NFON AG strengthened by market developments in first half of 2022 with a focus on integrated business communication and profitability

• Strategic repositioning as a provider of integrated business communication addresses market changes at the right time
• Threshold of 600,000 seats exceeded with growth of 9.4%
• Recurring revenues increase by 8.6% to EUR 36.5 million
• Recurring revenues continue to account for a very high share of over 90% of total revenue
• Profitability gains priority: focus on profitable monetisation of investments in growth

Munich, 18 August 2022 – NFON, a European provider of integrated business communications from the cloud, has gotten off to a good start in 2022 and reached important milestones in its focus on the area of Unified Communications and Contact Center solutions. With the launch of Cloudya Meet & Share, the NFON platform offers a full UC suite alongside cloud telephony. In addition, NFON has an attractive offering for the high-growth CCaaS market in its portfolio with the omnichannel product Contact Center Hub, which is available throughout Europe. The implementation of the partner programme NGAGE has also yielded initial important results. The total number of partners across Europe was increased to nearly 3,500. With 1&1 Versatel as a new NFON partner, three of the four major providers in Germany are now part of NFON’s wholesale network.

This operationally positive development is partially offset by the global economic situation, which has been hampered by the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the interest rate turnaround. As a result, investment decisions and expansion plans on the part of companies continue to be delayed. NFON nevertheless continued its growth course in the first half of 2022. The company now has around 55,000 corporate customers or 609,640 installed seats as the basis for sustainable, recurring revenues. Compared to the same period of last year, seat growth of 9.4% was achieved. Recurring revenues increased by 8.6% year-on-year to EUR 36.5 million in the first half of 2021 (H1 2021: EUR 33.7 million). With total revenue of EUR 40.1 million (previous year: EUR 37.9 million), this corresponds to a very high share of 91.1%. Average revenue per user (blended ARPU) was EUR 9.82 in the first half of 2022, compared to a very positive blended ARPU of EUR 10.03 in the first half of 2021 due to increased working from home. In the context of the growth investments made in personnel, product development and rebranding in the past two quarters, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) amounted to EUR -1.5 million in the first half of 2022, compared to EUR 2.3 million in the previous year. The investments of the past months were aimed at successfully positioning NFON as a European provider of integrated business communication. These investments are now to be monetised profitably and growth investments in marketing and personnel are not to be increased any further.

“In the past quarter, we have driven our repositioning and further development forward by focussing on integrated business communication. The first half of 2022 has shown us that we are absolutely on the right track with this. Companies are increasingly planning holistically in terms of integrated business communication. Corporate decision makers increasingly see the need to move from individual cloud investments to company-wide cloud strategies. This gives digitalisation projects a new strategic direction. This in turn opens up a new market for us and offers attractive growth opportunities for the future,” explained Dr. Klaus von Rottkay, CEO of NFON.

For the full year 2022, the Management Board continues to expect the forecast to be achieved and anticipates a growth rate in seats at the lower end of the projected range of 10% to 12% and an increase in recurring revenues also at the lower end of the forecast range of 10% and 12%. At the same time, NFON confirms that recurring revenues will account for at least 88% of total revenue.

The full half-year report 2022 is available for download starting today on the website of NFON AG in the Investor Relations section. 

Results for the first half of 2022 at a glance: 

¹ Based on average number of seats per month in each year
² Adjusted for share options, acquisition expenses, rebranding, etc. 

Contact Investor Relations

NFON AG
Sabina Prüser
Head of Investor Relations
+49 89 45300 134
[email protected]

Contact Media

NFON AG
Thorsten Wehner
Vice President Public Relations
+49 89 45300 121
[email protected]

About NFON

NFON AG, headquartered in Munich, is a European provider of integrated business communications from the cloud. The listed company (Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Prime Standard) includes over 3,000 partners in 15 European countries, seven subsidiaries and counts more than 50,000 companies as its customers. With the core product Cloudya, the smart cloud communications platform, NFON offers simplified voice calling, easy video conferencing, and seamless integrations for CRM and collaboration tools for small and medium sized companies. The NFON portfolio consists of four segments: Business Communications with Cloudya, Customer Contact, Integration and Enablement. All of NFON's cloud services are operated in certified data centres in Germany, whose energy requirements are covered 100% by renewable energies. NFON guides companies into the future of business communication with intuitive communication solutions. http://www.corporate.nfon.com/en 

Disclaimer

This announcement is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States of America. The securities of the Company have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”) and may not be offered or sold in the United States of America absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act. No public offering of securities of the Company is being made in the United States of America and the information contained herein does not constitute an offering of securities for sale in the United States of America, Canada, Australia, Japan or any other jurisdiction in which such offering would be unlawful. This announcement is not for release, publication or distribution directly or indirectly in or into the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Japan or any other jurisdiction in which the distribution or release would be unlawful or to U.S. persons.