DGAP-News: Intershop looks back on successful financial year 2021 and remains on profitable growth track thanks to strengthened cloud business

Jena, 16 February 2022 - Intershop Communications AG (ISIN: DE000A254211), a global provider of B2B commerce solutions for the upper mid-market and wholesalers, increased its total consolidated revenues by 7% to EUR 36.0 million in the financial year 2021. In the fourth quarter, Intershop generated revenues of EUR 9.4 million and thus even exceeded the strong prior-year quarter (Q4 2020: EUR 9.3 million). Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) climbed 25% to approx. EUR 1.3 million in the full year 2021 (2020: EUR 1.0 million). As Intershop improved its performance across all quarters compared to the previous year, the company continued its trend of what are now eight profitable quarters in a row.

Cloud and subscription revenues increased by 51% to EUR 11.1 million in the reporting period (2020: EUR 7.3 million). This means that Intershop is growing much faster than the global B2B e-commerce market as a whole (average growth of 19% p.a.). Incoming cloud orders (new and existing customers) totaled EUR 18.3 million in the full year 2021, which represented an increase of 16% (2020: EUR 15.8 million). Cloud ARR (annual recurring revenues) were up by 31% on the previous year to EUR 12.2 million (2020: EUR 9.3 million). Net new ARR improved from EUR 2.6 million to EUR 2.8 million.

As the company continued to focus its activities on the cloud business, license revenues declined as expected from EUR 4.2 million to EUR 2.3 million. Maintenance revenues decreased by 5% to EUR 7.6 million (2020: EUR 8.0 million). By contrast, service revenues improved by 7% to EUR 15.1 million (2020: EUR 14.1 million), benefiting from recovery effects in FY 2021 following a temporary drop in revenues caused by delayed and postponed projects, especially in the second and third quarter of 2020.

In the financial year 2021, Intershop grew its gross profit on revenues by 11% to EUR 17.4 million (2020: EUR 15.7 million). The gross margin improved by one percentage point to 48%. Operating expenses increased by 10% to EUR 16.1 million. This was mainly due to higher spending on research and development as the company increased its investments in the cloud platform. Total R&D expenses amounted to EUR 5.7 million (2020: EUR 3.8 million). At EUR 7.7 million, marketing and selling expenses remained at the prior year level. General administrative expenses rose from EUR 3.1 million to EUR 3.3 million.

Earnings before interest and increased by 25% to approx. 1.3 million (2020: EUR 1.0 million). Consequently, the EBIT margin climbed to 4% (2020: 3%). Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) declined slightly to EUR 4.4 million (2020: EUR 4.5 million). Earnings after taxes remained unchanged at the previous year's EUR 0.8 million, which corresponded to earnings per share of EUR 0.06.

As of 31 December 2021, the Intershop Group's total assets amounted to EUR 39.6 million, up by 35% on the prior year reporting date. This is due to the capitalization of the right of use under IFRS 16 for the lease of the new premises in conjunction with the relocation of the company's headquarters in Jena. Due to the positive result for the year, equity capital improved by 5% to EUR 17.4 million. As total assets increased, the equity ratio declined from 56% to 44% as of the end of 2021. Cash and cash equivalents increased by 5% to EUR 12.2 million (31 December 2020: EUR 11.6 million. At EUR 4.6 million, cash flow from operations remained clearly positive in the reporting period (2020: EUR 4.7 million). As of the end of 2021, Intershop employed a total of 288 people worldwide (previous year: 299).

"We are very pleased that we were able to reach all the targets we had set ourselves for 2021 in a dynamic environment," said Markus Klahn, CEO of Intershop Communications AG. "Intershop continued to grow, aggressively expanded its cloud business and has remained profitable for eight quarters in a row. Looking at what remains an attractive market environment, our new high-performance platform generation and a strong new customer pipeline, we are convinced that we will be able to reach our growth targets for 2022 and that the capital market will become even more aware of the Intershop story."

On balance, Intershop expects incoming cloud orders to rise by about 20% as well as a 10% increase in net new ARR for FY 2022. With revenues growing by about 10%, a positive operating result (EBIT) of at least EUR 1.0 million is projected.

The full consolidated financial statements will be published in mid-March 2022. All financials in this press release are provisional, pending completion of the statutory audit.
 

Contact:

Investor Relations

T: +49-3641-50-1000

ir@intershop.com