UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM
CURRENT REPORT
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Section 2 Financial Information
| Item 2.02. | Results of Operations and Financial Condition. |
On February 15, 2024, The GEO Group, Inc. (“GEO” or the “Company”) issued a press release (the “Earnings Press Release”) announcing its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2023, and issuing its financial guidance for the full year and first quarter 2024. A copy of the Earnings Press Release is furnished hereto as Exhibit 99.1. GEO also held a conference call on February 15, 2024 to discuss these matters, a transcript of which is furnished hereto as Exhibit 99.2.
In the Earnings Press Release, GEO provided Adjusted Net Income, Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (“EBITDA”) and Adjusted EBITDA, for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2023 and the comparable prior-year periods and Net Debt for the year ended December 31, 2023 that were not calculated in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (the “Non-GAAP Information”) and are presented as supplemental disclosures. Generally, for purposes of Regulation G under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Non-GAAP Information is any numerical measure of a company’s performance, financial position, or cash flows that either excludes or includes amounts that are not normally excluded or included in the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. The Earnings Press Release presents the financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP, which is the most directly comparable to the Non-GAAP Information, with a prominence equal to or greater than its presentation of the Non-GAAP Information. The Earnings Press Release also contains a reconciliation of Adjusted Net Income, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to the financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP which is the most directly comparable to the Non-GAAP Information. The Earnings Press Release also provides certain information regarding Net Debt and Net Leverage which are defined below.
EBITDA is defined as net income adjusted by adding provisions for income tax, interest expense, net of interest income, and depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA adjusted for (gain)/loss on asset divestitures, pre-tax, net loss attributable to non-controlling interests, stock-based compensation expenses, pre-tax, transaction related expenses, pre-tax, one-time employee restructuring expenses, pre-tax, other non-cash revenue and expenses, pre-tax, and certain other adjustments as defined from time to time.
Given the nature of GEO’s business as a real estate owner and operator, GEO believes that EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are helpful to investors as measures of its operational performance because they provide an indication of GEO’s ability to incur and service debt, to satisfy general operating expenses, to make capital expenditures, and to fund other cash needs or reinvest cash into its business.
GEO believes that by removing the impact of its asset base (primarily depreciation and amortization) and excluding certain non-cash charges, amounts spent on interest and taxes, and certain other charges that are highly variable from year to year, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA provide its investors with performance measures that reflect the impact to operations from trends in occupancy rates, per diem rates and operating costs, providing a perspective not immediately apparent from net income.
The adjustments GEO makes to derive the non-GAAP measures of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA exclude items which may cause short-term fluctuations in income from continuing operations and which GEO does not consider to be the fundamental attributes or primary drivers of its business plan and they do not affect its overall long-term operating performance.
EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA provide disclosure on the same basis as that used by GEO’s management and provide consistency in its financial reporting, facilitate internal and external comparisons of its historical operating performance and its business units and provide continuity to investors for comparability purposes.
Adjusted Net Income is defined as net income attributable to GEO adjusted for certain items which by their nature are not comparable from period to period or that tend to obscure GEO’s actual operating performance, including for the periods presented (gain)/loss on asset divestitures, pre-tax, (gain)/loss on the extinguishment of debt, pre-tax, transaction related expenses, pre-tax, one-time employee restructuring expense, pre-tax, and tax effect of adjustments to net income attributable to GEO.
Net Debt is defined as gross principal debt less cash from restricted subsidiaries. Net Leverage is defined as Net Debt divided by Adjusted EBITDA.
GEO has presented in the Earnings Press Release certain forward-looking statements about GEO’s future financial performance that include non-GAAP financial measures, including Net Debt, Net Leverage, and Adjusted EBITDA. The determination of the amounts that are included or excluded from these non-GAAP financial measures is a matter of management judgment and depends upon, among other factors, the nature of the underlying expense or income amounts recognized in a given period.
While GEO has provided a high level reconciliation for the guidance ranges for full year 2024, it is unable to present a more detailed quantitative reconciliation of the forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable forward-looking GAAP financial measures because management cannot reliably predict all of the necessary components of such GAAP measures. The quantitative reconciliation of the forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures will be provided for completed annual and quarterly periods, as applicable, calculated in a consistent manner with the quantitative reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures previously reported for completed annual and quarterly periods.
The Non-GAAP Information should be considered in addition to results that are prepared under current accounting standards but should not be considered a consolidated substitute for, or superior to, financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. The Non-GAAP Information may differ from similarly titled measures presented by other companies. The Non-GAAP Information, as well as other information in the Earnings Press Release, should be read in conjunction with GEO’s financial statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The information set forth in Item 2.02 in this Form 8-K is being furnished and shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section. The information set forth in Item 2.02 in this Form 8-K shall not be incorporated by reference into any registration statement or other document pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
Section 9 Financial Statements and Exhibits
| Item 9.01. | Financial Statements and Exhibits. |
| Exhibit No. |
Description | |
| 99.1 | Press Release, dated February 15, 2024, announcing GEO’s financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2023. | |
| 99.2 | Transcript of Conference Call discussing GEO’s financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2023. | |
| 104 | Cover Page Interactive Data File (embedded within the Inline XBRL document). | |
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
| THE GEO GROUP, INC. | ||||||
| February 22, 2024 | By: | /s/ Shayn P. March | ||||
| Date | Shayn P. March | |||||
| Acting Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President, Finance and Treasurer | ||||||
| (Principal Financial Officer) | ||||||
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