Exasol announces preliminary group results for 2024 – positive EBITDA, net income and cash flow for the first time since IPO

Exasol announces preliminary group results for 2024 – positive EBITDA, net income and cash flow for the first time since IPO
 

• Profit zone sustainably reached : EBITDA rises to EUR 2.0 million, at the upper end of the guidance (EUR 1.5 to 2.0 million); positive net income of EUR 0.3 million
• Liquid funds increase by EUR 1.7 million to EUR 15.0 million, well above expectations (guidance: EUR 11 to 13 million)
• Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) up 3.7% to EUR 42.3 million, in line with guidance
• Strong growth in strategic focus sectors (+19%) confirms focus on on-premise and hybrid solutions
• Guidance 2025: EBITDA growth of at least 50% to EUR 3-4 million and mid-single-digit percentage revenue growth; continued strong double-digit percentage growth in focus sectors

Nuremberg, 19 February 2025: Exasol AG (ISIN DE000A0LR9G9, Xetra: EXL), a global technology company and provider of a high-performance analytics engine, has fully achieved its financial and strategic targets for the fiscal year 2024 based on its preliminary and unaudited results. The foundations have thus been laid to accelerate ARR and revenue growth again in the medium term.

By combining solid revenue growth with targeted efficiency measures, Exasol achieved EBITDA of EUR 2.0 million (previous year: EUR -5.7 million). This marks the first sustainable achievement of profitability since the IPO in 2020, aligning with the upper end of the guidance range of EUR 1.5 to 2.0 million. Consequently, consolidated net income was also positive for the first time since the IPO, amounting to EUR 0.3 million (previous year: EUR -8.2 million). In addition to the strong operating performance, Exasol increased its liquid funds by EUR 1.7 million, ending the year with EUR 15.0 million and exceeding the forecast of EUR 11 to 13 million.

High ARR growth of 19% in focus sectors confirms strategic focus on on-premise and hybrid solutions

Exasol’s product – one of the world's fastest analytics engines – excels particularly in on-premise and hybrid environments, offering an unmatched performance-to-cost ratio. Management has therefore decided to focus its activities on sectors where such environments dominate due to specific regulatory or business requirements. These include financial services, healthcare, telecommunications, utilities, and the public sector.

In the fiscal year 2024, Exasol achieved significant successes that confirm its focus on these sectors. The company achieved substantial ARR growth of 19% in these areas. In particular, Exasol signed one of the most significant contracts in its history in the fourth quarter of 2024, a five-year contract with one of the largest German state banks with a total volume of more than EUR 10 million. Additionally, several other clients in the financial sector were acquired, each generating recurring revenues in the six-figure range.

The sharpened strategic alignment implemented in the fiscal year 2024 temporarily leads to higher termination rates outside the target sectors, in particular in the retail and business service sectors, which have a stronger preference for public cloud-based solutions due to their specific requirements.

Overall, Exasol achieved gross ARR growth, i.e. before contract terminations, of EUR 7.6 million in the fiscal year 2024. This once again underlines the Company's sales strength in its core markets. Due to the effects of churn outside the target sectors, net ARR growth amounted to EUR 1.5 million, which corresponds to a year-on-year increase in ARR of 3.7% to EUR 42.3 million (previous year: EUR 40.8 million). Based on the strong order intake in the fourth quarter of the previous year, revenues increased significantly by 12.8% to EUR 39.6 million (previous year: EUR 35.1 million). Both figures were thus in the middle of the forecast corridor (ARR increase of up to 10%, revenue increase of 10% to 15% compared to fiscal year 2023).

Jörg Tewes, CEO of Exasol, commented, “We are on a solid path to successfully advance our strategy, aligning Exasol consistently with our focus areas and continuing to grow strongly with first-class offerings for on-premise and hybrid infrastructures. With an increased focus on our client portfolio, we aim to achieve double-digit, yet still profitable, ARR growth in the mid-term. Our recent successes confirm our strategic realignment.”

Guidance 2025: EBITDA growth of at least 50% to EUR 3 to 4 million with revenue growth in the mid-single-digit percentage range

For the fiscal year 2025, Exasol expects ARR and revenue growth in the mid-single-digit percentage range compared to the fiscal year 2024. The guidance takes into account that counteracting effects from contract terminations outside the focus areas are expected to persist. However, these effects will decrease in the medium term due to an increasing shift in the portfolio. At the same time, strong double-digit ARR growth in the core markets will continue in 2025.

Because of the seasonal nature of the business, the expected churn will be more pronounced in the first half of the year, while new business is primarily expected in the second half of the year. As in 2024, the Company therefore expects a temporary decline in ARR in the first half of the year, before new business drives a return to net growth in the second half of the year.

Exasol expects EBITDA to increase by at least 50% to a range of EUR 3 to 4 million. The company will benefit from the efficiency measures implemented in the course of 2024. These will allow Exasol to make important investments in technology and products despite the projected strong improvement in earnings. For example, work has begun on setting up a development team in India.

On the basis of this strong operating performance, Exasol again expects an increase in liquid funds and positive consolidated net income in the fiscal year 2025.

Exasol will report on the preliminary figures for the fiscal year 2024 in the conference call scheduled for today. The publication of the complete and audited consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year 2024 is scheduled for 18 March 2025.

Key figures*:

(*) the results are preliminary and unaudited

About Exasol AG

Exasol is the world’s most powerful analytics engine, purpose-built to handle the toughest data workloads with exceptional scalability and an unmatched price/performance ratio. The Company’s highly optimized query engine powers robust data warehouse solutions for both on-premises and hybrid deployments, enabling organizations to achieve superior performance.

Exasol empowers data-driven organizations with:

• Lightning-fast, scalable, and flexible analytics solutions
• Real-time insights
• Significant cost reductions
• Accelerated development
• Minimal administrative effort

For more information about how Exasol can transform your data analytics capabilities, visit www.exasol.com.

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Email: ir@exasol.com

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