Equals Group Sees 52% Y/Y Rise in Total Revenue in FY2021

Equals (AIM:EQLS), a leading fintech payments group focused on the SME marketplace, announces its final results for the year-ended 31 December 2021 (the 'year' or 'FY-2021') and an update on trading for the period from 1 January 2022 to 28 March 2022.

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FY-2021 Financial Highlights

• Total Revenue increased by 52% to £44.1 million (FY-2020: £29.0 million), supported by:

• ​Like for like transactional values increasing by 63% to £5.7 billion (FY-2020: £3.5 billion)

• Immediate success in the Solutions Platform which contributed £0.8 billion in transaction values and £3.6 million in revenues

• Gross profits increased 31% to £24.0 million (FY-2020: £18.3 million)

• Cash-based expenditure fell a further 7% (£1.6 million) to £21.2 million (FY-2020: £22.8 million)

• Adjusted EBITDA increased to £6.7 million (FY-2020: £1.1 million)

• Year-end cash increased 31% to £13.1 million (FY-2020: £10.0 million)

FY-2021 Operational and Product Highlights

• Focus on B2B and non travel-related revenue streams successfully continued

• Business customer revenue increased to represent 81% of total revenues (FY-2020: 70%)

• Non-travel revenue represented 94% of the total, up from 91% in FY-2020

• Group continuing to attract larger corporates: won a significant mandate to transact a single but complex trade yielding £1.5 million of revenue and £0.8 million of gross profits

• 'Own-name' multi-currency IBAN launched mid-year

• Improved sales and data focus through both staff hires and CRM; a significant contributor to increased revenues

• R&D continued throughout the year, with further technical developments including 'Confirmation of Payee' and Linked cards

• Operational improvements through greater reconciliation automation and client onboarding

Q1-2022 Group Highlights

• Revenue from 1 January 2022 to 28 March 2022 up 78%, and averaged £222k per day (same period 2021 £125k)

• Total revenue from 1 January 2022 to 28 March 2022 of £13.6 million

• Strong performance across all sectors

Commenting on the Results, Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO of Equals Group PLC, said: "We ended 2021 in a very strong position, both financially and operationally. The surge in our reported revenue and EBITDA speaks to a successful repositioning of our model to focus on B2B and away from legacy travel operations. This process began in 2020, put us on the front-foot for 2021, and we are now progressing into 2022 with sustained confidence. Our product set is being adopted by existing and new customers at a faster rate than we anticipated and that has allowed us to more quickly develop and roll out new functionality to a broader range of customers. We are making excellent progress in the early stages of 2022 with rapid growth continuing while we navigate the geo-political backdrop. We remain highly confident for our prospects both in 2022 and beyond."