UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group), a leading global provider of HCM, payroll, HR service delivery, and workforce management solutions, today announced financial results for the first quarter of Fiscal 2021, ending December 31, 2020.
Total revenue for the quarter continued growing and was $776 million1, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) excluding float growing 17% to $210 million.1 Subscription revenue excluding float grew 16%1, driven by a healthy distribution of new-customer orders, continued strong retention, and customers enhancing their existing UKG solutions — including adding new HCM, payroll, workforce management, or HRSD offerings now available to them as a result of the merger.
“I’m beyond energized by the start of what will be our first full fiscal year as UKG. This is the third consecutive quarter of proof that we are better together,” said Aron Ain, UKG chairman and CEO. “The strength and depth of our unique product portfolio and dedication to customer success continue to drive strong financial performance and, more importantly, are helping organizations everywhere quickly adapt to challenging market conditions and take care of their people. Our own focus on people was acknowledged recently, with Forbes ranking UKG #2 on its 2021 list of America’s Best Large Employers. We’re extremely honored to receive this recognition of the culture we are building for UKG.”
Business Highlights
- Continuing the growing momentum from Fiscal 2020, hundreds of new and long-time customers around the world placed orders in the first quarter to take advantage of UKG HCM, HRSD, payroll, workforce management, and scheduling products, including:
- a multi-national lifestyle retailer employing 24,000 associates worldwide;
- one of the largest mobile-network operators in the United Kingdom;
- a convenience store and dairy-shop chain with hundreds of locations across the United States;
- a major nonprofit organization and one of the top employers in Toronto, Canada;
- a utility-holding company serving more than four million electric and natural-gas customers;
- a fast-growing, quick-service restaurant chain in South Africa, established by Africa’s largest food retailer;
- a premier, multi-national automotive manufacturer with nearly 11,000 employees in Mexico; and
- a leading beauty company consisting of iconic brands in more than 100 countries.
- In Q1, UKG brought more than 600 customers live on UKG Dimensions, UKG Ready, UKG Pro, and UKG Pro HR Service Delivery worldwide — including companies based in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia — across a wide variety of industries such as retail, manufacturing, and healthcare.
- More than 6,000 people attended the company’s first-ever virtual customer conference, UKG Works, November 18-19, 2020.
- UKG was named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud HCM Suites for 1,000+ Employee Enterprises for the fourth consecutive year — and was the only provider with two solutions, UKG Pro and UKG Ready, evaluated in the Magic Quadrant.
- Gartner also ranked UKG the highest for North America midmarket use cases in its Critical Capabilities for Cloud HCM Suites report for the fifth time.
- In the United Kingdom, Great Place to Work ranked UKG #6 on its Best Workplaces in Technology.
- In Q1, UKG scored 100% on the Corporate Equality Index, a top U.S. benchmarking survey and report measuring corporate policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) workplace equality, administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. The 100% score designates UKG as a 2021 Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality.
- Fairygodboss, the largest online career community for women, ranked UKG #4 on its 2021 Best Companies for Women list, #2 on its 2021 Best Technology Companies for Women list, and #1 on its 2021 Best Companies Where CEOs Support Gender Diversity list, with a 100% score.
- For going beyond the usual scope of business to serve its customers, employees, and the community amid the COVID-19 pandemic, UKG won a TrustRadius Tech Cares award.
- Great Place to Work named UKG to its Best Workplaces for Parents list in the United States.
- UKG announced enhancements to the analytics in its Pro and Ready platforms to help businesses better adapt to changing market conditions and respond in times of crisis.
- UKG added to the depth of its industry-specific solutions, with the launch of UKG Dimensions Gaming for casino resorts and gaming industries around the globe.
- The Workforce Institute at UKG continued to broaden representation of its global customer base by appointing Mexico-based best-selling author, speaker, and award-winning journalist Ivonne Vargas as its newest member of its interdisciplinary board of advisors.
- UKG is leveraging its cloud solutions to deliver meaningful data insights to help inform the economic recovery, with monthly Workforce Activity Reports regularly featured by The Associated Press, Bloomberg, CNBC, NPR, and Reuters, and utilized by a variety of leading economists and financial institutions.
“Despite continued pressures of the pandemic, we again exceeded revenue goals for the quarter,” said Chris Todd, UKG president. “Our sales team and our customers — from the largest global multi-nationals to Main Street businesses — are saying that we are earning more business specifically because of who we are, now together as UKG. As we continue to work closely with customers and leverage our own people-centric beliefs to bring products together and deliver new enhancements that create more connected and mindful work experiences, we are well positioned in the market to continue to deliver on our growth strategies.”
Supporting Resources
- Follow UKG on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.
- Learn more about UKG and why our purpose is people.
- UKG CEO Aron Ain shares how to transform employee engagement into a growth strategy, in his book, “WorkInspired: How to Build an Organization Where Everyone Loves to Work.”
About UKG
At UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group), our purpose is people. Built from a merger that created one of the largest cloud companies in the world, UKG believes organizations succeed when they focus on their people. As a leading global provider of HCM, payroll, HR service delivery, and workforce management solutions, UKG delivers award-winning Pro, Dimensions, and Ready solutions to help tens of thousands of organizations across geographies and in every industry drive better business outcomes, improve HR effectiveness, streamline the payroll process, and help make work a better, more connected experience for everyone. UKG has 13,000 employees around the globe and is known for an inclusive workplace culture. The company has earned numerous awards for culture, products, and services, including consecutive years on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list. To learn more, visit ukg.com.
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Footnote 1: UKG fiscal results are pro forma as though Kronos Incorporated and Ultimate Software were combined for all periods presented. Ultimate Software’s results have also been pro forma to align with UKG’s fiscal year calendar, which closes September 30th. All financial information within this press release is presented using non-GAAP financial measures and are approximate amounts.
UKG believes that non-GAAP measures of financial results provide useful information regarding certain financial and business trends relating to UKG’s results of operations. Non-GAAP revenue consists of GAAP revenue excluding the effect of the write-down of deferred revenue associated with purchase accounting for certain mergers and acquisitions. EBITDA consists of EBITDA per the definition under the Company’s credit agreement which excludes items such as: (1) share-based compensation expense for stock options and stock awards in accordance with ASC 718 and compensation expenses related to ordinary dividends; (2) depreciation of property, plant, and equipment; (3) amortization of intangible assets; (4) acquisition-related deferred revenue and prepaid commissions write-downs and expenses including advisory, legal, accounting, acquired employee-related costs, and integration costs; and (5) unusual costs or one-time expenses. For purposes of calculating growth rates, prior years have been restated for acquisitions, dispositions, and pro forma for the combination of Kronos Incorporated and Ultimate Software.