Intershop accelerates cloud growth in Q1 2022

• Incoming cloud orders grow by a strong 91% to EUR 8.7 million
• Cloud revenues up by 27% to EUR 3.1 million; total revenues climb 4% to EUR 9.2 million (previous year: EUR 8.8 million)
• Cloud ARR increase by 30% to EUR 13.0 million; net new ARR improve by 23% to EUR 0.8 million
• Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of kEUR 31 (previous year: EUR 0.4 million)

Jena, 27 April 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 4% to EUR 9.2 million in the first three months of 2022. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) remained positive for the ninth consecutive quarter. The company was once again able to expand its cloud business noticeably, generate positive cash flow and achieve double-digit growth across all cloud parameters at the beginning of the financial year 2022.

Incoming cloud orders (new and existing customers) showed a particularly strong performance, growing by 91% to EUR 8.7 million (previous year: EUR 4.6 million). Cloud ARR (annual recurring revenues) also rose sharply by 30% to EUR 13.0 million (previous year: EUR 10.0 million). Net new ARR improved by 23% to EUR 0.8 million. Cloud revenues increased by 27% to EUR 3.1 million in the reporting period.

Licensing revenues climbed from EUR 0.6 million to EUR 0.8 million. Maintenance revenues also increased by 12% to EUR 2.1 million in the first quarter of 2022. The Service segment put a damper on the revenue trend, as revenues dropped by 17% to EUR 3.2 million. This is attributable to the later start of new projects, which will now commence in the following quarters. The company therefore expects service revenues to pick up again in the coming months.

In the reporting period, Intershop generated a gross profit on revenues of EUR 4.5 million, which represents an increase by 12%. The gross margin improved by three percentage points to 49%. Operating expenses increased by 22% to EUR 4.5 million. This was mainly due to higher personnel costs and acquisition-related one-time expenses. Total research and development expenses rose to EUR 1.9 million (previous year: EUR 1.2 million). Marketing and sales expenses also amounted to EUR 1.9 million (previous year: EUR 1.8 million). Administrative expenses increased from EUR 0.7 million to EUR 0.8 million. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) stood at kEUR 31 (previous year: EUR 0.4 million). Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) stood at EUR 0.8 million (previous year: EUR 1.1 million). The result after taxes amounted to EUR -0.1 million (previous year: EUR 0.2 million).

At the interim balance sheet date of 31 March 2022, total assets of Intershop Group were up by 12% to EUR 44.5 million. This is mainly attributable to the acquisition of the Dutch SPARQUE B.V. and the acquisition of the associated right-of-use assets. Equity capital declined slightly from EUR 17.4 million to EUR 17.2 million. As a result of the increase in total assets, the equity ratio declined from 44% to 39%. In spite of increased investing activities, cash and cash equivalents rose by 2% to EUR 12.5 million as of the interim balance sheet date (31 December 2021: EUR 12.2 million). Operating cash flow rose sharply to EUR 3.2 million (previous year: EUR 1.6 million).

“Intershop continued its profitable growth in the first three months of 2022,” said Markus Klahn, CEO of Intershop Communications AG. “Our cloud business has grown dynamically and the high order intake gives evidence of the strong demand for our e-commerce solution. Moreover, we were able to make a strategic acquisition, which ideally complements our high-performance B2B commerce platform. With the AI-based software solution from SPARQUE.AI, we offer customers the ability to optimize their search and referral marketing, which strongly increases the added value of our existing offerings.”

In view of the strong cloud growth and a promising new customer pipeline, the company confirms its guidance for the full year 2022. Intershop expects incoming cloud orders to rise by about 20% and net new ARR to grow by 10%. With revenues expected to grow by about 10%, a positive operating result (EBIT) of at least EUR 1.0 million is projected.

The quarterly statement for the first three months of 2022 is available at https://www.intershop.com/en/financial-reports.