The partnership will enable Link to integrate Esker’s innovative software into its existing services, and to resell the solutions to its broad network in the aviation industry.

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Esker, a global cloud platform and leader in AI-driven process automation solutions for Finance, Procurement and Customer Service functions, today announced it has once again received recognition for its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments. EcoVadis awarded Esker the Platinum Medal and placed it in the top 1% of companies evaluated across all industries. EthiFinance also ranked Esker among the leaders of its ESG Rating. These two accomplishments exhibit Esker’s successful implementation of its ambitious ESG roadmap.

The Platinum Medal is the highest distinction awarded by EcoVadis, the leading provider of business sustainability ratings. Esker received an overall score of 81/100, up 7 points from 2022, and improved its social and ethical conduct score by 10 points. EthiFinance, a European rating, research and advisory group serving sustainable finance and development, evaluates companies according to a framework containing 140 criteria which are divided into four tiers. Esker achieved an overall score of 75/100, an increase of 8 points over 2022. Notably, this included a 30-point improvement in environmental performance and a 9-point improvement in the social performance category.

“The EcoVadis and EthiFinance awards crown two decades of continuous efforts to establish a more sustainable and resilient business model,” said Jean-Michel Bérard, CEO at Esker. “We have put a roadmap in place in which we pledge to increase our efforts to achieve four key objectives: acting ethically and responsibly, continuing to grow customer trust, fostering a content and skilled workforce, and doing our part in protecting the planet. The involvement of all teams and stakeholders is essential to successfully reduce Esker’s environmental footprint, which also is a prerequisite for long-term growth.”

This year, Esker has been able to distinguish itself in the social sphere, thanks to long-standing commitments to employee well-being as well as externally through community engagement and educational initiatives. Esker understands the importance of a positive work environment and promotes a culture of diversity and inclusion and held several company-wide awareness-raising initiatives such as trainings, events and workshops on these subjects. And successfully so, as the question “I feel accepted as I am at Esker” received the highest score in the 2023 HR employee survey. Over 91% of employees recommend Esker as great company to work for.  

“The EcoVadis Platinum Medal and the significant progress on social and ethical conduct aspects acknowledge the long-term work performed not only by Esker Management and HR teams, but above all by Esker employees, who are very involved in proposing ideas and seeing them through,” said Aurélie Guimera, Worldwide Director of Human Resources at Esker. “This is an impressive team achievement which aligns superbly with our company values.”

Being a technology company, Esker is committed to the inclusion and promotion of women in IT positions. With 32% of management positions held by women (compared with 31% of women in the total workforce), the company’s goal is to achieve an overall rate of 34% women in the workforce by 2027.

Esker’s commitment to innovation is also reflected in its education sponsorship programme, which includes being a founding partner of the coding school Ecole 42 Lyon, and a cocreator of an AI research chair at INSEEC. By supporting a variety of schools and organisations in the region that promote gender equality in the IT sector and encouraging exchanges between students and employees, Esker is working to contribute to the development and integration of future graduates. An additional pillar of this work revolves around the recruitment of interns and work-study programme participants, whose number has more than doubled in France between 2020 and 2022.

On the environmental front, Esker is strongly committed to reducing the environmental footprint of its business activities. Esker has proactively measured its carbon emissions across all locations worldwide, including all direct and indirect emissions (scopes 1, 2 and 3).

Esker recently renewed its ISO 14001 environmental management certification for both locations in France (Villeurbanne and Décines). Esker strives to extend the lifecycle of company-owned IT equipment and electronic devices as much as possible by performing in-house maintenance, vendor support and employee buyback programmes. These buybacks are made in exchange for donations to charities of the employee’s choosing. As part of its ESG roadmap, Esker is also committed to extending the lifespan of its IT equipment for all subsidiaries by six months by 2027.

Esker considers ethical business conduct to be the foundation of its operations. To that end, the company has implemented anti-corruption policies and training as well as a Code of Conduct for all employees.

Learn more about Esker’s ESG strategy https://www.esker.co.uk/company/environmental-social-governance/

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Allegro-Pro specialises in a wide range of SAP financial modules and has hands-on experience in implementing SAP S/4 HANA and On-Premise solutions. Its dedicated consultants will refer Esker solutions alongside SAP modules to ensure the most comprehensive solution package for their clients.

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Esker, a global cloud platform and leader in AI-driven process automation solutions for Finance, Procurement and Customer Service functions, today announced the appointment of Catherine Plasse as Esker’s new Chief Financial Officer.

Reporting to Emmanuel Olivier, Esker COO on the Board of Directors, Plasse will manage and coordinate Esker’s Finance teams worldwide and join Esker’s Associate Board of Directors. She will lead the creation of information for the public and financial communities and ensure the maintenance of a high-level internal control environment and compliance with regulatory obligations. Plasse will also play a crucial role in steering the operational performance of Esker by managing budgetary and control aspects. In collaboration with the Board of Directors, she will also be actively involved in the development of Esker’s environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) policies.

Plasse brings to Esker more than 15 years of experience in strategic financial management and providing key input to executive levels at a variety of international companies. Plasse held various Financial Analyst and Controller positions at Suez Group, most notably as CFO in the U.S. for three years. She holds three degrees in International Business Administration, from Northumbria University (BA), IAE France (master’s degree) and EDHEC Business School (BA). She also holds a certification in Sustainable Transition Management from HEC Paris and in Principles of Sustainable Finance from Erasmus University of Rotterdam.

“I’m delighted to be joining Esker, an innovative company that plays a key role in the digital transformation of businesses worldwide,” said Plasse. “I look forward to contributing to Esker’s continued success and collaborating with such a dynamic and talented team.”

“Catherine brings to Esker a wealth of international experience, strong technical and managerial skills, as well as deeply held beliefs in ESG responsibility. We look forward to working with her and continuing Esker’s success story,” said Jean-Michel Bérard, CEO at Esker.

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Continued growth in cloud activities

Esker Q3 2023 sales revenue amounted to 43.8 million euros, a 13% increase over Q3 2022 based on constant exchange rates (+8% based on current exchange rates). For the first nine months of 2023, Esker sales were 131.6 million euros, up 15% based on constant exchange rates (+13% based on current rates).

Over Q3, Esker’s cloud activities continued to drive growth (+15% based on constant rates and +11% based on current rates) to represent 82% of the company’s overall revenue. This excellent performance, resulting from the many customer contracts signed in previous quarters, slightly decelerated on account of lower volumes processed during the summer. 

Implementation services grew by 10% based on constant rates and 6% based on current rates, representing 15% of the company’s total revenue. The performance of legacy products continued its downward trend, equating to 2% of sales, as is typical in extended periods of market uncertainty.

A record quarter for new bookings

Esker recorded the best quarter in its history in terms of bookings. The annual recurring value (ARR) of new contracts signed during Q3 2023 increased by 11% (based on constant rates) compared to Q3 2022, to reach 5.3 million euros. This performance is all the more remarkable, as the previous record was held by Q3 2022. The ARR of new contracts signed in the first nine months of the year reached 14.3 million euros, an increase of 14%.

The pace of signed contracts was extremely dynamic in France (+508% over Q3, +46% over nine months), due to a favourable base effect as well as a clarification of the national e-invoicing regulations in the first half of the year. As a result of these clarifications, several major customers signed contracts with Esker to overhaul their invoicing processes. This trend is set to continue until at least mid-2024.

Performance in Europe (excluding France) improved sharply (+23%) with large contracts won in Italy, Spain and the U.K, bringing the overall growth in bookings to over 105% for the first nine months of the year for the region. The Americas achieved their best quarter of the year, with 2.4 million euros in bookings (ARR), representing 45% of the company’s bookings for the quarter. This performance was down 30% from the same quarter last year, due to an extremely unfavourable base effect. This same region had set a record in Q3 2022, with more than 3.4 million euros in ARR of new contracts. Signings in the Americas are expected to increase in Q4.

A solid financial position

As of September 30, 2023, company cash rests at 45.8 million euros (including 4.8 million euros classified as financial fixed assets) versus 47.1 million euros on September 30, 2022. Net cash amounts to 34.1 million euros as of September 30, 2023, compared with 31.5 million euros the previous year. Given the low financial debt (11.7 million euros as of September 30, 2023) and 134,373 in treasury shares (representing 15.9 million euros based on the closing share price on October 16, 2023), Esker has the financial autonomy to pursue its strategy based on accelerating organic growth.

Outlook for the end of 2023

Given the very good performance of the first nine months of 2023, Esker continues to forecast organic sales growth of between 14-15% (excluding currency variations). The accelerated pace of signed contracts linked to the e-invoicing mandate in France could, if maintained between now and the end of the year, result in higher-than-expected acquisition costs (essentially commissions on sales accrued at contract signature), without contributing to revenue in 2023 (revenue spread out in SaaS mode). Consequently, a rapid acceleration in bookings could impact the expected operating margin of 11.5-12.5% for 2023 by 1 or 2 points.

An English webcast with Esker’s Jean-Michel Bérard (CEO) and Emmanuel Olivier (COO) will take place October 17, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. Central European Time. To participate, please join call here.

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Baker Ing, renowned for its expertise in receivables management for high-value and sensitive accounts, provides bespoke international debt collection, from ad hoc support to acting as an integrated service partner. Credit managers run searches on debtors and create a log of any possible reluctance for timely payment. Esker AI-driven Collections Management fits in perfectly with systems Baker Ing already have in place to enhance the offering to its customers.

The team will be referring Esker’s suite of Order-to-Cash solutions to include Collections Management, Cash Application, Credit Management, Invoice Delivery, Claims and Deductions, and E-payment solutions.   

To help businesses adapt swiftly, Baker Ing and Esker are launching a package designed to offer immediate countermeasures to inflationary pressures. This is the opportunity for companies to fortify their financial operations, ensuring they stay competitive in an inflation-ridden market.

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Proservartner creates cost efficiencies, standardises and optimises processes and enables agile back-office functions to give clients the competitive advantage they need. The company has a long heritage in setting up shared service centres, and its experienced team will take companies through every step of its automation journey. Proservartner will be both a reseller and implement Esker Accounts Payable and Order-to-Cash solutions.

The team is receiving training on Esker’s solutions and will be fully up to speed to execute the automation journey of its customers soon.

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Esker, a global cloud platform and leader in AI-driven process automation solutions for Finance, Procurement and Customer Service functions, today announced that Lactalis Iberia Group, the Spanish subsidiary of the world’s leading dairy foods company, is automating and optimising its Customer Service processes with Esker. Thanks to AI-powered automation, Lactalis Iberia Group has significantly reduced the time it takes to manage customer orders and, as a result, has achieved greater organisational flexibility and improved supply chain efficiency. 

In 2017, the company began its digital transformation of key business areas, including Customer Service, with the goal of moving from a purely administrative management structure to delivering value to customers and employees alike. In 2021, Lactalis Iberia Group partnered with Esker to automate customer orders for three of its companies: Lactalis Forlasa (cheese), Lactalis Puleva (milk) and Lactalis Nestlé (yoghurts and desserts). And this year, a fourth company was added, Lactalis Food Service Iberia, serving the hotel, restaurant and café (HoReCa) channel.

The objective of the project was two-fold: increase efficiency and unify the processes of the four companies while maintaining the specificities of each one.

“Esker’s solution provides us with visibility and analysis capabilities via customised dashboards, where we can easily monitor results and progress for each manager,” said Ángel Ventoso, Head of IT Applications at Lactalis Iberia Group. “Each company has its own dashboard and the security and confidentiality of the information is 100 per cent guaranteed.”

Esker Order Management, part of Esker’s Customer Service solution suite, has made it possible to digitally process and integrate all orders regardless of format (spreadsheets by email, orders in the body of the message, PDF, HTML, etc.).

Lactalis Iberia Group is already reaping the benefits of automation. Today, over 85 per cent of orders are automatically integrated into its SAP® system. As a result, it takes the Customer Service team only one minute to process an order, down from eight minutes previously, totaling 1,300 hours saved per month. Additionally, the elimination of manual order entry errors coupled with faster order handling time, has led to greater productivity in the supply chain — reducing stressors in each of its elements (stock, transport, warehouses, etc.).

Lactalis Iberia Group also benefits from greater organisational flexibility. The centralisation of processes and procedures means that any user trained in the solution can take over at any time.

Thanks to automation and the elimination of paper, Lactalis Iberia Group saves approximately 54,000 sheets per year, 14,300 litres of water and 1,300 kg of CO2 that will no longer be emitted into the atmosphere. Additionally, the company has freed up the need for physical archiving space.

“Automating our order process has generated significant time savings and, consequently, important cost savings for our order department,” said Patricio Corrales, Head of Customer Service at Lactalis Nestlé. “Esker has helped us improve processes and generate value, not only for us and our customers, but also throughout our supply chain, an area where we continue to invest through various partnerships.”

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This new partnership will provide industry-leading software and implementation expertise while driving efficiency within finance teams.

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Esker UK

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Dynamic sales revenue growth driven by cloud solutions

Esker’s 2023 half-year sales revenue grew 16% based on constant exchange rates and 15% based on current rates. Cloud revenue increased 20%, representing 83% of the company’s business. Implementation services grew 11%, representing 15% of the company’s overall revenue. Traditional licensed and legacy products decreased by 39% to represent only 2% of sales.

The growth in cloud revenue comes from sales success achieved in 2022 and 2023 (representing 12% of half-year cloud revenue) and the continued strong use of Esker’s platform by its customers. Half-year cloud revenue is comprised of 48% subscription-based revenue (+28% compared to first-half 2022) and 52% variable revenue based on user activity on the platform (+11%).

At the geographic level, Europe and the U.S. grew at a similar pace (+16%). Asia-Pacific, slightly affected by a number of late signings, grew 8%, driven by performances in Australia and New Zealand.

Bookings remain strong

Bookings increased by 18% in the first half of the year driven by strong performances in Europe, excluding France, (+65%) with very large contracts won in Germany and the U.K.

The momentum of signed contracts in France slowed down at the beginning of the year due to uncertainties concerning the technical specifications of the new national e-invoicing mandate. Despite an improved performance in Q2 (+6%), bookings in France declined 9% over the first half-year. However, the postponement of the new e-invoicing regulations should not affect investment decisions, and bookings in France are expected to grow strongly in the second half of the year.

After a long series of high-growth quarters, bookings in the U.S. remain solid, up 6% for the half-year. Despite a demanding base effect in Q3, the trend for 2023 remains very positive in this key market for the company. Bookings in Asia-Pacific increased 9% with a rebound in the Asian markets.

Profitability impacted by base effects, growth investments and inflation

Half-year current income decreased by 24% compared to the first half of 2022. This change is largely due to the reversal in 2022 of the provision for tax on share-based compensation in France (employer contribution), initially booked in 2021. Changes in this provision stem from annual share distributions and, most importantly, variations in Esker’s share price.

Adjusting for this non-recurring impact, half-year current income declined 4%, representing 11.6% of sales for the period, compared with 13.9% for the first half of 2022 and 12.6% for the full year. This result is mainly due to the following factors.

Acquired in May 2022, Market Dojo’s inclusion in the scope of consolidation, represents a growth investment of 0.7 profitability points in 2023 (0.6 million euros). The company’s annual growth trend of 30% should continue over the coming years with more moderate investments.

The sharp rise in inflation in all regions where Esker operates had a negative impact on half-year profitability. For employee cost alone, the net effect of rising costs and the revaluation of customer contracts resulted in a negative balance of around 1.2 profitability points. Changes in other expenses accentuated the trend to bring it to two points of sales revenue. This discrepancy is due to a delay in the reflection of inflation in prices charged to customers as contracts are traditionally revalued only at their renewal date.

Excluding scope effects, average employee numbers this half-year were up 10% to reach 966 employees, compared to an increase of close to 12% in 2022. Without ceasing to invest in the development of its solutions and the future growth of its business, Esker has started to temper its recruitment efforts to improve its structural profitability. The effects of this policy should bear fruit in the second half of 2023 and even more so in 2024.

Considering a stable effective tax rate, the net income is in line with current income, with a profit of 7.5 million euros (8.5% of sales), down 26%.

Solid financial structure and growth in operating cashflow

After deducting financial debt, the company’s net cash remains solid and increased to 33.5 million euros, an increase of 0.9 million euros, despite a 27% increase in payment of dividend to shareholders. The change in cash level is the result of the very good operating cashflow performance over the half-year, up by almost 4 million euros, or +43% compared to the first half of 2022.

Outlook for 2023

Despite ongoing economic uncertainties, Esker continues to forecast organic sales growth between 14-15% (excluding currency variations). At this level of revenue and given the current inflationary context, profitability is expected of between 11.5-12.5% of sales revenue, compared to 11.2% in the first half of the year. Esker expects an improvement in profitability in the second half of the year due to the decrease of non-recurring events and the impact of moderated recruitment efforts.

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