Basware Financial Statements Bulletin January−December 2021: Order intake back to growth, net sales and EBIT in line with expectations

Basware Corporation, stock exchange release, 3 February 2022 at 8.45 a.m. EET

October-December 2021

• Cloud ARR order intake amounted to EUR 6.0 million (EUR 5.9 million)
• Net sales increased 2.4 percent to EUR 39,742 thousand (EUR 38,793 thousand), which amounted to 0.5 percent organic growth at constant currencies
• Cloud revenue increased 10.4 percent to EUR 31,628 thousand (EUR 28,660 thousand), which amounted to 8.4 percent organic growth at constant currencies
• EBIT increased 26.2 percent to EUR 1,532 thousand (EUR 1,213 thousand)
• Earnings per share (diluted) were EUR -0.04 (EUR -0.13)

January-December 2021

• Cloud ARR order intake amounted to EUR 17.1 million (EUR 19.3 million)
• Net sales increased 1.0 percent to EUR 153,155 thousand (EUR 151,579 thousand), which amounted to 0.9 percent organic growth at constant currencies
• Cloud revenue increased 8.8 percent to EUR 119,996 thousand (EUR 110,312 thousand), which amounted to 8.6 percent organic growth at constant currencies
• EBIT increased 53.1 percent to EUR 7,144 thousand (EUR 4,667 thousand)
• Earnings per share (diluted) were EUR -0.99 (EUR -0.51)

Key figures

¹ At the end of the period.

The Financial Statements Bulletin is unaudited.

Guidance for 2022              

Basware guides the following for the full year 2022:

• Order Intake to grow between 15 and 35 percent at organic constant currencies
• Net sales to grow between 3 and 6 percent at organic constant currencies
• EBIT between EUR 7 and 10 million

CEO Klaus Andersen:

“Q4 was a good quarter for us overall. Net sales and profitability developed as expected. Total net sales grew 1%, at organic constant currencies, to EUR 39.7 million, while Cloud revenue grew 8% at organic constant currencies, amounting to EUR 31.6 million. Consulting revenue amounted to EUR 6.6 million in Q4, a decline compared to the same quarter last year. Increased partner implementation activity, especially in North America, and a lower number of new projects coming in earlier in the year impacted the Consulting revenues in Q4. Maintenance and License revenue declined in line with expectations. EBIT continued to develop positively and amounted to EUR 1.5 million for the quarter, an increase of 26% YoY. Our cash position remained strong and was EUR 31.1 million at the end of the quarter.

In 2021 we essentially completed our Cloud journey, with 80% of revenues in Q4 coming from the Cloud software business and 17% from Cloud related professional services. Net sales amounted to EUR 153.2 million, 1% organic growth at constant currencies compared to 2020. Cloud revenue reached EUR 120 million, an organic growth of 9% at constant currencies compared to 2020. Consulting revenues amounted to EUR 26.9 million, a small increase compared to 2020. Maintenance and License revenue declined as expected and according to the strategy. EBIT was EUR 7.1 million with a robust increase of 53% compared to 2020.

In 2021, as a result of our Cloud journey progress and a growing loyal customer base, we delivered strong cloud metrics, with Basware's gross renewal rate at 96 percent and net renewal rate at 104 percent. Cloud gross margin was 68.3 percent in 2021, 0.6 percentage point higher than in 2020. Our customer lifetime value to customer acquisition cost ratio (LTV/CAC) was 7.2 times in 2021.

Order intake for the quarter was EUR 6.0 million, growing 1.9% YoY. New logo order intake grew 35.9% YoY and contributed to the total order intake for the quarter with EUR 1.8 million. Many well-known companies such as Auchan, Carmeuse, Grass Valley, SRV and DOF signed up for our cloud services in Q4.

Full year order intake was EUR 17.1 million compared to EUR 19.3 million in 2020, bearing in mind that the large US fast food chain signed in Q3 is not visible in the 2021 order intake numbers. The positive trend in our Partner reseller channel continued, with approximately 18% or EUR 3.1 million of the full year order intake coming from resellers. In 2020 that number was EUR 2.3 million or approximately 12%.

In Q4 we launched to selected pilot customers an exciting innovation and add-on service, Smart Coding, using Artificial Intelligence. Smart Coding helps to reduce the number of touches on invoices by creating machine-learning based coding proposals, thus reducing the time spent on invoice processing even further. In addition, we continued to support our customers in their compliance journey in the global e-invoicing space and introduced an e-invoice compliance map to our homepages with comprehensive descriptions of e-invoicing requirements across the globe. In Procurement we are constantly increasing the depth of functionalities and capabilities. The demand for our next generation Basware Purchase solution grew steadily during the year and we reached 40% growth in number of customers with production usage at the end of the year.

Engaging and aligning all our stakeholders towards our long-term value creation is crucial. I am very pleased that in Q4 we established, for the first time in Basware’s history, a long-term Employee share savings plan. An initiative that gives all Basware employees the opportunity to become an even more integrated part of company’s long-term value creation.

Going into 2022, the momentum we have in Procurement clearly indicates that we are steadily heading towards becoming best in class, not only in Networked Accounts Payable, but also in the wider Networked Purchase-to-Pay space. In 2022 our focus is on accelerating sustainable growth. We will continue to strive towards improved sales execution and efficient demand generation, and at the same time increasing the capacity in this area. Based on the pipeline development we experienced in the second half of 2021 and the order intake performance in the last quarter of 2021, we have increased confidence in continuing the growth in order intake in 2022.”

Results conference call

Basware arranges a briefing for analysts and press, where CEO Klaus Andersen and CFO Martti Nurminen will comment on the events and financial performance of the past quarter and full year. The results briefing can be followed via live webcast or teleconference. A recording of the briefing will be available shortly after the event.

Time: Thursday, 3 February 2022 at 2 p.m. EET / 12 p.m. GMT
Place: Basware HQ, Linnoitustie 2, Cello-building, Espoo, Finland
Video webcast and teleconference registration: https://basware.videosync.fi/2021-q4-results

Teleconference numbers:

Finland: +358 981 710 310
Sweden: +46 856 642 651
United Kingdom: +44 333 300 0804
United States: +1 631 913 1422

PIN: 12946790#

To join in analysts and press briefing, please contact ir@basware.com.

Basware Corporation

Klaus Andersen
CEO

For more information, please contact:
Martti Nurminen, CFO, Basware Corporation
Tel. +358 (0)40 751 7194, martti.nurminen@basware.com

Distribution:
Nasdaq Helsinki
Main media
investors.basware.com/en

About Basware:
Basware offers the largest open business network in the world and is the global leader in providing networked purchase-to-pay solutions and e-invoicing services. Our technology empowers organizations with 100% spend visibility by enabling the capture of all financial data across procurement, finance, accounts payable and accounts receivable functions. Basware's solutions play an important role in transitioning to a lower-carbon economy by enabling the digitalization and automation of Purchase-to-Pay enterprise processes that rely on paper. Basware is a global company doing business in more than 100 countries and is traded on the Helsinki exchange (BAS1V: HE). Find out more at https://investors.basware.com/en.