory proceedings, which could be costly and time-consuming to defend and may not be fully covered by insurance;
• our international business exposes us to a number of risks;
• the timing, manner and volume of repurchases of common stock pursuant to our share repurchase program;
• the continued integration of our platforms and solutions with human resource providers such as applicant tracking systems and human capital management systems as well as our relationships with such human resource providers;
• our ability to obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary information;
• disruptions, outages, or other errors with our technology and network infrastructure, including our data centers, servers, and third-party cloud and internet providers and our migration to the cloud;
• our indebtedness could adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry, and prevent us from meeting our obligations;
• the failure to complete or realize the expected benefits of our acquisition of Sterling Check Corp.;
• expectations regarding our Chief Financial Officer succession plan; and
• control by our Sponsor, “Silver Lake”, (Silver Lake Group, L.L.C., together with its affiliates, successors, and assignees) and its interests may conflict with ours or those of our stockholders.

For additional information on these and other factors that could cause First Advantage’s actual results to differ materially from expected results, please see our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), as such factors may be updated from time to time in our filings with the SEC, which are or will be accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise, except as required by law.

Non-GAAP Financial Information

This press release contains “non-GAAP financial measures” that are financial measures that either exclude or include amounts that are not excluded or included in the most directly comparable measures calculated and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). Specifically, we make use of the non-GAAP financial measures “Adjusted EBITDA,” “Adjusted EBITDA Margin,” “Adjusted Net Income,” “Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share,” “Constant Currency Revenues,” and “Constant Currency Adjusted EBITDA.”

Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share, Constant Currency Revenues, and Constant Currency Adjusted EBITDA have been presented in this press release as supplemental measures of financial performance that are not required by or presented in accordance with GAAP because we believe they assist investors and analysts in comparing our operating performance across reporting periods on a consistent basis by excluding items that we do not believe are indicative of our core operating performance. Management believes these non-GAAP measures are useful to investors in highlighting trends in our operating performance, while other measures can differ significantly depending on long-term strategic decisions regarding capital structure, the tax jurisdictions in which we operate, and capital investments. Management uses Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share, Constant Currency Revenues, and Constant Currency Adjusted EBITDA to supplement GAAP measures of performance in the evaluation of the effectiveness of our business strategies, to make budgeting decisions, to establish discretionary annual incentive compensation, and to compare our performance against that of peer companies using similar measures. Management supplements GAAP results with non-GAAP financial measures to provide a more complete understanding of the factors and trends affecting the business than GAAP results alone.

Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share, Constant Currency Revenues, and Constant Currency Adjusted EBITDA are not recognized terms under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to net (loss) income as a measure of financial performance or cash provided by operating activities as a measure of liquidity, or any other performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP. The presentations of these measures have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Because not all companies use identical calculations, the presentations of these measures may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies and can differ significantly from company to company.

We define Adjusted EBITDA as net (loss) income before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, and as further adjusted for loss on extinguishment of debt, share-based compensation, transaction and acquisition-related charges, integration and restructuring charges, and other non-cash charges. We define Adjusted EBITDA Margin as Adjusted EBITDA divided by total revenues. We define Adjusted Net Income for a particular period as net (loss) income before taxes adjusted for debt-related costs, acquisition-related depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation, transaction and acquisition-related charges, integration and restructuring charges, and other non-cash charges, to which we then apply the related effective tax rate. We define Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share as Adjusted Net Income divided by adjusted weighted average number of shares outstanding—diluted. We define Constant Currency Revenues as current period revenues translated using prior-year period exchange rates. We define Constant Currency Adjusted EBITDA as current period Adjusted EBITDA translated using prior-year period exchange rates. For reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, see the reconciliations included at the end of this press release. Numerical figures included in the reconciliations have been subject to rounding adjustments. Accordingly, numerical figures shown as totals in various tables may not be arithmetic aggregations of the figures that precede them.

About First Advantage

First Advantage (NASDAQ: FA) is a leading provider of employment background screening, identity, and verification solutions. The Company delivers innovative services and insights that help customers manage risk and hire the best talent. Enabled by its proprietary technology, First Advantage helps companies protect their brands and provide safer environments for their customers and their most important resources: employees, contractors, contingent workers, tenants, and drivers. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, First Advantage performs screens in over 200 countries and territories on behalf of its more than 30,000 customers. For more information about First Advantage, visit the Company’s website at https://fadv.com/.