PBEE Pensionbee Group Plc

Romi Savova, CEO of PensionBee, commented:

"Our substantial growth has continued over the third quarter, with Assets under Administration reaching £5.5 billion and 260,000 Invested Customers. As we continue to consistently execute on all elements of our strategy, having achieved two consecutive quarters of positive Group Adjusted EBITDA this year, we expect to deliver Group breakeven on the same basis for the full year 2024.

We are delighted to be expanding the reach of our award-winning customer proposition, innovative technology platform and unique marketing approach, having entered the US market, the world's largest Defined Contribution pension market, in partnership with State Street Global Advisors. We are pleased to see a positive consumer response to our marketing approach and to have developed local features to facilitate easier rollovers. The opportunity we have ahead of us, to help millions of Americans enjoy a happy retirement, is transformational for the next decade of PensionBee's growth."

United Kingdom Operational Highlights

In the UK, PensionBee has further advanced its strategic goals, continuing to grow its customer base and Assets under Administration, leveraging its established position as a household brand.

Efficient Investment in Customer Acquisition and Growing Brand Awareness:

PensionBee's UK business continued to grow its brand and acquire customers efficiently, investing £2m in diversified marketing activities across the quarter (£8m across 2024), bringing the cumulative marketing investment since inception to £63m. Across the year, there has been a focus on reaching customers with higher account sizes, resulting in growth of 21% in the average account value to c.£21,000 (Q3 2023: c.£17,000). Cost per Invested Customer continued to be stable (Q3 2024: £244 vs. Q3 2023: £244), highlighting the strength of the Company's marketing capability, the efficiency of spend, and the importance of household brand awareness in driving customer acquisition. Prompted Brand Awareness reached an all time high of 58%² over Q3 2024 (Q3 2023: 51%), demonstrating that PensionBee continues to be embedded in consumers' minds as a trusted household name in the UK.

Leadership in Product Innovation

PensionBee has continued to innovate to meet the needs of its UK customers by releasing helpful and engaging tools, designed to enhance the customer experience, such as new performance analytics. Over the third quarter of 2024 the Company has continued to make further improvements to the pension transfer journey, introducing further system efficiencies to automated processes. Streamlining the process has enhanced the processing speed and accuracy by reducing manual data entry.

Focus on Excellent Customer Service:

Across the quarter, the delivery of excellent customer service has continued to be prioritised, as evidenced through the achievement of a 4.7★ Excellent Trustpilot rating from approximately 11,300 Trustpilot reviews⁵ and the maintenance of rapid customer response times.⁶

Ensuring excellent levels of customer satisfaction is central to PensionBee's ambition of retaining and serving its customers throughout their lifetimes. As such, PensionBee maintained a Net Retention Rate >100% across the year to date (Q3 2023: >100%).³

Investment in and Development of Leading Technology Platform:

PensionBee has continued with its ongoing investment in the scalability of its technology platform, which continues to underpin its competitive advantage. Efficiency improvements through internal automation, security and pension transfer improvements, have delivered a 22% productivity improvement year on year (Q3 2024:1,305 Invested Customers / Staff Member vs. Q3 2023: 1,072 Invested Customers / Staff Member).⁷

United States Operational Highlights

PensionBee entered the US market, the world's largest Defined Contribution pension market, in partnership with State Street Global Advisors, one of its long-standing asset management providers and one of the world's largest money managers. PensionBee will pursue a substantial growth opportunity to reach millions of underserved Americans across the US, capitalising on its existing strengths to harness substantial consumer appetite for an easy retirement solution.

PensionBee Inc. has had its SEC registration granted, enabling federal operation. Its US technology platform has been built and is operational, having been fully tested with the completion of retirement account transfers.

Initial US marketing has begun, with new channels having been established (including organic and paid search, organic and paid social, PR and brand advertising) and the calibration of these channels is underway. Channels are demonstrating a positive early consumer response. New search functionality for 401(k) accounts has been developed and initial provider-specific journeys for rollovers have been validated and prepared for customer usage.

Financial Update

PensionBee has continued to deliver consistent and predictable Revenue growth, driven by the compounding nature of its Assets under Administration ('AUA'), positive Net Retention, ongoing Net Flow generation across cohorts and a stable Revenue Margin over Q3 2024. Its Net Retention Rate >100% across the year to date (Q3 2023: >100%)³, highlighting the long-term compounding nature of the asset base. Compounding growth has translated into predictable Revenue, with Revenue for the year to date of £24m (YTD Sep-23: £17m) and Annual Run Rate Revenue growth of 41% year on year to £34m (Q3 2023: £24m).

Predictable and Recurring Revenue Base

Note on Charts: Represents Cohort AUA from bottom to top, Cohort 2016-2019, Cohort 2020, Cohorts 2021, Cohort 2022, Cohort 2023, Cohort 2024 and Market Impact (darkest orange).

PensionBee's scalable business has continued to drive operating leverage and profitability. The Cost Base⁸ for Q3 2024 has remained stable at £8m (Q3 2023: £7m), achieved with a combination of relatively stable money manager and technology platform costs, increasing at 9.5% year on year relative to Annual Run Rate Revenue growth of 41%, together with more efficient deployment of marketing costs for the quarter.

Business Scalability to Drive Margin Improvements

The combination of strong predictable revenue growth combined with business scalability and strict cost discipline has continued to drive high growth and to generate a second consecutive quarter of positive Group Adjusted EBITDA at £1m for Q3 2024 (Q3 2023: £(1)m).

Note on Chart: Marketing Expenses are offset by £200k from the marketing reimbursement as provided by State Street.    

Business Scalability Translates into Improvement in Profitability

Group Financial Guidance Framework

Revenue Objectives:

●    PensionBee expects Group Revenue to exceed £30m for the full year 2024.

●    It has an ambition to reach >£100m of Group Revenue in the short to medium term (by year 5), with a longer term (5 to 10 years) ambition to exceed £250m.

Profitability Objectives:

●    PensionBee expects to reach Group Adjusted EBITDA breakeven for the full year 2024.

●    It has an ambition to reach an Adjusted Group EBITDA Margin of approximately 20% in the short to medium term (by year 5), with a longer term (5 to 10 years) ambition to reach c.50%.