Continued organic and acquisition growth <\/b><\/p>\n
\nThe consolidated revenue of the Group grew with 47% to \u20ac69 million in 2020 (\u20ac47 million in 2019). If the recently announced 2021 acquisitions are also included, the pro forma revenue amounts to \u20ac146 million for 2020.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe quality of earnings improved with pro forma recurring service revenue increasing from 85% in 2019 to 96% of total revenue in 2020.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe growth in SME users amounts to 34%, thereby surpassing to 450,000 European SME customers. The organic recurring service revenue grew with 12.4%.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe Company realised a gross margin of 42.6%.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe Company invested \u20ac21 million in R&D (which represents 30% of the revenue).\n<\/p>\n
\nWith the capital increases in 2020 net cash proceeds of \u20ac170 million were raised. This results in a net financial cash position amounting to \u20ac92 million at year end. The bank debt of the Company is reduced to \u20ac26 million.\n<\/p>\n
Further realising the expansion plan <\/b><\/p>\n
\n2021 will be a \u2018construction year\u2019 to achieve the financial goals set for 2022 and 2023. The Company will continue to invest in organic growth through an acceleration of its R&D program, supported by sales and marketing activities. As shown already early 2021, the Company will continue to combine focus on organic growth with targeted acquisitions for market and product expansion.\n<\/p>\n
\nDuring 2021, the Company will continue to roll out its fintech platform, including payment services, to a targeted twenty-six countries. In all countries, a local Unifiedpost team will be responsible for the business development.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe Company confirms the financial targets it has set for 2022 (an organic digital service revenue growth exceeding 25% year-on-year) and for 2023 (a gross margin of more than 60% and an EBITDA margin of more than 25%)\n<\/p>\n
Financial summary<\/b><\/p>\n Business Highlights 2020<\/b><\/p>\n \n2020 has been a milestone in the history of Unifiedpost. In September the Company listed on Euronext Brussels where it successfully placed 12.6 million new and existing shares with institutional investors. The Company received gross proceeds of \u20ac175 million to execute its dual-track growth strategy. With the large demand of global Tier-1 institutional investors Unifiedpost is now backed by investors who sustainably support Unifiedpost\u2019s growth to become the leading European cloud-based platform for SMEs. The proceeds of the transaction were immediately deployed with an accelerated investment in organic growth (\u20ac21 million invested in R&D) and with the realisation of further strategic acquisitions (closing the first three acquisitions in the beginning of 2021).\n<\/p>\n \n2020 was also the year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unifiedpost had on the one hand a tailwind with an increasing demand for digitisation services. The SMEs onboarded on the platform grew during 2020 with 34%, surpassing the landmark of 450,000 European SMEs using Unifiedpost services. The Company had on the other hand also a headwind from the pandemic: it lost more than \u20ac3 million of revenue caused by a decrease of economic activity (less transactions). This is a temporary set-back as was shown after the end of the first lockdown that revenue levels return quickly to the historical level. Another headwind was that new business initiatives and deployments were postponed until after the lockdown. The opportunities are not lost, but postponed in time.\n<\/p>\n \nIn April 2020 Unifiedpost signed an exclusive partnership with the national French accounting organisation providing digital tools to the country\u2019s chartered accountants, in this case related to the government decision to oblige B2B e-invoicing as from 2023.\n<\/p>\n \nDuring spring 2020, Unifiedpost also launched the payment functionality on the SME platform. Unifiedpost Group owns a certified payment institution as from 2016. By integrating payment services in its SME offering, Unifiedpost now sets the base for its international roll-out of the SME platform to 26 countries.\n<\/p>\n \nUnifiedpost was also proud to announce a partnership with technology provider Google. Through this collaboration Unifiedpost can leverage on the Google Cloud for its services and document digitisation, and above all also make use of Google AI.\n<\/p>\n Post-period events<\/b><\/p>\n \nOn 8 January 2021, Unifiedpost completed three acquisitions of 100% of the shares (21 Grams Holding AB Akti SA, BanqUP SRL).\n<\/p>\n Awareness on Environment, Social and Governance priorities<\/b><\/p>\n \nUnifiedpost Group now reached two important milestones when it comes to the need for a strong ESG framework. The Company went public on Euronext Brussels in September 2020, and has exceeded the threshold of employing more than 1,000 people worldwide in January 2021. Both of these events raised awareness even more about the importance of strengthening governance policies, as well as the attraction and retention of talent. The nature of Unifiedpost\u2019s business implies a high importance of human capital as a base for sustainable and innovative growth. In 2021, the Company will further build on its ESG framework and on maintaining its inclusive and talent-focused company culture worldwide, which already is characterised by a wide range of nationalities and ages. Having 37% women on board and 63% men, Unifiedpost also works on the gender diversity at every staff level.\n<\/p>\n Outlook 2021<\/b><\/p>\n \n2021 is to be seen as a \u2018construction year\u2019 within Unifiedpost, as it is integrating the acquisitions and rolling out its platform, including payment services, in twenty-six countries. Partnerships with financial institutions and software companies will become an additional way of executing the indirect sales approach. Not only will Unifiedpost offer financial solutions and operational services on the platform, but also e-commerce support and big data analytics will be integrated into the platform. This will entail significant investments during the year. However, the Company is confident to complete this growth phase in 2021 and meanwhile maintain high customer growth and an increasing earning per customer.\n<\/p>\n \nIn 2021, the Company will continue to build solid foundations to achieve its financial targets for the years 2022 and 2023. The Company confirms the earlier guidance it has given for digital processing. For the business of digital processing the organic growth will exceed year-on-year 25% by 2022. The growth includes all acquired digital business. By 2023 the gross margin of the digital business will exceed 60% and the normalised EBITDA margin will exceed 25%. For postal & parcel optimisation Unifiedpost will maintain a steady gross margin in the coming years. Unifiedpost will continue with this business as there are also many opportunities for digitisation in this area, and the business will not be divested.\n<\/p>\n Key Consolidated Figures 2020<\/b><\/p>\n\n
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