• Impressive growth in 2017: Revenue up 20%, Net Profit up 13%
  • Strong Backlog growth: €31M (+20%)
  • 2018: converging toward AI M 2020

Further year of strong growth: 20% increase in revenue and net profit up 13%

CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS* (IN € MILLIONS)
SIDETRADE GROUP
2017 2016 VARIATION
REVENUES 21.6 18.1 +20%
OPERATING PROFIT 2.1 2.1 +3%
NET PROFIT 2.0 1.8 +13%

2017 was another year of solid growth for the Sidetrade group, with revenue of 21.6 million (up over 20%). This consistent performance, quarter after quarter, bears out the effectiveness of the Group’s strategic investments and attests to our leadership in AI solutions for managing customer engagement.

Olivier Novasque, SIDETRADE Founder and CEO, states:

“2017 was a banner year for the Sidetrade group. In a few short months, we achieved a major milestone with record growth in both revenue and net profit. Because of its leadership in Customer Financial Relationships, with hundreds of millions of cloud-based B2B data and the technological edge of our three acquisitions, Sidetrade has become one of the most innovative companies in the field of Artificial Intelligence applied to Customer Engagement.

With governments making Artificial Intelligence development a national cause, and CEOs wondering how this technology is going to disrupt their industries, we have an incredible opportunity to bring AI to companies and make it a part of their everyday business. Faithful to our values, we take a pragmatic approach to AI, focusing on how it can augment the capabilities of marketing, sales and financial teams to grow revenues and accelerate cash generation. Our mission is to be a strategic partner for our clients, and in 2018, we will have the resources to do just this.”

Strong Backlog growth: €31M (+20%)

2017 was also the first year of big wins with our new Sidetrade Growth solutions. Nine deals were signed in the second half of the year. This ramp-up shows that the Group’s strategy of covering the entire customer cycle is working. Companies from a range of sectors- Transport (Geodis UK), Software (Maileva, OneAdvanced), Recruitment (Groupe Leader) and Industry (Malvern PANalytical, Würth) now use Sidetrade’s powerful predictive algorithms to boost retention rate and develop sales.

Recurring SaaS revenue from multi-annual contracts provides excellent medium-term visibility. Yearend SaaS backlog was €31 million (up 20%.) This is sure revenue but could not be posted to Groups accounts by 2017 closing.

Net profit up 13%

Operating profits reached €2.13 million, up 3% against the same period last year.

This is remarkable, given the €1.3 million loss recorded by BrightTarget, Iko System and C-Radar, which entered the consolidation scope in 2017. Like for like, the Sidetrade group made a record operating profit of €3.4 million, up a whopping 65%. The year 2017 saw the development of a promising synergy with the acquired startups.

This operating profit includes a €1.34 million tax credit for research (vs €0.9 million in 2016), as well as €0.2mn in capitalization of R&D expenses (same as last year).

Tax burden on 31 December 2017: €0.1 million (Est.) vs €0.2 million on 31 December 2016.

Bottom line: €2 million net profit, up 13%.

Rock-solid financial health

Despite three acquisitions, the Sidetrade group remains in excellent financial health. Financial debt is limited to €0.4mn. Treasury was €6 million. It should also be recalled that Sidetrade holds 89,000 of its own shares, valued at €6 million on 31 December 2017.

2018: converging toward AIM2020

The Sidetrade group took a decisive step forward with the acquisition of three AI startups, and achieved financial results in line with development strategy.

2017 saw the first positive effects of the AIM2020 strategy aiming to make Sidetrade a leader in Artificial Intelligence for managing customer engagement.

In this time of digital transformation, leading companies are looking to reinvent their customer relationships; forward-thinking businesses are using AI to expand revenue and accelerate cash generation.

All over the world, AI research has become the subject of presidential speeches (Vladimir Putin, Emanuel Macron) and government reports (Cedric Villani). Sidetrade is uniquely positioned to take up this challenge and serve as a strategic partner for future-minded businesses.

Sidetrade management has every confidence that the group will achieve double-digit growth in revenue once again in 2018.

Sidetrade has two priorities in 2018:

  1. launch a unique AI Sales & Marketing platform incorporating its three acquisitions
  2. establish a single groupwide Sales & Marketing organization, with extra capacity in countries where the group already does business, to fully seize the growth opportunities of the AI market in the years to come.

Finally, let us recall that Sidetrade’s AIM2020 plan is expected to double the Group’s revenue by the year 2020.