Bright Horizons issues Q1 results and UK back up care acquisition

Bright Horizons Family Solutions, the US based provider of child care, early education and other services, has released its financial results for Q1 2019 in which it reports an 8 per cent increase in revenues and 14 per cent increase in income from operations and confirmed the acquisition of UK based back up care provider, My Family Care.  

Overall revenue increased US$38.1 million, or 8 per cent to US$502 million, relative to the first quarter of 2018 due to contributions from new and ramping full service child care centers, average price increases of 3% to 4%, and expanded sales and utilization of our back-up care and educational advisory services.

The company saw margins expand in the period at both the gross profit and income from operations level rising from 24.5 per cent to 25.3 per cent and 11.9 per cent to 12.6 per cent respectively as investments in customer user experience, service delivery and operating efficiency capabilities start to bear fruit.

Commenting on the performance Chief Executive Officer Stephen Kramer said “We are pleased with the strong start to 2019, as we continue to grow each of our service offerings and expand our portfolio of client partners.”

Purchase of UK based back up care provider seen as positive step

During the conference call Mr Kramer confirmed the purchase of My Family Care had been completed and expressed excitement that the My Family Care team were now part of the Bright Horizons organisation.

UK based My Family Care works with businesses to help their employees at times when they need child care services at very short notice.

Known as emergency care in the UK, this can take the form of arranging a temporary nanny to come to their home or provide access to a registered childminder or nursery close to their home or office.

Bright Horizons already has a substantial back up care business in the United States. The division as a whole generated $65 million in revenue in the first quarter, a rise of 18.3 per cent.

Centre based care and educational advisory also saw good growth

The centre based child care division saw revenues grow 6.6 per cent to $418 million with the group adding by six centres in the period, one of which was a new back up centre for global financial services company Barclays.

The educational advisory division of Bright Horizons, which provides expert advice to families on education pathways generally, and college applications specifically, saw revenues increase by 14.6 per cent to $89 million in the period.

Significantly Mr Kramer noted on the conference call that only 25 per cent of their clients currently use more than one Bright Horizons services and that opportunities for cross selling going forward were significant.

2019 guidance edged higher

The company also updated their performance guidance for 2019.

Revenue is continued to be expected to grow in the 8 per cent to 10 per cent range but net income is now expected to be between USD$173 million to USD$176 million up from USD$170 million to USD$174 million.

Diluted earnings per share was also signalled higher at USD$3.58 to USD$3.64 from USD$3.57 to $3.63.

To read more on the Q1 results release please click here.

To listen to the conference call please click here.