This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

Access Intelligence plc

("Access Intelligence" or the "Company")

Trading Update

Access Intelligence (AIM: ACC), the technology innovator delivering Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for the global marketing and communications industries, announces an update on trading for the year ended 30 November 2021.

Year to 30 November 2021: a transformative year

Access Intelligence has seen growth in its core business accelerate, with Annual Contract Value ('ACV') increasing by 23% compared to the prior year. Furthermore, the transformative acquisition of Isentia in September 2021 has provided both scale in the APAC market as well as broadening Access Intelligence's platform for growth.

The Board expects total revenue for the financial year to be approximately £33.1m (2020: £19.1m, 73% growth, 21% organic growth).  It is expected that Adjusted EBITDA loss will be approximately £0.5m, in line with management's expectations. Net cash at 30 November 2021 was approximately £13.0 million, significantly ahead of management's expectations.

The Company's existing business excluding Isentia has delivered year on year growth. Increased new business and higher renewal rates have underpinned an increase in organic Annual Contract Value ('ACV') growth from £3.9m in 2020 to £5.0m for 2021. Total ACV at 30 November 2021 was approximately £26.9m, compared to £21.9m at 30 November 2020.

New client wins in the second half include BASF, Byte, GivingTuesday, Jockey, Mary Kay Inc, Metro Bank, Pfizer, Savills, Scope, Shelter, Siemens, Sony Music, Starling Bank, TalkTalk and Twitch.

The integration of Isentia is progressing well, with a combined management and financial structure across the Group and functional alignment initiatives that are standardising how we operate as a single business. Progress has been made in integrating product offerings, including collaboration between the traditional media and social insight functions to enable us to bring new products to market. The release of Pulsar into the ANZ market during Q1 2022 brings significant opportunity to enhance the value that Access Intelligence provides to clients in the region.

Including Isentia's ACV of approximately £32.0m, total ACV for the Group at 30 November 2021 was £58.9m (30 November 2020: £21.9m, 169% year on year growth, 23% organic year on year growth).

Outlook

Access Intelligence continues to have a strong core business in EMEA and North America and expects growth in these regions to accelerate as they benefit from the investments made in sales and marketing during 2021. 

Prior to its acquisition, Isentia had seen ACV losses in Australia and New Zealand as competitors entered the market. Commercial performance has now been stabilised with no overall reduction in ACV in this region post-acquisition.

In the South East Asia markets, the impact of COVID-19 has been more severe and longer lasting than anticipated, particularly in Isentia's key markets of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. This has been exacerbated by Omicron which has seen countries in the region bring in further restrictive measures. Both corporate customers and government departments have seen further pressure to reduce spend which has resulted in an increase in cancelled or consolidated contracts in the region.

As a result of the ongoing socio-economic climate in South East Asia and its near term implications of higher than anticipated churn and delayed opportunity to deliver new contract growth, the Board has revised its expectations of revenue. In addition, the strengthening of Sterling against currencies in the APAC region has resulted in a translational impact on projected revenue.

The Directors anticipate that growth in the region will return once the challenges of COVID-19 diminish and intends to continue to invest in infrastructure in the region to ensure the Group is well placed to take advantage.

Overall, the Board expects that the Group will continue to grow and will deliver Adjusted EBITDA profitability as it strengthens its position in EMEA, North America and ANZ. The current challenges in South East Asia will affect the pace of overall growth and result in EBITDA being impacted in 2022 and 2023, but the Group has a robust ACV base of £58.9m, is seeing strong growth in its core markets and has the infrastructure in place to take advantage of any improvement in conditions in the South East Asia market.

Christopher Satterthwaite, Non-Executive Chairman of the Company, said: 

"During 2021 Access Intelligence delivered strong growth in its core business and has completed a transformative acquisition in Isentia to take its market leading products to the international marketplace. The integration of Isentia is progressing well with new product offerings already being made available to customers in all markets.

The global market opportunity continues to grow as marketing and communication budgets depend on the intelligence that the Group's products provide. Market consolidation gives evidence of the essential requirement of real time data to inform investment decisions in marketing and communication budgets.

In the near term, the South East Asia region continues to confront the economic and social challenges brought about by the pandemic but Access Intelligence has an enviable market position and the Board believes that the region will prove to be a growth opportunity when it starts to recover from its current challenges.

With an expanded footprint and an excellent suite of products, Access Intelligence is well placed to take advantage of the global opportunity by leveraging the model established in its core business and the market leading innovation its products provide to global clients."

For further information:

Access Intelligence plc                                                                                                                      020 3426 4024

Joanna Arnold (CEO) / Mark Fautley (CFO)

finnCap Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker)                                                                               020 7220 0500

Corporate Finance:

Marc Milmo / Kate Bannatyne / Fergus Sullivan                                                  

Corporate Broking:

Alice Lane / Sunila de Silva