Interim Results

RNS Number : 2808R

Access Intelligence PLC

05 July 2022

 

ACCESS INTELLIGENCE PLC

("Access Intelligence", the "Company" or the "Group")

INTERIM RESULTS

 

Access Intelligence Plc, (AIM: ACC) the technology innovator delivering Software-as-a-Service ("SaaS") solutions for the global marketing and communications industries, is pleased to announce its unaudited half year results for the six months ended 31 May 2022.

Highlights:

· The Group's first half revenue increased by approximately 198% to £32.7 million (H1 2021: £11.0 million). Excluding the revenue delivered by Isentia which was acquired in September 2021, revenue increased organically by 16.8% to £12.8 million.

·     Annual Recurring Revenue¹ ("ARR") increased by £0.7 million to £59.6 million (H1 2021: £24.7 million).

·     The Group delivered Adjusted EBITDA² in the period of £0.3 million (H1 2021: loss of £0.14 million).

·     At 31 May 2022, the cash balance was £9.3 million (H1 2021: £8.8 million and FY 2021: £13.5 million).

·   The Board remains very encouraged by the progress made in the EMEA and North America markets which have demonstrated continued growth. ARR in EMEA and North America at the period end was £28.1 million, showing growth of £1.2 million during the period.

·   The integration of Isentia continues to progress well. The Group launched Pulsar into the Australia and New Zealand ("ANZ") market in the period and the Board is pleased by the customer engagement with the expanded global product offering.

Christopher Satterthwaite, non-executive Chairman, commented:

"Access Intelligence has continued to make good progress during the first half of 2022. The core business has delivered continued growth in the EMEA and North America region, while the recent acquisition of Isentia has created significant opportunity for the Group in APAC. These results validate the Group's strategy to enhance its product framework and global footprint to unlock land and expand opportunities.

The Group won a substantial number of blue-chip clients in the period, across every region, including significant win backs in APAC. The launch of Pulsar in Australia and New Zealand has been well received, leading to a healthy pipeline of both cross sell and new business opportunities. The APAC business remains a key focus for the second half; the Group is optimising its market position by streamlining operations and continuing to realise the cost synergies identified at the time of the acquisition.

As marketing and communications continue to converge, the Group has continued to accelerate development of its products to meet both the current and future needs of these disciplines. In 2022, this has been supported by exciting new partnerships with NewsGuard and Hootsuite.

Overall, the Board is pleased with the progress being made by the Group and remains positive about the outlook."

1. ARR is the annual recurring revenue generated from deployed contracts. The Group has decided to use ARR as its new KPI and is broadly equivalent to the previously disclosed metric of Annual Contract Value ("ACV").

2. Adjusted EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and adjusted for share based payments, share of losses of an associate and non-recurring expenses primarily relating to acquisition costs in respect of the proposed Isentia transaction in the current and prior periods, in addition to the acquisition and integration of Pulsar in the prior period.

For further information:

Access Intelligence plc  020 3426 4024

Joanna Arnold (CEO) / Mark Fautley (CFO)   

finnCap Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker)                                               020 7220 0500

Corporate Finance:

Marc Milmo / Kate Bannatyne / Fergus Sullivan     

Corporate Broking:

Alice Lane / Sunila de Silva

Prior to publication, the 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.

Chairman's statement

I am pleased to announce our unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31 May 2022.

Access Intelligence continued its advancement in the first half of 2022, delivering sustained organic growth in the core business alongside its progress in the integration of Isentia and the strategy to realise the cross sell opportunity in APAC. The results support the Group's acquisition strategy, which has been developed to serve the converging needs of the global marketing and communications industries. 

Continued growth

The Group's core business in the EMEA and North America markets continue to demonstrate sustained growth, with H1 ARR reaching £28.1m, showing growth of £1.2m. New client wins saw international blue chip businesses onboarded in the period, including Allianz, E.ON, John Lewis, Hasbro, HS2, KPMG, P&G, Reddit, The Premier League, TP ICAP and Trust Pilot.

These were added to in the APAC region by new clients and client win backs including ABC, Estee Lauder, H&M, Huawei, Netflix, Nestle, Ogilvy, SAS Group, StudioCanal and Tiffany & Co. ARR in the region was down £0.5m to £31.5m, although the rate of decline was significantly improved in comparison to pre-acquisition and is largely attributable to the socio-economic challenges experienced locally in South-East Asia. This near term performance does not detract from the overall opportunity for the Group to expand in APAC which is fuelled by the proliferation of audiences and social media users in the region.

While some world economies are beginning to emerge from the challenges created by the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, war in Ukraine and shortages in raw materials are presenting new challenges to enterprises against the backdrop of existing issues such as the spread of misinformation and the propagation of content through online channels. This requires organisations to be more strategic in their approach and ensure their marketing communications are efficient and effective in reaching the right audiences and stakeholders at the right time.

All of the Group's buyer types have this need, which is only increasing under the pressure of the current climate. That is why the Group is focussed on ensuring it continues to enhance its suite of products and is currently developing a next generation platform, which will provide a greater understanding of audience impact, underpinned by media, social, consumer and political intelligence.

The Group has also focussed on expanding its offering and route to market through integrations into its technology and channel partners being a strategic focus for the Board. New partnerships in H1 are already contributing to this future focus including the integration of NewsGuard and the referral partnership with Hootsuite.

NewsGuard rates the trustworthiness of news sources and the integration will detect early signals of misinformation, measure the impact of those narratives on public opinion and help PR and marketing professionals respond quickly to protect their brands' reputations. NewsGuard's journalistically trained analysts have rated all the news and information sources that account for 95% of engagement online, applying nine apolitical criteria of journalistic practice to determine which sources are generally reliable and which ones publish misinformation and hoaxes. These ratings are available directly in the Group's platform and clients can easily segment content and sources by their trust scores.

The partnership with Hootsuite strengthens the Group's overall offering through referrals and collaborations with one of the world's most successful social media management platforms. The mutually beneficial relationship will support existing client retention and growth with new opportunities, particularly in the North American market.

Acquisition, integration and expansion

A key pillar in the Group's strategy is targeted acquisitions that provide technological advancement, territory expansion and synergy with our existing portfolio. The acquisition of Isentia brought the Group all three, expanding the Group from circa 200 employees to over 1,000 and increasing the client base from 3,500 to over 6,000.

Isentia also immediately benefitted as the Group was able to provide it with investment in marketing and technology, including the launch of Pulsar into ANZ - which has made measurable improvements to its media monitoring systems and sales pipeline.

Whilst competition continues in the ANZ market and macroeconomic conditions remain challenging, particularly in South East Asia, the Group has made a number of positive developments in APAC. The relocation of an EMEA sales director to head up a new Pulsar sales team in ANZ has enabled us to leverage Isentia's exceptional customer base through cross-sell and led to early new business wins and an exciting pipeline for H2. We are increasingly positive about the social media and audience intelligence opportunities in APAC where the Group's offering is clearly differentiated from those of its competitors.

Regional teams have been collaborating and sharing best practice, a prime example of which is the alignment of the Group's insights service that has rolled out at both a global and local level.

The Group has also recognised cost synergies in line with its pre-acquisition timeline expectations, streamlining operations and improving systems and processes. This includes the ongoing integration and migration of CRM and accounting systems, as well as the merger of the marketing and insights departments under one global umbrella headed up by our newly appointed CMIO.

The Group's buyer types

The Group targets three distinct buyer types, and focuses development to meet their increasingly converging needs:

· Marketing - Our social listening and audience intelligence platform finds the story in the data for marketers around the world. Patterns and trends in behaviours and conversations are displayed in real-time from both social and news sources, so marketers can understand what is impacting their reputation and their customers, how trends and topics are evolving, and where there are opportunities to innovate.

·     PR & Communications - Recognising where PR can and should feed into the news cycle is vital, which is why practitioners depend on the Group's news, political and social media monitoring to track coverage and show how trends develop across different media. Real-time analysis highlights opportunities for proactive communications, measures share of voice against key competitors and tracks the impact of clients' PR activity.

·     Insights - Our award-winning Insights teams combine deep expertise in our market-leading tools with human intelligence and industry expertise. They work in partnership with our clients to drive audience understanding and improve every stage of their marketing and communications strategy, from planning through execution to results.

Results for the half year

The primary key performance indicator monitored by the Board is the growth in ARR year-on-year. This reflects the annual value of new business won, together with upsell into the Company's existing customer base as it delivers against its land and expand strategy, less churn. It is an important metric for the Group as it is a leading indicator of future revenue.

During the period, the Group's ARR grew by £0.7 million to £59.6 million (H1 2021: growth of £2.7 million to £24.7 million). ARR in EMEA and North America increased by £1.2m to £28.1m, whilst ARR in APAC reduced by £0.5 million to £31.5 million. This remains a marked improvement to the performance from the region pre-acquisition where the rate of decline was significantly higher and reflects the Company's focus on winning long-term recurring revenue contracts.

Revenue for the period grew by 198% to £32.7 million (H1 2021: £11.0 million). Excluding the revenue delivered by Isentia which was acquired in September 2021, revenue increased organically by 16.8% to £12.8 million. The organic year-on-year increase was primarily driven by ARR growth between June 2021 and May 2022. Recurring revenue comprised 93% of total revenue (H1 2021: 94%).

Gross profit increased by over 200% year-on-year to £24.5 million (H1 2021: £8.1 million) with the Group delivering a gross margin of 75% (H1 2021: 74%). Gross margin improved compared to the prior period as the Group is able to leverage fixed cost data feeds more effectively with an expanded revenue base.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation ("EBITDA") were £0.3 million, compared to a loss of £0.1 million in H1 2021. Adjusted EBITDA excludes certain non-recurring items totalling £1.4 million for the period (H1 2021: £1.3 million), in addition to the Group's share of loss of an associate of £0.1 million (H1 2021: £0.1 million) and a share-based payments charge of £0.6 million (H1 2021: £0.1 million).

Non-recurring items in the period included transition and migration costs in respect of acquisitions of £0.9 million (H1 2021: £Nil), legal costs in respect of the Australian copyright tribunal of £0.4 million (H1 2021: £Nil), and acquisition related legal and due diligence costs of £Nil (H1 2021: £1.3 million).  Reported EBITDA loss was £1.7 million (H1 2021: loss of £1.6 million).

The Group has continued to increase investment in its software platforms with identifiable new product development activity being capitalised. The Group capitalised development costs of £3.5 million for the period (H1 2021: £1.2 million), with a further £1.4 million (H1 2021: £0.7 million) of product, research and development costs being expensed through profit and loss.

The Group's operating loss was £7.4 million (H1 2021: loss £3.3 million). The Group incurred £5.7 million of depreciation and amortisation charges (H1 2021: £1.7 million).

The basic loss per share was 1.50p (H1 2021: loss 4.07p).

The Group held cash at the end of the period of £9.3 million (H1 2021: £8.8 million).

Outlook

During 2022, Access Intelligence has focused its activities in three key areas: advancing its market leading products; the continued integration of Isentia; and evaluation of current business operations to ensure that the Group can fully leverage its market positioning.

The ongoing investment in products and operations will provide customers across the Group's markets with an enhanced user experience and an expanded global content offering. These improvements will support the continued scaling of the business through increased sales and improved customer retention.

The integration of Isentia continues to progress well and the Group has launched Pulsar into Australia and New Zealand. Customer engagement with the expanded global product offering has been pleasing and Pulsar has created a clear differentiation from competitors' products in the region.

The Group has also undertaken a comprehensive analysis of the current market dynamics across its regional presence to ensure that it is optimally structured to capture the undoubted global market opportunity. The Board remains highly confident about realising the cost synergies identified at the time of the acquisition.

Overall, t he Board is pleased with the progress being made with the Company continuing to trade in line with expectations and remains positive about the outlook for the Group.

Christopher Satterthwaite

Non-executive Chairman

Access Intelligence Plc

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

for the six months ended 31 May 2022

	Unaudited 6 months ended	Unaudited 6 months ended	Audited Year ended
	31-May-22	31-May-21	30-Nov-21
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Revenue	32,731	11,000	33,296
Cost of sales	(8,280)	(2,875)	(8,243)
Gross profit	24,451	8,125	25,053
Recurring administrative expenses	(24,131)	(8,260)	(25,581)
Adjusted EBITDA	320	(135)	(528)
Non-recurring administrative expenses	(1,369)	(1,332)	(3,855)
Share of loss of associate	(125)	(71)	(228)
Share-based payments	(564)	(72)	(383)
EBITDA	(1,738)	(1,610)	(4,994)
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets	(324)	(110)	(336)
Depreciation of right-of-use assets	(1,168)	(325)	(1,006)
Amortisation of intangible assets - internally generated	(932)	(672)	(1,520)
Amortisation of intangible assets - acquisition related	(3,263)	(546)	(1,371)
Operating loss	(7,425)	(3,263)	(9,227)
Financial income	5	10	10
Financial expense	(151)	(169)	(340)
Loss before tax	(7,571)	(3,422)	(9,557)
Taxation credit	572	50	842
Loss for the period	(6,999)	(3,372)	(8,715)
Other comprehensive income
Items that will or may be reclassified to profit or loss	5,085	(13)	309
Total comprehensive loss for the period attributable to the owners of parent company	(1,914)	(3,385)	(8,406)
Earnings per share:
Basic loss per share	(1.50)p	(4.07)p	(8.73)p
Diluted loss per share	(1.50)p	(4.07)p	(8.73)p

Access Intelligence Plc

Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

at 31 May 2022

	Unaudited		Unaudited		Audited
	As at		As at		As at
	31-May-22		31-May-21		30-Nov-21
	£'000		£'000		£'000
Non-current assets
Intangible assets	67,358		15,786		63,234
Investment in associate	591		873		716
Right-of-use assets	2,661		2,005		3,538
Property, plant and equipment	975		411		1,080
Deferred tax assets	4,325		18		4,144
Total non-current assets	75,910		19,093		72,712
Current assets
Trade and other receivables	14,772		7,786		13,695
Current tax receivables	783		548		1,346
Cash and cash equivalents	9,291		8,773		13,456
Total current assets	24,846		17,107		28,497
TOTAL ASSETS	100,756		36,200		101,209
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables	7,649		3,516		7,735
Accruals	7,604		2,138		6,888
Contract liabilities	13,824		9,928		12,144
Provisions	632		-		537
Lease liabilities	1,831		796		2,184
Interest bearing loans and borrowings	-		667		-
Total current liabilities	31,540		17,045		29,488
Non-current liabilities
Provisions	382		213		372
Lease liabilities	1,644		2,003		2,187
Interest bearing loans and borrowings	-		1,064		-
Deferred tax liabilities	7,578		474		8,153
Total non-current liabilities	9,604		3,754		10,712
TOTAL LIABILITIES	41,144		20,799		40,200
NET ASSETS	59,612		15,401		61,009
Equity
Share capital	6,528		4,382		6,528
Treasury shares	(148)		(148)		(148)
Share premium account	74,372		26,247		74,419
Capital redemption reserve	395		395		395
Share option reserve	1,465		590		901
Foreign exchange reserve	5,394		(13)		309
Other reserve	502		502		502
Retained earnings	(28,896)		(16,554)		(21,897)
TOTAL EQUITY ATTRIBUTABLE TO EQUITY SHAREHOLDERS	59,612		15,401		61,009

Access Intelligence Plc

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

for the six months ended 31 May 2022

	Share	Treasury	Share	Capital	Share	Foreign	Other	Retained	Total
	capital	shares	premium	redemption	option	exchange	reserve	earnings
			account	reserve	reserve	reserve
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
At 1 December 2020	3,757	(148)	17,242	395	518	-	502	(13,182)	9,084
Loss for the period	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	(3,372)	(3,372)
Other comprehensive loss for the period	-	-	-	-	-	(13)	-	-	(13)
Issue of share capital	625	-	9,005	-	-	-	-	-	9,630
Share-based payments	-	-	-	-	72	-	-	-	72
At 31 May 2021	4,382	(148)	26,247	395	590	(13)	502	(16,554)	15,401
Loss for the period	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	(5,343)	(5,343)
Other comprehensive income for the period	-	-	-	-	-	322	-	-	322
Issue of share capital	2,146	-	48,172	-	-	-	-	-	50,318
Share-based payments	-	-	-	-	311	-	-	-	311
At 30 November 2021	6,528	(148)	74,419	395	901	309	502	(21,897)	61,009
Loss for the period	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	(6,999)	(6,999)
Other comprehensive income for the period	-	-	-	-	-	5,085	-	-	5,085
Expenses related to issue of share capital	-	-	(47)	-	-	-	-	-	(47)
Share-based payments	-	-	-	-	564	-	-	-	564
At 31 May 2022	6,528	(148)	74,372	395	1,465	5,394	502	(28,896)	59,612

Access Intelligence Plc

Consolidated Statement of Cash Flow

for the six months ended 31 May 2022

	Unaudited 6 months ended		Unaudited 6 months ended		Audited Year ended
	31-May-22		31-May-21		30-Nov-21
	£'000		£'000		£'000
Loss for the year attributable to shareholders	(6,999)		(3,372)		(8,715)
Adjustments for:
Taxation	(572)		(50)		(842)
Financial expense	151		169		340
Financial income	(5)		(10)		(10)
Depreciation and amortisation	5,687		1,653		4,233
Share based payments	564		72		383
Share of loss of associate	125		71		228
Operating cash outflow before working capital changes	(1,049)		(1,467)		(4,383)
Increase in trade and other receivables	(1,079)		(1,823)		(938)
Increase in trade and other payables	835		32		1,426
Increase in contract liabilities	1,680		1,806		1,830
Increase/(decrease) in provisions	61		-		(9)
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from operations	448		(1,452)		(2,074)
Tax received/(paid)	166		-		(305)
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from operating activities	614		(1,452)		(2,379)
Investing
Interest received	5		10		10
Acquisition of property, plant and equipment	(211)		(26)		(106)
Acquisition of software licences and other intangible assets	-		(19)		(83)
Cost of software development	(3,478)		(1,248)		(3,428)
Investment in associate	-		(887)		(887)
Acquisition of Isentia	-		-		(39,744)
Net cash outflow from investing activities	(3,684)		(2,170)		(44,238)
Financing
Interest paid	(144)		(169)		(350)
Drawdown of loans	-		2,000		2,000
Repayment of loans	-		(269)		(2,000)
Lease liabilities paid	(1,198)		(200)		(952)
Issue of shares	-		10,000		61,465
Cost associated with share issue	(47)		(370)		(1,517)
Net cash (outflow)/inflow from financing activities	(1,389)		10,992		58,646
Net (decrease)/increase in cash	(4,459)		7,370		12,029
Opening cash and cash equivalents	13,456		1,403		1,403
Exchange gains on cash and cash equivalents	294		-		24
Closing cash and cash equivalents	9,291		8,773		13,456

Notes

1.  Unaudited notes

Basis of preparation and accounting policies

The financial information for the six months to 31 May 2022 is unaudited and was approved by the Board of Directors on Monday 4^th July 2022.

The interim financial statements do not include all of the information required for full annual financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements for the year ended 30 November 2021.

The interim financial information for the six months ended 31 May 2022, including comparative financial information has been prepared on the basis of the accounting policies set out in the last annual report and accounts.

The preparation of the interim financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the application of accounting policies and the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, income and expense. Actual results may subsequently differ from those estimates.

In preparing the interim financial statements, the significant judgements made by management in applying the Group's accounting policies and key sources of estimation uncertainty were the same, in all material respects, as those applied to the consolidated financial statements for the year ended 30 November 2021.

The Group has elected to present comprehensive income in one statement.

Going concern assumption

The Group meets its day to day working capital requirements through its cash balance but also maintains relationships with a number of financial institutions and believes that, should it be required, it would be able to put in place an appropriate working capital facility. It did not have a bank loan or overdraft at 31 May 2022 and had a net cash balance of £9,291,000.

Consequently, after making enquires, the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the interim financial statements.

Information extracted from the Group's 2021 Annual Report

The financial figures for the year ended 30 November 2021, as set out in this report, do not constitute statutory accounts but are derived from the statutory accounts for that financial year.

The statutory accounts for the year ended 30 November 2021 were prepared under IFRS and have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The auditors reported on those accounts. Their report was unqualified, did not draw attention to any matters by way of emphasis and did not include a statement under Section 498(2) or 498(3) of the Companies Act 2006.

2.  Revenue

The Group's revenue is primarily derived from the rendering of services. The Group's revenue was generated from the following territories:

	Unaudited 6 months ended		Unaudited 6 months ended		Audited Year ended
	31-May-22		31-May-21		30-Nov-21
	£'000		£'000		£'000
United Kingdom	10,396		9,160		19,073
North America	1,480		493		1,987
Europe	611		975		1,201
Australia and New Zealand	15,852		91		8,145
Asia	4,284		42		2,374
Rest of the world	108		239		516
	32,731		11,000		33,296

3.  Earnings per share

The calculation of earnings per share is based upon the loss after tax for the respective period. The weighted average number of ordinary shares used in the calculation of basic earnings per share is based upon the number of ordinary shares in issue in each respective period.

The impact of share options granted under the company's share option scheme are anti-dilutive due to the Group being in a loss-making position, so the weighted average number of ordinary shares used in the calculation of diluted earnings per share is the same as for basic earnings per share.

This has been computed as follows:

	6 months ended	6 months ended	6 months ended	6 months ended	Year ended	Year ended
	31-May-22	31-May-22	31-May-21	31-May-21	30-Nov-21	30-Nov-21
	Basic	Diluted	Basic	Diluted	Basic	Diluted
Loss after tax (£'000)	(1,914)	(1,914)	(3,385)	(3,385)	(8,406)	(8,406)
Number of shares ('000)*	127,597	127,597	83,190	83,190	96,237	96,237
Loss per share (pence)	(1.50)	(1.50)	(4.07)	(4.07)	(8.73)	(8.73)

4.  Events after the reporting date

On 14 June 2022, the Group announced that it had received notice of exercise ("Exercise") from an employee in relation to options over 53,351 ordinary shares of 5 pence each in the Company and had transferred 53,351 shares previously held in treasury to satisfy the Exercise. As a result, the Company's issued share capital consists of 130,524,386 Ordinary Shares, 2,873,964 of which remain held in treasury. The total number of Ordinary Shares in the Company with voting rights is 127,650,422.

5.  Availability of interim results

The interim results will not be sent to shareholders but will be available at the Company's registered office at The Johnson Building, 79 Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 8AW and on the Company's website: www.accessintelligence.com .

 

END

 

 

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