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H&R Block Reports Strong Fiscal 2021 Results; Increases Dividend

11 min read

11 min read

June 15, 2021


  • The Company achieved robust growth across total filing volumes, total market share, Assisted filings and market share, and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) revenue in the 2021 tax season. When including total tax season performance through the May 17, 2021 filing deadline, the Company substantially exceeded its original fiscal 2021 revenue and earnings outlook.
  • The Company announced a 4% increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.27 per share. This is the fifth increase in six years, resulting in a 35% total increase in that time frame.
  • The Company repurchased 2.11 million shares in its fiscal fourth quarter, resulting in total share repurchases of 11.6 million shares and $188 million, or $16.29 per share, for fiscal 2021.
  • The Company announced its fiscal year-end will change to June 30, effective immediately.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) (the “Company”) today released its financial results for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2021. The extension of the U.S. federal tax filing deadline from April 15 to May 17 resulted in the tax season concluding beyond fiscal 2021. Including performance through May 18, 2021, in fiscal 2021, would result in the Company substantially exceeding its original revenue and earnings outlook for 2021.

“I am proud of the outstanding growth across our business,” said Jeff Jones, H&R Block’s president and chief executive officer. “Our team provided help and inspired financial confidence for millions of consumers and small business owners this year. We made tremendous progress in our first year of Block Horizons, blending technology and digital tools with human expertise in tax, improving our offerings in small business, driving significant growth in Wave, and making progress on our new mobile banking platform.”

Fiscal 2021 Results From Continuing Operations

“Growth in total filings, strong performance from Wave, and proactive fiscal management resulted in a strong 2021 that exceeded our expectations,” said Tony Bowen, H&R Block’s chief financial officer. “We are confident in our future, as evidenced by increasing our quarterly dividend by 4% and repurchasing 6% of our shares outstanding this fiscal year.”

Key Financial Metrics

  • Total revenue of $3.4 billion increased by $774 million, or 29.3%, due to an increase in U.S. tax return volumes due to the extension of the 2020 tax season into our fiscal 2021, stronger mix in DIY, Emerald Card revenues related to federal stimulus payments, and strong growth from Wave.
  • Total operating expenses of $2.6 billion increased by $82 million, or 3.2%, due to an increase in variable labor, partially offset by impairment charges related to the pandemic in fiscal 2020, and lower bank partner fees and travel-related costs.
  • Pretax income of $669 million compared favorably to a pretax loss of $3 million in the prior year. 
  • Earnings per share from continuing operations increased $3.08 to $3.11; adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations increased from $0.84 to $3.39. 

Dividends and Share Repurchases

The company announced today that its Board of Directors increased the quarterly dividend by 4%, representing the fifth increase in the dividend in six years and a 35% total increase over that time frame.  The quarterly cash dividend is now $0.27 per share, payable on July 1, 2021 to shareholders of record as of June 25, 2021.  The Company has paid consecutive quarterly dividends since it became publicly traded in 1962.  Future actions regarding dividends will be dependent upon the Board’s approval following consideration of operating results, market conditions, and capital needs, among other factors.

In fiscal 2021, the company repurchased 11.6 million shares for $188 million, at an average price of $16.29.  Share repurchases made in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 totaled $38 million. Approximately $564 million remains under the company’s current share repurchase authorization, which expires in June of 2022.

Line of Credit

The Company amended its line of credit to a new five-year term, resulting in favorable rates, reduced capacity to better align with business needs, and lower costs. Additional details regarding this line of credit can be found in a related Form 8-K filing today.

Change in Fiscal Year

The Company announced a change to its fiscal year-end from April 30 to June 30, effective immediately. The change allows for better alignment of complete tax seasons in comparable fiscal periods and other related benefits. The Company plans to file a transition report on form 10-QT for the transition period of May 1, 2021, through June 30, 2021, later this summer. The Company’s fiscal 2022 will begin on July 1, 2021, and end on June 30, 2022.

Discontinued Operations

For information on Sand Canyon, please refer to disclosures in the company’s reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and other filings with the SEC.

Conference Call

Discussion of fiscal 2021 results, outlook, and a general business update will occur during the company’s previously announced fiscal 2021 conference call for analysts and investors that will be held at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, June 15, 2021. To access the call, please dial the number below approximately 10 minutes prior to the scheduled starting time:

U.S./Canada (866) 987-6821 or International (630) 652-5951

Conference ID: 2575807

The call, along with a presentation for viewing, will also be webcast in a listen-only format for the media and public. The link to the webcast can be accessed directly at investors.hrblock.com. The presentation will be posted on the Quarterly Results page at https://investors.hrblock.com following the conclusion of the call.

A replay of the call will be available beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time on June 15, 2021 and continuing for seven days by dialing (855) 859-2056 (U.S./Canada) or (404) 537-3406 (International). The conference ID is 5554906. The webcast will be available for replay beginning on June 17, 2021 and continuing for 90 days at investors.hrblock.com.

1   All amounts in this release are unaudited.  Unless otherwise noted, all comparisons refer to the current period compared to the corresponding prior year period.

2 All per share amounts are based on weighted average fully diluted shares over the corresponding period.

3 Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations and adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations are non-GAAP financial measures. See “About Non-GAAP Financial Information” below for more information regarding financial measures not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).

About H&R Block

H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) provides help and inspires confidence in its clients and communities everywhere through global tax preparationfinancial products, and small business solutions. The company blends digital innovation with the human expertise and care of its associates and franchisees as it helps people get the best outcome at tax time, and better manage and access their money year-round. Through Block Advisors and Wave, the company helps small business owners thrive with innovative products like Wave Money, a small business banking and bookkeeping solution, and the only business bank account to manage bookkeeping automatically. For more information, visit H&R Block News or follow @HRBlockNews on Twitter.

About Non-GAAP Financial Information

This press release and the accompanying tables include non-GAAP financial information. For a description of these non-GAAP financial measures, including the reasons management uses each measure, and reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, please see the section of the accompanying tables titled “Non-GAAP Financial Information.”

Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the securities laws. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They often include words or variation of words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “commits,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “projects,” “forecasts,” “targets,” “would,” “will,” “should,” “goal,” “could,” “may,” or other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements provide management’s current expectations or predictions of future conditions, events or results. All statements that address operating performance, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future are forward-looking statements. They may include estimates of revenues, client trajectory, income, effective tax rate, earnings per share, cost savings, capital expenditures, dividends, share repurchases, liquidity, capital structure, market share, industry volumes, or other financial items, descriptions of management’s plans or objectives for future operations, products or services, or descriptions of assumptions underlying any of the above. They also include the expected impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including, without limitation, the impact on economic and financial markets, the Company’s capital resources and financial condition, the expected use of proceeds under the Company’s revolving credit facility, future expenditures, potential regulatory actions, such as extensions of tax filing deadlines or other related relief, changes in consumer behaviors and modifications to the Company’s operations related thereto. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and reflect the company’s good faith beliefs, assumptions and expectations, but they are not guarantees of future performance or events. Furthermore, the company disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions, factors, or expectations, new information, data or methods, future events or other changes, except as required by law. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to a variety of economic, competitive and regulatory factors, many of which are beyond the company’s control, that are described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recently completed fiscal year in the section entitled “Risk Factors” and additional factors we may describe from time to time in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You may get such filings for free at our website at investors.hrblock.com. You should understand that it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors and, consequently, you should not consider any such list to be a complete set of all potential risks or uncertainties.

TABLES FOLLOW

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. Because these measures are not measures of financial performance under GAAP and are susceptible to varying calculations, they may not be comparable to similarly titled measures for other companies.

We consider our non-GAAP financial measures to be performance measures and a useful metric for management and investors to evaluate and compare the ongoing operating performance of our business. We make adjustments for certain non-GAAP financial measures related to amortization of intangibles from acquisitions and goodwill impairments. We may consider whether other significant items that arise in the future should be excluded from our non-GAAP financial measures.

We measure the performance of our business using a variety of metrics, including earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) from continuing operations, adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations, EBITDA margin from continuing operations, adjusted EBITDA margin from continuing operations, adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations and free cash flow. We also use EBITDA from continuing operations and pretax income of continuing operations, each subject to permitted adjustments, as performance metrics in incentive compensation calculations for our employees.