Financial Development
Revenue and gross margin
Net revenue amounted to EUR 81.8 million in 2019, a decline of 1.4% compared with 2018 (EUR 83.0 million).
The revenue from consultancy and cloud services rose by 2.1% to EUR 72.4 million in 2019, from EUR 70.9 million in 2018. Cloud services increased by 8.0% to EUR 33.7 million. Revenue from projects and secondment services declined slightly by 2.5% to EUR 38.7 million in 2019, from EUR 39.7 million in 2018. External hiring increased by 2.3% to EUR 17.8 million (2018: EUR 17.4 million).
Revenue from software declined by 48.6% to EUR 1.9 million (2018: EUR 3.7 million). The gross margin came in at EUR 1.2 million (2018: EUR 1.8 million).
Revenue from maintenance contracts was 10.7% lower at EUR 7.5 million in 2019 (2018: EUR 8.4 million). The gross margin on these activities declined by EUR 0.2 million to EUR 2.6 million.
Revenue per employee (based on the average number of FTEs on an annual basis) increased by more than 9% to EUR 216,000 in 2019 (2018: EUR 198,000), on the back of higher productivity and higher revenue in cloud services.
Operating expenses
Personnel costs declined by 4.4% to EUR 37.2 million in 2019, from EUR 38.9 million in 2018. The average number of FTEs fell to 379 FTEs in 2019, down 9.3% from 418 FTEs in 2018.
Other operating expenses declined by EUR 2.9 million to EUR 11.2 million. Rental and lease costs were down EUR 4.4 million, as a result of the application of IFRS 16. Excluding this effect, other operating expenses increased by EUR 1.5 million to EUR 15.6 million, largely due to the legal settlement of a client dispute (2018: EUR 14.1 million).
Depreciations came in EUR 4.5 million higher at EUR 5.5 million (2018: 1.0 million). The majority (EUR 4.1 million) of this increase was due to the impact of IFRS 16. Excluding this impact, depreciations increased by EUR 0.3 million to EUR 1.3 million.
Operating result
On balance, the operating result declined by 12.5% to EUR 2.1 million in 2019 (2018: EUR 2.4 million).
EBITDA
EBITDA rose to EUR 7.5 million in 2019, from EUR 3.4 million in 2018, partly due to the impact of the initial application of IFRS 16 in 2019.
Normalised EBITDA excluding IFRS 16 was up 10.2% at EUR 5.4 million, from EUR 4.9 million in 2018, as a result of an increase in productivity and higher depreciation costs after IP products were taken into use.
Financial income and expenses
At year-end 2019, net cash and cash equivalents stood at EUR 1.5 million (year-end 2018: net bank debt: EUR 0.3 million). This reduced net interest costs and other financial expenses. The application of IFRS 16 resulted in financing expenses for lease obligations of EUR 0.2 million in 2019. As a result and on balance, financial expenses increased by EUR 0.1 million to EUR 0.2 million in 2019 (2018: EUR 0.1 million).
Taxes
The tax rate was 30.8% in 2019, compared with 25.4% in 2018. The tax rate was higher as a result of a reduced benefit from the innovation box, due to one-off expenses in 2019, and as a result of the higher profit in Belgium, which is subject to a higher tax rate. On balance, taxes paid in 2019 were unchanged from 2018, at EUR 0.6 million.
Net result and earnings per share
The net result for 2019 came in at EUR 1.3 million (2018: EUR 1.7 million). This translates into earnings per weighted average outstanding ordinary share of EUR 0.10 (2018: EUR 0.13). Excluding one-off expenses and the impact of the application of IFRS 16, earnings per weighted average outstanding ordinary share were EUR 0.24 (2018: EUR 0.23).
The total number of outstanding ordinary shares stood at 12,931,401 at 31 December 2019. This was an increase of 124,319 shares in 2019, as a result of the pay-out of the optional dividend for the 2018 financial year.
Balance sheet
As a consequence of the added net result 2019 (EUR 1.3 million), the payment of EUR 0.7 million in cash dividend and the EUR 0.2 million adjustment to the 2019 starting equity for the initial application of IFRS 16, shareholders’ equity increased on balance to EUR 19.5 million at year-end 2019.
Trade and other receivables declined by EUR 2.6 million to EUR 17.0 million at year-end 2019, partly as a result of faster payments from debtors and lower license sales in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared with the same period in 2018. The balance sheet total declined to EUR 45.4 million at year-end 2019, down EUR 3.1 million from EUR 48.5 million at year-end 2018 (after the initial application of IFRS 16).
Due to the initial application of IFRS 16, total assets increased by EUR 8.0 million in right-of-use assets at 31 December 2018. Lease liabilities as at 31 December 2018 included EUR 3.7 million in current liabilities and EUR 4.6 million in non-current liabilities. Solvency (shareholders’ equity/balance sheet total) subsequently improved to 42.9% at year-end 2019, from 38.9% at year-end 2018.
Net cash and cash equivalents came in at EUR 1.5 million at year-end 2019. This is an increase of EUR 1.7 million compared to the net bank debt of EUR 0.3 million at year-end 2018. The credit facility agreed with ABN AMRO Bank stood at EUR 6.0 million at year-end 2019. Ctac has granted a right of lien on receivables, business equipment and IP rights as collateral for this credit facility.
Cash flow and investments
The cash flow from operations came in at EUR 8.5 million positive in 2019 (excluding IFRS 16: EUR 4.1 million positive), compared with EUR 6.6 million positive in 2018.
The cash flow from operating activities amounted to EUR 8.1 million positive in 2019 (excluding IFRS 16: EUR 3.9 million positive), compared with EUR 5.4 million positive in 2018.
In 2019, Ctac invested EUR 0.5 million in property, plant and equipment (2018: EUR 0.3 million). These investments included the replacement of IT infrastructure and new computers. In addition, Ctac recognised an investment of EUR 0.7 million in IP products under intangible fixed assets in 2019 (2018: EUR 1.8 million).
The cash flow from financing activities amounted to EUR 5.1 million negative in 2019 (2018: EUR 1.4 million negative). This included a payment of EUR 0.1 million in earn-out obligations (2018: EUR 0.9 million), the dividend pay-out of EUR 0.7 million over the 2018 financial year (over 2017 financial year: EUR 0.5 million) and lease payments of EUR 4.2 million as a result of the application of IFRS 16 (2018: EUR 0.0).
On balance, the net cash flow was EUR 1.7 million positive in 2019 (2018: EUR 1.9 million positive).
Proposal for the recognition of result
After careful consideration of the impact of a dividend payment on the cash flow in 2020, the shareholders’ equity, the composition of same and the other components of the balance sheet, Ctac proposes the General Meeting of Shareholders to approve the payment of a dividend of EUR 0.08 per ordinary share for the financial year 2019 (2018: EUR 0.08 per ordinary share) from the net result, which is equivalent to pay-out ratio of around 33% of the normalised net result. The aforesaid proposal is in line with the previously formulated dividend policy. Shareholders will be offered the choice of receiving the dividend in cash or in shares. Shareholders who fail to make a choice will automatically receive their dividend in shares.
Legal dispute settled
In 2019, Ctac settled the legal dispute with a client about the execution of a contract closed in July 2016. In 2018, the court passed an interim judgement against Ctac regarding the obligations of the client and the value of the work carried out by Ctac, after which the court ruled in October 2019. This court ruling resulted in the recognition of a one-off charge in the 2019 figures as a result of the awarded damages of EUR 1.3 million (the financial statements for 2018 initially included a revenue correction of EUR 1.5 million). The outgoing cashflow as a result of the court ruling was EUR 2.2 million in 2019.
Strategy and management of the organisation
Ctac sees it as its mission to help its clients realise their ambitions by converting the advantages of information technology into actual business value. This also challenges the ambitions of our employees.
Ctac differentiates between the following goals on this front:
• Providing (international) clients in the medium to large business segment with appropriate and reliable IT solutions at affordable prices. These solutions are also aimed at making a significant contribution to the sustainable profitability and competitive strength of our clients to safeguard the flexibility and continuity of their business;
• Ctac’s continued development from ERP service provider to a distinctive provider of combined IT solutions as a Business and Cloud integrator;
• Ctac has a number of proprietary products, including the XV Retail Suite, consisting of an omnichannel-driven Point-of-Sale & Loyalty platform and a SaaS solution for housing corporations and commercial real estate companies;
• Continued development of the Ctac organisation in line with market opportunities and providing continuity for all stakeholders.
Over the past few years, Ctac has structured its organisation and streamlined the focus of its strategy in such a way that it is now a leading Business and Cloud integrator. In 2020 and the years beyond, Ctac will focus its attention on assisting organisations in their digital transition. Via digitalisation, Ctac will enable its clients to meet their targets, increase their effectiveness, become more flexible and more competitive and create opportunities.
Ctac believes in an approach in which cooperation, trust, know-how and technology are ultimately the decisive factors in the realisation of a client’s ambition of a future-proof business.
Outlook
The financial position, the operational progress achieved and the progress in the roll-out of Ctac’s proprietary IP products puts the company in a solid starting position for 2020. Purple Square, acquired in January, will make an immediate contribution to Ctac’s revenue and result in 2020. In accordance with IFRS, the acquisition costs and required investments in the growth strategy will be charged to the 2020 result.
Barring exceptional exogenous circumstances, Ctac expects to record higher revenue and net result in 2020 than in 2019.
Other
Ctac’s member state of origin for the purposes of the European Union’s Transparency Directive (Directive 2004/109/EC, as revised) is the Netherlands.
