Artefact: Strong improvement in 2020 results - Solid growth and
profitability outlooks
Strong improvement in 2020
resultsSolid growth and profitability
outlooks
2020 gross margin: €70.3m, +10% pro
forma
2020
EBITDAr1: €13.9m, or 20% of the
gross margin
Adjusted net
profit2: €8.9m
Q1 2021 gross margin: €20.0m, +12% at
constant currency rate
Solid growth and profitability
outlooks
Acceleration in international development with
the opening of US office
2021 targets: gross margin
above €80m and EBITDAr margin between 22% and 25%
2025 targets: annual
organic growth from 15% to 20%, EBITDAr margin maintained at 22% -
25%
Paris, April 22, 2021 –
5:45 pm CEST - Artefact
(FR0000079683 – ALATF – eligible
for PEA-PME equity savings plans), an expert in
data transformation and digital marketing for major brands,
today announced its consolidated results for 2020 financial year
and published its gross margin for the first quarter of 2021. The
Board of Directors approved the Group’s results for the year to
December 31, 2020 on April 20, 2021. Audit procedures have been
carried out and the certification reports will be issued once the
management report has been verified.
Guillaume de Roquemaurel and Vincent
Luciani, Artefact’s co-founders and Co-CEOs, said:
“Artefact posted strong commercial and financial performances in
2020 in an unprecedented context. These results confirm our
profitable growth model that is part of a dynamic and sustainable
trajectory. Present on the three main hubs of the data
transformation and data-driven marketing market, Artefact is
ideally positioned to meet the substantial demand from major global
brands for data transformation. Led by the market’s drivers and its
inherent strengths, in particular the quality of its teams,
Artefact’s 2025 development plan targets annual organic growth of
15% to 20% and an EBITDAr margin between 22% and 25%”.
Strong increase in the gross margin in
2020, activity acceleration in Q4
Following a solid performance in the first half
of 2020 (+10%) despite the public health crisis, Artefact recorded
an acceleration in its activities over the second half (+11%), and
notably in the fourth quarter when the Group posted a gross margin
of €20.3m, giving pro forma growth of 17%. Over 2020 as a whole,
all regions positively contributed to the improvement of the gross
margin (€70.3m):
- In France, the
gross margin reached €34.6m in 2020 (+20% vs. 2019), accounting for
half of the Group’s business.
- The Rest of
Europe saw an upturn in business in the final quarter of 2020, with
5% growth, driven by the United Kingdom (+33% vs. 2019) and the
Netherlands (+55% vs. 2019)
- Other Markets
posted a significant increase of 19% in 2020, with growth of 17% in
APAC countries and 24% in MENA countries. These excellent
performances illustrate the pertinence of Artefact’s Data Marketing
and Data Consulting offers abroad.
Significant improvement in profitability
in 2020
2020 EBITDAr: €13.9m (20% of the gross
margin), versus €2.6m in 2019 (4%)
The substantial improvement in the EBITDAr
margin in 2020 (+15.7 bp vs. 2019) was driven by the Group’s
decision to focus on its most profitable businesses and most
dynamic geographical regions:
- In France,
EBITDAr amounted to €9.8m, or 28.2% of the gross margin (vs. 12.3%
in 2019).
- The Rest of
Europe was a net contributor in 2020, with EBITDAr of €2.0m (10% of
the gross margin), up €3.8m.
- Other Markets
also posted a substantial improvement in profitability, driven by
the solid growth momentum. EBITDAr reached €2.1m in this region, or
14% of the gross margin.
in €m |
2020 |
2019 pro forma3 |
Gross margin |
70.3 |
63.9 |
Employee
expenses |
(48.7) |
(50.0) |
External
expenses, other operating income / expenses |
(7.7) |
(11.2) |
EBITDAr4 |
13.9 |
2.6 |
Depreciation,
amortization and provisions |
(0.9) |
(4.1) |
Other
non-current income |
(1.2) |
(1.8) |
Operating Income adjusted5 |
11.8 |
(3.3) |
Net financial Income
adjusted6 |
(1.0) |
(0.5) |
Income before tax |
10.9 |
(3.8) |
Net income from continuing activities
adjusted7 |
8.9 |
(4.3) |
Total
Adjustments |
(5.1) |
(3.9) |
Net income of
abandoned activities, equity affiliates and minority interests |
(1.1) |
(7.0) |
Attributable net income |
2.8 |
(15.2) |
Following the significant increase in EBITDAr,
the adjusted operating profit improved substantially to €11.8m in
2020, versus a loss of €3.3m the previous year.
The adjusted Net Profit from continuing
activities reached €8.9m in 2020, compared with a loss of €4.3m in
2019, after considering net financial loss of €1.0m (which mainly
includes interest expenses) and tax of €1,9m.
At December 31, 2020, shareholders’ equity
amounted to €49.2m, compared with €45.2m at end-December 2019,
notably as a result of the improvement in attributable Net
Profit.
The Group’s net financial debt (before IFRS 16)
amounted to €2.2m at December 31, 2020 (versus €3.5m at
end-December 2019), i.e. a €1.3m reduction in net debt over the
year.
Given its solid financial structure and the good
visibility associated with its commercial momentum, Artefact is
planning to fully pay back the State-Guaranteed Loan granted (“Prêt
Garanti par l’Etat”) of €6.0m in the first half of 2021.
Q1 2021: a first quarter confirming the
Group’s growth trajectory
|
Published |
Pro forma |
|
|
Gross Margin (€m) |
Q1 2021 |
Q1 2020 |
Change(constant currency rate) |
Change(actual) |
France |
9.7 |
9.1 |
+6% |
+6% |
Rest of Europe |
5.8 |
5.1 |
+16% |
+14% |
Other Markets8 |
4.5 |
4.0 |
+22% |
+14% |
Total |
20.0 |
18.2 |
+12% |
+10% |
Q1 2021 gross margin amounted to €20.0m, a 12%
increase at constant currency rate compared to Q1 2020, driven by
25% growth in Data Consulting and Data Marketing over the
quarter.
In France, the gross margin reached €9.7m, up to
6% compared with Q1 2020. In the Rest of Europe, business grew by
16%, driven by the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, which
recorded increases of 86% and 28% respectively.
On Other Markets abroad, Artefact recorded €4.5m
gross margin, a strong growth of 22%, driven by the dynamic
performance generated in all regions.
Excellent growth and profitability outlooks
Acceleration in international development with the
opening of an office in the United States
This new office will allow Artefact to
strengthen its global presence in the main hubs of the EMEA, Asia
and Americas (United States and Brazil) regions in order to
optimally support its current clients while developing new sales
opportunities with new brands. This strategic deployment comes at a
pivotal time when large groups are accelerating the implementation
of major global data projects, as illustrated by Artefact’s
collaboration with global companies including L’Oréal, Sanofi,
Samsung and Danone.
Stéphane Lannuzel, Beauty Tech Program
Director at L’Oréal, said: “The US expansion of Artefact
will strengthen our existing relationship with the company in
Europe and Asia. Their presence in North America is key at a time
when L’Oréal is accelerating its delivery of global data and
AI-based projects”.
Artefact’s business development in the region
will be headed by Ghadi Hobeika. He is joining the Group as future
Managing Partner with substantial experience in data transformation
strategies notably acquired at real-estate giant
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. One of the strategy’s objectives will
consist in developing synergies with the Parisian hub’s software
engineers and data scientists to leverage the Group’s
tried-and-tested expertise and methodologies and put experiences in
place that focus on end-consumers.
2021 target: gross margin above €80m and
EBITDAr margin between 22% and 25%.
Given the dynamic sales trend observed in recent
quarters and the major turning point recorded in 2020, Artefact
enjoys strengthened visibility to achieve a 2021 gross margin of at
least €80m and an EBITDAr margin between 22% and 25%.
2022-2025 targets: annual organic growth
of 15% to 20% and EBITDAr margin of 22% to 25%
Thanks to its positioning on data transformation
market and its growth trajectory, Artefact is aiming to write
another chapter in its history embodied by an annual gross margin
growth target of 15% - 20% organically and maintaining an EBITDAr
margin between 22% and 25% over the period.
Artefact is entering this new chapter with
determination and confidence. Over the coming years, the Group will
continue to benefit from structural growth drivers focused on
brands’ digitalization and their ongoing transformation into
consumer-centric organizations. In order to consolidate its
leadership on this global market, Artefact will be able to count on
the success of its offering that address the needs of brands that
want to be closer to their end-clients by maximizing the value of
their data.
Lastly, the opening of the North American
subsidiary will enable stronger support to be given to key global
accounts and new international alliances to be generated. This
positioning illustrates Artefact’s ramping up, with the Group now
benefiting from a structure that is fully sized to meet its growth
ambitions and a trajectory that could be further accelerated via
acquisitions.
Upcoming publication
July 22, 2021:
H1 2021 gross margin
About Artefact
I artefact.com
Artefact is a
next-generation data-driven consulting and services firm,
transforming data into value and business impact for its clients.
With a strong presence on the world's main markets (France,
Germany, the UK, Asia, Dubai, the USA), Artefact serves an
extensive portfolio of more than 300 clients, including a host of
world leaders such as Samsung, Danone, L’Oréal and Sanofi. The
Group has three main service offerings, leveraging its data mining
and data analysis capacities: Data Consulting, Data Marketing and
Digital Activation. Artefact is listed on the Euronext growth stock
exchange in Paris (ISIN code: FR0000079683).
Contacts
ArtefactHayette SoltaniCFOTel.: +33 1 40 40 27
00investor-relations@artefact.com |
NewCapLouis-Victor Delouvrier / Quentin
MasséInvestor RelationsTel.: +33 1 44 71 98
53artefact@newcap.eu |
1 EBITDAr: EBITDA restated from the IFRS2 impact
of free share allocations and issuance of preferred share issues,
the IFRS 3R impact associated with remuneration for
post-acquisition services and the IFRS 16 impact related to the
restatement of lease payments. The Company has thus chosen to
present restated EBITDA in order to better reflect its operating
performance as monitored internally by management, independently of
its policy to attract and retain talented staff and of the terms
& conditions of its acquisitions policy
2 Net profit adjusted from the IFRS2 impact of
free shares allocations, changes in fair value of derivative
instruments through P&L and issuance of preferred share issues,
the IFRS 3R impact associated with remuneration for
post-acquisition services and the IFRS 16 impact related to the
restatement of lease payments, amortization of intangible assets
resulting from PPA, capitalization in deferred tax of losses
carryforwards, net profit of discontinued activities and equity
affiliates3 Pro forma data: restatement from divestments and office
closures in Italy and the exit of the MediaDiamond Spanish JV from
the Group’s scope
4 EBITDA restated from the IFRS2 impact
attributions free share allocations and issuance of preferred
share, the IFRS 3R impact associated with remuneration for
post-acquisition services and the IFRS 16 impact related to the
restatement of lease payments.5 Operating Income adjusted from the
amortization of intangible assets resulting from PPA and the net
impact of the application of IFRS 166 Net Financial income adjusted
from the impacts related to the fair value through profit of the
equity subscription warrants and for the IFRS 16 impact7 Net income
adjusted from continued activities adjusted for restated operating
and financial results and the capitalization in deferred tax of
loss carryforwards8 Other markets include the Asia-Pacific region -
MENA - Brazil
- PR_Artefact_FYR 2020_final