Operating Income and Operating Cash:GAAP Operating income for 2019 rose 2% to $155.7 million as compared to $153.0 million in 2018.Non-GAAP operating income for 2019 was at $163.9 million in the year 2019.
Q4 2019 GAAP Operating income decreased 18% to $34.3 million as compared to 2018, primarily because of certainone-timeyear-end adjustments in Q4, including acquisition related reserves, bad debt reserves, legal costs etc. and the costs associated with certain new organic growth initiatives.
In 2019, the Company generated cash from operations of $64.7 million in spite of payments of $24 million for taxes, $21.1 million for a legal settlement, the cash requirements for EbixCash marketing & IPO and the funding required for the growing gross merchandize value (GMV) associated with EbixCash operations worldwide.
Earnings per Share: For the full fiscal year 2019, GAAP diluted earnings per share grew 7% to $3.16 from $2.95 in 2018. Excluding theone-timenon-recurring items,non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for 2019 rose 13% to $4.21 vs. $3.73 in 2018
Q4 2019 GAAP diluted earnings per share grew 159% to $0.71 from $0.27 in Q4 2018 . Excluding theone-timenon-recurring items,non-GAAP diluted earnings per share in Q4 2019 was at $1.04 as compared to $1.06 in Q4 2018
Net Income:Full year 2019GAAP net income increased 4% to $96.7 million compared to $93.1 million in Q4 2018. The Q4 2019Non-GAAP net income increased 9% to $128.9 million after excluding certainnon-recurring items.
Q4 2019GAAP net income increased 154% to $21.7 million as compared to $8.5 million in Q4 2018. The Q4 2019Non-GAAP net income was at $31.9 million after excluding certainnon-recurring items.
Share Outstanding and Repurchases: Ebix repurchased 95,000 shares of its common stock for an aggregate amount of $4.2 million in the full year 2019. Reflecting its repurchase activity, Ebix’s weighted average diluted shares outstanding decreased to 30.6 million in Q4 2019 compared to 31.2 million in Q4 2018 and decreased to 30.6 million in 2019 compared to 31.5 million in 2018.
Q1 & Q2 2020 Diluted Share Counts: Based on share repurchases completed to date, Ebix expects its diluted share count to be approximately 30.8 million in Q1 2020 and Q2 2020.
Dividend: Ebix paid its regularly quarterly dividend of $0.075 per share in Q4 2019 for a total cost of $2.3 million.
“We have a number of high margin revenue and cost synergy initiatives in place, that should serve to improve our bottom line in 2020. The recent MoneyGram contract was an example of that. We are trying to balance our expense reduction initiatives with our various marketing initiatives that are required to make EbixCash a household name.” Ebix Chairman, and CEO Robin Raina said. “That said, we are deep into the work that goes into launching the EbixCash IPO in India. In the short term, we will be announcing the addition of a fourth investment banker to our investment banking team.”
“2019 was another year of financial success for Ebix. The Company again achieved double-digit revenue growth, as it has consistently done over the last decade. As we continue to integrate our recent business acquisitions and leverage synergistic top line growth opportunities in our rapidly expanding EbixCash Exchange division, we expect operating margins to improve to the mid 30% range.” Robert Kerris, Ebix EVP and CFO said, “In addition to funding the cash required for business growth in India, during 2019 we invested a total of $110.8 million related to acquisitions, $13.0 million on share buybacks, $9.2 million on dividend payments, $21.1 million on legal settlements, $12.9 million on CapEx and Software Development, $15.1 million on principal payments towards the term loan and $24.0 million on tax payments. We are pleased with the fact that this was achieved while our Net Debt remained flat as of December 31, 2019 as compared to a year earlier at December 31, 2018. Ebix ended the year with cash, cash equivalents and
short-term investments of $113 million, which positions the Company well, to continue to fund its organic growth initiatives and certain targeted strategic business acquisitions.”
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