Constant Contact Adds Social CRM Capabilities with the Acquisition of
Bantam Live
Acquisition of highly scalable technology marks a key step in the
company?s evolution to an engagement marketing hub for small businesses
and nonprofits
WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Constant
Contact®, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTCT), the trusted marketing advisor to more
than 400,000 small organizations, today announced the acquisition
of Bantam Live, a pioneering contact management and social CRM provider
owned and operated by privately held Bantam Networks, LLC. Under the
terms of the deal, which closed on February 15, 2011, Constant Contact
acquired substantially all of the assets and assumed certain liabilities
of Bantam Networks for a cash purchase price of $15 million, subject to
certain post-closing adjustments.
?Building highly-engaged customer relationships is the number one pain
point for small organizations. To do this, they need a unified view of
their contacts across all channels, from email addresses to social media
connections, to event registrations?
New York-based Bantam Live provides Constant Contact a social CRM
platform built on a robust and flexible Ruby on Rails® platform, plus an
experienced and talented team focused on developing products and tools
for small business. Bantam Live?s social CRM technology will help to
create a unified repository of data across all channels, including
clicks, email opens, survey responses, event participation and social
media interactions. It will play a crucial role in how data is captured,
reported and analyzed for Constant Contact?s more than 400,000 small
business customers, helping them better track, measure and increase
customer engagement.
The acquisition marks an important step in Constant Contact?s ability to
offer small organizations a platform to launch and monitor customer
engagement campaigns across multiple channels, including email, social
media and events. By understanding how their customers share, refer,
endorse and engage across all channels, small businesses will be able to
engage their customers and drive business success. Social CRM
functionality will eventually be built into all of the company?s
products, including a paid social media marketing offering, which the
company expects to release in the second half of 2011. This product will
help small organizations create and launch integrated social campaigns,
marking a key step in the company?s engagement marketing roadmap.
?Building highly-engaged customer relationships is the number one pain
point for small organizations. To do this, they need a unified view of
their contacts across all channels, from email addresses to social media
connections, to event registrations,? said Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant
Contact. ?With the Bantam Live acquisition and our internal development
initiatives, we are building a platform that delivers a targeted
approach to building stronger customer relationships and cultivating new
ones ? the number one business driver for small organizations. Armed
with better, targeted insight, small organizations can more easily turn
prospects into customers or members, and fans into advocates.?
?Bantam Live?s social CRM technology is a highly
scalable technology that is the perfect accelerator to Constant
Contact?s business and technology vision, enabling them to more quickly
build and launch a complete engagement marketing platform for small
organizations,? said John Rourke, CEO of Bantam Live. ?We are pleased to
combine two winning technologies to help build a solution that helps
small organizations promote, track, and analyze customer engagement.?
The acquisition of Bantam Live underscores Constant Contact?s continuing
commitment to open application technology, a key driver in the adoption
and evolution of small business solutions. Constant Contact will
integrate Bantam Live?s Ruby on Rails-based technology with Constant
Contact?s Java-based SaaS solution to create a highly scalable and
flexible platform that serves the evolving technology needs of its
growing customer base.
Rourke will join the company?s strategy and innovation team. Bantam Live
CTO Henry Poydar will join Constant Contact as a director of
engineering, leading the technical integration. The entire Bantam Live
team will continue to be based in New York City, working from a new
Constant Contact development office to be opened this year.
While Constant Contact integrates the social CRM technology into its
core engagement marketing services, Bantam Live will be free of charge
to active Bantam Live customers.
To learn more, visit http://conta.cc/frYzvW.
As a result of this acquisition, the company is updating its financial
guidance for the first quarter of 2011 and full year 2011 to reflect the
incremental costs, including closing costs, associated with the
transaction. These incremental costs will impact the first quarter
profitability on both a GAAP and a non-GAAP basis. For the full year
2011, the company is maintaining its previously issued guidance for
non-GAAP net income per share and adjusted EBITDA.
|
First Quarter 2011:
|
|
Prior Guidance
(February 3rd, 2011)
|
|
New Guidance
|
Total revenue
|
|
$49.9 to $50.2 million
|
|
$49.9 to $50.2 million
|
GAAP net loss
|
|
$(1.6) to $(1.9) million
|
|
$(2.2) to $(2.5) million
|
GAAP net loss per share
|
|
$(0.05) to $(0.06)
|
|
$(0.07) to $(0.08)
|
Adjusted EBITDA
|
|
$4.25 to $4.50 million
|
|
$3.75 to $4.00 million
|
Non-GAAP net income per share
|
|
$0.03 to $0.04
|
|
$0.01 to $0.02
|
Stock-based compensation expense
|
|
$2.9 million
|
|
$3.0 million
|
Guidance assumes basic weighted average shares outstanding of 29.4
million and diluted weighted average shares outstanding of 30.6
million.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Full Year 2011:
|
|
Prior Guidance
(February 3rd, 2011)
|
|
New Guidance
|
Total revenue
|
|
$217 to $219 million
|
|
$217 to $219 million
|
GAAP net loss
|
|
$6.2 to $7.7 million
|
|
$5.9 to $7.4 million
|
GAAP net loss per share
|
|
$0.21 to $0.26
|
|
$0.20 to $0.25
|
Adjusted EBITDA
|
|
$34.3 to $35.7 million
|
|
$34.3 to $35.7 million
|
Non-GAAP net income per share
|
|
$0.61 to $0.66
|
|
$0.61 to $0.66
|
Stock-based compensation expense
|
|
$13.0 million
|
|
$13.3 million
|
Guidance assumes diluted weighted average shares outstanding of 31.0
million.
|
|
Additional details and information about the terms and conditions of the
acquisition will be available in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be
filed by Constant Contact with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
About Constant Contact, Inc.
Constant Contact is revolutionizing the success formula for small
organizations through affordable, easy-to-use Engagement Marketing?
tools that help create and grow customer relationships. More than
400,000 small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and member
associations worldwide rely on Constant Contact as their engagement hub
for starting and driving ongoing customer dialogs through email
marketing, social media marketing, event marketing, and online surveys.
All Constant Contact products come with unrivaled know how, education
and free coaching with a personal touch, including award-winning
customer support.
Constant Contact and the Constant Contact Logo are registered
trademarks of Constant Contact, Inc. All Constant Contact product names
and other brand names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Constant Contact, Inc. All other company and product names
may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This press release contains references to the following non-GAAP
financial measures: adjusted EBITDA and non-GAAP net income per share.
Adjusted EBITDA is calculated by taking GAAP net income (loss), adding
depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation, adjusting for
taxes, then subtracting interest and other income. Non-GAAP net income
per share is calculated by adding back stock-based compensation expense
to GAAP net income (loss) and dividing this total by weighted average
shares outstanding.
Constant Contact believes that these non-GAAP measures of financial
results provide useful information to management and investors regarding
certain financial and business trends relating to Constant Contact's
financial condition and results of operations. The company's management
uses these non-GAAP measures to compare the company's performance to
that of prior periods for trend analyses, for purposes of determining
executive and senior management incentive compensation and for budgeting
and planning purposes. These measures are used in monthly financial
reports prepared for management and in monthly and quarterly financial
reports presented to the company's board of directors. The company
believes that the use of these non-GAAP financial measures provides an
additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating
results and trends and in comparing the company's financial measures
with other software-as-a-service companies, many of which present
similar non-GAAP financial measures to investors.
Management of the company does not consider these non-GAAP measures in
isolation or as an alternative to financial measures determined in
accordance with GAAP. The principal limitation of these non-GAAP
financial measures is that they exclude significant expenses and income
that are required by GAAP to be recorded in the company's financial
statements. In addition, they are subject to inherent limitations as
they reflect the exercise of judgments by management about which
expenses and income are excluded or included in determining these
non-GAAP financial measures. In order to compensate for these
limitations, management presents non-GAAP financial measures in
connection with GAAP results.
Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to, statements
regarding the impact of the acquisition of Bantam Live on Constant
Contact's business and operations, the company's evolution to an
engagement marketing hub for small business and nonprofits, the
company's plans to offer a social media marketing product in the second
half of 2011, the Company?s position as one of the fastest growing SaaS
companies, the Company's plans to open an office in New York City and
Constant Contact?s financial guidance for the second quarter of 2011 and
full year 2011. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date
they were first issued and were based on management?s current
expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections as well as the
beliefs and assumptions of our management. Words such as "expect,"
"anticipate," "should," "believe," "hope," "target," "project," "goals,"
"estimate," "potential," "predict," "may," "will," "might," "could,"
"intend," variations of these terms or the negative of these terms and
similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks
and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that
are beyond Constant Contact's control. Constant Contact's actual results
could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking
statements due to a number of factors, including but not limited to, the
company's ability to successfully integrate the Bantam Live technology
into its own products, the company?s ability to attract new customers
and retain existing customers, the company's dependence on the market
for email marketing services for small businesses, non-profits, and
associations, adverse economic conditions in general and adverse
economic conditions specifically affecting the markets in which the
company operates, adverse regulatory or legal developments, the
company's ability to continue to promote and maintain its brand in a
cost-effective manner, changes in the competitive environment, the
company's ability to compete effectively, the company's ability to
successfully develop and introduce new products, including its planned
social media marketing product, and add-ons or enhancements to existing
products, the company's ability to manage growth, the company's ability
to attract and retain key personnel, the company's ability to protect
its intellectual property and other proprietary rights, and other risks
detailed in Constant Contact's most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as other
documents that may be filed by the Company from time to time with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Past performance is not necessarily
indicative of future results. The forward-looking statements included in
this press release represent Constant Contact's views as of the date of
this press release. The company anticipates that subsequent events and
developments will cause its views to change. Constant Contact undertakes
no intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as
representing Constant Contact's views as of any date subsequent to the
date of this press release.
(CTCT-F)
Contacts
Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/socialmedia/20110216005448/en/Constant-Contact-Adds-Social-CRM-Capabilities-Acquisition
Read more