Excellent start to 2023 – Full year outlook confirmed

Sustained Growth

  • Gross Sales up 28% to €1,180 m
  • IFRS Revenue up 25% to €893 m
  • Run-rate Gross Sales >€1bn for the fourth consecutive quarter, reflecting consistency and scale
  • Double-digit Gross Sales growth in all regions
  • 2023 outlook confirmed

Retention Rates Underline Demand For Our Offering

  • Net vendor retention rate1126%
  • Net customer retention rate1 123%

BOULOGNE-BILLANCOURT – May 4, 2023, 07:00 A.M. CET

 Exclusive Networks (Euronext Paris: EXN), a leading global cybersecurity specialist, today announces its Gross Sales and IFRS Revenue for the first quarter of 2023. Management will hold a conference call at 9:00 am (CET) today, available via webcast (https://ir.exclusive-networks.com/). A replay will be available on our website. All figures relate to this period unless otherwise stated.1 

Jesper Trolle, Chief Executive Officer, said:

“I am pleased to announce Exclusive Networks continued its strong momentum from 2022 in the first quarter of 2023. We grew faster than the cybersecurity market once again, with growth in all regions. This is an impressive result in a challenging macro environment which has impacted global IT budgets. Our strong performance reflects demand for our differentiated offering.

Our track record is built on a proven model and clear mission to create a safer digital world. Exclusive Networks helps hundreds of thousands of organisations around the world access the most innovative security technology through our global platform, commercial expertise and technical know-how.

Exclusive Networks’ scale and ability to grow our addressable market – driven by a portfolio of best-in-class vendors – supports our confidence in meeting our 2023 financial guidance.”


Gross Sales At Group And Regional Levels – Highlights

Q1 2023 Gross Sales

in € million Q1 2022 Q1 2023 Variation
Reported Constant

Currency*

EMEA 730 925 27% 29%
AMERICAS 93 140 50% 45%
APAC 97 115 19% 17%
GROUP 920 1,180 28% 29%

* Variation at constant currency is computed using the first quarter of 2022 rates applied to the first quarter of 2023 Gross Sales. The USD, GBP and PLN evolved as follows; 1EUR: 1.073 USD; 1EUR: 0.8832 GBP, 1EUR: 4.709PLN respectively for Q1 2023 and 1EUR: 1.123 USD, 1EUR: 0.8364 GBP, 1EUR: 4.618 PLN respectively for Q1 2022.

Q1 2023 IFRS Revenue

in € million Q1 2022 Q1 2023 Variation
Reported Constant

Currency*

EMEA 567 698 23% 26%
AMERICAS 70 106 52% 47%
APAC 76 90 18% 17%
GROUP 712 893 25% 27%
* Variation at constant currency is computed using the first quarter of 2022 rates applied to the first quarter of 2023 revenue.

Gross Sales were €1,180 million, an increase of 28% year over year on a reported basis (up 29% at constant currency). The majority of this growth (24%) was driven by existing vendor relationships in geographies where we already operate. The balance of our growth came from vendor expansion, partly through the expansion of existing vendors into new geographies (2%) and partly from new vendors relationships (2%).

IFRS Revenue takes into account the recognition of the sales of support and maintenance on a Net Margin basis as per IFRS as Exclusive Networks is not the primary obligor for these solutions. IFRS Revenue reached €893 million, up 25% on a reported basis, in line with Gross Sales evolution.

Vendor and Customer retention rates1 continued to improve year on year, driven by continued demand for cybersecurity solutions. Net vendor retention rate[1] were up 126% (+119% in Q1 2022) and net customer retention rate1 were up 123% (+116% in Q1 2022).

EMEA (78% of Q1 2023 Gross Sales): Gross Sales were €925 million, up 27%. EMEA benefited from the strong performance and continued momentum in 2022, and a healthy backlog.

AMERICAS (12% of Q1 2023 Gross Sales): Gross Sales were €140 million, up 50%, fueled by large deals and reflecting the upbeat performance of strategic vendors combined with the development of new vendors.

APAC (10% of Q1 2023 Gross Sales): Gross Sales were €115 million, up 19%, driven by backlog release and reflecting a low prior year comparator as Q1 2022 was impacted by product shortages and restrictive lockdowns.

[1] Defined as Gross Sales generated in year N from vendors/customers active in year N-1 divided by Gross Sales from the same vendors/customers in year N-1

To complete the information presented in previous releases, the split of Q4 and FY-22 IFRS revenue per region is broken down as follow:

IFRS Revenue

in € million Q4-21 Q4-22 Variation FY-21 FY-22 Variation
Reported Constant Currency* Reported Constant Currency*
EMEA 643 911 42% 47% 1,944 2,704 39% 40%
AMERICAS 79 116 46% 31% 231 348 51% 35%
APAC 77 95 24% 18% 308 352 14% 6%
GROUP 799 1,122 40% 43% 2,483 3,404 37% 35%

*Variation at constant currency is computed using the fourth quarter of 2021 and FY 2021 rates applied to the fourth quarter of 2022 and FY 2022 revenue, respectively.

Outlook

Despite the visible slowdown and persistent uncertainty with the macro-environment, we remain confident in meeting our full year guidance :

  • Gross Sales above €5,150 million
  • Net Margin in the range of €450 million to €465 million
  • Adj. EBIT in the range of €172 million to €178 million
  • Adj. Operating FCF above 80% of Adj. EBITDA

 

Significant Events Since 31 March 2023

2022 Universal Registration Document

The 2022 Universal Registration Document was filed with the French Financial Markets Authority (Autorité des Marchés Financiers – AMF) on April 24, 2023, under the number R23-014.

Changes in the composition of the Board of Directors

On April 18, 2023, Exclusive Networks announced that Nathalie Lomon, Senior Executive VP, Chief Financial Officer of Groupe SEB, was co-opted as a new member of the Board of Directors on 17 April 2023, replacing Nathalie Bühnemann as stated in the press release dated 18 January 2023. Nathalie Lomon is also appointed as Chairwoman of the Audit Committee.

The ratification of Nathalie Lomon’s co-optation will be proposed to the shareholders at the next General Meeting of Shareholders on 8 June 2023.

The Board of Directors has also decided to propose to the shareholders at the next General Meeting on 8 June 2023, the appointment of Paul-Philippe Bernier as a new member of the Board of Directors.

Conference Call

Jesper Trolle, Chief Executive Officer, and Nathalie Bühnemann, Chief Financial Officer, will present the First quarter 2023 earnings call during a conference call in English today (May 4, 2023) at 9:00 am (CET).

You can follow the conference call live via webcast at the following link: https://ir.exclusive-networks.com/.

A replay will also be available for a period of one year.

All documents relating to this publication will be placed online on the Exclusive Networks Investor Relations website at https://ir.exclusive-networks.com/

Regulated information related to this press release and presentation is available at https://ir.exclusive-networks.com/

Provisional Calendar

  • Annual General Meeting: June 8, 2023
  • H1 2023 Financial Results: August 3, 2023

Exclusive Networks Contacts

Investors & Analysts
Hacene Boumendjel
Head of Investor Relations
[email protected]

Media
FTI Consulting
Emily Oliver / Tom Blundell
+33 (0)1 47 03 68 19
[email protected]

 


About Exclusive Networks

Exclusive Networks (EXN) is a global cybersecurity specialist that provides partners and end-customers with a wide range of services and product portfolios via proven routes to market. With offices in over 45 countries and the ability to serve customers in over 170 countries, we combine a local perspective with the scale and delivery of a single global organisation.

Our best-in-class vendor portfolio is carefully curated with all leading industry players. Our services range from managed security to specialist technical accreditation and training and capitalize on rapidly evolving technologies and changing business models. For more information visit www.exclusive-networks.com.