Information Services Corporation (TSX:ISV) (ISC) is aiming to expand its business significantly under its newly launched five-year growth plan, and the first quarter of 2024 shows the provider of registry and information management services for public data and records is off to a strong start.
The company posted solid Q1 financial results, notably reporting year-over-year increases in revenue, income and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).
CEO Shawn Peters joined Proactive to talk through the highlights of the quarterly report and the company’s growth plans.
Proactive: Your first quarter numbers show steady and strong growth.
Shawn Peters: The first quarter was in line with our expectations. It’s historically our slowest quarter in our Registry business, so we saw that normal seasonality but really strong growth across our Services segment and good operations across all of our business. And that produces those strong, steady results that we’re used to and that our investors and shareholders are used to.
In these Q1 numbers, it seems like everything is working together.
Everything really is. We’ve launched our new growth strategy that we announced earlier this year. So, we’re really focused on growing all parts of the business. Now, there’s still some seasonality in the Registry business. So while that is a bit slower, that’s what we expected. At the same time, the Services business is picking up and, even in Saskatchewan, different types and different values of transactions that are helping keep that business strong.
You also reiterated your guidance for 2024 which looks to be strong as far as cash flow is concerned. Can you talk about the plan for this year and moving forward?
As you said, we reiterated the guidance. The first part of our five-year plan announcement is doubling the size of the company on a revenue and EBITDA basis over the next five years. That guidance includes really strong organic growth, which is what we’re predicting across the business this year. The first quarter is a nice, strong start to that. So we’re happy to reiterate that guidance.
You have a recent update on your business in Ontario. Can you talk about that?
As part of our growth strategy, we announced previously a 20-year extension to our contract in Saskatchewan. Then, we announced an extension to our contract with the government of Ontario through the property tax analysis business we acquired in 2022. That contract was set to expire in 2025 and we did an early renewal to move that out to 2028, which is great for us but also great for the government of Ontario, providing stability in that system for the next four years.
What’s your message to shareholders about where the business is now and your long-term vision?
We’ve talked about the stability and consistency of the business every quarter and we’ve delivered on that every quarter. What we’re excited about now is we’ve doubled the size of the company in the last 10 years and now our plan is to do that over in the next five years. Our message to investors and shareholders is we’re going to continue to be the strong, stable business they expect, now with an increased focus on growth.
Quotes have been edited for clarity and style