Eqiom is a major player in the building materials sector and has selected Sidetrade to complete the digital transformation of its Order-to-Cash processes. Eqiom is established in France and Luxembourg.
Thanks to Sidetrade, this subsidiary of the Irish group CRH (Cement Roadstone Holdings) will benefit from real time analysis of its business activities, enabling its sales and finance teams to make more informed decisions and improve the quality of their customer relations. Sidetrade’s artificial intelligence, Aimie, also provides recommendations based on a daily analysis of billions of inter-company transactions. These recommendations help Eqiom to anticipate payment behavior and assess customer risk, so it can deploy the best dunning strategies.
Accelerating and securing cash flow is crucial in today’s uncertain economic climate, where late payment and non-payment can lead to a difficult situation for companies. says Pascal Hildwein, CFO of Eqiom. By choosing Sidetrade and its AI technology, we are strengthening our digital leadership with immediate benefits in terms of instilling cash culture among our staff.
Sidetrade’s AI also intelligently automates Order-to-Cash processes, improving productivity and cash flow generation. This enables Eqiom to focus on higher value-added activities, while keeping its operations running smoothly.
Sidetrade is delighted to partner with with Eqiom and is committed to providing innovative solutions to support the company’s digital transformation. We are proud to support Eqiom in its transition to a more efficient digital process, says Jean-Claude Charpenet, VP Sales Europe at Sidetrade. We are convinced that our expertise in data analysis and artificial intelligence will make Eqiom even more competitive in the market.
Eqiom joins a number of international construction players who already rely on Sidetrade to simplify customer payments and continuously increase their Order-to-Cash efficiency.
Olivier Novasque, CEO of Sidetrade commented :
We kick-started 2023 with vigorous growth in our subscriptions, which were up 21% in the first quarter, reflecting continued momentum on the back of a successful 2022. This trajectory highlights the enormous potential of Sidetrade in the years ahead. On the one hand, our initial steps in the United States – which are already proving to be a robust growth driver – have exceeded expectations. On the other, our presence on both sides of the Atlantic, combined with our technological edge in Artificial Intelligence, enables us to increasingly achieve major successes with multinational corporations.
Sidetrade is scaling up and becoming a global-leading player in its industry. At a time when Gartner has recognized Sidetrade as a Leader in its Magic Quadrant for the second year in a row, we expect to sustain a double-digit growth trajectory throughout 2023 and beyond, while maintaining strong profitability, which forms the cornerstone of our balanced development model.
Bookings, in line, with nearly €1 million in new Annual Recurring Revenue
In Q1 2023, new Annual Recurring Revenue (“ARR”) for Sidetrade totaled €0.89 million. This figure is in line with the usual level of quarterly bookings, of around €1 million in new ARR (excluding exceptional records). As expected, bookings were down year-on-year, which were significantly boosted when Sidetrade signed the largest contract in its history (see press release of February 21 2022). This contract alone accounted for €1.36 million, representing 62% of the total €2.17 million posted in Q1 2022. Restated for this exceptional base effect, the level of bookings in new ARR increased by 10% (€0.89 million versus €0.81 million).
SaaS bookings are supplemented by €0.94 million of additional services on an annual basis (implementation, configuration, training, recurring services, etc.) compared with €1.09 million in Q1 2022, which also benefited from €0.3 million related to this exceptional contract. As a result, the Annual Contract Value (“ACV”) of new bookings in Q1 2023 was €1.83 million.
The initial contract period for new customers (excluding renewals) extended to 48 months, compared with 40.8 months in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.
Sidetrade continued to increase international orders in Q1 2023, achieving more than 25% of bookings in the United States.
Accelerated growth in revenue, up 17%, with +21% from SaaS subscriptions
| Sidetrade (€m) |
Q1 2023 | Q1 2022 | Variation |
| ‘Order-to-Cash’ Activities | 9.6 | 8.1 | +19% |
| of which SaaS Subscriptions | 8.0 | 6.7 | +21% |
| ‘Sales & Marketing’ Activities | 0.2 | 0.3 | -29% |
| Revenue | 9.8 | 8.4 | +17% |
2023 information is from consolidated, unaudited data..
In Q1 2023, ‘Order-to-Cash’ activities, which are a core business of the Company’s strategy (98% of total revenue), were up 19%, while SaaS subscriptions increased by 21%. As part of the Company’s strategy, ‘Sales & Marketing’ activities continued to decline in subscription terms, accounting for only €0.2 million in Q1 2023, i.e. 2% of total revenue. As a result, their impact on total growth will diminish in the quarters ahead.
Revenue for Q1 2023 totaled €9.8 million, representing an increase of 17% compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year which confirms Sidetrade’s solid start to the year. This accelerated growth is attributable to two factors:
Surge in activities in the United States, up 58%
In Q1 2023, Sidetrade’s revenue was underpinned by growth in international markets, which now represent 55% of total revenue, including 26% in North America. Sidetrade’s international expansion strategy is producing the desired results, particularly in the United States where revenues surged 58%. As such, the United States is now a robust growth driver for Sidetrade.
Impressive growth with multinational corporations, up 60%
When analyzing customer profiles for ‘Order-to-Cash’ activities, the share of subscriptions with multinational corporations, on annual subscription contracts in excess of €250,000, recorded impressive growth of more than 60% in Q1 2023.
Sidetrade’s presence in Europe and North America, combined with its technological edge in Artificial Intelligence, has enabled the Company to achieve multiple commercial successes with multinational companies that seek to deploy an ‘Order-to-Cash’ solution on a global scale. This market segment accounts for 43% of Sidetrade’s total subscriptions and is expected to remain an important growth driver in the months ahead.
Quarter after quarter, Sidetrade stands out as a global leader in the Order-to-Cash segment. Sidetrade was recently recognized as a Leader in the Gartner latest Magic Quadrant for Integrated Invoice-to-Cash Applications (see press release of May 8 2023), demonstrating the relevance of the Company’s solution which meets the needs of customers the world over.
With its business model based on 90% recurring revenue, Sidetrade is strongly positioned to address economic uncertainties with resilience. It should also be noted that all Sidetrade subscription contracts, including new contracts, provide an annual automatic price re-indexation clause based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the relevant country. To that end, the Company’s pricing power protects its future revenue against inflationary pressures.
According to Gartner (source: Magic Quadrant Research Methodology | Gartner), “Leaders execute well against their current vision and are well positioned for tomorrow.”
Sidetrade Chief Product Officer, Rob Harvey said:Artificial intelligence and data are at the core of the intelligent enterprise. At Sidetrade, we are committed to streamlining cash flow journeys with a customer-centric approach through predictive analytics. Our AI virtual assistant, Aimie, analyses buyer payment behavior to provide real-time insights and recommendations, taking the guesswork out of decision-making and improving performance.
According to us, being positioned as a Leader by Gartner for the second year in a row is a tremendous acknowledgement that we are on the right track! We remain focused on our mission to help organizations unlock their customer value and drive sustainable growth with our innovative solutions.
From Sidetrade’s perspective, its position as a Leader in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant acknowledges its ongoing commitment to grow in the global market, with a focus on its expansion in North America.
Sidetrade CEO and Founder, Olivier Novasque, said: At Sidetrade, we strive to innovate and create collaborative and generative intelligence for Order-to-Cash. Since our inception, we have never stopped innovating. We were among the first to embrace the pure SaaS model and have created the most unique Data Lake in our field.
Our customers have played an essential role in this adventure, and we are thrilled to be positioned as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant- again! I would like to warmly thank all our customers for their trust in our advanced technology and all the Sidetraders for their hard work, which made this recognition possible. After impressive growth in 2022, we look forward to another promising year of continued growth in 2023.
1 Source Gartner, “Magic Quadrant for Integrated Invoice-to-Cash Applications”, Tamara Shipley, Nisha Bhandare, and Valeria Di Maso, 2 May 2023.
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Oddo BHF initiated coverage of Sidetrade with an ‘Outperform’ rating and a target price of EUR 188 based on 1/a qualitative positioning in a buoyant context for Order-to-Cash solutions, 2/its recognized Cloud/SaaS technology, 3/a solid business model, and 4/the means to meet its ambitions of joining the ‘Centaur’ club further out.
Oddo BHF’s report, titled ‘It always pays off in the end’, is available from Oddo BHF or on: https://www.sidetrade.com/company/investors/
Matthias Desmarais, Head of Equities, Oddo BHF Corporates & Markets, commented: We are delighted to support Sidetrade in its stockmarket adventure. Its history resonates with the DNA of the ODDO BHF Group, and its positioning is perfectly in line with our strategic priorities.
Oddo BHF is present in the main financial markets, notably Paris, Frankfurt, Zurich, Geneva, Hong Kong and New York. With offices in more than ten countries throughout Europe, Asia and America, Oddo BHF provides Sidetrade with international coverage.
Oddo BHF will regularly issue research reports on Sidetrade in line with business developments for the company and will organize meetings with targeted investors.
Sidetrade is also followed by the Gilbert Dupont (Société Générale Group) broker, which initiated coverage of Sidetrade in July 2009, as well as by TP ICAP Midcap since October 2020.
* All reports on Sidetrade prepared by analysts represent the opinions of those analysts and not necessarily those of Sidetrade. The information in such reports does not constitute an offer to sell or subscribe or a solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe to any security in France, Europe, the United States, or any other country.