ActiveOps set to turn in strong set of first-half results

Management process automation software company ActiveOps said on Wednesday that it had delivered a “strong performance” in the first half, evidencing the continued success of its ‘land and expand’ growth strategy.

The AIM-traded firm said it was expecting to report revenue growth of approximately 22% from the £9.4m in the first half of the 2021 financial year, in line with board expectations.

It was also expecting a stronger-than-expected profit performance of approximately breakeven at the adjusted EBITDA level, reflecting reduced travel costs as a result of the pandemic, and the timing of its increased investment in staffing.

The group said it exited the first half with annual recurring revenue of £19.8m, compared to £18.3m at the full-year and £17.1m at the end of September last year.

ActiveOps said it secured new logo wins or contract expansions across all target regions and sectors, including the first enterprise level up-sale of ‘WorkiQ’ into an existing ‘ControliQ’ customer, and the signing of three-year contract renewals by two major Australian banking clients.

Customer retention was in line with historic rates, as demand for workforce management solutions continued to increase in response to the “ubiquitous move” towards hybrid working.

The group said it continued to make good progress in delivering its strategic goals, with further investment into its product seeing the launch of ‘Collector’, a component available to both WorkiQ and ControliQ, which uses task mining technology to automate the counting and aggregation of completed work.

Significant investment was made in the group's capacity and capability, with more than 20 new hires across its technology, product and sales teams in the period, enabling ActiveOps to continue to support its growing, global customer base.

“The six months to 30 September has been a period of positive achievement for ActiveOps, as workforce management solutions move further into the mainstream,” said chief executive officer Richard Jeffery.

“We have secured new customers and expanded existing customer engagements, while investing in our team and our offering to ensure we have the products and structure to execute on our growth plans.

“I look forward to the full year with confidence as our market-leading offering continues to resonate with our growing global blue-chip customer base.”

ActiveOps said it would announce its results for the six months ended 30 September on 25 November.

At 1255 BST, shares in ActiveOps were up 2.86% at 180p.