Release no. 33/2021
Q3 2021
Revenue growth of 11% in Q3 2021
”We are satisfied with the revenue and headcount growth for Q3 and now having cumulated growth for the first nine months of 2021. Columbus experience great demand currently and has hired 171 new people during Q3”, says CEO & President Søren Krogh Knudsen.
Financial highlights for the period 1 January to 30 September 2021
All numbers and comments are on the continued business, thus excluding discontinued operations (excluding the divested entities SMB US, To-Increase and Baltics).
Financial figures
| DKKm | Q3 2021 | Q3 2020 | ∆% | YTD 2021 | YTD 2020 | ∆% |
| Revenue reported | 323 | 290 | 11% | 1,090 | 1,066 | 2% |
| Foreign exchange | -6 | 0 | 0% | -9 | 0 | 0% |
| Organic revenue | 317 | 290 | 9% | 1,081 | 1,066 | 1% |
| EBITDA reported | 4 | 37 | -90% | 78 | 96 | -19% |
| Adjustment of provision for loss making contract | 0 | 13 | -100% | 0 | 15 | -100% |
| Reversal of earn-out | 0 | -28 | -100% | 0 | -28 | 100% |
| Normalized EBITDA1 | 4 | 22 | -83% | 78 | 83 | -6% |
| Normalized EBITDA-margin | 1.1% | 7.5% | -84.8% | 7.2% | 7.8% | -7.3% |
Revenue specification
| DKKm | Q3 2021 | Q3 2020 | YTD 2021 | YTD 2020 | 2020 |
| Sale of services | |||||
| Cloud ERP | 143 | 138 | 521 | 538 | 714 |
| Columbus Care | 61 | 52 | 197 | 175 | 235 |
| Digital Commerce | 31 | 24 | 113 | 98 | 128 |
| Data & Analytics | 7 | 6 | 20 | 17 | 24 |
| Customer Experience & Engagement | 4 | 5 | 21 | 18 | 24 |
| Other Local Business | 27 | 19 | 67 | 58 | 77 |
| Total sale of services | 273 | 243 | 938 | 904 | 1.202 |
| Sale of products | |||||
| Cloud ERP | 39 | 38 | 108 | 121 | 167 |
| Columbus Care | 4 | 3 | 13 | 11 | 17 |
| Digital Commerce | 4 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 10 |
| Data & Analytics | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Customer Experience & Engagement | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Other Local Business | 2 | 4 | 16 | 20 | 31 |
| Total sale of products | 50 | 46 | 152 | 162 | 229 |
| Total net revenue | 323 | 290 | 1,090 | 1.066 | 1,431 |
Performance highlights for Q3 2021:
- Revenue increased by 11% in Q3 2021 to DKK 323m (Q3 2020: 290m).
- Normalized EBITDA decreased to DKK 4m in Q3 2021 (Q3 2020: DKK 22m). The decrease is mainly caused by extraordinary costs related to recruitment, onboarding, new ERP platform implementation and external advice.
- Profit before tax declined to -11,3m (Q3 2020: 18,1m).
- Leadership succession in key Business Units
- Acceleration tracks for Focus23 driven by global leadership group
- Hiring 171 new people – increasing FTE with net 122 by end of Q3 compared to end of Q2
- YTD customer work remained high amounting to 57% vs. 53% last year.
- Divestment of Columbus US SMB business
Outlook for 2021
Due to the divestment of the SMB business our guidance is adjusted accordingly. As the SMB business will be reported as discontinued business revenue guidance will be reduced by DKK 150m and EBITDA reduced by DKK 25m.
Adjusted guidance:
- Revenue is expected to be in the range of DKK 1,500m – 1,650m
- EBITDA is expected to be in the range of DKK 100m – 125m
Live webcast and conference call
Columbus is hosting a live webcast and conference call on 3 November 2021 at 13:00 CET. The webcast is hosted by CEO & President Søren Krogh Knudsen and Corporate CFO Hans Henrik Thrane.
Webcast: Please login to the webcast via Columbus’ investor site where you can follow the presentation and submit your written questions during the call: https://ir.columbusglobal.com/calendar-and-events
Conference call: It will be possible to raise a question during the presentation. Dial in details:
- Denmark: +45 32 72 04 17
- UK/International: +44 (0) 2071928338
- USA: +1 6467413167
- Conference-ID: 8391829
Please dial in a few minutes before to allow time for registration of name and company.
For further information, please contact:
About Columbus
Columbus is a global digital consultancy headquartered in Denmark. For +30 years, we have helped more than 5.000 ambitious companies transform, maximize, and futureproof their business digitally. Columbus employs more than 1,800 digital advisors and consultants focused on the manufacturing-, retail & distribution-, and food & process industries. We offer end-to-end digital services and solutions within Strategy & Change, Cloud ERP, Data & Analytics, Application Management, Digital Commerce, and Customer Experience. Columbus has offices and partners all over the world and we deliver our solutions and services locally – on a global scale. Columbus A/S is listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen – COLUM
For more information visit www.coloumbusglobal.com.
