Sidetrade: Strong growth in annual revenue up 14%? Launch of the
ambitious "Fusion100" strategic plan
Record Q4 bookings: up 31%
Strong growth in annual revenue: up 14%
Launch of the ambitious "Fusion100" strategic
plan
Sidetrade (Euronext Growth:
ALBFR.PA), the AI-powered Order-to-Cash
platform, announces double-digit growth of its
2020 revenue, up 14%, and unveils its ambitious new strategic plan
"Fusion100" to take the next step in growth.
Olivier Novasque, Chairman and CEO of Sidetrade,
had this to say:
"2020 will remain the year in which many
companies saw their business models put to the test. In this
unprecedented context, Sidetrade demonstrated the extreme
resilience of its SaaS model by achieving a record year with
double-digit revenue growth. I would like to thank all of our
employees, customers, partners and shareholders, who have helped us
achieve an exceptional year in 2020, despite the terrible nature of
this crisis.
For companies, and in particular for CFOs,
transformation is no longer an option but an absolute priority, and
our technology offering is perfectly in tune with the need to
accelerate cash generation, particularly by reducing payment
delays. Industry analyst IDC's leading research has also identified
Sidetrade as one of the major players in Order-to-Cash. This market
is booming and has seen numerous capital-intensive operations
throughout the year. This demonstrates once again the tremendous
growth potential it holds for solid and ambitious players.
Sidetrade has considerable advantages to help it exploit this
powerful market dynamic and has the means to live up to its
ambitions. We have never been in a stronger position than where we
find ourselves at the end of 2020.
With our new Fusion100 strategic plan, we are
clearly focusing on innovation and accelerating our growth in both
Europe and the United States. Sidetrade's core businesses have
never been so solid, which enables us to have the financial means
necessary to achieve our ambitions. These significant investment
programs will make Sidetrade a global player on a completely new
scale. We now have to seize this unique opportunity to be a major
world leader in the Order-to-Cash".
Record Q4 bookings: up 31%
In the new paradigm that 2020 represented,
Sidetrade's sales strategy has focused on international companies
with revenues over €1 billion that are more resilient to the crisis
and have significant resources to implement cash flow generation
projects. Another advantage of this strategic orientation is that
these large companies offer more opportunities for the company in
terms of additional sales (44% 2020 bookings were upsell and
cross-sell deals), ultimately producing increased revenues for
upcoming years.
For Q4 2020, Sidetrade has set a new record for
bookings with an additional €1.54 million in annual recurring
revenue (ARR) vs. €1.17 million in Q4 2019, representing 31%
growth. In the enterprise segment, growth is even more pronounced
with €1.51 million in ARR (vs. €1.04 million in 2019), up 46%.
Sidetrade continued to expand its geographical
presence in Q4 2020 with 46% of bookings outside continental
Europe. Its customer base is represented across all industry
sectors, including for example: Bidfood (United Kingdom,
Distribution), Biffa (United Kingdom, Services), Christeyns
(France, Pharmaceuticals), Colt (Spain, Netherlands, Belgium,
United Kingdom, ICT), Deliveroo (Europe, ICT), RS Components
(global, Distribution), Autodistribution (Europe, Distribution),
Pricer (France, ICT), Randstad (APAC, Human Resources), STG
(France, Transport), Trescal (United States, Electronics), XPO
Logistics (Europe, Transport).
Over the whole of fiscal year 2020, Sidetrade
broke its record for the number of new enterprise account customers
with the addition of 45 subscribers who joined the Sidetrade Cloud
(vs. 37 in 2019). Enterprise accounts now represent 97% of
bookings. The company is repeating its 2019 record performance in
terms of bookings, with new ARR on enterprise accounts of €4.03
million (vs. €4.16 million in 2019) despite 2020 Q1 being hugely
impacted by the sudden halt in economic activity.These new
enterprise accounts have committed to average initial contract
periods of 38.1 months (vs. 33.8 months in 2019), with a total
value of new contracts signed of €11.95m (vs. €11.1 million in
2019).
Attrition remains under control for enterprise
accounts with a churn rate of 5.6% as of December 31, 2020, which
represents an excellent result for the SaaS industry whose average
was 13.9% according to the “2020 SaaS survey results - Covid
edition" by KeyBank CapitalMarkets (published on May 31, 2020).
Strong growth in annual revenue: up 14%
Sidetrade(in millions of
euros) |
2020 |
2019 |
Variation |
Revenue |
29.2 |
25.7 |
+14% |
The 2020 information is unaudited consolidated data.
Sidetrade posted annual revenue of €29.2 million
for 2020, up 14%. This steady growth, quarter after quarter, is
purely organic and demonstrates the attractiveness of Sidetrade's
offer in a business environment where cash collection has been a
vital issue for companies.
The company's SaaS model, where 89% of revenue
is recurring, has really demonstrated its resilience in the face of
the economic crisis.
Launch of the "Fusion100" strategic plan
All over the world, the pandemic and its
economic consequences have caused a historic increase in B2B
payment delays. United Kingdom recorded a spike of unpaid and
overdue invoices reaching 43% on May 2, 2020 according to the
Sidetrade tracker. In this unprecedented context, companies are
faced with the urgent need to transform their organizations,
digitize their financial processes and increase the professional
performance of their teams in order to regain control over payment
deadlines. Securing and accelerating cash flow generation is now a
crucial issue for most organizations.
The market for Order-to-Cash technological
solutions, previously largely dominated by manual processes
combined with simple office spreadsheets, has in just a few months
become one of the most dynamic segments of the enterprise software
industry. Unsurprisingly, investors (private equity funds, key
industry players) have just within the last twelve months launched
an unprecedented wave of capital investment targeting the main
players in this booming market:
- In Europe, acquisition of the historic Dutch
player OnGuard (€14 m in estimated revenue) by Visma (February
2020), followed in July 2020 by the American software company
YayPay ($2 m estimated revenue) bought out by the French company
Quadient for over €17 m and, finally, in October 2020, the
acquisition of Rimilia (British software company specializing in
invoice reconciliation automation using "Cash Application", under
$10 m in estimated revenue), by Blackline (Nasdaq: BL) for a final
value of $150 million.
- In North America, Iconiq Capital led a $125
million growth funding round for HighRadius (January 2020) on an
estimated revenue of less than $70 million at the time of the
transaction followed by a takeover bid in February 2020 on the
Canadian company VersaPay (Can$8 m estimated revenue) initiated by
the Great Hill Partners fund for a value of Can$126 million, with a
view to delisting. In July 2020, the Californian software company
Cforia (under $10 m in estimated revenue) was bought by the
Gemspring Capital fund, and finally Billtrust (a software company
specializing in electronic invoicing and online payments, with $100
m in estimated revenue) debuted on the Nasdaq in October 2020 via a
SPAC (Special-Purpose Acquisition Company) from South Mountain
Merger Corp (Nasdaq: SMMC) with a value of $1.3 billion.
Despite this frenzy of acquisitions, it is clear
that the Order-to-Cash is still an emerging and extremely
fragmented market where no one player can claim a dominant
position, either in terms of size or capacity to functionally cover
the requirements of companies over the entire cycle. This market is
in fact currently estimated at $10 billion in Europe and North
America (Source: Midcap Partners, October 9, 2020), and even
doubling the consolidated revenues of its major players (including
Sidetrade in third place worldwide with its $36 million in revenue)
to take into account small local players and peripheral solutions,
the penetration rate would still represent just 5% of the potential
market to date; Billtrust, with its $100 million in estimated
revenue, would only have a 1% market share. The Order-to-Cash
market is therefore one of the markets of the future with
considerable growth potential, and one where the field between the
different software companies remains extremely open. Over the next
five years, Sidetrade clearly has a good hand to play in this
global market and intends to give itself all the means to achieve
its ambitions with its "Fusion 100" strategic plan.
Fusion100 is first and foremost an ambitious
growth plan to enable Sidetrade to seize this tremendous market
opportunity. Through a targeted investment program, Sidetrade will
aim for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of between 20% and 25%
over the period 2021-2025, compared to 15% on average over the last
two years. This ambitious plan should enable the company to reach
its target revenue of $100 million in 2025 (or €82 million).
This plan is based on three major
pillars: 1/ Continuing to lead the field on AI and quickly
offering the most complete Order-to-Cash platform on the market
2/ Strengthening its position as #1 on the
European market and joining the Top 3 players on the American
domestic market 3/ Seizing all opportunities for
targeted external growth compatible with the two previous
points.
- Innovation: Lead the field on AI and offer the most
complete platform on the market
Leading the field on Artificial
IntelligenceFusion100 aims to consolidate Sidetrade's
technological advances in the area of Artificial Intelligence. As
early as 2015, Sidetrade had developed unique expertise compared to
its competitors by applying machine learning algorithms to the 330
million consolidated payment experiences in its Cloud, representing
the analysis of more than $1 trillion worth of B2B transactions. In
addition to the ability to predict the payment behavior of more
than 3 million companies around the world, Sidetrade's AI, "Aimie",
is now able to receive input and learn from the 40 million
collection activities carried out annually by all of Sidetrade's
customers, to recommend the best collection action to the
operational teams for a given customer, at the best time and using
the most effective medium. In addition to automating large numbers
of tasks that were previously manual, the actions recommended by
Aimie result in a 53% increase in average cash collection
efficiency over the traditional methods and thus a 51% reduction in
unnecessary manual tasks. The next step will be to refine this
approach and to make Aimie even more autonomous in carrying out
certain tasks.
Offering the most comprehensive platform
on the marketThanks to its AI, Sidetrade is clearly ahead
on the core Order-to-Cash process, namely the management of
collection, the monitoring and resolution of disputes, and the
management of customer case and credit risk, all crucial elements
that bring the highest return on investment. Nevertheless, there
are certain functional areas, upstream or downstream of the
Order-to-Cash cycle, which are not yet addressed substantially or
at all by the Sidetrade platform, such as electronic customer
orders or invoices ("e-Orders" and "e-Invoicing"), the ability to
automatically reconcile open invoices with the relevant credits
received ("Cash Application" or "Cash Allocation") and the option
to offer end debtors online payment solutions (“e-Payment”) via web
portals. Sidetrade is in fact already specifically working on these
areas and within 12 to 18 months will be able to offer the market
innovative solutions while also including new advances in AI.
To achieve these objectives, Sidetrade will
allocate €14 million in R&D investments over the next 24
months, with in particular the forthcoming inauguration of a second
Tech Hub in France, following the one opened in February 2020 in
the United Kingdom (Birmingham). In total, nearly a 100 engineers
will make up Sidetrade's R&D team by the end of 2022, compared
with 62 today.
- Expansion: Strengthen its #1 position in
Europe and enter the Top 3 in the United States
Strengthen its #1 position in
EuropeThe European sales teams, which are already
organized around two regions, one covering Northern Europe from the
United Kingdom and the other covering Continental Europe from
Paris, will be further organized by major industries in order to be
as aligned as possible to clients' requirements and to streamline
relations with major consulting firms. To reinforce its number one
position in Europe, the company's investments in its sales force
will increase by 45% over the next two years, from €10 million in
2020 to €15 million in 2022.
Join the Top 3 Order-to-Cash software
companies in the United StatesFollowing the creation of
Sidetrade Inc. in January 2020, prior to the pandemic, the official
launch of commercial operations in the United States has begun in
earnest at the beginning of 2021 with the recruitment of an
experienced management team in charge of replicating the European
commercial organization within our North American territory. The
sales and marketing team will soon grow to a staff of around 20
employees in 2021, and an investment program of $10 million (or
€8.8 m) over the next 24 months will significantly support our aim
of quickly becoming one of the Top 3 local players.
- Opportunities for acceleration
While the Fusion100 strategic plan is part of an
offensive strategy clearly oriented towards growth supported by
significant investments, it will still preserve Sidetrade's
financial equilibrium with the goal of remaining a profitable and
cash-flow generating company.
With virtually no debt and nearly €25 million in
cash flow at this point (including 68,000 own stocks), the company
has the financial resources necessary to seize any external growth
opportunity that could strengthen and accelerate the execution of
its Fusion100 plan.
Sidetrade is entering 2021 with solid fundamentals, a clear
vision for its future and the means to realize its ambitions.
Next
communications2020 Annual Results: 20 April 2021 (after
stock market closes)
Investor &
Media relationsChristelle Dhrif
+33 6 10 46 72
00
cdhrif@sidetrade.com
About
Sidetrade
(www.ww.sidetrade.com)Sidetrade
(Euronext Growth: ALBFR.PA) is a fast-growing international SaaS
company unlocking customer value.Sidetrade’s next-generation AI,
nicknamed Aimie, analyzes huge amounts of B2B customer payment
behavior data to intelligently automate the order-to-cash process.
Based on predictive analytics, Aimie delivers actionable
recommendations in real time to enhance retention,
upsell/cross-sell, and cash collection. Aimie is a real
game-changer in augmented intelligence- a system whereby
individuals and machines work together faster and smarter, in
complementary ways.Sidetrade has a global reach, with 250 talented
employees based in Paris, London, Birmingham, Dublin, and
Amsterdam, serving clients in 80 countries. Over 2,700 businesses
from large multinationals to mid-size enterprises, in a range of
industries, count on Sidetrade technology to outperform the
competition.For further information, visit us at www.sidetrade.com
and follow us on Twitter @Sidetrade.
In the event of any
discrepancy between the French and English versions of this press
release, only the French version is to be taken into account.
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