Exclusive Networks raises FY22 outlook after stellar half-year results

The France-HQ distributor has upped its expectations for full-year 2022 as a result of its H1 performance

Exclusive Networks has raised its outlook for its financial 2022 after posting stellar half-year results.

Revenues shot up by 33 per cent to €1.4bn while EBITA also spiked 39.3 per cent to €66.5m for the six months ended June 30, 2022.

Gross sales came to €1.9bn, up 33.8 per cent from H1 2021.

"Not only did we deliver record half-year gross sales but we also managed to grow our profitability faster than our top line, and generate cash faster than in the past," said Exclusive CEO, Jesper Trolle.

"Market dynamics during the first half of the year have remained favourable and we continue seeing strong market trends given the critical importance for businesses and public entities of all sizes of an adequate cyber security infrastructure."

Trolle added that the group recognises the increasingly challenging global macroeconomic environment, however, with its strong start to the year carrying on into Exclusive's H2 and the growing strategic importance of cybersecurity, provides the distributor with "good visibility" for the rest of 2022.

Significant vendor expansion for Exclusive Networks

Exclusive said the majority (72 per cent) of its growth in gross sales was driven by business with existing vendors in their current geographies.

The rest of the growth was the result of vendor expansion (14 per cent) and acquisitions (14 per cent).

It added vendor expansion is a combination of vendors entering new geographies (c.5 per cent) and new vendor relationships (c.9 per cent).

While vendor retention rates increased in the first half of the year, supported by increasing demand for the group's vendors' solutions and the continued engagement of its channel partners. Net euro retention rates for H1 2022 were up 128 per cent.

The distributor accelerates in the EMEA enterprise market

The group saw stellar double-digit growth across the board in its key regions.

The largest year-on-year growth was seen in the Americas, which soared 52.9 per cent to earn gross sales of €200.1m.

Exclusive attributed the region's performance to high demand for cybersecurity solutions of key vendors, the addition of new vendors to its portfolio, and the sustained enterprise momentum with large deals.

Exclusive's operations in EMEA earned the bulk of gross sales, growing 35.1 per cent to log €1.5bn.

The group claims it benefitted from a continued positive momentum with growth in all countries.

EMEA also experienced an acceleration in the development of the enterprise market and an increasing share of large deals, particularly in the UK and Germany.

Exclusive raises its FY22 expectations

On the back of its solid H1 2022 performance and carrying into the second half, Exclusive Networks' management team has decided to revise upwards its outlook for the full year of 2022.

Gross sales are now expected to exceed €4.2bn, above €3.8bn as previously stated.

Adjusted EBITA is now expected to be between €146m and €152m from the previously forecast €133m and €138m.