Points International CEO Rob MacLean provided (07-Apr-2020) the following business update and company actions taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic:
- Priority has been safety and well-being of employees across the globe, while ensuring business continuity for partners. As of early Mar-2020, the company proactively mandated it teams to work from home, and has "seamlessly migrated to this model with minimal impact on operations";
- 2020 started with "great momentum" record 4Q2019, with "strong transaction dynamics" up to early Mar-2020, with new business delivery pipeline continuing to build;
- Beginning in mid-March, Points International began to see a significant decline in transaction volumes and expects this will continue in parallel with COVID-19 travel and hospitality disruption;
- Company is "working aggressively" to mitigate the transaction volume degradation by actively coordinating as much relevant, targeted promotional activity as possible with loyalty program partners;
- Points International's new business pipeline "remains strong and our delivery resources are presently operating at capacity";
- Points International's loyalty programme partners are actively managing the balance between the near term situation and establishing as much capacity to accelerate growth when the environment improves;
- Temporarily suspended share buybacks;
- Taken "aggressive" expense mitigation steps and will continue to limit or cease all discretionary spending as its manages through the impacts of the pandemic;
- Company aggressively pursuing any and all applicable government assistance programs that may be available;
- Suspend its full year 2020 outlook, issued on 04-Mar-2020;
- Evaluating the new economic environment's impact on longer-term goals of exiting 2022 with gross profit in the high-USD90 million range and adjusted EBITDA in the mid-USD40 million range. The timing of achieving these goals is dependent not only upon the continued execution of our growth strategies but now also on the broader global recovery from the COVID -19 pandemic. [more - original PR]