=Groupon (GRPN) reported earnings on Wed 15 Feb 2017 (b/o)

Groupon beats by $0.04, beats on revs; sees higher gross profit, EBITDA in 2017:

• Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.07 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.03; revenues rose 1.9% year/year to $934.9 mln vs the $915.14 mln Capital IQ Consensus, or 4% on a same-country, FX-neutral basis. North America revenue increased 5%, EMEA declined 2% (increased 1% FX-neutral) and Rest of World declined 12% (8% FX-neutral).
• Gross Billings were $1.70 billion in the fourth quarter 2016, down slightly from $1.71 billion in the fourth quarter 2015. Gross billings were impacted by dispositions and country exits in connection with Groupon's restructuring efforts, partially offset by the addition of LivingSocial. On a same-country, FX-neutral basis, gross billings grew 2% year-over-year. North America gross billings increased 6%, reflecting growth of new customers as well as the acquisition of LivingSocial, while EMEA declined by 9% (5% FX-neutral) and Rest of World declined by 15% (15% FX-neutral). Gross billings reflect the total dollar value of customer purchases of goods and services. North America Local Billings grew 11% year-over-year in the fourth quarter 2016.
• North America Local Billings growth accelerated throughout 2016 reaching 11% year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter 2016. LivingSocial contributed 4 percentage points to fourth quarter 2016 year-over-year growth. North America customer additions accelerated to 2.0 million in the fourth quarter 2016. North America active customers reached 31.1 million as of December 31, 2016, adding 5.2 million for 2016, which marks the highest acquisition in four years. Fourth quarter net additions were 2.0 million, with 1.0 million unique customers added from LivingSocial. Active customers represent unique user accounts that have made a purchase through one of our online marketplaces during the trailing twelve months. North America gross profit increased $31.5 million year-over-year in the fourth quarter 2016. North America gross profit growth accelerated to 14% year-over-year in the fourth quarter 2016 driven by 16% growth in Local and 14% growth in Shopping
• As previously announced, Groupon expects to exit 11 countries as part of its streamline and simplify initiative, and the company expects to report these countries as discontinued operations beginning in first quarter 2017. The basis for our full year 2017 guidance is continuing operations.
• For the full year 2017, Groupon expects gross profit to be in the range of $1.30 billion and $1.35 billion, an increase of $40 to $90 million compared to full year 2016 results for the 15 countries in our go-forward footprint on an FX-neutral basis.
• Groupon also expects Adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $200 million and $240 million, an increase of $16 to $56 million compared to full year 2016 results for the 15 countries in our go-forward footprint on an FX-neutral basis.