Conference Call Discussing Earnings for Fourth Quarter 2021 Results

Safe Harbor Statement

This transcript of the earnings call that occurred on May 20, 2021, contains certain statements that are, or may be deemed to be, “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or “Exchange Act,” and are made in reliance upon the protections provided by such acts for forward-looking statements. Such statements are not based on historical fact, but are based upon numerous assumptions about future conditions that may not occur. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of forward-looking words such as “may,” “should,” “intend,” “estimate,” “will,” “potential,” “could,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “project,” and similar expressions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements made by us or on our behalf. Forward-looking statements are made based upon information that is currently available or management’s current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects upon us, speak only as of the date of the earnings call, and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or correct any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur, or of which we hereafter become aware. Actual events, transactions and results may materially differ from the anticipated events, transactions or results described in such statements. Our ability to consummate such transactions and achieve such events or results is subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the matters set forth below:

• national and international political instability fostering uncertainty and volatility in the global economy including an economic downturn, exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency rates, interest rates, and inflation, including increases in our costs and our ability to increase prices to our customers, which may result in adverse changes in our gross profit;
• supply chain issues, including a shortage of IT products, may increase our costs or cause a delay in fulfilling customer orders, or increase our need for working capital, or completing professional services, or purchasing IT products or services needed to support our internal infrastructure or operations, resulting in an adverse impact on our financial results;
• the duration and ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including but not limited to the impact and severity of new variants, vaccine efficacy and immunization rates, the closure of non-essential businesses and other associated governmental containment actions, and the increase in cyber-security attacks that have occurred while employees work remotely;
• domestic and international economic regulations uncertainty (e.g. tariffs and trade agreements);
• the creditworthiness of our customers and our ability to reserve adequately for credit losses;
• loss of our credit facility or credit lines with our vendors may restrict our current and future operations;
• significant adverse changes in, reductions in, or losses of relationships with one or more of our large volume customers or vendors;
• managing a diverse product set of solutions in highly competitive markets with a number of key vendors:
• increasing the total number of customers using integrated solutions by up-selling within our customer base and gaining new customers;
• adapting to meet changes in markets and competitive developments;
• maintaining and increasing advanced professional services by recruiting and retaining highly skilled, competent personnel and vendor certifications;
• increasing the total number of customers who use our managed services and professional services and continuing to enhance our managed services offerings to remain competitive in the marketplace;
• performing professional and managed services competently;
• maintaining our proprietary software and updating our technology infrastructure to remain competitive in the marketplace;
• reliance on third-parties to perform some of our service obligations to our customers, and the reliance on a small number of key vendors in our supply chain with whom we do not have long-term supply agreements, guaranteed price agreements, or assurance of stock availability;
• our dependence on key personnel to maintain certain customer relationships, and our ability to hire, train and retain sufficient qualified personnel;
• our ability to implement comprehensive plans for the integration of sales forces, cost containment, asset rationalization, systems integration and other key strategies;
• a possible decrease in the capital spending budgets of our customers or a decrease in purchases from us;
• the possibility of goodwill impairment charges in the future;
• changes in the IT industry and/or rapid changes in product offerings, including the proliferation of the cloud, infrastructure as a service, software as a service and platform as a service;
• our dependency on continued innovations in hardware, software and services offerings by our vendors, availability of those products from our venders and our ability to partner with them;
• significant and rapid inflation may cause price, wage and interest rate increases, as well as increases in operating costs which may impact the arrangements that have pricing commitments over the term of the agreement;
• our contracts may not be adequate to protect us, and we are subject to audit in which we may not pass, and our professional and liability insurance policies coverage may be insufficient to cover a claim;
• exposure to changes in, interpretation of, or enforcement trends in legislation and regulatory matters;
• future growth rates in our core businesses;
• rising interest rates or the loss of key lenders or the constricting of credit markets;
• reduction of vendor incentives provided to us;
• failure to comply with public sector contracts or applicable laws and regulations;
• our ability to secure our own and our customers’ electronic and other confidential information, while maintaining compliance with evolving data privacy and regulatory laws and regulations;
• our ability to raise capital, maintain or increase as needed our lines of credit with vendors or floor planning facility, or obtain debt for our financing transactions or the effect of those changes on our common stock price;
• our ability to remain secure during a cybersecurity attack, including both disruptions in our or our vendors’ IT systems and data and audio communication networks;
• our ability to realize our investment in leased equipment;
• our ability to successfully perform due diligence and integrate acquired businesses; and
• our ability to protect our intellectual property rights and successfully defend any challenges to the validity of our patents, or allegations that we are infringing upon any third-party patents, and the costs associated with those actions, and, when appropriate, license required technology.

We cannot be certain that our business strategy will be successful or that we will successfully address these and other challenges, risks and uncertainties. For a further list and description of various risks, relevant factors and uncertainties that could cause future results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements, see the Item 1A, “Risk Factors” and Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections in our Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2021 as well as other reports that we file with the SEC.

This document may also contain non-GAAP financial information. Management uses this information in its internal analysis of results and believes that this information may be informative to investors in gauging the quality of our financial performance, identifying trends in our results and providing meaningful period-to-period comparisons. For a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures presented in this document, see our earnings press release issued May 20, 2021, a copy of which is posted on our website at www.eplus.com/investors.

May 20, 2021 – FY21Q4

Prepared Remarks

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the ePlus Earnings Results Conference Call. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would like to introduce your host for today's conference, Mr. Kley Parkhurst, SVP. Sir, you may begin.

Kleyton Parkhurst, SVP

Thank you for joining us today.  On the call is Mark Marron, CEO & President; Elaine Marion, CFO; Darren Raiguel, COO and President of ePlus Technology; and Erica Stoecker, General Counsel.

I want to take a moment to remind you that the statements we make this afternoon that are not historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements and are based on management's current plans, estimates, and projections. Actual and anticipated future results may vary materially due to certain risks and uncertainties detailed in the earnings release we issued this afternoon and our periodic filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission including our form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2021, when filed.  The Company undertakes no responsibility to update any of these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events.  In addition, during the call we may make reference to certain non-GAAP financial measures and we have included a GAAP financial reconciliation in our earnings release, which is posted on the Investor Information section of our website at www.eplus.com

I’d now like to turn the call over to Mark Marron. Mark?

Mark Marron, CEO, President

Thank you, Kley, and thank you, everyone, for participating in today's call to discuss our fourth quarter and fiscal 2021 results.

Fiscal 2021 was a very successful and productive year for ePlus, as we advanced our growth strategy and broadened our capabilities, while increasing our margins, earnings and adjusted EBITDA. I am especially pleased with the gains we saw in our gross profit and gross margin, which demonstrate that our strategy of delivering high value solutions and services is working and resonating with our customers.

I am extremely proud of the entire ePlus team, which moved quickly to solve the challenges our customers faced as they transitioned to remote and hybrid work environments requiring advanced collaboration, networking, cloud and security solutions. Our successful execution in this environment speaks to our continued strategic focus on these areas and to the commitment and dedication of our people, who supported our clients with innovative solutions in what was one of the most difficult operating environments in recent memory.

Although net sales were down slightly in the fourth quarter, we achieved significant growth in our profitability, as fourth quarter gross profit increased 6.6% and gross margin expanded by 270 basis points to 27.8%, the highest showing in our history.

This solid gross profit and margin performance helped drive 31.9% year-over-year growth in our fourth quarter operating income on a consolidated basis. Our tech segment performed especially well, with a 49.3% increase in operating income.  We also achieved a 25.7 increase in fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA to $29.6 million.

Software subscription sales have become an increasingly significant component of our revenue and profit streams. For our customers, software subscriptions provide several advantages, including real-time updates and technical support. For ePlus, the trend toward subscription sales provides greater revenue visibility and predictability, and strengthens our margin profile over the long-term.

Services was another bright spot that helped drive our financial performance in the fourth quarter and in fiscal 2021.  Services revenue increased from 12.2% in fiscal 2020 to 12.9% of net revenues in fiscal 2021, and in the fourth quarter grew 8.2%. The continued growth in our higher-margin services business is a direct result of the investments we have made over the years in our people and our offerings, including cloud, security, digital infrastructure and collaboration, as well as our successful efforts to strengthen our customer partnerships and provide the critical technology solutions and services that enable our customers to navigate the evolving IT landscape.

In addition to the margin improvement from the growth in our services business, we also benefited from our efforts to efficiently manage our costs.  Operating expenses declined 2.9% year-over-year in fiscal 2021, driven by lower discretionary spend on travel, entertainment, and marketing costs, due to COVID-19, and a focused effort of on realigning our workforce and reducing facilities costs.

Now I would like to highlight three areas in which our investments helped drive our financial performance both in the fourth quarter and in fiscal 2021 and where we continue to see robust customer demand:

First, security solutions are especially relevant for our customers now as digital transformation extends the data center to the cloud and heightens the need for greater cloud security and cost optimization plans. To meet this need, we have continued to expand our capabilities and services in security and data protection. As a result, security accounted for 20.8% of our adjusted gross billings for the year, up from 19.3% of adjusted gross billings in the prior-year period. And as we enter fiscal 2022, security is closing in on nearly a half-billion dollars in adjusted gross billings.

Second, we are seeing continued solid growth in our services, which provide recurring annuity-type revenue.  While the pandemic limited our ability to provide conventional on-site services, we worked closely with our customers to expand provisioning of remote services. As I noted in last quarter’s call, remote managed services will remain a long-term growth driver for our business, even in a post-pandemic environment, as our off-site security and support solutions enable reliable and secure hybrid work environments for our customers.

Finally, our financing business continued to perform well, generating 57% year-over-year net sales growth in the fourth quarter and 3.6% growth for the full fiscal year. While results may be somewhat uneven on a quarterly basis, the long-term outlook for this business continues to be strong. Financing provides ePlus with a key point of differentiation relative to our competitors, as our flexible financing options enable our customers to pursue their technology investments in ways that fit their IT budgets and capital spending plans.

Technology collaboration is as vital as ever, and I am proud of what we accomplished last year. To highlight one example, ePlus worked closely with Cisco and Rowan University to design and implement a Cisco cloud-based call center solution.  The solution for managing the administration of early vaccine distribution at its medical school included the ability to accommodate anticipated call volume, scheduling, tracking and appointment setting.

Turning now to our capital allocation plans, our strong balance sheet provides us the opportunity to execute on attractive M&A opportunities as well as invest in organic solutions that can further enhance our growth and our technology solution offerings. Most recently, we acquired System Management Planning, strengthening our geographic presence in upstate New York and in the Northeast and adding to our capabilities in cloud, data center, AI and collaboration.  Supported by a healthy market for M&A, we see additional opportunities for strategic bolt-on acquisitions in fiscal 2022.

As we look forward to fiscal 2022, we are confident that the investments we have made in our targeted high growth markets position us well for continued growth.

I am encouraged by our order backlog, which points to solid demand for our technology solutions including software and annuity services across a broad range of markets. Increasing customer focus on data center modernization, journey to the cloud, security and technology collaboration, particularly in today’s remote work environment, are key IT market trends that we expect to help drive our growth in the coming year.

As the economy continues to recover and our customers return to a more normalized work environment, we believe the pace of IT spending will gain momentum, in part reflecting the resumption of investments delayed during the pandemic. Additionally, we expect continued healthy growth in our annuity quality services offerings.

In the near term, component shortages in the electronics supply chain are likely to act as a headwind that we believe could delay some revenue. However, we are confident we can navigate through this challenge, as we have in the past, and we will continue to provide exceptional solutions and support and services to our customers.

I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Elaine Marion to provide details on our fourth quarter and full-year 2021 results.

Elaine Marion, CFO

Thank you, Mark and thank you everyone for joining us today.

Starting with our quarterly results, fourth quarter consolidated net sales declined 3.8% to $352.6 million, compared to $366.5 million reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020.

In the Technology segment, net sales declined 6.1% to $331.8 million, due to a decrease in product revenue of 8.4%. Meanwhile, services revenues were strong once again increasing 8.2% to $52.9 million, as we benefitted from our focus on managed services.

In addition, adjusted gross billings increased 2.8% to $528.6 million, compared to $514.1 million in the same period a year ago, which benefited from our acquisition of SMP on December 31, 2020. The adjusted gross billings to net sales adjustment was 37.2% in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to 31.3% in the year ago quarter, due to a larger proportion of revenue recognized on a net basis, in particular the sale of a large maintenance transaction.

Our Financing segment revenue grew 57.4% to $20.8 million compared to $13.2 million in last year’s fourth quarter due to sales of off lease equipment of $8.2 million during the quarter, up from $700,000 thousand last year. As I have mentioned in the past, results from our Financing segment can be uneven from period to period.

We’re very pleased with our consolidated net gross profit growth of 6.6% to $97.9 million, compared to $91.8 million last year and consolidated gross margin expansion of 270 basis points to 27.8%. Our Technology segment gross profit increased 5.3% to $83.9 million. Product margin increased 260 basis points to 22.6% due to higher sales of third-party maintenance and software subscriptions recorded on a net basis.  Services margin increased 60 basis points due to an increase in revenue and gross margin from managed services.

Consolidated operating expenses were $74.3 million, representing a 0.5% increase from $73.9 million a year ago.  Operating expenses this quarter included a full quarter from the SMP acquisition. Excluding the impact of SMP, we saw a decrease in SG&A expenses driven by lower salaries and benefits and travel expenses offset by higher variable compensation. Our total headcount at the end of March 2021 was 1,560, compared to 1,579 in the prior year.

Operating income for the quarter was up 31.9% to $23.6 million.

Despite having a higher effective tax rate of 32.6% compared to 24.9% in the year ago quarter, our consolidated net earnings of $15.6 million, or $1.16 per diluted share, were up 17.4% and 17.2%, respectively, from $13.2 million, or $0.99 per diluted share, in last year’s fourth quarter.

Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share were $1.41, an increase of 13.7%. Adjusted EBITDA was up 25.7% to $29.6 million. Our diluted share count at the end of fiscal 2021 was even with last year at 13.4 million.

Now moving to our financial results for the full year of fiscal 2021. Consolidated net sales declined 1.3% to $1.57 billion from $1.59 billion in fiscal 2020. Technology segment net sales declined 1.4% to $1.51 billion. Our Financing segment net sales increased 3.6% to $60.4 million due to higher sales of off lease equipment and other revenues. Importantly, adjusted gross billings for the full year were $2.26 billion, up 1.6% from $2.23 billion in fiscal 2020.

Looking at the end markets in our Technology segment for fiscal 2021, Telecom, Media and Entertainment and Technology continue to be our largest markets representing 25% and 17% of segment net sales, respectively. SLED, Healthcare and Financial Services followed, accounting for 16%, 13% and 13%, respectively. The remaining 16% derives from a variety of other customers.

Consolidated gross profit was up 0.6% to $393.6 million. Gross profit in the Technology segment increased 1.7% to $346.2 million and gross profit in the financing segment declined 6.5% to $47.3 million. Consolidated gross margin widened by 50 basis points to 25.1% from fiscal 2020. Technology gross margin expanded 70 basis points to 23.0%.

Operating expenses decreased 2.9% to $287.2 million primarily due to decreases in travel, marketing, acquisition related expenses, and healthcare costs.

Consolidated operating income increased 11.6% to $106.3 million. Our effective tax rate for fiscal 2021 was 30.4% compared to 28.0% a year ago. Our net earnings in fiscal 2021 were $74.4 million, or $5.54 per diluted share, an increase of 7.7% and 7.6%, respectively.  For fiscal year 2022, we expect our effective tax rate to be between 29% and 30%.

Our balance sheet remains strong as we ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of $129.6 million, an increase of 50.2% primarily due to changes in working capital for the technology segment. As a reminder, we also have approximately $120 million in our financing portfolio that may be monetized should we have a need for additional capital.  Inventory levels increased 39.2% to $70.0 million from the year ago quarter, however, sequentially inventory decreased 13.9%.  Our inventory reflects ongoing customer projects. Our cash conversion cycle was 37 days, flat from the year ago quarter and up sequentially from 24 days as more was billed to customers with greater than 90-day terms.

We continue to monitor the effects of COVID-19 on our business as the vaccine rolls out across our footprint. We constantly seek new opportunities for our business through organic investments and acquisitions. Our resilient business model performed well over the last year as we quickly pivoted to service our customers under difficult circumstances. We are confident in our ability to continue to deliver for our customers while gaining market share as we emerge from this pandemic. As I reflect on this unique fiscal year, I want to thank all our employees for their extraordinary perseverance and efforts despite the difficult circumstances COVID cast upon us.

I will now turn the call back over to Mark, Mark?

Mark Marron, CEO, President

Thanks Elaine. So, to sum up, fiscal 2021 was a very successful year for ePlus, as we executed well in a very dynamic and challenging environment.  We remain positive on our outlook for fiscal 2022, backed by our increasing order backlog and our continued focus on the solutions our diverse customer base needs in the areas of cloud, security, digital transformation and collaboration.  Additionally, our strong balance sheet allows us to make opportunistic acquisitions and investments to adjust to dynamic market conditions.

We will continue to work hard to support our SLED, mid-market and enterprise customers with customized IT solutions and services to smoothly enable their transition back to the traditional office environment or their implementation of flexible hybrid work models.

Operator, I would now like to open the call for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question is from the line of Maggie Nolan with William Blair.

Maggie Nolan, William Blair & Co. LLC

Thanks. Hi, Mark. Hi, Elaine.

Mark Marron, CEO, President

Hey, Maggie.

Maggie Nolan, William Blair & Co. LLC

I wanted to ask about the access to customer site. Can you give us an update on what you saw there in the fourth quarter? And then if there's been any change kind of as we move into April and May here.

Mark Marron, CEO, President

So far, no change Maggie, not a lot of access to customer sites, a lot of it's based on the different states and the requirements and regulations within those states. We've seen where customers are pretty comfortable with us providing solution services consulting remotely. We are seeing things start to pick up where people are starting to go back in a kind of hybrid work environment. We'll probably expect that to continue for the next few months before you see more people in the offices that we can actually visit on a regular basis.

I will say this though I'm proud of our team, the way they've kind of adjusted with the work from home and in terms of how they're going to market, in terms of touching, supporting and servicing our customers.

Maggie Nolan, William Blair & Co. LLC

Okay, thanks. And then Mark, what are you seeing in the way of inflation and the pricing environment, particularly as the component shortages continue?

Mark Marron, CEO, President

Maggie, I think that'll start to pick up so as the shortages potentially become a little more prevalent, I think you may see some things there. We haven't seen much yet. We're in constant contact with the OEMs, talking to them about any changes or things that they're seeing related to inflation/pricing increases. We haven't seen much yet, but would expect we might see a little bit of that in the future.

Maggie Nolan, William Blair & Co. LLC

Okay. And then last one for me, the services business that performed well. Can you talk a little bit about the underlying momentum in that segment, both outside of the impact of the acquisition of SMP and when you think about the synergies that that acquisition could create? Thank you.

Mark Marron, CEO, President

Okay. Yeah. So that's a couple different things there, Maggie. So good question. Look on services, we feel really good about our services. We've talked about it for a while. This quarter, we were up 8.2% year-over-year, and our gross margins were up 60 basis points. So, a lot of what we talked about in prior calls are what I'd call managed services or annuity revenues have picked up nicely and continue to pick up. So, as we've had a little bit of a flattish, I'll call it transactional services, professional services, staffing, we've been able to grow our services based on work that we've done in prior quarters, prior years, that's now ratable revenue falling into this quarter and then subsequent quarters.

Overall, though, we are starting to see some pickup in what I'd call the transactional services, both from a professional services but also more importantly, from a staffing. We're starting to see more and more customers look to start to fill headcount with staffing. And I think it's a fairly tight market right now. So, we're seeing some positive signs in the staffing side of our services business as well.

SMP, we think is a great addition not only in the collaboration space, also in the data center space. So, there's some things there that we're going to be able to try to leverage across the rest of ePlus over time. Does that cover everything, Maggie?

Maggie Nolan, William Blair & Co. LLC

Yes, thanks for the time.

Mark Marron, CEO, President

Okay. Speak to you soon. Take care, Maggie.

Operator

Your next question is from Greg Burns with Sidoti.

Greg Burns, Sidoti

Good afternoon. In terms of the component shortages, and how that might be impacting revenue, is there any way you could maybe quantify that? And what's your view on the duration? Is that going to be something that's with you for a couple of quarters? Or, do you see that being more of a near-term problem?

Mark Marron, CEO, President

Yeah, that's a hard one to predict. So first off, I hope you are doing well. One, it's a little hard to predict, because you hear some of the folks like Gartner that think it may go into 2022, most of what we're hearing from the OEMs is, maybe a quarter or two is kind of what the expectation is. But I think this is one that a lot of people are scrambling trying to figure out. The one thing for us it could impact deliveries, but I don't think it's going to impact our orders.

So I noted on my earlier comments our open orders are up significantly year-over-year. So a lot of the things that we're selling is out there and just has to get delivered, as well as our deferred revenue being up nicely, as well. So we're seeing a lot of things that are positive for the future. The one headwind is not really knowing for sure with the shortage, how much it could affect us, as we move into the next quarter and beyond.

Greg Burns, Sidoti

Okay. And then, revenue was a bit lighter on the technology side, a little bit lighter than I think consensus was looking for. Can you just talk about that, whether it was some of this, like COVID-related, commodity type projects, maybe rolling off and now, we're in this kind of waiting period where we're waiting for companies to reopen and start spending more broadly?

And then maybe just hand in hand with the backlog growth. Can you quantify how much the backlog is up year-over-year? And if looking forward conversations -- are the conversations with your customers now changing to kind of more broader IT spending rather than keep the lights on COVID spending?

Mark Marron, CEO, President

Yeah, good question. So yeah, I think it's more about IT modernization and what we hear from a lot of our customers as we kind of come out of this pandemic, and the vaccinations kind of take hold. So a couple different things you touched on there.

On the net sales being down, I don't consider that a bad thing. If you look at it overall, our AGB, adjusted gross billings, was up 2.8%. We had a large gross to net, Greg, it was almost 600 basis points higher this quarter versus the same quarter last year, and it's mainly a factor of what we're selling, a lot of this software, subscription, ratable type things that our customers are looking for.

So, if we didn't have that big gross to net delta at 600 basis points, let's say if it was flat year-over-year, our net sales probably would have been up around 5%. So, we look at it more on our orders are up meaning our billings is up. And then we look at the profitability side, which with gross profit up 6.6%. And just as importantly, operating income of 31.9%. We're more focused on the profitability than the net sales, because I think over time customers are moving to more of these As-A-Service software ratable models, and that's going to affect net sales, but hopefully in a positive way.

To your question, as it relates to kind of backlog, I'd call it an open order backlog is actually up about 70% year-over-year. So that's a real positive for ePlus, as we move forward. The only headwind on that is what I kind of mentioned to Maggie a little bit earlier might be some of the shortages, if you will, that would be the only thing there.

Greg Burns, Sidoti

Okay. And then lastly, on the gross margin, record gross margin, really strong this quarter. It sounds like there's a large maintenance project and maybe kind of a good contribution from the financing segment. But how should we think about that going forward? I mean, I'm assuming the mix won't be as favorable, how should we think about the gross margin on a more normalized basis?

Mark Marron, CEO, President

Yeah, on a normalized basis, I'd look at what we put up for the year, what we put on an annualized gross margin would probably be a good metric, Greg. This quarter, if you look at it, the large gross to net affected it what was nice, both our product and services, margins were up as well. So a lot of the value added solutions and services were selling are resolving with customers in this market. So it helped drive up the margins as well.

But this was an outlier in terms of gross margin. So I think the annual that we put up for the year is probably a good metric to start with.

Greg Burns, Sidoti

Great. Thank you.

Mark Marron, CEO, President

Alright, Greg. See you soon.

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Matt Sheerin with Stifel.

Matt Sheerin, Stifel

Thank you. Good afternoon. A question, Mark just regarding on the gross margin, in the return to kind of more normal levels, is that just because of a product mix? Were you expecting a higher percentage of hardware on-prem hardware just because of the trends in the bookings you're seeing?

Mark Marron, CEO, President

Yeah, I wouldn't say -- first off, hey, Matt. I wouldn't say based on the on prem, so let me explain this quarter and then I'll kind of tell you where I think things may be going is. First off, this was a large gross to net, it was 37.2% versus 31.3%, almost 600 basis points. So that had a big effect in driving the margin up higher to the 27.8%.

What was nice on top of that, both our product as well as our service margins are up. So a lot of the products and more solutions that we're selling with the services that it encompasses, as well as our annuity services are starting to help drive our margins up. This was an outlier for a quarter though, that's why, as I was explaining to Greg, I think it's more in line with what we've done for the year is probably a better metric, as it relates to gross margin.

Related to your on prem, yeah, we are seeing a lot of things that folks as they -- we work in this hybrid work environment, that there's things they have to do with their infrastructure, data center, modernization, even journey to the cloud. So I think there's a lot of things in there that should contribute positively to both our services and margins overall over time.

Matt Sheerin, Stifel

Okay. And could you be more specific in terms of the product areas and the strength or weakness, networking, versus storage, servers, et cetera? Any areas of pointing out?

Mark Marron, CEO, President

Well, a couple different things. I think, if I were to think about it security, obviously, with everything's going on, and happened with colonial pipeline and solar winds and the executive order from President Biden, I think you're going to see some additional hardening, if you will, of people's infrastructure and in the access that they allow, and all the data protection. So I think there's a very strong chance that you'll continue to see an uptick in security. And I'm talking broadly in the market, not just ePlus.

As it relates to networks, yeah I think you'll see some things with networks as 5G and other things move into play. As people try to do more with from a digital infrastructure, I think you'll see a pickup. I believe there's a play for storage for years and years to come, the reason being is there's an unlimited amount of data, both structured and unstructured out there.

So those would be the plays as well as cloud obviously is a big driver with what folks are trying to do as they try to make choices on where to put their workloads, and how to consume the cloud and all those other things. So those would be the areas that expect to see some uptick.

I think a lot of the collaborations/communication, I think will continue as well. But I think you had a, I won't say a mad rush, but you had a rush with COVID for a lot of people to upgrade their systems, and I think that will continue over time as well.

Matt Sheerin, Stifel

Okay. Thanks for that. And just in terms of the end market, but I know you've got fairly diversification here. You've got telecom, financial services, SLED, healthcare. Any specific thoughts on those end markets that are you may be surprising to the upside or otherwise?

Mark Marron, CEO, President

Yeah. Well, here's a couple different things, Matt. So healthcare was down, which we'd kind of expect with what went on with COVID. So with both, the hospitals and healthcare organizations focused on people as compared to some of the other things that they'd normally do.

Tech was down for us and that's just a few customers, but that that kind of goes up and back and forth. What was nice, SLED was up both in the quarter as well as the year for us, a lot of that was in the state and local. So that's based on a lot of contracts and relationships we've built up over the years. So if I looked at it, it's not anything that surprised us. And it's kind of the normal, the top five verticals or our top five verticals with tech being down and telecom being up, but the others kind of being in line with what we've normally seen.

And then we saw a lot of our, what I'd call mid-market to higher end employees as a percentage of the AGB in absolute dollars, I should say, is actually up. So the solutions we're selling is resounding with that mid to enterprise market. Those would be the things related to verticals and kind of customer size, if you will.

Matt Sheerin, Stifel

So it's something you're seeing some pickup in the mid-markets and finally, after a few quarters?

Mark Marron, CEO, President

Yeah, we're starting to see it. And when I'd say mid-market, Matt, 500 employees and above, and that'll vary. So I'm very clear, that'll vary quarter to quarter, on a sequential basis. But, we're starting to see some things that are picking up in that 500 employees and above, if you will.

And then, hopefully that'll continue. And then the below 500, we saw a little bit of a slowdown at least for this year, and I'm hoping that'll start to pick up in time as well.

Matt Sheerin, Stifel

Okay, great. That's very helpful. Thanks a lot, Mark.

Mark Marron, CEO, President

All right. Thanks, Matt. We appreciate it.

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn it back over to the speakers for any closing remarks.

Mark Marron, CEO, President

Okay. Thank you. Hey, thanks, everybody for joining us. We feel good about the quarter. We feel good about how our teams adjusted in this COVID world and feel like we're well-positioned as we come out of it. And just want to thank you for attending today and look forward to seeing you on the next call. Thank you.

Operator

That does conclude today's conference. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.