Nemetschek Group posts impressive financial results

After an impressive record year in 2015 for Germany’s Nemetschek Group—the parent holding company for many of the world’s leading AEC software industry solutions—the company has announced impressive revenue climbs and profit margins. The Nemetschek Group anticipates significant increases in revenue and earnings for the current fiscal year 2016.

Revenue Up 31 Percent and Profit Exceeds 36 Million Euro

Over the course of the 2015 reporting year, the Nemetschek Group achieved new records in terms of revenue and earnings, exceeding targets that had already been adjusted upwards. The fourth quarter of 2015 was the strongest in the company’s history.

The Group reported the greatest growth came from abroad in markets like the United States and from the sale of software licenses. Parallel to this growth, the company continued to invest in extending its international market presence, as well as its sales, distribution and marketing.

“2015 again proved the attractiveness of the Nemetschek business model with its 12 independently brands. Throughout the entire course of the year, we have achieved dynamic development with double-digit growth rates and strengthened our global market position,” said Patrik Heider, spokesman of the Executive Board and CFOO of the Nemetschek Group. “In addition to these operative successes, at the end of the year we were able to again expand the basis for further growth with the acquisition of Solibri, the global market leader for quality assurance and quality control for the digital work method Building Information Modeling (BIM).”

Key Figures and Group Successes

Key figures for the Group include:

• Annual group revenue increased by 30.6% to EUR 285.3 million (previous year was 218.5 million) or about $325.5 million USD.
• Strong organic growth of about 14%
• Strongest ever 4th quarter results — EUR 79.3 million or 22% YoY
• Non-Domestic Revenue climbed 44.1% to EUR 189.5 million
• Germany market grew at double digit growth, rising to EUR 95.8 million
• Net income rose to EUR 35.9 million
• Operative cash flow increased to to EUR 65.1 million

Developments by Segment Include

• Design segment revenue rose to EUR 198.8 million
• Build segment revenue tripled due to Bluebeam acquisition, to EUR 60.1 million
• Manage segment revenue rose to EUR 6.3 million
• M&E (media & entertainment) achieved 11.9% growth, and revenue of EUR 20.1 million

Looking Ahead for 2016

The Nemetschek Group will continue its corporate policy which aims to sustain growth through strategic investments, internationalization, sales activities and addressing new customer segments.

MORE: Open BIM Proponent Solibri Gets Acquired by Nemetschek Group

Looking ahead 2016 revenue projections are estimated between EUR 319 and EUR 325 million and would correspond to 12 – 14% growth compared to the previous year. Purely organic growth is projected at a milder level at 11 – 13%, which discounts the contributions of the recent acquisition of Solibri Oy.

The group is also aiming at Group EBITDA of between EUR 77 – 80 million, bringing profits (earnings) to $90 million USD.

Architosh Analysis

The Nemetschek Group, in sharp contrast to Autodesk, its largest rival in the AEC software global market, has had impressive financial and stock share price gains over the past two years in particular. However, the two companies are experiencing different internal pressures. The Nemetschek Group isn’t in the midst of a shift to cloud-based subscription models like Autodesk has been involved in. Such a shift has been fraught with challenges that the Nemetschek Group has yet to, or may prefer not to, ever face.

Most AEC software market followers are aware of Autodesk’s history of growth through strategic acquisitions. The Nemetschek Group has kicked this strategy into full gear since its acquisition of US-based Bluebeam Software over a year ago, though its organic growth alone is also impressive.

With 2016 fiscal figure estimates looking just shy of $100 million USD, the Nemetschek Group will have substantial capital for its next series of acquisition targets. In our conversations with company executives, such new targets may aim for incubator phased, forward-looking buys that may play pivotal roles in longer term growth.