31 Mar 2020 07:00
31 March 2020
Blue Prism Group plc
('Blue Prism' or 'the Company' or 'the Group')
UPDATE ON TRADING AND IMPACT OF COVID-19
Blue Prism (AIM: PRSM), a global leader in Robotic Process Automation ("RPA"), today provides an update in relation to the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Jason Kingdon, Executive Chairman of Blue Prism, commented:
"The Covid-19 pandemic presents unique challenges to us all. At its core it is a health issue that threatens the wellbeing of millions of people and has the potential to take millions of lives worldwide. The protective measures to manage this threat have the consequences of slowing business activity and creating economic uncertainty for all of us.
Against this backdrop, we have prioritised the well-being of staff and transitioned our entire global organisation to be capable of remote working. All Blue Prism territories requiring lock downs are now working remotely and can switch modes as and when restrictions lift. We have upgraded our virtual sales infrastructure, moved our Blue Prism World flagship events to a global 'virtual' event and have reset activities to enable team working, collaboration and meetings on-line with remote access for all staff. This switch to remote working has been achieved with remarkable pace and I would like to thank all staff for the success of this transition.
I am particularly proud that through our Blue Prism COVID-19 Response Program, our teams are also helping public bodies in the US and UK, including the NHS, using data and automation to deliver frontline care and other essential services during this crisis.
How technology demand develops as customers make changes in their own operations to meet the challenges of remote working and locked down physical access is yet to be determined. At the same time, Blue Prism operates with a high degree of recurring revenue, in one of the fastest growing business software sectors. Business disruption provides strong arguments for the strategic use of a Digital Workforce that can be deployed, accessed and monitored remotely to automate tasks and full business processes. On balance, while we still anticipate that we will continue to be able to generate good levels of growth this year, the ongoing uncertainty makes it difficult to assess the rate of growth at this stage."
FINANCIAL POSITION AND OUTLOOK
At 27 March 2020 the Group held a cash balance of £42m and a significant deferred billing balance. The business-critical nature of many deployments of its Digital Workers, and the high-quality nature of its enterprise customers and counterparties give it confidence in the sustainability of its model.
It is too early to assess the precise impact that this situation will have on the Group's growth plans. While the Board still anticipate delivering good growth in 2020, uncertainty around the level and duration of disruption means that the Board have taken the decision to withdraw its previous financial guidance from the market. The Board has reacted quickly to take mitigating action, including a hiring freeze in all but exceptional circumstances as well as reductions in discretionary spending. The Board will continue to monitor the situation very closely and is also prepared to implement further controls on costs and cash flow, if necessary.
Despite the short-term uncertainty the Board remains encouraged by the Group's sales pipeline, historic retention rates, and the strength of its licence based recurring revenue model. The long-term opportunity remains significant and the Board is confident in the Group's future prospects.
CONTACT DETAILS
For further information please contact:
Blue Prism Group plc
Tom Hull, Head of Investor Relations +44 (0)77 3670 7407
Investec Bank plc +44 (0)20 7597 5970
Andrew Pinder
Sebastian Lawrence
Carlton Nelson
Ben Griffiths
FTI Consulting +44 (0)20 3727 1000
Matt Dixon
Dwight Burden