itim Group reports stronger first half with improved profitability

itim Group plc (AIM:ITIM), a SaaS-based technology company that enables store-based retailers to optimise their businesses to improve financial performance, is pleased to announce its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2026.

Financial Highlights

Full year numbers quoted above are audited and half year numbers quoted above are unaudited

1. Annual recurring revenue

2. EBITDA has been adjusted to exclude share-based payment charges, exceptional items, along with depreciation, amortisation, interest and tax from the measure of profit.

Ali Athar, CEO of itim, commented: “I am pleased to report a much stronger first half, with the Group returning to profit and growing our recurring revenue base. Despite a UK retail market that remains under pressure, our existing customers continued to back us, and our operations in South America performed particularly well. The launch of itimAIQ during the period marks an important step for us in AI, and we enter the second half with a growing pipeline and real confidence in where the business is heading.”

CEO Statement

The Board is pleased to report a robust trading performance with a return to profitability and encouraging onward momentum despite a difficult trading environment. Conditions across the UK retail sector have remained challenging over the six months to 30 June 2026, with retailers continuing to absorb the impact of higher employment costs following last year’s increases to national insurance contributions, the national living wage and business rates. Broader economic growth has remained subdued, and continued pressure on the cost of living has constrained consumer spending, both of which have weighed on retailer profitability and, in turn, on investment appetite across our customer base.

Against this backdrop, the Group’s performance in the period reflects both the resilience of the recurring revenue model and early signs of a more constructive trading environment. Group revenue grew to £8.6m, with booked recurring revenue increasing to £7.4m and representing 86% of Group revenue, underlining the strength and stability of the subscription base. Adjusted EBITDA increased significantly to £1.3m, delivering a 15% margin, and the Group returned to profit before tax of £0.2m, with basic earnings per share of 1.07p. Cash generation was particularly encouraging, with net cash flow from operating activities of £2.1m, a marked improvement on the same period last year, and the Group ending the period with a cash balance of £3.1m.

The Group’s balance sheet strengthened further over the period. Net assets increased to £11.8m, and we also took the opportunity to repay in full the £0.5m loan facility drawn in 2025, leaving the Group with a stronger and simpler balance sheet as it looks towards the remainder of the year.

Within the UK, itim saw one large customer fall into administration, which was partially offset by the addition of an additional new client win, and the business has continued to be sustained principally by its existing customer base as retailers remain cautious on new investment. Encouragingly, our South American operations delivered a much stronger performance over the period, reflecting the benefits of the continued geographic diversification strategy.

Whilst the Board has not seen a wholesale change in the trading environment, the Group’s pipeline of prospects continues to build, and the Board is encouraged that converting even a small number of new names from this pipeline would be significant in terms of future sales and profit growth. The second half of the year will be an important test of the extent to which this pipeline converts into confirmed business.

itim-UNIFY and our competitors

Retailers today generally face a choice of buying one large ERP from a major software provider such as Microsoft, SAP or Oracle, and integrating a number of smaller, specialist tools to sit around the ERP. In the current climate, fewer retailers want to commit to the scale of spending this requires. What most are looking for instead is a real improvement in productivity and business benefits, particularly within their head offices.

itim-UNIFY is well placed to cater for these changes. It brings everything a retailer needs into one system and does so at one of the lowest costs in the market. Based on results already achieved by our customers, retailers using itim-UNIFY have cut IT costs, reduced head office staff numbers, cut stock levels, and improved margins. Taken together, these are real, proven ways for retailers to improve their profitability, and itim will keep making this case to prospective clients through the second half of the year.

Investment in AI

The launch of itimAIQ during the period is an important step in itim’s AI plans. The Group is focused on solving real, everyday retail problems, and it has already shown how AI can automate and improve tasks that matter to retailers. We are retail people first, and we believe that experience will set us apart as the rest of the market turns its attention to AI.

At the centre of this is a platform built specifically to manage the information retailers’ AI systems rely on. We believe this will set us apart as retailers begin to use AI that can act on its own, while keeping full ownership of their data and their relationships with customers.

I would like to thank our customers and employees for their continued patience and resilience through what remains a challenging period for the sector. We remain confident in the Group’s long-term prospects.