See Non-GAAP Financial Measures discussion below.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

EBITDA, EBITDA margin, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share presented in this report are supplemental measures of our performance that are not required by or presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"). These measures are not measurements of our financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as alternatives to net income, income from operations, net income margin, diluted earnings per share or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP or as an alternative to cash flows from operating, investing or financing activities as a measure of our liquidity. We have presented these measures because we consider them important supplemental measures of our performance and liquidity. We believe investors may also find these measures meaningful, given how our management makes use of them. The following is a discussion of our use of these measures.

EBITDA represents net income before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. We calculate EBITDA margin by dividing EBITDA by net sales.

We use EBITDA and EBITDA margin to measure and compare the performance of our operating divisions. Our operating divisions' financial performance includes all of the operating activities except debt and taxation which are managed at the corporate level for U.S. operating divisions. We use EBITDA and EBITDA margin to compare the performance of our operating divisions and to measure performance for determining consolidated-level compensation. In addition, we use EBITDA and EBITDA margin to evaluate potential acquisitions and potential capital expenditures.

EBITDA and EBITDA margin have limitations as analytical tools, and should not be considered in isolation, or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Some of these limitations are as follows:

• They do not reflect our cash expenditures, or future requirements for capital expenditures and contractual commitments;
• They do not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs;
• They do not reflect the significant interest expense, or the cash requirements necessary, to service interest or principal payments on our debt;
• Although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized will often have to be replaced in the future, and EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for such replacements; and
• Other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate these measures differently than we do, limiting their usefulness as comparative measures.

Because of these limitations, EBITDA and related ratios should not be considered as measures of discretionary cash available to us to invest in business growth or to reduce our indebtedness. We compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on our GAAP results and using EBITDA and EBITDA margin only as supplements.

Our presentation of adjusted net income and adjusted EBITDA is an attempt to provide meaningful comparisons to our historical performance for our existing and future investors. The unprecedented changes in our end markets over the past several years have required us to take measures that are unique in our history and specific to individual circumstances. Comparisons inclusive of these actions make normal financial and other performance patterns difficult to discern under a strict GAAP presentation. Each non-GAAP presentation, however, is explained in detail in the reconciliation tables above.

Specifically, we have presented adjusted net income attributable to ARC and adjusted earnings per share attributable to ARC stockholders for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 to reflect the exclusion of changes in the valuation allowances related to certain deferred tax assets and other discrete tax items. We believe this presentation helps facilitate our investors understanding of our results of operations and allows them to make meaningful comparisons of our operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 against the corresponding periods in 2022. We believe these changes were the result of items which are not indicative of our actual operating performance.

We have presented Adjusted EBITDA for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 to exclude stock-based compensation expense. We calculated Adjusted EBITDA margin by dividing Adjusted EBITDA by net sales. The adjustment to exclude stock-based compensation expense from EBITDA is consistent with the definition of Adjusted EBITDA in our credit agreement; therefore, we believe this information is useful to investors in assessing our financial performance and ability to access our credit facility.

SOURCE: ARC Document Solutions