2022 FIRST-HALF EARNINGS: SUSTAINED GROWTH IN PROFITABILITY, WITH AN EBITDA MARGIN OF 17.5%
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- Net sales growth of +17.9% to €89.1m
- Gross margin up +12.6% to €72.0m
- +€3.3m improvement in EBITDA to €12.6m
- Consolidated net income up +€2m to €6.9m
Paris, 30 September 2022 (6:00pm) – The DÉKUPLE Group, a cross-channel data marketing expert, is reporting its earnings for the first half of 2022.
Bertrand Laurioz, DÉKUPLE Group Chairman and CEO: “Driven by the alignment of its solutions with the digitalization and datafication challenges facing businesses, DÉKUPLE recorded +18% net sales growth during the first half of 2022, achieving a rate of development in line with our Ambition 2025 strategic plan aiming to become a European leader for data marketing.
In a tense geopolitical and economic environment, this robust development is supported by our Group’s resilience, benefiting from the solidity of our portfolio-based activities, such as sales of magazine subscriptions and insurance policies, as well as our growing exposure to digital marketing markets, which represented more than 50% of the Group’s net sales in the first half of 2022, compared with just over 40% last year.
The development of our activities and the optimization of our operational performance enabled the Group to achieve a high level of profitability for the first half of this year, with EBITDA up +36% to €12.6m, representing 17.5% of our gross margin, and €6.9m of consolidated net income, with a 9.6% net margin.
We are looking to continue building on this strong development, while diversifying our activities, ramping up our synergies and capitalizing on our areas of technological expertise to support our capacity for innovation. We are continuing to further strengthen our data marketing leadership, as we illustrated in September with our acquisition of Brainsonic, a leading conversational and engagement marketing agency.
Despite the uncertainty with the current context, DÉKUPLE is effectively positioned to move forward and our ambition to become a European leader for data marketing by 2025 is, more than ever, firmly anchored at the heart of our plans. We are very confident that we will be able to maintain our profitable growth thanks to our extensive financial resources and the dedication shown by our teams with more than 900 staff”.
FIRST-HALF KEY DEVELOPMENTS
During the first half of 2022, the DÉKUPLE Group continued moving forward with its roadmap for strong growth.
The Digital Marketing business (marketing engineering and consulting), which now represents the Group’s main contribution (50.8% of 2022 first-half consolidated net sales, versus 40.9% for the first half of 2021), ramped up its growth, with sales climbing +46.3%. Positioned on buoyant markets, these activities are benefiting from the growing appeal of the Group’s consulting and engineering services combining multiple areas of expertise to enable brands to improve their marketing and business performance.
The portfolio-based activities recorded solid performances despite an unfavorable environment. The Magazine business, down -4% compared with a high basis for comparison, reflects the impact of lower commercial returns, partially offset by the increase in prices for the press magazine lines. Alongside this, the Insurance business has continued moving forward with its deployment, with +27% growth, supported by the integration of strategic assets from the InsurTech firm QAPE – KOVERS since the end of 2021 and the expansion of the health insurance offering.
HALF-YEAR EARNINGS
Consolidated net sales[1] came to €89.1m, up +17.9% compared with the first half of 2021, while the gross margin[2] is up +12.6% to €72.0m.
Against a backdrop of sustained investments, with major recruitment efforts, restated EBITDA[3] came to €12.6m, up +36.1% from the previous year, to represent 17.5% of the half-year gross margin compared with 14.5% one year earlier.
Operating income came to €9.7m, representing 13.4% of the half-year gross margin, compared with 10.8% for the first half of 2021. This change primarily reflects the progress with earnings for ADLPartner SA, driven by the realignment of commercial investments in the Magazine business, the continued reduction in the accounting loss for the Insurance business, and the stronger results recorded by the Digital Marketing business.
After factoring in a higher tax expense (€2.4m), consolidated net income totaled €6.9m for the first half of 2022, up +40.3% from the first half of 2021.
After deducting minority interests, net income (Group share) represents €6.6m, with a net margin rate of 9.1%, versus 7.4% for the first half of 2021.
| Consolidated data (€m) | H1 2020 | H1 2021 | H1 2022 | Change
2022/2021 |
| Net sales | 64.84 | 75.53 | 89.08 | + 17.9% |
| Gross margin | 57.05 | 63.89 | 71.96 | + 12.6% |
| Restated EBITDA 3 % of gross margin |
8.48 14.9% |
9.25 14.5% |
12.58
17.5% |
+ 36.1% |
| Operating income % of gross margin |
5.84 10.2% |
6.89 10.8% |
9.66
13.4% |
+ 40.3% |
| Consolidated net income % of gross margin |
3.83 6.7% |
4.91 7.7% |
6.89
9.6% |
+ 40.3% |
| Net income (Group share) % of gross margin |
3.87 6.8% |
4.75 7.4% |
6.58
9.1% |
+ 38.6% |
FINANCIAL POSITION AT 30 JUNE 2022
The Group’s shareholders’ equity at 30 June 2022 is up €3.8m to €34.6m, compared with €30.8m at 31 December 2021, primarily taking into account half-year earnings (+€6.9m), the ordinary dividend paid out in June this year (-€3.5m), and the impact of treasury shares and bonus share awards (+€0.5m).
The Group had €40.2m of cash at 30 June 2022, compared with €38.8m at 31 December 2021 and €34.9m at 30 June 2021. This change in the cash position mainly factors in the increase in cash flow from operations, which made it possible to finance a more sustained level of investments during the first half of this year (notably buying out minority interests in Converteo), as well as a higher level of working capital requirements linked to the strong growth in net sales, and lastly, the payment of the dividend for FY 2021.
Financial debt represents €27.0m, compared with €20.6m at 31 December 2021, linked primarily to commitments to buy out the minority interests in Converteo, Dékuple Ingénierie Marketing BtoB (previously AWE), Intelligence Senior and Reech. The Group also set up €8m of bank financing lines during the first half of the year.
EXTERNAL GROWTH
On 15 September, DÉKUPLE announced that it had finalized its acquisition of a majority stake in the capital of Brainsonic, a leading engagement communications agency (see press release concerning this operation).
OUTLOOK
Despite the uncertainty linked to the global economic context, the DÉKUPLE Group is continuing to roll out its Ambition 2025 strategy with a view to becoming a European leader for data marketing. With its extensive financial resources, it is effectively positioned to continue with its commercial investments in its magazine and insurance activities to develop its portfolios of contracts generating recurrent revenues, while also ramping up the growth of its digital marketing solutions, which will benefit in 2022 from the full contribution by Reech over a complete financial year and Brainsonic’s integration from the third quarter.
Additional information
The corporate and consolidated financial statements for the first half of 2022 were approved by the Board of Directors on 30 September 2022. The accounts have been subject to the usual limited review by the statutory auditors for half-year accounts. The half-year financial report is available on the company website at: https://www.dekuple.com/en/investors/news-documents-presentations.
NEXT DATE
- 2022 third-quarter net sales on 28 November 2022 (before start of trading).
About DÉKUPLE
Founded in 1972, DÉKUPLE is a major player for cross-channel data marketing. The Group designs, markets and implements customer acquisition, loyalty and relationship management services on its own behalf or for its partners and clients across all distribution channels. Its expert capabilities enable it to support brands with their marketing needs, and to create, on its own behalf, portfolios that generate recurrent revenues. The Group works with two-thirds of the companies from the CAC 40 and large numbers of mid-market firms.
DÉKUPLE recorded net sales of €164.3m in 2021. Present in France, Spain, Portugal and China, the Group employs more than 900 people.
DÉKUPLE is the commercial brand of ADLPartner, a French limited company (société anonyme) with a Board of Directors, listed on the regulated market Euronext Paris – Compartment C.
ISIN: FR0000062978 – DKUPL
Contacts
DÉKUPLE
Investor Relations & Financial Information
tel: +33 (0)1 41 58 72 03 – relations.investisseurs@dekuple.com
Calyptus
Cyril Combe – tel: +33 (0)1 53 65 68 68 – dekuple@calyptus.net
[1] Net sales (determined in line with the French professional status for subscription sales) only include the amount of remuneration paid by magazine publishers; for subscription sales, net sales therefore correspond to a gross margin, deducting the cost of magazines sold from the amount of sales recorded. For acquisition and management commissions linked to sales of insurance policies, net sales comprise current and future commissions issued, acquired by the accounting reporting date, net of cancellations.
[2] For the digital marketing business, the gross margin represents the total amount of net sales (total invoices issued: fees, commissions and purchases charged back to customers) less the total amount of costs for external purchases made on behalf of customers. It is equal to net sales for the magazine and insurance business lines.
[3] EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) is restated for the IFRS 2 impact of bonus share awards and the IFRS 16 impact relating to the restatement of lease charges.