As part of the liquidity contract signed by Sidetrade with Gilbert Dupont broker, the following assets appeared on the liquidity account as of 31st December 2018:
- 3,793 Sidetrade shares
- €113,182.22 in cash
As a reminder, the following assets appeared on the liquidy account as of 29th June 2018:
- 2,553 Sidetrade shares
- €198,346.27 in cash
- Another year of double-digit growth, with revenue up 11% for 2018
- Huge success of Sales & Marketing AI solution take-off (up 46%)
- End of B2C Services in Q4 2018
Another year of double-digit growth, with revenue up 11% for 2018
Sidetrade’s 2018 revenue was €24.1m, up 11% against 2017. This double-digit growth proves the value of the 2018 roadmap. Olivier Novasque, Founder and CEO of Sidetrade, had this to say:
“Following our three acquisitions in 2017, we charted a new course aiming to put Artificial Intelligence solutions for the entire customer journey within the reach of every business. 2018 was an amazing year for us. Our Financials AI solution continued to do well, and our brand new Sales & Marketing AI solution was a huge success – with about €4m in revenue. This concretely shows that Sidetrade has moved into its next phase of development. In barely 18 months, we have created one of the most advanced B2B Sales & Marketing AI solutions in the world (by bringing together the technologies of the three start-ups we acquired) and converged all of our teams with the same business process and IT systems.
Most of all, we have been able to get our Sales & Marketing offer off the ground while keeping up the strong growth of our regular line of services. In 2018, Sales & Marketing AI actually accounted for over half of new contracts. The next step is to give even more clients access to Artificial Intelligence insights. AI is now the key to all our solutions, empowering operational teams to generate greater value for their companies. Clearly, we are at the dawning of a new era!”
| SIDETRADE GROUP (MILLION EUROS) |
2018 | 2017 | VARIATION (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| REVENUE | 24.1 | 21.6 | + 11% |
| OF WHICH SALES & MARKETING AI |
3.8 | 2.6 | + 46% |
| FINANCIALS AI | 20.3 | 19.0 | + 7% |
Sidetrade has achieved technological maturity and high innovation capacity, earning five awards in 2018: Business Award France, in the FinTech category, awarded by the French Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Fast Growth Icons 2018; PwC Digital Champions; Forbes Futur40, and the 2018 Innovation Competition in the digital category
In 2018, Sidetrade was one of the rare Euronext Growth listed companies in the promising AI sector.
Huge success of Sales & Marketing AI solution launch (up 46%)
In 2018, Sidetrade undertook several decisive added-value projects, including its unique B2B AI platform covering the entire customer cycle, from prospecting to payment collection. Outstanding progress was achieved in two lines of business.
- Sales & Marketing AI revenue jumped to €3.8m, up 46%. This leap shows that Sidetrade has repositioned to meet the needs of a range of industries in different countries including: Transport (Heppner in France and Geodis in the UK); IT (Advanced Computer Solutions and Heraeus in the UK, Cision and Visiativ in France); Banking (Bpifrance); the Public sector (Ile-de-France region), Services (Viparis and Idex in France), Chemicals (Croda International in the UK), Industry (Eurocell and Malvern in the UK, Würth in Belgium). These organizations all use Sidetrade’s powerful predictive algorithms to identify new markets, develop additional sales, and improve retention rate.Our Sales & Marketing AI business has proven to be a driver of solid, sustainable growth. It accounted for 50% of the year’s new contracts. This performance shows the attractiveness of Sidetrade’s Sales & Marketing AI solution, based on the convergence of three AI technologies.
- Financials AI revenue reached €20.3m, up 7%, given its historical position as a core contributor to Sidetrade’s income. Prestigious new clients include: Andréas Stihl, France Télévisions, Groupe Fed, Husqvarna, Paredes in France, and Bunzl, Finning International (Caterpillar), Freemantle (RTL Group), Inmarsat, Pharmanovea, and The Parts Alliance in the UK.
End of B2C Services in Q4 2018
Sidetrade announced the end of B2C Services (outsourcing of recovery from consumers), a business line started in 2015, which had become non-strategic in Sidetrade’s new positioning, centered on AI dedicated to the B2B customer journey. Managed at the shared services center in Dublin, B2C Services generated revenue of €2m in 2018.
The phase-out of B2C in Q4 2018 had been anticipated in terms of resources, and its impact on margins in the following financial year will be negligible.
Like for like, Sidetrade management is confident that they will again achieve double-digit growth of its revenue in 2019.
Olivier Novasque, Founder and CEO of Sidetrade, had this to say :
“We are proud to be a part of the EnterNext® PEA-PME 150 index, a new benchmark, which enriches the family of Euronext indexes dedicated to European small- and mid-cap equities.”
A PEA-PME is a French shares savings plan (French Plan d’Epargne en Actions) to finance small and medium enterprises (French Petites et Moyennes Entreprises).
PEA-PME-eligible funds now represent nearly €5bn in assets. They have been among the best sources for raising capital since the start of the year.
One of the rare Euronext Paris-listed companies for those seeking to invest in artificial intelligence, Sidetrade is PEA-PME eligible. Technology is shaking up the economy and Sidetrade is set to be a key player in this new industrial revolution.
The global AI market could well be worth over $15.7bn euros by 2030. According to PWC, AI is bound to boost productivity and sales. Companies must embrace artificial intelligence if they are to keep or gain a competitive edge.
The EnterNext® PEA-PME 150 is a stock market index for French PEA-PME eligible shares. Broader than the CAC PME index, the EnterNext® PEA-PME 150 is composed of 150 of the most liquid small and medium securities. The weight of each security and the full rules of the index will be posted on the Euronext website on 17 November.
Investors are invited to watch the Sidetrade video (< 2 minutes).
Revenue up 13% in the first nine months of 2018
Olivier Novasque, Founder and CEO of Sidetrade, had this to say :
“This amazing 13% growth in the first nine months of the year results from our success in harnessing the convergence of three new Artificial Intelligence technologies to offer our clients exciting new possibilities.
This is a stimulating time for us, with the development of our new AI Sales & Marketing business, which has given us tremendous momentum and is creating undeniable value for the group.”
| SIDETRADE GROUP (IN € MILLION) | FIRST 9 MONTHS 2018 | FIRST 9 MONTHS 2017 | VARIATION (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| REVENUE | 18.2 | 16.1 | +13% |
| OF WHICH AI SALES & MARKETING | 2.7 | 1.8 | +48% |
| OF WHICH FINANCIALS | 15.4 | 14.3 | +8% |
At the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2018, the Sidetrade group continues to show double-digit growth (+13% against last year) with revenue of €18.2m. As with the first six months of the year, growth has been upheld by all of our business lines and especially driven by the takeoff of our new AI Sales & Marketing business (up 48%). Our Financials business, historically a strong contributor, continues with solid 8% growth. Our AI Sales & Marketing solutions have been performing excellently and are expected to remain a growth driver in the future.
Double-digit growth is expected for the entire 2018 financial year.
- Double-digit growth in revenue (14%)
- AI Sales & Marketing solutions kick off with 55% growth
- Net profit up 16%
- Very solid financial health
Steady double-digit growth in revenue (14%) and net profit (16%)
Olivier Novasque, SIDETRADE Founder and CEO, states:
“In less than eighteen months, Sidetrade has come to a turning point in their history with three acquisitions. We have moved from our position as a European SaaS leader specialized in Financial customer relations, to an Artificial Intelligence provider covering the entire spectrum of customer relations, from generation of sales opportunities to cash flow acceleration. In the first half of this year, we have already achieved convergence of our teams in every department, finalized a unique Sales & Marketing Artificial Intelligence platform blending three different recently acquired technologies, and successfully launched a new service in all the countries where we operate.
Although it is still too early at this stage to draw conclusions, we can say that we are off to an encouraging start with very high growth. These initial results are the concrete outcome of our AIM2020 strategic plan. AI is becoming an essential– perhaps even vital– asset for top-performing businesses. We have enabled ourselves to move quickly and gain a considerable lead in the market. We have faith in our capacity to achieve around 40% growth with our new AI Sales & Marketing offering in 2018 and 2019.”
| SIDETRADE GROUP (IN € MILLION) | 1ST SEMESTER 2018 | 1ST SEMESTER 2017 | VARIATION (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| REVENUE | 12.2 | 10.8 | +14% |
| OF WHICH AI SALES & MARKETING | 1.7 | 1.1 | +55% |
| OF WHICH FINANCIALS | 10.5 | 9.7 | +8% |
| OPERATING PROFIT | 1.2 | 1.1 | +3% |
| NET RESULT | 1.1 | 1.0 | +16% |
AI Sales & Marketing solutions kick off with 55% growth
In the first half of 2018. the Sidetrade group continued its double-digit growth-up 14% against the first half of 2017.
Driving this momentum was the dynamism of the new Sales & Marketing offer, which contributed more than their core Financials offer, given base effect. Over the last eighteen months, the Sidetrade group merged three technologies from acquisitions to create a unique AI Sales & Marketing platform.
During this watershed period, Sidetrade extended their services to the customer lifecycle with:
- AI Sales & Marketing (for sales and marketing teams)
These solutions use AI to boost customer acquisition, identify cross-sell/upsell opportunities, and predict churn
- AI Financials (for finance teams)
These solutions use AI to reduce payment delay, anticipate payment behavior, manage credit risk, accelerate dispute resolution, generate additional cash and enhance customer satisfaction.
In the first half of 2018, AI Sales & Marketing performed remarkably. With revenue up 55% just eighteen months after launch, these solutions are sure to be a growth driver for the future. AI Financials grew surely and steadily by 8%.
The new product mix owes its success to Sidetrade’s acquisition strategy, the ability of the R&D department to integrate new technologies, and the drive of the Sales force to present a comprehensive range of solutions. Given these strengths, the group will forge ahead with even stronger sales teams to take the lead in the Artificial Intelligence market.
Net profit up 16%
The group’s operating profit reached €1.2 million this half, up 3% compared to the same period last year.
The first six months of the year have essentially been devoted to finalizing the integration of three acquisitions, and eliminating the losses of acquired startups (€0.8 million) by pooling resources and unifying support functions. In the meantime, the group invested an additional €2.1 million to accelerate its growth.
Operating profit includes a research tax credit of €0.8 million (vs €0.5 million in the 1st half of 2017) and activation of R&D costs of €0.1 million (identical to the 1st half of 2017).
The acquisitions had a positive impact on corporate income tax (€0.13 million), explaining a big 16% increase in net profit.
Solid financial health
The Sidetrade group is in solid financial health, with treasury of €5.5 million on 30 June 2018, and virtually no debt (€0.4 million)
The group holds 74,940 of its own shares for an estimated value of €4.7 million on 30 June 2018.
Very strong Q1 2018: Revenue up 14%
| REVENUE* (IN € MILLIONS) SIDETRADE GROUP |
2018 | 2017 | VARIATION |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 REVENUE | 5.9 | 5.2 | +14% |
In the first quarter of 2018, Sidetrade Group generated consolidated revenue of €5.9 million, an increase of 14% compared to the first quarter of 2017, which already saw a 21% increase.
The Board of Directors is confident of its ability to continue this upward growth trend across business activity in 2018.
Olivier Novasque, SIDETRADE Founder and CEO, states:
“As we anticipated, Sidetrade has delivered a successive thirteenth quarter of double-digit revenue growth, confirming its accelerated growth. The results speak for themselves and our excellent start of the year underlines both the relevance and the strong early execution of our new strategic plan Aim2020. Much remains to be done but we have already maximized this first quarter by streamlining the sales and marketing teams from our recent company takeovers to establish a single unified organization ready to deliver our offering across all of the countries in which we are present.
This exercise in rationalization, integration, and synergy gives us unique sales and marketing clout that we are now in a position to leverage for our entire offering and fulfill our aim of democratizing Artificial Intelligence and putting it the benefit of our business customer market. Our convergence efforts now have us ideally aligned to achieve our goal: be the Artificial Intelligence customer engagement platform of choice for today’s leading companies.”
- 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:
- launch a unique AI Sales & Marketing platform incorporating its three acquisitions
- 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.
Strong continuous growth across the entire year: increase of +20% revenue
Strong growth of Backlog at €31m (+20%)
Without data, there is no artificial intelligence
Presenting ‘Aimie’, Sidetrade’s own artificial intelligence
Olivier Novasque, CEO of Sidetrade, said of the announcement:
“The year 2017 marks a turning point in the history of Sidetrade. In a matter of months, our grip of a clear strategic positioning has led us to move up to a new dimension and to fast become a major player in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The AI market right now is abuzz with activity, and global market intelligence firm IDC anticipates $46B in global annual investment across the next three years, with 54% average annual growth. With our successive acquisitions of BrightTarget, Iko System and C-Radar, each of these companies that work with AI at the entry point of the customer life cycle and each one complemental to Sidetrade’s original business offering, we’ve made a huge technological leap forward into the customer relations market. It is one in which artificial intelligence will from here on now empower companies with a decisive market edge. I would like to thank the whole Sidetrade team for their energy and commitment during this fast and profound transformation period. They have strived and succeeded in achieving our convergence program with the three companies we acquired while simultaneously delivering exceptional performance and financial outcome. Our sales dynamic, which has held up quarter after quarter, and our first sales and technical successes in the AI arena – in every one of the countries where we have a presence – are clear proof of the relevance of our strategic plan AIM2020.”
| SIDETRADE GROUP (MILLION EUROS) |
2017 | 2016 | VARIATION (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHIFFRE D’AFFAIRES | 21.6 | 18.1 | + 20% |
Strong continuous growth across the entire year: increase of +20% revenue
Sidetrade Group demonstrated in 2017 its continued strong growth dynamic with revenues in excess of +20% at €21.6m. This consistent performance, quarter after quarter, underlines the strategic relevance of investments made and makes evident the company’s ability to establish itself as a prime player in the realm of artificial intelligence for customer engagement.
Strong growth of Backlog at €31m (+20%)
The 2017 financial year witnessed the addition of prestigious new accounts to the supplier and subscriber base, among them Akka Technologies, Cafés Folliet, Cegos in France, Deloitte Belgium, Gefco across 15 further countries, Geodis (Slovakia, Czech Republic), Hearst Magazines UK, House of HR (Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland), Inchcape Plc, Inmarsat, KPMG UK, Médiapost, Moreton Smith (UK), NHS, Saint Gobain Abrasives (Denmark, Hungary, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Turkey), Schratter Foods (US), Securitas France, Selco UK, Serecco UK and STEF across seven countries…
The period was also distinguished by the first commercial successes of the new ‘Sidetrade Growth’ offering, plus the signing of nine new projects during the second semester of 2017. This significant ramp-up supports the relevance of the group’s new positioning across the entire customer life cycle with companies in a breadth of industry sectors, including Croda International, Geodis UK, Groupe Leader, Maileva, Malvern PANalytical, Metamark, One Advanced and Würth. These companies are now drawing full benefit from the power of Sidetrade’s predictive algorithms to improve retention rates and generate new sales across their existing customer portfolios.
Recurring SaaS revenue derived from these multi-annual contracts guarantees excellent visibility across activity over medium term. For this reason, the SaaS backlog stood at 31 December 2017 at €31m, up by 20%. This confirmed income is as yet not included in the Group’s income statement or balance sheet at the close of 2017.
Without data, there is no artificial intelligence
Stemming from statistics and computer science, artificial intelligence autonomously explores what are often vast data sources to learn to anticipate events, enabling informed decision-making and automation of processes. Accessing representative and regularly updated data is vital for meaningful results.
Sidetrade is well placed to enable its artificial intelligence algorithms to understand, segment and predict company purchasing and payment behavior. Its Cloud platform processes daily the transaction information between 9.5 million companies and their suppliers, equal to around 270 million sales and finance undertakings over the last three years. Its web-crawling robots enrich this data with correlative data relevant to the activity of 23 million European companies derived from websites, social networks and online media sources.
Sidetrade’s artificial intelligence allows the making of relevant recommendations regarding the acquisition of new customers, business development, and improvement of retention rates with existing customers and acceleration of cash generation.
By dint of developing artificial intelligence solutions and perfected learning algorithms, Sidetrade has a significant technological edge and a unique competitive market advantage via its vast data reservoir.
Presenting ‘Aimie’, Sidetrade’s own artificial intelligence
Today, Sidetrade is presenting its own artificial intelligence ‘Aimie’ (Artificial Intelligence Mastering Intercompany Exchanges). Aimie is the virtual assistant that will dramatically enhance the abilities of marketing, sales and finance teams in their customer relations management.
Aimie has been made possible by Sidetrade’s Data Science teams using the exclusive data the group has at its disposal. With the increases in processing power and its access to millions of data points, Aimie is learning continuously, while gaining in experience and sophistication. Sidetrade’s Machine Learning algorithms are what underpin the momentous progress of this new form of artificial intelligence.
From here onwards, Aimie will enable companies to take full advantage of the pure power of artificial intelligence for customer relations, above all in the following areas:
- Acquisition: Instant simulation of product market appeal, identification of the best targets among millions of companies and efficient automation of sales prospecting
- Up-sell/Cross-sell: Prediction of customer purchasing intent, unearthing new sales opportunities and increased generation of additional sales
- Retention: Anticipation of customer churn, automatic outlining of the reasons behind attrition, and improvement of customer loyalty
- Financial relations: Prediction of payment behavior, automation of optimum dunning strategies and disputes resolution, and acceleration of cash generation across customer accounts
Sidetrade’s solutions are continuously proving that the use of artificial intelligence unleashes greater efficiency and productivity for teams by providing a logic model for recommendations. All users of course have the option to follow or pass over the suggestions Aimie proffers, which in turn, is continually self-learning from these results.
Aimie now means that Sidetrade Group is able to empower companies with artificial intelligence at the core of their customer relations, placing them in a position to increase sales and accelerate cash generation. In so doing, the company remains true to its core values of promoting a pragmatic vision of artificial intelligence, based on fast and measurable results.
First evidence of commercial success of Artificial Intelligence
Strong growth across Q3: 20% turnover increase, fully consistent with H1 performance
| SIDETRADE GROUP REVENUE* (IN MILLION EUROS) |
2017 | 2016 | VARIATION (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 REVENUE | 5.2 | 4.3 | + 21% |
| Q2 REVENUE | 5.6 | 4.7 | + 20% |
| Q3 REVENUE | 5.4 | 4.5 | + 20% |
| FIRST 9 MONTHS | 16.1 | 13.4 | + 20% |
In the third quarter of 2017, Sidetrade Group continued to demonstrate the upward trend seen over previous quarters and generated a consolidated revenue of €5.4 million, an increase of 20% compared to the third quarter of 2016.
Significantly this quarter, Sidetrade Group signed up five new Artificial Intelligence projects via its new Customer Growth offering. This achievement is fully in context with the relevance of the new offering among international companies in a wide range of sectors. These included Groupe Leader, Maileva, Malvern PANalytical, Metamark and VideoJet Technologies. These companies now benefit from the power of Sidetrade’s predictive algorithms to improve their churn rate and develop upsell to their existing customers.
On top of this, many other prestigious new accounts have been acquired within the company’s service base. These include Inmarsat, Securitas France, Selco UK, Geodis Slovakia, Aubert & Duval Eramet, Hearst Magazines UK, Saint Gobain Abrasives (Denmark, Hungary, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Turkey), NHS, KPMG, STEF and Akka Technologies…
The Management Board is confident that 2017 will be a further year of strong growth.
Olivier Novasque, CEO of Sidetrade, said of the results:
The very strong growth we’ve experienced this third quarter of 2017 maintains the upward trend demonstrated since the beginning of the year. The dynamism of performance is further evidence of the historic character of this financial year, both in terms of its potential for growth and our ability to position Sidetrade as the leading Artificial Intelligence player to specialize in the entire customer cycle. These first commercial successes, via our new ‘Customer Growth’ offering which focuses on the use of AI to increase company revenue, are proof of this. Now, more than ever, our overriding ambition is to make the day-to-day use of predictive algorithms widely available to all companies. The results of this third quarter herald precisely the performance we expect to achieve via our new strategic plan AIM2020.
Significant rise in Revenue: + 21%
Increase in Net Results: +9%
A solid balance sheet
Successful achievement of Target25 plan
Launch of new AIM 2020 strategic plan
Remarkable First-Half Results (+21% Revenue, +9% NR)
Olivier Novasque, Sidetrade Founder and CEO, states:
“With over 20% growth in revenue and a 9% increase in net results, despite the consolidated losses which were the result of the recent start-up acquisitions, Sidetrade has achieved an extraordinary half-year that underlines the solidity of its business model. The performance validates the strategic direction of the Target25 plan we launched in 2013. In the wake of the success of Target25, we’re now underway with a new strategic plan, AIM 2020, with the goal of doubling our revenue by 2020. Our overriding ambition is to be the most compelling Artificial Intelligence software company for all companies operating in the customer relations management arena. By harnessing the millions of B2B data points in our Cloud with our solid and advanced grasp of Data Science, we’re already making it possible for Marketing, Sales and Financial departments to get the full benefit of our powerful predictive algorithms to growth sales and accelerate cash. Our aim is now to broaden the use of Artificial Intelligence and make it even more widely available to all companies as part of their day-to-day dealings and to enable them to forge ahead in their respective markets.”
| SIDETRADE GROUP (MILLION EUROS) |
1ST SEMESTER 2017 |
1ST SEMESTER 2016 |
VARIATION (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| REVENUE | 10.8 | 8.9 | + 21% |
| OPERATING PROFIT | 1.1 | 1.1 | + 4% |
| NET RESULT | 1.0 | 0.9 | + 9% |
Following a solid start to the year, Sidetrade Group posted a strong Q2 2017. Sidetrade Group posted consolidated revenue of €10.8m in H1 2017, representing year-on-year growth of 21%. It is the most successful half-year recorded by the Group and the first time that first-half net sales has exceeded €10m.
The turnover period witnessed the addition of prestigious new accounts to the supplier and subscriber base, among them KPMG UK, STEF group-wide, House of HR (Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland), Gefco across 15 further countries, Cegos France, Akka Technologies, Moreton Smith (UK), Schratter Foods (US), Inchcape Plc, Geodis (Slovakia, Czech Republic), Deloitte Belgium and Selco UK….
Increase in Net result: +9%
The Group posted Operating Profit of €1.1m in this half-year, representing a 4% increase on the Operating Profit recorded for the same period of the previous year. This Operating Profit is all the more significant given that it includes loss of €0.8m due to the acquisition of the companies BrightTarget and Iko System who were included in the Group’s scope of consolidation on 01/01/2017. Assuming a comparable scope of activity, Sidetrade Group would have recorded a REX record of €1.9m, equivalent to a stunning growth of +72%.
The Operating Profit takes into account a Research Tax Credit of €0.5m (versus €0.47m from H1 2016) and activation of €0.10m in capitalised R&D costs (identical to H1 2016).
Corporate tax is estimated at €0.14m as of 30 June 2017, versus €0.16m as of 30 June 2016. Finally, the Group’s Net Result stands at €1m, an increase of 9%.
A solid balance sheet
In spite of acquisitions, the Group’s balance sheet remained strong with debts limited to €0.45m and available cash of €5.2m.
For reference, the Group holds 90,000 shares valued at €5.4m as of 30 June 2017.
Successful achievement of Target25
Over the period of activity, Sidetrade Group has fulfilled all the strategic challenges set out in its Target25 framework.
In terms of its international scope, the structure of the Group has seen significant changes. The company is now present within three further geographical areas, with teams now on the ground in London, Dublin, Amsterdam and Birmingham. Staff numbers have increased from just under 100 in 2013 to 227 as of 30 June 2017, with more than 40% of the workforce based outside France. In terms of trade, the company has succeeded to become the leading market player in its field in England.
In order to boost international growth and to offer all its customers a global service, Sidetrade developed a pan-European platform in 2013 in Dublin. This now comprises over a multidisciplinary team of over 72 staff (customer service, technical support, human resources and marketing) that is also multilingual (German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian). This platform is a major asset that will buttress the Group’s international growth in the years ahead.
Since 2015, the company has made significant investment in a Data Science Lab, with computational processing power capacity for terabytes of B2B data, to enable it to predict company payment behavior through Machine Learning algorithms. Sidetrade Payment Intelligence (SPi) solution, launched in November 2016, currently offers a predictive payment score for more than 2.5 million European companies and enables each company to compare its performance in payment terms. The platform is now being used by 95% of Sidetrade customers and constitutes a wholly unique market solution for identifying new sources of cash across their customers.
Launch of new AIM 2020 Strategic Plan
Artificial Intelligence (AI): the next business frontier
All the conditions are in place right now for Artificial Intelligence to see an exponential rise across the next five years in the part it plays in our daily lives and in business use.
Machine Learning and Deep Learning techniques are becoming increasingly sophisticated with the development of cognitive science. The volume of viable data is also growing at an incredible rate and processing power is doubling every 18 months (Moore’s Law), driven by the progress of nanotechnology. Although the use of AI is still in its infancy, every company in every activity sector will be affected by the coming technological tsunami. The most recent report by McKinsey Global Institute (June 2017) details the sectorial impact of IA as follows:
- Distribution: 30% reduction in delivery times, 4 to 6% growth in sales
- Industry: 13% increase in EBIT linked to cost reductions (predictive maintenance and supply), 5 to 10% growth in sales (customer retention and cross-selling)
- Energy: 10 to 20% increase in EBIT due to greater efficiency in management of power demand and supply and closer targeting of relevant customer offerings
- Finance: customer services will become semi-automated with the introduction of chatbots, giving productivity gains of 25 to 40%
In summary, the use of AI to improve customer knowledge, revenue sources or cost reduction is no longer a choice but a strategic challenge for all companies wanting to remain viable.
Becoming the most complelling AI platform for B2B customer relations
By capitalizing on the millions of B2B data points in its own Cloud, its advance in Data Science and its capability to bring professional expertise to Marketing, Sales and Financial departments, Sidetrade Group aims to broaden the use of Artificial Intelligence right across the customer relationship arena. With the synergies that will follow with its software applications, Sidetrade Group will have three distinct yet complementary offerings:
- Customer Acquisition: to identify the best targets among the millions of companies and successfully automate sales prospecting through the use of Machine Learning algorithms of C-Radar and Iko System
- Customer Growth: to improve retention rates and unearth new customer-base sales opportunities thanks to the Artificial Intelligence of BrightTarget combined with transaction and financial data from the Sidetrade Cloud
- Customer Financials: to accelerate cash generation across customer accounts and reduce associated management costs thanks to the Sidetrade Payment Intelligence solution (predictive payment score) and the establishment of optimum recovery and dispute settlement strategies based on Sidetrade’s Machine Learning algorithms.
Today, Sidetrade Group has made an undeniable leap forward in allowing a company to verify in a matter of weeks the relevance of predictive algorithms within a given context and to begin to use AI to give concrete and palpable benefit.
With the framework of its AIM2020 plan, Sidetrade Group has set itself the goal of becoming the strategic partner of major companies to enable them to leverage AI within the context of daily customer management. Remaining true to its values, the company’s ai mis to promote a pragmatic vision of Artificial Intelligence based on measurable results, be this in sales growth or cash acceleration.
The AIM2020 plan is expected to permit Sidetrade Group to double its revenue by 2020.