TIDMPRSM
RNS Number : 6308L
Blue Prism Group PLC
14 January 2021
BLUE PRISM GROUP PLC
'BLUE PRISM' OR 'THE GROUP'
UNAUDITED PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEARED 31 OCTOBER 2020
JASON KINGDON, CHAIRMAN & CEO, COMMENTED:
"We are building a global software company and have made a great
deal of progress in the year. The business demonstrated resilience
and strength throughout the extraordinary events of 2020, with
strong retention and an acceleration in new business in the second
half. We delivered revenue growth of 46% in the year, and Blue
Prism Cloud, our SaaS product, was a standout contributor, with an
increase of 147% in bookings in its first year as an integrated
part of the Group, underpinning its strategic value as our
enterprise customers look to cloud based deployments. We move into
FY21 with a strong pipeline, underpinning our belief that
intelligent automation is key to driving recovery across
enterprises of all sizes. Our unique market focus on complex,
enterprise-grade intelligent automation and access to cutting edge
technologies via our Digital Exchange and partner network,
generates significant ROI for our customers which is the foundation
for us to benefit from long-term, value accretive
relationships."
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS Unaudited Unaudited FY 2019
FY 2020 FY 2019 as as originally
restated*** presented
Group revenue GBP141.4m GBP96.8m GBP101.0m
---------------------------- =========== ------------- ---------------
Share of recurring licence
revenues 98% 96% 96%
---------------------------- =========== ------------- ---------------
Adjusted EBITDA loss* GBP(40.3)m GBP(76.1)m GBP(71.9)m
---------------------------- =========== ------------- ---------------
Operating loss GBP(81.6)m GBP(91.8)m GBP(81.4)m
---------------------------- =========== ------------- ---------------
Operating cash flow GBP(33.0)m GBP(57.5)m GBP(57.5)m
---------------------------- =========== ------------- ---------------
Net cash** GBP137.6m GBP74.1m GBP74.1m
---------------------------- =========== ------------- ---------------
* Adjusted EBITDA loss is EBITDA loss adjusted to exclude
contingent share-based payments and exceptional expenses
**Cash includes cash on deposit classified as short-term
investments.
***See financial information below for details of the FY19
restatement
OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
-- Revenues increased by 46% to GBP141.4m (FY19: GBP96.8m
restated), monthly recurring revenue (MRR) of GBP12.8m (FY19:
GBP10.6m) (GBP1.1m from Blue Prism Cloud (FY19: GBP0.7m)
-- Strong improvement in cash generation, particularly in the
second half, driven by business performance and aided by some
benefit from pandemic-related savings
-- Enterprise-grade product providing significant customer ROI,
and increasingly seen as a strategic tool, drives long-term
customer relationships
- 98% gross revenue retention
- Closing customers of 2,031 (FY19: 1,677 customers)
- 39% of opening customer base upsold for more licences during the year
-- Significant long-term commitments made - remaining
performance obligation, which represents future revenues under
contract but not yet recognised as revenue, was GBP312m
-- Increasing direct investment in product and R&D
- Additional resource accelerated development - 8 product
updates launched including Blue Prism Accelerators for SAP ERP,
Interact, Service Assist and Decipher
- Blue Prism continues to be ranked a strong market leader by
industry analysts, including Gartner, Everest and Forrester
-- Continued broadening of technology partner ecosystem
- 250,000 registered users, an increase of 97% on the prior year
- Online marketplace 'Blue Prism Digital Exchange' leverages 100
technology partnerships, now has 46,000 users, a 318% increase from
2019, and 1,800 assets
-- 147% increase in Blue Prism Cloud bookings, the market leader
with 20% share of the RPA SaaS market (based on IDC market
sizing)
-- The Board is pleased to announce the addition of two
additional Non-Executive Directors, Maurizio Carli and Murray Rode,
both of whom bring extensive international and US software
experience.
CONTACT DETAILS
For further information please contact:
Blue Prism Group plc
Tom Hull, Head of Investor Relations +44 (0)77 3670 7407
Investec Bank plc +44 (0)20 7597 5970
Carlton Nelson
Ben Griffiths
BofA Securities +44 (0)20 7628 1000
James Robertson
Oliver Elias
Brunswick +44 (0)20 7404 5959
Caroline Daniel
Rosie Oddy
FINANCIAL CALAR
Blue Prism World May 2021
Half year results 18 June 2021
ANALYST PRESENTATION
Jason Kingdon (Chairman and CEO) and Ijoma Maluza (CFO) will
host a webinar on these results at 3pm GMT/10am ET/7am PT today. A
link to the webinar and to register can be found below. A question
and answer session will be hosted during the webinar and to
participate attendees will need to dial in.
Phone number UK: +44 (0)330 336 9125
Phone number USA: +1 929-477-0402
Confirmation code: 5712982
Phone lines will open at 2.45pm GMT
To view slides and join the audio webcast please use the
following link:
https://webcasting.brrmedia.co.uk/broadcast/5ff3047ac627bb518d531317
RESULTS FOR THE YEARED 31 OCTOBER 2020
STRATEGY AND OPERATIONS
Group revenue increased 46% and the monthly recurring revenue
(MRR) generated at the end of October was GBP12.8m (FY19:
GBP10.6m). During the year the Group noted a direct impact from the
COVID-19 pandemic, with customers responding to the uncertain macro
environment by delaying purchasing decisions or reducing deal
sizes. The Group saw some recovery in the second half of the year,
with sales activity improving and deal sizes starting to recover,
but overall deal sizes remained lower than the prior year.
The Group delivered GBP122m of business from new customers and
upselling existing customers, driving revenue growth in FY20 and
future periods. The total value of new software sold (which
measures the total contract value from new customers, upsells and
renewals generated over the period) was GBP180m (2019: GBP181m).
Sixty percent of total business was generated in the second half of
the year as customer activity and deal sizes increased. Remaining
performance obligations (RPO), which represents future revenues
under contract but not yet recognised as revenue, were GBP312m at
the end of the period indicating the strong level of commitments
made by customers despite the challenging environment.
In response to uncertainty driven by the COVID-19 pandemic the
Group raised GBP100m (before expenses) to reinforce the balance
sheet in the event of prolonged market disruptions. This funding
allowed the Group to maintain investments made during 2018 and 2019
while continuing to prioritise spending into product and R&D,
positioning the Group favourably as normal market conditions
return.
The adjusted EBITDA loss for the period of GBP(40.3)m improved
by 47% compared to FY19. This improvement was as a result of strong
revenue growth combined with financial discipline across the
business and reduced spending on areas like travel & expenses
during the pandemic, offset partly by an increase of 124% in
product and R&D spend.
The reported operating loss was GBP(81.6)m (FY19: GBP(91.8)m
restated).
CUSTOMERS
The Group closed the financial year ended 31 October 2020 with a
significantly increased customer base of 2,031 customers, an
increase of 21% on the previous year. The customer base represents
a significant opportunity for the Group, with the largest customers
increasingly providing a blueprint for other customers to scale and
the Group's continued track record in upselling underpinning this
opportunity further.
SALES HIGHLIGHTS FY20 FY19
Opening customers 1,677 992
---------------------------- ------ ------
Adjustments [1] (28) (21)
---------------------------- ------ ------
Revised opening number 1,649 971
---------------------------- ------ ------
Losses during the year (117) (40)
---------------------------- ------ ------
Acquired with Thoughtonomy - 76
---------------------------- ------ ------
Additions during the
year 499 670
---------------------------- ------ ------
Closing customers at
31 Oct 2,031 1,677
---------------------------- ------ ------
Notable new logos included the U.S Department of Veteran
Affairs, Bristol Myers-Squibb, the Federal Aviation Administration,
Huawei, Fremantle Media, Nomura and Thames Valley Police. New
customers typically start small, with deal sizes for new customers
in 2020 similar to those in 2019 (average 3-5 digital workers). The
Group aims to unlock further value from new customers by upselling
further licences; this has the benefit of both increasing value per
customer and retention levels.
In 2020 Blue Prism upsold into 647 customers (FY19: 536
customers). While upsell numbers remained high, the average value
of an upsell deal fell as customers responded to uncertainty
arising from the COVID-19 pandemic by either delaying or reducing
the level of incremental spend. As a result, the net retention rate
for the year was lower at 113% (2019: 143%).
During the period the Group delivered healthy levels of
upselling across its largest customers, with 38 of its top 50
customers by revenue upselling. The Group's top 50 customers
accounted for 36% of enterprise MRR, with an average spend of $1.3m
a year. The Group views the top 50 customers as a blueprint for the
remaining and new customer base.
Despite the pandemic driving significant uncertainty for the
customer base, overall customer retention remained very strong. The
gross retention rate for the year was 98%, with very low levels of
revenue churn. The majority of losses were very small in size -
103, or 88% of the losses related to customers with deployments of
5 or less digital workers.
The high levels of revenue retention and increasing levels of
customer commitments demonstrated provide the Group confidence in
the margin potential.
PEOPLE
Since its IPO in 2016 the Group has invested in new talent
across all functions to respond to the significant market
opportunity. As previously indicated, 2020 was a year of
consolidation, with total headcount largely unchanged from the
prior year.
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES FY20 FY19
AT 31 OCT
------
General & administrative 104 112
-------------------------- ====== ------
Sales & marketing 515 559
-------------------------- ====== ------
Professional services 210 191
-------------------------- ====== ------
Product 176 139
-------------------------- ====== ------
Total 1,005 1,001
-------------------------- ====== ------
While headcount was flat on 2019, resources were pivoted toward
product and R&D, in line with the Group's goal to increase
product innovation and continue its focus on complex,
enterprise-grade intelligent automation, where it is a market
leader.
Sales & Marketing productivity was directly impacted by the
COVID-19 pandemic, with short-term changes to customer behaviour
reducing average deal sizes. This lengthened the payback period for
some of the 2019 investments, which we had expected to reach
productivity during the period.
The Group remains confident that the investments made will reach
productivity and is reassured by the returns seen from the 2018
cohort of sales hires in 2019, where they helped to drive a strong
net retention rate and 60% growth in MRR.
The Group continued to make key recruits to build a leadership
team to support the potential of the organisation. These included a
new Chief Marketing Officer, Chip Coyle, and the appointment of
John King as Head of Strategy and Corporate Finance. The Group
plans to continue strengthening leadership as the business grows
and evolves.
During the year Charmaine Carmichael stepped down from her role
as Non-Executive director, as a result of taking up a full-time
executive role, which required her to step down from external
appointments. Following Charmaine's resignation Rachel Mooney was
appointed as a Non-Executive director, bringing extensive software
experience from organisations such as Google and Snow Software.
The Group has today announced the addition of two additional
Non-Executive directors, Maurizio Carli and Murray Rode, effective
1 February 2021. These appointments strengthen the Board's breadth
and depth of global software industry experience and expertise,
notably in the critically important US market. The two appointees
also bring invaluable skills in operations, product development -
including cloud computing - and in scaling technology businesses,
which will be central to supporting strategy.
Maurizio Carli is an international executive with an exceptional
track record of driving sales growth in enterprise IT companies.
Most recently Maurizio held a number of go-to-market leadership
roles at VMWare, an $11bn+ revenue cloud computing and
virtualization software and services company, progressing from
direct responsibility for EMEA, then the US and finally leading
worldwide sales and services. Prior to VMWare Maurizio held
leadership roles at Google, Business Objects and IBM. Maurizio is
currently Chairman of Board International, a decision-making
software company, and is a Non-Executive Director at Temenos.
Murray Rode brings extensive experience in enterprise software
at the executive and Board level, with particular knowledge in
SaaS, analytics and data science, and data management
infrastructure. He held senior Executive roles at Tibco, a $1bn+
revenue big data and software integration business, including CEO,
CFO and COO. During his time at Tibco Murray led the company
through a major financial and operating transformation, revamping
the core strategy and go to market approach, significantly
increasing profitability and executing a series of acquisitions.
Murray currently serves as Senior Advisor for Bow Capital
Management in Menlo Park, CA.
PRODUCT
Blue Prism is differentiated by its focus on enterprise-grade
end-to-end intelligent automation. Four core areas enable this
focus:
-- Scalable:
o The Blue Prism digital workforce is centrally managed from an
enterprise platform, maximizing versatility and scalability.
Digital workers can be retrained and redeployed across the
organization depending on business needs and how they evolve
o This is very different from the wider market approach - which
commonly takes desktop automation tools and adds on components in
an attempt to allow scaling
-- Secure
o As a result of the centralised architecture the digital
workforce maintains total compliance and governance
transparency
o Digital workers have their own security credentials, providing
clear audit trails of all actions and training history
-- Smart
o The Blue Prism Digital Exchange (DX) allows direct access to
cognitive capabilities, providing access to the world's best AI
from the likes of Google, Amazon and Microsoft This allows the
digital workers to multitask, learning and operating new
technologies seamlessly
o Digital workers are available to business users with
intuitive, easy -to -train formats, that require no coding
-- Successful
o The Blue Prism platform allows object-based reusability -
meaning that every part of an automation can be reused. This
simplifies building additional processes, allowing increasing
complexity and improving time to value
o Digital workers can closely match or exceed the output of
human workers, with fewer errors and faster throughput
o This provides customers a faster path to realizing business
value and ROI at low total cost of ownership (TCO)
During the year the Group has prioritised the preservation and
expansion of these differentiators with additional resource
directed to the product function. In FY20 spending in R&D
increased to GBP20.1m (FY19: GBP12.5m) of which GBP17.7m (FY19:
GBP7.9m) was expensed through the P&L and GBP2.4m (FY19:
GBP4.6m) capitalised.
These investments have driven an acceleration in product
innovation and R&D. In the last twelve months, the Group has
launched versions 6.7, 6.8, 6.9 and 6.10 of the product,
incorporating new functionality including Latin American Spanish
and improvements to user experience. In addition to these updates
specific functionality has also been launched including:
- Decipher IDP: (intelligent document processing): an
easy-to-use intelligent document processing solution that uses OCR
(optical character recognition) and ML (machine learning)
technology to identify and extract data from business documents,
such as invoices. It learns from human-in the-loop interaction and
applies the knowledge going forward
- Blue Prism Interact: an easy to use collaboration tool that
allows humans to interact with digital workers, replicating many of
the benefits of attended or desktop automation, while preserving
the product's unique security and scalability features.
- Blue Prism Service Assist: skills for the digital workforce to use in call centre situations
- Blue Prism Accelerators for SAP ERP ERP: hundreds of pre-built
automation components and thousands of actions designed to
accelerate enterprise resource planning (ERP) software deployments
and migrations with no code.
Further product development has been integrated in the form of
Blue Prism Cloud, the Group's SaaS offering which provides
immediate access to digital workers hosted on Microsoft Azure, as
well as access to Azure Cognitive Services. These capabilities were
acquired as part of the Thoughtonomy acquisition in July 2019, and
have been successfully integrated throughout 2020. Blue Prism Cloud
bookings increased by 147% in 2020 and accounted for 18.5% of
bookings during the year. This offering capitalises on trends
toward enterprise cloud migrations and SaaS based deployments and
positions the Group favourably in this area.
In 2018 the Group launched its Digital Exchange (DX) platform to
provide object-based access to technologies from its technology
partnerships and pre-made automations. The DX allows customers to
upskill their digital workforce by incorporating the latest in
technology from the technology partner network, including AI,
machine learning and other cognitive tools from partners including
Amazon, IBM, Microsoft and Google.
The DX has continued to grow in terms of active users and assets
available. As of 31 October 2020, 46,000 users are registered with
the platform and have access to over 1,800 assets. This is in part
driven by the rapid development of the technology partner network
which has increased to 100 in the year, a 100% increase on the
prior year.
MARKETPLACE
The RPA market continued to grow throughout 2020, albeit at a
lower than expected rate as customers delayed or reduced spend in
response to the uncertain environment driven by the COVID-19
pandemic. Gartner estimate that in 2020, the RPA market grew 12%.
Blue Prism continued to build market share as our track record of
delivering enterprise-grade automation continued to resonate. The
role of RPA in driving enterprise productivity, and the potential
for increasingly strategic deployments, remains undiminished and
the Board believe may in some ways be accelerated by the pandemic
going forward as businesses look to improve organisational
resilience and respond to changing consumer demands.
During 2020 the returns to customers and scale of the market
opportunity has attracted the attention of some major software
vendors. Microsoft acquired RPA vendor Softomotive in May 2020 and
has subsequently launched their Power Automate tool. These entries
into the market are a recognition of the scale and validity of the
RPA market opportunity, and while there is always the potential for
increased competitive tension, the Group notes that most new
entrants, including Microsoft, are focused on the desktop
automation space. The Board remains confident in the capabilities
of the Group's product set, and enterprise-grade intelligent
automation solutions, validated by its continued cross-selling and
partnership activities with the likes of Microsoft on larger,
strategic deals.
STRATEGY
The Group's strategy has been designed to enhance its position
as the go-to provider of enterprise grade, intelligent
automation:
-- Empower customers to extend the boundaries of process automation
o The Blue Prism platform is a holistic solution for customers
to automate business processes that are not adequately handled with
existing systems. To drive the greatest possible adoption, it aims
to:
-- Allow business users, not just IT, to implement an automation
tool by providing no code software
-- Enabled by the Digital Exchange (DX):
-- Build extensive capabilities for handling commonly deployed IT systems
-- Work with a technology partner network, including Google, AWS
and Microsoft, to provide a range of skills for digital workers to
complete a diverse array of tasks (for example OCR, NLP, sentiment
analysis, machine learning)
-- Lower the barrier to adoption and increase the stickiness of products
o Investments across product, sales and marketing and in the
ecosystem of systems integrators and partners ensure that:
-- The product is accessible to potential or new customers with
learning and trial editions via multiple routes, including public
cloud
-- Customers have access to trained resources when planning,
deploying and extending automation projects
-- The product is capable of scale via building on initial
successful projects and can quickly scale up across a customer's
organization
-- The product responds to the evolving needs of customers and
can integrate legacy technology with the newest, cloud-based
applications
-- The Group can solve the most complex, mission-critical and
sensitive areas of customers' operations, fulfilling regulatory
requirements
-- All processes are centrally controlled and are made of
editable, reusable objects which speed up process building and
lower total cost of ownership with scale
-- Drive growth with compelling user economics
o Based on strong and consistent gross retention rates and track
record of upselling, the Group continues to invest in growth. To
optimize this, the Group:
-- Takes a holistic approach to maximise investments, looking at
the long-term value of new account and upsell opportunities
-- Employ both direct and indirect sales strategies, depending
on relationships and presence in a given market
-- Work with partners to map out the most compelling upselling
opportunities within major accounts
-- Explore partnership and joint venture opportunities where
market characteristics warrant it
CORPORATE STRATEGY
As announced in November 2020 at the full year trading update,
the Board has begun exploring a potential secondary listing in the
United States. No decisions regarding the terms or timing of a
potential secondary listing have been made, and there is no
certainty that a US listing will take place.
OUTLOOK
The Board is instigating a guidance format from 2021 which
reflects the significant structural opportunity in our end market,
coupled with the heightened uncertainty stemming from the actions
taken by governments around the world to combat the pandemic and
aligns more closely with the approach of global software peers.
Based on the Annual Recurring Revenue of GBP154m for the year to
31 October 2020 and prevailing foreign exchange rates, the Board
currently expects that revenue for 2020/21 will be in the range
GBP170m to GBP180m, with an adjusted EBITDA loss of the order of
GBP25m. The Group continues to plan to reach cash break-even by the
end of the financial year ended 31 October 2021. The FY20/21
pipeline is stronger than at the same point in 2020. To date the
business has performed in line with expectations.
The guidance provided above is forward-looking in nature. Actual
results may differ materially. See the cautionary note regarding
forward-looking statements below, under "Disclaimer".
TRADING
REVENUES
Recognised revenues for the period increased by 46% to GBP141.4m
(FY19: GBP96.8m restated) with recurring, subscription-based,
licence revenue accounting for 98% (FY19: 96%).
Other revenues accounted for 2% of total revenues, with
professional services and training revenues increasing to GBP3.0m
(FY19: GBP2.6m) and sponsorship and other revenue decreasing to
GBP0.1m (FY19: GBP1.8m) as a result of the Blue Prism World events
being hosted virtually in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
MRR, which is the exit run rate of monthly recurring revenue at
the last month of the reporting period, was GBP12.8m (FY19:
GBP10.6m). Growth in MRR was directly impacted by the COVID-19
pandemic as customers became more cautious with spending decisions,
resulting in extended sales cycles and smaller average deal sizes.
Recognised revenues by geography were as follows:
FY 2020 FY 2019 restated % MOVEMENT
GBPM %OF TOTAL GBPM %OF TOTAL
---------- ====== ========== ------ -----------
EMEA 67.1 47% 45.6 47% 47%
---------- ====== ========== ------ ----------- -----------
Americas 56.6 40% 39.2 41% 44%
---------- ====== ========== ------ ----------- -----------
APAC 17.7 13% 12.0 12% 48%
---------- ====== ========== ------ ----------- -----------
Total 141.4 - 96.8 46%
---------- ====== ========== ------ ----------- -----------
Blue Prism Cloud accounted for GBP11.5m of revenues in the
period, compared to GBP1m in 2019 following its acquisition in July
2019. Blue Prism Cloud bookings increased by 147% and now
contribute around 18.5% of the new bookings achieved by the
Group.
LOSS FROM OPERATIONS
Excluding contingent share based payments and exceptional
deferred consideration costs, the Group recorded an operating loss
for the year of GBP(50.2)m (FY19: GBP(78.4)m restated). The
reduction in the loss was as a result of strong revenue growth
while costs grew modestly due to lower travel and expenses and
events costs, in part as a result of restrictions due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, as well as lower recruitment costs and general
cost management. Offsetting some of these cost reductions were
investments in the product and R&D. Operating expenses were in
the following categories
GBPm FY20 FY19 - restated
General & Administrative 24.9 31.4
------------------------------- ====== ----------------
Professional services 23.9 20.3
------------------------------- ====== ----------------
Sales & Marketing 98.9 105.3
------------------------------- ====== ----------------
Research & Development
[2] 17.7 7.9
------------------------------- ====== ----------------
Depreciation and amortisation 6.1 1.4
------------------------------- ====== ----------------
Share based payments 13.2 7.2
------------------------------- ====== ----------------
Exceptional costs [3] 18.2 6.2
------------------------------- ====== ----------------
Total operating expenses 202.9 179.7
------------------------------- ====== ----------------
CASH FLOW
Net cash at the period end was GBP137.6m (FY19: GBP74.1m). The
increase in cash and cash equivalents relates to the net proceeds
from the GBP100m fundraising in April 2020 less operating cash
outflow.
Operating cashflow for the year was GBP(33.0)m (FY19:
GBP(57.5)m). The improvement in operating cashflow was primarily
driven by improving adjusted EBITDA loss GBP(40.3)m (FY19:
GBP(76.1)m restated). The strong cash performance also reflects
positive working capital, driven by strong cash collection and
increasing deferred revenue, and lower capitalised spend.
OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
During the period the translation of the overseas subsidiaries
from their local currency into the Group's reporting currency
resulted in other comprehensive loss of GBP(2.6)m (FY19: gain of
GBP1.8m).
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
Deferred revenue was higher than the prior year at GBP95.7m
(FY19: GBP77.4m restated) in line with the growth of the
business.
Trade and other receivables increased to GBP44.4m (FY19:
GBP43.6m restated). This was driven by the growth in the business
across the year offset by robust cash collection in the second half
of the year (reflected in the closing cash position).
In addition, costs to obtain contract assets of GBP30.5m (FY19:
GBP28.2m) have been recognised in line with the capitalisation of
commission under IFRS 15. During the period software development
costs of GBP2.4m (FY19: GBP4.6m) have been capitalised relating to
product developments which will give rise to future economic
benefits. The product upgrades represented a number of functional
upgrades as well as some significant product innovations. These
costs are being amortised over 18 months.
PRINCIPAL RISKS & UNCERTAINTIES
In day to day operations the Group faces risks and
uncertainties. The Board aim to mitigate and manage these risks by
regularly reviewing and assessing these risks and identifying
suitable strategies to minimise the risks. The risks and mitigation
strategies will be described in more detail in the Annual Report
and Accounts and a list of the key risks is presented below:
- Growth strategies and management
- Macroeconomic and political conditions
- Software reliability and performance
- Security breaches
- Market and technological changes
- Talent management
- Pandemic management
- Intellectual property
GLOSSARY OF METRICS REFERENCED
Exit monthly recurring revenue (MRR) : The amount of recurring
software licence revenue recognised in the Group's profit and loss
account in the last month of the reporting period, adjusted to
reflect the full impact of work won during the month
Net revenue retention : Measures the net growth in MRR from
customers at the beginning of the reporting period
Gross revenue retention : MRR at the beginning of the period
less MRR losses from lost customers divided by MRR at the beginning
of the year, annualised
Jason Kingdon, Chairman & CEO
Ijoma Maluza, CFO
FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Blue Prism Group plc
Unaudited consolidated statement of profit or loss and other
comprehensive income
for the year ended 31 October 2020
Restated
Note Unaudited Unaudited2019
2020
GBP'm GBP'm
Total Total
Revenue 141.4 96.8
Cost of sales 2 (18.6) (8.5)
_______ _______
Gross profit 122.8 88.3
Operating expenses (202.9) (179.7)
Operating expenses before
contingent share based payments
& exceptional costs (171.5) (166.3)
Contingent share based payments (13.2) (7.2)
Exceptional costs (18.2) (6.2)
------------------------------------ ---- --------- -------------
Net impairment losses on
financial assets 4 (1.8) (0.7)
Other operating income /
tax credits 0.3 0.3
_______ _______
Operating loss (81.6) (91.8)
Interest receivable 0.5 0.7
Finance costs (0.3) -
_______ _______
Loss before tax (81.4) (91.1)
Income tax (expense) / credit (0.4) 1.9
_______ _______
Loss after tax (81.8) (89.2)
_______ _______
Other comprehensive (loss)/income
Items which will subsequently be reclassified
to profit or loss:
Exchange (losses) / gains
on translation of foreign
operations (2.6) 1.8
_______ _______
Total other comprehensive (loss)/income (2.6) 1.8
_______ _______
Total comprehensive loss
for the year (84.4) (87.4)
_______ _______
Basic and diluted loss per
share attributable to ordinary
equity shareholders (p) (92.95) (119.89)
_______ _______
Total comprehensive loss for the year has been derived from
continuing operations.
Blue Prism Group plc
Unaudited consolidated statement of financial position
at 31 October 2020
Restated
Unaudited Unaudited
Note 2020 2019
Non-current assets GBP'm GBPm
Intangible assets 37.4 42.0
Cost to obtain contract assets 4 17.2 16.0
Property, plant and equipment 4.8 1.6
_____________________ _____________________
Total non-current assets 59.4 59.6
_____________________ _____________________
Current assets
Cost to obtain contract assets 4 13.3 12.2
Corporation tax receivable 1.1 1.0
Trade and other receivables 3 44.4 43.6
Cash and cash equivalents 137.6 45.5
Short-term investments - 28.6
_____________________ _____________________
Total current assets 196.4 130.9
_____________________ _____________________
Total assets 255.8 190.5
_____________________ _____________________
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables 37.5 42.5
Deferred revenue 88.8 71.5
Deferred consideration 3.9 1.3
_____________________ _____________________
Total current liabilities 130.2 115.3
_____________________ _____________________
Non-current liabilities
Other payables 2.6 -
Deferred revenue 6.9 5.9
_______ _____________________
Total non-current liabilities 9.5 5.9
_____________________ _____________________
Total liabilities 139.7 121.2
_____________________ _____________________
Net assets 116.1 69.3
_____________________ _____________________
Equity attributable to shareholders
Called up share capital 2.0 1.9
Share premium 155.1 150.3
Shares to be issued 2.1 4.2
Merger reserve 117.5 15.5
Foreign exchange reserve (1.2) 1.4
Share based payment reserve 46.8 17.3
Accumulated losses (206.2) (121.3)
_______ _______
Total equity 116.1 69.3
_______ _______
Blue Prism Group plc
Unaudited consolidated statement of cash flows
for the year ended 31 October 2020
Restated
Unaudited Unaudited
2020 2019
Cash flows from operating activities GBP'm GBP'm
Loss after tax (81.8) (89.2)
Adjustments for:
Amortisation of intangible fixed assets 7.0 1.8
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 2.9 0.5
Loss on disposal of property, plant and
equipment - 0.2
Interest receivable (0.5) (0.7)
Finance costs 0.3 -
Share based payment - options & awards 13.9 7.6
Exceptional costs 18.2 6.2
Income tax (credit) / expense 0.4 (1.9)
_______ _______
(39.6) (75.5)
Increase in trade and other receivables (3.0) (11.5)
Increase in cost to obtain contract assets (2.1) (16.0)
Increase in trade and other payables (6.7) 18.5
Increase in deferred revenue 18.4 27.0
_______ _______
Cash used in operations (33.0) (57.5)
Income taxes paid (0.9) (0.4)
_______ _______
Net cash flows from operating activities (33.9) (57.9)
Investing activities
Payment of software development costs (2.4) (4.6)
Purchases of property, plant and equipment (0.3) (1.3)
Maturity of/(investment in) short-term investments 28.6 (28.6)
Acquisition of subsidiary Thoughtonomy,
net of cash acquired - (10.4)
Interest received 0.5 0.7
_______ _______
Net cash generated from / (used in) investing
activities 26.4 (44.2)
Financing activities
Issue of ordinary shares 104.8 103.1
Issue costs (2.9) (2.8)
Repayment of lease liabilities (2.1) -
Interest on lease liabilities (0.3) -
Repayment of bank loan - (2.5)
_______ _______
Net cash from financing activities 99.5 97.8
Net increase / (decrease) in cash and cash
equivalents 92.0 (4.3)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of
year 45.5 50.5
Effect of foreign exchange on cash and cash
equivalents 0.1 (0.7)
_______ _______
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year 137.6 45.5
_______ _______
Blue Prism Group plc
Unaudited consolidated statement of changes in equity
for the year ended 31 October 2020
Share
Foreign based
Share Share Shares exchange Merger payment Accumulated Total
Unaudited capital premium to be issued reserve reserve reserve losses equity
GBP'm GBP'm GBP'm GBP'm GBP'm GBP'm GBP'm GBP'm
Equity as at 31
October 2018 1.7 50.2 - (0.4) 0.4 4.2 (44.3) 11.8
Impact of
initial
adoption of
IFRS 15 - - - - - - 12.2 12.2
____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________
Equity as at 1
November 2018 1.7 50.2 - (0.4) 0.4 4.2 (32.1) 24.0
Comprehensive
loss for 2019
Loss after tax
restated - - - - - - (89.2) (89.2)
Other
comprehensive
income - - - 1.8 - - - 1.8
____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________
Total
comprehensive
loss for the
year
restated - - - 1.8 - - (89.2) (87.4)
Contributions
by and
distributions
to
owners
Exercise of
options 0.1 3.0 - - - - - 3.1
Issue of shares
- placing 0.1 99.9 - - - - - 100.0
Cost of placing - (2.8) - - - - - (2.8)
Issue of shares
- acquisition
of subsidiary
restated - - - - 15.1 - - 15.1
Shares to be
issued -
acquisition of
subsidiary
restated - - 4.2 - - - - 4.2
Share based
payments -
acquisition of
subsidiary
restated - - - - - 5.5 - 5.5
Share based
payments -
options &
awards - - - - - 7.6 - 7.6
____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________
Equity as at 31
October 2019
restated 1.9 150.3 4.2 1.4 15.5 17.3 (121.3) 69.3
____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________
Impact of
initial
adoption of
IFRS 16 - - - - - - (0.2) (0.2)
____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________
Equity as at 1
November 2019 1.9 150.3 4.2 1.4 15.5 17.3 (121.5) 69.1
____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________
Comprehensive
loss for 2020
Loss after tax - - - - - - (81.8) (81.8)
Other
comprehensive
income - - - (2.6) - - - (2.6)
____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________
Total
comprehensive
loss for the
year - - - (2.6) - - (81.8) (84.4)
Contributions
by and
distributions
to
owners
Exercise of
options - 4.8 - - - - - 4.8
Issue of shares
- placing 0.1 - - - 99.9 - - 100.0
Cost of placing - - - - - - (2.9) (2.9)
Issue of shares
- acquisition
of subsidiary - - (2.1) - 2.1 - - -
Share based
payments -
acquisition of
subsidiary - - - - - 15.6 - 15.6
Share based
payments -
options &
awards - - - - - 13.9 - 13.9
____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________
Equity as at 31
October 2020 2.0 155.1 2.1 (1.2) 117.5 46.8 (206.2) 116.1
____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________
Notes to the financial information for the year ended
31 October 2020
1 Accounting policies
Basis of preparation
Blue Prism Group plc is a public limited company incorporated in
the United Kingdom, listed on the Alternative Investment Market
('AIM') of the London Stock Exchange. Blue Prism Group plc and its
subsidiaries ('the Group') have as their registered office and
principal place of business 2 Cinnamon Park, Crab Lane, Warrington,
WA2 0XP, United Kingdom.
The principal accounting policies adopted in the preparation of
the financial information in these preliminary results are set out
below. The policies have been consistently applied to all the years
presented, subject to the prior period restatements noted below.
The Group has adopted IFRS 16 'Leases' from 1 November 2019,
replacing IAS 17 'Leases'. No other significant changes to
accounting policies are expected for the year ended 31 October
2020.
The financial information set out in these preliminary results
has been prepared on a going concern basis and in accordance with
International Financial Reporting Standards ('IFRS') and their
interpretations which have been issued by the International
Accounting Standards Board ('IASB'), as adopted by the European
Union.
All figures presented are rounded to the nearest GBPm to 1
decimal place, unless stated otherwise.
The financial information set out in these results does not
constitute the company's statutory accounts for 2020 or 2019.
Statutory accounts for the year ended 31 October 2020 have not yet
been reported on by the Group's current Independent Auditor Grant
Thornton.
Statutory accounts for the year ended 31 October 2019 have been
filed with the Registrar of Companies and reported on by the
Group's former Independent Auditor BDO. Their report on the 2019
statutory accounts was (i) unqualified; (ii) did not draw attention
to any matters by way of emphasis; and (iii) did not contain a
statement under 498(2) or 498(3) of the Companies Act 2006.
Prior period restatement
Pursuant to the following considerations, the Group has restated
the originally presented financial results for the year ended 31
October 2019 in this financial information.
IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers
The Group adopted IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers
for the first time in 2019. As part of the implementation, and
based on advice provided at the time, three distinct performance
obligations were identified, being the delivery of software
licences, unspecified product upgrades and support services. A
portion of revenue from software licence sales was recognised at
the time of delivering the software licence and the remainder of
the revenue was recognised straight line over the length of the
contract. As disclosed previously the impact of this change was an
increase to FY19 revenue of GBP4.2m compared to how revenue would
have been recognised under IAS 18.
The Directors have reassessed this position and deemed there to
be two distinct performance obligations, the first being provision
of software licences along with unspecified product upgrades and
the second being provision of support services. In making this
assessment, the Directors have considered the contractual terms set
out in the sales agreements, the interdependence and
interrelatedness of the software licence, and other promises to the
customers of the Group. Consequently, the Directors have concluded
that the promises to deliver software licence and unspecified
product upgrades are not capable of being separately distinct in
the context of the sales contract with customers and have therefore
been combined. Support services are still considered to be a
separate performance obligation.
Following the reassessment, the Directors recognise revenue from
the provision of software licences along with unspecified product
upgrades on a straight line basis over the term of the contract on
the basis that there are promises to deliver unspecified product
upgrades on an as-and-when-available basis over the software
licence term and support. This is considered a critical judgement.
As a result, there exists a promise to deliver an unlimited
quantity of unspecified product upgrades as a stand-ready
obligation whereby a time-based measure of progress is considered
to be an appropriate basis for recognising revenue.
This interpretation has subsequently been reviewed by the
Group's new auditors, who concur with the Directors' assessment.
Revenue recognition is now consistent with recognition under IAS
18, which was effective prior to 2019. As such, results for 2019
have been restated to retrospectively apply the updated revenue
recognition policy. The impact is to reduce prior year revenue from
GBP101m to GBP96.8m. Note that the impact of the new recognition
policy on 2020 is that revenue is GBP2.1m lower than under the 3
performance obligation approach, with no impact on cashflows,
customer commitments or the Group's obligations.
Unless otherwise stated, results and commentary in this
presentation are on a restated basis.
IFRS 3 Business Combinations
On July 17, 2019 the Group acquired the share capital of the
Thoughtonomy Group (renamed Blue Prism Cloud), a
software-as-a-service RPA platform, to broaden our product offering
and progress our cloud-based approach. As disclosed at the time,
the consideration that Blue Prism paid comprised an upfront payment
of cash and shares and a deferred payment of cash and shares. The
terms of the contingent consideration included conditions making
this portion of the consideration contingent upon continued
employment of the CEO and certain other key individuals. The
initial treatment was to account for the contingent payment as
consideration for the acquisition of Thoughtonomy. This treatment
has subsequently been reviewed by the new auditors and the
Directors, with reference to the guidance set out in IFRS 3, which
has resulted in an adjustment in relation to the contingent
consideration relating to continuing employees of GBP29.6m as the
consideration is automatically forfeited upon termination of
employment for these individuals within a specified period.
Consequently, 2019 results have been restated in this financial
information to reflect a decrease in goodwill of GBP23.7m and an
exceptional operating expense of GBP6.2m. The impact for 2020 is an
exceptional operating expense of GBP18.2m and the impact for 2021,
the final year, will be an exceptional operating expense of
GBP5.2m.
The Board continue to be pleased with the integration of Blue
Prism Cloud, which has enabled several important developments
across the product suite and delivered excellent growth, with an
increase in bookings of 147%, in its first year of integration to
the Group.
2 Cost of sales
2020 2019
GBP'm GBP'm
Amortisation of cost to obtain contract assets 12.9 7.6
Amortisation of development asset 3.7 0.9
Direct cloud costs 2.0 -
_______ _______
Total cost of sales 18.6 8.5
_______ _______
3 Trade and other receivables Restated
2020 2019
GBP'm GBP'm
Trade receivables 41.2 35.4
Less: provision for impairment of trade receivables (2.0) (1.4)
_______ _______
Trade receivables - net 39.2 34.0
Prepayments 3.6 6.5
Accrued revenue 0.4 0.6
Other taxes - 0.5
Accrued interest - 0.2
Other receivables 1.2 1.8
_______ _______
Total trade and other receivables 44.4 43.6
_______ _______
An impairment charge of GBP1.8m (2019: GBP0.7m) was recognised
in the year relating to aged receivables.
4 Cost to obtain contract assets and deferred
revenue
2020 2019
Cost to obtain contract assets GBP'm GBP'm
Opening balance 28.2 12.2
Costs to obtain contracts with customers during
the year 15.2 23.6
Amortisation in line with contract performance (12.9) (7.6)
_______ _______
Total cost to obtain contract assets 30.5 28.2
_______ _______
Cost to obtain contract assets consist of commission payable to
sales employees and are amortised over the period of the customer
contract to which they relate. The Group assesses recoverability of
the cost to obtain contract assets in line with IFRS 15. No
impairment has been recognised in the year ended 31 October 2020
(2019: GBPnil).
2020 2019
GBP'm GBP'm
Current cost to obtain contract assets 13.3 12.2
Non-current cost to obtain contract assets 17.2 16.0
_______ _______
Total cost to obtain contract assets 30.5 28.2
_______ _______
Restated
2020 2019
Deferred revenue GBP'm GBP'm
Opening balance 77.4 47.9
Changes due to business combinations - 2.5
Release of brought forward deferred revenue (67.3) (42.1)
Contracts invoiced in advance of performance and
not recognised as revenue 85.6 69.1
_______ _______
Total deferred revenue 95.7 77.4
_______ _______
Restated
2020 2019
GBP'm GBP'm
Current deferred revenue 88.8 71.5
Non-current deferred revenue 6.9 5.9
_______ _______
95.7 77.4
_______ _______
Deferred revenue represents amounts invoiced in advance in line
with contractual arrangements. This will be amortised in future
periods in line with fulfilment of the respective performance
obligations. The Group expects to recognise most of the deferred
revenue balance within one year of the statement of financial
position date with a small amount being recognised as greater than
one year.
The Group has restated deferred revenue for the year ended 31
October 2019 in line with the restatement of revenue described in
Note 1. There is no impact on cash flows, trade receivables, or the
company's contractual commitments as a result of this
restatement.
Disclaimers
This document comprises a statement concerning Blue Prism Group
Plc (the "Company") and its 2020 full year results (the
"Statement"). No reliance may be placed for any purposes whatsoever
on the information in this Statement or on its completeness. The
Statement is intended to provide a general overview of the
Company's business and does not purport to deal with all aspects
and details regarding the Company. Accordingly, neither the Company
nor any of its directors, officers, employees or advisers nor any
other person makes any representation or warranty, express or
implied, as to, and accordingly no reliance may be placed on, the
fairness, accuracy or completeness of the information contained in
the Statement or the views given or implied. Neither the Company
nor any of its directors, officers, employees or advisers nor any
other person shall have any liability whatsoever for any errors or
omissions or any loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly,
from any use of this information or its contents or otherwise
arising in connection therewith.
This Statement does not and is not intended to constitute, and
should not be construed as, an offer, inducement, invitation or
commitment to purchase, subscribe to, provide or sell any
securities, services or products of the Company in any
jurisdiction, or any part of any solicitation of any such offer,
inducement, invitation or commitment, or to provide any
recommendations for financial, securities, investment or other
advice or to take any decision. You are encouraged to seek
individual advice from your personal, financial, legal, tax and
other advisers before making any investment or financial decisions
subscribing for or purchasing any securities.
Certain statements in this Statement regarding the Company are,
or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements (including such
words as "believe", "expect", "estimate", "intend", "anticipate"
and words of similar meaning). These forward-looking statements are
neither historical facts nor guarantees of future performance. Such
statements are based on current expectations and belief and, by
their nature, are subject to a number of known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and assumptions which may cause the actual results,
events, prospects and developments of the Company and its
subsidiaries to differ materially from those expressed or implied
by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements
contained in this Statement regarding past trends or activities
should not be taken as a representation that such trends or
activities will continue in the future. Except as required by
applicable law or regulation, the Company (nor its members,
directors, officers, employees, agents or representatives)
undertakes any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.
The information contained in this Statement is for background
purposes only. The subject matter of the Statement may be subject
to change and the Company does not take any responsibility for
updating or amending the contents to reflect such changes. The
material contained in this Statement reflects current legislation
and the business and financial affairs of the Company, which are
subject to change without notice.
This Statement summarises information contained in the 2020 full
year results. No statement in this Statement is intended to be a
profit forecast and no statement in this Statement should be
interpreted to mean that earnings per Company share for current or
future financial years would necessarily match or exceed the
historical published earnings per Company share.
The information contained in this Statement has been obtained
from Company sources and from sources which the Company believes to
be reliable but it has not independently verified such information
and does not guarantee that it is accurate or complete.
[1] The Group periodically reviews its customer numbers and will
make adjustments to ensure the number remains accurate. This
includes customer M&A and subsidiary changes as well as other
adjustments.
[2] GBP2.4m (FY19: 4.6m) of R&D was capitalised, bringing
total R&D spend in 2019 to GBP12.5m and GBP20.1m in 2020.
Amortisation of this development asset of GBP3.7m (FY19: GBP0.9m)
is presented in cost of sales and not included in this operating
expenses breakdown
[3] FY19 re-stated to include the share-based payment charge in
respect of the deferred consideration in respect of the Blue Prism
Cloud (Thoughtonomy) acquisition in July 2019. Originally this was
characterised as deferred consideration however, the accounting
treatment of this has been revised and this is now accounted for as
an exceptional cost.
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END
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