BrandShield Systems Plc

("BrandShield," or the "Company," or the "Group")

FY 2022 Trading Update

Strong performance through 2022, higher revenues and continued customer expansion

BrandShield Systems plc (AIM: BRSD), a leading provider of cybersecurity solutions for brand oriented digital risk protection ("DRP"), is pleased to provide the following trading update for the year ended 31 December 2022 (the "period").

Financial Highlights

·    Annual Recurring Revenue² ("ARR") up over 60% to $8.42 million¹ (FY21: $5.22 million)

·    53% increase in new business and upsells to $3.87 million¹ (FY21: $2.53 million)

·    Stable upward revenue trajectory; 55% increase in revenue to c.$ 6.39 million (FY21: $4.13 million)

·    Increase in net dollar retention of 104.6% (FY21: 96.4%)

·    Cash of $2.6 million¹ at period end

Operational Highlights

·    Increased client numbers to 183, up 41% from FY21

·    Hired 17 new employees reaching 70 employees (FTE total: 65.74) at the end of 2022

·    Named business consultancy group Frost & Sullivan's third best Digital Risk Protection ('DRP') service provider in 2022 review

·    Launched NFT Shield^TM in October 2022, a bespoke AI solution aimed at the NFT economy

·    BrandShield in robust position to deliver long-term growth

Notes

1. All financials based on unaudited figures to 31 December 2022

2. Annual Recurring Revenue is a non GAAP measure and a company specific measure

Trading Update

BrandShield's mission to become a leading provider of cybersecurity solutions to protect brands from various online threats continues to grow at pace. The increase in cyber-related crimes means that detecting and removing online threats regularly has become the norm for businesses. In the face of new and evolving cyber threats, BrandShield's mission has never been so important.

The Company achieved significant operational and financial progress in 2022. Across the period, the Company has raised a total of £4.25 million in new equity to continue to execute the strategy of aggressively targeting client and ARR growth. Moreover, these capital injections enabled BrandShield to expand its marketing and sales efforts and continue to drive its efforts to a stronger ARR performance.

The Company's ARR growth ambitions proved successful, with the Company delivering an increase in its ARR by 60% to $8.42 million. The revenues of BrandShield in 2022 grew by 55%, from $4.13 million in 2021 to $6.39 million and the Company ended the period with available cash reserves of $2.6 million. With the Company ending the year financially sound, this performance has laid the foundations for further growth and innovation in the new year.

In October, BrandShield launched a bespoke AI solution to monitor, detect and remove digital asset fraud, NFT Shield^TM. With the Non Fungible Token ("NFT") economy worth approximately $3 billion, there is a growing need to combat fraud and scams across major NFT marketplaces. NFT Shield^TM is just one example of how the company's innovations have been able to safeguard the integrity of an online ecosystem.

The Company significantly expanded its client base in the period, and now services 183 companies across a range of sectors including financial services and healthcare.  At the end of 2022, the Company reports a 53% increase in new business and upsells at $3.87 million.

The US remains a key geography for the Company and a key area of strategic focus, as evidenced with c.70% of BrandShield customers now based in North America.  The Company will seek for further expand its US footprint, alongside entering other geographical markets.

Significantly, the Company was able to secure new mandates that enabled it to boost its portfolio of clients in the financial services and food and beverage sectors. Counterfeit operations and fraud attempts are quickly becoming commonplace in the aforementioned sectors, which necessitates robust digital risk protection.

Yoav Keren, Chief Executive Officer of BrandShield, commented:

"We are pleased to report a strong end to 2022 - a year that saw BrandShield expand both its client and operational footprint within the cybersecurity space. As cyber threats and online security dominate the business and political agendas, BrandShield continues to deploy its first-class cybersecurity solutions to detect and take down online threats.

With our Annual Recurring Revenue and overall commercial revenue up, it's pleasing to see two key benchmarks demonstrate how well the Company is performing. As we expand our customer base and our market presence, the Company looks forward to an exciting period ahead as we are well placed to deliver our market-leading digital risk protection services.  

The current economic climate continues to provide a challenging context for businesses, but our colleagues should be very pleased with these strong results achieved against this backdrop."

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About BrandShield

Brandshield is a cybersecurity company that provides brand oriented Digital Risk Protection. BrandShield detects digital threats and takes them down. The Company's client base is a growing list of organisations including Fortune 500 and FTSE100 companies. By utilising AI and big-data analysis, BrandShield monitors, detects, and removes digital threats facing companies. These threats include online scams, impersonation, phishing, executive impersonation, fraud, brand abuse, and counterfeits.