Efecte Plc's business review on 1-3/2022 – SaaS +24%, EBITDA margin 3%
EFECTE PLC -- BUSINESS REVIEW -- 29 APRIL 2022 at 13.00
Efecte Plc's business review on 1-3/2022 – SaaS +24%, EBITDA margin 3%
1-3/2022:
- Total net sales grew by 20% and was 5.0 million euro (4.2)
- SaaS grew by 24% and international SaaS by 38%
- EBITDA was 0.1 million euro (0.2) and EBIT 0.0 million euro (0.1)
- EBITDA margin was 3% (4%)
- Services grew by 16% driven by demand from existing and new customers
- Strategy was updated including higher growth ambitions
Guidance for 2022 (unchanged):
SaaS net sales is expected to grow over 20% and EBITDA to be positive, excluding any potential costs from inorganic activities.
Group key figures
| 1000 EUR | 1-3/2022 | 1-3/2021 | 2021 | |
| Net sales | 5 036 | 4 212 | 17 764 | |
| EBITDA | 145 | 185 | 935 | |
| EBIT | 12 | 70 | 431 | |
| SaaS MRR | 1 054 | 855 | 992 | |
CEO Niilo Fredrikson:
The first quarter was a solid start for the new year. Our growth continued at a healthy pace as we also updated our strategy and started executing towards the high ambition we set: to become the undisputed #1 in our space, the Leading European Alternative in service management. This can only be achieved by a world-class team, and we were hence especially pleased with the continued success in recruiting top talent as well as attrition remaining at a low level.
Compounding SaaS growth
We grew SaaS by 24% and the compounding effect of growing it consistently at over 20% – now already 18 quarters in a row – starts to be visible. Our total net sales grew 20%, supported also by 16% services growth. We invested the growing top line into our long-term growth plan in line with our updated strategy. The increase in full-time equivalent headcount vs. the year before was significant at 23%. Thanks to the strong top line development, continued cost control and timing of recruitments, we were able to deliver a positive EBITDA margin despite the investments in growth. The full impact of the recruitments made during Q1 will naturally be visible in personnel expenses in the following quarters.
Finland performed very well in Q1 and the growing contribution from new markets was the highlight in our international operations. We signed three new customers in new markets, two from UK and one in Poland. We focused a lot on sales enablement of existing partners, while also selectively continuing to recruit new ones. A new direct market pilot was started for the Spanish market, executed by Spanish-speaking personnel based in Finland.
Strengthening our differentiation
A key part of our strategy is to invest in product development to further strengthen our differentiation. During Q1, we did that through hiring more in-house personnel and increasing subcontracting. Progress was good with particular focus on user experience, product quality and Identity Governance and Administration (IGA).
Our next-generation self-service interface reached the beta release phase and is now ready for customer piloting. When ready, the new interface will enable our customers to provide their end-users a completely renewed self-service experience including many features requested by customers. We also shipped over 30 smaller quality and security improvements, including enhancements to our AI feature Virtual Coach, extended Excel reports, enhanced process control reporting and many usability and accessibility improvements. These in turn help the thousands of IT and other specialists who use Efecte every day as their main tool to conduct their work. For these heavy users, small details matter – and we put a lot of focus on providing them the best possible experience.
With IGA, we had another intensive quarter including several customer and partner engagements, marketing activities and continuous product development. We saw further proof points for the product market fit of the new IGA Starter offering with several customers being deployed in record times.
Our priorities in a changing world
While the world around us changed once again with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a successful Q1 put us in a good position to execute our plan for the full year. We condemn Russia’s actions strongly and have supported the people of Ukraine in multiple ways, including donations. Efecte’s business is not directly impacted, as we have no customers or partners in Russia, Belarus or Ukraine.
We re-confirm the guidance for this year and will continue to invest for long-term success. Our business is about helping people digitalize and automate their work, and we have seen customer demand remain strong despite some customers’ operating environment changing quite a bit. In line with our strategy, we will focus on Growth, Product, People and M&A as we continue to proceed step-by-step towards our vision of becoming the Leading European Alternative in service management.
Other developments
Our cash position developed favorably, with cash and liquid assets of 8.6 million euro (6.5) and no interest-bearing financial debt at the end of the review period. On a rolling 12-month basis, recurring gross margin was 82% (78%), gross churn 3.8% (3.7%), net retention rate 115% (112%) and LTV/CAC ratio 10.6. Total recurring revenue (SaaS and maintenance) amounted to 67% of net sales (66%).
The number of full-time equivalent employees at the end of the review period was 134 (109). Of these, 110 (90) were in Finland, 7 (8) in Sweden and 14 (11) in Germany. The average number of full-time equivalent employees during Q1 was 129 (106). Our central team in Finland acts globally supporting customers, partners and sales in all markets and includes the headcount responsible for our new markets operation.
Long-term financial targets
By 2025, grow organically to 35 MEUR total net sales, maintain an average SaaS growth of over 20% and reach a double-digit EBITDA margin.
Through organic growth and acquisitions, become eventually the largest European service management vendor with total net sales over 100 MEUR and EBITDA margin exceeding 25%.
Guidance for the year 2022
SaaS net sales is expected to grow over 20% and EBITDA to be positive, excluding any potential costs from inorganic activities.
Next earnings release
Efecte will publish the half-year report 1-6/2022 on 19 July 2022.
Additional information:
CFO Taru Mäkinen, +358 40 507 1085
CEO Niilo Fredrikson, +358 50 356 7177
Certified adviser: Evli Oyj, tel. +358 40 579 6210
This release is unaudited. The amounts in this report have been rounded from exact numbers.
A webcast for analysts, investors and media will be arranged on 29 April 2022 at 15:00 Finnish time. All participants can register and follow the event at https://efecte.videosync.fi/2022-q1. The webcast will be in English and written questions can be presented in the webcast portal. A recording and presentation materials will be made available afterwards on the company’s investor pages at investors.efecte.com.
Efecte Plc
Efecte helps people digitalize and automate their work. Customers across Europe leverage our cloud service to operate with greater agility, to improve the experience of end-users, and to save costs. The use cases for our solutions range from IT service management and ticketing to improving employee experiences, business workflows, and customer service. We are the European Alternative to the global goliaths in our space. Our headquarters is located in Finland and we have regional hubs in Germany and Sweden. Efecte is listed on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market Finland marketplace.
