Strong growth of revenue and customer base
demonstrates momentum of digital platform
Unifiedpost Group’s (Euronext: UPG) (Unifiedpost, the Group
or the Company) revenue in the first quarter of 2022 increased by
almost 16% to €46.2 million. This substantial increase was mainly
driven by the accelerated underlying organic growth momentum in
recurring digital revenue (+19.3%), which is at the core of the
business of the Company. The continued platform rollout and the
growing customer base to more than 850,000 customers (+8.2% in Q1
2022) were the main engines for growth. Moreover, the platform
scalability showed promising results with the successful launch of
the unique SME-platform Banqup throughout Europe. During the first
quarter, Unifiedpost Group launched its inhouse developed payment
functionality, a crucial cornerstone of the product, in seven
countries and further connected major European banks to the
platform.
Highlights
- Group revenue grew by 15.7% y/y to €46.2 million in Q1
2022
- Organic recurring digital revenue up by 19.3% y/y in Q1 2022
(Q1 2021: 6.7%). Organic digital processing revenue +13.9% y/y,
correlated to the non-recurring project and licence business
- Strong growth of customer base with 8.2% in Q1 compared to YE
2021
- Successful expansion of new SME-ecosystems and further rollout
of payment functionality strengthens high product scalability and
demonstrates overall Group’s growth potential
- Growth rates in digital business increasingly supported by
European governments’ decisions
- Management guidance for FY2022 and FY2023 confirmed
Commenting on the business update, Hans Leybaert, CEO and
founder stated: “We are pleased with the progress made during the
first three months of the year, which is according to plan. Strong
customer development led to 19.3% organic revenue growth of our
(recurring) digital platform services (Q1 2021: 6.7%). Moreover,
the current pipeline of upcoming project deals is promising,
especially due to the regulatory windfall that is to be expected in
the short term. More and more European countries are making plans
to make e-invoicing compulsory. Consequently, we remain committed
to meet our full year management guidance of an organic revenue
growth rate in our digital processing business of at least 25% year
on year.”
Key financial figures
(EUR million)
Q1 2022
Q1 2021
Change (%)
Digital processing revenue – organic
27.6
24.21
+13.9%
Digital processing revenue – acquired
business
2.0
-
-
Postage & parcel optimisation
revenue
16.5
15.6
+5.7%
Group revenue
46.2
39.9
+15.7%
Key business KPI’s
(#)
End Q1 2022
End Q4 2021
End Q3 2021
Customers
857,313
792,594
736,653
Companies in business network
1,615,062
1,504,895
1.319,225
Banqup customers
56,000
35,408
30,553
Organic growth (new subscriptions)
5,197
4,855
3,561
Migrated
15,395
-
-
Banqup customers Belgium (Billtobox)
31,848
28,864
24,324
Banqup customers France (JeFacture)
2,844
2,072
1,300
Recurring digital processing revenue grew significantly by
19.3%
Consolidated Group revenue in the first quarter of FY2022
increased by 15.7% to €46.2 million, driven mainly by organic
growth from digital processing revenue. This core business of
Unifiedpost accounted for €29.6 million, an increase of 22.3% y/y.
Recurring digital revenue, i.e., digital platform revenue
excluding the project and licence business, showed a strong
increase in growth momentum, as its organic growth rate grew
significantly by 19.3% y/y compared to its growth rate of 6.7%
in Q1 2021. Given the more volatile nature of the non-recurring
project and licence business, the organic growth in total digital
processing revenue reached 13.9% in Q1 2022 (Q1 2021: 10.1%).
Postage & parcel optimisation revenue showed a sound growth
rate of 5.7% y/y. Group-wide, due to the lower project business in
the first three months of 2022, the share of recurring revenue
increased to 96.3% of total revenue (FY2021: 92.8%).
Customer base grew substantially by 8.2% in Q1
In Q1 2022 Unifiedpost grew its customer base to
857,313 customers (+8.2% compared to YE2021). The
consolidated business network expanded to over 1.6
million companies by the end of Q1 2022, representing an
estimated 7% of businesses in Europe.
The total number of Banqup customers grew to
56,000 (31 December 2021: 35,408). Banqup is Unifiedpost’s
core SME-product allowing customers to create and send sales
invoices, keep an overview of all (financial) documents and manage
administration. A unique payment functionality was added to the
product. The customer growth over the last three months includes
migration effects, mainly from legacy platforms in the Baltics,
amounting to 15,395 customers. Adjusting for such migrated users,
the number of Banqup users increased by 5,197 in the three months
up to 31 March 2022, supported by a very pleasing organic growth in
markets like France, Serbia and in the Benelux.
Within the French market, Unifiedpost sees the number of
JeFacture customers increasing steadily. Management expects
an exponential growth of customers including speeding up run rates.
Already today, the number of processed documents broadly doubles
every month.
Overall average revenue per unit (ARPU) in digital
processing business2 reached €24.5. The decline in ARPU compared to
FY2021 (€27.9) is predominantly due to two effects. The first one
is a negative basis effect from the last quarter as that includes
the licence revenue resulting from the project with the Serbian
Government. The second one results from the significantly higher
revenue contribution from Unifiedpost’s SME business with a
structurally lower ARPU.
Platform scalability and new ecosystems show promising
results
During the first quarter of FY2022, Unifiedpost Group continued
to successfully launch its Banqup platform throughout
Europe. The payment functionality was launched for the first-time
outside Belgium. Unifiedpost laid the foundations for the payment
infrastructure by obtaining regulatory approval in already 19
countries today to issue local payment accounts – with own IBAN
numbers. Unifiedpost is speeding up the roll-out of its payment
services by further connecting major European banks to the
platform. As of today, the payment functionality is live in 7
countries.
The payment functionality is not only a crucial cornerstone in
the unique product offering of Banqup. It will also enable Banqup
customers to receive financing via assignment of receivables
(factoring) and to improve their cash position. In February 2022,
Unifiedpost agreed on a partnership with Izola Bank,
allowing Banqup to offer invoice financing to customers in Belgium
and in The Netherlands. Funding levels for the invoice finance
services within the platform can currently add up to €50 million.
There is significant additional potential to further scale up this
business model as Banqup will expand this functionality throughout
all its European markets.
Impact of macro-economic and geopolitical situation
Unifiedpost has not been directly impacted by the Russian
aggression against Ukraine. The Group has no business Ukraine, nor
in Russia. It also has no development centres in these countries.
There is no direct revenue from Russia or with Russian customers,
as Unifiedpost is compliant with the EU sanctions. In Moldova,
where Unifiedpost employs about 90 people, Group management is
closely monitoring the situation and different scenarios have
already been prepared to secure our local workforce and the
business continuity in case of escalation.
Financing provides flexibility to secure growth plans
On 7 March 2022, Unifiedpost signed a €100 million five-year
loan facility provided by Francisco Partners, a leading global
investment firm that specializes in partnering with
technology-enabled businesses. Francisco Partners obtained an
equity commitment fee of 3% of the share capital of Unifiedpost and
the loan bears a 3% cash interest and 8% interest paid in kind.
Unifiedpost has drawn €75 million, of which €25 million is being
used as a buffer for the potential negative consequences of the
macro-economic and geopolitical situation. This leaves the Group
with €50 million of which €30 million is required to cover R&D
expenditures and €20 million is used for loan repayments.
€25 million of the €100 million facility remains today undrawn
without costs and remains available for future additional
investments. The partnership with Francisco Partners provides
Unifiedpost with a high degree of financial flexibility, securing
its growth plans in a market environment characterized by high
geopolitical uncertainties and rising interest rates.
Management guidance confirmed
Based on the Q1 2022 results and the Company’s internal forecast
for the following quarters, Unifiedpost reiterates its FY2022 and
FY2023 guidance, with organic digital processing revenue growth of
at least 25% for FY2022, stepping up to at least 30% in FY2023.
Management also reaffirms digital processing revenue gross margin
guidance of at least 60% by 2023 and an adjusted EBITDA margin
expected to reach at least 25% by FY2023. The guidance does not
take any further escalation of the war or further repercussions on
European energy supply into account.
Investors & Media webcast
Management will host a live video webcast
for analysts, investors and media today at 10:00 a.m. CET.
A recording will be available shortly
after the event. To attend, please register at
https://channel.royalcast.com/landingpage/unifiedpost/20220523_1/
A full replay be available after the
webcast at: https://www.unifiedpost.com/en/investor-relations
Financial Calendar 2022
- 12 August 2022 Publication H1 2022 Business Update
- 16 September 2022 Publication H1 2022 Financial Results
- 10 November 2022 Publication Q3 2022 Business Update
About Unifiedpost Group
Unifiedpost is a leading cloud-based platform for SME business
services built on “Documents”, “Identity” and “Payments”.
Unifiedpost operates and develops a 100% cloud-based platform for
administrative and financial services that allows real-time and
seamless connections between Unifiedpost’s customers, their
suppliers, their customers, and other parties along the financial
value chain. With its one-stop-shop solutions, Unifiedpost’s
mission is to make administrative and financial processes simple
and smart for its customers. Since its founding in 2001,
Unifiedpost has grown significantly, expanding to offices in 32
countries, with more than 500 million documents processed in 2021,
reaching over 1,600,000 SMEs and more than 2,500 Corporates across
its platform today.
Noteworthy facts and figures:
- Established in 2001, with a proven track record
- 2021 turnover € 171 million
- 1400+ employees
- Diverse portfolio of clients across a wide variety of
industries (banking, leasing, utilities, media, telecommunications,
travel, social security service providers, public organisations,
etc.) ranging from large internationals to SMEs
- Unifiedpost Payments, a fully owned subsidiary, is recognised
as a payment institution by the National Bank of Belgium
- Certified Swift partner
- International M&A track record
- Listed on the regulated market of Euronext Brussels, symbol:
UPG
(*) Warning about future statements: The statements contained
herein may contain forecasts, future expectations, opinions and
other future-oriented statements concerning the expected further
performance of Unifiedpost Group on the markets in which it is
active. Such future-oriented statements are based on the current
insights and assumptions of management concerning future events.
They naturally include known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors, which seem justified at the time that the statements
are made, but may possibly turn out to be inaccurate. The actual
results, performance or events may differ essentially from the
results, performance or events which are expressed or implied in
such future-oriented statements. Except where required by the
applicable legislation, Unifiedpost Group shall assume no
obligation to update, elucidate or improve future-oriented
statements in this press release in the light of new information,
future events or other elements and shall not be held liable on
that account. The reader is warned not to rely unduly on
future-oriented statements.
1 Including the digital processing revenue from acquired
businesses in Q1 2021. 2 Revenue in digital processing business
divided by number of paying customers at the end of the relevant
period.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220522005084/en/
Enquiries Hans Leybaert, CEO +32 477 23 94 80
hans.leybaert@unifiedpost.com
Laurent Marcelis, CFO +32 477 61 81 37
laurent.marcelis@unifiedpost.com
Investor Relations & Media Sarah Heuninck +32 491 15
05 09 sarah.heuninck@unifiedpost.com
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