Xcel Brands Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2016

Company Achieves Third Consecutive Year of Double-Digit Annual Revenue Growth Up 18% to $32.8 Million

2016 GAAP Net Income of $2.7 Million; Non-GAAP Net Income of $4.9 Million

2016 Adjusted EBITDA of $8.5 Million

NEW YORK, March 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xcel Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ: XELB ) (“Xcel” or the “Company”), a media and brand management company, today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2016.

“This was a transformative year for us in which we achieved another year of double-digit revenue growth while continuing to make progress on our strategic plan to better position the company for long-term growth,” said Robert W. D'Loren, Xcel's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Despite a retail environment challenged by an unprecedented cycle of change, we continue to believe our business model has us well-positioned to deliver solutions for today’s challenges.” He further stated, “I am pleased with the expansion of our department store business with our H Halston brand at Dillard’s. We are beginning to see the return on investment from our short lead time production platform.”

Full Year 2016 Results Total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2016 increased 18% to $32.8 million, compared with $27.7 million in the prior year.

GAAP net income was $2.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2016, or $0.14 per diluted share, compared with GAAP net income of $2.6 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, in the prior year. After adjusting for certain cash and non-cash items, non-GAAP net income for the year ended December 31, 2016 decreased approximately 21% to $4.9 million, or $0.26 per diluted share, compared with $6.3 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, in the prior year. These results are primarily reflective of increased staffing and scaling of our operations and infrastructure in order to support growth in our business.

Adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2016 decreased by $0.8 million or approximately 8% to $8.5 million, compared with $9.3 million in the prior year.

See reconciliation tables below for non-GAAP metrics. These non-GAAP metrics may be inconsistent with similar measures presented by other companies and should only be used in conjunction with our results reported according to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). Any financial measure other than those prepared in accordance with GAAP should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.

The Company's balance sheet at December 31, 2016 remains strong, with stockholders' equity of $106.2 million, cash and cash equivalents of approximately $14.1 million, and working capital of approximately $11.5 million.

Fourth Quarter 2016 Total revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 decreased approximately 7% to $6.9 million, compared with $7.5 million for the prior year quarter. This was primarily attributable to strong headwinds experienced by our interactive television partner QVC in the latter part of 2016.

GAAP net income was $2.8 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2016, or $0.14 per diluted share, compared with net income of $0.8 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, in the prior year quarter. After adjusting for certain cash and non-cash items, non-GAAP net income for the quarter ended December 31, 2016 was $0.3 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, compared with $2.1 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, in the prior year quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter ended December 31, 2016 decreased by approximately 52% to $1.4 million, compared with $3.0 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2015.

Conference Call and Webcast The Company will host a conference call with members of the executive management team to discuss these results with additional comments and details at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, March 21, 2017. A webcast of the conference call will be available live on the Investor Relations section of Xcel's website at www.xcelbrands.com . Interested parties unable to access the conference call via the webcast may dial 888-542-1101. A replay of the conference call will be available on the Company website for 30 days following the event and can be accessed at 844-512-2921 using replay pin number 4121068.

About Xcel Brands Xcel Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ: XELB ) is a media and brand management company engaged in the design, production, licensing, marketing, and direct-to-consumer sales of branded apparel, footwear, accessories, jewelry, home goods, and other consumer products, and the acquisition of dynamic consumer lifestyle brands. Xcel was founded by Robert W. D’Loren in 2011 with a vision to reimagine shopping, entertainment, and social as one. Xcel owns and manages the Isaac Mizrahi, Judith Ripka, H Halston, C. Wonder, and Highline Collective brands, pioneering a ubiquitous sales strategy which includes the promotion and sale of products under its brands through direct-response television, internet, brick and mortar retail, and e-commerce channels. Headquartered in New York City, Xcel Brands is led by an executive team with significant production, merchandising, design, marketing, retailing, and licensing experience, and a proven track record of success in elevating branded consumer products companies.  With a team of over 100 professionals focused on design, production, and digital marketing, Xcel maintains control of product quality and promotion across all of its product categories and distribution channels.  Xcel differentiates by design.  www.xcelbrands.com

Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release, including statements regarding future events, our future financial performance, business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. We have attempted to identify forward-looking statements by terminology including "anticipates," "believes," "can," "continue," "ongoing," "could," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "may," "appears," "suggests," "future," "likely," "goal," "plans," "potential," "projects," "predicts," "seeks," "should," "would," "guidance," "confident" or "will" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our anticipated revenue, expenses, profitability, strategic plans and capital needs. These statements are based on information available to us on the date hereof and our current expectations, estimates and projections and are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, including, without limitation, the risks discussed in the "Risk Factors" section and elsewhere in the Company's Annual Report on form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and its other filings with the SEC, which may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all risk factors, nor can we address the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause our actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Except as expressly required by the federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or any other reason. 

Non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted EPS are non-GAAP unaudited terms. We define non-GAAP net income as net income, exclusive of stock-based compensation, non-cash interest expense from discounted debt related to acquired assets, gain on the reduction of contingent obligations, loss on extinguishment of debt, non-recurring facility exit charges, and net income or loss from discontinued operations. Non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted EPS measures do not include the tax effect of the aforementioned adjusting items, due to the nature of these items and the Company’s tax strategy.

Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP unaudited measure, which we define as net income before stock-based compensation, interest and other financing costs, loss on extinguishment of debt, gain on the reduction of contingent obligations, income taxes, other state and local franchise taxes, depreciation and amortization, non-recurring facility exit charges, and net income or loss from discontinued operations.

Management uses non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted EPS, and Adjusted EBITDA as measures of operating performance to assist in comparing performance from period to period on a consistent basis and to identify business trends relating to our results of operations. Management believes non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted EPS, and Adjusted EBITDA are also useful because they provide supplemental information to assist investors in evaluating our financial results. Non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted EPS, and Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as alternatives to net income, earnings per share, or any other measure of financial performance calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. Given that non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted EPS, and Adjusted EBITDA are financial measures not deemed to be in accordance with GAAP and are susceptible to varying calculations, our non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted EPS, and Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies, including companies in our industry, because other companies may calculate non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted EPS, and Adjusted EBITDA in a different manner than we calculate these measures. In evaluating non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted EPS, and Adjusted EBITDA, you should be aware that in the future we may or may not incur expenses similar to some of the adjustments in this document. Our presentation of non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted EPS, and Adjusted EBITDA does not imply that our future results will be unaffected by these expenses or any unusual or non-recurring items. When evaluating our performance, you should consider non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted EPS, and Adjusted EBITDA alongside other financial performance measures, including our net income and other GAAP results, and not rely on any single financial measure.

For further information please contact: Hunter Wells / John Mills ICR 646-277-1246 Hunter.wells@icrinc.com / John.mills@icrinc.com