• Sales growth of 8.1% in Q3 2020
• High share of the SaaS business in new contracts
• Adjusted EBIT of over EUR 1 million as planned
• Sales for first nine months rise by 16.1%
• Adjusted nine-month EBIT up 80.2%
• New record for orders on hand
• Sales and earnings planning confirmed
USU Software AG (ISIN DE000A0BVU28) and its subsidiaries (hereinafter also referred to as the “USU Group” or “USU”) improved their consolidated sales (IFRS) by 8.1% year-on-year to EUR 25.8 million in the third quarter of 2020 (Q3 2019: EUR 23.8 million). In the quarter under review, USU again benefited from very strong cloud and maintenance business. Maintenance income including revenues from Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business increased by 12.7% year-on-year to EUR 8.0 million (Q3 2019: EUR 7.1 million). As a result of a very high share of the SaaS business in new contracts and some Corona-related order postponements, license revenues of EUR 2.5 million (Q3 2019: EUR 4.1 million) for the reporting quarter were 39.5% below the very strong figure of the prior year. At the same time, USU increased consulting revenues by an above-average 20.6% year-over-year to EUR 15.0 million (Q3 2019: EUR 12.4 million). As a result of these extraordinary factors and active recruitment measures to raise headcount to 735 (Q3 2019: 702), the USU Group’s EBITDA fell by approximately a third year-on-year to EUR 2.2 million in the reporting quarter (Q3 2019: EUR 3.2 million), while EBIT adjusted for the extraordinary effects of acquisitions (adjusted EBIT) was down 41.0% year-on-year at EUR 1.3 million (Q3 2019: EUR 2.2 million).
Over the first nine months of fiscal 2020, USU Software AG’s consolidated sales (IFRS) increased by 13.3% as against the previous year to EUR 77.9 million (Q1-Q3 2019: EUR 68.7 million). USU primarily benefited from its domestic business, which expanded by 16.7% to EUR 56.9 million (Q1-Q3 2019: EUR 49.6 million). However, foreign business also grew by 9.6% year-on-year with a share of sales of EUR 21.0 million (Q1-Q3 2019: EUR 19.1 million), with foreign markets increasing their SaaS ratio for new contracts much more significantly and also being hit harder by the Corona pandemic. Accordingly, international business accounted for 26.9% of consolidated sales in the first nine months of 2020 after 27.8% in the same period of the previous year.
In conjunction with the substantial business growth and a slower rise in expenses, the USU Group’s profitability increased significantly in the first nine months of the 2020 reporting year as compared to the previous year. USU’s EBITDA thus grew by 47.6% year-on-year to EUR 8.3 million (Q1-Q3 2019: EUR 5.6 million) and its consolidated earnings improved by 182.0% to EUR 4.0 million after EUR 1.4 million in the previous year. With an average of 10,523,770 shares outstanding, this corresponds to earnings per share of EUR 0.38 (Q1-Q3 2019: EUR 0.13).
At the same time, the USU Group’s adjusted EBIT rose by 80.2% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2020 to EUR 5.2 million (Q1-Q3 2019: EUR 2.9 million). This corresponds to a rise in the operating margin on adjusted EBIT from 4.2% in the first nine months of 2019 to currently 6.7%.
For the current final quarter of 2020, the Management Board anticipates growth in sales compared to the previous quarter and positive adjusted EBIT. One key indicator supporting this forecast is the record level of Group-wide orders on hand, which grew by 17.6% to EUR 60.4 million in the reporting quarter (September 30, 2019: EUR 51.4 million). The Management Board is also confirming the USU Group’s medium-term planning, which includes average organic sales growth of 10% in the next few years and an increase in the operating margin on adjusted EBIT to between 13% and 15% by 2024.
The full nine-month report for 2020 is available for download on USU Software AG’s website. The Management Board of the company will present further details of business performance at the analyst and investor conference, “German Equity Forum 2020” at 4:30 p.m. on November 17, 2020.