Virtu Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2015 Results

NEW YORK, Feb. 04, 2016 -- Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) a leading technology-enabled market maker and liquidity provider to the global financial markets, which priced its initial public offering on April 15, 2015, today reported results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2015.

Fourth Quarter and Full Year Selected Results

Fourth Quarter 2015:

• Net Income of $42.9 million; Adjusted Net Income* of $52.7 million, which excludes IPO related adjustments
• Normalized Adjusted EPS* of $0.27; GAAP Basic and Diluted EPS of $0.22
• Adjusted Net Trading Income* of $107.8 million
• Adjusted EBITDA* of $71.9 million; Adjusted EBITDA Margin* of 64.9%
• Quarterly cash dividend of $0.24 per share payable on March 15, 2016
  
  

Full Year 2015:

• Net Income of $197.5 million; Adjusted Net Income* of $272.8 million, which excludes IPO related adjustments
• Adjusted Net Trading Income* of $500.7 million
• Adjusted EBITDA* of $352.4 million; Adjusted EBITDA Margin* of 68.9%
  
  

* Non-GAAP financial measures. Please see "Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Other Items" for more information.

The Virtu Financial, Inc. Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.24 per share. This dividend is payable on March 15, 2016 to shareholders of record as of March 1, 2016.

“2015 was a seminal year in Virtu's history. We completed our Initial Public Offering in April. We ended the year with our company present on more than 230 unique venues in 35 countries. Although fourth quarter volumes and volatility trailed the pace set in the third quarter, we began 2016 in a very strong fashion and have benefitted from the sustained elevated volatility and volume levels seen in January,” said Douglas Cifu, Chief Executive Officer of Virtu Financial.

GAAP Financial Results

Total revenues decreased 17.2% to $176.9 million for this quarter, compared to $213.5 million for the same period in 2014. Trading income, net, decreased 18.3% to $166.9 million for this quarter, compared to $204.4 million for the same period in 2014. Net income decreased 37.7% to $42.9 million for this quarter, compared to $68.9 million for the same period in 2014.

GAAP Basic and Diluted EPS for this quarter were $0.22.

Historical quarterly results from first quarter 2014 to date are available at http://ir.virtu.com.

Business Performance

For the fourth quarter of 2015, Adjusted Net Trading Income decreased 18.0% to $107.8 million for this quarter, compared to $131.5 million for the same period in 2014. Adjusted Net Income decreased 30.6% to $52.7 million for this quarter, compared to $75.9 million for the same period in 2014. Adjusted EBITDA decreased 23.8% to $71.9 million for this quarter, compared to $94.3 million for the same period in 2014. Assuming all non-controlling interests had been exchanged for common stock, and the Company’s Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes was subject to corporation taxation, Normalized Adjusted EPS was $0.27 for this quarter.

For the full year 2015, Adjusted Net Trading Income increased 15.1% to $500.7 million, compared to $435.0 million in 2014. Adjusted Net Income increased 20.4% to $272.8 million for the full year 2015, compared to $226.5 million in 2014. Adjusted EBITDA increased 20.9% to $352.4 million for the full year 2015, compared to $291.4 million in 2014. Assuming all non-controlling interests had been exchanged for common stock, and the Company’s Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes was subject to corporation taxation, Normalized Adjusted EPS was $1.35 for this year.

Since our inception, we have sought to broadly diversify our market making across securities, asset classes and  geographies, and as a result, for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, we achieved a diverse mix of Adjusted Net Trading Income results, with no one category constituting more than 31.0% of our total Adjusted Net Trading Income. Average daily Adjusted Net Trading Income was approximately $1.685 million for this quarter compared to $2.055 million for the same period in the previous year. For the full year 2015, no single category constituted more than 27.1% of our total Adjusted Net Trading Income and our average daily Adjusted Net Trading Income was approximately $1.987 million compared to $1.726 million for the previous year.

As of December 31, 2015, Virtu was connected to more than 230 unique market venues in 35 countries and made markets in over 12,000 financial instruments.

The following tables show our Adjusted Net Trading Income, average daily Adjusted Net Trading Income and percentage of Adjusted Net Trading Income by category for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, and years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Financial Condition

As of December 31, 2015, Virtu had $163.2 million in cash and cash equivalents, and total long-term debt outstanding in an aggregate principal amount of $499.8 million.  The increase in cash and cash equivalents from prior periods is primarily due to the net proceeds contributed to Virtu Financial LLC as a result of the Initial Public Offering.

Virtu’s headcount was 148 full-time employees as of December 31, 2015.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Other Items

To supplement our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), we use the following non-GAAP measures of financial performance:

• "Adjusted Net Trading Income", which is the amount of revenue we generate from our market making activities, or trading income, net, plus interest and dividends income and expense, net, less direct costs associated with those revenues, including brokerage, exchange and clearance fees, net. Management believes that this measurement is useful for comparing general operating performance from period to period. Although we use Adjusted Net Trading Income as a financial measure to assess the performance of our business, the use of Adjusted Net Trading Income is limited because it does not include certain material costs that are necessary to operate our business. Our presentation of Adjusted Net Trading Income should not be construed as an indication that our future results will be unaffected by revenues or expenses that are not directly associated with our market making activities.
• "Adjusted Net Income", which measures our operating performance by adjusting Net Income to exclude amortization of purchased intangibles and acquired capitalized software, severance, reserve for legal matter, transaction advisory fees and expenses, termination of office leases, equipment write-off, acquisition related retention bonus, share based compensation, charges related to share based compensation at IPO, 2015 Management Incentive Plan, and charges related to share based compensation awards at IPO.
• "EBITDA", which measures our operating performance by adjusting Net Income to exclude financing interest expense on senior secured credit facility, depreciation and amortization, amortization of purchased intangibles and acquired capitalized software, equipment write-off and income tax expense, and "Adjusted EBITDA", which measures our operating performance by further adjusting EBITDA to exclude severance, reserve for legal matter, transaction advisory fees and expenses, termination of office leases, acquisition related retention bonus, share based compensation, charges related to share based compensation at IPO, 2015 Management Incentive Plan, and charges related to share based compensation at IPO.
• “Normalized Adjusted Net Income”, “Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes”, “Normalized provision for income taxes”, and “Normalized Adjusted EPS”, which we calculate by adjusting Net Income to exclude certain items including IPO related adjustments and other non-cash items, assuming that all vested and unvested Virtu Financial LLC units have been exchanged for Class A Common Stock, and applying a corporate tax rate of 35.5%.  
  
  

Adjusted Net Trading Income, Adjusted Net Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Normalized Adjusted Net Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes, Normalized provision for income taxes and Normalized Adjusted EPS are non-GAAP financial measures used by management in evaluating operating performance and in making strategic decisions. In addition, these non-GAAP financial measures or similar non-GAAP measures are used by research analysts, investment bankers and lenders to assess our operating performance. Management believes that the presentation of Adjusted Net Trading Income, Adjusted Net Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Normalized Adjusted Net Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes, Normalized provision for income taxes and Normalized Adjusted EPS provide useful information to investors regarding our results of operations because it assists both investors and management in analyzing and benchmarking the performance and value of our business. Adjusted Net Trading Income, Adjusted Net Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Normalized Adjusted Net Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes, Normalized provision for income taxes and Normalized Adjusted EPS provide indicators of general economic performance that are not affected by fluctuations in certain costs or other items. Accordingly, management believes that these measurements are useful for comparing general operating performance from period to period. Furthermore, our credit agreement contains covenants and other tests based on metrics similar to Adjusted EBITDA. Other companies may define Adjusted Net Trading Income, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EBITDA, Normalized Adjusted Net Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes, Normalized provision for income taxes and Normalized Adjusted EPS differently, and as a result our measures of Adjusted Net Trading Income, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EBITDA, Normalized Adjusted Net Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes, Normalized provision for income taxes and Normalized Adjusted EPS may not be directly comparable to those of other companies. Although we use these non-GAAP financial measures as financial measures to assess the performance of our business, such use is limited because they do not include certain material costs necessary to operate our business.
                   
Adjusted Net Trading Income, Adjusted Net Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Normalized Adjusted Net Income should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, Net Income in accordance with U.S. GAAP as a measure of performance. Our presentation of Adjusted Net Trading Income, Adjusted Net Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Normalized Adjusted Net Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes, Normalized provision for income taxes and Normalized Adjusted EPS should not be construed as an indication that our future results will be unaffected by unusual or nonrecurring items. Adjusted Net Trading Income, Adjusted Net Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income, Normalized Adjusted Net Income before income taxes, Normalized provision for income taxes, Normalized Adjusted EPS and our EBITDA-based measures have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation or as substitutes for analysis of our results as reported under U.S. GAAP. Some of these limitations are:

• they do not reflect every cash expenditure, future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;
• our EBITDA-based measures do not reflect the significant interest expense or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payment on our debt;
• although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized will often have to be replaced or require improvements in the future, and our EBITDA-based measures do not reflect any cash requirement for such replacements or improvements;
• they are not adjusted for all non-cash income or expense items that are reflected in our statements of cash flows;
• they do not reflect the impact of earnings or charges resulting from matters we consider not to be indicative of our ongoing operations; and
• they do not reflect limitations on our costs related to transferring earnings from our subsidiaries to us.
  
  

Because of these limitations, Adjusted Net Trading Income, Adjusted Net Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Normalized Adjusted Net Income are not intended as alternatives to Net Income as indicators of our operating performance and should not be considered as measures of discretionary cash available to us to invest in the growth of our business or as measures of cash that will be available to us to meet our obligations. We compensate for these limitations by using Adjusted Net Trading Income, Adjusted Net Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Normalized Adjusted Net Income along with other comparative tools, together with U.S. GAAP measurements, to assist in the evaluation of operating performance. These U.S. GAAP measurements include operating income (loss), Net Income (loss), cash flows from operations and cash flow data. See below a reconciliation of each non-GAAP measure to the most directly comparable GAAP measure.

Virtu Financial, Inc. and Subsidiaries 
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Unaudited)

Virtu Financial, Inc. and Subsidiaries 
Reconciliation to Non-GAAP Operating Data (Unaudited)

The following tables reconcile Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income to arrive at Adjusted Net Income, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Trading Income, and selected Operating Margins.

Virtu Financial, Inc. and Subsidiaries 
Reconciliation to Non-GAAP Operating Data (Unaudited) 
(Continued)

The following tables reconcile Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income to arrive at Normalized Adjusted Net Income and Normalized Adjusted Net Income per share.

Virtu Financial, Inc. and Subsidiaries 
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition (Unaudited)

Conference Call Information

Douglas Cifu, Chief Executive Officer, and Joseph Molluso, Chief Financial Officer, will host a conference call to discuss the Company's financial results and outlook on Thursday, February 4, 2016, at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time. To access the conference call, please dial (855) 645-0552 (U.S.) or (720) 634-9067 (international). The Company will also host a live audio Webcast of the conference call on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at http://ir.virtu.com/events.cfm. The Webcast will also be archived on http://ir.virtu.com/events.cfm for 90 days following the announcement.

About Virtu Financial, Inc.

Virtu is a leading technology-enabled market maker and liquidity provider to the global financial markets. We stand ready, at any time, to buy or sell a broad range of securities and other financial instruments, and we generate revenue by buying and selling securities and other financial instruments and earning small amounts of money on individual transactions based on the difference between what buyers are willing to pay and what sellers are willing to accept, which we refer to as "bid/ask spreads," across a large volume of transactions. We make markets by providing quotations to buyers and sellers in more than 12,000 securities and other financial instruments on more than 230 unique exchanges, markets and liquidity pools in 35 countries around the world. We believe that our broad diversification, in combination with our proprietary technology platform and low-cost structure, enables us to facilitate risk transfer between global capital markets participants by supplying liquidity and competitive pricing while at the same time earning attractive margins and returns.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The foregoing information contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the company's current views with respect to certain current and future events and financial performance. These forward-looking statements are and will be, as the case may be, subject to many risks, uncertainties and factors relating to the company's operations and business environment which may cause the company's actual results to be materially different from any future results, expressed or implied, in these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to the company on the date of this release. The company does not undertake to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that any statements expressed or implied therein will not be realized. Additional information on risk factors that could potentially affect the company's financial results may be found in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT              

Investor Relations
Andrew Smith
Virtu Financial, Inc.
(212) 418-0195
[email protected] 

Media Relations
[email protected]