BARK Reports Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Results

BARK, Inc. (NYSE: BARK) (“BARK” or the “Company”), a leading global omnichannel dog brand with a mission to make all dogs happy, today announced its financial results for the fiscal second quarter ended September 30, 2023.

Key Highlights

• Total revenue was $123.0 million, within the Company's guidance range and a 14.4% decrease compared to the same period last year.
• Consolidated gross margin increased 560 basis points to 61.5%, compared to the same period last year.
• Net Loss improved 2.8% to $(10.3) million, year-over-year.
• Adjusted EBITDA was $1.0 million, ahead of the Company's guidance range and its first positive Adjusted EBITDA quarter as a public company.
• Net cash provided by operating activities was $2.8 million, free cash flow was $0.9 million.
• The Company today announced it repurchased $45.0 million of its 2025 Convertible Notes at a 6% discount to par value, reducing future interest expense by $5.5 million.

“Macroeconomic headwinds continue to pressure the dog toy industry, which is down double digits this fiscal year. While these headwinds have impacted our top-line, our results last quarter showcased the significant progress we have made in improving the long-term profitability profile of the Company. We delivered our first positive Adjusted EBITDA quarter as a public company and achieved another quarter of positive free cash flow,” said Matt Meeker, Chief Executive Officer of BARK. “In less discretionary categories like consumables, we have made important progress across both our direct-to-consumer and retail channels. In addition to our recent partnership with the Girl Scouts, we secured our first commitment from a leading retailer in the U.S., slated to introduce our new treat offering in over one thousand doors nationwide come spring 2024. These are exciting milestones that lay the groundwork for our future growth in the category and we expect additional developments in the consumables category in the near future.”

Key Performance Indicators

Fiscal Second Quarter 2024 Highlights

• Revenue was $123.0 million, within the Company's guidance range and a 14.4% decrease year-over-year. In the same period last year, the Company experienced a pull-forward of commerce revenue related to certain partners ordering holiday product ahead of schedule. The Company anticipated more evenly distributed revenue between its second and third quarters of fiscal 2024, which is partially responsible for the year-over-year decline in revenue.
• Direct to Consumer (“DTC”) revenue was $104.3 million, an 11.3% decrease year-over-year and largely driven by macroeconomic headwinds experienced in the Company's more discretionary toy products.
• Commerce revenue was $18.7 million, a 28.7% decrease year-over-year, primarily related to the items discussed in revenue above.
• Gross profit was $75.6 million, $4.7 million lower than the same period last year.
• Gross margin was 61.5%, as compared to 55.9% in the same period last year. The increase was driven by new contract pricing delivering a reduction in unit cost of goods in the most recent period.
• Advertising and marketing expenses were $17.8 million as compared to $15.3 million in the previous year.
• General and administrative ("G&A") expenses were $68.9 million, as compared to $74.2 million in the prior year. G&A in the current period included certain non-recurring charges primarily related to a non-cash impairment charge of $3.0 million related to previously capitalized software costs and $1.4 million of reduction in force costs.
• Net loss was $(10.3) million, as compared to a net loss of $(10.6) million in the previous year.
• Adjusted EBITDA was $1.0 million, a $3.0 million improvement compared to last year and $3 million ahead of the mid-point of the Company's guidance range.
• Net cash provided by operating activities was $2.8 million. Free cash flow, defined as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities less capital expenditures, was $0.9 million, an improvement of $12.4 million compared to the same period last year.

Balance Sheet Highlights

• The Company’s cash and cash equivalents balance as of September 30, 2023 was $160.5 million.
• The Company's inventory balance as of September 30, 2023 was $109.4 million, a decrease of $3.1 million compared to the prior quarter and a $51.2 decrease compared to last year.

Partial Repurchase of 2025 Convertible Notes

The Company today announced that it has entered into a privately negotiated agreement with the holder of its 2025 Convertible Notes (the "Notes") to repurchase $45.0 million of the par value of the Notes at a 6% discount. The repurchase amount, which is all cash, represents approximately 53% of the outstanding par value of the Notes. Following the transaction, roughly $38.5 million of the principal and payment-in-kind interest will remain outstanding.

“Our improving profitability profile, along with our strong cash position enables us to invest excess capital to help create long-term shareholder value,” said Zahir Ibrahim, Chief Financial Officer of BARK. “As a result of today’s agreement, we immediately save nearly $3 million from the 6% discount and will save over $5 million in interest over the term of the Notes. Overall, this transaction is a testament to our healthy balance sheet and confidence in our ability to generate positive free cash flow in the future.”

Fiscal Third Quarter and Full Year 2024 Financial Outlook

While the Company continues to deliver healthy improvements in its profitability profile, it anticipates the challenging macroeconomic environment to persist for the foreseeable future, particularly affecting its more discretionary toy products across both its direct-to-consumer and retail channels.

Based on current market conditions as of November 8, 2023, BARK is providing updated guidance for revenue and Adjusted EBITDA, which is a Non-GAAP financial measure, as follows.

For the fiscal third quarter 2024, we expect:

• Total revenue of $123 to $119 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $(5) million to $(8) million.

For the fiscal full year 2024, we expect:

• Total revenue growth of (8)% to (11)% year-over-year, revised from the Company's prior guidance of flat to (5)%.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $(6) million to $(12) million, revised from the Company's prior guidance of $2 million to $(8) million.

We do not provide guidance for Net Loss due to the uncertainty and potential variability of certain items, including stock-based compensation expenses and related tax effects, which are the reconciling items between Net Loss and Adjusted EBITDA. Because such items cannot be calculated or predicted without unreasonable efforts, we are unable to provide a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to Net Loss. However, such items could have a significant impact on Net Loss.

The guidance provided above constitutes forward looking statements and actual results may differ materially. Please refer to the “Forward Looking Statements” section below for information on the factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from these forward looking statements and “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for additional important information regarding Adjusted EBITDA.

Conference Call Information

A conference call to discuss the Company's fiscal second quarter 2024 results will be held today, November 8, 2023, at 4:30 p.m. ET. During the conference call, the Company may make comments concerning business and financial developments, trends and other business or financial matters. The Company's comments, as well as other matters discussed during the conference call, may contain or constitute information that has not been previously disclosed.

The conference call can be accessed by dialing 1-888-330-2120 for U.S. participants and 1-646-960-0290 for international participants. The conference call passcode is 5515653. A live audio webcast of the call will be available at https://investors.bark.co/ and will be archived for 1 year.

About BARK

BARK is the world’s most dog-centric company, devoted to making dogs happy with the best products, services and content. BARK’s dog-obsessed team applies its unique, data-driven understanding of what makes each dog special to design playstyle-specific toys, wildly satisfying treats, great food for your dog’s breed, effective and easy to use dental care, and dog-first experiences that foster the health and happiness of dogs everywhere. Founded in 2011, BARK loyally serves dogs nationwide with themed toys and treats subscriptions, BarkBox and BARK Super Chewer; custom product collections through its retail partner network, including Target and Amazon; its high-quality, nutritious meals made for your breed with BARK Food; and products that meet dogs’ dental needs with BARK Bright®. At BARK, we want to make dogs as happy as they make us because dogs and humans are better together. Sniff around at bark.co for more information.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to, among other things, the future performance of BARK that are based on the Company’s current expectations, forecasts and assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “plan,” "anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “intend,” “potential,” “continue,” “ongoing” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about future operating results, including our strategies, plans, commitments, objectives and goals. Actual results could differ materially from those predicted or implied and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. Other factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, risks relating to the uncertainty of the projected financial information with respect to BARK; the risk that spending on pets may not increase at projected rates; that BARK subscriptions may not increase their spending with BARK; BARK’s ability to continue to convert social media followers and contacts into customers; BARK’s ability to successfully expand its product lines and channel distribution; competition; the uncertain effects of the COVID-19 pandemic or other global or macroeconomic events or challenges.

More information about factors that could affect BARK's operating results is included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in the Company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by visiting the Company’s Investor Relations website at https://investors.bark.co/ or the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements in this press release, which are based on information available to the Company on the date hereof. The Company assumes no obligation to update such statements.

Definitions of Key Performance Indicators

Total Orders

We define Total Orders as the total number of DTC orders shipped in a given period. These include all orders across all of our product categories, regardless of whether they are purchased on a subscription, auto-ship, or one-off basis.

Average Order Value

Average Order Value (“AOV”) is Direct to Consumer revenue for the period divided by Total Orders for the same period. In prior periods, the Company calculated AOV by dividing DTC revenue by total subscription shipments.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We report our financial results in accordance with U.S. GAAP. However, management believes that Adjusted Net Loss, Adjusted Net Loss Margin, Adjusted Net Loss Per Common Share, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, and Free Cash Flow, all non-GAAP financial measures (together the “Non-GAAP Measures”), provide investors with additional useful information in evaluating our performance.

We calculate Adjusted Net Loss as net income loss, adjusted to exclude: (1) stock-based compensation expense, (2) change in fair value of warrants and derivatives, (3) sales and use tax (income), (4) non-cash impairment of previously capitalized software and prepaid software licenses, (5) restructuring charges related to reduction in force payment (5) duplicate headquarters rent expense, and (6) other items (as defined below).

We calculate Adjusted Net Loss Margin by dividing Adjusted Net Loss for the period by Revenue for the period.

We calculate Adjusted Net Loss Per Common Share by dividing Adjusted Net Loss for the period by weighted average common shares used to compute net loss per share attributable to common stockholders for the period.

We calculate Adjusted EBITDA as net loss, adjusted to exclude: (1) interest income, (2) interest expense (3) depreciation and amortization, (4) stock-based compensation expense, (5) change in fair value of warrants and derivatives, (6) sales and use tax income, (7) non-cash impairment of previously capitalized software, (8) restructuring charges related to reduction in force payment, (9) duplicate headquarters rent expense, and (10) other items (as defined below).

We calculate Adjusted EBITDA Margin by dividing Adjusted EBITDA for the period by revenue for the period.

We calculate Free Cash Flow as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities less capital expenditures.

The Non-GAAP Measures are financial measures that are not required by, or presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We believe that the Non-GAAP Measures, when taken together with our financial results presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP, provides meaningful supplemental information regarding our operating performance and facilitates internal comparisons of our historical operating performance on a more consistent basis by excluding certain items that may not be indicative of our business, results of operations or outlook. In particular, we believe that the use of the Non-GAAP Measures are helpful to our investors as they are measures used by management in assessing the health of our business, determining incentive compensation and evaluating our operating performance, as well as for internal planning and forecasting purposes.

The Non-GAAP Measures are presented for supplemental informational purposes only, have limitations as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Some of the limitations of the Non-GAAP Measures include that (1) the measures do not properly reflect capital commitments to be paid in the future, (2) although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the underlying assets may need to be replaced and Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin do not reflect these capital expenditures, (3) Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin do not consider the impact of stock-based compensation expense, which is an ongoing expense for our company, (4) Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin do not reflect other non-operating expenses, including interest expense. In addition, our use of the Non-GAAP Measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies because they may not calculate the Non-GAAP Measures in the same manner, limiting their usefulness as a comparative measure. Because of these limitations, when evaluating our performance, you should consider the Non-GAAP Measures alongside other financial measures, including our net income (loss) and other results stated in accordance with U.S. GAAP, and (5) Free cash flow does not represent the total residual cash flow available for discretionary purposes and does not reflect our future contractual commitments.

The following table presents a reconciliation of Adjusted Net Loss to Net loss, the most directly comparable financial measure stated in accordance with U.S. GAAP, and the calculation of net loss margin, Adjusted Net Loss Margin and Adjusted Net Loss Per Common Share for the periods presented:

Adjusted Net Loss

The following table presents a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net loss, the most directly comparable financial measure stated in accordance with U.S. GAAP, and the calculation of net loss margin and Adjusted EBITDA margin for the periods presented:

Adjusted EBITDA

The following table presents a reconciliation of Free Cash Flow to Net cash used in operating activities, the most directly comparable financial measure prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP, for each of the periods indicated:

Free Cash Flow

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