Public Policy Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 10, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Full-year guidance was raised following three acquisitions. PPHC now expects 2026 revenue of $213 million-$216 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $48.5 million-$50.5 million, while maintaining approximately 5% organic growth expectations.
  • Positive Sentiment: First-half revenue rose 16.3% year over year to $102.3 million, including 4.4% organic growth, and Adjusted EBITDA increased 9.3% to $23.4 million. Government Relations was particularly strong, delivering 6% organic growth for the half, while Compliance & Insight Services grew at a low-to-mid-teens rate.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management highlighted a strong balance sheet and continued M&A capacity: net debt fell to $5.2 million from $42.2 million a year earlier, despite dividends and acquisition spending. The company says its pipeline remains active, with a typical target of three to four acquisitions annually focused on differentiated capabilities, strategic geographies, and attractive margins.
  • Negative Sentiment: Second-quarter Adjusted EBITDA declined 4.4% year over year, primarily due to a difficult comparison, higher Nasdaq-related and corporate platform costs, and increased holding-company expenses. Corporate Communications & Public Affairs organic revenue declined 1% in the first half, including a 3% decrease in Q2 against a particularly strong post-election comparison.
  • Negative Sentiment: Adjusted free cash flow fell to $4.1 million in the first half from $11.7 million a year earlier, reflecting annual bonus payments and elevated accounts-receivable investment. Management expects cash flow to accelerate in the second half, but the company has not yet fully recovered the working-capital outflow.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Public Policy Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to PPHC's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would like now to turn the conference over to Matthew Mazzanti, Chief Administrative Officer. Please go ahead.

Matthew Mazzanti
Chief Administrative Officer at PPHC

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon. With me today are Stewart Hall, our Chief Executive Officer, Roel Smits, our Chief Financial Officer, and Thomas Gensemer, our Chief Strategy Officer. Before we begin, please note that the following remarks and presentation include forward-looking statements and non-GAAP financial data. Forward-looking statements about the company, including those related to earnings guidance, are subject to uncertainties and risks, factors addressed in the company's SEC filings. For further details of the non-GAAP financial figures discussed in this presentation, including reconciliations to the nearest GAAP figures, please refer to the financial appendix in the investor presentation available on our website, investors.pphcompany.com. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Stewart.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

Thanks, Matthew, and thanks to everyone who's joining us this afternoon. The first half of the year developed broadly as we expected, and we're pleased with both the performance of the business and the progress we've made against our overall strategy. At the highest level, revenue in the first half increased 16.3% year-over-year to $102.3 million. That was organic growth included in that of 4.4%. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $23.4 million, up 9.3%, representing a margin toward the top end of the range that we previously had communicated. Just as importantly, the business strengthened as the half progressed as it usually does. In the second quarter, we delivered revenue of $52.1 million, continued organic growth and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 23.5%, an improvement from the first quarter and consistent with the seasonally adjusted numbers that we discussed on our last call.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

Following this performance and our recent acquisitions, we're raising our full-year revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance. Roel will take you through that more thoroughly in our quarterly results and revised outlook and the underlying drivers in greater detail shortly. Halfway through the year, we're delivering how we said we would. The outlook for the business has strengthened, and we retain the balance sheet capacity to continue executing our strategy. Additionally, on results, we reported a GAAP loss of $3.7 million in the quarter, a nearly 35% improvement year-over-year. I want to take a moment and really discuss that number because the direction of travel is significant here, and especially as we enter the second half of 2026 and the beginning of 2027. The story behind it hasn't changed, but it's worth repeating plainly.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

The largest difference between our GAAP and our management P&L is the approximately $30 million a year non-cash share-based comp charge that resulted from our 2021 London listing, subjecting shares issued at that time to employee owners to a five-year vesting schedule. This charge will fully amortize at the end of this year, and we are looking forward to it dropping off and the positive effect we believe it will have on our GAAP financials. Roel, again, will jump into this in a bit more detail. On M&A, we continue to execute a disciplined strategy. We closed on three deals this year, including our long-desired presence in Florida with the addition of The Advocacy Partners on August 1st. All three transactions follow the same principles we stick to in M&A. We added a differentiated capability with each acquisition. They were margin accretive.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

They extended our reach where clients need us, and they link future purchase consideration to future performance. Thomas will go into these in more detail as well toward the end of the call. Before we go into the financials, a word on AI. It is a question that we hear from investors often, and it deserves a very direct answer from us. We believe PPHC is very well positioned for the continued adoption of AI across industries for three main reasons. One is our business structure. Two is the demand that AI clients and AI issues are generating for our services. And three, the operating leverage that AI itself provides for our senior-heavy workforce. First, let us talk about structure. We do not do hourly billing, but in a very, very small % of our engagements.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

By default, firms that bill by the hour are built on a pyramid of junior staff that sell output that any capable model can reproduce now in seconds. And they are in an existential period, and they need reinvention. That is not our model. Roughly 90% of our revenue is retainer-based, and our annual client retention of that revenue is 80%-85%.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

That remaining revenue that we do take in on top of that is project-based, but what that just means is that it is a short-term engagement by design tied to deliverables, but it is not billed against hours. Our clients buy senior counsel that drives outcomes and on issues that are vital to their businesses, not billable time, not consumer-oriented campaigns, and not markup on entry-level hours. There is no pyramid at PPHC for AI to compress. Unlike sectors where the fear is shrinking the fee pool, our core market is expanding.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

Federal lobbying spending set a record last year, roughly $5 billion, and grew at its fastest pace since 2008. Second, demand. When we look at AI, we do not see a threat to defend against. We actually see a tailwind driving our growth. AI is now one of the most active policy issues in the country at every level of government. At state level, we have tracked over 1,800 AI-related bills in 47 states, and that is a twelvefold increase over three years. Since 2025, our firms have been engaged by roughly 60 new clients whose core business itself is AI. That is everyone from model developers and AI native companies to the chip designers, hyperscalers, and data center builders behind them. Companies that need some subset of our services, often very early in their journey.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

And also it's important to note, clients across energy technology, healthcare, and financial services are retaining us to work on the same issues, because AI now touches their regulatory agenda, whether they build the technology or simply deploy it. Third is operating leverage. We're deploying AI workflows inside our own business. So our senior advisors spend less time assembling research and more time on judgment, strategy, and the advocacy services clients hire us for. Virtually none of our revenue depends on reselling the hours that AI eliminates for other firms. Commodity work gets automated. The work we do, senior led, built on client trust, is worth more as AI proliferates, and that's where PPHC sits. In conclusion, we think the environment remains favorable for our business. Federal lobbying continues at record levels. State-level activity remains intense.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

The 2026 midterm cycle is adding to client demand for intelligence, advocacy, and strategic communication support following this election cycle. This is exactly the operating backdrop the company was constructed for, and we continue to execute against quarter after quarter. With that, I'll hand it over to Roel for a closer look at the numbers. Roel?

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

Thank you, Stewart. I'm going to focus on four areas. On overall growth and profitability, on our results by segments, on our cash generation. Today I'm going to start with our guidance. We are very pleased to update our financial guidance for the full year 2026, following the several M&A transactions that we've announced. I'm really referring to WPI on April 1st, Tancredi on July 1st, and as of last week, the acquisition of The Advocacy Partners in Florida as of August 1st. Based on our ongoing expectation that we will deliver approximately 5% organic growth in combination with the aforementioned acquisitions, we're now anticipating reported revenue to come out in the range of $213 million-$216 million, and adjusted EBITDA in the range of $48.5 million-$50.5 million at a margin between 22.5% and 23.5%.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

Compared to our previous guidance, this represents approximately an additional $8 million in revenue, $2.5 million in adjusted EBITDA, and a margin range that is 50 basis points higher than our previous guidance. What has not changed is that we continue to expect strong free cash flow conversion in the balance of the year, consistent with our normal second half weighting. First, to set things up, a quick overview emphasizing that we're really pleased with how the year has been progressing so far. We've grown revenues by 16.3%, including a healthy dose of organic growth. Alongside, our profit has gone up and we've controlled our margin in a way that we're able to reiterate and strengthen the guidance that I just gave you. So let's look at the financial highlights. Here's a chart that captures our primary KPIs, both for the three months and the six months.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

Revenue in the second quarter was $52 million, up 7% year-over-year, of which 3.9% was organic and the balance came from acquisitions, primarily WPI Strategy in London that was acquired in Q2. We were pleased with the organic growth of 3.9%, especially because this was up against a very strong comparable of 10% organic growth in last year's Q2. For the first half, revenue was $102 million, up 16% with organic growth of 4.4%, consistent with the approximately 5% average organic growth that underpins our outlook. When we go to adjusted EBITDA, after six months, it was at $23.4 million at a 22.9% margin, which is indeed at the top end of the range of 22%-23% that we previously communicated for the full year.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

When comparing ourselves to last year for the six months, we were up 9%, and for the three months, we were down 4.4%. I want to be very explicit about the three factors that drive the relatively modest level of Q2 year-on-year adjusted EBITDA growth, or decline rather. First, there is this already aforementioned relatively strong comparable from Q2 2025, when we delivered a 10% organic growth at a 26% margin. That's what we were battling against this quarter. Second, we saw the predicted increase of our corporate costs come through as a direct result of U.S. public company costs we are incurring due to our Nasdaq listing, and also the continued build out of our central platform and all the associated advisory costs. Finally, as a third factor, there's also the relative change in business mix between our three segments.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

Although, I would say that the impact thereof is relatively light this year. You will see in a later chart that I'll bring up that the underlying operating business actually remained very resilient with the blended margin of the three operating segments broadly stable. That means that the reduction in our adjusted EBITDA margin really reflected the higher holding company costs rather than changes in our operating companies, and such was also anticipated in our March guidance. Now let's move to adjusted net income. For the first six months, adjusted net income was $17.9 million, up 15%. That was a good result. It was positively impacted by a reduction in our interest charges because our cash and debt positions have both improved due to debt repayments and, of course, having the IPO money on our balance sheet.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

This was partially outweighed, not visible here, by one-off M&A expenses being heavier this year to the tune of $800,000 year-on-year increase. The final explaining factor for adjusted net income is the tax rate. But for the six months, the effective tax rate was approximately even to last year. However, on a quarter-by-quarter basis, there was a significant swing. As I explained last quarter, the phasing of a tax provision across the quarters is heavily impacted by our GAAP results and the forecasts thereof. Therefore, the quarterly rates are typically not really indicative of where we will land for the full year. Now, let's go to EPS. Our GAAP loss per share for the six months improved from a year ago to a -$0.68 per share.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

Adjusted fully diluted EPS, which is the measure most of us will look at, was $0.34 per share for the quarter and $0.59 per share for the first half, which is down $0.015 versus the prior year. That is a modest result on EPS, but it really is actually a very good result if one realizes that the good result in the numerator, i.e., the movement in adjusted net income, was getting offset by an increase in the denominator, i.e., in the share count. A reminder, our weighted average share count increased by 70% year-over-year, principally as a result of the Nasdaq IPO in January. That dilution provided us the capital that reduced our net debt almost to a net cash position, and it is also funding the acquisition agenda that Thomas will describe. There are dividends.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

As a reminder, in Q2, we paid our customary final dividend of $0.24 per share this year, which equaled to approximately $7 million cash outflow. Adjusted free cash flow for the first half was $4.1 million, compared to $11.7 million in the first half of last year. This is a step down that clearly not aligns with the growth we are posting elsewhere in our P&L. Let me be very precise about what is driving it and why we are not so concerned about the trajectory as a company with a historically very high adjusted free cash flow conversion. The two factors. The first was the lower cash flow in H1, which is an expected outcome of the fact that our free cash flow generation is structurally weighted towards the second half, given that in the first half, we paid annual bonuses to our staff.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

Secondly, we had in this first half a relatively high investment in working capital in 2026, primarily in accounts receivable. We already mentioned this factor in Q1, and I will admit it has taken us longer to regain ground on it. But right now, we see the impact of various actions that we put on the way, and we expect that working capital investment will lessen as the year progresses further. Taken altogether, we are confident that adjusted free cash flow will accelerate in the second half and will convert in line with our normal pattern. That brings me to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $36.9 million of cash against a total debt of $42 million, which results in a net debt position of $5.2 million, which you can compare against the $42.2 million at this point last year.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

This is after the $7 million dividend payment in May and after the cash consideration for the acquisition of WPI. Obviously, it does not yet reflect the closing payments we made early Q3 for the acquisitions of Tancredi and The Advocacy Partners, which total $28 million. Overall, we remain in a position of real balance sheet strength with ample flexibility for continued earnings accretive M&A. Now let us look at the segments. Starting with organic growth, organic revenue growth. In this chart at the top, you see the organic growth for the past four years, and at the bottom, you see a quarterly breakout for the past two years. Going from left to right, one can see that Government Relations, here depicted in dark blue and always remaining our anchor activity, 58% of our total business, it accelerated its growth.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

6% organic growth for the half year, with 5% organic growth in the first quarter being followed by 7.4% in the second quarter. Corporate Communications & Public Affairs has shown a relatively muted growth this first half year at -1%, with the quarter so far being +3% in Q1 and -3% in Q2. However, it's important to also look back and see the strong comparable of last year, especially in this last segment, i.e., in Corporate Communications & Public Affairs. You can see here that last year we recorded 22% organic growth in Q2 due to an exceptional flow of post-election project work. That puts this year's muted growth in a different spotlight. Finally, Compliance & Insight Services, which represents 7% of our business, keeps growing at double digits, this year in the low to mid-teens.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

Now we go to margin performance, and we are introducing this new chart as it does a very clear job of showing the reason of our year-on-year margin decline, in this case, depicted for Q2. One can see that the segments keep scoring margins at approximately the same levels as last year, leading to a blended segment margin before bonus of 39.5%, only half a point down from last year. But below that blended segment margin, one can see the impact the holdco costs have on the margin. The holdco costs went from 6% of revenue last year to 8.2% of revenue this year. As previously mentioned, that was primarily as a result of the IPO cost and the associated investments we had to make in staff, tech stack, and advisors. Finally, the bonus pool remained actually steady at 7.8%.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

Together, these factors lead us to the adjusted EBITDA margin we're presenting today. We believe this picture shows very clearly that the margin erosion that we currently experience is not so much a function of our business results, but merely of our holdco investments. As I did last quarter, I'm going to skip the charts covering the full management P&L, cash flow, and net debt position, but they're in this deck and the appendix for your later reference. After having reviewed these financials, I would like to make one more observation that reinforces the point that Stewart made earlier on the GAAP results. In this chart, one sees our GAAP results for a number of periods. At the bottom, we also show what the GAAP results would have looked like had it not been for the share-based accounting charge.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

As we have explained in each of our filings since 2021, this share-based accounting charge is a remnant of our 2021 London listing and has no cash impact or share dilutive impact. As Stewart noted, this amortization charge will fully roll off at the end of this fiscal year. As of 2027, that single expiring item will greatly affect our GAAP profitability, and in many periods, we're going to likely present positive GAAP profits. As of that time, the primary remaining non-cash item sitting in between our management results and the GAAP results are going to be our non-cash M&A related charges, which all relate to the specific fact that in our M&A model, the way we structure our deals, we make significant portions of the purchase price subject to vesting and continued employment.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

That in itself results in P&L charges, and they are here to stay, and they will continue to suppress the GAAP results. However, with the disappearance of the share-based accounting charge, we believe the GAAP results will look a whole lot better. With that, I am going to hand it over to Thomas. Thomas?

Thomas Gensemer
Thomas Gensemer
Chief Strategy Officer at PPHC

Thanks, Roel. I would like to focus my remarks on a few threads Stewart opened because the quarter gave us important examples of each. Starting with talent, because our growth strategy remains fundamentally talent-focused, recruiting and retaining the best people for our markets. First is talent via M&A, and I want to give you the strategist version of the three deals Stewart covered earlier, because both are precise examples of our stated criteria. We invest against capability and geography, in that order. WPI brings economics grounded capability and bolstered our scale in London. A win-win. On this, the early cross-sell is telling. Here is a timely example. WPI, now part of our Pagefield Group, just sold an important piece of work to one of California's based clients via KP Public Affairs. Their economics expertise is globally applicable.

Thomas Gensemer
Thomas Gensemer
Chief Strategy Officer at PPHC

In fact, their Chief Economist, Martin Beck, has started getting media attention in the U.S. for his work, including recently in Dow Jones and in Reuters, as he broadens his visibility via PPHC. Similarly, Tancredi, which closed in July, is a powerhouse addition by way of its advisory capabilities. They add geographic depth to TrailRunner and deepen our collective strength in the highest value area of communications work, crisis, litigation, and financial special situations. Another win-win. Most recently, just in fact last week, The Advocacy Partners gave us a strong entry into the state of Florida. We have said that we need to be in Florida for years now, given its significance, politically and economically, and we finally found the right team to bring into the group. Keep in mind, Florida's economy would rank 14th in the world. Like California, a very critical market for us.

Thomas Gensemer
Thomas Gensemer
Chief Strategy Officer at PPHC

In addition to being an excellent team, they have all the features of a standout Government Relations firm, superb margins, and highly recurring retained revenue from a blue-chip client base. You heard me say last quarter, as we expand our base in key U.S. states, in Europe and beyond, we are definitely not putting dots on the map for the purposes of coverage. Indeed, we are seeking and convincing world-class entrepreneurs and market leading practitioners who seek to join a different kind of global platform. Our unique multi-branded operating model also appeals to leading individual talents. Outside of an M&A situation too, our operating brands represent distinct political relevance in their jurisdictions. They have unique firm cultures and diverse leadership, which is attractive to professionals looking for entrepreneurial issue-rich career opportunities. Our public company status and incentive stock programs makes PPHC a unique career opportunity in the sector.

Thomas Gensemer
Thomas Gensemer
Chief Strategy Officer at PPHC

Finally, portfolio integration and client diversification, because the model keeps proving itself in the numbers. Our top 10 clients now represent 7.5% of revenue, down from 9.4% a year ago. That is with integration and collaboration increasingly meaningful. Extrapolating further, my favorite stat to boast, no single client is more than 2% of the business. We ended the half with approximately 1,500 clients, including roughly half of the Fortune 100, and the revenue mix continues to diversify as well. There remains no meaningful client concentration risk in our business. A quick update on our post-M&A integrations. TrailRunner International is now past its first year and performing above expectations. Pine Cove Strategies continues to deliver on the Texas state-based theory, and WPI Strategy's first quarter with Pagefield is tracking to plan. Finally, the M&A pipeline, it remains very active.

Thomas Gensemer
Thomas Gensemer
Chief Strategy Officer at PPHC

Dozens of firms at various stages with the same mix of capability in North America, U.K., mainland Europe, Middle East, and Asia. Our sweet spot is unchanged. Businesses in the $10 million-$30 million revenue range, which can contribute to our premium margin profile and with a clear cross-selling capability into the existing portfolio. Competition for these assets remain dominated by private equity platforms and our differentiation is the same as it has always been. The market-leading scale of our Government Relations business, the policy expertise across the platform, and our public company status. With that, I will hand it back to Stewart.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

Thanks so much, Thomas. Let me pull it together with the same framing we used last quarter, because a quarter on, it still holds up. First, stability. The retainer base, the client retention, and the lack of meaningful revenue concentration, all as Thomas spoke of just now. Second, profitability. First half adjusted EBITDA up year-over-year with margins holding steady and well inside of our full year guidance range. The GAAP picture is improving on schedule as we noted twice with the approximately 30 million share base comp charge from the London listing fully amortizing at the end of this year and putting us on a path to have GAAP results more closely reflect our management P&L. Third, growth.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

Our base delivered 4.4% organic growth in the first half against a very tough comparable, and our disciplined M&A continues with three deals closed year to date and a robust pipeline that remains under active consideration. Four, the most important, and I always mention this, is our people. The reason any of this works. 200+ of our 476 employees have some form of equity instrument, including more than 150 with outright stock ownership. This model is built around keeping our best talent as employee owners, bringing the next generation into ownership, and aligning the interest of our employees with the overall success of the business.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

The first half played out the way we told you it would and the way we expected it to, with steady organic growth, disciplined M&A, margins at the high end of our previous guidance, and a balance sheet that gives us room to keep executing on our strategy. As always, I appreciate your time and your continued interest in PPHC, and we'll turn it over to the operator for questions.

Operator

Thank you. As a reminder to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Our first question is going to come from Jason Tilchen with Canaccord Genuity. Your line is open.

Jason Tilchen
Jason Tilchen
Analyst at Canaccord Genuity

Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for taking my questions. To start, with the three deals you've completed so far this year, can you now give us a refreshed look at your top priorities in terms of an M&A checklist and how the most active part of your current pipeline aligns with that checklist?

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

Jason, I'll let Thomas add any flavor he wants, but this is Stewart. I'll take that first. Thank you for being here with us today. In short, it remains as we've repeatedly laid it out, which is, as Thomas said again, geography capability along with the people and the margin profile that make it fit the overall mix of the company properly. Is it complementary in one way or another or not? I think, obviously, we still maintain a very healthy pipeline. We continue to evaluate opportunities regularly. I think that, again, we will continue to look at geographic expansion, as well as, again, capability adds. I would probably say in terms of our actual business mix, we like where we sit now. I think adding our first lobbying property in quite a while in The Advocacy Partners last week was significant.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

I think, again, it shows and I hope it demonstrates to people that we're committed to our base of Government Relations as our highest margin business. We're going to continue to pursue those along with other selected communications assets, which either enhance the Corporate Communications & Public Affairs side of the equation or again, are additive to our PA comms. Thomas, you got anything you want to add to that?

Thomas Gensemer
Thomas Gensemer
Chief Strategy Officer at PPHC

Yeah. I'd only add that to emphasize Stewart's point, that we really like the lobbying anchor, because of just the nature of the client relationship. The fact that's where we started from, where the differentiation versus our sort of peer set is. Without giving too much away, there are some key geographies that we still see both immediate client need and positive growth. We've managed so far to do the international thing without margin accretion. All the margin accretion we've seen has just been at the whole company level based on the listings. London into Europe, into other places where we can still maintain this premium and unlock new client wallets is really important.

Thomas Gensemer
Thomas Gensemer
Chief Strategy Officer at PPHC

They also are small sized enough that they could be acqui hires, they could be outright hires or, in the case of like The Advocacy Partners or Tancredi, they were sort of sweet spot sized partnerships of a relatively small set of people. So we'll continue to deploy the firepower and the hiring around key talent when it comes available.

Jason Tilchen
Jason Tilchen
Analyst at Canaccord Genuity

Okay. That was very helpful. I guess the follow-up there, understanding that because of sort of business secrets and whatnot, you may not be able to share full details, but in terms of geography, when we spoke sort of six months ago, the U.K. and Florida were both on that priority list. With those being checked off, is it fair to say that maybe New York, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, have shifted up that list? Similarly, on the tech side, is there anything with the evolving AI landscape? Is there anything from a capability standpoint that you're certainly looking at adding via M&A rather than doing organically?

Thomas Gensemer
Thomas Gensemer
Chief Strategy Officer at PPHC

On the second question, you're sharp on the list. That's right, the reshuffling only broader points of Europe, I continue to emphasize the need of Brussels as to our operating companies and clients. On the AI side, there's so much innovation happening there. We'll get something or more every day about platforms that are targeting our space or adjacencies. We feel comfortable having been really promoting the usage of a mix of tools across the different operating companies and holding our powder a little bit because there's still a lot to be sorted in how this will be. We've invested in some tools for our group, for users, and promoted some use cases, and are watching how clients are demanding and restricting usage. It's super interesting. Nothing to invest in yet, but for that.

Jason Tilchen
Jason Tilchen
Analyst at Canaccord Genuity

Okay, great. Very helpful. Then one last quick one for Roel. I know there was a lockup that was set to unlock, I should say, around six months after the U.S. listing. Can you just provide some additional detail on the exact timing of when that happened, or when that is going to happen in the near future here, and the magnitude of that as well?

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

Yes. Yeah, that half year lock-up actually started on at the time for IPO end of January. So that's now over because it expired at the end of July. We have, of course, since been still in a blackout period. So our employees have not been able to trade. We'll need to see to what extent people are looking to sell right now. Our expectation as management is that we're not going to see a whole lot of selling. But okay, we will need to see how that develops now in these days after the announcement of the results when we're out of our blackout.

Jason Tilchen
Jason Tilchen
Analyst at Canaccord Genuity

Great. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question will come from Scott Schneeberger with Oppenheimer. Your line's open.

Scott Schneeberger
Scott Schneeberger
Analyst at Oppenheimer

It's Scott. Thanks very much. Hey, Stewart. Good afternoon, all. Stewart, great overview on AI. I found that was very well laid out. I think I'll start. This sounds like a question for Roel, but Stewart, I'd like to hear your thoughts, too. With the new guidance and obviously unannounced acquisitions aside, what are some drivers that would put you feeling good at the high end? What are some things out there that make you nervous maybe toward the low end? Thanks.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

Shall I take this?

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

Yeah, go ahead, Roel, then I'll provide just a tad of color after you're done.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

Yes, absolutely. Scott, I think the variability of our guidance is really driven by the unknown about our project work. Our project work can go up, can go down. We've had many years where certain big projects suddenly come up, and it's very hard to predict for those. So I would say that is first and foremost the biggest driver of change. All the other bits we actually have a very good visibility on.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

The only thing I'd like to add to that too is that the one thing that is extremely encouraging is to have had lobbying grow at 6%. It wasn't all federal. Our assets did pretty well across the globe that we defined as Government Relations. That converts, again, at a much higher profit rate than comms does.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

As a result, we get more uplift on average from lobbying growth, and it really is demonstrating the first half of this year was really positive. I think that, as much as anything, provides me some level of comfort within the range as Roel's provided. I think more to the point is that we've seen this pattern before with PA comms in even numbered years, getting a little bit flatish in the first and second quarters of an even numbered year. We saw a pretty big pickup toward the very end of 2024. You never want to, as Roel says, or intimated, you never want to count your chickens before you hatch. We've seen these patterns before, but the lobbying uplift really to me is what's driving my positive feelings about the year.

Scott Schneeberger
Scott Schneeberger
Analyst at Oppenheimer

Great, thanks. That segues nicely to my next question, which was just that. Looking at second quarter last year, Roel, I'm on slide 23 for reference, but it was a really strong second quarter last year, and you grew nicely on top of that. The question is, what is driving the strength in lobbying, maybe beyond seasonality or odd and even number years? Clearly, there's some tailwind. What are you seeing maybe across some of those end market trends?

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

I think, Scott, there's a macro trend against it where we just continue to see government be more active at every level. I think one thing we're seeing too is some uplift too from the fact that our state government operations continue to get more robust as well. A lot of states are going through constitutional office elections. Obviously, legislative seats are up too this year, just like the federal level. We've really, I think, seen the macro trend that really is kind of the basis of all of PPHC, or at least its original founding, which was the growth of the size of government and the activity that any social or economic changing factor, whether it be technology, be practices, et cetera, that are new, will drive political interest and lead people to obviously have to look after their interests.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

I think, again, you go back to the AI example. That's not all of that growth, but it's significant that there's an issue that wasn't as heavily in the ecosystem last year, but this year has really come to the fore at every level of our practices, state, federal, and local. I think there's a macro trend there. I think the micro trend is probably that, again, frankly, in the federal sector, the president does drive a certain level of activity across a number of issue areas. That continues apace as well in Washington. Again, we're kind of seeing this across the board.

Scott Schneeberger
Scott Schneeberger
Analyst at Oppenheimer

Great, thanks. Just last one from me. It is referencing slide 32, just client base, nearly half the Fortune 100 is quite impressive. Can you speak to mix of lobbying versus strategic communication and maybe hit on cross-sell since you have this great base and how that is working within the organization? Thanks.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

Roel, you want to comment on that?

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

Yes. The relative size, is that your first question about the relative size between strategic communication and lobbying?

Scott Schneeberger
Scott Schneeberger
Analyst at Oppenheimer

Yeah, mix, essentially, Roel.

Roel Smits
CFO at PPHC

Yes, exactly. No, listen, we expect actually now for the remainder of this year, of course, the mix to remain roughly the same given that we bought a little bit of strategic comms and a bit of lobbying. Margin-wise, I also suspect that this year is going to be fairly, I would say, level compared to prior year. We provided that one extra chart now where you can really see that actually overall, the business has delivered very, very resilient margins overall, and that it was indeed more the corporate overhead that has gone up a little bit, driving overall margin down. I would say for our overall business picture in the three segments, I don't anticipate too much change in relative weight and more in margins of each of these segments.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

I guess, Scott, the other piece of your question was really alluding to cross-sell and intercompany business development. Again, I think that momentum continues to pick up. I'm not going to quote any exact internal metrics for you, but the fact is, there's more and more work that is going out now that is involving more than one company under a unified contract vehicle, meaning that they are pulling on the best of the best from each of the disciplines, whether that be a researcher/data scientist combined with a comms group, combined with a lobbying effort at whatever level it's needed at.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

Seeing a lot more of that moving across the transom, a lot more activity driven by our chief client officer's efforts for a full year now that are really starting to pay fruit to really pull people together and practice horizontals across the globe, in which people are really more directly now in touch with their colleagues and working regularly every week, every month together on these larger cross-company mandates. We really feel like it's all coming together. I think one year in, little plus with TrailRunner International our firm belief that their skill sets were absolutely needed and integral to the Government Relations and public affairs side has proven absolutely correct. They've gotten a good bit of inbound from their sister companies and vice versa. We're certainly seeing that sometimes their skill sets might lend themselves a little more toward their skill sets rather than PA comms.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

Our lobbyists and others, government affairs practitioners, are recognizing that. Again, I think the interplay between those two sides has been firmly validated a year in.

Scott Schneeberger
Scott Schneeberger
Analyst at Oppenheimer

Great. Thank you all.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Sam Dindol with Stifel. Your line's open.

Sam Dindol
Sam Dindol
Analyst at Stifel

Hi, guys. Hope you're well.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

Hey, Sam.

Sam Dindol
Sam Dindol
Analyst at Stifel

Good results. Hi, sure. Two questions for me, please. Firstly, on senior talent hires, obviously good progress there. Are more people picking up the phone to you now given you're U.S. listed and the good progress you're making?

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

I think there's no doubt about it. I think we've seen both more inbound from the sell side for firms from bankers, again, because of raised awareness, our activity in the M&A market, which obviously doesn't hurt to think that someone might be a good fit with us and to refer us for a look at things. On the talent intake side, I don't think there's any doubt about that as well. Made some key adds. TrailRunner International added Alden Mitchell, who's the former Interim Athletic Director at Stanford, to be the head of the sports division there. We've had some other selected ones. But again, really quality adds. They're setting us up well for the future.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

But again, I think people are interested in being part of this platform at a time where many people, especially in the comms industry or with platforms that may be in some level of distress, whether that's because of AI or just refocusing their efforts in other areas.

Sam Dindol
Sam Dindol
Analyst at Stifel

Yeah. Just lastly from me, I think you previously said on M&A, three to four deals a year may be the right level. I think you've done three this year already-

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

Yeah.

Sam Dindol
Sam Dindol
Analyst at Stifel

Which is very good. Do you still think that is the right level, or do you think you go a bit quicker than that, or is there an integration element that you want to go?

Thomas Gensemer
Thomas Gensemer
Chief Strategy Officer at PPHC

Sam, there is an integration element for sure. Then all of them, I think it is always dangerous to call yourself a well-oiled machine because things change. But the integration efforts sort of start from day one and the rationalization of everything. Three to four still feels like the pace that we will operate at. And that is not saying there will be one more. It is just how we have been at this for 10 years and how we see the organization evolving each day. Yeah, I think we are opportunistic at a faster pace. I indicated in my remarks how that sort of sweet spot is $10 million-$30 million in revenue. There are still things out there that we would always bucket as sort of transformational that are bigger, but we stay sort of focused in our lanes and our regions. And the pipeline remains strong.

Thomas Gensemer
Thomas Gensemer
Chief Strategy Officer at PPHC

We are pleased with both the pace of how they are coming online and then obviously the integration success thereafter.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

The only quick thing I would add to what Thomas said is that we have a really low leverage ratio. We are not finance. We have been paying for our acquisitions for this year from IPO and balance sheet cash. Frankly, as Sam, if the right thing, as Thomas alluded to, comes along or things, we are not going to hesitate as long as we maintain a prudent leverage ratio and a low leverage ratio, which we have always liked. We are not going to shy away from trying to see those things work and certainly to give them every shot if they meet our metrics.

Sam Dindol
Sam Dindol
Analyst at Stifel

Brilliant. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. I am showing no further questions in the queue at this time.

Stewart Hall
CEO at PPHC

Well, thanks, everybody, for joining us today. Obviously, to our investor relations people, primarily Matthew Mazzanti here at the company, who is our Chief Administrative Officer. We are always happy to schedule follow-up and talk further. We appreciate your time, your attention, and your interest in PPHC today.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.

Executives
Analysts
    • Matthew Mazzanti
      Chief Administrative Officer at PPHC
    • Stewart Hall
      CEO at PPHC
    • Roel Smits
      CFO at PPHC
    • Jason Tilchen
      Analyst at Canaccord Genuity
    • Scott Schneeberger
      Analyst at Oppenheimer
    • Sam Dindol
      Analyst at Stifel
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