itim Group plc (LON:ITIM) Chief Financial Officer Ian Hayes caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss what the company does, factors contributing to growth, significant increase in EBITDA, beating market expectations, and what investors can expect in H2.
Q1: Ian, first off, could you just remind us what itim Group does and who your typical clients are?
A1: The way we like to describe ourselves is that we are retail engineers specialising in helping retailers transform their businesses into higher performing organisations through the use of technology utilising our unified platform.
I know that’s a bit of a mouthful, but in simple terms, using the British cycling team as an analogy, when Dave Brailsford ran the team, he looked at marginal gains in every aspect of riding a bike. His approach was that if he improved everything by 1%, those small marginal gains in each element would lead to exceptional improvement overall. And look what the British cycling team have achieved.
So that’s what we do with our unified platform. Together with the retailer, we look at every aspect of their business and use the four pillars of our platform to seek improvements in our customers’ profits in the following areas.
Sales through better customer engagement, retention and experience. Pricing, optimising pricing promotions and cash margin. Stock, better ranging assortment and distribution to reduce markdowns. Supply, getting the suppliers to do more of the work.
We have 75 customers globally from the large retailers like Sainsbury’s, John Lewis and Waitrose that engage with us on the supply pillar of our platform, to Majestic Wines and The Entertainer who engage with us in all four pillars.
Q2: Just turning to the results themselves, what specific factors contributed to the 19% increase in group revenue compared to the previous half year?
A2: In 2023, we were driving annual recurring revenues at the expense of paid for services. In 2024, with investor sentiment where it is, we have focused on driving paid for services revenues this year, which ultimately drives cash when implementing our platform, which has led to the increase.
Q3: Now, you’ve achieved a significant increase in adjusted EBITDA from a from a £0.2 million loss to a £1.2 million profit. How was that achieved?
A3: It was just achieved through driving paid for services revenues. Our £1.4 million increase in turnover has just fallen through to EBITDA. Additionally, however, in Q1, we also undertook some cost saving measures, although we will not see the benefits of those measures until the second half of the year.
Q4: You’ve beaten market expectations, are you expecting your brokers to raise forecasts?
A4: That’s one for the brokers, but I’d like to think that we’re demonstrating growth, driving revenues and new contract wins, but most importantly, cash, which I hope will ultimately feed through and be reflected in our share price.
Q5: Finally, what can investors expect to see from itim Group in the second half of the year?
A5: Our business is seasonal, following that of the retail industry. The golden quarter for retailers is Q4, where they drive all their profits through Christmas and the New Year trading. As a result, retailers will go into what’s known as a technology lockdown in Q4 for new projects, which shortens our selling and delivery windows.
However, I’m very pleased with the half year result and cautiously optimistic for the full year result.
