UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20549
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Form 10-K
(Mark One)
| ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||
For the fiscal year ended May 25 , 2024
OR
| TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||
For the transition period from to
Commission File Number: 0-32113
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Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
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As of November 24, 2023 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter), the approximate aggregate market value of common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $443,253,237 (based upon the closing price for shares of the registrant’s common stock as reported by The Nasdaq Global Select Market).
As of July 12, 2024, there were approximately 33,560,150 shares of common stock, $0.01 par value, outstanding.
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DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
RESOURCES CONNECTION, INC.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, “Resources Global Professionals,” “Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to the business of Resources Connection, Inc. and its subsidiaries. References in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to “fiscal,” “year” or “fiscal year” refer to our fiscal year that consists of the 52- or 53-week period ending on the Saturday in May closest to May 31. The fiscal years ended May 25, 2024, May 27, 2023, and May 28, 2022 each consisted of 52 weeks.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K, including information incorporated herein by reference, contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). These statements relate to expectations concerning matters that are not historical facts. For example, statements discussing, among other things, expected costs, business strategies, growth strategies and initiatives, acquisition strategies, future revenues and future performance, are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “can,” “continue,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “forecast,” “future,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “potential,” “predicts,” “remain,” “should,” “strategy,” or “target or similar terms, and future or conditional tense verbs like “could,” “may,” “might,” “should,” “will” and “would,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, such statements include statements regarding our growth, operational and strategic plans.
These statements, and all phases of our operations, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements and those of our industry to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, including those identified in Item 1A “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The disclosures we make concerning risks, uncertainties and other factors that may affect our business or operating results, including those identified in Item 1A “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other public filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), should be reviewed carefully. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also affect our business or operating results. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements included herein, which speak only as of the date of this Annual Report. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to update the forward-looking statements in this filing to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Annual Report or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, unless required by law to do so.
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PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS.
Overview
Resources Global Professionals (“RGP”) is a global consulting firm based in Irvine, California (with offices worldwide) focused on delivering consulting services that power clients’ operational needs and change initiatives utilizing a combination of bench and on-demand, expert and diverse talent. As a next-generation human capital partner for our clients, we specialize in co-delivery of enterprise initiatives typically precipitated by business transformation, strategic transactions or regulatory change. Our engagements are designed to leverage human connection and collaboration to deliver practical solutions and more impactful results that power our clients’, employees’ and partners’ success.
We attract top-caliber professionals with in-demand skill sets who seek a workplace environment characterized by choice and control, collaboration and human connection. The trends in today’s marketplace favor flexibility and agility as businesses confront transformation pressures and skilled labor shortages even in the face of protracted economic uncertainty. Our client engagement and talent delivery model offer speed and agility, strongly positioning us to help our clients transform their businesses and workplaces. Our model is especially relevant at a time where cost reduction initiatives drive an enhanced reliance on a flexible workforce to execute transformational projects.
We are laser-focused on driving long-term growth in our business by seizing favorable macro shifts in workforce strategies and preferences, building an efficient and scalable operating model, and maintaining a distinctive culture and approach to professional services. Our enterprise initiatives in recent years include refining the operating model for sales, talent and delivery to be more client-centric, cultivating a more robust performance culture by aligning incentives to business performance, building and commercializing our digital engagement platform, enhancing our consulting capabilities in digital transformation to align with market demand, improving operating leverage through pricing, operating efficiency and cost reduction, and driving growth through strategic acquisitions. We believe our focus and execution on these initiatives will serve as the foundation for growth ahead.
We serve 1,800 clients around the world with approximately 3,400 professionals collectively engaged from 38 physical practice offices and multiple virtual offices. Headquartered in Irvine, California, we are proud to have served 88% of the Fortune 100.
Business Segments
Effective May 31, 2022, the Company’s operating segments consist of the following:
•RGP – a global consulting firm focused on delivering consulting services that power clients’ operational needs and change initiatives utilizing a combination of bench and on-demand, expert and diverse talent; and
•Sitrick – a crisis communications and public relations firm which operates under the Sitrick brand, providing corporate, financial, transactional and crisis communication and management services.
Each of these segments reports through a separate management team to the Company's Chief Executive Officer, who is designated as the Chief Operating Decision Maker for segment reporting purposes. RGP is the Company’s only reportable segment. Sitrick does not individually meet the quantitative threshold to qualify as a reportable segment. Therefore, Sitrick is disclosed in Other Segments. RGP accounts for more than 90% of our consolidated revenue and total Adjusted EBITDA and, therefore, represents our dominant segment. The discussions in this section apply to both our entire business and RGP.
On November 15, 2023, the Company acquired CloudGo Pte Ltd. and its subsidiaries (collectively, “CloudGo”). CloudGo is reported as part of the RGP operating segment. See Note 3 – Acquisitions and Dispositions in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
Prior to May 31, 2022, the Company’s Other Segments included taskforce, along with its parent company, Resources Global Professionals GmbH, an affiliate of the Company. taskforce was divested on May 31, 2022; refer to Note 2 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Note 3 – Acquisitions and Dispositions in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information. Prior-period comparative segment information was not restated as a result of the divestiture of taskforce as we did not have a change in internal organization or the financial information our Chief Operating Decision Maker uses to assess performance and allocate resources.
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During the first quarter of fiscal 2025, the Chief Executive Officer, who is the Company’s Chief Operating Decision Maker, announced a decision to reorganize the Company’s business by forming multiple discrete operational business units. To align the new operating model and business structure, the Company is making management organizational changes and implementing new reporting modules and processes to provide discrete information to manage the business. Management expects to finalize its assessment of its operating segments when the implementations and transitions are completed, which is expected to be in the first quarter of fiscal 2025.
Industry Background and Trends
Changing Market for Project- or Initiative-Based Professional Services
Our services respond to what we believe is a permanent marketplace shift: namely, organizations are increasingly choosing to address their workforce needs in more flexible ways. We believe this continued shift in workforce strategy towards a project-based orientation was greatly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic (the “Pandemic”), which placed an enhanced emphasis on business agility, and continues to be hastened by the competition for talent. Permanent professional personnel positions are being reduced as organizations engage agile talent for project initiatives and transformation work.
Organizations use a mix of alternative resources to execute projects. Some companies rely solely on their own employees who may lack the requisite time, experience or skills for specific projects. Other companies may outsource entire projects to consulting firms, which provides them access to the expertise of the firm but often entails significant cost, insufficient management control of the project and a lack of ultimate ownership at project completion. As a more cost-efficient alternative, companies sometimes use temporary employees from traditional and internet-based staffing firms, although these employees may be less experienced or less qualified than employees from professional services firms. Finally, companies can supplement their internal resources with employees from agile consulting or other traditional professional services firms, like RGP. The use of project consultants as a viable alternative to traditional accounting, consulting, and law firms allows companies to:
•Strategically access specialized skills and expertise for projects of set durations;
•Engage the very best expert talent across regions and geographies;
•Be nimble and mobilize quickly;
•Blend independent and fresh points of view;
•Effectively supplement internal resources;
•Increase labor flexibility; and
•Reduce overall hiring, training and termination costs.
Supply of Project Consultants
Based on our review of labor market dynamics and discussions with our consultants, we believe the number of professionals seeking to work on an agile basis has been increasing due to a desire for:
•More flexible hours and work arrangements, including working-from-home options, coupled with an evolving professional culture that offers competitive wages and benefits;
•The ability to learn and contribute to different environments and collaborate with diverse team members;
•Challenging engagements that advance their careers, develop their skills and add to their portfolio of experience;
•A work environment that provides a diversity of, and more control over, client engagements; and
•Alternative employment opportunities throughout the world.
The traditional employment options available to professionals may fulfill some, but not all, of an individual’s career objectives. A professional working for a Big Four firm or a consulting firm may receive challenging assignments and training; however, he or she may encounter a career path with less choice and less flexible hours, extensive travel demands and limited control over work engagements. On the other hand, a professional who works as an independent contractor assumes the ongoing burden of sourcing assignments and significant administrative obligations, including potential tax and legal issues.
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RGP’s Solution
We believe RGP is ideally positioned to capitalize on the confluence of the industry shifts described above. We believe, based on discussions with our clients, that RGP provides the agility companies desire in today’s highly competitive and quickly evolving business environment. Our solution offers the following elements:
•A relationship-oriented and collaborative approach to client service;
•A dedicated talent acquisition and management team adept at developing, managing and deploying a project-based workforce;
•Deep functional and/or technical experts who can assess clients’ project needs and customize solutions to meet those needs;
•Highly qualified and pedigreed consultants with the requisite expertise, experience and points of view;
•Competitive rates on an hourly basis as well as on a project basis; and
•Significant client control of their projects with effective knowledge transfer and change management.
RGP’s Strategic Priorities
Our Business Strategy
We are dedicated to serving our clients with highly qualified and experienced talent in support of projects and initiatives in a broad array of functional areas, including:
Transactions
•Integration and divestitures
•Bankruptcy/restructuring
•Going public readiness and support
•Financial process optimization
•System implementation
Regulations
•Accounting regulations
•Internal audit and compliance
•Data privacy and security
•Healthcare compliance
•Regulatory compliance
Transformations
•Finance transformation
•Digital transformation
•Supply chain management
•Cloud migration
•Data design and analytics
Our objective is to build and maintain RGP’s reputation as the premier provider of project execution services for companies facing transformation, change and compliance challenges. We have developed the following business strategies to achieve our objectives:
•Hire and retain highly qualified, experienced consultants. We believe our highly qualified, experienced consultants provide us with a distinct competitive advantage. Therefore, one of our top priorities is to continue to attract and retain high-caliber consultants who are committed to serving clients and solving their problems. We believe we have been successful in attracting and retaining qualified professionals by providing interesting work assignments within a blue-chip client base, competitive compensation and benefits, and continuing professional development and learning opportunities, as well as membership in an exclusive community of like-minded professionals, while offering flexible work schedules and more control over choosing client engagements.
•Maintain our distinctive culture. Our corporate culture is a core pillar of our business strategy, and we believe it has been a significant component of our success. See “Human Capital Management” below for further discussions about our culture.
•Establish consultative relationships with clients. We emphasize a relationship-oriented approach to business rather than a transaction-oriented or assignment-oriented approach. We believe the professional services experience of our management and consultants enables us to understand the needs of our clients and deliver an integrated, relationship-based approach to meeting those needs. Client relationships and needs are addressed from a client-centric, not geographic, perspective. Our revenue team regularly meets with our existing and prospective clients to understand their business issues and help them define their project needs. Our talent team then identifies consultants with the appropriate skills and experience from our global talent pool to meet the clients’ objectives. We believe that by establishing relationships with our clients to solve their professional service needs, we are more likely to identify new opportunities to
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serve them. The strength and depth of our client relationships is demonstrated by the 75% retention rate of our top 100 clients over the last five fiscal years.
•Build the RGP brand. We want to maintain a leadership position in today’s world of work, providing the best talent to execute client projects in an increasingly fluid gig-oriented environment. We have historically built our brand through the consistent and reliable delivery of high-quality, value-added services to our clients as well as a significant referral network of 2,585 consultants and 791 management and administrative employees as of May 25, 2024. In recent years, we have invested in global, regional and local marketing and brand building and activation efforts that reinforce our brand. In fiscal 2022, we introduced our new tagline ― Dare to Work Differently ― to clarify our brand. We made progress in clarifying and activating our new brand positioning during fiscal 2023 and 2024. We expect to continue to engage in these efforts in the upcoming fiscal year. We rely on trademark registrations and common law trademark rights to protect the distinctiveness of our brand.
Our Growth Strategy
Since inception, our growth has been primarily organic with certain strategic acquisitions along the way that augmented our geographic presence or solution offerings. We believe we have significant opportunity for continued organic growth in our core business as well as through strategic and highly targeted acquisitions as our clients continue to accelerate their digital, workforce and workplace paradigm transformations. Key elements of our growth strategy include:
•Further our strategic brand marketing. RGP has always focused our business on project execution, which is a distinct space on the continuum between strategy consulting and interim deployment. Our business model of utilizing experienced talent to flatten the traditional consulting delivery pyramid is highly sought after in today’s market. Most clients are capable of formulating business strategy organically or with the help of a strategy firm; where they need help is in the ownership of executing the strategy. Our co-delivery ethos is focused around partnering with clients on project execution. Our brand marketing will continue to emphasize and accentuate our unique qualifications in this arena. We believe clear articulation and successful marketing of our distinctive market position is key to attracting and retaining both clients and talent, enabling us to drive continued growth.
•Increase penetration of existing client base. A principal component of our strategy is to secure additional work from the clients that we serve. Based on discussions with our clients, we believe that the amount of revenue that we currently generate from many of our clients represents a relatively small percentage of the total amount that they spend on professional services. Consistent with current industry trends, we believe our clients may also continue to increase that spend as businesses adopt a more agile workforce strategy. We believe that by continuing to deliver high-quality services and by deepening our relationships with our clients, we can capture a significantly larger share of our clients’ professional services budgets. We maintain our Strategic Client Account program to serve a number of our largest clients with dedicated global account teams. We have and will continue to expand the Strategic Client Account program by taking a more client-centric and borderless approach to serving these clients. In addition to serving our largest clients with a differentiated focus, we also segment our clients by industry verticals. We believe this focus enhances our opportunity to develop in-depth knowledge of these clients’ needs and the ability to increase the scope and size of projects with those clients. The Strategic Client Account and Industry Vertical programs have been key drivers for our revenue and business development.
•Grow our client base. We continue to focus on attracting new clients. We strive to develop new client relationships primarily by leveraging the significant contact networks of our management and consultants, through referrals from existing clients and through a dedicated business development team targeting specific clients. We believe we can continue to attract new clients by building our brand identity and reputation, supplemented by our global, regional and local marketing efforts. We anticipate our growth efforts will continue to focus on identifying strategic target accounts especially in the large and middle-market client segments and within certain focus industries, such as healthcare, technology and financial services.
•Optimize service offerings with a focus on digital capabilities. We continue to evolve and optimize our portfolio of professional service offerings, and when appropriate, consider entry into new professional service offerings. Since our founding, we have diversified our professional service offerings from a primary focus on accounting and finance to other areas in which our clients have significant needs such as digital transformation, finance transformation, accounting regulations, internal audit and compliance, healthcare compliance, integration and divestitures, and supply chain management. We continuously identify project opportunities we can market at a broader level with our talent, tools and methodologies and commercialize into solution offerings. When evaluating new or existing solution offerings to invest in, we consider (among other things) profitability, cross-marketing opportunities, competition, growth potential and cultural fit. Our subsidiary Veracity Consulting Group, LLC (“Veracity”) offers valuable digital consulting services, particularly
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related to experience and automation. Customer experience and employee and workspace experience continue to be growing themes in the marketplace and within our client portfolio. The need for automation and self-service has also been an increasing trend. We will continue to focus on expanding our digital consulting capabilities and their geographic reach to drive growth in the business by capturing the market demand and opportunities.
•Expand sales channel through our digital engagement platform (HUGO by RGP®). Consumer buying habits continue to dictate a more self-serve frictionless experience. We believe the use of technology platforms to match clients and talent is the future of professional staffing. HUGO by RGP® (“HUGO”), our digital engagement platform, allows such an experience for clients and talent in the professional staffing space to connect, engage and even transact directly. We piloted the platform in three primary markets – New York/New Jersey, Southern California and Texas, and have continued to expand its functionality with further artificial intelligence ("AI") and machine learning. We have also been developing sales and marketing strategies to increase client and talent adoption of the platform. We plan to expand the geographic reach to other key markets within the United States (“U.S.”) in fiscal 2024. Over time, we expect to be able to drive volume through the HUGO platform by attracting more small- and medium-sized businesses looking for interim support and by serving a larger percentage of our current professional staffing business, which we believe will not only drive top-line growth but also enhance profitability.
•Engage in strategic acquisitions. Our acquisition strategy is to engage in targeted M&A efforts that are designed to complement our core service offerings and enhance our consulting capabilities that are in line with market demands and trends. Our recent acquisition of CloudGo, now integrated into Veracity, expanded our ServiceNow capabilities as well as our ServiceNow footprint in the Asia Pacific region. This year, we also entered into an agreement to acquire Reference Point LLC, a management and technology consulting firm focused on serving the financial services industry, and closed the acquisition on July 1, 2024. We will continue to seek acquisition opportunities to augment and expand the breadth and depth of our digital and other core capabilities.
Our Service Offerings
•Project Consulting Services. We partner with our people and clients to deliver value and impact, bringing our depth of experience and “sleeves up” approach to project execution. While many companies find their internal employees lack the time, experience, or skills for project execution, we seek out talent who can bring fresh ideas to drive any project to a successful conclusion.
•On-demand Talent Services. Tapping into our agile talent pool, we mobilize the right resources to build delivery teams for our consulting offerings and directly support client talent needs in today’s rapidly changing business environment. Our workforce strategy provides flexible, collaborative resources to meet our clients’ needs.
•Other Services. From digital workflows to back-office functions, we support vital business processes, freeing our clients to focus on transformation and other critical priorities.
Human Capital Management
Our internal employees and consultants represent our greatest asset and operate together to provide the highest quality of service to our clients. As of May 25, 2024, we had 3,376 employees, including 791 management and administrative employees and 2,585 consultants. Our employees are not covered by any collective bargaining agreements.
Our Culture and Values
Our culture is the cornerstone of all our human capital programs. Our senior management team, the majority of whom are Big Four, management consulting and/or Fortune 500 alumni, has created a culture that combines the commitment to quality and the client service focus of a Big Four firm with the entrepreneurial energy of an innovative, high-growth company. Our culture is built upon our shared, core values of Loyalty, Integrity, Focus, Enthusiasm, Accountability and Talent, and we believe this is a key reason for our success.
Along with our core values, we act in accordance with our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (“Code of Conduct”), which sets forth the standards our employees and board members must adhere to at all times in the execution of their duties. Our Code of Conduct covers topics such as honest and candid conduct, conflicts of interest, protecting confidential information, anti-corruption, compliance with laws, rules and regulations, fair dealing, equal opportunities and non-harassment, maintaining a safe workplace, and the reporting of violations. The Code of Conduct reflects our commitment to operating in a fair, honest, responsible and ethical manner and also provides direction for reporting complaints in the event of alleged violations of our policies (including through an anonymous hotline).
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Diversity, equity and inclusion (“DE&I”) are critical underpinnings of our shared values and guide our conduct in our interactions with both clients and each other. As a human-first company, we recognize diversity as a strength that is cultivated through our culture, our people, our business, and our clients. Our workforce reflects diversity in all its forms, including gender and gender identity, race and ethnicity, age, sexual orientation and a variety of cultural and personal backgrounds. We believe a diverse workforce is essential to our continued success.
We are proud that 100% of our Executive Leadership Team identify as women or are racially or ethnically diverse. Additionally, 40% of our directors identify as women or are racially or ethnically diverse. We are also a Paradigm for Parity Coalition company, which is a coalition of companies committed to addressing gender and diversity gaps in corporate leadership. Our gender and racial and ethnic diversity representation in the Executive Leadership Team, Board of Directors and U.S.-based workforce is presented in the following table:
*-- Diversity representation is as of May 25, 2024.
Our fiscal 2024 DE&I strategic priorities remained focused on increasing DE&I awareness, education and involvement across our global team, increasing diversity in our workforce, and promoting inclusion in our Go-to-Market activities. Last year’s DE&I survey indicated high interest in creating additional ways for our employees to connect, learn, and support RGP’s DE&I Commitment. In response, RGP launched our first employee resource groups (“ERGs”) in 2024. The Women in Leadership, Multicultural and Interfaith ERGs are voluntary, employee-led groups and are dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment. These are complemented by other employee groups such as our Pride Committee and Caregivers for Aging Parents that are in place to support ways for our employees to get to know each other on a personal level and foster a sense of belonging for all.
In fiscal 2024, we continued our DE&I Council and DE&I Ambassador programs, which consist of employees representing a cross-section of functions and levels across the globe and are open to all employees, regardless of race, gender or ethnicity. These programs support our DE&I priorities by designing and delivering measurable and impactful solutions. The DE&I Council serves an important role in working closely with senior leaders to facilitate alignment between our DE&I efforts and overall business strategy. Our DE&I Council hosts periodic educational events that are accessible to our global workforce. These events serve as important learning opportunities and connection points that broaden our perspectives and foster a greater sense of community among colleagues. During these sessions, we engage internal and external speakers and communicate our current year DE&I strategy and initiatives. These sessions also serve as important listening forums by which we learn what additional DE&I activities would be most meaningful to our workforce. We have received positive feedback from our workforce on these engagement sessions, which helps us to prioritize DE&I actions for building cultural and inclusive capability across our global team.
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The DE&I Ambassador program is comprised of employee volunteers, with a mission to “meet people where they are” in relationship to DE&I and to promote DE&I awareness in existing business forums (i.e., to raise a DE&I topic in existing business meetings or planned social gatherings). The DE&I Ambassador program has had a positive impact on our culture as it generates meaningful opportunities for people, who work in a hybrid and geographically dispersed way, to come together for connection and community. The DE&I Ambassador teams operate at a regional level and meet quarterly to share success stories and practices across the regions with the goal of contributing to greater inclusion within RGP.
In fiscal 2024, we also continued our Social Justice Charitable Matching Fund, which has allowed us to help raise DE&I awareness internally across our organization by matching employees’ contributions to charitable organizations that promote social justice. As of May 25, 2024, we achieved our goal of matching $100,000 in contributions during fiscal 2024 and since fiscal 2021, we have supported approximately 190 unique charitable organizations with over $400,000 in contributions. We also support and encourage our employees to volunteer their time and donate to local or national charitable causes. For example, since fiscal 2021, we have sponsored Brightpath STEAM Academy, which seeks to empower and inspire at-risk students in St. Louis, Missouri to pursue STEAM careers by hosting large scale events such as a robotic summer camp. Brightpath was founded and is run by an RGP employee who also served a multi-year term on our DE&I Council.
Employee Wellbeing and Resilience
Employee safety and wellbeing continues to be of paramount importance to us. Our Global Business Continuity Team continued to improve our disaster preparedness plans and implement strategies to manage the health and security of our employees, business continuity, client confidence, and excellent customer service.
To promote employee wellbeing and collaboration, we evolved our work-from-home policy to a hybrid work policy, where employees are invited to work collaboratively with colleagues in the office but are also permitted to work remotely as desired. Our goal is to help every human in our workforce maintain a positive, productive and connected work experience. We provide productivity and collaboration tools and resources for employees working remotely. During fiscal 2024, we also enhanced and promoted programs to support our employees’ physical and mental wellbeing, including the offering of regular wellness and self-care sessions, supporting our You Matter recognition program that allows employees to share gratitude and kudos for colleagues, and launching a new Spirit of Volunteerism initiative to share stories, foster community connections and promote organizations and causes that are important to our employees. We also offer an Employee Assistance Program for U.S. employees and a Global Workforce Support Program for our international employees. Both programs provide resources to support personal and family health and wellbeing.
Building Strong Leaders and Talent Management
Strong “human leadership” is critical to fostering employee engagement and positioning employees to perform at their best. In fiscal 2023, we launched “Leadership U” to foster leadership development, peer mentorship opportunities and to support the building and maintenance of high-performing teams. In fiscal 2024, we saw a continued and strengthened desire from employees seeking authentic, empathetic and adaptive behaviors from their leaders. For these reasons, we invest in the ongoing professional development of our employees and leaders. We designed and delivered curated programs such as "Leadership U" to onboard and acclimate employees to the business and promote personal, professional and leadership growth.
Successful talent development starts with hiring the right people. We seek to recruit and hire candidates that demonstrate skills and competencies that align with our core values and that have an aptitude to further develop and expand those capabilities. After onboarding, our Life + Learning team remains committed to providing employees with training and development opportunities to allow our employees to progress in their careers. We offer newly hired employees the opportunity to participate in our “RGP U” program to accelerate and support their integration into our organization. This program gives our new hires a connected cohort to drive a sense of belonging early in their career at RGP and offers their leaders a more efficient use of individual coaching time with new employees. In fiscal 2023, we expanded this program to RGP U Consultant to ensure strong connectivity and supported success in a consultant’s first year with RGP. In fiscal 2024, we continued our Sales Effectiveness curriculum focused on deepening sales and client service acumen and effectiveness.
In addition, we continued to invest in the professional development and growth of our employees as we focused on employee experience, effectiveness, upskilling and reskilling in a changing work environment. This support was focused and delivered to all employees with emphasis in the areas of leadership development, on-boarding, functional/technical learning and digital fluency. We continued to actively engage with our internal leaders by integrating wellness
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and leadership development topics into our quarterly senior leadership meetings. We also conducted intentional leader listening forums and mentorship programs to help guide our leaders during fiscal 2024.
Compensation and Benefits
We provide a competitive compensation and benefits program to attract and reward our employees. In addition to salaries or hourly rates, our eligible employees, including our consultants, are offered participation in a comprehensive benefits program (based on location) including: paid time off and holidays, group medical and dental programs, a basic term life insurance program, health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts, a 401(k) retirement plan with employer matching contributions, contributions to statutory retirement programs, the 2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, as amended (“ESPP”), which enables employees to purchase shares of our stock at a discount, and an employee assistance program. In addition, eligible management and administrative employees may participate in annual cash incentive programs or receive stock-based awards. We also allow eligible consultants in the U.S. to maintain continuation of benefits for 90 days following the completion of a consulting project.
We utilize a Pay for Success Total Rewards Philosophy that promotes consistent and transparent practices for rewarding and incentivizing our employees and the alignment of pay results with the Company’s success. The Total Rewards Philosophy is comprised of three main components: (i) base pay, designed to reflect an individual’s value, knowledge and skills that contribute to the organization through an individual’s day-to-day job performance; (ii) short-term incentives, awarded to employees based on results delivered during the applicable fiscal year and determined by quantitative metrics, qualitative contributions, individual goals, and demonstration of company values; and (iii) long-term incentives, granted to recognize and retain employees who have strategic influence on the long-term success of the Company. As a listening organization, we continue to communicate with our people to understand what components of Total Rewards are priority for them and leverage that feedback, along with quantitative benchmarking data and affordability considerations, to continually evolve our Total Rewards offerings in a way that positions us to attract and retain top talent.
During fiscal 2024, we also continued our “You Matter” digital global employee recognition and appreciation program. You Matter includes service awards to acknowledge key milestones, including employment anniversaries and hours of service. This program provides all employees with the ability to both give and receive recognition, contributing to our culture of gratitude and excellence.
Clients
We provide our services and solutions to a diverse client base in a broad range of industries. In fiscal 2024, we served 1,800 clients in 37 countries. Our revenues are not concentrated with any particular client. No single client accounted for more than 10% of revenue for the 2024, 2023 or 2022 fiscal years. In fiscal 2024, our 10 largest clients accounted for approximately 24% of our revenue.
Operations
We generally provide our professional services to clients at a local level, with the oversight of our market or account leaders and consultation with our corporate management team. The market or account leaders and client development directors in each market are responsible for new client acquisition, expanding client relationships, ensuring client satisfaction throughout engagements, coordinating services for clients on a national and international level and maintaining client relationships post-engagement. Market or account revenue leadership and their teams identify, develop and close new and existing client opportunities, often working in a coordinated effort with other markets on multi-national/multi-location proposals. While the majority of our client relationships are driven at a local market level, our Strategic Client Accounts, which comprise 40 accounts, are led by account leaders responsible for relationships across markets and who are specifically tasked with growing our global relationships in these key accounts.
Market or account level leadership works closely with our talent management team, which aligns regionally but is managed largely as three distinct groups within North America, Asia Pacific and Europe. Our talent organization is responsible for identifying, hiring and cultivating a sustainable relationship with seasoned professionals fitting the RGP profile of client needs. Our consultant recruiting efforts are regionally and nationally based, depending upon the skill set required; talent management handles both the identification and hiring of consultants specifically skilled to perform client projects as well as monitoring the satisfaction of consultants during and after completion of assignments. The talent teams focus on getting the right talent in the right place at the right time. In fiscal 2020, we launched our Borderless Talent initiative in response to the Pandemic to evolve towards and facilitate a virtual operating model. In fiscal 2024, we
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continued with this initiative, as we seek to provide borderless solutions, anytime, anywhere, bringing the best talent to meet our clients’ business needs, based on expected outcome, not zip code.
We believe a substantial portion of the buying decisions made by our clients are made on a local or regional basis, and our offices most often compete with other professional services providers on a local or regional basis. We continue to believe our local market or account leaders are well-positioned to understand the local and regional outsourced professional services market. Additionally, the complexity of relationships with many of our multinational clients also dictates that in some circumstances a hybrid model, bringing the best of both locally driven relationships as well as global focus and delivery, is important for employee and client satisfaction. Through our Strategic Client Account program, we aim to be the service provider that can partner with our multinational clients on a global basis by organizing the concerted effort and talent team to deliver through one integrated service platform. Additionally, team members in our Project Consulting Services group are individuals with deep subject matter expertise in areas of particular client concern who assist with scoping, proposing and delivering complex engagements.
We believe our ability to deliver professional services successfully to clients is dependent on our leaders in the field working together as a collegial and collaborative team. To build a sense of team spirit and increase camaraderie among our leaders, we have a program for field personnel that awards annual incentives based on specific agreed-upon goals focused on the performance of the individual and performance of the Company. We also share across the Company and with new client development team members the best and most effective practices of our highest achieving offices and accounts. New leadership also spends time in other markets or otherwise partners with experienced sales and recruiting personnel in those markets to understand how best to serve current clients, expand our presence with prospects and identify and recruit highly qualified consultants, among many other important skills. This allows the veteran leadership to share their success stories, foster our culture with new team members and review specific client and consultant development programs. We believe these team-based practices enable us to better serve clients who prefer a centrally organized service approach.
From our corporate headquarters in Irvine, California, we provide centralized administrative, marketing, finance, human resources (“HR”), information technology (“IT”), legal and real estate support. We also have a business support operations center in our Utrecht, Netherlands office to provide centralized finance, HR, IT, payroll and legal support to our European offices. These centralized functions minimize the administrative burdens on our front office market leaders and enable operational efficiency and scalability throughout the enterprise.
Business Development
Our business development initiatives are comprised of:
•local and global initiatives focused on existing clients and target companies;
•national and international targeting efforts focused on multinational companies;
•brand marketing activities; and
•national and local advertising and direct mail programs.
Our business development efforts are driven by the networking and sales efforts of our management, with our worldwide Salesforce software platform providing a common database of opportunities and clients and enhancing our local and global business development efforts. While local senior management focus on market-related activities, they are also part of the regional, national and international sales efforts, especially when the client is part of a multinational entity. In certain markets, sales efforts are also enhanced by management professionals focused solely on business development efforts on a market and national basis based on firm-wide and industry-focused initiatives. These business development professionals, in partnership with the vice-presidents and client service teams, are responsible for initiating and fostering relationships with the senior management and decision makers of our targeted client companies.
We believe our national marketing efforts have effectively generated incremental revenues from existing clients and developed new client relationships. Our brand marketing initiatives help bolster RGP’s reputation in the markets we serve. Our brand is reinforced by our professionally designed website, print, and online advertising, direct marketing, seminars, thought leadership whitepapers, initiative-oriented brochures, social media and public relations efforts. We believe our branding initiatives, coupled with our high-quality client service, help to differentiate us from our competitors and to establish RGP as a credible and reputable global professional services firm.
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Competition
We operate in an extremely competitive, highly fragmented market and compete for clients and consultants with a variety of organizations that offer similar services. The competition for talent and clients is likely to increase in the future due to workforce gaps caused by the tightening labor market, a changing market for project- or initiative-based services and the relatively few barriers to entry. Our principal competitors include:
•business operations and financial consulting firms;
•local, regional, national and international accounting and other traditional professional services firms;
•independent contractors;
•traditional and internet-based staffing firms; and
•the in-house or former in-house resources of our clients.
We compete for clients based on the quality of professionals we bring to our clients, the knowledge base they possess, our ability to mobilize the right talent quickly, the scope and price of services, and the geographic reach of services. We believe our attractive value proposition, consisting of our highly qualified consultants, relationship-oriented approach, agile delivery model and professional culture, enables us to compete effectively in the marketplace.
Regulatory Environment
Our operations are subject to regulations by federal, state, local and professional governing bodies and laws and regulations in various foreign countries, including, but not limited to: (a) licensing and registration requirements and (b) regulation of the employer/employee relationship, such as worker classification regulations, wage and hour regulations, tax withholding and reporting, immigration/H-1B visa regulations, social security and other retirement, antidiscrimination, and employee benefits and workers’ compensation regulations. Our operations could be impacted by legislative changes by these bodies, particularly with respect to provisions relating to payroll and benefits, tax and accounting, employment, worker classification and data privacy which could materially affect our capital expenditures, earnings and/or competitive position. Due to the complex regulatory environment that we operate in, we remain focused on compliance with governmental and professional organizations’ regulations. For more discussion of the potential impact that the regulatory environment could have on our financial results, refer to Item 1A “Risk Factors.”
Available Information
Our principal executive offices are located at 17101 Armstrong Avenue, Irvine, California 92614. Our telephone number is (714) 430-6400 and our website address is https://www.rgp.com. The information set forth in our website does not constitute part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We file our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act with the SEC electronically. These reports are maintained on the SEC’s website at https://www.sec.gov.
A copy of our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports may also be obtained free of charge on the Investor Relations page of our website at https://ir.rgp.com as soon as reasonably practicable after we file such reports with the SEC.
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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.
The risks described below should be considered carefully before a decision to buy shares of our common stock is made. The order of the risks is not an indication of their relative weight or importance. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones facing us but do represent those risks and uncertainties we believe are material to us. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also adversely impact and impair our business. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business could be harmed. In that case, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and all or part of the investment in our common stock might be lost. When determining whether to buy our common stock, other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our financial statements and the related notes, should also be reviewed.
Risks Related to the Business Environment
An economic downturn or deterioration of general macroeconomic conditions could adversely affect our global operations and financial condition.
We are exposed to the risk of an economic downturn or deterioration of general macroeconomic conditions, including slower growth or recession, inflation, or decreases in consumer spending power or confidence, which could have a significant impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Recent inflationary conditions and high interest rates, geopolitical conflicts as further discussed below and increasing diplomatic and trade friction between the U.S. and China, have caused disruptions in the U.S. and global economy, and uncertainty regarding general economic conditions within some regions and countries in which we operate, including concerns about a potential U.S. and/or global recession has led, and may continue to lead, to reluctance on the part of some companies to spend on discretionary projects. Deterioration of or prolonged uncertainty related to the global economy or tightening credit markets could cause some of our clients to experience liquidity problems or other financial difficulties and could further reduce the demand for our services and adversely affect our business in the future.
The military incursion by Russia into Ukraine and conflict and unrest in the Middle East could continue to create global economic and market uncertainty in a manner that could adversely affect our operations. Wars divert international trade and capital flows, disrupt global supply chains, delay companies’ investment and hiring and erode consumer confidence, and periods of elevated geopolitical risks have historically been associated with negative effects on global economic activity. Although none of our operations are in Russia, Ukraine or the Middle East, the continuation or further escalation of geopolitical tensions, or future instances of political unrest in other geographies, could impact other markets where we do business, including Europe and Asia Pacific, or cause negative global economic effects which may adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Economic deterioration at one or more of our clients may also affect our allowance for credit losses and collectability of accounts receivable. Our estimate of losses resulting from our clients’ failure to make required payments for services rendered has historically been within our expectations and the provisions established. While our overall receivable collections have not been severely impacted by the softening economy or other geopolitical events, we cannot guarantee we will continue to experience the same credit loss rates we have in the past. A significant change in the liquidity or financial position of our clients could cause unfavorable trends in receivable collections and cash flows and additional allowances for anticipated losses may be required. These additional allowances could materially affect our future financial results.
In addition, we are required periodically, and at least annually, to assess the recoverability of certain assets, including deferred tax assets, long-lived assets and goodwill. Downturns in the U.S. and international economies could adversely affect our evaluation of the recoverability of deferred tax assets, long-lived assets and goodwill. Although the additional tax valuation allowances and the impairment of long-lived assets and goodwill are non-cash expenses, they could materially affect our future financial results and financial condition.
The market for professional services is highly competitive, and if we are unable to compete effectively against our competitors, our business and operating results could be adversely affected.
We operate in a competitive, fragmented market, and we compete for clients and consultants with a variety of organizations that offer similar services. Our principal competitors include: consulting firms; local, regional, national and international accounting and other traditional professional services firms; independent contractors; traditional and internet-
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based staffing firms; and the in-house or former in-house resources of our clients. The competition is likely to increase in the future due to the expected growth of the market and the relatively few barriers to entry.
We cannot provide assurance that we will be able to compete effectively against existing or future competitors. Many of our competitors have significantly greater financial resources, greater revenues and greater name recognition, which may afford them an advantage in attracting and retaining clients and consultants and in offering pricing concessions. Some of our competitors in certain markets do not provide medical insurance or other benefits to their consultants, thereby allowing them to potentially charge lower rates to clients. In addition, our competitors may be able to respond more quickly to changes in companies’ needs and developments in the professional services industry.
Bank failures or other events affecting financial institutions could adversely affect our and our clients’ liquidity and financial performance.
We regularly maintain domestic cash deposits in Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) insured banks, which exceed the FDIC insurance limits. We also maintain cash deposits in foreign banks where we operate, some of which are not insured or are only partially insured by the FDIC or other similar agencies. The failure of a bank, or events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse conditions in the financial or credit markets impacting financial institutions at which we maintain balances, or concerns or rumors about such events, may lead to disruptions in access to our bank deposits or otherwise adversely impact our liquidity and financial performance. There can be no assurance that our deposits in excess of the FDIC or other comparable insurance limits will be backstopped by the U.S. or applicable foreign government, or that any bank or financial institution with which we do business will be able to obtain needed liquidity from other banks, government institutions or by acquisition in the event of a failure or liquidity crisis.
Our clients, including those of our clients that are banks, may be similarly adversely affected by any bank failure or other event affecting financial institutions. Any resulting adverse effects to our clients’ liquidity or financial performance could reduce the demand for our services or affect our allowance for credit losses and collectability of accounts receivable. A significant change in the liquidity or financial position of our clients could cause unfavorable trends in receivable collections and cash flows and additional allowances for anticipated losses may be required. These additional allowances could materially affect our future financial results.
In addition, instability, liquidity constraints or other distress in the financial markets, including the effects of bank failures, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions, could impair the ability of one or more of the banks participating in our current or any future credit agreement from honoring their commitments. This could have an adverse effect on our business if we were not able to replace those commitments or to locate other sources of liquidity on acceptable terms.
Our business is subject to risks arising from epidemic diseases, pandemics, or other public health emergencies.
Public health epidemics or pandemics pose the risk that we or our employees and partners may be prevented from conducting business activities at full capacity for an indefinite period of time, including due to the spread of the virus or due to shutdowns or other measures that are requested or mandated by governmental authorities. Governmental measures that are intended to reduce the spread or otherwise combat a pandemic or epidemic may affect how we operate, including, among other things, by reducing demand for or delaying client decisions to procure our services, or by resulting in cancellations of existing projects.
A future pandemic, epidemic, or other public health emergency could also result in a decline in productivity, which may adversely impact our ability to continue to efficiently serve our clients. In addition, in connection with the Pandemic, the overall financial condition of some of our clients was adversely impacted, at least for periods of time. If the financial condition of any of our clients is negatively impacted in the future by a pandemic or epidemic, the ability of these clients to pay outstanding receivables owed to us may be adversely affected.
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Risks Related to Human Capital Resources
We must provide our clients with highly qualified and experienced consultants, and the loss of a significant number of our consultants, or an inability to attract and retain new consultants, could adversely affect our business and operating results.
Our business involves the delivery of professional services, and our success depends on our ability to provide our clients with highly qualified and experienced consultants who possess the skills and experience necessary to satisfy their needs. At various times, including as a result of recent shifts by businesses to adopt more workforce agility in response to temporary gaps caused by the tightening labor market, such professionals can be in great demand, particularly in certain geographic areas or if they have specific skill sets. Our ability to attract and retain consultants with the requisite experience and skills depends on several factors including, but not limited to, our ability to:
•provide our consultants with either full-time or flexible-time employment;
•obtain the type of challenging and high-quality projects that our consultants seek;
•provide competitive compensation and benefits; and
•provide our consultants with flexibility as to hours worked and assignment of client engagements.
There can be no assurance we will be successful in accomplishing any of these factors and, even if we are, we cannot assure we will be successful in attracting and retaining the number of highly qualified and experienced consultants necessary to maintain and grow our business.
Our business could suffer if we lose the services of one or more key members of our senior management.
Our future success depends upon the continued employment of our senior management team. The unforeseen departure of one or more key members of our senior management team could significantly disrupt our operations if we are unable to successfully manage the transition. The replacement of members of senior management can involve significant time and expense and create uncertainties that could delay, prevent the achievement of, or make it more difficult for us to pursue and execute on our business opportunities, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
Further, due to legal restrictions prohibiting non-compete agreements in certain jurisdictions, we generally do not have non-compete agreements with our employees, including our senior management team, and, therefore, they could terminate their employment with us at any time and obtain employment with a competitor. Our ability to retain the services of members of our senior management and other key employees could be impacted by a number of factors, including competitors’ hiring practices or the effectiveness of our compensation programs. If members of our senior management or other key employees leave us for any reason, they could pursue other employment opportunities with our competitors or otherwise compete against us. If we are unable to retain the services of these key personnel or attract and retain other qualified and experienced personnel on acceptable terms, our business, financial condition and operating results could be adversely affected.
Significant increases in wages or payroll-related costs could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.
To ensure that we attract and retain the requisite talent, it is necessary that we pay our consultants competitive wages. We are also required to pay a number of federal, state and local payroll-related costs for our employees and consultants, including providing certain benefits such as medical insurance, paid time off and sick leave, and paying unemployment taxes, workers’ compensation insurance premiums and claims, and FICA and Medicare taxes. These costs could be increased by wage inflation and changes to local laws and regulations. Costs could also increase as a result of health care reforms or the possible imposition of additional requirements and restrictions related to the placement of personnel. We may not be able to increase the fees charged to our clients in a timely manner or in a sufficient amount to cover these potential cost increases.
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Risks Related to Our Business Operations and Initiatives
Our business depends upon our ability to secure new projects from clients and renew expired contracts, and we could be adversely affected if we fail to do so.
We generally do not have long-term agreements with our clients for the provision of services and our clients may terminate engagements with us at any time. The success of our business is dependent on our ability to secure new projects from clients or to renew expired contracts with clients. For example, our business is likely to be materially adversely affected if we are unable to secure new client projects because of improvements in our competitors’ service offerings, because of our customers’ use of technology or AI instead of external experts, because of a change in government regulatory requirements, because of an economic downturn decreasing the demand for outsourced professional services, or for other reasons. New impediments to our ability to secure projects from clients may develop over time, such as the increasing use by large clients of in-house procurement groups that manage their relationship with service providers.
As technology continues to evolve, more tasks currently performed by people have been and may continue to be replaced by automation, robotics, machine learning, AI and other technological advances outside of our control. These technological changes may (i) reduce demand for our services, (ii) enable the development of competitive products or services, or (iii) enable our current customers to reduce or bypass the use of our services, particularly in lower-skill job categories. Additionally, rapid changes in AI and generative AI which involves the use of advanced algorithms and machine learning techniques to create content, generate ideas, or simulate human-like behaviors and block chain-based technology are increasing the competitiveness landscape. We may not be successful in anticipating or responding to these changes and there can be no assurance that we can integrate other technologies we use with AI or that material additional monetary and time expenditures will not be required. In addition, demand for our services could be further reduced by advanced technologies being deployed by our competitors.
If we are not able to replace the revenue from our expired client contracts, either through follow-on contracts or new contracts for those requirements or for other requirements, our revenue and operating results may be adversely affected. On the expiration of a contract, we typically seek a new contract or subcontractor role relating to that client to replace the revenue generated by the expired contract. There can be no assurance that those expiring contracts we are servicing will continue after their expiration, that the client will re-procure those requirements, that any such re-procurement will not be restricted in a way that would eliminate us from the competition, or that we will be successful in any such re-procurements or in obtaining subcontractor roles. Any factor that diminishes client relationships and/or our professional reputation could make it substantially more difficult for us to compete successfully for new engagements and qualified consultants. To the extent our client relationships and/or professional reputation deteriorate, our revenue and operating results could be adversely affected.
Our financial results could suffer if we are unable to achieve or maintain a suitable pay/bill ratio.
Our consultant cost structure is primarily variable in nature, and our profitability depends to a large extent on the level of pay/bill ratio achieved. Our failure to maintain or increase the hourly rates we charge our clients for our services or to pay an adequate and competitive rate to our consultants in order to maintain a suitable pay/bill ratio could compress our gross margin and adversely impact our profitability.
The pay rates of our consultants are affected by a number of factors, including:
•the skill sets and qualifications our consultants possess;
•the competition for talent; and
•current labor market and economic conditions.
The billing rates of our consultants are affected by a number of factors, including:
•our clients’ perception of our ability to add value through our services;
•the market demand for the services we provide;
•introduction of new services by us or our competitors;
•our competition and the pricing policies of our competitors; and
•current economic conditions.
If we are unable to achieve a desirable pay/bill ratio, our financial results could materially suffer. In addition, a limited number of clients are requesting certain engagements be a fixed fee rather than our traditional hourly time and materials approach, thus shifting a portion of the burden of financial risk and monitoring to us.
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We derive significant revenue and profits from contracts awarded through a competitive bidding process, which can impose substantial costs on us, and we will lose revenue and profits if we fail to compete effectively.
Competitive bidding imposes substantial costs and presents a number of risks, including the:
•substantial cost and managerial time and effort that we spend to prepare bids and proposals;
•need to estimate accurately the resources and costs that will be required to service any contracts we are awarded, sometimes in advance of the final determination of their full scope; and
•opportunity cost of not bidding on and winning other contracts we may have otherwise pursued.
To the extent we engage in competitive bidding and are unable to win certain contracts, we not only incur substantial costs in the bidding process that negatively affect our operating results, but we may lose the opportunity to operate in the market for the services provided under those contracts for a number of years and our revenue will be adversely impacted. Even if we win a particular contract through competitive bidding, our profit margins may be depressed, or we may even suffer losses as a result of the costs incurred through the bidding process and the need to lower our prices to overcome competition.
Our contracts may contain provisions that are unfavorable to us and permit our clients to, among other things, terminate our contracts partially or completely at any time prior to completion.
Our contracts typically contain provisions that allow our clients to terminate or modify these contracts at their convenience on short notice. If a client terminates one of our contracts for convenience, we generally can only bill the client for work completed prior to the termination, plus any commitments and settlement expenses the client agrees to pay, but not for any work not yet performed. If a client were to terminate, decline to exercise options under, or curtail further performance under one or more of our major contracts, our revenue and operating results could be adversely affected.
We may be unable to realize the level of the anticipated benefits that we expect from our restructuring initiatives, which may adversely impact our business and results of operations.
In response to changes in industry and market conditions, we have undertaken in the past, and from time to time expect to undertake in the future, restructuring, reorganization, or other strategic initiatives and business transformation plans to realign our resources with our growth strategies, operate more efficiently and control costs. For example, in fiscal 2024, we initiated a cost reduction plan, including a reduction in force (the "U.S. Restructuring Plan”) intended to reduce costs and streamline operations. The successful implementation of our restructuring activities may from time to time require us to effect business and asset dispositions, workforce reductions, management restructurings, decisions to limit investments in or otherwise exit businesses, office consolidations and closures, and other actions, each of which may depend on a number of factors that may not be within our control.
Any such effort to realign or streamline our organization may result in the recording of restructuring or other charges, such as asset impairment charges, contract and lease termination costs, exit costs, termination benefits, and other restructuring costs. Further, as a result of restructuring initiatives, we may experience a loss of continuity, loss of accumulated knowledge and proficiency, adverse effects on employee morale, loss of key employees and/or other retention issues during transitional periods. Reorganization and restructuring can impact a significant amount of management and other employees’ time and focus, which may divert attention from operating and growing our business. Further, upon completion of any restructuring initiatives, our business may not be more efficient or effective than prior to the implementation of the plan and we may be unable to achieve anticipated operating enhancements or cost reductions, which would adversely affect our business, competitive position, operating results and financial condition.
For example, in fiscal 2025, we plan to reorganize our business by forming multiple discrete operational business units. We plan to make management organizational changes and implement new reporting modules and processes to provide discrete information to manage the business. There can be no assurance that such reorganization will be beneficial to the Company or that such reorganization will not adversely affect our business, competitive position, operating results or financial condition.
Our recent digital expansion and technology transformation efforts may not be successful, which could adversely impact our growth and profitability.
One of our primary areas of focus in recent years is digital expansion, which includes the launching of Project Phoenix, our multi-year technological modernization initiative that requires significant enterprise-wide effort replacing or upgrading core system as well as further development and expanded launch of HUGO, our human cloud platform aimed at
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introducing a new way for clients and talent alike to engage with us and expanding go-to-market penetration for the business that we acquired from CloudGo. With our recent acquisition of Reference Point LLC, we continue making investments in the transformation of our technology systems to keep up with technological changes that impact the needs of our clients, the delivery of our services and the efficiency of our back-office operations. These investments require significant capital expenditures. If we are unable to execute these initiatives successfully, we may not realize our anticipated return on investment and may not be able to realize the benefits expected, which could adversely impact our growth and profitability.
We may not be able to build an efficient support structure as our business continues to grow and transform.
In fiscal 2024, we continued our Borderless Talent initiative to continue to evolve towards and facilitate a virtual operating model. With this initiative, we seek to provide borderless solutions, anytime, anywhere, bringing the best talent to meet our clients’ business needs, based on workload, not zip code. We also began upgrading to a new cloud-based enterprise-wide operating and Enterprise Resource Planning system. The continued success of these initiatives requires adjusting and strengthening our business operations, financial and talent management systems, procedures, controls and compliance, which may increase our total operating costs and adversely impact our profitability and growth.
New business strategies and initiatives, such as these, can be time-consuming for our management team and disruptive to our operations. New business initiatives could also involve significant unanticipated challenges and risks including not advancing our business strategy, not realizing our anticipated return on investment, experiencing difficulty in implementing initiatives, or diverting management’s attention from our other businesses. These events could cause material harm to our business, operating results or financial condition.
We may not be able to grow our business, manage our growth or sustain our current business.
In 2024, we initiated the U.S. Restructuring Plan, intended to reduce costs and streamline operations. In the first quarter of fiscal 2025 we announced a decision to reorganize the Company’s business by forming multiple discrete operational business units. There can be no assurance we will be able to maintain or expand our market presence in our current locations, successfully enter other markets or locations or successfully operate our business virtually without a physical presence in all our markets. Our ability to continue to grow our business will depend upon an improving global economy and a number of factors, including our ability to:
•grow new client base and penetrate our existing client base;
•expand profitably into new geographies;
•drive growth in core markets, key industry verticals and solution offerings such as digital transformation services;
•provide additional professional service offerings;
•hire qualified and experienced consultants;
•maintain margins in the face of pricing pressure; and
•manage costs.
Even if we are able to resume more rapid growth in our revenue, the growth will result in new and increased responsibilities for our management as well as increased demands on our internal systems, procedures and controls, and our administrative, financial, marketing and other resources. Failure to adequately respond to these new responsibilities and demands may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our ability to serve clients internationally is integral to our strategy and our international activities expose us to additional operational challenges we might not otherwise face.
Our international activities require us to confront and manage several risks and expenses we would not face if we conducted our operations solely in the U.S. Any of these risks or expenses could cause a material negative effect on our operating results. These risks and expenses include:
•difficulties in staffing and managing foreign offices as a result of, among other things, distance, language and cultural differences;
•exposure to labor and employment laws and regulations in foreign countries;
•expenses associated with customizing our professional services for clients in foreign countries;
•foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations when we sell our professional services in denominations other than U.S. dollars;
•protectionist laws and business practices that favor local companies;
•political and economic instability in some international markets;
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•potential personal injury to personnel who may be exposed to military conflicts and other hostile situations in foreign countries;
•multiple, conflicting and changing government laws and regulations;
•trade barriers and economic sanctions;
•compliance with stringent and varying privacy laws in the markets in which we operate;
•compliance with regulations on international business, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the United Kingdom Bribery Act of 2010 and the anti-bribery laws of other countries;
•reduced protection for intellectual property rights in some countries;
•potentially adverse tax consequences; and
•restrictions on the ability to repatriate profits to the U.S. or otherwise move funds.
We have acquired, and may continue to acquire, companies, and these acquisitions could disrupt our business.
We have acquired several companies in the past and we may continue to acquire companies in the future. Entering into an acquisition entails many risks, any of which could harm our business, including:
•diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns;
•failure to integrate the acquired company with our existing business;
•failure to motivate, or loss of, key employees from either our existing business or the acquired business;
•failure to identify certain risks or liabilities during the due diligence process;
•potential impairment of relationships with our existing employees and clients;
•additional operating expenses not offset by additional revenue;
•incurrence of significant non-recurring charges;
•incurrence of additional debt with restrictive covenants or other limitations;
•addition of significant amounts of intangible assets, including goodwill, that are subject to periodic assessment of impairment, with such non-cash impairment potentially resulting in a material impact on our future financial results and financial condition;
•dilution of our stock as a result of issuing equity securities; and
•assumption of liabilities of the acquired company.
Our failure to be successful in addressing these risks or other problems encountered in connection with our past or future acquisitions could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions, incur unanticipated liabilities and harm our business generally.
We may be unable to adequately protect our intellectual property rights, including our brand name.
We believe establishing, maintaining and enhancing the RGP and Resources Global Professionals brand names are important to our business. We rely on trademark registrations and common law trademark rights to protect the distinctiveness of our brand. In fiscal 2020, we launched a significant global rebranding initiative, and in fiscal 2023 we continued our global rebranding with our new tagline ― Dare to Work Differently. However, there can be no assurance that our rebranding initiative will result in a positive return on investment. In addition, there can be no assurance that the actions we have taken to establish and protect our trademarks will be adequate to prevent use of our trademarks by others. Further, not all of our trademarks were successfully registered in all of our desired countries. Accordingly, we may not be able to claim or assert trademark or unfair competition claims against third parties for any number of reasons. For example, a judge, jury or other adjudicative body may find that the conduct of competitors does not infringe or violate our trademark rights. In addition, third parties may claim that the use of our trademarks and branding infringe, dilute or otherwise violate the common law or registered marks of that party, or that our marketing efforts constitute unfair competition. Such claims could result in injunctive relief prohibiting the use of our marks, branding and marketing activities as well as significant damages, fees and costs. If such a claim were made and we were required to change our name or any of our marks, the value of our brand may diminish and our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Risks Related to Information Technology, Cybersecurity and Data Protection
Our computer hardware and software and telecommunications systems are susceptible to damage, breach or interruption.
The management of our business is aided by the uninterrupted operation of our computer and telecommunication systems. These systems are vulnerable to security breaches, cyber or other security incidents, natural disasters or other catastrophic events, or other interruptions or damage stemming from power outages, equipment failure or unintended or unauthorized usage by employees. In addition, we rely on information systems to process, transmit and store electronic
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information and to communicate among our locations around the world and with our clients, partners and consultants. From time to time, we experience cybersecurity incidents, interruptions in our operations and system failures, and any loss or breach of data and interruptions or delays in our business or that of our clients, or both, resulting from such incidents, interruptions or failures could have a material impact on our business and operations and materially adversely affect our revenue, profits and operating results.
The breadth and complexity of our information systems increases the potential risk of security incidents. Despite our implementation of and periodic updates to security controls, our systems and networks are vulnerable to computer viruses, malware, worms, hackers and other security issues, including physical and electronic break-ins, router disruption, sabotage or espionage, disruptions from unauthorized access and tampering (including through social engineering such as phishing attacks), impersonation of authorized users, and coordinated denial-of-service attacks. Cybersecurity incidents may involve the covert introduction of malware to computers and networks, and the use of techniques or processes that change frequently, including from emerging technologies, such as advanced forms of machine learning, AI and quantum computing, may be disguised or difficult to detect, or are designed to remain dormant until a triggering event, and may continue undetected for a period of time. Cybersecurity incidents have in the past resulted from, and may in the future result from, social engineering or impersonation of authorized users, and may also result from efforts to discover and exploit any design flaws, bugs, security vulnerabilities or security weaknesses, intentional or unintentional acts by employees or other insiders with access privileges, intentional acts of vandalism or fraud by third parties and sabotage.
For example, in the past we have experienced cybersecurity incidents resulting from unauthorized access to our systems, which to date have not had a material impact on our business or results of operations. However, we expect to continue to be subject to cybersecurity incidents and attacks and there is no assurance that similar incidents or attacks, or new cybersecurity threats will not arise that, will not cause material impacts in the future. Security incidents, including ransomware attacks, cyber-attacks or cyber-intrusions by computer hackers, foreign governments, cyber terrorists or others with grievances against the industry in which we operate or us in particular, may disable or damage the proper functioning of our networks and systems and result in a significant disruption of our business and potentially significant payments to restore the networks and systems. We review and update our systems and have implemented processes and procedures to protect against cybersecurity incidents and unauthorized access to our data, although we cannot provide assurances that these efforts will be successful.
In addition, the transition of our workforce to a hybrid work environment, where our employees are often working remotely, has also increased our vulnerability to risks related to our hardware and software systems, including risks of phishing and other cybersecurity attacks. Our systems may be subject to additional risk introduced by software that we license from third parties. This licensed software may introduce vulnerabilities within our own operations as it is integrated with our systems, or as we provide client services through partnership agreements.
It is also possible that our security controls over personal and other data may not prevent unauthorized access to, or destruction, loss, theft, misappropriation or release of personally identifiable or other proprietary, confidential, sensitive or valuable information of ours or others; this access could lead to potential unauthorized disclosure of confidential personal, Company or client information that others could use to compete against us or for other disruptive, destructive or harmful purposes and outcomes. Any such disclosure or damage to our networks and systems could subject us to third-party claims against us and reputational harm, including statutory damages under California or other state law, regulatory penalties and significant costs of incident investigation, remediation and notification. If these events occur, our ability to attract new clients or talent may be impaired or we may be subjected to damages or penalties. While we maintain insurance coverage for cybersecurity incidents that we believe is appropriate for our operations, our insurance coverage may not cover all potential claims against us, may require us to meet a deductible or may not continue to be available to us at a reasonable cost.
In addition, system-wide or local failures of these information technology systems could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
Legal and Regulatory Risks
Failure to comply with data privacy laws and regulations could have a materially adverse effect on our reputation, results of operations or financial condition, or have other adverse consequences.
Our employees may have access or exposure to personally identifiable or otherwise confidential information and customer data and systems, the misuse or improper disclosure of which could result in legal liability. The collection, hosting, transfer, disclosure, use, storage and security of personal information required to provide our services is subject to
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federal, state and foreign data privacy laws. These laws, (“Privacy and Data Protection Requirements”) which are not uniform, do one or more of the following: regulate the collection, transfer (including in some cases, the transfer outside the country of collection), processing, storage, use and disclosure of personal information, and require notice to individuals of privacy practices and in some cases consent to collection of personal information; give individuals certain access, correction and deletion rights with respect to their personal information; and prevent the use or disclosure of personal information, or require providing opt-outs for the use and disclosure of personal information, for secondary purposes such as marketing. Under certain circumstances, some of these laws require us to provide notification to affected individuals, data protection authorities and/or other regulators in the event of a data breach. In many cases, these laws apply not only to third-party transactions, but also to transfers of information among us and our subsidiaries.
Laws and regulations in this area are evolving and generally becoming more stringent. For example, the European General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”) requires us to meet stringent requirements regarding (i) our access, use, disclosure, transfer, protection, or otherwise processing of personal information; and (ii) the ability of data subjects to exercise their related various rights such as to access, correct or delete or limit the use of their personal data. Under the GDPR and the United Kingdom’s version of the GDPR, information transfers from the European Union and the United Kingdom to the United States are generally prohibited unless certain measures are followed. The 2018 California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 provide individuals similar rights with respect to the processing of their personal data. . In addition to California, Colorado, Virginia, Utah and Connecticut, previously enacted comprehensive privacy legislation and in 2023 and 2024, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas enacted such laws. There is also the possibility of federal privacy legislation and increased enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission under its power to regulate unfair and deceptive trade practices. Key markets in the Asia Pacific region have also recently adopted GDPR-like legislation, including China’s new Personal Information Protection Law. Failure to meet Privacy and Data Protection Law requirements could result in significant civil penalties (including fines up to 4% of annual worldwide revenue under the GDPR) as well as criminal penalties. Privacy and data protection law requirements also confer a private right of action in some countries, including under the GDPR.
As these laws continue to evolve, we may be required to make changes to our systems, services, solutions and/or products to enable us and/or our clients to meet the new legal requirements, including by taking on more onerous obligations in our contracts, limiting our storage, transfer and processing of data and, in some cases, limiting our service and/or solution offerings in certain locations and our ability to market to customers. Changes in these laws, or the interpretation and application thereof, may also increase our potential exposure through significantly higher potential penalties for non-compliance. The costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, such laws and regulations and client demand in this area may limit the use of, or demand for, our services, solutions and/or products, make it more difficult and costly to meet client expectations, or lead to significant fines, penalties or liabilities for noncompliance, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Failure to comply with governmental, regulatory and legal requirements or with our company-wide Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, Compliance Policy for Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Laws, Insider Trading Policy, Code of Vendor Conduct and Ethics and other policies could lead to governmental or legal proceedings that could expose us to significant liabilities and damage our reputation.
We are subject to governmental, regulatory and legal requirements in each jurisdiction in which we operate. While we seek to remain in compliance with such legal and regulatory requirements, there may be changes to regulatory schemes in jurisdictions in which we operate that are outside our control and our efforts to remain in compliance with such changes may adversely affect our business and operating results.
We have a robust Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, Compliance Policy for Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Laws, Insider Trading Policy, Code of Vendor Conduct and Ethics and other policies and procedures that are designed to educate and establish the standards of conduct that we expect from our executive officers, outside directors, employees, consultants, independent contractors and vendors. These policies require strict compliance with U.S. and local laws and regulations applicable to our business operations, including those laws and regulations prohibiting improper payments to government officials. In addition, as a corporation whose securities are registered under the Exchange Act and publicly traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market, our executive officers, outside directors, employees, consultants and independent contractors are required to comply with the prohibitions against insider trading of our securities.
Nonetheless, we cannot assure our stakeholders that our policies, procedures and related training programs will ensure full compliance with all applicable legal requirements. Illegal or improper conduct by our executive officers, directors, employees, consultants or independent contractors, or others who are subject to our policies and procedures could
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damage our reputation in the U.S. and internationally, which could adversely affect our existing client relationships or adversely affect our ability to attract and retain new clients, or lead to litigation or governmental or regulatory proceedings in the U.S. or foreign jurisdictions, which could result in civil or criminal penalties, including substantial monetary awards, fines and penalties, as well as disgorgement of profits.
We may be legally liable for damages resulting from the actions of our employees, the performance of projects by our consultants or for our clients’ mistreatment of our personnel.
Many of our engagements with our clients involve projects or services critical to our clients’ businesses. If we fail to meet our contractual obligations, we could be subject to legal liability or damage to our reputation, which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. While we are not currently subject to any client-related legal claims which we believe are material, it remains possible, because of the nature of our business, that we may be involved in litigation in the future that could materially affect our future financial results. Claims brought against us could have a serious negative effect on our reputation and on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Because we are in the business of placing our personnel in the workplaces of other companies, we are subject to possible claims by our personnel alleging discrimination, sexual harassment, negligence and other similar activities by our clients. We may also be subject to similar claims from our clients based on activities by our personnel. We may also be subject to claims of or relating to wrongful termination, violation of employment rights related to employment screening or privacy issues; misclassification of workers as employees or independent contractors; violation of wage and hour requirements and other labor laws; employment of undocumented noncitizens; criminal activity; torts; breach of contract; failure to protect confidential personal information; intentional criminal misconduct; misuse or misappropriation of client intellectual property; employee benefits; or other claims. In some cases, we are contractually obligated to indemnify our clients against such risks. The cost of defending such claims, even if groundless, could be substantial and the associated negative publicity could adversely affect our ability to attract and retain personnel and clients. We could also be subject to injunctive relief, criminal investigations and/or charges, monetary damages or fines that may be significant, or other material adverse effects on our business.
To reduce our exposure, we maintain policies, procedures and guidelines to promote compliance with laws, rules, regulations and best practices applicable to our business. We also maintain insurance coverage for professional malpractice liability, fidelity, employment practices liability and general liability in amounts and with deductibles that we believe are appropriate for our operations. However, our insurance coverage may not cover all potential claims against us, may require us to meet a deductible or may not continue to be available to us at a reasonable cost. In this regard, we face various employment-related risks not covered by insurance, such as wage and hour laws and employment tax responsibility. U.S. courts in recent years have been receiving large numbers of wage and hour class action claims.
In addition, the use or misuse of social media by our employees or others could reflect negatively on us or our clients and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The available legal remedies for the use or misuse of social media may not adequately compensate us for the damages caused by such use or misuse and consequences arising from such actions.
Changes in applicable tax laws or adverse results in tax audits or interpretations could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results.
We are subject to income and other taxes in the U.S. at the federal and state level and also in foreign jurisdictions. Future changes in applicable tax laws and regulations, including changes in tax rates in the jurisdictions in which we operate, are outside our control and are difficult to predict given the political, budgetary and other challenges. Such changes could adversely affect our business and operating results.
We are also subject to periodic federal, state and local tax audits for various tax years. Although we attempt to comply with all taxing authority regulations, adverse findings or assessments made by taxing authorities as the result of an audit could have a material adverse effect on us.
Reclassification of our independent contractors by foreign tax or regulatory authorities could have an adverse effect on our business model and/or could require us to pay significant retroactive wages, taxes and penalties.
Internationally, our consultants are a blend of employees and independent contractors. Independent contractor arrangements are more common abroad than in the U.S. due to the labor laws, tax regulations and customs of the international markets we serve. However, changes to foreign laws governing the definition or classification of independent contractors, or judicial decisions regarding independent contractor classification, could require classification of consultants
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as employees. Such reclassification could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations, could require us to pay significant retroactive wages, taxes and penalties, and could force us to change our contractor business model in the foreign jurisdictions affected.
Risks Related to Our Corporate and Capital Structure
It may be difficult for a third party to acquire us, and this could depress our stock price.
Delaware corporate law and our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws contain provisions that could delay, defer or prevent a change of control of the Company or our management. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it difficult for our stockholders to elect directors and take other corporate actions. As a result, these provisions could limit the price that future investors are willing to pay for our shares. These provisions:
•authorize our Board of Directors to establish one or more series of undesignated preferred stock, the terms of which can be determined by the Board of Directors at the time of issuance;
•divide our Board of Directors into three classes of directors, with each class serving a staggered three-year term. Because the classification of the Board of Directors generally increases the difficulty of replacing a majority of the directors, it may tend to discourage a third party from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us and may make it difficult to change the composition of the Board of Directors;
•prohibit cumulative voting in the election of directors which, if not prohibited, could allow a minority stockholder holding a sufficient percentage of a class of shares to ensure the election of one or more directors;
•require that any action required or permitted to be taken by our stockholders must be effected at a duly called annual or special meeting of stockholders and may not be effected by any consent in writing;
•state that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by the Chairman of the Board of Directors, by our Chief Executive Officer, by the Board of Directors after a resolution is adopted by a majority of the total number of authorized directors, or by the holders of not less than 10% of our outstanding voting stock;
•establish advance notice requirements for submitting nominations for election to the Board of Directors and for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at a meeting;
•provide that certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws can be amended only by supermajority vote (a 66 2/3% majority) of the outstanding shares. In addition, our Board of Directors can amend our bylaws by majority vote of the members of our Board of Directors;
•allow our directors, not our stockholders, to fill vacancies on our Board of Directors; and
•provide that the authorized number of directors may be changed only by resolution of the Board of Directors.
The terms of our Credit Facility impose operating and financial restrictions on us, which may limit our ability to respond to changing business and economic conditions.
We currently have a $175.0 million senior secured loan (the “Credit Facility”) which matures on November 12, 2026. We are subject to various operating covenants under the Credit Facility which restrict our ability to, among other things, incur liens, incur additional indebtedness, make certain restricted payments, merge or consolidate and make dispositions of assets. The Credit Facility also requires us to comply with financial covenants limiting our total funded debt, minimum interest coverage ratio and maximum leverage ratio. Any failure to comply with these covenants may constitute a breach under the Credit Facility, which could result in the acceleration of all or a substantial portion of any outstanding indebtedness and termination of revolving credit commitments under the Credit Facility. Our inability to maintain our Credit Facility could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our business.
Our Credit Facility bears a variable rate of interest that is based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) which may have consequences for us that cannot be reasonably predicted and may adversely affect our liquidity, financial condition, and earnings.
Borrowings under our Credit Facility bear interest at a rate per annum of either, at our election, (i) Term SOFR (as defined in the credit agreement evidencing the Credit Facility (the “Credit Agreement”)) plus a margin or (ii) the Base Rate (as defined in the Credit Agreement), plus a margin, with the applicable margin depending on our consolidated leverage ratio. Since the initial publication of SOFR, daily changes in the rate have, on occasion, been more volatile than daily changes in comparable benchmark or market rates, and SOFR over time may bear little or no relation to the historical actual or historical indicative data. Additionally, our Credit Agreement includes a credit adjustment on SOFR due to LIBOR representing an unsecured lending rate while SOFR represents a secured lending rate. It is possible that the
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volatility of SOFR and the applicable credit adjustment could result in higher borrowing costs for us, and could adversely affect our liquidity, financial condition, and earnings.
We may be unable to or elect not to pay our quarterly dividend payment.
We currently pay a regular quarterly dividend, subject to quarterly Board of Directors’ approval. The payment of, or continuation of, the quarterly dividend is at the discretion of our Board of Directors and is dependent upon our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, general business conditions, tax treatment of dividends in the U.S., contractual restrictions contained in credit agreements and other agreements and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors. We can give no assurance that dividends will be declared and paid in the future. The failure to pay the quarterly dividend, reduction of the quarterly dividend rate or the discontinuance of the quarterly dividend could adversely affect the trading price of our common stock.
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.
Not applicable.
ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY.
We have developed an enterprise-wide strategy that we use to assess, identify, and manage material risks associated with cybersecurity threats, as such term is defined in Item 106(a) of Regulation S-K. These risks include, among other things: operational risks, malicious attacks, improper employee or contractor access, harm to employees or customers and violation of data privacy, intellectual property or security laws. Our enterprise risk management program incorporates risks related to cybersecurity threats alongside other company risks as part of our overall risk assessment process. We also employ a cybersecurity-specific risk assessment process.
Our cybersecurity risk strategy uses an Information Assurance Program to define the general security policy for our information systems and a Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan for detection, response, recovery, containment, investigation, and analysis following a cybersecurity incident, as well as compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
Our Information Assurance Program addresses the security of information systems and data networks owned or used by us and the information stored, transmitted, or processed by those systems and networks. It defines responsibilities concerning information systems security as well as a uniform approach that promotes information systems security throughout the Company.
Our Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan is an enterprise-wide cybersecurity strategy that focuses on detecting and reacting to cybersecurity incidents, determining their scope and risk, responding appropriately, communicating the results and risk to stakeholders, and reducing the likelihood of reoccurrence. To enhance our in-house capabilities, we leverage expertise from professional services firms and/or outside counsel, as needed, to assess our cybersecurity controls, and inform and collaborate on an ever-changing landscape.
We maintain systems that are designed to preempt, detect and monitor cybersecurity threats, including monitoring unusual network activity. As part of our risk management processes, we also perform penetration testing using third-party vendors, conduct periodic cybersecurity awareness training for employees, deploy phishing test campaigns, maintain containment and incident response tools, and periodically review, update and enhance our Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan.
We utilize various methods to assess and manage risks associated with third-party service providers, which may be reevaluated periodically, such as upon detection of an increase in a third-party’s risk volume and variability. Further, our Code of Vendor Conduct & Ethics sets forth our expectations for third-party vendors related to data privacy and protection.
As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we do not believe that known risks from cybersecurity threats, including as a result of any previous cybersecurity incident that we are aware of, have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect us, including our business strategy results of operations or financial condition. However, we can give no assurance that we have detected or protected against all such cybersecurity incidents or threats or that we will not experience such an incident in the future. Further details about the cybersecurity risks we face are described under “Risks Related to Information Technology, Cybersecurity and Data Protection” in Item 1A. “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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Cybersecurity Governance
Our Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan is overseen by our Cybersecurity Incident Response Team (“CSIRT”), which is led by our Chief Information Officer (“CIO”). Our CIO is an information technology executive with over 20 years of CIO and Chief Technology Officer experience at publicly traded and privately held companies. His experience has included cybersecurity leadership throughout his executive career. The CIO, the Vice President of Information Technology, the virtual Chief Information Security Officer, and other members of the CSIRT, are responsible for the Company’s cybersecurity risk management processes described above, including maintaining systems that are designed to preempt, detect and monitor cybersecurity threats, as well as identifying and responding to cybersecurity incidents.
Our Board of Directors, through the Audit Committee, oversees the management of our technology-related risks, including information security, data protection, cybersecurity, vendor, fraud, and business continuity risks, and technology-related strategies. The Audit Committee receives updates from the CIO on a quarterly basis, and more frequently as needed, regarding, among other relevant information, existing and new cybersecurity risks, the management and/or mitigation of such risks, material cybersecurity incidents (if any), and status on key cybersecurity initiatives. Our Board of Directors, through the Audit Committee, also actively participates in discussions with management on cybersecurity-related news events and discusses any updates to our cybersecurity risk management and strategy programs on a timely basis.
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES.
Our principal executive office is currently located in Irvine, California and consists of a 57,000 square feet office building that we own, of which approximately 13,000 square feet was leased to an independent third party through July 2024. The remainder of the office space is occupied by our corporate teams and our Orange County, California practice. We have entered into an agreement with the City of Irvine California for the sale of these premises for a total purchase price of $13.0 million. The anticipated closing date of this transaction is August 15, 2024. Additionally, we plan to relocate our principal executive office elsewhere within the city of Irvine, California.
As of May 25, 2024, we had other major offices in many of the world’s leading business centers, including Atlanta, Beijing, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, Mexico City, Mumbai, San Francisco, Singapore, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo and Utrecht, among others. In total, we have facilities and operations in over 36 cities in 13 countries around the world. Outside of the Irvine, California location, which is owned by us, the majority of our facilities are leased under long-term leases with varying expiration dates.
As of May 25, 2024, Sitrick which is within Other Segments utilized one of the offices in Los Angeles, California, and shared our office in New York, New York with RGP. All remaining offices are utilized by RGP. We believe our existing office locations are suitable and adequate to meet our current business needs. We do not anticipate any significant difficulty replacing or locating additional offices to accommodate future needs.
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.
We are not currently subject to any material legal proceedings; however, we are a party to various legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of our business.
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.
Not applicable.
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PART II
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.
Market Information and Holders
Our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC and trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “RGP.” As of July 12, 2024, the approximate number of holders of record of our common stock was 38 (a holder of record is the name of an individual or entity that an issuer carries in its records as the registered holder (not necessarily the beneficial owner) of the issuer’s securities).
Dividend Policy
Our Board of Directors has established a quarterly dividend, subject to quarterly Board of Directors’ approval. Pursuant to declaration and approval by our Board of Directors, we declared a dividend of $0.14 per share of common stock during each quarter in fiscal 2024, 2023, and 2022. On April 18, 2024, our Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share of our common stock, which was subsequently paid on June 13, 2024 to stockholders of record at the close of business on May 16, 2024. Continuation of the quarterly dividend will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend upon our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, general business condition, contractual restrictions contained in our current or future credit agreements and other agreements, and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors.
Issuances of Unregistered Securities
None.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
In July 2015, our Board of Directors approved a stock repurchase program, authorizing the purchase, at the discretion of our senior executives, of our common stock for an aggregate dollar limit not to exceed $150.0 million. Subject to the aggregate dollar limit, the currently authorized stock repurchase program does not have an expiration date. Repurchases under the program may take place in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions and may be made pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan.
The following summarizes shares of common stock repurchased by the Company during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024:
| Period | Total Number of Shares Purchased | Average Price Paid per Share | Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs | Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs | |||||||||||||||||||
| February 25, 2024— March 23, 2024 | - | $ | - | - | $ | 45,246,163 | |||||||||||||||||
| March 24, 2024 — April 20, 2024 | 252,396 | $ | 11.89 | 252,396 | $ | 42,246,173 | |||||||||||||||||
| April 21, 2024 — May 25, 2024 | - | $ | - | - | $ | 42,246,173 | |||||||||||||||||
| Total February 25, 2024 — May 25, 2024 | 252,396 | $ | 11.89 | 252,396 | $ | 42,246,173 | |||||||||||||||||
Performance Graph
Set forth below is a line graph comparing the annual percentage change in the cumulative total return to the holders of our common stock against the cumulative total return of each of the Russell 3000 Index, a customized peer group consisting of eight companies listed below the following table and a combined classification of companies under Standard Industry Codes as 8742-Management Consulting Services, in each case for the five years ended May 25, 2024. The graph assumes $100 was invested at market close on May 24, 2019 in our common stock and in each index (based on prices from the close of trading on May 24, 2019), and that all dividends are reinvested. Stockholder returns over the indicated period may not be indicative of future stockholder returns.
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The information contained in the performance graph shall not be deemed to be “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC, nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended except to the extent that we specifically incorporate it by reference into such filing.
COMPARISON OF 5 YEAR CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN*
*$100 invested on 5/24/19 in stock or index, including reinvestment of dividends.
| May 24, 2019 | May 30, 2020 | May 29, 2021 | May 28, 2022 | May 27, 2023 | May 25, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Resources Connection, Inc. | $ | 100.00 | $ | 73.64 | $ | 102.05 | $ | 131.56 | $ | 116.24 | $ | 86.85 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell 3000 | $ | 100.00 | $ | 108.58 | $ | 156.26 | $ | 151.62 | $ | 154.48 | $ | 196.98 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| SIC Code 8742 - Management Consulting | $ | 100.00 | $ | 102.54 | $ | 132.82 | $ | 132.72 | $ | 140.96 | $ | 164.41 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Peer Group | $ | 100.00 | $ | 99.02 | $ | 147.55 | $ | 160.38 | $ | 170.36 | $ | 221.84 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Our customized peer group includes the following eight professional services companies that we believe reflect the competitive landscape in which we operate and acquire talent: Barrett Business Services, Inc.; CBIZ, Inc.; CRA International, Inc.; FTI Consulting, Inc.; Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.; Huron Consulting Group Inc.; ICF International, Inc.; Kforce, Inc.; Korn Ferry; and MISTRAS Group, Inc.
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ITEM 6. RESERVED
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS.
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and related notes. This discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors including, but not limited to, those discussed in Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10 K. See “Forward Looking Statements” above for further explanation.
Overview
Resources Global Professionals (“RGP”) is a global consulting firm based in Irvine, California (with offices worldwide) focused on delivering consulting services that power clients’ operational needs and change initiatives utilizing a combination of bench and on-demand, expert and diverse talent. As a next-generation human capital partner for our clients, we specialize in co-delivery of enterprise initiatives typically precipitated by business transformation, strategic transactions or regulatory change. Our engagements are designed to leverage human connection and collaboration to deliver practical solutions and more impactful results that power our clients’, employees’ and partners’ success.
We attract top-caliber professionals with in-demand skill sets who seek a workplace environment characterized by choice and control, collaboration and human connection. The trends in today’s marketplace favor flexibility and agility as businesses confront transformation pressures and skilled labor shortages even in the face of protracted economic uncertainty. Our client engagement and talent delivery model offer speed and agility, strongly positioning us to help our clients transform their businesses and workplaces. Our model is especially relevant at a time where cost reduction initiatives drive an enhanced reliance on a flexible workforce to execute transformational projects.
We are laser-focused on driving long-term growth in our business by seizing favorable macro shifts in workforce strategies and preferences, building an efficient and scalable operating model, and maintaining a distinctive culture and approach to professional services. Our enterprise initiatives in recent years include refining the operating model for sales, talent and delivery to be more client-centric, cultivating a more robust performance culture by aligning incentives to business performance, building and commercializing our digital engagement platform, enhancing our consulting capabilities in digital transformation to align with market demand, improving operating leverage through pricing, operating efficiency and cost reduction, and driving growth through strategic acquisitions. We believe our focus and execution on these initiatives will serve as the foundation for growth ahead. See Part 1, Item 1 “Business” for further discussions about our business and operations.
Fiscal 2024 Strategic Focus Areas
In fiscal 2024, our strategic focus areas were:
•Transform digitally;
•Amplify brand voice and clarify solution offerings;
•Evolve operating model;
•Migrate to value-based pricing; and
•Pursue targeted mergers and acquisitions.
Transform digitally – Our first area of focus was to embrace continued digital transformation to improve operational efficiency, scale business growth, transform stakeholder experience and create long-term sustainability and stockholder value.
In fiscal 2022, we launched a multi-year global technology transformation project which includes replacing our core financial and talent software systems and optimizing our existing systems including Salesforce and Workday Human Capital Management. We have made significant progress to date and launched a new talent management system in North America in February 2024. We believe our investment in this important modernization initiative will enhance the experience for all of our core constituents and drive improved financial metrics through automation, better data analytics and faster global collaboration. Seamless global execution capability will enhance our competitive advantage as a preferred partner for global transformation projects. Around the end of calendar year 2024, we plan to launch the new enterprise financial system, Workday Financial Management, in North America.
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We believe the use of technology platforms to match clients and talent is the future of professional staffing. HUGO by RGP® (“HUGO”), our digital engagement platform, allows clients and talent in the professional staffing space to connect, engage and even transact directly. We completed our pilot in three primary markets – New York/New Jersey, Southern California and Texas, and received positive and encouraging feedback from clients and talent alike. We are now ready to pursue a more aggressive digital marketing plan to accelerate commercialization and achieve broader adoption. With the accounting profession losing talent in unprecedented numbers, we believe HUGO offers these professionals a platform to pursue an alternative to the traditional accounting firm career path – one founded on flexibility, choice and career-control. Over time, we expect to be able to drive volume through the HUGO platform by attracting more small- and medium-sized businesses looking for interim support and by serving a larger percentage of our current interim business, which we believe will not only drive top-line growth but also enhance profitability given the digital self-service model.
Amplify brand voice and clarify solution offerings – Our second focus area for fiscal year 2024 was to sustain effort to enhance and amplify our brand in the marketplace. We were focused on driving toward a refreshed view of our business, serving clients in three areas: (1) the core is our white-glove on-demand talent business of deep functional experts that execute mission-critical projects for our clients. We empower expert, diverse professionals with ultimate career control and offer them access to opportunities to work with top enterprise brands. Our on-demand talent business also includes HUGO, which focuses on offering clients direct access to earlier career Accounting and Finance professionals through a digital self-service model; (2) our consulting business today consists largely of Veracity, our end-to-end digital transformation firm, and Sitrick and Company, a top crisis communications and public relations firm. We are actively working to grow our capabilities in the consulting arena both organically and through targeted mergers and acquisitions ("M&A"), with a special focus on digital transformation, financial advisory and operational excellence; (3) Countsy is our outsourced services business, offering finance, accounting, and HR solutions to venture-backed start-up clients or post carve-out clients through a unique combination of on-demand fractional leadership and a streamlined technology platform.
Our investment in the RGP brand notably includes the development of fresh thought leadership content based on RGP’s own market research studies.
Evolve operating model – The third area of focus for fiscal 2024 was to continue to evolve our operating model to optimally organize the company in view of the operational efficiencies we are gaining through our global technology transformation initiative and with a view to align resources in the right way to support our strategic vision. Operating model evolution will also include better definition and structure of our offerings to clearly articulate our value proposition, differentiators versus competition, and client segment focus. We will be announcing the outcomes of this work in early fiscal 2025.
Migrate to value-based pricing – Fourth, we have made solid progress in evolving and enhancing our pricing strategy towards a value-based approach for our project execution services, which has become a more relevant secular trend. As we deepen our client relationships and raise our clients’ perception of our ability to add value through our services, we anticipate further increasing bill rates for our services to appropriately capture the value of the talent and solutions delivered. As part of our pricing strategy implementation, we created more centralized pricing governance, strategy and approach; we conducted a deep pricing analysis to identify and develop areas that need improvement; and we instituted new pricing training for all sales, talent and other go-to-market team members. Through these actions, we have been able to achieve higher bill rates across a majority of the markets in the current fiscal year, which is foundational to drive topline revenue and profitability.
Pursue targeted mergers and acquisitions – Lastly, we have been actively seeking to accelerate growth through strategic M&A that drive additional scale or expand and complement our existing core capabilities, as demonstrated through our acquisition of CloudGo Pte Ltd. and its subsidiaries (collectively, “CloudGo”) and the recently completed acquisition of Reference Point LLC (“Reference Point”). Our M&A strategy is focused on expanding our consulting capabilities, with a special interest in financial advisory firms as well as digital transformation firms that serve to add scale and/or accelerate growth for our existing business. We believe that we are well positioned to grow and scale a boutique consulting firm through access to both our robust enterprise client base and our expansive on-demand talent pool.
As noted above, in November 2023, we acquired CloudGo. Headquartered in Singapore, CloudGo is a digital transformation firm and a fast growing Elite ServiceNow Partner. CloudGo has been integrated into Veracity’s digital business and we believe that it will continue to accelerate the expansion of our digital presence across the Asia Pacific region. See Note 3 – Acquisitions and Dispositions in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further discussion.
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Additionally, we entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement, dated as of March 27, 2024, and as amended and restated as of June 30, 2024 (the “Reference Point MIPA”) with Reference Point to acquire 100% of the membership interests of Reference Point. Reference Point is a strategy, management, and technology consulting firm serving the financial services sector and is headquartered in New York. The acquisition closed on July 1, 2024. See Note 19 – Subsequent Event in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further discussion.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations included in this Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” are based upon our Consolidated Financial Statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. (“GAAP”). The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.
We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
The following represents a summary of our accounting policies that involve critical accounting estimates, defined as those estimates made in accordance with GAAP that involve a significant level of estimation uncertainty and have had or are reasonably likely to have a material impact on our financial condition or results of operations.
Revenue recognition — Revenues are recognized when control of the promised service is transferred to our clients, in an amount that reflects the consideration expected in exchange for the services. Revenue is recorded net of sales or other transaction taxes collected from clients and remitted to taxing authorities. Revenues for the vast majority of our contracts are recognized over time, based on hours worked by our professionals. The performance of the agreed-upon service over time is the single performance obligation for revenues.
On a limited basis, the Company may have fixed-price contracts, for which revenues are recognized over time using the input method based on time incurred as a proportion of estimated total time. Time incurred represents work performed, which corresponds with, and therefore best depicts, the transfer of control to the client. Management uses significant judgments when estimating the total hours expected to complete the contract performance obligation. It is possible that updated estimates for consulting engagements may vary from initial estimates with such updates being recognized in the period of determination. Depending on the timing of billings and services rendered, the Company accrues or defers revenue as appropriate.
Certain clients may receive discounts (for example, volume discounts or rebates) to the amounts billed. These discounts or rebates are considered variable consideration. Management evaluates the facts and circumstances of each contract and client relationship to estimate the variable consideration, assessing the most likely amount to recognize and considering management’s expectation of the volume of services to be provided over the applicable period. Rebates are the largest component of variable consideration and are estimated using the most-likely-amount method prescribed by Accounting Standards Codification Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, contracts terms and estimates of revenue. Revenues are recognized net of variable consideration to the extent that it is probable that a significant reversal of revenues will not occur in subsequent periods. Changes in estimates would result in cumulative catch-up adjustments and could materially impact our financial results. Rebates recognized as contra-revenue for the years ended May 25, 2024, May 27, 2023 and May 28, 2022 were $2.5 million, $3.2 million and $3.1 million, respectively.
Allowance for credit losses — We maintain an allowance for credit losses for estimated losses resulting from our clients failing to make required payments for services rendered. We estimate this allowance based upon our knowledge of the financial condition of our clients (which may not include knowledge of all significant events), review of historical receivable and reserve trends and other pertinent information. While such losses have historically been within our expectations and the provisions established, we cannot guarantee that we will continue to experience the same credit loss rates we have in the past. As of May 25, 2024 and May 27, 2023, we had an allowance for credit losses of $2.8 million and $3.3 million, respectively. A significant change in the liquidity or financial position of our clients could cause unfavorable trends in receivable collections and additional allowances may be required. These additional allowances could materially affect our future financial results.
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Income taxes — In order to prepare our Consolidated Financial Statements, we are required to make estimates of income taxes, if applicable, in each jurisdiction in which we operate. The process incorporates an assessment of any income subject to taxation in each jurisdiction together with temporary differences resulting from different treatment of transactions for tax and financial statement purposes. These differences result in deferred tax assets and liabilities that are included in our Consolidated Balance Sheets. The recovery of deferred tax assets from future taxable income must be assessed and, to the extent recovery is not likely, we will establish a valuation allowance. An increase in the valuation allowance results in recording additional tax expense and any such adjustment may materially affect our future financial results. If the ultimate tax liability differs from the amount of tax expense we have reflected in the Consolidated Statements of Operations, an adjustment of tax expense may need to be recorded and this adjustment may materially affect our future financial results and financial condition.
We evaluate the realizability of our deferred tax assets based on all available evidence and establish a valuation allowance to reduce deferred tax assets when it is more likely than not that they will not be realized. When all available evidence indicates that the deferred tax assets are more likely than not to be realized, a valuation allowance is not required to be recorded or an existing valuation allowance is reversed. Management assesses all available positive and negative evidence, including (1) three-year cumulative pre-tax income or loss adjusted for permanent tax differences, (2) history of operating losses and of net operating loss carryforwards expiring unused, (3) evidence of future reversal of existing taxable temporary differences, (4) availability of sufficient taxable income in prior years, (5) tax planning strategies, and (6) projection of future taxable income, to determine the need to establish or release a valuation allowance on the deferred tax assets. An increase or decrease in valuation allowance will result in a corresponding increase or decrease in tax expense, and any such adjustment may materially affect our future financial results.
We also evaluate our uncertain tax positions and only recognize the tax benefit from an uncertain tax position if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on examination by the taxing authorities, based on the technical merits of the position. The tax benefits recognized in the financial statements from such positions are measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50 percentage likelihood of being realized upon settlement. We record a liability for unrecognized tax benefits resulting from uncertain tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. Any change in judgment related to the expected ultimate resolution of uncertain tax positions is recognized in earnings in the period in which such change occurs.
As of May 25, 2024 and May 27, 2023, a valuation allowance of $8.6 million and $6.5 million was established on deferred tax assets totaling $34.2 million and $33.2 million, respectively. Our income tax for the years ended May 25, 2024, May 27, 2023 and May 28, 2022 was an expense of $8.8 million, $18.3 million and $15.8 million, respectively. As of May 25, 2024 and May 27, 2023, our total liability for unrecognized tax benefits was $1.0 million and $1.0 million, respectively.
Stock-based compensation — Under our 2020 Performance Incentive Plan, officers, employees, and outside directors have received or may receive grants of restricted stock awards, restricted stock units, performance stock units, options to purchase common stock or other stock or stock-based awards. Under our ESPP, eligible officers and employees may purchase our common stock at a discount in accordance with the terms of the plan. During fiscal 2024, the Company issued performance stock unit awards under the 2020 Performance Incentive Plan that will vest upon the achievement of certain company-wide performance targets at the end of the defined three-year performance period. Vesting periods for restricted stock awards, restricted stock units and stock option awards range from three to four years.
We estimate the fair value of stock-based payment awards on the date of grant as described below. We determine the estimated value of restricted stock awards, restricted stock unit and performance stock unit awards using the closing price of our common stock on the date of grant. We have elected to use the Black-Scholes option-pricing model for our stock options and stock purchased under our ESPP which takes into account assumptions regarding a number of complex and subjective variables. These variables include the expected stock price volatility over the term of the awards and actual and projected employee stock option exercise behaviors. Additional variables to be considered are the expected term, expected dividends and the risk-free interest rate over the expected term of our employee stock options.
We use our historical volatility over the expected life of the stock option award and ESPP award to estimate the expected volatility of the price of our common stock. The risk-free interest rate assumption is based upon observed interest rates appropriate for the term of our employee stock options. The impact of expected dividends ($0.14 per share for each quarter during fiscal 2024, 2023, and 2022) is also incorporated in determining the estimated value per share of employee stock option grants and purchases under our ESPP. Such dividends are subject to quarterly Board of Directors’ approval. Our expected life of stock option grants is 5.6 years for non-officers and 8.1 years for officers, and the expected life of grants under our ESPP is 6 months.
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In addition, because stock-based compensation expense recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Operations is based on awards ultimately expected to vest, it is reduced for estimated forfeitures. Forfeitures are estimated at the time of grant and revised in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from those estimates, and in the case of performance stock units, based on the actual performance. The number of performance stock units earned at the end of the performance period may equal, exceed or be less than the targeted number of shares depending on whether the performance criteria are met, surpassed or not met. During each reporting period, the Company uses the latest forecasted results to estimate the number of shares to be issued at the end of the performance period. Any resulting changes to stock compensation expense are adjusted in the period in which the change in estimates occur. Forfeitures are estimated based on historical experience.
We review the underlying assumptions related to stock-based compensation at least annually or more frequently if we believe triggering events exist. If facts and circumstances change and we employ different assumptions in future periods, the compensation expense recorded may differ materially from the amount recorded in the current period. Stock-based compensation expense for the years ended May 25, 2024, May 27, 2023 and May 28, 2022 was $5.7 million, $9.5 million and $8.2 million, respectively.
Valuation of long-lived assets — For long-lived tangible and intangible assets other than goodwill, including property and equipment, right-of-use (“ROU”) assets, and definite-lived intangible assets, we assess the potential impairment periodically or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable from the estimated undiscounted expected future cash flows expected to result from their use and eventual disposition. In cases where the estimated undiscounted expected future cash flows are less than the net book value, an impairment loss is recognized equal to the amount by which the net book value exceeds the estimated fair value of assets. We performed our assessment of potential qualitative impairment indicators of long-lived assets, including property and equipment, ROU assets outside of exited under the real estate exit initiatives taken, and definite-lived intangible assets. We determined that for such long-lived assets, no impairment indicators were present as of May 25, 2024, and no impairment charge was recorded during fiscal 2024.
Estimating future cash flows requires significant judgment, and our projections may vary from the cash flows eventually realized. Future events and unanticipated changes to assumptions could result in an impairment in the future. Although any impairment is a non-cash expense, it could materially affect our future financial results and financial condition.
Goodwill — Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the net tangible and identifiable intangible assets acquired in each business combination. We evaluate goodwill for impairment annually, and whenever events indicate that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit could be less than its carrying amount. In assessing the recoverability of goodwill, we make a series of assumptions including forecasted revenue and costs, estimates of future cash flows, discount rates and other factors, which require significant judgment. A potential impairment in the future, although a non-cash expense, could materially affect our financial results and financial condition.
In testing the goodwill of our reporting units for impairment, we have the option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of each of our reporting units is less than their respective carrying amounts. If it is deemed more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is greater than its carrying value, no further testing is needed and goodwill is not impaired. Otherwise, we perform a quantitative comparison of the fair value of the reporting unit to its carrying amount. We have the option to bypass the qualitative assessment for any reporting unit and proceed directly to performing the quantitative goodwill impairment test. If a reporting unit’s estimated fair value is equal to or greater than that reporting unit’s carrying value, no impairment of goodwill exists and the testing is complete. If the reporting unit’s carrying amount is greater than the estimated fair value, then a non-cash impairment charge is recorded for the amount of the difference, not exceeding the total amount of goodwill allocated to the reporting unit.
Under the quantitative analysis, the estimated fair value of goodwill is determined by using a combination of a market approach and an income approach. The market approach estimates fair value by applying revenue and EBITDA multiples to each reporting unit’s operating performance. The multiples are derived from guideline public companies with similar operating and investment characteristics to our reporting units, and are evaluated and adjusted, if needed, based on specific characteristics of the reporting units relative to the selected guideline companies. The market approach requires us to make a series of assumptions that involve significant judgment, such as the selection of comparable companies and the evaluation of the multiples. The income approach estimates fair value based on our estimated future cash flows of each reporting unit, discounted by an estimated weighted-average cost of capital that reflects the relevant risks associated with each reporting unit and the time value of money. The income approach also requires us to make a series of assumptions that involve significant judgment, such as discount rates, revenue projections and Adjusted EBITDA margin projections. We
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estimate our discount rates on a blended rate of return considering both debt and equity for comparable guideline public companies. We forecast our revenue and Adjusted EBITDA margin based on historical experience and internal forecasts about future performance.
The following is a discussion of our goodwill impairment tests performed during fiscal 2024.
2024 Annual Goodwill Impairment Analysis
On the first day of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, we performed our annual goodwill impairment assessment on our RGP reporting unit. During the fourth quarter, we voluntarily changed the date of the annual impairment test from the last day of the fourth quarter to the first day of the fourth quarter. This voluntary change is preferable under the circumstances as it results in better alignment with our business operating process. This change was applied prospectively and was not material to the Company’s consolidated financial statements as it did not delay, accelerate or avoid an impairment charge. We elected to perform a quantitative goodwill impairment analysis using widely accepted valuation techniques as described above to determine if the fair value of any of our reporting unit is less than its respective carrying amount. Based on our quantitative assessment performed, the fair value of our RGP reporting unit exceed their carrying values and we concluded that there was no goodwill impairment as of February 25, 2024. While we believe that the assumptions underlying our quantitative assessment are reasonable, these assumptions could have a significant impact on whether a non-cash impairment charge is recognized and the magnitude of such charge. The results of an impairment analysis are as of a point in time. There is no assurance that the actual future earnings or cash flows of our RGP reporting unit will be consistent with our projections. We will continue to monitor any changes to our assumptions and will evaluate goodwill as deemed warranted during future periods. Furthermore, there have been no changes in facts, circumstances or events, since the date of our goodwill impairment test through May 25, 2024 that would give rise to modifying this conclusion regarding our goodwill impairment assessment or require further testing.
Business combinations — We allocate the fair value of the purchase consideration of our acquisitions to the tangible assets, liabilities, and intangible assets acquired based on their estimated fair values. Purchase price allocations for business acquisitions require significant judgments, particularly with regard to the determination of the value of identifiable assets, liabilities, and goodwill. Often third-party specialists are used to assist in valuations requiring complex estimation. The excess of the fair value of purchase consideration over the fair values of these identifiable assets and liabilities is recorded as goodwill. Acquisition-related expenses are recognized separately from the business combination and are expensed as incurred.
Purchase agreements related to certain business acquisitions may include provisions for the payment of additional cash consideration if certain future performance conditions are met. These contingent consideration arrangements are recognized at their acquisition date fair value and included as part of the purchase price at the acquisition date. These contingent consideration arrangements are classified as contingent consideration liabilities or other long-term liabilities in our Consolidated Balance Sheets and are remeasured to fair value at each reporting period, with any change in fair value being recognized in the applicable period’s results of operations. Measuring the fair value of contingent consideration at the acquisition date, and for all subsequent remeasurement periods, requires a careful examination of the facts and circumstances to determine the probable resolution of the contingency(ies). We utilize the Monte Carlo simulation model and estimate fair value of the contingent consideration based on unobservable input variables related to meeting the applicable contingency conditions as per the applicable agreements. There are no contingent consideration liabilities as of May 25, 2024 and May 27, 2023. The contingent consideration adjustment was a benefit of $4.4 million and zero, for the years ended May 25, 2024 and May 27, 2023, respectively, and an expense of $0.2 million for the year ended May 28, 2022.
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Non-GAAP Financial Measures
The Company uses certain non-GAAP financial measures to assess our financial and operating performance that are not defined by or calculated in accordance with GAAP. A non-GAAP financial measure is defined as a numerical measure of a company’s financial performance that (i) excludes amounts, or is subject to adjustments that have the effect of excluding amounts, that are included in the comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP in the Consolidated Statements of Operations; or (ii) includes amounts, or is subject to adjustments that have the effect of including amounts, that are excluded from the comparable GAAP measure so calculated and presented.
Our primary non-GAAP financial measures are listed below and reflect how we evaluate our operating results.
•Same-day constant currency revenue is adjusted for the following items:
•Currency impact. In order to remove the impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, we calculate same-day constant currency revenue, which represents the outcome that would have resulted had exchange rates in the current period been the same as those in effect in the comparable prior period.
•Business days impact. In order to remove the fluctuations caused by comparable periods having a different number of business days, we calculate same-day revenue as current period revenue (adjusted for currency impact) divided by the number of business days in the current period, multiplied by the number of business days in the comparable prior period. The number of business days in each respective period is provided in the “Number of Business Days” section in the table below.
•EBITDA is calculated as net income before amortization expense, depreciation expense, interest and income taxes.
•Adjusted EBITDA is calculated as EBITDA plus or minus stock-based compensation expense, technology transformation costs, goodwill impairment, acquisition costs, restructuring costs, and contingent consideration adjustments. Adjusted EBITDA at the segment level excludes certain shared corporate administrative costs that are not practical to allocate.
•Adjusted EBITDA Margin is calculated by dividing Adjusted EBITDA by revenue.
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Same-Day Constant Currency Revenue
Same-day constant currency revenue assists management in evaluating revenue trends on a more comparable and consistent basis. We believe this measure also provides more clarity to our investors in evaluating our core operating performance and facilitates a comparison of such performance from period to period.
The following table presents a reconciliation of same-day constant currency revenue, a non-GAAP financial measure, to revenue as reported in the Consolidated Statements of Operations, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, by geography (In thousands, except number of business days).
| Three Months Ended | For the Years Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue by Geography | May 25, 2024 | May 27, 2023 | May 25, 2024 | May 27, 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||
| (Unaudited) | (Unaudited) | (Unaudited, except for GAAP amounts) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| North America | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| As reported (GAAP) | $ | 126,554 | $ | 160,999 | $ | 543,926 | $ | 680,993 | |||||||||||||||
| Currency impact | (359) | (2,153) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Business days impact | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Same-day constant currency revenue | $ | 126,195 | $ | 541,773 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Europe | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| As reported (GAAP) | $ | 8,518 | $ | 10,757 | $ | 38,383 | $ | 42,509 | |||||||||||||||
| Currency impact | (105) | (1,687) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Business days impact | (109) | (639) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Same-day constant currency revenue | $ | 8,304 | $ | 36,057 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Asia Pacific | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| As reported (GAAP) | $ | 13,126 | $ | 12,693 | $ | 50,492 | $ | 52,141 | |||||||||||||||
| Currency impact | 734 | 1,915 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Business days impact | (46) | (624) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Same-day constant currency revenue | $ | 13,814 | $ | 51,783 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total Consolidated | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| As reported (GAAP) | $ | 148,198 | $ | 184,449 | $ | 632,801 | $ | 775,643 | |||||||||||||||
| Currency impact | 270 | (1,925) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Business days impact | (155) | (1,263) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Same-day constant currency revenue | $ | 148,313 | $ | 629,613 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Number of Business Days | |||||||||||||||||||||||
North America (1) | 65 | 65 | 251 | 251 | |||||||||||||||||||
Europe (2) | 62 | 61 | 253 | 248 | |||||||||||||||||||
Asia Pacific (2) | 61 | 61 | 248 | 245 | |||||||||||||||||||
(1) This represents the number of business days in the United States.
(2) The business days in international regions represent the weighted average number of business days.
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EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin
EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin assist management in assessing our core operating performance. We also believe these measures provide investors with useful perspective on underlying business results and trends and facilitate a comparison of our performance from period to period. The following table presents EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin for the periods indicated and includes a reconciliation of such measures to net income, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure (in thousands, except percentages).
| For the Years Ended | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| May 25, 2024 | % of Revenue | May 27, 2023 | % of Revenue | May 28, 2022 | % of Revenue | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 21,034 | 3.3 | % | $ | 54,359 | 7.0 | % | $ | 67,175 | 8.3 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjustments: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amortization expense | 5,378 | 0.9 | 5,018 | 0.6 | 4,908 | 0.6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation expense | 3,050 | 0.5 | 3,539 | 0.4 | 3,575 | 0.4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest (income) expense, net | (1,064) | (0.2) | 552 | 0.1 | 1,064 | 0.2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Income tax expense | 8,795 | 1.4 | 18,259 | 2.4 | 15,793 | 2.0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| EBITDA | 37,193 | 5.9 | 81,727 | 10.5 | 92,515 | 11.5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | 5,732 | 0.9 | 9,521 | 1.2 | 8,168 | 1.0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technology transformation costs (1) | 6,901 | 1.1 | 6,355 | 0.8 | 1,449 | 0.2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Goodwill impairment (2) | - | - | 2,955 | 0.4 | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Acquisition costs (3) | 1,970 | 0.3 | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Restructuring costs (4) | 4,087 | 0.6 | (364) | - | 833 | 0.1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Contingent consideration adjustment | (4,400) | (0.7) | - | - | 166 | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjusted EBITDA | $ | 51,483 | 8.1 | % | $ | 100,194 | 12.9 | % | $ | 103,131 | 12.8 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||
(1) Technology transformation costs represent costs included in net income related to the Company’s initiative to upgrade its technology platform globally, including a cloud-based enterprise resource planning system and talent acquisition and management systems. Such costs primarily include hosting and certain other software licensing costs, third-party consulting fees and costs associated with dedicated internal resources that are not capitalized.
(2) The effect of the goodwill impairment charge recognized during the year ended May 27, 2023 was related to the Sitrick operating segment.
(3) Acquisition costs primarily represent one-time costs included in net income related to the Company’s business acquisitions, which include fees paid to the Company’s other professional services firms. See Note 3 – Acquisitions and Dispositions in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further discussion.
(4) The Company initiated the cost reduction plan (the “U.S. Restructuring Plan”) in October 2023 and substantially completed the U.S. Restructuring Plan during fiscal 2024. In addition, the Company substantially completed its global restructuring and business transformation plans in North America, Asia Pacific and Europe in fiscal 2021 and the remaining accrued restructuring liability was released in fiscal 2023.
Our non-GAAP financial measures are not measurements of financial performance or liquidity under GAAP and should not be considered in isolation or construed as substitutes for revenue, net income or other measures of financial performance or financial condition prepared in accordance with GAAP for purposes of analyzing our revenue, profitability or liquidity. Further, a limitation of our non-GAAP financial measures is they exclude items detailed above that have an impact on our GAAP-reported results. Other companies in our industry may calculate these non-GAAP financial measures differently than we do, limiting their usefulness as a comparative measure. Because of these limitations, these non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered a substitute but rather considered in addition to performance measures calculated in accordance with GAAP.
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Results of Operations
The following tables set forth, for the periods indicated, our Consolidated Statements of Operations data. These historical results are not necessarily indicative of future results. Our operating results for the periods indicated are expressed as a percentage of revenue below. The fiscal years ended May 25, 2024, May 27, 2023 and May 28, 2022 all consisted of 52 weeks (in thousands, except percentages).
| For the Years Ended | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| May 25, 2024 | % of Revenue | May 27, 2023 | % of Revenue | May 28, 2022 | % of Revenue | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 632,801 | 100.0 | % | $ | 775,643 | 100.0 | % | $ | 805,018 | 100.0 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Direct cost of services | 386,733 | 61.1 | 462,501 | 59.6 | 488,376 | 60.7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gross profit | 246,068 | 38.9 | 313,142 | 40.4 | 316,642 | 39.3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative expenses | 208,864 | 33.0 | 228,842 | 29.5 | 224,721 | 27.9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amortization expense | 5,378 | 0.9 | 5,018 | 0.6 | 4,908 | 0.6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation expense | 3,050 | 0.5 | 3,539 | 0.4 | 3,575 | 0.4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Goodwill impairment | - | - | 2,955 | 0.4 | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Income from operations | 28,776 | 4.5 | 72,788 | 9.5 | 83,438 | 10.4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest (income) expense, net | (1,064) | (0.2) | 552 | 0.1 | 1,064 | 0.2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other expense (income) | 11 | - | (382) | - | (594) | (0.1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Income before income tax expense | 29,829 | 4.7 | 72,618 | 9.4 | 82,968 | 10.3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Income tax expense | 8,795 | 1.4 | 18,259 | 2.4 | 15,793 | 2.0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 21,034 | 3.3 | % | $ | 54,359 | 7.0 | % | $ | 67,175 | 8.3 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Year Ended May 25, 2024 Compared to Year Ended May 27, 2023
Percentage change computations are based upon amounts in thousands. Fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2023 consisted of 52 weeks.
Revenue. Revenue decreased $142.8 million, or 18.4%, to $632.8 million for the year ended May 25, 2024 from $775.6 million for the year ended May 27, 2023. On a same-day constant currency basis, revenue during fiscal 2024 decreased $146.0 million, or 18.8%, compared to fiscal 2023. Billable hours decreased 13.8% and the average bill rate declined 4.7% (5.5% on a constant currency basis) during fiscal 2024 compared to fiscal 2023. The decrease in billable hours is due to reduced client spending, in part due to uncertainty in the global macroeconomic environment and the lower average bill rate during fiscal 2024 was due to an increasingly competitive pricing environment as well as the ongoing shift in revenue mix to the Asia Pacific region which carries a lower average bill rate.
The following table represents our GAAP consolidated revenues by geography (in thousands, except percentages):
| For the Years Ended | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| May 25, 2024 | % of Revenue | May 27, 2023 | % of Revenue | ||||||||||||||||||||
| North America | $ | 543,926 | 86.0 | % | $ | 680,993 | 87.8 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Europe | 38,383 | 6.0 | 42,509 | 5.5 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Asia Pacific | 50,492 | 8.0 | 52,141 | 6.7 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | 632,801 | 100.0 | % | $ | 775,643 | 100.0 | % | |||||||||||||||
Revenue declined in all geographic regions during fiscal 2024 compared to the same period in fiscal 2023 reflecting reduced client spending across a majority of our markets, client segments and solution offerings as a result of the continued uncertainty in the global macroeconomic environment. Gross pipeline has soften slightly compared to a year ago; however, the time to close opportunities in the pipeline continued to be protracted, which is typical in a tougher macro environment when clients are more hesitant and slow down the pace of spend on professional services. North America was most impacted by these conditions and experienced a revenue decline of 20.1%, or 20.4% on a same-day constant currency
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basis, from fiscal 2023. Europe revenue decreased 9.7%, or 15.2% on a same-day constant currency basis, as compared to fiscal 2023. Asia Pacific revenue declined 3.2%, or 0.7% on a same-day constant currency basis, compared to fiscal 2023. Large multinational clients continue to shift work to lower cost markets such as India and the Philippines, creating demand in India and the Philippines, which partially mitigated the impact of softer markets in the rest of Asia Pacific. In addition, CloudGo, our recent acquisition completed in the second fiscal quarter of 2024, contributed $4.2 million of revenue to the Asia Pacific region. We continued to focus on improving pricing during fiscal 2024. Despite the competitive pricing environment, the U.S. and Europe average bill rates increased by 1.4% and 2.7% on a constant currency basis, respectively, compared to the prior year. Average bill rate in the Asia Pacific region declined by 4.3% on a constant currency basis during fiscal 2024 compared to fiscal 2023 due to a shift in revenue mix to India and the Philippines which have lower average bill rates.
Direct Cost of Services. Direct cost of services decreased $75.8 million, or 16.4%, to $386.7 million during fiscal 2024 from $462.5 million for fiscal 2023. The decrease in direct cost of services year over year was primarily attributable to a 13.8% decrease in billable hours as a result of reduced client spending as noted above, and a 4.9% decrease in average pay rate during fiscal 2024 compared to the same period in fiscal 2023. Average pay rates decreased as a result of the shift in business mix towards Asia Pacific where pay rates are typically lower.
Direct cost of services as a percentage of revenue was 61.1% for fiscal 2024 compared to 59.6% for fiscal 2023. The slight increased percentage compared to the prior year was partially attributable to a nearly 60 basis point increase in employee health benefit expenses as a percentage of revenue and a 20 basis point increase in the pay/bill ratio.
The number of consultants on assignment at the end of fiscal 2024 was 2,585 compared to 3,145 at the end of fiscal 2023.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A”) was $208.9 million, or 33.0% of revenue, for the year ended May 25, 2024 compared to $228.8 million, or 29.5% of revenue, for the year ended May 27, 2023. The $20.0 million decrease in SG&A year-over-year was primarily attributed to a reduction in bonuses and commissions by $17.1 million, primarily related to lower revenue and profitability achievement compared to incentive compensation targets, a $4.4 million favorable non-cash adjustment on contingent consideration related to the CloudGo acquisition, a decrease of $3.8 million in stock-based compensation expense as a result of forfeitures and remeasurement of achievement associated with performance based equity awards, and lower management compensation expense of $3.5 million partially attributable to the U.S. Restructuring Plan initiated in October 2023. These reductions were partially offset by $4.5 million related to employee termination benefits in connection with the actions taken under the U.S. Restructuring Plan during fiscal 2024, a $2.2 million increase in computer software and certain professional services fees, and $2.0 million of acquisition related costs in connection with the acquisitions of CloudGo and Reference Point.
Management and administrative headcount was 791 at the end of fiscal 2024 and 917 at the end of fiscal 2023. Management and administrative headcount includes full-time equivalent headcount for our seller-doer group, which is determined by utilization levels achieved by the seller-doers. Any unutilized time is converted to full-time equivalent headcount.
Contingent Consideration Adjustment. In connection with our acquisitions, we may be required to pay future consideration that is contingent upon the achievement of specified performance targets, such as revenue and operating profit. As of the acquisition date, we record a contingent liability representing the estimated fair value of the contingent consideration we expect to pay. Increases in projected revenues and probabilities of payment may result in significantly higher fair value measurements; decreases in these items may have the opposite effect. Increases in discount rates in the periods prior to payment may result in significantly lower fair value measurements; decreases may have the opposite effect.
We remeasure our contingent consideration liabilities each reporting period and recognize the change in the liabilities' fair value within the selling, general and administrative expenses in our Consolidated Statements of Operations. During the year ended May 25, 2024 and May 27, 2023, we recorded $(4.4) million and zero of contingent consideration adjustments, respectively. See Note 3 – Acquisitions and Dispositions in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further discussion information.
Income Taxes. Income tax expense was $8.8 million (effective tax rate of 29.5%) for the year ended May 25, 2024 compared to $18.3 million (effective tax rate of 25.1%) for the year ended May 27, 2023.
The higher effective tax rate during fiscal 2024 was attributed primarily to a non-recurring increase in forfeiture of stock options in connection with an employee termination during the fiscal year. The higher effective tax rate was partially
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offset by rate benefits from the nontaxable income on the reversal of CloudGo's contingent liability, a foreign exchange loss as a result of the repatriation of funds from our Japan subsidiary and a partial release of valuation allowance on domestic capital loss carryforwards in relation to the pending sale of the Company's Irvine building. Additionally, the lower effective tax rate during fiscal 2023 resulted from a number of one-time tax benefits recognized, including the release of valuation allowance in a couple of our foreign subsidiaries.
We recognized a tax benefit of approximately $1.3 million and $2.1 million for the years ended May 25, 2024 and May 27, 2023, respectively, associated with the exercise of nonqualified stock options, vesting of restricted stock awards, restricted stock units, and disqualifying dispositions by employees of shares acquired under the ESPP.
We reviewed the components of both book and taxable income to prepare the tax provision. There can be no assurance that our effective tax rate will remain constant in the future because of the lower benefit from the U.S. statutory rate for losses in certain foreign jurisdictions, the limitation on the benefit for losses in jurisdictions in which a valuation allowance for operating loss carryforwards has previously been established, and the unpredictability of timing and the amount of disqualifying dispositions of certain stock options. Based upon current economic circumstances and our business performance, management will continue to monitor the need to record additional or release existing valuation allowances in the future, primarily related to deferred tax assets in certain foreign jurisdictions and on domestic capital loss carryforwards. Realization of the currently reserved deferred tax assets is dependent upon generating sufficient future taxable income of the appropriate character in the domestic and foreign territories.
We have maintained a position of being indefinitely reinvested in our foreign subsidiaries’ earnings by not expecting to remit foreign earnings in the foreseeable future. Being indefinitely reinvested does not require a deferred tax liability to be recognized on the foreign earnings. Management’s indefinite reinvestment position is supported by:
•RGP in the U.S. has generated more than enough cash to fund operations and expansion, including acquisitions. RGP uses its excess cash to, at its discretion, return cash to stockholders through dividend payments and stock repurchases.
•RGP has sufficient cash flow from operations in the U.S. to service its debt and other current or known obligations without requiring cash to be remitted from foreign subsidiaries.
•Management’s growth objectives include allowing cash to accumulate in RGP’s profitable foreign subsidiaries with the expectation of finding strategic expansion plans to further penetrate RGP’s most successful locations.
•The consequences of distributing foreign earnings have historically been deemed to be tax-inefficient for RGP or not materially beneficial.
We repatriated $10.2 million from our Japan subsidiary during fiscal 2024. Remaining unremitted earnings as of May 25, 2024 in our Japan subsidiary are intended to be indefinitely reinvested in our Japan subsidiary's operations and growth, and no deferred tax liability has been established on the remaining unremitted earnings. Going forward, the indefinite reversal criteria will apply only to the portion of our Japan subsidiary’s unremitted earnings that are needed for its ongoing operations and growth.
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Operating Results of Segments
Effective May 31, 2022, the Company’s operating segments consist of the following:
•RGP – a global consulting firm focused on project execution services that power clients’ operational needs and change initiatives utilizing on-demand, experienced and diverse talent; and
•Sitrick – a crisis communications and public relations firm which operates under the Sitrick brand, providing corporate, financial, transactional and crisis communication and management services.
RGP is the Company’s only operating segment that meets the quantitative threshold of a reportable segment. Sitrick does not individually meet the quantitative thresholds to qualify as a reportable segment. Therefore, Sitrick is the only entity disclosed in Other Segments for fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2023.
On November 15, 2023, the Company acquired CloudGo. CloudGo is reported as part of the RGP operating segment. See Note 3 – Acquisitions and Dispositions in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
During the first quarter of fiscal 2025, the Chief Executive Officer, who is the Company’s Chief Operating Decision Maker, announced a decision to reorganize the Company’s business by forming multiple discrete operational business units. To align the new operating model and business structure, the Company is making management organizational changes and implementing new reporting modules and processes to provide discrete information to manage the business. Management expects to finalize its assessment of its operating segments when the implementations and transitions are completed, which is expected to be in the first quarter of fiscal 2025.
The following table presents our current operating results by segment (in thousands, except percentages):
| For the Years Ended | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue: | May 25, 2024 | % of Revenue | May 27, 2023 | % of Revenue | |||||||||||||||||||
| RGP | $ | 622,895 | 98.4 | % | $ | 764,511 | 98.6 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Other Segments | 9,906 | 1.6 | 11,132 | 1.4 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 632,801 | 100.0 | % | $ | 775,643 | 100.0 | % | |||||||||||||||
| For the Years Ended | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjusted EBITDA: | May 25, 2024 | % of Adj EBITDA | May 27, 2023 | % of Adj EBITDA | |||||||||||||||||||
| RGP | $ | 84,677 | 164.5 | % | $ | 132,377 | 132.1 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Other Segments | (676) | (1.3) | 1,179 | 1.2 | |||||||||||||||||||
Reconciling Items (1) | (32,518) | (63.2) | (33,362) | (33.3) | |||||||||||||||||||
Total Adjusted EBITDA (2) | $ | 51,483 | 100.0 | % | $ | 100,194 | 100.0 | % | |||||||||||||||
(1)Reconciling items are generally comprised of unallocated corporate administrative costs, including management and board compensation, corporate support function costs and other general corporate costs that are not allocated to segments.
(2)A reconciliation of the Company’s net income to Adjusted EBITDA on a consolidated basis is presented above under “Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”
Revenue by Segment
RGP – RGP revenue decreased $141.6 million, or 18.5% to $622.9 million in fiscal 2024 compared to $764.5 million in fiscal 2023, primarily as a result of a 13.8% decrease in billable hours and a 5.5% decrease in average bill rate year over year, as discussed in the consolidated operating results discussion above. Revenue from RGP represents more than 95% of total consolidated revenue and generally reflects the overall consolidated revenue trend.
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The number of consultants on assignment under the RGP segment as of May 25, 2024 was 2,572 compared to 3,131 as of May 27, 2023.
Other Segments – Other Segments’ revenue decreased $1.2 million, or 11.0%, to $9.9 million in fiscal 2024 compared to $11.1 million in fiscal 2023, primarily as a result of a $1.0 million decline in Sitrick revenue. Sitrick continued to be affected by delays in court proceedings and more settlements, hindering leads for revenue generation in the business.
The number of consultants on assignment under Other Segments as of May 25, 2024 was 13 compared to 14 as of May 27, 2023.
Adjusted EBITDA by Segment
RGP – RGP Adjusted EBITDA decreased $47.7 million, or 36.0%, to $84.7 million in fiscal 2024 compared to $132.4 million in fiscal 2023. The decrease was primarily attributable to the $141.6 million decrease in revenue during fiscal 2024, which was partially offset by the decrease in the cost of services of $75.5 million and the increase in other income of $0.4 million. Additionally, SG&A costs attributed to RGP decreased $18.8 million during fiscal 2024 as compared to fiscal 2023 primarily due to the decrease in bonuses and commissions of $12.5 million as a result of lower revenue and profitability achievement compared to incentive compensation targets, decreases in management compensation expense of $3.9 million partially due to the U.S. Restructuring Plan, net of decrease in seller/doer utilization, a $1.8 million decrease in bad debt expense, and a $0.9 million reduction in recruiting expenses. These reductions were offset by a $0.3 million increase in all other general and administration expenses to support the business. During fiscal 2024, the material costs and expenses attributable to the RGP segment that are not included in computing the segment measure of Adjusted EBITDA included depreciation and amortization expenses of $8.3 million and stock-based compensation expense of $4.5 million.
The trend in revenue, cost of services, and other costs and expenses at RGP year over year are generally consistent with those at the consolidated level, as discussed above, with the exception that the SG&A used to derive segment Adjusted EBITDA does not include certain unallocated corporate administrative costs.
Other Segments – Other Segments’ Adjusted EBITDA declined $1.9 million to $(0.7) million in fiscal 2024 compared to $1.2 million in fiscal 2023 due to lower revenue performance. For fiscal 2024, the material costs and expenses attributable to the Other Segments that are not included in computing the segment measure of Adjusted EBITDA included depreciation and amortization expenses of $0.1 million and stock-based compensation expense of $1.3 million.
Year Ended May 27, 2023 Compared to Year Ended May 28, 2022
For a comparison of our results of operations at the consolidated and segment level for the fiscal years ended May 27, 2023 and May 28, 2022, see Part II, Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 27, 2023, filed with the SEC on July 25, 2023 (File No. 0-32113).
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our primary sources of liquidity are cash provided by operating activities, our $175.0 million senior secured revolving credit facility (as discussed further below) and historically, to a lesser extent, stock option exercises and ESPP purchases. During fiscal 2024, we generated positive cash flow from operations and have generated positive cash flows from operations on an annual basis since inception. Our ability to generate positive cash flows from operations in the future will depend, at least in part, on global economic conditions and our ability to remain resilient during periods of deteriorating macroeconomic conditions and any economic downturns. As of May 25, 2024, we had $108.9 million of cash and cash equivalents, including $44.4 million held in international operations.
On November 12, 2021, the Company and Resources Connection LLC, as borrowers, and all of the Company’s domestic subsidiaries, as guarantors, entered into a credit agreement with the lenders that are party thereto and Bank of America, N.A. as administrative agent for the lenders (the “Credit Agreement”). The Credit Agreement provides for a $175.0 million senior secured revolving loan (the “Credit Facility”), which includes a $10.0 million sublimit for the issuance of standby letters of credit and a swingline sublimit of $20.0 million. The Credit Facility also includes an option to increase the amount of the revolving loan up to an additional $75.0 million, subject to the terms of the Credit Agreement. The Credit Facility matures on November 12, 2026. The obligations under the Credit Facility are secured by substantially all assets of the Company, Resources Connection LLC and all of the Company’s domestic subsidiaries.
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Future borrowings under the Credit Facility bear interest at a rate per annum of either, at the Company’s election, (i) Term SOFR (as defined in the Credit Agreement) plus a margin ranging from 1.25% to 2.00% or (ii) the Base Rate (as defined in the Credit Agreement), plus a margin of 0.25% to 1.00% with the applicable margin depending on the Company’s consolidated leverage ratio. In addition, the Company pays an unused commitment fee on the average daily unused portion of the Credit Facility, which ranges from 0.20% to 0.30% depending upon the Company’s consolidated leverage ratio. As of May 25, 2024, we had no debt outstanding and $1.4 million of outstanding letters of credit issued under the Credit Facility. As of May 25, 2024, there was $173.6 million remaining capacity under the Credit Facility.
The Credit Facility is available for working capital and general corporate purposes, including potential acquisitions, dividend distribution and stock repurchases. Additional information regarding the Credit Facility is included in Note 8 – Long-Term Debt in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
On November 2, 2022, Resources Global Enterprise Consulting (Beijing) Co., Ltd, (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company), as borrower, and the Company, as guarantor, entered into a RMB 13.4 million ($1.8 million based on the prevailing exchange rate on November 2, 2022) revolving credit facility with Bank of America, N.A. (Beijing) as the lender (the “Beijing Revolver”). The Beijing Revolver bears interest at a loan prime rate plus 0.80%. Interest incurred on borrowings will be payable monthly in arrears. As of May 25, 2024, the Company had no debt outstanding under the Beijing Revolver.
In addition to cash needs for ongoing business operations, from time to time, we have strategic initiatives that could generate significant additional cash requirements. Our initiative to upgrade our technology platform, as described in “Fiscal 2024 Strategic Focus Areas” above, requires significant investments over multiple years. Such costs primarily include software licensing fees, third-party implementation and consulting fees, incremental costs associated with additional internal resources needed on the project and other costs in areas including change management and training. The actual amount of investment and the timing will depend on a number of variables, including progress made on the implementation. As of May 25, 2024, we capitalized $16.1 million related to the technology platform initiative; in addition, we recorded $6.9 million of expenses relating to these investments during fiscal 2024. As of May 25, 2024, the remaining investments required for this multi-year initiative is estimated to be in the range of $10.0 million to $20.0 million. We expect a large portion of the remaining investment will take place in fiscal 2025. In addition to our technology transformation initiative, we expect to continue to invest in digital pathways to enhance the experience and touchpoints with our end users, including current and prospective employees (consultants and management employees) and clients. Such efforts will require additional cash outlay and could further elevate our capital expenditures in the near term. We believe our current cash, ongoing cash flows from our operations and funding available under our Credit Facility will provide sufficient funds for these initiatives. As of May 25, 2024, we have non-cancellable purchase obligations totaling $11.4 million, which primarily consist of payments pursuant to the licensing arrangements that we have entered into in connection with this initiative: $4.9 million due during fiscal 2025; $3.4 million due during fiscal 2026; $2.1 million due during fiscal 2027; and $1.0 million due thereafter.
In addition, we pay a regular quarterly dividend to our stockholders, subject to approval each quarter by our Board of Directors. Most recently, on June 13, 2024 we paid a dividend of $0.14 per share of our common stock to stockholders of record at the close of business on May 16, 2024. Continuation of the quarterly dividend is at the discretion of the Board of Directors and depends upon our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, general business condition, contractual restrictions contained in the Credit Facility and other agreements, and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors.
On November 15, 2023, the Company acquired CloudGo pursuant to the terms of a Share Purchase Agreement entered into by and between the Company, CloudGo, and the shareholders of CloudGo (the “CloudGo SPA”). The Company paid initial cash consideration of $7.4 million (net of $0.3 million cash acquired). The CloudGo SPA also provides for contingent consideration of up to $12 million to be paid based on CloudGo’s revenue and operating profit margin performance during two one-year performance periods that begin after the acquisition date. See Note 3 – Acquisitions and Dispositions in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further discussion.
The Company entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement, dated as of March 27, 2024, and as amended and restated as of June 30, 2024 (the “Reference Point MIPA”) with Reference Point LLC (“Reference Point”) and the sole member of Reference Point, pursuant to which the Company agreed to acquire 100% of the membership
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interests of Reference Point. See Note 19 – Subsequent Event in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further discussion.
Uncertain macroeconomic conditions and increases in interest rates have created significant uncertainty in the global economy, volatility in the capital markets and recessionary pressures, which have adversely impacted, and may continue to adversely impact, our financial results, operating cash flows and liquidity needs. If we are required to raise additional capital or incur additional indebtedness for our operations or to invest in our business, we can provide no assurances that we would be able to do so on acceptable terms or at all. Our ongoing operations and growth strategy may require us to continue to make investments in critical markets and further expand our internal technology and digital capabilities. In addition, we may consider making additional strategic acquisitions or initiating additional restructuring initiatives, which could require significant liquidity and adversely impact our financial results due to higher cost of borrowings. We believe that our current cash, ongoing cash flows from our operations and funding available under our Credit Facility will be adequate to meet our working capital and capital expenditure needs for at least the next 12 months.
Beyond the next 12 months, if we require additional capital resources to grow our business, either organically or through acquisitions, we may seek to sell additional equity securities, increase the use of our Credit Facility, expand the size of our Credit Facility or raise additional debt. In addition, if we decide to make additional share repurchases, we may fund these through existing cash balances or the use of our Credit Facility. The sale of additional equity securities or certain forms of debt financing could result in additional dilution to our stockholders. Our ability to secure additional financing in the future, if needed, will depend on several factors. These include our future profitability and the overall condition of the credit markets. Notwithstanding these considerations, we expect to meet our long-term liquidity needs with cash flows from operations and financing arrangements.
Operating Activities, Fiscal 2024 and 2023
Operating activities provided cash of $21.9 million in fiscal 2024 compared to $81.6 million in fiscal 2023. During fiscal 2024, cash provided from operations resulted from net income of $21.0 million and non-cash adjustments of $11.2 million. Additionally, during fiscal 2024, net unfavorable changes in operating assets and liabilities totaled $10.4 million, primarily consisting of a $24.5 million decrease in accrued salaries and related obligations, mainly due to the timing of our pay cycle and the payout of the annual incentive compensation during fiscal 2024, a $9.9 million increase in other assets largely related to the investments in our technology implementation, a $3.3 million increase in prepaid income taxes, a $1.9 million decrease in other liabilities, and a $0.8 million increase in prepaid expenses and other assets. These unfavorable changes are partially offset by a $29.6 million decrease in trade accounts receivable.
In fiscal 2023, cash provided by operations resulted from net income of $54.4 million and non-cash adjustments of $12.8 million. Additionally, net favorable changes in operating assets and liabilities totaled $14.5 million, primarily consisting of a $30.0 million decrease in income taxes (which included $35.5 million in U.S. federal income tax refunds including interest income), a $13.6 million decrease in trade accounts receivable and a $1.6 million increase in accounts payable and other accrued expenses. These favorable changes are partially offset by a $21.5 million decrease in accrued salaries and related obligations, mainly due to the timing of our pay cycle and the payout of the annual incentive compensation during fiscal 2023, a $5.3 million decrease in other liabilities and a $4.1 million increase in other assets attributed primarily to the capitalized cost of implementing our technology transformation.
Investing Activities, Fiscal 2024 and 2023
Net cash used in investing activities was $8.6 million in fiscal 2024 compared to net cash provided of $3.9 million in fiscal 2023. Net cash used in investing activities during fiscal 2024 was primarily related to the acquisition of CloudGo and costs incurred for the development of internal-use software and acquisition of property and equipment. Net cash provided by investing activities during fiscal 2023 was primarily related to the cash proceeds from the divestiture of taskforce partially offset by the costs incurred for the development of internal-use software and acquisition of property and equipment.
Financing Activities, Fiscal 2024 and 2023
The primary sources of cash in financing activities are borrowings under our Credit Facility, cash proceeds from the exercise of employee stock options and proceeds from the issuance of shares purchased under our ESPP. The primary uses of cash in financing activities are repayments under the Credit Facility, payment of contingent consideration, repurchases of our common stock and cash dividend payments to our stockholders.
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Net cash used in financing activities totaled $20.7 million fiscal 2024 compared to $71.9 million during fiscal 2023. Net cash used in financing activities during fiscal 2024 consisted of cash dividend payments of $18.8 million and $8.0 million to purchase 606,254 shares of common stock on the open market; these uses were partially offset by $6.1 million in proceeds received from ESPP share purchases and employee stock option exercises.
Net cash used in financing activities during fiscal 2023 consisted of net repayments on the Credit Facility of $54.0 million (consisting of $69.0 million of repayments and $15.0 million of proceeds from borrowing), cash dividend payments of $18.8 million, and $15.2 million to purchase 914,809 shares of common stock on the open market. These uses were partially offset by $16.1 million in proceeds received from ESPP share purchases and employee stock option exercises.
For a comparison of our cash flow activities for the fiscal years ended May 27, 2023 and May 28, 2022, see Part II, Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 27, 2023, filed with the SEC on July 25, 2023 (File No. 0-32113).
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Information regarding recent accounting pronouncements is contained in Note 2 — Summary of Significant Accounting Policies in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK.
Interest Rate Risk. We are primarily exposed to market risks from fluctuations in interest rates and the effects of those fluctuations on the market values of our cash and cash equivalents and our borrowings under the Credit Facility that bear interest at a variable market rate.
As of May 25, 2024, we had approximately $108.9 million of cash and cash equivalents and no borrowings under our Credit Facility. The earnings on cash and cash equivalents are subject to changes in interest rates; however, assuming a constant balance available for investment, a 10% decline in interest rates would reduce our interest income but would not have a material impact on our consolidated financial position or results of operations.
We may become exposed to interest rate risk related to fluctuations in the term SOFR rate used under our Credit Facility. See "Liquidity and Capital Resources” above and Note 8 – Long-Term Debt in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further discussion about the interest rate on our Credit Facility. As of May 25, 2024, we had no borrowings outstanding under our Credit Facility.
Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Risk. For the year ended May 25, 2024, approximately 17.8% of our revenues were generated outside of the U.S. compared to approximately 14.3% of our revenues for the year ended May 27, 2023. As a result, our operating results are subject to fluctuations in the exchange rates of foreign currencies in relation to the U.S. dollar. Revenues and expenses denominated in foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollars at the monthly average exchange rates prevailing during the period. Thus, as the value of the U.S. dollar fluctuates relative to the currencies in our non-U.S.-based operations, our reported results may vary.
Assets and liabilities of our non-U.S.-based operations are translated into U.S. dollars at the exchange rate effective at the end of each monthly reporting period. Approximately 59.2% of our cash and cash equivalents balances as of May 25, 2024 were denominated in U.S. dollars. The remaining amount of approximately 40.8% was comprised primarily of cash balances translated from Euros, Japanese Yen, Mexican Pesos, Chinese Yuan, Canadian Dollar, Indian Rupee and British Pound Sterling. This compares to approximately 56.9% of our cash and cash equivalents balances as of May 27, 2023 that were denominated in U.S. dollars and approximately 43.1% that were comprised primarily of cash balances translated from Euros, Japanese Yen, Chinese Yuan and Canadian Dollars. The difference resulting from the translation in each period of assets and liabilities of our non-U.S.-based operations is recorded as a component of stockholders’ equity in accumulated other comprehensive income or loss.
Although we monitor our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations, we do not currently use financial hedges to mitigate risks associated with foreign currency fluctuations including in a limited number of circumstances when we may be asked to transact with our client in one currency but are obligated to pay our consultants in another currency. Our foreign entities typically transact with clients and consultants in their local currencies and generate enough operating cash flows to fund their own operations. We believe our economic exposure to exchange rate fluctuations has not been material. However, we cannot provide assurance that exchange rate fluctuations will not adversely affect our financial results in the future.
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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA.
RESOURCES CONNECTION, INC.
CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
| Page | |||||
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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Resources Connection, Inc.
Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Resources Connection, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of May 25, 2024 and May 27, 2023, and the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income, stockholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended May 25, 2024, and the related notes (collectively the “financial statements”). We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of May 25, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission in 2013.
In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of May 25, 2024 and May 27, 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended May 25, 2024, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of May 25, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission in 2013.
Basis for Opinions
The Company's management is responsible for these financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company's financial statements and an opinion on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.
Our audits of the financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.
Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
A company's internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company's internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the company's assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
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Critical Audit Matters
The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee of the board of directors and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.
Valuation of RGP Reporting Unit for Goodwill Impairment Testing
As described in Notes 2 and 5 to the financial statements, the Company’s goodwill balance assigned to the RGP reporting unit was $216.6 million. The Company tests for impairment of goodwill at the reporting unit level at least annually and whenever events occur or circumstances indicate that a carrying amount of goodwill may not be recoverable. The Company determined the fair value of the RGP reporting unit using a discounted cash flow methodology. When determining the fair value of the RGP reporting unit management makes significant estimates and assumptions, including revenue growth rates, projected operating costs, and discount rates.
We identified the valuation of the RGP reporting unit for goodwill impairment testing as a critical audit matter given the significant estimates and assumptions management makes to determine the fair value of the RGP reporting unit including revenue growth rates, projected operating costs, and discount rates utilized. Auditing the reasonableness of management’s estimates and assumptions required a high degree of auditor judgment and an increased audit effort, including the involvement of our valuation specialists.
Our audit procedures related to the valuation of the Company’s RGP reporting unit included the following, among others:
•We obtained an understanding of the relevant controls related to the valuation of the Company’s RGP reporting unit and tested such controls for design and operating effectiveness, including management review controls.
•We evaluated the reasonableness of management’s forecasts of revenue growth rates by comparing the forecasts to (1) historical results, and (2) external market and industry data.
•We tested the reasonableness of management’s revenue projections by comparing management’s prior forecasts of future revenues to historical results for the Company.
•We evaluated the reasonableness of management’s forecasts of operating costs as a percentage of revenue by comparing the forecasts to the historical results, and comparison to guideline public companies.
•With the assistance of our valuation specialists, we evaluated the reasonableness of the Company’s valuation methodology and significant assumptions by:
◦Evaluating the reasonableness of the discount rate by comparing the underlying source information to publicly available market data and verifying the accuracy of the calculations.
◦Evaluating the appropriateness of the valuation method used by management and testing their mathematical accuracy.
Valuation of CloudGo Pte Ltd. acquisition-date contingent consideration
As described in Note 3 to the financial statements, the Company acquired CloudGo Pte Ltd. (“CloudGo”) in November 2023. The total consideration on the acquisition date for CloudGo amounted to approximately $12.2 million, which included an estimated acquisition-date fair value contingent consideration of approximately $4.4 million. The contingent consideration may be paid based on the achievement of certain revenue and operating profit margin performance during two one-year performance periods that begin after the acquisition date. The acquisition-date fair value of the contingent consideration was estimated using a Monte Carlo simulation model.
In estimating the acquisition-date fair value of the contingent consideration, management was required to make significant judgments in formulating the significant estimates and assumptions about future revenue and operating expenses when utilizing the aforementioned valuation method.
We identified the Company’s valuation of the contingent consideration related to the acquisition of CloudGo as a critical audit matter due to the high degree of auditor judgment, including the use of our valuation specialists, involved in
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performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence related to significant estimates and assumptions utilized by management, including revenue and operating expenses, when calculating the fair value of the contingent consideration.
Our audit procedures related to the Company’s valuation of the contingent consideration in connection with the aforementioned acquisition included the following, among others:
•We obtained an understanding of the relevant controls related to the valuation of the contingent consideration and tested such controls for design and operating effectiveness, including management review controls.
•We evaluated the reasonableness of management’s forecasts of revenue and operating expenses by comparing the forecasts to (1) the historical results, and (2) external market and industry data.
•With the assistance of our valuation specialists, we evaluated the reasonableness of the Company’s valuation model that reflects the use of multiple probabilities.
/s/ RSM US LLP
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2012.
Irvine, California
July 22, 2024
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RESOURCES CONNECTION, INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(In thousands, except par value per share)
| May 25, 2024 | May 27, 2023 | ||||||||||
| ASSETS | |||||||||||
| Current assets: | |||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | $ | |||||||||
Trade accounts receivable, net of allowances of $ | |||||||||||
| Prepaid expenses and other current assets | |||||||||||
| Assets held for sale | |||||||||||
| Income taxes receivable | |||||||||||
| Total current assets | |||||||||||
| Goodwill | |||||||||||
| Intangible assets, net | |||||||||||
| Property and equipment, net | |||||||||||
| Operating right-of-use assets | |||||||||||
| Deferred tax assets | |||||||||||
| Other non-current assets | |||||||||||
| Total assets | $ | $ | |||||||||
| LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY | |||||||||||
| Current liabilities: | |||||||||||
| Accounts payable and other accrued expenses | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Accrued salaries and related obligations | |||||||||||
| Operating lease liabilities, current | |||||||||||
| Other liabilities | |||||||||||
| Total current liabilities | |||||||||||
| Long-term debt | |||||||||||
| Operating lease liabilities, non-current | |||||||||||
| Deferred tax liabilities | |||||||||||
| Other non-current liabilities | |||||||||||
| Total liabilities | |||||||||||
| Commitments and contingencies (Note 17) | |||||||||||
| Stockholders’ equity: | |||||||||||
Preferred stock, $ | |||||||||||
Common stock, $ | |||||||||||
| Additional paid-in capital | |||||||||||
| Accumulated other comprehensive loss | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Retained earnings | |||||||||||
Treasury stock at cost, | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Total stockholders’ equity | |||||||||||
| Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity | $ | $ | |||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
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RESOURCES CONNECTION, INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(In thousands, except per share amounts)
| For the Years Ended | |||||||||||||||||
| May 25, 2024 | May 27, 2023 | May 28, 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||
| Direct cost of services | |||||||||||||||||
| Gross profit | |||||||||||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative expenses | |||||||||||||||||
| Amortization expense | |||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation expense | |||||||||||||||||
| Goodwill impairment | |||||||||||||||||
| Income from operations | |||||||||||||||||
| Interest (income) expense, net | ( | ||||||||||||||||
| Other expense (income) | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||
| Income before income tax expense | |||||||||||||||||
| Income tax expense | |||||||||||||||||
| Net income | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||
| Net income per common share: | |||||||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||
| Diluted | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||
| Weighted-average number of common and common equivalent shares outstanding: | |||||||||||||||||
| Basic | |||||||||||||||||
| Diluted | |||||||||||||||||
| Cash dividends declared per common share | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
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RESOURCES CONNECTION, INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
(In thousands)
| For the Years Ended | |||||||||||||||||
| May 25, 2024 | May 27, 2023 | May 28, 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| Net income | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||
| Foreign currency translation adjustment, net of tax | ( | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||
| Total comprehensive income | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
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RESOURCES CONNECTION, INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
(In thousands, except per share amounts)
| Common Stock | Additional Paid-in Capital | Treasury Stock | Other Comprehensive Loss | Retained Earnings | Total Stockholders' Equity | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balances as of May 29, 2021 | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ( | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Exercise of stock options | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock purchased under Employee Stock Purchase Plan | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of restricted stock | ( | ( | - | - | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock upon vesting of restricted stock units, net shares withheld to cover taxes | ( | - | - | - | - | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amortization of restricted stock issued out of treasury stock to board of director members | - | - | ( | - | - | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cash dividends declared ($ | - | - | - | - | - | - | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retirement of treasury stock | ( | ( | ( | ( | - | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Repurchase of common stock | - | - | - | ( | - | - | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dividend equivalents on equity awards | - | - | - | - | - | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Currency translation adjustment | - | - | - | - | - | ( | - | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income for the year ended May 28, 2022 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balances as of May 28, 2022 | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ( | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Exercise of stock options | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock purchased under Employee Stock Purchase Plan | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of restricted stock | ( | - | - | - | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock upon vesting of restricted stock units, net shares withheld to cover taxes | ( | - | - | - | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cash dividends declared ($ | - | - | - | - | - | - | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Repurchase of common stock | - | - | - | ( | - | - | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dividend equivalents on equity awards | - | - | - | - | - | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Currency translation adjustment | - | - | - | - | - | ( | - | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income for the year ended May 27, 2023 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balances as of May 27, 2023 | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ( | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Exercise of stock options | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock purchased under Employee Stock Purchase Plan | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of restricted stock | ( | ( | - | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock upon vesting of restricted stock units, net shares withheld to cover taxes | ( | - | - | - | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cash dividends declared ($ | - | - | - | - | - | - | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Repurchase of common stock | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||