Robert Half Reports Fourth-Quarter And Year-End Financial Results

MENLO PARK, Calif., Jan. 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE: RHI) today reported revenues and earnings for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2018.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2018, net income was $114 million, or $.95 per share, on revenues of $1.48 billion. Net income for the prior year's fourth quarter was $47 million, or $.38 per share, on revenues of $1.35 billion.

For the year ended December 31, 2018, net income was $434 million, or $3.57 per share, on revenues of $5.80 billion. For the year ended December 31, 2017, net income was $291 million, or $2.33 per share, on revenues of $5.27 billion.

Included in the results for the years ended December 31, 2018, and December 31, 2017, were charges to the company's provision for income taxes of $5 million, or $.04 per share, and $34 million, or $.27 per share, respectively, related to the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). The charges in 2018 resulted from additional guidance related to the TCJA released in 2018 and the true-up of the estimate originally booked in the fourth quarter of 2017. The charges in 2017 resulted from the impact of the revaluation of the company's deferred income tax net assets. Excluding these charges, the full-year 2018 net income was $439 million, or $3.61 per share, and full-year 2017 net income was $324 million, or $2.60 per share.

Harold M. Messmer, Jr., chairman and CEO of Robert Half, commented: "We ended the year strongly, with double-digit year-over-year growth in revenues and operating income on both a quarterly and annual basis. Full-year 2018 revenues and operating income reached all-time-high levels for the company, with broad-based strength in our staffing and Protiviti operations."

Messmer added, "The U.S. labor market remains very robust, with significant demand due to talent shortages across our professional disciplines.    

"During the fourth quarter, return on invested capital for the company was 42 percent," he said.   

Robert Half management will conduct a conference call today at 5 p.m. EST. The prepared remarks for this call are available now in the Investor Center of the Robert Half website (www.roberthalf.com/investor-center). Simply click on the Quarterly Conference Calls link. The dial-in number to listen to today's conference call is 877-814-0475 (+1-706-643-9224 outside the United States). The password is "Robert Half."

A taped recording of this call will be available for replay beginning at approximately 8 p.m. EST today and ending at 11:59 p.m. EST on March 1. The dial-in number for the replay is 855-859-2056 (+1-404-537-3406 outside the United States). To access the replay, enter conference ID# 1793497. The conference call also will be archived in audio format on the company's website at www.roberthalf.com/investor-center.

Founded in 1948, Robert Half is the world's first and largest specialized staffing firm and a recognized leader in professional consulting and staffing services. The company's specialized staffing divisions include Accountemps^®, Robert Half^® Finance & Accounting and Robert Half^® Management Resources, for temporary, full-time and senior-level project professionals, respectively, in the fields of accounting and finance; OfficeTeam^®, for highly skilled administrative support professionals; Robert Half^® Technology, for project and full-time technology professionals; Robert Half^® Legal, for project and full-time staffing of lawyers, paralegals and legal support personnel; and The Creative Group^®, for creative, digital, marketing, advertising and public relations professionals. Robert Half also is the parent company of Protiviti^®, a global consulting firm that provides clients with consulting solutions in finance, technology, operations, data, analytics, governance, risk and internal audit.

Robert Half has staffing and consulting operations in more than 400 locations worldwide.

Certain information contained in this press release and its attachments may be deemed forward-looking statements regarding events and financial trends that may affect the company's future operating results or financial positions. These statements may be identified by words such as "estimate", "forecast", "project", "plan", "intend", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", or variations or negatives thereof, or by similar or comparable words or phrases. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the statements.

These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: changes to or new interpretations of U.S. or international tax regulations; the global financial and economic situation; changes in levels of unemployment and other economic conditions in the United States or foreign countries where the company does business, or in particular regions or industries; reduction in the supply of candidates for temporary employment or the company's ability to attract candidates; the entry of new competitors into the marketplace or expansion by existing competitors; the ability of the company to maintain existing client relationships and attract new clients in the context of changing economic or competitive conditions; the impact of competitive pressures, including any change in the demand for the company's services, on the company's ability to maintain its margins; the possibility of the company incurring liability for its activities, including the activities of its temporary employees, or for events impacting its temporary employees on clients' premises; the possibility that adverse publicity could impact the company's ability to attract and retain clients and candidates; the success of the company in attracting, training, and retaining qualified management personnel and other staff employees; the company's ability to comply with governmental regulations affecting personnel services businesses in particular or employer/employee relationships in general; whether there will be ongoing demand for Sarbanes-Oxley or other regulatory compliance services; the company's reliance on short-term contracts for a significant percentage of its business; litigation relating to prior or current transactions or activities, including litigation that may be disclosed from time to time in the company's SEC filings; the ability of the company to manage its international operations and comply with foreign laws and regulations; the impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; the possibility that the additional costs the company will incur as a result of healthcare reform legislation may adversely affect the company's profit margins or the demand for the company's services; the possibility that the company's computer and communications hardware and software systems could be damaged or their service interrupted; and the possibility that the company may fail to maintain adequate financial and management controls and as a result suffer errors in its financial reporting.

Additionally, with respect to Protiviti, other risks and uncertainties include the fact that future success will depend on its ability to retain employees and attract clients; there can be no assurance that there will be ongoing demand for Sarbanes-Oxley or other regulatory compliance services; failure to produce projected revenues could adversely affect financial results; and there is the possibility of involvement in litigation relating to prior or current transactions or activities.

Because long-term contracts are not a significant part of the company's business, future results cannot be reliably predicted by considering past trends or extrapolating past results. The company undertakes no obligation to update information contained in this release.

A copy of this release is available at www.roberthalf.com/investor-center.

ROBERT HALF INTERNATIONAL INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

The financial results of Robert Half International Inc. (the "Company") are prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP") and the rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). To help readers understand the Company's financial performance, the Company supplements its GAAP financial results with revenue growth rates derived from non-GAAP revenue amounts.

Variations in the Company's financial results include the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates, billing days, and certain intercompany adjustments. The Company provides "as adjusted" revenue growth calculations to remove the impact of these items. These calculations show the year-over-year revenue growth rates for the Company's lines of business on both a reported basis and also on an as adjusted basis for global, U.S., and international operations. This information is presented for each of the six most recent quarters. The Company has provided this data because management believes it better reflects the Company's actual revenue growth rates and aids in evaluating revenue trends over time. The Company expresses year-over-year revenue changes as calculated percentages using the same number of billing days, constant currency exchange rates, and certain intercompany adjustments.

Additionally, for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2018, and December 31, 2017, the Company is including non-GAAP financial results for net income and diluted net income per share. These non-GAAP results reflect the charges to the Company's provision for income taxes resulting from additional guidance related to the TCJA released in 2018, the true-up in 2018 of the estimated TCJA impact on deferred tax net assets originally booked in the fourth quarter of 2017, and the impact of the one-time, non-cash charge in the fourth quarter of 2017, respectively. The Company has provided this data because management believes that it better reflects the Company's actual fourth-quarter and year-end financial results.

The non-GAAP financial measures provided herein may not provide information that is directly comparable to that provided by other companies in the Company's industry, as other companies may calculate such financial results differently. The Company's non-GAAP financial measures are not measurements of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as alternatives to actual revenue growth derived from revenue amounts presented in accordance with GAAP. The Company does not consider these non-GAAP financial measures to be a substitute for, or superior to, the information provided by GAAP financial results. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is provided on the following pages.

The non-GAAP financial measures included in the table above adjust for the following items:

Foreign Currency Translation. The "As Reported" revenue growth rates are based upon reported revenues, which include the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. In order to calculate "Constant Currency" revenue growth rates, as-reported amounts are retranslated using foreign exchange rates from the prior year's comparable period.

Billing Days. The "As Reported" revenue growth rates are based upon reported revenues. Management calculates a global, weighted-average number of billing days for each reporting period based upon inputs from all countries and all lines of business. In order to remove the fluctuations caused by comparable periods having different billing days, the company calculates "same billing day" revenue growth rates by dividing each comparative period's reported revenues by the calculated number of billing days for that period to arrive at a "per billing day" amount. The "same billing day" growth rates are then calculated based upon the "per billing day" amounts.

Intercompany Adjustments. The "As Reported" revenue growth rates are based upon reported revenues. In order to remove the fluctuations caused by the impact of certain intercompany adjustments, applicable comparative period revenues are reclassified to conform with the current period presentation.

The term "As Adjusted" means that the impact of different billing days, constant currency fluctuations, and certain intercompany adjustments are removed from the revenue growth rate calculation. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP year-over-year revenue growth rates to the "As Reported" year-over-year revenue growth rates is included herein on Pages 8-10.