Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Financial Results

Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRTH) ("Priority" or the "Company"), the platform for unified commerce that delivers integrated payments and banking services at scale, today announced its fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial results including strong year-over-year diversified revenue growth.

Highlights of Consolidated Results

Fourth Quarter 2023 Compared with Fourth Quarter 2022

Financial highlights of the fourth quarter of 2023 compared with the fourth quarter of 2022, are as follows²:

• Revenue of $199.3 million increased 12.2% from $177.6 million
• Adjusted gross profit (a non-GAAP measure¹) of $72.9 million increased 19.5% from $61.0 million
• Adjusted gross profit margin (a non-GAAP measure¹) of 36.6% increased 230 basis points from 34.3%
• Operating income of $22.0 million increased 21.1% from $18.2 million
• Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP measure¹) of $44.6 million increased 12.2% from $39.8 million

Full Year 2023 Compared with Full Year 2022

Financial highlights of the Full Year of 2023 compared with the Full Year of 2022, are as follows²:

• Revenue of $755.6 million increased 13.9% from $663.6 million
• Adjusted gross profit (a non-GAAP measure¹) of $275.3 million increased 21.3% from $226.9 million
• Adjusted gross profit margin (a non-GAAP measure¹) of 36.4% increased 220 basis points from 34.2%
• Operating income of $81.5 million increased 45.2% from $56.2 million
• Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP measure¹) of $168.3 million increased 20.0% from $140.3 million

"We delivered record fourth quarter and full year 2023 results, driven by continued strength in SMB acquiring, B2B payables and Enterprise payments," said Tom Priore, Chairman & CEO of Priority. "Everything we've done over the past several years ? from the significant early investment in our technology infrastructure, to our focus on diversifying our offering through countercyclical assets, to our acquisition of Plastiq ? was done with intention and purpose, to provide our customers with an elegant, unified commerce experience combining our core pillars of acquiring, banking and payables on a single platform. Our results demonstrate that we are achieving that goal."

Full Year 2024 Financial Guidance

Based on a combination of results for the full year ended December 31, 2023 and the forecasted results for the year, the Company has provided its outlook for the full year 2024 as follows:

• Revenue forecast to range between $875 million to $890 million, a growth rate of 16% to 18%, compared to fiscal 2023 results
• Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP measure) forecast to range between $193 million to $198 million, a growth rate of 15% to 18% compared to fiscal 2023 results
• Adjusted gross profit (a non-GAAP measure) forecast to range between $325 million and $335 million, a growth rate of 18% to 22% compared to fiscal 2023 results

Conference Call

Priority's leadership will host a conference call on Tuesday, March 12, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. EDT to discuss its fourth quarter and full-year 2023 financial results. Participants can access the call by phone in the U.S. or Canada at (833) 636-1319 or internationally at (412) 902-4286.

The Internet webcast link and accompanying slide presentation can be accessed at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/qdxgveed and will also be posted in the "Investor Relations" section of the Company's website at www.prioritycommerce.com.

An audio replay of the call will be available shortly after the conference call until March 19, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. EDT. To listen to the audio replay, dial (877) 344-7529 or (412) 317-0088 and enter conference ID number 1993467. Alternatively, you may access the webcast replay in the "Investor Relations" section of the Company's website at www.prioritycommerce.com.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This communication includes certain non-GAAP financial measures that we regularly review to evaluate our business and trends, measure our performance, prepare financial projections, allocate resources, and make strategic decisions. We believe these non-GAAP measures help to illustrate the underlying financial and business trends relating to our results of operations and comparability between current and prior periods. We also use these non-GAAP measures to establish and monitor operational goals. However, these non-GAAP measures are not superior to or a substitute for prominent measurements calculated in accordance with GAAP. Rather, the non-GAAP measures are meant to be a complement to understanding measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin

The Company's adjusted gross profit metric represents revenues less cost of revenue (excluding depreciation and amortization). Adjusted gross profit margin is adjusted gross profit divided by revenues. We review these non-GAAP measures to evaluate our underlying profit trends. The reconciliation of adjusted gross profit to its most comparable GAAP measure is provided below:

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA

EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA are performance measures. EBITDA is earnings before interest, income tax, and depreciation and amortization expenses ("EBITDA"). Adjusted EBITDA begins with EBITDA but further excludes certain non-cash costs, such as stock-based compensation and the write-off of the carrying value of investments or other assets, as well as debt extinguishment and modification expenses and other expenses and income items considered non-recurring, such as acquisition integration expenses, certain professional fees, and litigation settlements. We review the non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA measure to evaluate our business and trends, measure our performance, prepare financial projections, allocate resources, and make strategic decisions.

The reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to its most comparable GAAP measure is provided below:

Further detail of certain of these adjustments, and where these items are recorded in our consolidated statements of operations, is provided below:

Priority does not provide a reconciliation of forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures to their comparable GAAP financial measures because it could not do so without unreasonable effort due to the unavailability of the information needed to calculate reconciling items and due to the variability, complexity and limited visibility of the adjusting items that would be excluded from the non-GAAP financial measures in future periods. When planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods, the Company does so primarily on a non-GAAP basis without preparing a GAAP analysis as that would require estimates for various cash and non-cash reconciling items that would be difficult to predict with reasonable accuracy. For example, stock-based compensation expense would be difficult to estimate because it depends on the Company's future hiring and retention needs, as well as the future fair market value of the Company's common stock, all of which are difficult to predict and subject to constant change. As a result, the Company does not believe that a GAAP reconciliation would provide meaningful supplemental information about the Company's outlook.

About Priority Technology Holdings, Inc.

Priority is a solution provider in Payments and Banking as a Service operating at scale with 860,000 active customers across its SMB, B2B and Enterprise channels processing $120 billion in annual transaction volume and providing administration for $900 million in deposits. Priority's purpose-built technology enables clients to collect, store, lend and send money and provides customers the acceptance and AP payment applications and Passport financial tools that best optimize their cash flow and maximize working capital. Additional information can be found at www.prioritycommerce.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about future financial and operating results, our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions with respect to future operations, products and services, and other statements identified by words such as "may," "will," "should," "anticipates," "believes," "expects," "plans," "future," "intends," "could," "estimate," "predict," "projects," "targeting," "potential" or "contingent," "guidance," "outlook" or words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our 2023 outlook and statements regarding our market and growth opportunities. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive risks, trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, expressed, or implied by such forward-looking statements. Our actual results could differ materially, and potentially adversely, from those discussed or implied herein.

We caution that it is very difficult to predict the impact of known factors, and it is impossible for us to anticipate all factors that could affect our actual results. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. You should evaluate all forward-looking statements made in this press release in the context of the risks and uncertainties disclosed in our SEC filings, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 12, 2024. These filings are available online at www.sec.gov or www.prioritycommerce.com.

We caution you that the important factors referenced above may not contain all of the factors that are important to you. In addition, we cannot assure you that we will realize the results or developments we expect or anticipate or, even if substantially realized, that they will result in the consequences we anticipate or affect us or our operations in the way we expect. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a predictor of future performance. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law. If we do update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be made that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.