Impero releases H1 Report 2024: Realizes DKK 35.4M in Annual Recurring Revenue corresponding to 28% growth and significantly improves cash flow from operations

Company Announcement No. 11-2024

Copenhagen, 29 August 2024

At the end of the first half of 2024, Impero realized a 28% year-on-year Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) growth rate and delivered the best H1 ever from a contracted as well as reported ARR perspective. Revenue for H1 increased by 29%, while capacity costs (other external expenses and staff costs) in the same period increased by 14%, contributing to the planned improvement in EBITDA and lower cash-burn from operations. Impero maintains guidance for the full year of 2024 with ARR within the DKK 38M to 42M range and EBITDA expected within the DKK -11M to -9M range.

Financial highlights on 30 June 2024

• ARR increased by 28% to DKK 35.4M, from DKK 27.6M on 30 June 2023
• Net ARR growth in H1-2024 amounted to DKK 5.0M, compared to DKK 4.9M in H1-2023
• Uplift was 13% YoY, compared to 21% in the 12-month period ending 30 June 2023
• Churn was 4% YoY, the same level as in the 12-month period ending 30 June 2023
• Net Revenue Retention was 109% compared to 117% in the 12-month period ending 30 June 2023
• Revenue in H1-2024 increased by 29% to DKK 16.6M, compared to the same period in 2023
• EBITDA for H1-2024 was negative DKK 5.1M, compared to negative DKK 6.8M for the first half year of 2023

In the first quarter of 2024 we welcomed eight new enterprise customers from Denmark, Germany and Sweden, and in the second quarter we landed another 10 enterprises from Denmark, Germany, and Greenland. In Belgium, we secured our first customer, a leading Big4 firm implementing Impero as part of their service offering for multinational clients.

The continued successful execution in the German market within the enterprise segment is a cornerstone of a solid first half year for Impero. Germany, Europe’s largest economy and the third largest economy in the world, is a key market in our European expansion, and we are pleased to see how the German speaking markets contribute more than 50% of the ARR growth during the past six months.

During the second quarter we succeeded in landing customers in Germany from various industries including another top five bank, a top ten Telco company, a multinational manufacturer in the automotive industry, and a prominent player in the real assets investment management sector.

We continued to expand with our current customers into new geographies as well as with new use-cases. The expansions during H1 included roll out of financial compliance programs for a global hearing aid manufacturer, a global software company, and a global network of advertising and marketing agencies. Furthermore, we saw a substantial increase in the usage by some of our large German customers expanding from tax compliance into general compliance programs.

As a means of helping organizations embrace compliance challenges, we work closely with partners specializing in governance, risk, and compliance across tax, finance, and ESG. The collaboration facilitates efficient implementation of Impero and provides solutions based on best practice templates. 57% of the new ARR generated during H1-2024 stems from the partner channel.

The themes of our product activities in H1 have centered around enhancing the user experience, introducing new features, and improving scalability. A key milestone was the successful release of a platform update that increases support for compliance frameworks, such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) control environments. This update has generally improved the quality of reviews and, consequently, the effectiveness of internal controls beyond SOX, especially in the enterprise segment.

“Fostering a culture of compliance builds trust with stakeholders, including customers, investors, employees, and the public. Done right, it encourages organizations to be proactive, leads to efficient operations, and supports long-term success. It’s about embedding compliance into the organization’s DNA so that it becomes a natural part of how business is conducted. At Impero we advocate for exactly that. We help our customers embrace compliance challenges to increase trust & transparency.” says CEO Rikke Stampe Skov.

Capital

For the first six months of the year, Impero has improved the cash flow from ordinary operating activities from negative DKK 3.5M in H1-2023 to negative DKK 0.3M in H1-2024. As reflected in our outlook and strategy, management is focusing on striking a balance between improving EBITDA and investing in the development of the company.

By the end of H1 Impero continues to improve the ratio between cash-burn from ordinary activities and net new ARR generated. Impero ends the first half of 2024 with a solid cash position of DKK 15.3M, and with sufficient funding for continuing investments in accordance with the strategy.

Financial guidance

Impero maintains the outlook for 2024 with live ARR in the range of DKK 38M to 42M by the end of 2024. The outlook corresponds to growth rates between 25% and 38%. Impero will invest in scaling the organization to ensure long-term ARR growth and at the same time focus on improving the cash-burn to net-new ARR ratio. We expect EBITDA for 2024 to be in the range of DKK -11M to -9M.

Read the Report in its entirety via Impero.com/investors or in the attached.

CEO Rikke Stampe Skov and CFO Morten Lehmann Nielsen will present the H1 Report at a webinar on 30 August 2024, at 11:00 AM CET.

Register for the webinar via: https://www.inderes.dk/videos/impero-praesentation-af-h1-2024.

For further information, please contact:

Impero

Rikke Stampe Skov, CEO
Mobile: (+45) 25 88 41 02
E-mail: rss@impero.com

or

Morten Lehmann Nielsen, CFO
Mobile: (+45) 51 17 67 80
E-mail: mln@impero.com
 

Certified Adviser

Grant Thornton
Jesper Skaarup Vestergaard
Mobile: (+45) 31 79 90 00

ABOUT IMPERO
Impero A/S is a Danish Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company that provides a compliance management platform. The Impero platform enables companies to easily manage compliance through automation of risk and control management, documentation, and reporting. Impero empowers companies to become more compliant in a scalable, digital, intuitive, and – most importantly – easy way.

For more information about Impero, please visit http://impero.com/investors.