Corporate News

NFON AG repositions itself in the growing market for integrated business communications

- Preliminary figures confirm that NFON grew by double digits again in 2021

- Stability of the As-a-Service business model reflected in 90% share of recurring revenues in total revenue

- Strategic partnerships with industry-leading companies secure access to attractive UCaaS and CCaaS markets in Europe

- Successful partner programmes to lead to increasing momentum in seat development in the second half of 2022

- Forecast for 2022 anticipates further growth in seats and recurring revenues while maintaining a very high share of total revenue of at least 88%

Munich, 7 April 2022 - NFON, the European provider of voice-centric business communications from the cloud, confirms its business development in 2021 in which the strengths of the As-a-Service business model were once again demonstrated. Even in turbulent times, NFON still benefits from the very high share of sustainable recurring revenues and thus has a solid basis for growth in the years ahead. Recurring revenues increased by 14.4% in 2021 to EUR 68.0 million (2020: EUR 59.4 million), reaching a 89.5% share of total revenue of (2020: 87.8%). Total revenue increased by 12.3% to EUR 75.9 million (2020: EUR 67.6 million). In addition, NFON continued to expand the number of extensions installed with customers (seats) by 11.9% to 587,067 (31 December 2020: 524,791). At the same time, the company succeeded in increasing the average revenue per user (blended ARPU) in the past financial year to EUR 9.84 (2020: EUR 9.77). Due to higher investments in growth in personnel and marketing, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) amounted to EUR -2.0 million in the reporting period (2020: EUR 2.3 million).

"Business communication continues to evolve rapidly. Companies are being forced to rethink their processes and the introduction of cloud services is gaining momentum. We as NFON are part of this trend and continue to expand our position in the emerging market for integrated business communications. Our goal is to become the leading provider of integrated business communications in Europe. We already achieved key strategic milestones to this end in financial year 2021," commented Dr. Klaus von Rottkay, CEO of NFON. NFON's development teams were expanded quite significantly as planned and the number of employees hired increased by 41%. Investments in marketing were also increased by 46% as planned and the partner programmes NGAGE and Gemeinsam Stark (Strong Together) were developed. With the newly founded Polish subsidiary, NFON also strengthened its presence in the Eastern European countries and entered into partnerships with the Italian WebRTC provider Meetecho and the Czech contact center provider Daktela.

NFON's strategic focus and investment activities are thus consistently directed at the growth markets of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS). With the introduction of Meet & Share, NFON now offers a complete UC Suite and at the same time is entering the high-growth CCaaS market with the omnichannel contact center product "Contact Center Hub," that is available throughout Europe.

"We have successfully developed and repositioned ourselves strategically over the past year. NFON is now more than just a provider of cloud telephone systems," concludes von Rottkay. "On this basis, we will add new partners in 2022 and significantly increase our sales activities. Experience shows that these new sales partnerships take a few months to come to fruition; therefore we anticipate seat development to gain momentum in the second half of the year."

Despite the current uncertainties as a result of the war in Ukraine, the effects of which on the overall economic and industry-specific conditions cannot yet be foreseen, the Management Board is optimistic about the long-term development of NFON. However, in view of the current economic development in Europe, the Management Board expects effects from a restrained propensity to invest on the part of NFON customers this year. For 2022, the Management Board anticipates further growth in seats of between 10% and 12% and growth in recurring revenues of between 10% and 12%. Overall, NFON plans for recurring revenues to account for at least 88% of total revenue.

The fully audited report for financial year 2021 is available for download as of today on the NFON AG website in the Investor Relations section. The Management Board will present the final figures at today's Capital Markets Day at 10:00 am (Registration) Registration for the second part of Capital Markets Day is possible at NFON Capital Markets Day 2022.

Overview of the results for financial year 2021:

¹ Based on the average number of seats per month in each year.
² Adjusted for the retention bonus, stock options, expenses for acquisitions, non-recurring effects

Investor Relations Contact

NFON AG
Sabina Prüser
Head of Investor Relations
+49 89 45300 134
sabina.prueser@nfon.com

Media Contact

NFON AG
Thorsten Wehner
Vice President Public Relations
+49 89 45300 121
thorsten.wehner@nfon.com

About NFON AG

Headquartered in Munich, NFON AG is the European provider for voice-centric business communication from the cloud, counting more than 50,000 companies across 15 European countries as its customers. With Cloudya, NFON offers an easy-to-use, independent and reliable solution for advanced cloud business communications. Further premium and industry solutions complete the portfolio in the field of cloud communications. With our intuitive communications solutions, we enable European companies to improve their work a little every single day. https://corporate.nfon.com/en/

Disclaimer

This announcement is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States of America. The securities of the Company have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") and may not be offered or sold in the United States of America absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act. No public offering of securities of the Company is being made in the United States of America and the information contained herein does not constitute an offering of securities for sale in the United States of America, Canada, Australia, Japan or any other jurisdiction in which such offering would be unlawful. This announcement is not for release, publication or distribution directly or indirectly in or into the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Japan or any other jurisdiction in which the distribution or release would be unlawful or to U.S. persons.