English

Penneo realises 53% year-on-year ARR growth rate in 2021-Q3

Report this content

Company Announcement No. 26-2021
Copenhagen, 25 November 2021

Financial report for the period 1 July 2021 - 30 September 2021

Key features 2021-Q3

  • Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) increased 53% to 50.2M DKK end of 2021-Q3 from 32.7M DKK end of 2020-Q3
  • Net ARR retention rate amounted to 124%. ARR churn rate amounted to 3% in 2021-Q3
  • ARR from new customers increased by 1.4M DKK in 2021-Q3 which is 17% higher than 1.2M DKK in 2020-Q3
  • Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA) increased by 24% compared to 2020-Q3
  • EBITDA amounted to negative 13.5M DKK as a result of the planned investments in future ARR growth

Outlook

Guidance 2021
Penneo maintains ARR guidance for 2021 announced in Company Announcement No. 24-2021 of 54-57M DKK, which corresponds to a year-on-year growth rate of 46%-54%.

Growth aspirations before the end of 2022-Q1
In 2022, Penneo continues to invest in long term ARR growth and expects to pursue its growth ambitions in accordance with the announced expansion strategy in the IPO document and the updated strategy of Company Announcement No. 16-2021. Consequently, Penneo aspires to realise a year-on-year ARR growth rate of 40-60% for the year 2022.

Fulfillment of the growth aspirations depends on the following key drivers and assumptions to continue:

  • Capital raise completed before the end of 2022-Q1
  • A continued low ARR churn rate
  • A continued level of engagement with the platform
  • A continued ability to obtain new customers across industries and markets

Business summary

Addressing temporary challenges in 2021-Q3
In 2021-Q3, Penneo continued its growth by realising a year-on-year ARR growth rate of 53% supported by high growth on existing customers and a net ARR retention rate of 124% as a consequence of:

  • A continued level of engagement with Penneo’s existing products
  • A continued low churn rate of 3%

Historically, Q3 is a low season for Penneo with the exception of extraordinary results in 2020-Q3 caused by the deadline extension for filing annual reports as a consequence of Covid-19. Additionally, Penneo welcomed fewer customers than expected in 2021-Q3, contrasted to a higher-than-expected inflow of customers in 2021-Q1 and Q2. Consequently, CAC (customer acquisition cost) increased. 

The lower inflow of new customers is attributable to a combination of the following two items:

Automating the lead-to-cash cycle
Penneo initiated a process to automate certain touchpoints in the customer journey to secure long term scalability, however this led to a short term decrease in closing rates. This has now been mitigated, but has affected 2021-Q3.

Higher than expected turnover of commercial staff In 2021-Q3
The turnover negatively affected the inflow of new customers. Replacement employees have been hired.

Raising growth capital to execute the updated strategy 
Penneo was listed on First North on 2 June 2020 and has since the listing realised healthy SaaS metrics and ARR growth rates above 50%, supporting readiness to invest in accelerating growth. Consequently, and as announced in Company Announcement No. 16-2021, Penneo updated the strategy with continued growth aspirations by focusing on the strategic customer segments through three investment streams and plans to seek additional growth capital of up to 100M DKK.

The three investment streams:

  • Roll out the KYC product to existing audit customers in the Nordics
  • Penetrate the Financial Institutions vertical with Penneo’s KYC and Signing product in Denmark
  • Additional investments in the core strategic vertical to become the de facto standard for auditors in Europe

The execution of the updated strategy will be accelerated through additional growth capital, which is to be invested in sales, product development and business operations. Raising additional capital is progressing according to the announced plan.

Presentation
The 2021-Q3 report will be presented at an online conference on 25 November 2021 at 2:00pm CET.
Register for the conference at: https://hcandersencapital643.clickmeeting.com/penneo-praesentation-af-q3-kvartalsregnskabet/register

For more details please see the interim report attached.

Further information
CEO, Christian Stendevad
Mobile (+45) 27 29 50 02

Certified Advisor
Grant Thornton, Jesper Skaarup Vestergaard 
Direct (+45) 35 27 50 11

About Penneo A/S
Penneo is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider originally established to help companies with digital document signatures. Penneo was founded by six Danish entrepreneurs, who joined forces with a shared ambition to reduce the “hassle of getting documents signed” by replacing pen and paper with a digital alternative. This new digital “pen” (Pen-neo) was launched in 2014. Today, Penneo has evolved into an eco-system of automation solutions that digitize company workflows in connection with onboarding of customers (KYC) and secure and easy signing and management of documents. The company offers a RegTech solution that gives companies an efficient and inexpensive tool for complying with regulatory requirements . Penneo holds a strong position in the Nordic countries. In Denmark alone, more than 620,000 individuals signed documents electronically with Penneo in 2020. 

For more information about Penneo, please visit: https://penneo.com/investors/

Subscribe

Documents & Links