John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY) Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call December 7, 2022 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Brian Campbell – VP, IR

Brian Napack – President and CEO

Christina Van Tassell – EVP and CFO

Conference Call Participants

Peter Lukas – CJS Securities

Operator

Good morning and welcome to Wiley’s Q2 Fiscal 2023 Earnings Call. As a reminder this conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to introduce Wiley’s Vice President of Investor Relations, Brian Campbell. Please go ahead.

Brian Campbell

Thank you, and hello everyone. With me are Brian Napack, Wiley’s President and CEO; and Christina Van Tassell, Executive Vice President and CFO.

A few reminders to start. The call is being recorded and may include forward-looking statements. You shouldn’t rely on these statements as actual results may differ materially and are subject to factors discussed in our SEC filings. The company does not undertake any obligations to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

Also, Wiley provides non-GAAP measures as a supplement to evaluate underlying operating profitability and performance trends. These measures do not have standardized meanings prescribed by U.S. GAAP and therefore, may not be comparable to similar measures used by other companies, nor should they be viewed as alternatives to measures under GAAP. Unless otherwise noted, we will refer to non-GAAP metrics on the call, and variances are on a year-over-year basis and will exclude the impact of currency. After the call, a copy of the presentation and a transcript and a playback of the webcast will be available on our Investor Relations web page at investors.wiley.com. I’ll now turn the call over to Brian Napack.

Brian Napack

Good morning everyone. Thanks for joining us. As I often do I will start by pointing to Wiley’s mission which is to unlock human potential and do so by powering scientific research and career connected education. This is far more than just a statement, it is our purpose, our culture, and our differentiator. Through many cycles and periods of disruption, the Wiley brand has helped us to win and retain customers, authors, and partners. And together with them we have promoted science, growth, and social progress for more than 200 years.

The Wiley team accomplished a lot in the second quarter. This is both despite and in response to a challenging economic environment. We have seen a confluence of headwinds, these include decade high inflation, low consumer confidence, a tight job market, rising interest rates, FX volatility, and ongoing geopolitical disruption. These pressures have caused a pullback in consumer spending that is effective about consumer facing and enrollment dependent businesses. And this has impacted our revenue performance for the quarter and our growth expectations for the year. Christina will speak to that later in the call.