- Sales growth of 12.6% to EUR 33.3 million
- International sales up 13.1% to EUR 7.1 million
- SaaS sales up 21.5% to EUR 4.0 million
- EBITDA grows by 10.2% to EUR 3.8 million
- Orders on hand reach all-time high of EUR 89.5 million
- Management Board confirms forecast
Broken down by sales type, software-as-a-service (SaaS) sales saw above-average growth of 21.5% year-on-year to EUR 4.0 million (Q1 2022: EUR 3.3 million). USU benefited from the trend towards cloud solutions, although this did have a negative impact on license revenue as expected. Accordingly, license revenue halved to EUR 1.3 million compared with the previous year (Q1 2022: EUR 2.6 million). Rising maintenance income also meant that USU increased its recurring revenue (maintenance sales including SaaS revenue) by 11.4% year-on-year to EUR 10.3 million in the first quarter of 2023 (Q1 2022: EUR 9.3 million). At the same time, USU’s consulting sales also rose substantially by 22.7% year-on-year to EUR 21.5 million thanks to the sustained digitalization trend (Q1 2022: EUR 17.5 million).
As a result of the business growth and the increase in high-margin SaaS sales, the USU Group also further improved its operating profitability in the first quarter of 2023 despite reduced license business. Accordingly, USU’s EBITDA increased by 10.2% year-on-year to EUR 3.8 million in the first quarter of 2023 (Q1 2022: EUR 3.5 million). USU generated EBIT of EUR 2.7 million in the same period (Q1 2022: EUR 2.3 million). This corresponds to a year-on-year increase in EBIT of 14.9%. USU’s consolidated earnings rose by 5.2% year-on-year to EUR 1.7 million in the first quarter of 2023 (Q1 2022: EUR 1.6 million). This corresponds to earnings per share of EUR 0.17 (Q1 2022: EUR 0.16).
USU’s equity climbed from EUR 57.0 million as of December 31, 2022 to EUR 58.7 million as of March 31, 2023 as a result of the rise in profits. With total assets of EUR 124.7 million (December 31, 2022: EUR 113.0 million), the equity ratio was 47.1% as at March 31, 2023 (December 31, 2022: 50.4%). With this equity ratio, increased Group liquidity of EUR 18.0 million (December 31, 2022: EUR 15.5 million), and no liabilities to banks, the USU Group still has extremely sound and secure financing.
Following the positive start to fiscal 2023 and in light of the new all-time high in terms of orders on hand, the Management Board is confirming the full-year forecast for 2023. This provides for sales growth to EUR 134-139 million with a significant rise in the proportion of SaaS contracts with new customers and growth of over 25% in SaaS sales. EBITDA is expected to increase to EUR 16.5-18.0 million. Another positive indicator supporting this forecast is the year-on-year increase in orders on hand of 16.7% to a new record of EUR 89.5 million (March 31, 2022: EUR 76.7 million). The Management Board is also confirming the current medium-term planning, which includes average organic sales growth of around 10% p.a., with the proportion of sales with new customers attributable to SaaS set to rise to over 75%. The growth in high-margin SaaS sales will lead to a continuous upturn in EBITDA margins, which are expected to increase to 17-19% by the end of 2026.
