Record full-year results 2021/22

Paragon ID posted EBITDA in 2021/22 of €10.5 m, increasing by more than +79% over the prior year. 

The EBITDA margin for the year was 8.0%, vs 6.9% in 2020/21. EBITDA margin in the second half of the financial year 2021/22 reached 8.8%

Paragon ID posted record revenues in 2021/22 of €130.8 m, representing growth of +56%. Organic growth in the year was 37% at constant exchange rates, significantly ahead of the objective of €120 m communicated in April 2022.

All of the Company’s divisions posted strong double-digit in the year.

In Mass Transit & Smart Cities (37% of 2021/22 revenue), the 2021/22 financial year saw a strong, post-Covid, rebound in commercial activity, with passengers returning to public transport and a resumption of orders from transport operators for tickets and cards. In total, this division's turnover amounted to €48.6 m, up 81% year-on-year. Organic growth was +67% over the year, illustrating the gains in market share achieved by Paragon ID during and after the pandemic.



Within this division, the Strategic initiative being undertaken is the development of Digital Mobile Ticketing and Account-Based-Ticketing Platforms. During 2020/21, recurring revenues from airweb's mobile ticketing and Paragon ID’s “account-based ticketing” activities, continued to grow, with multiple new deployments of these Mobility as a Service (MaaS) offers. Growth in this area will accelerate in 2022/23, with the recent acquisition of UrbanThings in the United-Kingdom.



Track & Trace (34% of 2021/22 revenues) posted turnover of €44.3 m in 2021/22, up 61%, of which organic growth was +27%. The acquisition of Security Label GmbH, Europe's leading supplier of baggage tags and other equipment to the aviation industry, at the beginning of the 2021/22 financial year, contributed significantly to the division's solid growth. There are two Strategic initiatives in the Track & Trace activities of the Company. The first of these, UHF RFID tags for IoT in Retail, progressed strongly during 2021/22, with increasing deliveries of product destined for major household names which are deploying the technology as part of their IoT (Internet of Things) strategies. This activity is expected to create further growth in revenues throughout the new financial year 2022/23. The second Strategic initiative in Track & Trace is the development and deployment of Real-Time-Locating-Systems (RTLS) Platforms. Paragon ID launched its RTLS activity in 2018 with the acquisition of RFID Discovery. The acquisition of French start-up “Apitrak” in May 2021 accelerated the development of cloud-based RTLS 

solutions, which are, in turn, facilitating worldwide distribution of this Platform as a Service offer, 

particularly in industrial environments.

Payment (22% of 2021/22 revenues) finished 2021/22 with annual revenues of €28.7 m, up 22% with no change in perimeter nor exchange rate. Thames Card continued to take market share in its traditional activity of gift and loyalty cards. The Strategic initiative in Payment is the sale of Paragon ID’s own-manufactured Metal Payment Cards. AmaTech invented proprietary technology which permits a metal payment card to effect a contactless payment. This technology has been successfully licensed to the biggest manufacturers of payment cards in the world, creating recurring royalty revenues. Throughout 2021/22, teams from AmaTech and Thames Card have worked to produce Paragon ID’s first own-manufactured contactless metal payment cards. The certifications of these cards have been achieved and new revenues from this activity will commence in the first half of the new financial year 2022/23.

Activity in e-ID (7% of 2021/22 revenues) benefited strongly from the reopening of borders and 

international travel recovery during the year. Turnover amounted to €9.3 m, up 53% on prior year. Strong demand for volumes of passport from existing clients, coupled with major orders for Paragon ID’s new polycarbonate products will continue to drive growth throughout 2022/23. 

 

Paragon ID’s high double-digit growth in the final quarter of the financial year 2021/22 continued, 

unabated, in the first quarter of 2022/23. For the first time in the Company’s history, revenues in a single quarter exceeded €40 m.



Revenue in the first quarter of 2022/23 grew by +65%, accumulating to €42.2 m. Of this, €2.6 m was contributed by the recent acquisitions EDM, UrbanThings and Tracktio. On a like-for-like basis and at constant exchange rates, the organic growth came to +53%, well in excess of expectations.

 

While remaining particularly vigilant to the economic and geopolitical context (raw material price inflation, electronic component penury, supply chain and transport disruptions), Paragon ID has set itself the objective of continuing to deliver strong and sustained growth in its activity during 2022/23.

Given the high growth achieved in the first quarter, the orders which have already been received and the current visibility of provision of materials, the Company has now reset its targeted growth at a minimum of20% for the 2022/23 financial year, which would take revenues to more than €155 m (compared with €130.8 m in 2021/22).