27 Jan 2016 07:00
27th January 2016
blur Group plc
("blur Group", the "Group" or the "Company")
Quarterly Metrics Update and Year End Update
2015 Revenue expected to be in line with market expectations
Enterprise strategy maturing and like-for-like cash burn reduced by 58%
blur Group plc (AIM:BLUR), the world's first Enterprise Services Platform and marketplace, is pleased to provide the market with its Q4 2015 key metrics.
ALL PROJECTS | Q4 2015 | Q3 2015 | CHANGE |
No. | No. | % | |
Pitching On | 104 | 117 | -11.1 |
Kicked Off | 97 | 100 | -3.0 |
Completed | 78 | 85 | -8.2 |
ENTERPRISE PROJECTS ONLY** | Q4 2015 | Q3 2015 | CHANGE |
No. | No. | % | |
Pitching On | 64 | 57 | +12.3 |
Kicked Off | 64 | 47 | +36.2 |
Completed | 44 | 40 | +10.0 |
**blur defines the Enterprise as a business with 50 or more employees
Q4 2015 highlights:
· 2015 Revenue expected to be in line with market expectations
· 2015 EBITDA expected to be slightly ahead of market expectations with sequential, quarterly improvement
· Underlying cash burn (excluding Foreign Exchange movements) reduced to an underlying $1.5M in Q4 2015 from $3.6M in Q3 2015 (down 58%)
· Cash at period end was $7.1M
· Cost base reduced further as platform matures and processes and efficiencies continue to improve
· Conversion rate of all Pitching On to Completed projects improved from 72% in Q3 to 75% in Q4
· Level of repeat Kicked Off projects from Enterprise customers at 84% in Q4
· New offshore technology development capability introduced
During the period, the Group continued with its focus on securing more mature, loyal and high-quality Enterprise customers with a higher propensity for repeat business. As the Group's Enterprise strategy progresses, the Board anticipates that such customers will continue to form a larger part of our business.
Q4 saw further increases in the proportion of Enterprise projects Pitching On (49% in Q3 to 62% in Q4) and Kicked Off (47% in Q3 to 66% in Q4) - underpinning an improvement in the overall quality of blur's revenues.
Customer satisfaction levels further improved in the quarter, which is reflected in both blur's Trustpilot rating and also with the increasing trend of repeating Enterprise customers (Trustpilot is Europe's largest and fastest-growing consumer review platform). 84% of all Enterprise projects that Kicked Off in Q4 came from customers who have previously utilised blur's platform.
During the period, blur also added new Enterprise customers to the Platform, including a multi-channel British menswear retailer.
The Group continues to generate income from its higher margin products. Specifically, Q4 saw increases in the levels of income from Seller subscriptions as our Service Providers saw the value delivered by access to blur's Marketplace.
The level of maturity in the Version 5.0 iteration of blur's platform has facilitated the introduction of an offshore development resource. This brings a greater level of flexibility to blur's development function as well as reducing development costs.
Two new videos were launched via blur's website in the quarter. The "How it works" and "Demo" videos will support the Group's sales teams as they engage with the Enterprise customer.
As anticipated, operational efficiencies continued to improve in Q4 with the Group increasingly able to streamline its processes. The structural changes made in Q3 and Q4 led to a 58% reduction in the underlying cash burn compared to Q3 2015.
The Group's cash balance at the end of Q4 2015 totalled $7.1 million compared to $8.8 million at the end of Q3. The cash reduction of $1.7 million included $0.2 million of unrealised exchange movements in the period, as the valuation of blur's sterling denominated cash balances was impacted by the decline in the GBP:USD exchange rate in Q4 2015. Excluding these exchange movements, the underlying cash burn for Q4 2015 was $1.5 million.
Philip Letts, blur Group CEO, commented:
"The group made solid progress in the last quarter of 2015. Our decision to focus on securing Enterprise customers is proving to be effective as reflected in the increasing proportion of such customers in our overall revenue.
Our end-of-year Trustpilot rating of 8.8 reiterates the improvements blur is making to the delivery and quality of those projects we are providing for our customers.
The Group's ability to build increasing levels of automation, process and efficiency into its platform helped contribute to a significant reduction in the Group's cash burn and will prove instrumental to blur's path to profitability.
As we start 2016, we are confident that the Group is better positioned to exploit its Enterprise strategy and help customers worldwide eliminate waste and inefficiencies in their procurement processes."
For further information, please contact:
blur Group plc investors@blurgroup.com
Tim Allen Tel: +44 (0) 1392 927618
Shaun Dobson/Jen Boorer N+1 Singer
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7496 3000
Dominic Barretto/Alistair de Kare-Silver Yellow Jersey PR
Tel: +44 (0) 773 807 6304
About blur Group plc at blurgroup.com
Since 2010, blur Group has been helping enterprises worldwide eliminate waste and inefficiency in their procurement process. It operates the world's first Enterprise Services Platform and Marketplace. To date over 65,000 businesses have adopted blur to buy or sell services online, including companies like, Tesco, Danone, Trinity Mirror, Argos and PwC submitting over $500m of services requirements to blur Group's platform.
blur Group is a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market (BLUR) and is headquartered in the UK with regional sales offices in the US and Europe.