Earnings call transcript: Bright Horizons beats Q4 2024 EPS forecast

Bright Horizons (NYSE:BFAM) Family Solutions Inc. (market cap: $6.91 billion) reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter of 2024, with adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.98, surpassing the forecast of $0.90. Revenue for the quarter reached $674 million, slightly above the anticipated $672.58 million. Despite this positive performance, the company's stock declined by 0.58% in after-hours trading, closing at $118.3. According to InvestingPro analysis, the company maintains a GOOD financial health score of 2.51, though it currently trades at a relatively high P/E ratio of 59.09.

Key Takeaways

• Bright Horizons exceeded EPS and revenue expectations for Q4 2024.
• The stock fell 0.58% in after-hours trading despite the earnings beat.
• Full-year 2024 revenue increased by 11%, with adjusted EPS up by 22%.
• The company expanded its childcare services, adding new centers and clients.

Company Performance

Bright Horizons demonstrated robust performance in Q4 2024, with a 10% year-over-year increase in revenue and an 18% rise in adjusted EPS. The company also reported a 12% growth in adjusted EBITDA, reaching $111 million. This growth is attributed to the expansion of childcare centers and enhanced backup care services, which have been pivotal in driving the company's success. InvestingPro data reveals the company has maintained strong momentum with a 12.67% revenue growth over the last twelve months, though investors should note its current ratio of 0.61 indicates some pressure on short-term liquidity.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $674 million (+10% YoY)
• Adjusted EPS: $0.98 (+18% YoY)
• Adjusted EBITDA: $111 million (+12% YoY)
• Full-year 2024 revenue growth: 11%
• Full-year 2024 adjusted EPS growth: 22%

Earnings vs. Forecast

Bright Horizons outperformed expectations with an actual EPS of $0.98 compared to the forecast of $0.90, marking an 8.9% positive surprise. Revenue also exceeded projections, albeit by a smaller margin, coming in at $674 million against the expected $672.58 million.

Market Reaction

Despite the earnings beat, Bright Horizons' stock experienced a slight downturn in after-hours trading, declining by 0.58% to $118.3. This movement contrasts with the company's recent performance, where its stock has seen fluctuations within its 52-week range of $100.59 to $141.9. With a beta of 1.45, the stock shows higher volatility than the broader market. For deeper insights into BFAM's valuation and growth prospects, including 10+ additional ProTips and comprehensive financial metrics, consider exploring the full research report available on InvestingPro.

Outlook & Guidance

Looking ahead, Bright Horizons projects revenue for 2025 to be between $2.85 billion and $2.90 billion, representing a 6-8% growth. The company also anticipates a 15-20% increase in adjusted EPS, expecting it to range from $3.95 to $4.15. Analyst consensus gathered by InvestingPro shows mixed sentiment with price targets ranging from $100 to $160, reflecting both the growth potential and current valuation concerns in the market. The full-service segment is forecasted to grow by 4.5-6.5%, while the backup care segment is expected to see an 11-13% increase in revenue.

Executive Commentary

CEO Steven Kramer expressed optimism about the company's prospects, stating, "We enter 2025 with a strong foundation and expect to deliver a range of $2.85 billion to $2.90 billion of revenue." He also highlighted efforts to reach breakeven in the UK operations by 2025. CFO Elizabeth Bolen addressed enrollment challenges, noting, "We are serving a population that is higher income, has other choices."

Risks and Challenges

• Enrollment challenges in underperforming centers could impact growth.
• The gradual recovery of the childcare market post-pandemic may affect demand.
• Economic uncertainties and potential changes in return-to-office policies could influence client needs.
• Competitive pressures in the childcare and backup care sectors remain a concern.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about strategies to improve enrollment in underperforming centers and the company's approach to renewing backup care contracts. Executives emphasized ongoing growth strategies and the positive impact of return-to-office trends on urban business districts.

Full transcript - Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc (BFAM) Q4 2024:

Conference Operator: Greetings, and welcome to Bright Horizons Family Solutions Fourth Quarter twenty twenty four Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Michael Flanagan, Vice President, Investor Relations.

Thank you, Mr. Flanagan. You may begin.

Michael Flanagan, Vice President, Investor Relations, Bright Horizons: Thank you, Sherry, and welcome to Bright Horizons' fourth quarter earnings call. Before we begin, please note that today's call is being webcast and reporting will be available under the Investor Relations section of our website, brighthorizons.com. As a reminder to participants, any forward looking statements made on this call, including those regarding future business, financial performance and outlook, are subject to the Safe Harbor statement included in our earnings release. Forward looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual operating and financial results to differ materially and should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements that are described in detail in our earnings release, 2023 Form 10 K and other SEC filings. Any forward looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward looking statements.

Today, we also refer to non GAAP financial measures, which are detailed and reconciled to their GAAP counterparts in our earnings release, which is available under the IR section of our website at investors.brighthorizons.com. Joining me on today's call is our Chief Executive Officer, Steven Kramer and our Chief Financial Officer, Elizabeth Bolen. Steven will start by reviewing our results and provide an update on the business. Elizabeth will follow with more detailed review of the numbers before we open it up to your questions. So with that, let me turn the call over to Steven.

Steven Kramer, Chief Executive Officer, Bright Horizons: Thanks, Mike, and good evening to everyone on the call. I am pleased with our strong performance in the fourth quarter and how we finished the year. Total (EPA:TTEF) revenue and adjusted EPS exceeded our expectations for the quarter, largely driven by the outstanding performance of our Back Up Care segment on the top and bottom line. For the year, total revenue increased by 11%, while adjusted EPS grew by 22%, significantly surpassing our initial projections for the year. We achieved the highest operating income in the company's history with our Back Up Care segment generating $170,000,000 of EBIT, which represents earnings performance in excess of the contribution of our entire full service segment prior to the COVID pandemic.

This impressive growth spanning more than 1,100 clients and multiple geographies has fundamentally changed and strengthened the overall business mix and we believe the growth trajectory of Bright Horizons for the years ahead. To get into some of the specifics on the recent quarter, revenue increased 10% to $674,000,000 in Q4 with adjusted EBITDA up 12% to $111,000,000 and adjusted EPS growing 18% to $0.98 per share. In our Full Service Child Care segment, revenue increased 8% to $485,000,000 We added seven centers in the fourth quarter, including client centers for Raycon Institute and St. Jude's Hospital and our second center in India for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS). For the full year, we opened 26 centers, of which 17 were for client employers, most of which are new to the Bright Horizons family.

Enrollment in centers opened for more than one year increased at a low single digit rate in Q4 across our U. S. And international operations, with average occupancy percentage in the low 60s consistent with the prior quarter. As a reminder, Q3 and Q4 are historically our lowest occupancy quarters due to traditional enrollment seasonality. We are pleased to see our top cohort of centers, nearly 40% of our portfolio continue to demonstrate very high levels of occupancy, averaging more than 80% in the fourth quarter.

As such, our enrollment growth opportunity continues to be concentrated in our middle and bottom cohorts, which saw mid single digit enrollment growth in the fourth quarter. With that said, the pace of growth in our underperforming centers remains below our expectations and we continue to intensify our efforts to drive improved results. In a number of our underperforming centers located in the business district of DC, New York City and Seattle, we have seen some early signs that return to office policy changes by employers are driving an uptick in enrollment inquiries. I'm encouraged by the shift in trends we have seen at these locations and we are well suited to accommodate families' childcare needs as they readjust to return to office mandate. In The UK, we continued to make operational and financial progress in the fourth quarter, narrowing the losses as compared to last year.

For the full year, we delivered much improved financial and operational performance across our UK portfolio on strong enrollment growth, improved center staff retention and lower agency spend. While The UK is still a headwind to our overall full service margin, I'm encouraged by the steady progress and momentum in the business. We see a clear path to earnings breakeven performance in 2025 with continued improvement of results in the years that follow. Let me now turn to backup care, which delivered a strong quarter with 15% revenue growth to $157,000,000 Traditional network use trended higher than our expectations as we ended the year with use in center based and in home care showing particularly strong growth. We also continue to add to our client base with new employer launches in the fourth quarter, including Harris Health and Lonza.

As I mentioned earlier, 2024 was another standout year for backup care. Greater adoption of the backup care benefit among eligible employees drove revenue topping $600,000,000 with operating income of $170,000,000 We were pleased to see the continued expansion of the backup care benefit with more unique users utilizing the benefit and users consuming more of their annual use spend. This increased adoption has been supported by our marketing initiatives, expanded suite of care types and greater provider availability. With the momentum we saw exiting the year and the outlook we have for 2025, I remain confident that backup care will be a significant growth engine for the company's top and bottom line for many years. Our Education Advisory business grew to $32,000,000 in the quarter and operating margin of 29% ticked up slightly from the same quarter last year.

We added new clients to the portfolio, notably launching Atlantic Health Systems and United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) and continue to see more adoption of our student loan repayment product. As this segment continues to execute on its transformation, focused on meeting the evolving upfilling and reskilling needs of employers and their employees, we continue to believe in and are investing for a large opportunity available in this market. Before I wrap up, I want to take a moment to express our heartfelt sympathies for those affected by the devastating fires in Los Angeles. While the overall operational impact for Bright Horizons was quite limited, we have many in our community, employees, families and clients who have been significantly impacted. We share the deep sense of loss that permeates across Southern California.

Over the past few months, we have witnessed a series of natural disaster and unimaginable tragedy, and I'm very proud of the way our team has stepped up. While our employees are not first responders, they are supporting many who have been called on in the wake of these devastating tragedies. Looking ahead to 2025, I remain excited about our growth prospects and I continue to have tremendous confidence in the resiliency of our business model, the strength of our more than fourteen fifty client relationships and our ability to drive long term value to all stakeholders. We enter 2025 with a strong foundation and expect to deliver a range of $2,850,000,000 to $2,900,000,000 of revenue. And on the earnings side, we are projecting adjusted EPS of $3.95 to $4.15 per share or growth of approximately 15% to 20% for the year.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Elizabeth, who will dive into the quarterly numbers and share more details around our 2025 outlook.

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Thanks, Stephen, and hello to everybody who is able to join the call. To recap the fourth quarter, overall revenue increased 10% to $674,000,000 adjusted operating income of $79,000,000 or 11.8% of revenue increased 25% over Q4 of twenty twenty three, while adjusted EBITDA of $111,000,000 or 16.4% of revenue increased 12% over the prior year. We ended the year with ten nineteen centers having added seven and closed 16 locations in the fourth quarter. To break this down a bit further, full service revenue was $485,000,000 and was up 8% in Q4. On pricing increases, low single digit enrollment growth and approximately 50 basis points of tailwind from FX.

As Stephen mentioned, Q4 occupancy levels across our portfolio of centers that have been open for more than one year increased over the prior year and remained relatively consistent from Q3 levels in a low 60% utilization. In the center cohorts we have discussed on prior calls, we continued to increase the number of centers in the top cohorts over the prior year period. In Q4, our top performing cohort defined as above 70% occupancy improved from 36% of these centers in Q4 of twenty twenty three to 39% in Q4 of twenty twenty four. And our bottom cohort of centers, those under 40% occupied now represent 16% of centers, improving from 18% in the prior year period. Adjusted operating income of $17,000,000 in the full service segment increased $4,500,000 over the prior year.

Higher enrollment and improved operating leverage, particularly in our U. S. And UK operations helped drive the growth in earnings. Turning to backup care, revenue grew more than $20,000,000 or 15% in the fourth quarter to $157,000,000 Strong overall use in Q4 drove the better than expected revenue growth as well as the adjusted operating income of $53,000,000 in Q4 of twenty twenty four or 33% of revenue. For the year, revenue grew 16% to $610,000,000 topping our expectations of 14% to 15% growth.

Lastly, our revenue in the Educational Advising segment ticked up to 32,500,000 in Q4 and delivered operating margin of 29%, modestly higher than the prior year reflecting improved operating leverage. Net interest expense in the quarter of $11,500,000 was down over the prior year structural effective tax rate on adjusted net income was 27.5 in the quarter, roughly in line with the full year effective rate. Turning to the balance sheet and cash flow. For the full year 2024, we generated $337,000,000 in cash from operations compared to $256,000,000 in 2023. We made fixed asset investments totaling $95,000,000 in 20 20 4 million dollars as compared to $91,000,000 in 2023.

And lastly, with the continued cash build and specifically free cash flow generated in Q4, we repurchased roughly $85,000,000 of stock in the quarter, our first repurchase activity since the summer of twenty twenty two. We ended the year with $110,000,000 of cash, a leverage ratio of roughly two times net debt to adjusted EBITDA and approximately 58,500,000.0 weighted average shares outstanding. Now moving on to our 2025 outlook. In terms of the top line, we currently expect 2025 revenue to be in the range of $2,850,000,000 to $2,900,000,000 This growth of 6% to 8% includes a 115 basis point year over year headwind from the strengthening of the U. S.

Dollar against our foreign currencies. As a result, we expect constant currency revenue to grow approximately 7% to 9%. Looking at a segment level, in full service, we expect reported revenue to grow in the range of 4.5% to 6.5% with constant currency revenue growth of 6% to 8% on enrollment gains and tuition increases offset by a modest headwind from net center closing. In backup care, we expect reported revenue to increase 11% to 13%, driven by the continued expansion of use. And in Net Advisory, we expect to grow in the low to mid single digits.

As Stephen previewed in terms of earnings, we expect 2025 adjusted EPS to be in the range of $3.95 to $4.15

Manav Patnaik, Analyst, Barclays (LON:BARC): a share.

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Turning now to specifically to the first quarter of twenty twenty five, our outlook is for total top line growth in the range of 6% to 8% on a reported basis to $660,000,000 to $670,000,000 reflecting roughly 100 basis point headwind from FX over the prior year. We expect full service to grow reported revenue again in the range of 4.5% to 6.5% or 6% to 8% in constant currency, backup to grow 11% to 13% and net advisory in the mid single digit. In terms of earnings, we expect Q1 adjusted EPS to be in the range of $0.63 to $0.68 a share. So with that, Sherry, we are ready to go to Q and A. Thank

Conference Operator: you. Our first question is from Manav Patnaik with Barclays. Please proceed.

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Thank you.

Manav Patnaik, Analyst, Barclays: Elizabeth, I was hoping you could just break out that 6% to 8%, at gross margin expense expense expense expense expense for the expectation. I know you said pricing, enrollment and then end of closure, but I was hoping you could just quantify a little bit what the pricing those three components were basically?

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: So Manav, if I heard your question right, this is for the 2025 guidance?

Manav Patnaik, Analyst, Barclays: Yes, for the sixty eight percent full center guide specifically.

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Yes, sorry, I just was you were breaking up a little bit. So, yes, overall, we would be looking at price increase in the 4% to 5% range, enrollment in the 2.5% to 3.5% range And then the net closure effect, if you will, the openings offset by the effect of centers we have closed in the 0.5% or so offsetting those two growth items. And then the foreign exchange is 1.5%, so 150 basis points headwinds.

Manav Patnaik, Analyst, Barclays: Okay, got it. Understood, helpful. And then just like you have before, could you just help us with the margin perhaps for the full year in the three segments? I know you've done that before for that in the quarter.

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Sure. So this year we're in the lowish to mid single digits for the full service segment, so around 4%. We would be looking to improve that to mid single digits 150 basis points or so. That comes from some of the leverage from the enrollment and the pricing to cost etcetera. So that's full service in that range.

Our backup business for the year, we would expect it to be similar to what we've delivered in 2024. So in that 25% to 30% range, but in the higher end of that, similar to what we did this year, there's a little bit of different phasing for that. It would be mid to high teens, for the first quarter specifically. So a little bit of difference versus the full year, but you can see the trend of that this year, next year as well. And then in the Ed advising business overall, again, some phasing throughout the year, but in the mid to high teens operating income for the year.

Josh Tan, Analyst, UBS: Thank you.

Conference Operator: Our next question is from George Tong with Goldman Sachs. Please proceed.

George Tong, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: Hi, thanks. Good afternoon. You mentioned that occupancy is currently in the low 60s consistent with 3Q. Can you provide your latest views on how occupancy rate will trend over the course of 2025?

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Yes. I mean, our expectation is for overall for enrollment growth in the call it 2.5% to 3.5% range, maybe a little bit more. We have harder comps in the first half than the second half modestly, but fairly steady growth through the year, but maybe weighted slightly to the back end.

George Tong, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: And what about percentage? Would you expect the low 60s to reach mid-60s, mid to high 60s?

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Yes, sorry, George. It would be in the mid-60s. Yes, that's where we would expect it.

George Tong, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: And I know there's seasonality over the course of the year. How would you expect I'm assuming the step up happens in the first half of the year and then step back down in the second half?

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Yes, exactly. It would be because the enrollment, we would expect the growth to be fairly consistent. It would be higher in the first half like it was this year and then tapering back in the second half.

George Tong, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: Got it. Thank you.

Conference Operator: Our next question is from Andrew Steinerman with JPMorgan. Please proceed.

Andrew Steinerman, Analyst, JPMorgan: Hey, Elizabeth. I thought I heard you say that the number of center closings in 2025 would only drag revenues by a half a point. Maybe you could mention how many centers that would be. It just sounds low to me because when I think about the pre COVID years, the many years of center pruning, which was normal, would drag about 1% or 2% a year. So if it's only 0.5% this year, it just seems like you're not pruning even like kind of a normal amount of pre COVID centers for a year?

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Yes. So I think that the factor there, Andrew, I mean, it's a we're trying to quantify the point about it, but I think it's net of course of the openings. So that was intended to be a net unit revenue factor. So closings will be higher than that. So call it, if closings are 2% and openings are 2.25% and openings are 1% or 1.25% then that shapes down to less than 1% net.

We do have I think I'll point out one thing though about that, which is that the newer we are opening centers. We opened 26 centers here in 2024. We would expect a similar number of openings based on what is in the pipeline and in development right now. Those centers open and they are ramping up and delivering a sort of a more typical historic ramp profile. The centers we are closing have been under enrolled there at a revenue level that is already somewhat tapered down.

So the effect of it is a headwind on revenue, but perhaps not completely representative of what you might have seen in the past.

Andrew Steinerman, Analyst, JPMorgan: Right. And what was in the fourth quarter, the same question, what was the revenue drag from center closing in the fourth quarter just reported?

Michael Flanagan, Vice President, Investor Relations, Bright Horizons: From a yes, from a gross basis, it was about a two fifty basis point headwind from center closing. We had some new centers. So the net was closer to a

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: 100 basis point drag. Okay. Thank you.

Conference Operator: Our next question is from Jeff Miller with Baird. Please proceed.

Jeff Miller, Analyst, Baird: Yes. Thank you. Good afternoon. Stephen, you mentioned just the disappointment with the underperforming centers and intensifying efforts. Can you go into more detail on what the intensifying efforts part means?

Like what are you doing differently going into '25 than you've been doing throughout the COVID recovery just from operational side to drive that up in full service?

Steven Kramer, Chief Executive Officer, Bright Horizons: Yes. So I think a lot of it, Jeff, thank you for the question. I think a lot of it is really focused on continuing to refine the prospect family experience. So again, I think what we have continued to do and are again redoubling our efforts on are things like how a prospective family is handled as an inquiry. And so really making sure that we're intensifying the personal touch that those families are receiving through the process.

I think we continue to improve our tour experience and making sure that we are providing greater visibility into the great experience that family will have once they enroll in the center. And then I would say that we are also improving our ability to leverage the backup care use within our own centers and using more systems to convert backup users into full time enrollment and really providing them that first experience through a backup use and then ultimately having them enroll on a permanent basis. So I would say a lot of it is down to how we're managing that funnel and making sure that the family has as many opportunities to see the great work that happens within our centers and expose them to that, so they can differentiate with other options in the community.

Jeff Miller, Analyst, Baird: Got it. And then just on backup care, just talk about client budget discussions or annual budget adjustments going into 2025 as we think about that as a growth driver versus driving up allowance of the existing used banks and new clients? Thanks.

Steven Kramer, Chief Executive Officer, Bright Horizons: Yes, sure. So first of all, just to take a step back, obviously, we're really pleased with how backup performed throughout 2024 growing 16%, which again gives us the confidence to guide to 11% to 13% for 2025%. I would say specifically related to the renewal season, we had really positive conversations in this third and fourth quarter as it relates to the conversations and discussions we had with our existing client base. Obviously, they invested more than they had in the prior year. We got really good signals from our clients through both renewal as well as anecdotal evidence that they are interested in continuing to grow those investments.

Again, their focus as is ours is on continuing to grow the number of unique users. So in terms of the lever that we see as the important one and our employer clients are aligned with, we are looking to broaden the base of users within our client base, and only in a really small incremental way grow the number of uses per user. And so we're not seeing many changes as it relates to the use bank that employers are offering, but instead they are continuing to allow for a broader set of unique users that ultimately will come with additional use. So we felt really good about Q3 and Q4 in terms of the renewal season, feel good about our ability to continue to drive marketing and other efforts as well as supply against the increased demand. Got it.

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Thank you. Thank you.

Conference Operator: Our next question is from Josh Tan with UBS. Please proceed.

Josh Tan, Analyst, UBS: Hi, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. Stephen, I think you mentioned the return to office potentially being a little bit of a tailwind. How important of a factor is that to you? Would you attribute that factor to explain much the difference between your current occupancy and your pre COVID occupancy?

Just kind of ballpark how impactful your office might be to you in your mind.

Steven Kramer, Chief Executive Officer, Bright Horizons: Yes. Look, I think that as we have grown the enrollment across the base of centers, clearly there have been a number of factors that have gone into us continuing to be able to increase and improve enrollment. I would say with some of the most stubborn of enrollment challenges, so think about the ones that are in the third cohort, There are a selection of those and I think I alluded to them in the prepared remarks, which is there is a selection of those in that bottom cohort that are in urban business districts. So think about DC, think about Midtown to Downtown Manhattan, think about Downtown Seattle. And in those isolated markets, certainly return to office appears to be something that at this point could have an unlock.

We're starting to see increased inquiries in some of those markets that historically have been particularly stubborn. I wouldn't say it's a key driver in terms of our enrollment progress to date nor going forward, but there are selection of centers that certainly will and hopefully will get assisted by return to office policies.

Josh Tan, Analyst, UBS: Great. Thank you for the color there. And in The UK, I think you mentioned a path to breakeven. Does that mean that you expect to fully get to breakeven for the full year? And if so, what are some of the initiatives beyond the ones that kind of led to last year's improvement that you're undertaking this year to drive that kind of result in The UK?

Thank you.

Steven Kramer, Chief Executive Officer, Bright Horizons: Sure. So I think we had shared in previous calls that we had an expectation of a loss within the full service segment in The UK of $15,000,000 and it's going to be actually closer to $10,000,000 this year, 2024. And certainly in 2025, our expectation is we're going to be able to get that to breakeven. I think what allowed us to do better in 2024 and start to see the kinds of improvement that we saw was down to enrollment growth. So our teams in The UK did a really nice job of growing our enrollment.

They certainly worked really diligently on getting better and more efficient staffing. And as a result, we're able to really reduce our reliance on agency third party staffing accommodations. We will continue to roll all of those efforts forward into this year 2025. And then the only other sort of additional piece of the puzzle for 2025 is that we have an expectation given that the government has announced that for zero to three year olds, there will be increased numbers of hours. So they're going to go from fifteen hours of free entitlement to thirty hours of free entitlement.

And so our expectation is that that will create some additional velocity in Q3 and Q4.

Josh Tan, Analyst, UBS: Great. Thank you for the color there and good luck in 2025.

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Thank you. Thank you.

Conference Operator: Our next question is from Toni Kaplan with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed.

Toni Kaplan, Analyst, Morgan Stanley: Thank you. Wanted to start out with enrollment trends. In third quarter and fourth quarter, You had the low single digit enrollment and you've guided to about 2.5% to 3.5% for the coming year. And this was all laid out last quarter, so I don't feel like there was a lot new here. But just what do you think has driven this lower enrollment than you had seen previously?

Just thinking about it in the post COVID period, I guess enrollment was a lot higher because you were still still sort of seeing people come back to center care. But just wanted to get your thoughts on the enrollment trends. Thanks.

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Yes. Thanks, Tony. I think the parsing it a little bit is helpful in terms of where we are actually seeing the opportunity for enrollment growth. So in our best performing centers, we are over 80% occupied. Those centers are they may for a period of time gain some enrollment.

But ultimately when you've got a center that's that full, there will always be cycling out of older children into elementary school, etcetera. So maintaining those centers in the same enrollment level means not much enrollment growth from that cohort at all. The real growth opportunity is in those centers that are sub-seventy % enrolled and that's where we have seen good improvement in the middle, sort of the middle cohort that we've characterized as 40% to 70% occupied mid single digits. We are in the stage of enrollment in those centers where it's always a little bit difficult to piece the age of children and the availability of spaces together in all cases. Where Stephen mentioned it and then we talked a little bit earlier, not as in reflecting on where the improvement has been slower than we would have expected, even though the most underperforming centers have a high percentage of enrollment gain, they're still stubbornly below 40%.

And that is in some cases, it's down to where they are located in a very urban work centric environment where there has been less opportunity to enroll families who are coming to that area. They've made other choices closer to their home. But it is also I think that the environment during the pandemic recovery for families who can afford childcare, they've explored other options and we're needing to grow back an awareness and an interest level in this kind of solution in some of these environments. So we are we're serving a population that is higher income, has other choices. We are serving generally in urban, near urban environments.

And we continue to see as we've talked about, we continue to see good enrollment at our client centers tend to be more enrolled. Centers that have been open longer tend to be more enrolled. And so those that are under enrolled may have characteristics of being what I just described or even just newer to open or reopen.

Toni Kaplan, Analyst, Morgan Stanley: Terrific. Then in backup care, you mentioned the strength in in home care. I was wondering if the financials of that are sort of higher revenue with lower margin or how to think about the profile there. And is that large enough within backup care to move the needle? Or is it still just a very nascent offering that you're providing?

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Thanks. So the in home care is, it's a really important part of the overall solution. Many families appreciate that alternative, but the majority of our care is actually is center based. It's our own centers primarily, that's the top group and then our network partners is the next group. So in home care, it's not nascent or incidental, it's an important portion of our service delivery.

And it is it's more expensive than providing care within our own centers or center based solution, but it's an important part of the overall solution in terms of providing optionality and having it meet the needs of the parent population. So we see it as continuing to grow that in home capacity. But along with that, having enough of our own center based capacity and or our network partners is certainly where economics are most optimal, but because the service delivery in the round is critical, we want to have as many care types as we can to serve the needs that the end consumer has.

Conference Operator: Thank you. Our next question is from Jeff Silber with BMO Capital Markets. Please proceed.

Michael Flanagan, Vice President, Investor Relations, Bright Horizons0: Thanks so much. Wanted to shift gears and talk a little bit about labor supply and more specifically wage inflation. I know we've started to see a tick up generally. I'm just wondering what you are seeing? And if it does go higher, do you have an opportunity to raise prices maybe mid year to offset any increase going forward?

Steven Kramer, Chief Executive Officer, Bright Horizons: Yes. So I think that we're comfortable with the estimates that we have

Manav Patnaik, Analyst, Barclays: at this

Steven Kramer, Chief Executive Officer, Bright Horizons: point. Again, we've made some significant wage investments over the last four years. So we feel good about where our employees are being compensated. Again, in addition to wage itself, we obviously invest in benefits and other ways in which we enrich the package for those in our employ. I would say that in terms of seeing wage inflation that is greater than what we expect, first, we don't expect that.

But in the event where that was the case, we always have the opportunity, especially for new families to consider that. Although again, at this point, that's not our expectation.

Michael Flanagan, Vice President, Investor Relations, Bright Horizons0: Okay. That's really helpful. And you had mentioned the share repurchase in the quarter. I know it's been a first time in a little while. I'm just curious if you can just talk about your thought process behind that.

What drove you to do that this quarter as opposed to using it for other purposes?

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Yes. I mean, we have been in the last couple of years, both between our investments in our business in Australia and sort of making sure that the overall performance is stabilized. We've been building cash over the course of this year. Certainly, have visibility to continued cash flow generation in the coming years and thought we are as opportunistic as we can be. The plan has been out there and we've just been, I think, being judicious about capital deployment, but we've got very well priced debt and it's a good option for us to be active in that plan at this time.

Michael Flanagan, Vice President, Investor Relations, Bright Horizons0: Okay, very helpful. Thanks so much.

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: You're welcome. Thank you.

Conference Operator: Our next question is from Fazza Alway with Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn). Please proceed.

Michael Flanagan, Vice President, Investor Relations, Bright Horizons1: Yes, hi, thank you. So I know you talked about potential store closings and I'm curious where do you think the utilization cohort that's below 40% utilized would be next year around this time?

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Yes. So we are, as mentioned on the call, we are about 16% or so of that group of centers that are in that bottom cohort. Pre COVID, we always have had centers in a sort of suboptimal performance group. And so getting to somewhere between sixteen percent and probably five percent or so of the portfolio is where we would target at the end of twenty twenty five based on what we would expect enrollment to grow this year and we do have some continued pruning expected. We may not be all the way to that 5% threshold, but certainly expect to see at least a few points of improvement in the overall cohort group.

I think it's a matter of improving those by enrollment gains in the centers that have been most affected. But I think overall, the look there would be that we also will have some centers that are opening and ramping. So don't want you to think that that number would ever be getting to zero.

Michael Flanagan, Vice President, Investor Relations, Bright Horizons1: Okay, okay, understood. And then just on the full service margin expansion, I know you talked about 150 basis points just coming from enrollment, etcetera. So but I'm curious, I know we talked about the margins within each of these utilization cohorts. And so could you give us an update on sort of how to think about those margins in the above 70% utilization cohort versus the 40 to 70% at this point?

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Yes. I mean, broadly speaking, the best the most enrolled centers, the group that's above 70% is essentially back to pre COVID operating margin level. So we were in the full service business, we were at 10% or so EBIT margins in those centers are certainly back to that level, even better. They were the better performers and so doing well. The middle cohort enrolled in that 40% to 70% are less than that.

They're positive, but call it more like our overall average in the mid single digits range. It's the underperforming group that 16% we were just talking about that is they are actually losing money. And so as a group, they lose some level. So we're not quoting it's not really that relevant to quote it as a percentage of revenue. They're under enrolled.

The revenue isn't that representative of where they would be if they were performing, but they are losing on a unit basis, they're losing money. So that's where the headwind and the improvement to margins will come from getting those to breakeven and then positive. And then ultimately, the bigger opportunity really is almost in that middle group of centers where, call it, 40%, forty five % or so of the centers are in that middle group and have the opportunity to move from mid single digits back closer to that 10% level.

Michael Flanagan, Vice President, Investor Relations, Bright Horizons1: Great. Thank you so much.

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: You're welcome. Thank you.

Steven Kramer, Chief Executive Officer, Bright Horizons: Okay. Thank you all very much for joining us this evening and wishing you all a great night.

Elizabeth Bolen, Chief Financial Officer, Bright Horizons: Thanks everyone. Take care.

Conference Operator: Thank you. This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time and thank you for your participation.

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