Exasol announces preliminary figures for the 2023 financial year and outlook for 2024

- ARR increases by 18.1% to EUR 41.7 million in the 2023 financial year (forecast: EUR 40 to 42 million)
- Adjusted EBITDA improves to EUR -5.4 million (forecast: EUR -5.5 to -4.5 million)
- Cash and cash equivalents of EUR 13.3 million at the end of 2023 (forecast: 11 to 13 million euros)
- Positive operating result with moderate ARR growth expected for 2024 

Nuremberg, 19 February 2024: Exasol AG (ISIN DE000A0LR9G9), a global technology company and provider of a high-performance analytics database, today published its preliminary, unaudited results for the 2023 financial year and confirmed its annual forecast. Annualized recurring revenue (ARR) as of December 31, 2023 increased to EUR 41.7 million, up approximately 18% on the previous year (2022: EUR 35.3 million). This includes new business with existing and new customers amounting to EUR 9.5 million (previous year: EUR 6.3 million) and a negative effect of EUR -3.1 million (2022: EUR -1.2 million) due to a decline of existing business, primarily driven by churn in the EMEA region. The operating result (adj. EBITDA) significantly improved year-on-year by 59.7% to EUR -5.4 million (2022: -13.4 million euros). Cash and cash equivalents amounted to EUR 13.3 million at the end of the year (31.12.2022: EUR 12.7 million).

"Overall, we are satisfied with the results of the past financial year, even though we had set ourselves somewhat higher targets at the beginning of the year. Thanks to a strong fourth quarter, we were able to achieve our growth targets at the upper end of our expectations," outlined Jörg Tewes, CEO of Exasol. "We achieved double-digit ARR growth in a difficult economic environment and implemented the necessary measures to achieve profitability. The realignment of our core product 'Espresso', which began last year, and deeper integration of artificial intelligence solutions into our product portfolio will take full effect over the course of this year and will help us acquire new customers." 

Outlook 2024

For the 2024 financial year, Exasol expects ARR to increase by up to 10% compared to the previous year*. The increased churn rate in 2023 will have a negative impact on ARR development, particularly in the first half of the year. This is due to the continuing challenging economic situation in the EMEA region and associated cuts in IT budgets at some major customers. In the second half of 2024, pipeline from market initiatives launched in Q4 2023 will again lead to a positive ARR trend. Exasol expects consolidated revenue to increase by 10-15%, with a positive operating result (EBITDA). Cash and cash equivalents are expected to remain stable above EUR 10 million by the end of 2024.

"We will have to compensate for some additional churn with existing customers in the first half of this year which will negatively impact our ARR. Based on the product initiatives that were launched last year and have been scaled up, we expect a return to ARR growth in the second half of the year", says Jörg Tewes. "In addition, we have good visibility on our revenue development and are therefore very confident to reach break-even in the course of the first half of the year."

Exasol will report additional preliminary figures for the 2023 financial year in the conference call scheduled for February 21, 2024. The publication of the complete and audited consolidated financial statements for the 2023 financial year is scheduled for May 7, 2024.

Key figures:

* Adjusted for currency effects and methodological adjustments, the adjusted prior-year figure is EUR 40.8 million.

IR Contact
Christoph Marx
Head of Investor Relations
Tel: +49 911 2399 114
E-Mail: ir@exasol.com