Columbus Q2 2023: The organic topline growth continues for the 9th consecutive quarter – all markets show good progress

“Columbus is undergoing a very good development, where the areas we have prioritized the highest are performing well. Especially Denmark and the UK are showing strong progress with growth of 37% and 42% respectively. In general, we see that we to a greater extent win the projects and expand the existing customer engagements which is very important in relation to optimal utilization of our resources”, says CEO, Søren Krogh Knudsen.

Progress on both top and bottom line

Revenue in Q2 2023 increased by 11% to DKK 390m and 16% adjusted for acquisition and currency. In particular, the Swedish and Norwegian currency have had a negative impact on the revenue. In Sweden, revenue grew by 4% in Q2 2023, while revenue in constant currencies was 16%. In Norway, the picture was the same, with revenue decline in Q2 of 15% while the underlying development showed a slight improvement. Fundamentally, we are experiencing good progress in the activity level in all markets.

Columbus’ business areas showed good progress in Q2 with 8% growth in Dynamics, which is Columbus’ largest business area. In addition, Data & Analytics delivered an increase of 31%, Customer Experience grew by 26% and Digital Commerce showed 7% growth.

In Q2 2023, operating profit (EBITDA) increased to DKK 18m, corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 4,6%. Seasonally, Q2 is affected by public holidays and the annual salary adjustment. Efficiency was lifted by 3 percentage points to 70% from 67% in Q1 2023, which we expect to positively impact EBITDA in the coming quarters.

New customers and additional sales across the business

Sales processes have been optimized to make the value of the integrated solutions clearer. And that, in turn, has meant broader sales. The customers now increasingly want Customer Experience & Engagement, Digital Commerce, the entire DYN365 platform etc. The ICY Security integration is also progressing according to plan with the introduction of ICY’s security solutions for existing customers in both Denmark and abroad.

“We have become better at working more broadly with our customers and with long-term projects that are more value-based than technology based, and this means that we to a greater extent become a strategic advisor and not just a technology supplier among other”, says Søren Krogh Knudsen.

Outlook for 2023 maintained

Based on the development in Q1 2023 and our strong pipeline and order backlog, we maintain our expectations for 2023 as follows:

• Revenue in the range of DKK 1,550m – 1,600m, corresponding to a growth of 12-15% (including ICY Security) and an organic growth of 8-12%, both in constant currencies
• EBITDA in the range of DKK 119m – 139m, corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 7.4% - 9%.

Key figures for Q2 2023

DKKm	Q2 2023	Q2 2022	Change
Revenue	390.5	351.2	+11%
EBITDA	18.0	16.5	+9%
EBITDA-margin	4.6%	4.7%	-0.1 %-point
Avg. Numer of full-time employees	1,554	1,526	+2%

Link to Q2 report