Gen Digital Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 3, 2022

Key Takeaways

  • Northern LifeLock received provisional UK CMA approval for its acquisition of Avast, paving the way for a combined company serving around 500 million users with over $3.5 billion in revenue and unlocking approximately $280 million in annual gross cost synergies upon close.
  • In Q1, bookings grew 5% in constant currency and revenue increased 6% in constant currency (2% in USD, despite a 4-point FX headwind), marking the 12th consecutive quarter of bookings growth in line with mid-single digit guidance.
  • The partner channel delivered 16% constant‐currency revenue growth, its seventh straight quarter of double‐digit gains, driven by mobile and employee benefit partnerships that added roughly 200,000 customers year over year.
  • Profitability strengthened with non-GAAP gross margin at 86% (flat year-over-year) and operating margin improving 250 basis points to 54%, while Q1 net income rose 7% to $265 million and EPS grew 7% to $0.45 (14% adjusted for FX headwinds).
  • For Q2, the company expects mid-single digit constant-currency revenue growth and non-GAAP EPS of $0.44–$0.46, reflecting a projected 4-plus point FX headwind, and will issue full-year guidance after the Avast transaction closes.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Gen Digital Q1 2023
00:00 / 00:00

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

Afternoon, everyone. Thank you for standing by. My name is Matt, and I will be your conference operator today. I would like to welcome everyone to the Northern White Block Fiscal 2023 First Quarter Earnings Call. Today's call is being recorded and all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise.

Operator

After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. At this time, for opening remarks, I would like to pass the call over to Ms. Mary Lai, Head of Investor Relations. Ms. You may begin.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Matt, and hello, everyone. Welcome to the Northern LifeLock's fiscal 2023 Q1 earnings call. Joining me today to review our Q1 results are Vincent Pilette, CEO and Natalie Dursey, CFO. As a reminder, there will be a replay of this call posted on the IR website along with our slides and press release. I'd like to remind everyone that during this call, all references to the financial metrics are non GAAP and all growth rates are year over year unless otherwise stated.

Speaker 1

A reconciliation of non GAAP to GAAP measures is included in our press release, Which is available on our IR website at investor. Northlifelock.com. Today's call contains statements regarding our business, financial performance and operations, including the impact on our business industry that may be considered forward looking statements and such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. Those statements are based on current beliefs, to assumptions and expectations and speak only as of the current date. For more information, please refer to the cautionary statement in our press release and the risk factors in our filings with the SEC and in particular our annual report on Form 10 ks for the fiscal year ended April 1, 2022.

Speaker 1

And now I will turn the call over to our CEO. Vincent?

Speaker 2

Thank you, Mary, and welcome everyone to our call. After a very lengthy process in the U. K, We are pleased to have received provisional approval from the Competition and Markets Authority for the acquisition of Havas. Our hard work has paid off, and we are excited to start the process of bringing the 2 companies together with a great purpose and mission of bringing digital life protection and empowerment to everyone. As I have shared before, our 2 companies share a similar vision and both have common values and complementary strength.

Speaker 2

As soon as we can bring us together, we will get started on delivering all the benefits of our new company to consumers, shareholders and other stakeholders. Together, we will serve about 500,000,000 users globally, Sell premium products to consumers for more than $3,500,000,000 in revenue and have around 4,000 employees dedicated to the mission of protecting and empowering people to live their digital lives safely. Avast's to trends in privacy and Northern LifeLock's strength in identity, supported by our combined AI capabilities, creates a broad and complementary product portfolio beyond core security and towards adjacent trust based solutions. On top of that, the merger will broaden our geographic diversification, to increase our presence in multiple channels and also serve very small businesses. We will have the opportunity to empower millions of consumers around the world with our complementary product portfolio and culture of innovation.

Speaker 2

And while the world is in a different place than when we started this journey over a year ago, One thing is for sure, people want to continue to enjoy the advantages of a digital world without compromising their security, privacy and identity, And our sole mission is to bring that and more to everyone. Our combined financial profile is substantially enhanced through increased to scale, long term growth potential, synergies, strong free cash flow generations supported by a resilient balance sheet. As I mentioned, based on our last reported financials for both companies, we will scale our combined revenue to over DKK3,500,000,000 And the combinations will unlock significant value creation to approximately $280,000,000 of annual gross cost synergies and will give us the capacity to reinvest for innovation, partnerships and marketing to further accelerate our transformation. We will have created operating leverage of approximately 52% in blended operating margin, that is pre synergies delivering approximately €1,500,000,000 of annual free cash flow also pre synergies. The combination is an other value creation enabler as we march towards our long term objective of $3 in EPS.

Speaker 2

We look forward to reengaging with Avast and restarting the integration planning activities. Once the transaction is closed, we will be able to share more details on the combined business and its financial model. So in terms of what's next, we will continue to work closely as quickly as possible after the CMA publishes its final approval, which is currently expected to be in early September, subject to change. Based on what we know today, we anticipate the closing date of the merger is expected to be between mid September and sometimes in early October. So with that, let me say a few words on our Q1 results.

Speaker 2

While we observed weaker consumer sentiment and inflationary pressure impacting the consumer discretionary spend, we are proud to deliver our 12th consecutive quarter of bookings growth with Q1 bookings up 5% in constant currency and revenue up 6%. The quarter's performance tracked in line with our mid single digit bookings growth to projection for fiscal year 2023, which I view as a demonstration of the stability that our business operating levers provide in a challenging environment. Our direct revenue grew 5% in constant currency on top of another strong COVID led double digit growth quarter a year ago. In this new environment, our focus has been on balanced performance across a set of very healthy customer metrics. Total customer count was stable at over 23,300,000, up 200,000 year over year, but down 200,000 sequentially.

Speaker 2

Throughout the quarter, we saw the impact of the macro level headwinds in our direct to consumer website global traffic, slightly offset by solid conversion rates. While these headwinds have limited our ability to grow customer count this quarter at the pace we aspire to, it's important to highlight that our overall customer base is to the company with stable retention rates, stable ARPU and opportunity to continue to drive cross sell, up sell as we launch new products. Our retention rate remained very strong at slightly over 85% in unit. Customer cohorts who joined during the so called COVID period at retention rates at par with prior years. And through our operational initiatives, we continue to make progress in 1st year renewal rates.

Speaker 2

Our efforts have led to happier customers supported by products that are easier to download and easier to use. Since we became a dedicated consumer cyber Safety Company. We have grown our direct customer base by approximately 3,000,000 to reach over 23,000,000 customers and at the same time, improve our retention rate by almost a point during the period. Another set of activities we are focused on is delivering more value to more customers in our partner business. In this set of indirect channels, We delivered double digit revenue growth for the 7th straight quarter, up 16% in constant currency in this Q1 of fiscal year 'twenty 3.

Speaker 2

We had very healthy bookings in Q1, including double digit bookings growth in both mobile and employee benefit channels, channels in which we added approximately 200,000 customers year over year and stayed flat sequentially. As we continue to build a more global and more diversified go to MarketMongo. We look forward to combining with Avast, which will allow us to accelerate our strategy of expanding identity and privacy solutions across the globe. A year ago, we stated that we would transform our company by building a richer product portfolio, And we have continued to work towards that. We are off to a good start in fiscal year Q1 on the product side.

Speaker 2

In Q1, we have made good inroads from our recent launch of the Northern Identity Advisor Plus for the U. K. Market, and we've expanded the product's availability to Australia, New Zealand and Germany. This is yet another example of our international expansion efforts bolstering our identity capabilities. We also continue to earn positive product reviews from important technology reviewers.

Speaker 2

Just last month, we were awarded PC Magazine 1 Identity Theft Protection Software for 2022. Specifically, this was Northern 360 Whiskey LifeLock product awarded to provide the best overall identity protection in the industry. This is just one of the many times we have been recognized for our overall product innovation and development efforts. We continuously assess and prioritize our product roadmap, And we know we still have big opportunity to expand our product portfolio, especially in areas beyond core security. But above all, what guides us is our focus on providing quality and value in our products.

Speaker 2

It is about a seamless end to end customer experience and comprehensive protection while making it simple for consumer to engage with us and stay safe. Cyber safety will continue to be an evolving and growing market, fueled by the increase in activities online, which brings more risk and challenges to consumers' digital lives. With the merger with Havas, together, we are well positioned to drive the transformation of consumer cyber safety and pursue our long term objective while being financially resilient in any environment that comes ahead of us. And with that, let me turn the call to Nathalie to cover our results in more detail.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Vincent, and hello, everyone. For today's discussion, I will start with the vast updates followed by our Q1 performance details and our outlook for Q2 fiscal year 2023. I will focus on non GAAP financials and year over year growth rates unless otherwise stated. I'd like to echo Vincent's excitement about the merger with Avast. We're thrilled to have this positive outcome and look forward to closing the acquisition.

Speaker 3

We will immediately restart our pre integration planning efforts as we prepare to scale the combined company and work to achieve the $280,000,000 to Annual Gross Customer Needs. Let me give you a quick refresher on the transaction financing done in conjunction with the merger, Which we successfully raised earlier this year. In total, our financing package is comprised of $7,600,000,000 of Term 1 A In Term Loan B at spreads of 1.5% to 2% plus 1,500,000,000 revolving credit facility. This will replace our existing $1,700,000,000 Term Loan A Facility and $1,000,000,000 revolver. While the interest rate environment has changed since we first announced the merger last year, we still feel good about the rates we were able to lock in.

Speaker 3

The acquisition financing will become funded at deal close. Once the deal is closed, we will share more information on our long term model and the timing of our $3 EPS objective. Now on to our Q1 results. Q1 was a good start to our fiscal year 2023, especially considering the macroeconomic pressures and volatile FX environment. Our business is resilient, our customer base is healthy And we continue to execute with discipline.

Speaker 3

Our Q1 revenue was $708,000,000 up 6% in constant currency And up 2% in USD, including a 4 point currency headwind, translating to a revenue headwind of $27,000,000 year over year. Similar to last quarter, we saw continued currency volatility with both the euro and yen depreciating further against the U. S. Dollar reaching 20 year lows. It is the 3rd straight quarter in which currency has been several points of headwind to our top line growth.

Speaker 3

We anticipate these headwinds will remain for a full year of comparison as we plan the business at today's exchange rate with euro and USD near purity in a weaker yen. Despite these macro headwinds, we remain focused on execution against our business opportunities and driving towards our long term objective. Q1 bookings grew 5% in constant currency on top of a 10% constant currency bookings growth in Q1 last year and in line with our full year projection of mid single digit rate of growth. We've launched new identity solutions and we've seen an increase in both geographic reach Our expansion efforts are working as Q1 was our 6th straight quarter of high single digit rate of growth in our identity and privacy Our direct revenue grew 5% in constant currency and 1% in USD impacted by 4 points of FX headwind. Looking across our other key operating metrics.

Speaker 3

Q1 direct customer count grew by approximately 200,000 year over year, It declined by approximately 200,000 quarter over quarter as we saw headwinds in select markets. Overall customer unit retention remained stable above 85% and we continue to drive incremental improvements to key cohorts, including our newer customers. Our monthly average revenue per user or ARPU was $8.82 in USD. However, adjusted for FX, ARPU expanded nearly $0.30 year over year and expanded $0.07 sequentially, an indication of our successful cross sell efforts. We have a very healthy resilient customer base.

Speaker 3

We remain focused on driving new customer acquisitions, retaining our existing customers, as well as increasing engagement with new products and services. Turning to our partner business. Partner revenue was up 16% year over year in constant currency, up 10% in USD and marks to the 7th consecutive quarter of double digit growth. We see traction with our identity expansion efforts to partners driving strong growth in our employee benefits channel and scaling key international partnerships like TELUS. Diversification and expansion of our go to market channels is a key growth tenant in our long term plan and we will continue to invest in these areas.

Speaker 3

Turning to profitability. In Q1, we achieved gross margin of 86%, roughly flat year on year, while at the same time expanding and adding more features to our product offerings. Our operating margin for the quarter was 54%, up 2 50 basis points year over year, driven by both our revenue growth and our cost discipline, with overall spend down 3% year over year. As you've heard me say before, we are intentional with our investment and how we fund our business to drive future growth. Our G and A functions remain lean with spend at less to new product development and innovation.

Speaker 3

With our marketing dollars, we strive to balance across the portfolio and across channels with intentional customer acquisition targeting, while focusing on long term sustainable growth. We will continue to be disciplined with our cost structure across all functional areas as we operate in this increasingly challenging environment. Q1 net income was $265,000,000 up 7% compared to last year. Diluted EPS was $0.45 for the quarter, Up 7% year over year, including 0.03 dollars of currency headwind and above the high end of our guidance range. Adjusting for the impact of currency, EPS grew more than twice the rate of revenue at 14% year over year.

Speaker 3

We remain committed to driving EPS expansion and achieving our long term EPS objective of $3 Turning to our cash flow and balance sheet. Q1 operating cash flow was $215,000,000 and free cash flow was $213,000,000 In Q1, we returned nearly $400,000,000 back to shareholders. We repurchased $300,000,000 or 12,000,000 shares to buybacks in the quarter and now have approximately $1,500,000,000 remaining in the current share buyback program. We paid approximately $73,000,000 to shareholders in the form of a regular quarterly dividend of $0.125 per common share. For Q2, the Board of Directors has approved a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.125 per common share to be paid on September 14, 2022 for all shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 22, 2022, as described in the press release.

Speaker 3

Separate from the transaction financing I discussed earlier, our net debt leverage was approximately 1.4 times in the quarter. We settled in cash our $400,000,000 senior unsecured notes that matured in June. We also plan to settle in cash our 2% senior convertible note due in the middle of August and that cash settlement will hit our cash flow in fiscal Q2. As we all know, the debt environment has been volatile and rapidly changing. We will continue to assess our overall debt needs and leverage profile.

Speaker 3

Given our high cash flow generation and strong levels of liquidity, we are confident in our ability to manage through this environment accordingly. Now turning to our Q2 outlook. Based on the continued strengthening of the U. S. Dollar quarter to date, we anticipate an even larger currency headwind.

Speaker 3

But I want to emphasize that the underlying health of our business remains strong. For Q2, we expect non GAAP revenue in the range of 6.95 to $705,000,000 which translates to mid single digit rate of growth year over year in constant currency to reflect a projected FX headwind of 4 plus points of growth or approximately $30,000,000 We expect Q2 non GAAP EPS to be in the range of $0.44 to $0.46 per share, which reflects $0.03 of currency headwind year over year. Our Q2 guidance assumes the Avast deal closes in early October 2022. For fiscal year 2023, we continue to expect bookings growth to be in similar ranges of mid single digits in constant currency. Considering the close timing of the Avast merger, we will not be providing an annual guide at this time.

Speaker 3

We plan to provide more details on our overall financial model when we close to the transaction. As always, thank you for your time today. And I will now turn the call back to the operator to take your questions. Operator?

Operator

Thank you. To We will pause here briefly as questions are registered. The first question is from the line of Saket Kalia with Barclays. Your line is now open.

Speaker 4

Hey, Saket. Hey, great. Hey, guys. Hey, Vincent. Hey, Natalie.

Speaker 4

Thanks for taking my questions here and congrats on the news from CMA. Yes. Vincent, maybe before we talk about Avast, I was wondering if you could just touch on some of the dynamics between your partner business and the direct business. It just feels like there's been a little bit of a shift between those two routes to market. And so maybe the question is, Is that intentional?

Speaker 4

And can you just walk us through what's happening there, especially given the decline, the sequential decline in direct subs this quarter?

Speaker 2

Yes. So definitely, as you know, we have been investing in our partner channels. We've been saying that now for many, many quarters. It represents about slightly above 10% of our overall business, and we believe that there is more opportunities to go through other channels and or to partner with other solution providers to provide a combined solution to consumers. I mentioned the 2 channels we like.

Speaker 2

Of course, it's a mobile channel. Some of our competitors have moved that channel into a direct. It basically goes to app stores. And it's Not in our direct business today because of the billing definition. It doesn't go to us directly.

Speaker 2

But to be honest with you, the consumers get on our And we have direct access to them and communicate and provide the value. So that has been growing. We've seen definitely a shift towards to mobile users. A few quarters ago, we crossed the Nolan 360 platform to be the majority of the product sold on mobile, which is A very good sign and you'll see us continue to move up in that channel, good momentum. The second one is employee benefits.

Speaker 2

It goes to employers that offer to their employees full protection in the cyber world, identity protection, privacy and device security. There too, we have the direct engagement with the customers on our LiveLock platform, but the payment goes to the payroll of the company that supports that. We believe we have more to go in mid market. We continue to invest in our direct Sales partnering with broker to penetrate that and you'll see continued growth and focus both on the product product marketing development side as well as to the channel side. So those are the direct engaged customers in our partner business.

Speaker 2

Then we have another set of channels that go and combine with other provider of other solutions to provide a full package. So here like for example the partnership with TELUS in Canada to bring cyber safety along with the TELUS solutions to Canadians has had a very strong momentum, and you'll see us continue to expand. Travis Witterveen, who was the CEO of Avira's ton of experience in the environment has become our customer acquisition chief, if you want, a few quarters ago, and he's developing his team. And along with his team, they're definitely building up the funnel of new opportunities. You see us continue to invest in that.

Speaker 2

I do want to say a few words on the direct business. The direct business, you mentioned the sequential Slight decline and you're right on that. The metrics are very healthy. Retention rates have been very strong across all cohorts. We said a year ago we would improve the 1st year retention rate and we have by a few points.

Speaker 2

Over the last 24 months, we've increased overall retention by a little more than 70 basis points. And so You see continued operational initiatives, whether it's on how the product is being downloaded, how it's being used, how the value is demonstrated to the customers that improved customer satisfaction and then overall retention. So strong focus on that healthy set of customers. The gap or disappointment, if you want, for the quarter is really related to the macro level headwinds that we saw with lower to traffic or global traffic on that cyber safety website, if you want. Conversion rates Still holding well, but it's about the traffic.

Speaker 2

It was volatile. There were pockets of weaknesses, other pockets of areas where we continue to invest because we're here for the long term. And as we navigate through the volatile environment, we know we provide a product that will be needed in an area that has structural growth.

Speaker 4

Got it. Got it. That's very helpful. Natalie, maybe for The operating margin here continues to really outperform and be higher than expected. Can you just talk about how you're balancing investing in new customer acquisition versus managing for profitability.

Speaker 4

How do you think about that?

Speaker 3

Yes. Hi, Saket. Thanks for the question. Yes, operating margin of 54% now for 2 quarters and up 2 50 basis points year over year. We're proud of that.

Speaker 3

That points to what a healthy business model we have and combined with our team's commitment to operate in a disciplined manner. New acquisition is Absolutely a key tenant of our overall growth strategy. We've been clear about that. But it's not the only one. We have multiple levers to help drive our growth and it's not growth at all costs and that's where the balance comes in.

Speaker 3

We continue to invest in customer acquisition marketing. You can see that. We talked about we spent a lot of time focused on that, both through our direct channels and now as well even more so in our partner channels. We're committed to the growth focused approach when it comes to sales and marketing. And honestly, we recognize what a competitive industry we operate in and that consumers have choice and we need to work really, really hard to win that choice.

Speaker 3

But in addition to investing in marketing, where we've been investing more and more is in product. We've launched some really cool several new offerings. We continue to diversify the go to market channels. We continue to invest in our customer service offering. And I think from that combination of investment, that's where that ARPU growth is really coming from both year over year and quarter over quarter.

Speaker 3

And it allows us to sustain and scale our unit retention of 85% plus, Both proof points of healthy acquisition that we've seen over the last 10 months 10 quarters, excuse me. That combined with we stay committed to operating G and A as lean as possible last two quarters being less than 4% of our revenue Obviously provides us a lot of leverage for reinvestment. So as we navigate forward, we'll continue to balance the growth and profit. Both are important. I don't think we have to pick.

Speaker 3

I'm confident we'll find a way to strike that right balance through that disciplined approach that we've applied for now since we've stood up Norton LifeLock. And above and beyond all that, we're just very, very excited about the additional opportunities we have as we combine with Avast.

Speaker 4

Got it. Got it. That makes a lot of sense. If I can squeeze a third one in, Vincent, maybe for you. We can't go on without asking a question on Avast.

Speaker 4

And I know that we can't talk too much about specifics until the deal is closed. But maybe philosophically, as you've gotten to know Avast's business more and study this market more, I guess, how do you think about potential revenue synergies with the combination of EnLoc and Avast? I mean, certainly, you were clear about the expense side. Just as you spend more and more time with really both companies, how do you think about the revenue synergies between the two?

Speaker 2

Yes. Well, thanks for your question. I would be very disappointed not to have a question. I was wondering this is a very, very exciting news. Talked to Andre yesterday.

Speaker 2

I know the Avast team is also super excited about coming together. And we know we are about to to create the foundation of an even stronger company with a very broad mission of that digital freedom for digital lives. We discussed that in a few quarters ago, but when we made the acquisition model or the transaction model, We based the merit of this transaction on cost synergies, overlapping activities, to the tone of $280,000,000 that I've talked about. And we wanted to have the value of that transaction to be based on that. We also said we would reinvest a portion to accelerate the top line Gross or transformed the profile of our revenue.

Speaker 2

We did not include in our acquisition model revenue synergies for many reasons, But certainly not the reason that it will be our priority number 1 as soon as we close. We see the opportunity and I see 3 buckets of Opportunity, if you want, conceptually without giving any numbers. The first one is on the retention side. Northern LifeLock has Developed a set of capabilities and operations and experience that drive high NPS and retain at 85% in unit. That equivalent number is 68% in Avast, at least in the last reported numbers.

Speaker 2

And we know that we can bring a lot of Practices and the approaches as we bring a stronger portfolio to the consumers to improve that retention rate. There may be some mix Differences by geography or product mix, but even when we compare during due diligence our number, we know we have opportunities there. So that's bucket number 1. The second one is the cross sell, up sell capabilities. We've just introduced those capabilities in Northern LAFSA about 1.5 years ago.

Speaker 2

And we know AVAS has been developing the entire business model on that, offering a basic product for free and then delivering, showing, demonstrating more value to the consumers to a point where the consumer is ready to pay for that value and then growing that value offered to the consumers. We look forward for Havas to bring those operational skill sets, if you want, into our overall combined company, while we bolster a richer portfolio. So Identity, LifeLock equivalent services that we started to expand internationally will be offered to Avast customers, as an example. And as I said, had to focus more on privacy, when you combine the 2, it will be a very rich portfolio to cross sell and deliver more value to consumer. That's the second set of revenue synergies.

Speaker 2

And then the third one is across the complementarity of the geographical footprint, whether it's U. S. Versus international from our standpoint, for their standpoint, Europe versus the rest of the world. But even then, they were more about emerging markets, more about Western markets. And so I see a lot of complementarity.

Speaker 2

As we bring a richer company together locally, We can accelerate our penetration, including in the VSB or a very small and small business area where Havas has already a small channel and we're as you know, we were not present. Yet some of those businesses have exactly the behavior of to Consumer. So the 3rd bucket is around geographical footprint and expanding the channel as we come together. As soon as we close the acquisition, I can tell you, we'll be the first task force that we'll get started on that. And then As soon as we're ready and the deal is closed, we'll share more with investors what our long term plan is in this area.

Speaker 4

Okay, great. Looking forward to it. Thanks again.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you for your question. Next question is from the line of Matt Hedberg with RBC. Your line is now open.

Speaker 5

Hey, everyone. This is Dimaan Duvall for Matt Hedberg. Thanks for taking our questions. So we were just looking and thinking about the current macros and how security seems to be more resilient. So we were wondering how you were thinking about the durability of these consumer security trends?

Speaker 2

Yes. And when we talk about security, we really talk about cyber safety, which is not only your device security, but it's also the protection of your digital identities all the way to the restoration and insurance you could have when something is breached from your device or from any transaction that can be processed into the cloud. We know that cyber criminalities Continue to increase. I was reading a report earlier on that it was like up 7% in the first half just in Europe. And so we'll continue to see pressure from that.

Speaker 2

We know consumer penetration in term of full protection is not yet at the level of other protection industries such Insurance Industries or others, and so we have more room. We feel really good about the long term structural growth opportunity that our markets offer and that together with Avast, we will address and continue to expand. Now it does not mean, of course, that in the short term, you still have volatility, you have You have consumer sentiment and people will look at some of those costs and may see this as a discretionary spend. So we definitely have We saw it in our global traffic this quarter. But at the same time, we have a lot of levers to drive and deliver the value.

Speaker 2

85% of the business is coming from the renewal base. And once the consumer is in, we've seen very stable retention rates through the last quarter, but frankly also as I studied the business when I came in 2 years ago, it was similar behavior in 2008 or 2009. So You see a lot of resilience into people who already know they need security on or in the digital world. Even Zovolade may put pressure on new customer acquisition in the short term.

Speaker 5

Okay. Yes, sounds great. And just a quick follow-up from the customer perspective. You mentioned really healthy customer metrics And cross sell has been accelerating and great execution on that front. So how are you thinking about customer additions and up to sell in a more challenging macro over these next few quarters.

Speaker 2

Yes. Thank you. Well, the good news once a customer is in. And as a basic protection is that we can also make them aware of the moment of truth that we call Insight, which is a moment at which you connect to the Internet when you are at the coffee shop, a moment you transfer data on the web and ensuring and monitor that you're fully protected at which point in time We can then raise the value to you of being fully protected versus partially protected. And so constant assessment and finding the right moment to give us the opportunity to continue to cross sell.

Speaker 2

We still have the vast majority of our customer base to be in to the first part or the lower value part of our total value curve, if you want, from basic device security all the way to like full protection. So we still have a lot of room to commute to educate and drive and demonstrate the value as the consumers move up the value chain.

Speaker 1

Great. Thanks.

Operator

Thank you for your question. The next question is from the line of Fiona Hynes with Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open.

Speaker 1

Hi, everyone. This is Tiana on for Hamzah. Thank you for taking the question. It sounded like from previous commentary on this call that Going forward, a big part of driving growth between Ava Austin or LifeLock is going to be the pairing of identity and privacy offerings. So I I was wondering if you could give us some more tangible use cases of how consumers can use those, like basically bundle those 2 different offerings together and What's kind of your vision going forward for that cross sell motion?

Speaker 3

Thank you.

Speaker 2

Yes. So we'll talk about Cross sell upsell revenue synergies when the deal is closed. But conceptually, it's all about completing the value of all of The use case you protect the consumer for and refining how you communicate in the app or on the platform, all of the risk a consumer face is an important one. It's a Fine balance too. You want to do it respectfully and demonstrating the value at the same time.

Speaker 2

We know that The entire identity protection or theft protection restorations and insurance It's something Avaaz does not have and we can really offer. As we combine that with security, Avaaz started to move from security to privacy. They have BridgeGuard, other views. And so combining the product portfolio, working on the integrated platform, they They have a vast one. We have NordLynx360.

Speaker 2

We'll have to figure that out. And then leaving product value that Customer can step in once they have basic as I mentioned, most of our customers in the basic platform have basic benefit to see how they move to the next one. The practices are about the same. At the end of the day, as the product portfolio become richer, it's all about The ease of use, ease of downloading, how you use that. And we've made a lot of effort in our product to do that and expect us to continue as we come together.

Speaker 1

Got it. Very helpful. Thank you. Maybe one more follow-up, if I could. Another question touching on the macro.

Speaker 1

Obviously, we see there's some headwinds in the customer acquisition this quarter. Was curious for your review and your sense of how much of that is just traditional seasonality given it's to the summer months and PC shipments are seasonally weaker around this time period. And how much of that is kind of what you're seeing on the ground real time in terms of to potentially moderating macro environment. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Yes. No, definitely, I we historically had Q3 quarters, which is fiscal Q3 for us, which is a December quarter being strong on the security side on April quarter, our Q4 quarter being strong on the identity side linked to some events such as tax and other things. To be honest with you, over the last 3 years, whether it's because of COVID or other macro level as well as the fact that we More and more provide one combined value of full total protection. We've seen less seasonality. But you're right that In the moderate seasonal effect, if you want, the June quarter would be a low quarter.

Speaker 2

So from that perspective, our expectation was in line to a lower seasonality. With that said, we did see some headwinds, what we call pocket of weaknesses, where we continue to invest at the same rate because we know we're here for the long term and it's a portion of our investment that goes towards education, but we saw lower traffic and so we're really monitoring and flipping across to the set of channels we have here to try to improve the return on our marketing spend. Do you want to add anything, Nathalie?

Speaker 3

Yes. I just think, when you think about even as a consumer, you feel the macroeconomic environment, you feel inflation, you feel pricing pressures. I would combine that with some of the other markers that we see across the industry with PC shipments down now double digit. Not that we're entirely connected to that, but it's just another marker that shows us what's happening in to that, but it's just another marker that shows us what's happening in our industry. And it just it honestly fuels us.

Speaker 3

We've got to be much, much more Intentional, we've got to be much, much more competitive in order to win over the customer choice that's available. And then we do Through a disciplined approach, we spend so much time and effort making sure that those customers are as highly engaged as possible. We provide great customer service and we want to be Fulfilling as much of that cyber safety need as we possibly can. So that's where we spend most of our time.

Speaker 1

Got it. Very helpful. Thank you all for the time.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

At this time, there are no more questions. I will turn the call back to Vincent Pilette, CEO, for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Matt. Before I close the call, I would like to take a moment to thank our Northern LifeLock team for contributing to our success each and every day. As you've heard me say before, we truly have an ambitious team dedicated the mission of the business we're building. I would also like to say a few words on the upcoming change on our Board of Directors. On behalf of the Board and the leadership team, I want to thank Ken Howe for his contributions to the company over the last 6 years, helping Northern LifeLock through the successful transition to a stand alone consumer cyber safety company and unlocking tremendous shareholder value.

Speaker 2

Ken has been a great Board member and also a trusted partner to me as a first time CEO. We wish him well, and I'm sure we will stay in touch. We have been waiting for 12 months for the approval of our deal with Havas, and we're so ready to dive in. I talked to Andre yesterday, as I mentioned, and I know that the Havas So thank you for joining and for your continued support of our company and our team.

Operator

This concludes the conference call.

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