Micropole Group: Clear Increase in Revenues
and profitability in the first half of 2021.
- Organic growth in sales of 6%.
- Current operating income at 5%.
- Positive net cash position at €2.3M
Micropole, an international consulting and technology group specializing in Data & Digital, announces that it generated revenues of 60.4 million euros in the first half of fiscal year 2021, compared to 57.7 million euros for the same period last year. On a like-for-like basis, business grew by 6% despite a gradual exit from the health crisis.
The company presents its half-yearly financial statements for 2021 as approved by the Board of Directors on September 21, 2021. The statutory auditors have performed limited review procedures.
| In millions of euros - IFRS | S12021 | S12020 |
| Sales figures | 60,4 | 57,7 |
| Current operating income | 3,0 | 2,0 |
| As a % of sales | 5,0% | 3,5% |
| Non-operating income and expenses | (0,4) | (0,5) |
| Operating income | 2,6 | 1,5 |
| As a % of sales | 4,3% | 2,6% |
| Net income from continuing operations | 2,2 | 0,5 |
Current operating income reached 5%, at 3 million euros, compared with 2 million euros the previous year, driven by an increase in revenues (+5%). This growth is mainly due to :
- Continued improvement in ARPU (+4.2%) due to good recognition in its markets of the added value provided by the Group's offerings.
- An increase in the employment rate (+3.7% VS H1 2020)
Operating profit reached 2.6 million euros, compared with 1.5 million euros in the first half of 2020.
This strong increase, in a context of recovery, is therefore the reflection of :
- the good positioning of the Group, which offers high value-added digital and data transformation solutions, at the forefront of its markets.
- the industrialization of Cloud offerings set up in partnership with AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and Salesforce, for Data-related projects. This vision, in terms of both offering and expertise, ensures that Micropole is a leader in these solutions, whose share of revenue has grown strongly. The GoCloud&Security offer, launched at the end of 2019, accompanies this industrialization of a security component, which is strategic on the market.
- the continuous innovation of the Group's R&D teams around technologies that anticipate future customer challenges.
- a continuous effort to optimize and improve the attractiveness of our human resources management.
Net income from continuing operations was positive at EUR 2.2 million, compared with EUR 0.5 million for the previous half-year.
Financial structure
Cash flow improved by 32% compared to the first half of 2020. The group has reduced its gross financial debt during the first half of the year by 6 million, with net cash at 2.3 million at the end of June 2021. The repayment of the 6.9 million Urssaf "covid" debt will be made over 18 months starting in July 2021.
Progression of activities
The first half of 2021 saw an acceleration in the international activities of the Micropole Group, mainly driven by :
- the entity in Belgium, which grew by 21.5% and benefited from the strong customer demand for its Cloud offerings and the integration of Tomorrow Services,
- the Swiss business, which grew by 15.6% at constant exchange rates and strengthened its position as market leader.
In France, business grew by 1.2% on a like-for-like basis, with the first quarter still affected by the crisis.
Recruiting
In terms of our human resources, the first half of 2021 was marked by a significant increase in staff turnover, resulting from strong tension in the market and a recovery in digital activities. Numerous actions have been taken to improve the employer brand, retain talent and accelerate recruitment. The Group has also renewed its Happy At Work and Happy Trainees certifications for 2021.
Change in scope of consolidation
Micropole is pursuing its strategy of deploying and accelerating its Cloud and Data offerings.
In March 2021, the Group completed the accretive acquisition of the Luxembourg company Tomorrow Services (2 million in revenues) in order to increase its presence in the Benelux region and complete the physical opening of Micropole Luxembourg. This region, which has been driving the Group's growth for the past two years, is a real spearhead for our Cloud activities.
In addition, in March 2021, the Group sold its Lille office (2.8 million in revenues), as this office had never reached critical size and was duplicating the Group's development strategy in the Benelux.
Perspectives
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has been brought under control by vaccination, heralds a gradual and effective recovery of the world economy and consequently of the Group's activities.
The first signs of a sustainable recovery in activity began to appear in the second half of the first half of 2021, although it remains difficult to make short-term projections.
In this period, which is still partly uncertain, Micropole is maintaining its medium-term ambitions, particularly in terms of profitability, and remains confident about the future development of the markets in which the Group is positioned.
Next financial meeting on Wednesday, November 10, 2021 for the
publication of Q3 2021 revenues
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