LAFAYETTE, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 11, 2022-- Waitr Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: WTRH) (“Waitr” or the “Company”), a leader in on-demand ordering and delivery, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2021.

Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Highlights

• Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $38.6 million, compared to $46.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2021 decreased approximately 11% from revenues of $43.4 million for the third quarter in 2021, a comparable percentage decrease for the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to the third quarter of 2020. For the year ended December 31, 2021, revenue was $182.2 million, compared to $204.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020.

• Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $8.1 million, or $0.06 per share, compared to net income of $2.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, or $0.02 per share. Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $8.1 million compared to net income of $12.3 for the third quarter of 2021. Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $5.2 million, or $0.04 per share, compared to net income of $15.8 million, or $0.15 per share for the year ended December 31, 2020.

• Adjusted EBITDA¹ for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $1.7 million, compared to $9.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $1.7 million, compared to $3.1 million in the third quarter of 2021. Adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $15.6 million, compared to $43.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2020.

• As of December 31, 2021, cash on hand was $60.1 million.

• In the fourth quarter of 2021, we continued to focus our efforts on further supplementing our offerings and diversifying the Company beyond third-party food delivery as well as investing in technology and integrations in several key business areas, with the goal of positioning ourselves for long-term growth.

“Our strategy is to expand our ecosystem, which today is comprised of our restaurants, diners and independent contractor drivers, through the enhancement of our platforms and providing additional products and services. We continue to invest in integrated commerce technologies, such as Olo Dispatch and Google Food Ordering, which are important steps in pursuing our overall growth strategy,” said Carl Grimstad, Chairman and CEO of Waitr.

Additionally, Mr. Grimstad emphasized, “While 2021 presented challenges, including impacts from the ongoing pandemic and hurricanes in our core Southeast markets, we continued to focus our efforts on enhancing our platforms and providing quality service to our restaurant partners and diners. We invested in product and engineering personnel during 2021 and made additions to our technology management team during the first quarter of 2022, which should benefit us as we plan to expand our delivery verticals. We delivered over $540 million in Gross Food Sales² for our restaurant and business partners to consumers during 2021 through over 100,000 independent contractor drivers resulting in payments to these independent contractor drivers of over $104 million.”

Through our recent acquisitions in August 2021, we now facilitate merchant and restaurant access to third parties that provide payment processing solutions. Preliminary feedback has been positive with respect to our marketing efforts and to date we have facilitated access to third-party processing services for approximately 1,900 merchants with an annualized volume³ of approximately $900 million.

Another one of our strategies is to “deliver anything”. Our goal is to deliver any product to a consumer desiring same day delivery. With respect to this deliver anything strategy, we have initiated several integrations expected to be completed by mid-2022 with other companies to deliver their products. We continue to have positive conversations with stadiums throughout the US to offer our platform to enhance their fan bases experiences throughout the venues.

On December 17, 2021, the Company announced that it had entered into a non-binding letter of intent (“LOI”) to acquire Retail Innovation Labs Inc. dba Cova (“Cova”). The parties mutually agreed on March 10, 2022 that they are no longer pursuing a business combination as contemplated in the LOI (and as announced in December 2021), but continue to discuss a potential business relationship involving facilitating Cova customers access to third parties that provide payment processing solutions. The Company believes that such an arrangement can be mutually beneficial and will allow both parties to continue to execute their respective business strategies without affecting a business combination. These discussions remain preliminary and there can be no assurance that a definitive agreement with respect to this arrangement will be entered into or consummated in the near term or at all.

“Additionally, as previously announced, we have acquired the 'ASAP.com' domain name in connection with our rebranding strategy. We expect that 'ASAP' will serve as the foundation of our brand moving forward, as we believe it better embodies the future direction of our Company in which you can get everything ASAP,” concluded Mr. Grimstad.

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¹Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. A reconciliation of GAAP net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA is included in the “Non-GAAP Financial Measure/Adjusted EBITDA” table below.
²Gross Food Sales is a non-GAAP financial measure calculated as the total food and beverage sales, sales taxes, prepaid gratuities, and diner fees processed through our platforms during a given period.
³Volume is a non-GAAP financial measure calculated as the total credit card sales for the month of January 2022 processed for the merchants in our portfolio.

Full Year 2021 Key Business Metrics

• Average Daily Orders were 32,859 for the full year of 2021.

• Active Diners as of December 31, 2021 were approximately 1.7 million.

Fourth Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call to discuss fourth quarter and full year 2021 financial results today at 5 p.m. ET. The conference call will be webcast live from the Company’s investor relations website at http://investors.waitrapp.com. The call can also be accessed live over the phone by dialing (888) 256-1007, or for international callers (323) 994-2093. A replay will be available one hour after the call and can be accessed by dialing (844) 512-2921 or (412) 317-6671 for international callers; the conference ID is 3600193. The replay will be available until Friday, March 18, 2022.

About Waitr Holdings Inc.

Founded in 2013 and based in Lafayette, Louisiana, Waitr operates an online ordering technology platform, providing delivery, carryout and dine-in options. Waitr, along with Bite Squad and Delivery Dudes, connect local restaurants and grocery stores to diners in underserved U.S. markets. Additionally, Waitr facilitates access to third parties that provide payment processing solutions for restaurants and other merchants. Together, they are a convenient way to discover, order and receive great food and other products from local restaurants, national chains and grocery stores. As of December 31, 2021, Waitr, Bite Squad and Delivery Dudes operate in approximately 1,000 cities throughout the United States.

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements,” as defined by the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the Company’s financial results, implementation of strategic initiatives and future performance of the Company. Forward-looking statements reflect Waitr Holdings, Inc.’s current expectations and projections about future events, and thus involve uncertainty and risk. The words “believe,” “strategy,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “estimate,” “intend,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” and the negatives of these words and other similar expressions generally identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the Company’s business and operations, and those described under the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Waitr Holdings, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, which will be filed with the SEC on March 11, 2022, as such factors may be updated from time to time in Waitr Holdings, Inc.’s periodic filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this release and in Waitr Holdings, Inc.’s filings with the SEC. While forward-looking statements reflect Waitr Holdings, Inc.’s good faith beliefs, they are not guarantees of future performance. Waitr Holdings, Inc. disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, new information, data or methods, future events or other changes after the date of this press release, except as required by applicable law. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are based only on information currently available to Waitr Holdings, Inc..

WAITR HOLDINGS INC.
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURE
ADJUSTED EBITDA
(In thousands)
(Unaudited)

Adjusted EBITDA is not required by, nor presented in accordance with, generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“GAAP”). We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) adjusted to exclude interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization expense, stock-based compensation expense, (gain) loss on disposal of assets, intangible and other asset impairments, change in fair value of contingent consideration liability, medical contingency change in estimate, business combination related expenditures and other non-recurring adjustments, accrued legal contingency, restructuring expenses, one-time legacy reserve adjustment and one-time legacy receivable adjustment. We use this non-GAAP financial measure as a key performance measure because we believe it facilitates operating performance comparisons from period to period by excluding potential differences primarily caused by variations in capital structures, tax positions, the impact of acquisitions and restructuring, the impact of depreciation and amortization expense on our fixed assets, the impact of stock-based compensation expense and other items that do not reflect our core operations. Adjusted EBITDA is not a measurement of our financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss) or other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA is provided below:

WAITR HOLDINGS INC.
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
ADJUSTED NET INCOME (LOSS) AND
ADJUSTED EARNINGS (LOSS) PER DILUTED SHARE
(In thousands, except share and per share data)
(Unaudited)

Adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted earnings (loss) per diluted share are not required by, nor presented in accordance with, GAAP. We define adjusted earnings (loss) per diluted share as adjusted net income (loss) divided by our weighted average common shares outstanding - diluted. Adjusted net income (loss) is calculated as net income (loss) minus medical contingency change in estimate, plus change in fair value of contingent consideration liability, business combination related expenditures and other non-recurring adjustments, accrued legal contingency, restructuring expenses, one-time legacy reserve adjustment and one-time legacy receivable adjustment. We use these non-GAAP financial measures because we believe they facilitate period to period comparisons of operating performance, by excluding potential differences primarily caused by non-recurring items. Business combination related expenses, accrued legal contingency, restructuring expenses, change in fair value of contingent consideration liability, medical contingency change in estimate, one-time legacy reserve adjustment and one-time legacy receivable adjustment are considered non-recurring items. Adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted earnings (loss) per diluted share are not measurements of our financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss) or earnings (loss) per share or other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of net income (loss) to adjusted net income (loss), along with adjusted earnings (loss) per diluted share, is provided below:

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Source: Waitr Holdings Inc.