Visma had another strong quarter and continued with very good top-line revenue and profit growth. SaaS and SaaS transactions continue to be the strongest driver of growth in Visma.
In the first quarter, Visma delivered revenue of NOK 1 976 million, compared with NOK 1 834 million in the same period last year, an increase of 7,8 percent. The EBITDA came in at NOK 382 million, compared with NOK 361 million in the first quarter 2014, representing an increase of 5,6 percent. Net cash flow from operations after tax in Q1, amounted to a very strong NOK 950 million versus NOK 914 million last year.
Strong SaaS-growth
The demand for SaaS services is steadily increasing. The growth in SaaS revenue was 38% for the first quarter 2015 compared to Q1 2014, reaching NOK 260 million. Visma is steadily launching new SaaS products, and heavy investment in SaaS continues.
– Services like procurement, accounting, payroll, debt collection and software consultancy are increasingly based on SaaS, and our customers prefer subscription type of cost-models versus up-front investments, says Øystein Moan, CEO of Visma.
Acquisition activity
Visma continues its strategy of organic and acquisitive growth and the acquisition pace was active during the first quarter. Visma acquired the Norwegian HRM business, Huldt & Lillevik, from Aditro. Huldt & Lillevik is an established, well-known HRM provider with a very strong brand in the market. Huldt & Lillevik is a strong addition to Visma’s strategic focus on building a complete Nordic Payroll and HRM product offering.
Visma also acquired Digital Illustrated, a Finnish consulting business building upon the 2014 acquisition of Priorite (now known as Visma Consulting Finland).
– Visma has several interesting new acquisition dialogues in process, some of which will be signed during the second quarter of 2015, Moan says.
