PLANO, Texas, March 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Katapult Holdings, Inc. (“Katapult” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: KPLT), an e-commerce-focused financial technology company, today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2022.

Orlando Zayas, CEO of Katapult said, “I am proud that our team successfully executed against the strategic investment roadmap that we shared in early 2022, highlighted by new technology, such as enhancing our mobile app with a new feature called Katapult Pay^TM, our one-time use virtual card technology that makes lease purchasing simple and intuitive for our customers. The early success of these investments is reflected in our fourth quarter results with a return to growth in gross originations of 1.5% year-over-year, despite a challenging macro backdrop for consumers and retailers. As we look forward into 2023, we remain passionate about creating relationships with more customers and deepening our engagement by introducing new access points like our mobile app to drive top line growth and profitability.”

Fourth Quarter 2022 Financial and Operational Highlights:

• Gross originations of $59.8 million increased by $0.9 million, or 1.5% year-over-year, the first positive inflection since the third quarter of 2021. December 2022 gross originations increased by mid-teen’s year- over-year
• Total revenue of $48.8 million decreased by $24.5 million, or 33.4% compared to the prior year period. Of the total $24.5 million decrease, $9.0 million was a result of our adoption of ASC 842 as of January 1, 2022
• Added 21 new direct merchants in the fourth quarter of 2022, bringing our total direct merchant adds to 113 for fiscal year 2022
• Added 7 merchants to Katapult Pay^TM, a new feature on our mobile app, including Home Depot and Wayfair, for a total of 18 merchants added for the full year. While still in its early stages, the Company originated over 12,000 leases totaling over $8 million of gross originations with Katapult Pay^TM since its launch in the third quarter of 2022 through December 31, 2022
• Initiated process to further right-size expense and headcount base that is expected to result in significant reductions in cash operating expenses in 2023
• Impairment charges as a percentage of gross originations in the fourth quarter of 2022 were 8.8%, reflecting a sequential improvement from 10.1% in the third quarter of 2022
• Achieved continued high customer satisfaction with a Net Promoter Score of 56 as of December 31, 2022
• More than 50% of gross originations for the fourth quarter of 2022 came from repeat customers (customers who have originated more than one lease with Katapult over their lifetime)
• Ended the year with $65.4 million of unrestricted cash on the balance sheet

Fourth Quarter 2022 Results

Gross originations for the fourth quarter were $59.8 million, a 1.5% increase from the prior year period, that was predominately driven by growth within our existing merchant base coupled with a full quarter of activity related to our mobile app featuring Katapult Pay™. The Company recorded fourth quarter revenue of $48.8 million, which decreased $24.5 million as compared to the prior year period. $9.0 million of this decrease was directly attributable to our adoption of ASC 842 as of January 1, 2022.

Net loss was $14.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2022, including a $0.6 million revaluation gain related to our warrants. Adjusted net loss¹ was $13.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to an adjusted net loss¹ of $4.8 million in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA¹ was a loss of $5.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to an Adjusted EBITDA¹ loss of $1.3 million in the prior year period, reflecting lower revenue trends and higher expenses related to strategic investments for growth.

Liquidity

On March 6, 2023, the Company reached an agreement with its lender to amend its revolving line of credit and term loan facility (“Credit Facilities”), to extend the maturity date and optimize utilization ratios, which will create a more efficient capital structure and result in overall interest expense savings.

In addition to extending the maturity of the Credit Facilities to June 4, 2025, the amendment provides the following:

Revolving Line of Credit

• Reduced the revolving line of credit commitment to $75 million
• Increased the spread above the benchmark rate to 8.5% from 7.5%

Term Loan

• Paid down $25 million outstanding principal
• The spread above the benchmark rate remains at 8%
• Issued warrants to purchase up to 2,000,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $0.01 per share which vest 6 months after closing
• Subject to the occurrence of certain events under the warrant agreement, on December 5, 2023 warrants may be issued to purchase an additional 2,000,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $0.01 per share; exercisable 3 months after issuance

In addition, the benchmark rate was converted from LIBOR to SOFR plus the applicable credit adjustment spread.

The above description of the amendments to the Credit Facilities and warrant agreement is a summary and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the entire text of the Credit Facilities and warrant agreement, which will be filed with our Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Full Year and First Quarter 2023 Business Outlook

The Company continues to navigate uncertainty in the macro-environment related to inflation, consumer spending and a challenging labor market. As a result, the Company is not providing financial guidance at this time.

The Company is however, providing 2023 commentary as follows:

• The Company expects consumer spending headwinds to persist in 2023. Historically, lease-to-own solutions benefit from periods of shrinking prime credit availability, creating a counter-cyclical hedge against a challenging macro-environment

• The Company expects to see year-over-year gross originations growth continue into 2023. The Company also expects sequential improvement in the second half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2023 as the Company sees the full year benefit of new merchants through direct integrations as well as on our mobile app featuring Katapult Pay^TM

• Entering 2023, the Company believes the credit quality of our portfolio should continue to improve based on the advancement and ongoing development of our risk modeling, quality of the new merchants onboarded, as well as the engagement and quality of the consumers attracted to our mobile app featuring Katapult Pay^TM

• The Company expects the impact of expense reductions initiated in the fourth quarter of 2022 to reduce our total operating expenses by more than 10% for the full year 2023. Excluding underwriting fees and servicing costs which are variable and non-cash stock-based compensation expense, we expect fixed cash operating expenses to decrease by more than 20% for the full year 2023. The expense reduction efforts encompassed all areas of spending, including company-wide headcount reductions. The first quarter of 2023 will be a transition quarter as one-time severance expenses offset the overall expense reductions

• For full year 2023, the Company expects to achieve year-over-year improvement in Adjusted EBITDA as a result of gross origination improvement and reduced operating expenses

• Through early March, gross originations have increased year-over-year continuing the positive trend from Q4 and in line with our expectations, driven by merchants with direct integration and the Company’s 2022 strategic investments in technology, such as the mobile app featuring Katapult Pay^TM

Conference Call and Webcast

The Company will host a conference call and webcast at 8:00 AM ET on Thursday, March 9, 2023, to discuss the Company’s financial results. Related presentation materials will be available before the call on the Company’s Investor Relations page at Presentations - Katapult Holdings.

The conference call will be broadcast live in listen-only mode on the Company’s Investor page here. Interested parties may access dial information for the call by registering via this web link.

An archive of the webcast will be available for one year on the website at https://ir.katapultholdings.com/news-events/investor-calendar

About Katapult

Katapult is a technology driven lease-to-own platform that integrates with omni-channel retailers and e-commerce platforms to power the purchasing of everyday durable goods for underserved U.S. non-prime consumers. Through our point-of-sale (POS) integrations and innovative, mobile app featuring Katapult Pay^TM, consumers who may be unable to access traditional financing can shop a growing network of merchant partners. Our process is simple, fast, and transparent. We believe that seeing the good in people is good for business, humanizing the way underserved consumers get the things they need with payment solutions based on fairness and dignity.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this Press Release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “future,” “outlook,” and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our business outlook, our ability to weather the macroeconomic headwinds and our momentum in building volume opportunities in our addressable market and the benefits from the mobile app featuring Katapult Pay^TM. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this Press Release, and on the current expectations of Katapult’s management and are not predictions of actual performance.

These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of Katapult. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including execution of Katapult’s business strategy, launching new product offerings, new brands and expanding information and technology capabilities; Katapult’s market opportunity and its ability to acquire new customers and retain existing customers; the timing and impact of our growth initiatives on our future financial performance and the impact of our new executive hires and brand strategy; anticipated occurrence and timing of prime lending tightening and impact on our results of operations; adoption and success of our new mobile application featuring, Katapult Pay™, general economic conditions in the markets where Katapult operates, the cyclical nature of consumer spending, and seasonal sales and spending patterns of customers; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the business combination with FinServ Acquisition Corp. (the “Merger”); risks relating to factors affecting consumer spending that are not under Katapult’s control, including, among others, levels of employment, disposable consumer income, inflation, prevailing interest rates, consumer debt and availability of credit, pandemics (such as COVID-19), consumer confidence in future economic conditions and political conditions, and consumer perceptions of personal well-being and security; risks relating to uncertainty of Katapult’s estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth; risks related to the concentration of a significant portion of our transaction volume with a single merchant partner, or type of merchant or industry; the effects of competition on Katapult’s future business; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on Katapult’s business; unstable market and economic conditions, including as a result of the conflict involving Russia and Ukraine; reliability of Katapult’s platform and effectiveness of its risk model; protection of confidential, proprietary or sensitive information, including confidential information about consumers, and privacy or data breaches, including by cyber-attacks or similar disruptions; ability to attract and retain employees, executive officers or directors; meeting future liquidity requirements and complying with restrictive covenants related to long-term indebtedness; effectively respond to general economic and business conditions; obtain additional capital, including equity or debt financing; ability to service our indebtedness; anticipate rapid technological changes; comply with laws and regulations applicable to Katapult’s business, including laws and regulations related to rental purchase transactions; stay abreast of modified or new laws and regulations applying to Katapult’s business, including rental purchase transactions and privacy regulations; maintain relationships with merchant partners; respond to uncertainties associated with product and service developments and market acceptance; anticipate the impact of new U.S. federal income tax law; that Katapult has identified material weaknesses in its internal control over financial reporting which, if not remediated, could affect the reliability of its consolidated financial statements; successfully defend litigation; litigation, regulatory matters, complaints, adverse publicity and/or misconduct by employees, vendors and/or service providers; and other events or factors, including those resulting from civil unrest, war, foreign invasions (including the conflict involving Russia and Ukraine), terrorism, or public health crises, or responses to such events; and those factors discussed in greater detail in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Katapult’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including Katapult’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2022 and the Annual Report on Form 10-K that Katapult intends to file with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2022.

If any of these risks materialize or our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that Katapult does not presently know or that Katapult currently believes are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements in this Press Release. All forward-looking statements contained herein are based on information available to Katapult as of the date hereof, and Katapult does not assume any obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events, except as required by law.

Key Performance Metrics

Katapult regularly reviews several metrics, including the following key metrics, to evaluate its business, measure its performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions, which may also be useful to an investor: Gross Originations, Total Revenue, Unearned Revenue and Gross Profit.

Gross Originations are defined as the retail price of the merchandise associated with lease-purchase agreements entered into during the period through the Katapult platform. Gross Originations do not represent revenue earned. However, we believe this is a useful operating metric for both Katapult’s management and investors to use in assessing the volume of transactions that take place on Katapult’s platform.

Total revenue represents the summation of rental revenue and other revenue. Unearned revenue represents the Company’s liability for cash received from customers prior to the related revenue being earned. Katapult measures these metrics to assess the total view of paythrough performance of its customers. Management believes looking at these components is useful to an investor as it helps to understand the total payment performance of customers. In connection with the adoption of ASU No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), as amended (“ASC 842”), effective January 1, 2022, Katapult recognizes revenue from customers (rental revenue) when the revenue is earned and the cash is collected. Accordingly, the Company no longer records rental revenue arising from lease payments earned but not yet collected nor any corresponding bad debt expense, nor discloses bad debt recoveries in its periodic reports starting in the first quarter of 2022.

Gross profit represents total revenue less cost of revenue, and is a measure presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP"). See the “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” section below for a presentation of this measure alongside adjusted gross profit, which is a non-GAAP measure utilized by management.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement the financial measures presented in this press release and related conference call or webcast in accordance with GAAP, the Company also presents the following non-GAAP and other measures of financial performance: adjusted gross profit, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted net (loss) income. The Company urges investors to consider non-GAAP measures only in conjunction with its GAAP financials and to review the reconciliation of the Company’s non-GAAP financial measures to its comparable GAAP financial measures, which are included in this press release.

Adjusted gross profit represents gross profit less variable operating expenses, which are servicing costs, underwriting fees, and bad debt expense. Management believes that adjusted gross profit provides a meaningful understanding of one aspect of its performance specifically attributable to total revenue and the variable costs associated with total revenue.

Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure that is defined as net (loss) income before interest expense and other fees, interest income, change in fair value of warrant liability, (benefit) provision for income taxes, depreciation and amortization on property and equipment and capitalized software, impairment of leased assets, stock-based compensation expense, and transaction costs associated with the Merger.

Adjusted net (loss) income is a non-GAAP measure that is defined as net loss before change in fair value of warrant liability, stock-based compensation expense and transaction costs associated with the Merger.

Adjusted gross profit, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net (loss) income are useful to an investor in evaluating the Company’s performance because these measures:

• Are widely used to measure a company’s operating performance;

• Are financial measurements that are used by rating agencies, lenders and other parties to evaluate the Company’s credit worthiness; and

• Are used by the Company’s management for various purposes, including as measures of performance and as a basis for strategic planning and forecasting.

Management believes the use of non-GAAP financial measures, as a supplement to GAAP measures, is useful to investors in that they eliminate items that are not part of our core operations, highly variable or do not require a cash outlay, such as stock-based compensation expense. Management uses these non-GAAP financial measures when evaluating operating performance and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. Management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures help indicate underlying trends in the business, are important in comparing current results with prior period results, and are useful to investors and financial analysts in assessing operating performance. However, these non-GAAP measures exclude items that are significant in understanding and assessing Katapult’s financial results. Therefore, these measures should not be considered in isolation or as alternatives to revenue, net (loss) income, gross profit, cash flows from operations or other measures of profitability, liquidity or performance under GAAP. You should be aware that Katapult’s presentation of these measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies.

ASC 842 Adoption

The Company was required to adopt ASC 842 relating to lessor accounting, effective January 1, 2022. The Company's lease-to-own agreements, which comprise the majority of the Company’s revenue, fall within the scope of ASC 842 and are impacted by this change. As a result of the adoption, the Company now recognizes revenue from customers when revenue is earned and cash is collected instead of on an accrual basis, which it has done historically. The Company has adopted ASC 842 using the transition method, which permits the Company to not apply ASC 842 for comparative periods in the year of adoption. The Company has not recast or restated 2021 or prior periods to conform to ASC 842. The adoption of ASC 842 is reflected in the Company’s financial statements and related notes and periodic reports filed with the SEC beginning with the Company’s quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2022.

For illustrative purposes only, the Company is disclosing total revenue, bad debt expense (net of recoveries) and income (loss) before provision for income taxes for each quarter during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, as if the lessor accounting impacts of ASC 842 were in effect for these periods. “Total revenue”, “bad debt expense (net of recoveries)” and “income before provision for income taxes” for 2021 and 2020 are supplemental disclosures that are not calculated in accordance with GAAP in place during these periods.

Management believes the supplemental information showing the impact of ASC 842 for 2021 and 2020 provides relevant and useful information for users of the Company’s financial statements, as it provides comparability with the financial results the Company reported in 2022 when ASC 842 became effective and the Company recognized revenue from customers when the revenue is earned and cash is collected. Upon adoption, the Company no longer records accounts receivable arising from lease receivables due from customers incurred during the normal course of business for lease payments earned but not yet received from the customer or any corresponding allowance for doubtful accounts.

Contacts

Katapult Vice President of Investor Relations
Bill Wright
917-750-0346
bill.wright@katapult.com

KATAPULT HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE (LOSS) INCOME
(amounts in thousands, except share and per share amounts)

KATAPULT HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(amounts in thousands, except share and per share amounts)

KATAPULT HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(amounts in thousands)

KATAPULT HOLDINGS, INC.
RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES AND CERTAIN OTHER DATA (UNAUDITED)
(amounts in thousands)

^{(1) Includes $0.5 million of employer payroll taxes in 2021.
(2) Consists of non-capitalizable transaction cost associated with the Merger.}

^{(1) Includes $0.5 million of employer payroll taxes in 2021.
(2) Consists of non-capitalizable transaction cost associated with the Merger.}

CERTAIN KEY PERFORMANCE METRICS

KATAPULT HOLDINGS, INC.
GROSS ORIGINATIONS BY QUARTER

KATAPULT HOLDINGS, INC
IMPACT OF ADOPTION OF ASC 842
FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY
(UNAUDITED)

^{*Total revenue under ASC 842 also reflects the impact of the change in recognizing revenue when it is earned and cash is collected.}

^{1 Please refer to the “Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measure and Certain Other Data” section and the GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation tables below for more information}