28 November 2022
AIM: CER
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (“MAR”), and is disclosed in accordance with the company’s obligations under Article 17 of MAR.
Cerillion plc
(“Cerillion” or “Company” or “Group”)
Final results for the year ended 30 September 2022
Record financial performance
Group is well-placed for continued growth
Cerillion plc, the billing, charging and customer relationship management software solutions provider, presents its annual results for the 12 months ended 30 September 2022.
Highlights
| Year ended 30 September | 2022 | 2021 | Change |
| Revenue | £32.7m | £26.1m | +26% |
| Annualised recurring revenue 2 | £12.4m | £9.9m | +25% |
| Adjusted EBITDA4 | £13.8m | £10.5m | +31% |
| Adjusted EBITDA margin | 42.0% | 40.3% | +170bps |
| Adjusted profit before tax5 | £11.9m | £8.5m | +40% |
| Statutory profit before tax | £10.9m | £7.4m | +47% |
| Adjusted basic earnings per share6 | 35.2p | 25.5p | +38% |
| Statutory basic earnings per share | 31.7p | 21.8p | +45% |
| Total dividend per share | 9.1p | 7.1p | +28% |
| Net cash | £20.2m | £13.2m | +54% |
Financial:
· Key financial performance measures reached new highs
· Revenue up 26% to a record £32.7m (2021: £26.1m), driven by major new customer implementations and strong demand from existing customers
· Back-order book3 reached a new high of £45.4m at the year-end (30 September 2021: £42.1m)
· Strong balance sheet with net cash up 54% to £20.2m (2021: £13.2m)
· Final dividend of 6.5p per share proposed (2021: 5.0p), bringing the total dividend for the year to 9.1p per share (2021: 7.1p), an increase of 28%
· New customer sales pipeline up 43% to a record £209m (30 September 2021: £146m)
Operational:
· Continued expansion of new resource centres in Bulgaria and India
· Largest ever contract won in July 2022 (£15m), with Cable & Wireless Seychelles (CWS), a full-service network operator – continued the trend of winning bigger contracts and/or larger customers
· Gained Gold-level status for flagship BSS/OSS suite in the TM Forum’s Open API Conformance Certification program in early November 2022
· Strong pipeline of new business opportunities
· Cerillion well-positioned for further growth over the new financial year and beyond
Louis Hall, CEO of Cerillion, commented:
“It has been another year of very strong growth and development. Reported revenue, pre-tax profit and back-order book all reached new highs. We have maintained our top-line growth rate of c.25% for the second year running, building on the momentum of the last three to four years. We also secured another record-breaking contract win, and continued to expand the business, enlarging our resources, especially in India and Bulgaria, and enhancing our technology.
“We start the new financial year with a very high degree of visibility over our earnings, based on our very strong back-order book and higher level of recurring income. The new business pipeline is very strong and includes a number of large potential deals.
“The market backdrop remains extremely favourable. The roll-out of 5G and digitisation, and the need to be able to react rapidly to changing market conditions, means that telecom companies continue to drive investment in enterprise software. These tailwinds should help to support Cerillion’s continued expansion over the longer term.”
For further information please contact:
| Cerillion plcLouis Hall, CEO, Andrew Dickson, CFO | c/o KTZ CommunicationsT: 020 3178 6378 | |
| Liberum (Nomad and Broker) | T: 020 3100 2000 | |
| Bidhi Bhoma, Cameron Duncan, William Hall Singer Capital Markets (Joint Broker)Rick Thompson, George Tzimas, James Fischer | T: 020 7496 3000 | |
| KTZ Communications | T: 020 3178 6378 | |
| Katie Tzouliadis, Dan Mahoney |
About Cerillion
Cerillion has a 23-year track record in providing mission-critical software for billing, charging and customer relationship management (“CRM”), mainly to the telecommunications sector but also to other markets, including utilities and financial services. The Company has c. 80 customer installations across c. 45 countries.
Headquartered in London, Cerillion has operations in Pune, India, where its Global Solutions Centre is located, as well as operations in Bulgaria, Belgium, Singapore and Australia .
The business was originally part of Logica plc before its management buyout, led by CEO, Louis Hall, in 1999. The Company joined AIM in March 2016.
Notes
Note 1 Revenue derived from software licence, support and maintenance, Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) and third-party sales.
Note 2 Recurring revenue includes support and maintenance, managed service and Skyline revenue.
Note 3 Back order book consists of £37.4m of sales contracted but not yet recognised at the end of the reporting period plus £8.0m of annualised support and maintenance revenue. It is anticipated that 75% of the £37.4m of sales contracted but not yet recognised as at the end of the reporting period will be recognised within the next 12 to 18 months.
Note 4 Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (“EBITDA”) is calculated by taking operating profit and adding back depreciation & amortisation and share-based payment charge.
Note 5 Adjusted profit before tax is calculated by taking reported profit before tax and adding back amortisation of acquired intangible assets and share-based payment charge.
Note 6 Adjusted earnings per share is calculated by taking profit after tax and adding back amortisation of acquired intangible assets and share-based payment charge and is divided by the weighted average number of shares in issue during the period.