Access Intelligence Regulatory News (ACC)

Access Intelligence plc

("Access Intelligence" or the "Company")

Trading Update

Access Intelligence (AIM: ACC), the technology innovator delivering Software-as-a-Service ("SaaS") solutions for the PR, communications and marketing industries, announces an update on trading for the six months ended 31 May 2020.

The Company's underlying business has performed well through the volatility seen in the first half of the year with strong renewal rates underpinning growth in Annual Contract Value ('ACV') of £1.04m in the period, over double the £0.45m increase for the equivalent period in 2019. This equates to organic annualised ACV growth of 12% and, importantly, all sub brands delivered double digit growth.

The Board anticipates total revenue to be £9.4m for the period, a year on year increase of over 50%. Excluding the acquisition of Pulsar, revenue grew by 10%. The Company also implemented a number of cost saving initiatives and the impact of these measures is expected to result in costs being reduced by approximately £1.1m this year. As a result of the comprehensive and rapid response taken by the Company to the COVID-19 disruption, its liquidity position remains strong with net cash of £2.6m at 31 May 2020 compared to £2.0m at 30 November 2019.

The Company reacted quickly to establish processes that enabled a successful transition to remote working that protected both the health and safety of staff but also prevented any disruption to client service or product development. The changes were made without impacting the longer-term growth prospects of the business, with cost saving measures including the Company furloughing approximately 15% of staff, salary and fee reductions for the Board and employees for three months, and the curtailment of discretionary spending.

Alongside the strong performance in renewal rates the period also saw new business success with clients added including global brands spanning the public, private and charity sectors. New clients wins included Aegon, Allen & Overy, Astra-Zeneca, Chanel, the Co-operative Group, Lotus, Ministry of Justice, Nintendo, OFGEM and the WWF. In the USA, Pulsar won new clients including Dow Jones, the International Monetary Fund, Levi Strauss and Twitter. The wins reflect the improved product portfolio which, since the addition of Pulsar in October 2019, has been strengthened to open up new sectors and international opportunities.

The Company continues to actively pursue new business opportunities and remains encouraged by its ongoing pipeline development. Nonetheless COVID-19 has inevitably affected the rate of new business wins as potential new customers put certain projects on hold and delayed investing in new technology products.

Given the dynamic nature of the situation it remains hard to predict how our pipeline of opportunities will evolve over the remainder of the year. The uncertainty means that whilst the resilience and strength that the business showed in the first half is very satisfactory and 93% of revenue is recurring, the Company's ability to generate new business in line with our original 2020 expectations remains unclear. Therefore, the Board considers it inappropriate to provide forward-looking guidance until the overall impact of COVID-19 becomes clearer.

Christopher Satterthwaite, Non-Executive Chairman of the Company, said: "Despite the challenge COVID-19 has presented all businesses, the last six months trading has demonstrated the strength of the Company with encouraging growth seen across the product portfolio. The strengthening of the portfolio with Pulsar will accelerate growth and by diversifying the product, sector and territorial opportunities, contribute to the Company's overall resilience."

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This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 ("MAR"). Upon the publication of this announcement, the inside information is now considered to be in the public domain for the purposes of MAR.