Prior to publication, certain information contained within this announcement was deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR"). With the publication of this announcement, this information is now considered to be in the public domain.
10 December 2019
ACCESS INTELLIGENCE PLC
("Access Intelligence", the "Company" or the "Group")
Full year trading update
Accelerated growth at Access Intelligence with continued innovation
Access Intelligence (LSE: ACC, "the Group"), the technology innovator delivering Software-as-a-Service ("SaaS") solutions for the PR, communications and marketing industries, has today published a trading update for the 12 months to 30 November 2019.
For the year to 30 November 2019, organic growth in net Annual Contract Value (ACV) for Vuelio and ResponseSource accelerated to £1.25m, reflecting 10 per cent ACV growth year on year. New business sales increased by more than 30 per cent year on year and upsell sales almost doubled, with net ACV growth of £0.5m being delivered in the final quarter alone. Total ACV for the Vuelio and ResponseSource business at 30 November 2019 was approximately £13.6 million.
New contract wins during the second half include Allen & Overy, Everton Football Club, ING Bank, London Ambulance Service, Met Office, Scottish Widows, The Institute of Mechanical Engineers, The Royal British Legion and UEFA.
The Directors expect that total Vuelio and ResponseSource revenue for the financial year will be in the order of £12.7 million, compared to £8.9 million for the prior year. Excluding the Pulsar acquisition, Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the order of £1.1m, in line with market expectations.
The acquisition of Pulsar, which has expanded Access Intelligence's capabilities in social media analysis, audience segmentation and social media marketing evaluation, is very exciting and integration is progressing well. All of Pulsar's operations have been co-located into the Company's new premises and the initial industry feedback on the acquisition has been positive.
On migrating Pulsar's contracts onto the Company's systems, the Company has identified a small number of contracts where there are questions regarding revenue recognition. The Board has appointed a firm of external accountants to assess whether this matter is isolated to the few identified contracts. The Board believe that this does not impact the rationale for the acquisition. A further announcement will be made once the work being undertaken is completed.
The Group's net cash balance of £2.0m at 30 November 2019 was slightly behind market expectations of £2.7m. This was due to a timing difference on the receipt of a £0.4m R&D tax credit from HMRC which is now expected to be received during December 2019, in addition to an accelerated £0.3m cash payment to exit the Group's previous property lease early, enabling an overall saving of £0.1m.
Joanna Arnold, CEO of Access Intelligence, said:
"Our continuing strategy of growing our core business through innovation, through technological advance and through niche, targeted acquisitions, is bringing further market differentiation to the business.
Integration of our acquisitions is on track and we now have a substantial presence in our core markets. We are successfully leveraging our brands on our technology platform and thus driving growth across all areas of the business."
For further information:
Access Intelligence plc
Joanna Arnold (CEO) / Mark Fautley (CFO) 020 3426 407
finnCap Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker)
Marc Milmo / Kate Bannatyne / Matthew Radley 020 7220 0500