• Record €138 million order entries (+33%)
  • 2 major new wins in the European food retail sector (1,900 stores)
  • H1 revenues in line with guidance at €81 million (-15%) limited by the ramp-up of new industrial facilities
  • VUSION production ramp-up and revenues rebound to accelerate in H2
  • Overall 2018 annual growth objective reiterated of +20%
  • Visibility on robust growth in 2019, in line with our VUSION 2022 plan

In € millionH1 2018H1 2017%
Order entries 138 104 +33%
Revenues 81 95 -15%

SES-imagotag (Euronext: SESL, FR0010282822), the global leader in digital and retail IoT solutions, today announces its H1 2018 sales revenues.


Message from Thierry Gadou, Chairman and CEO of the SES-imagotag group:
“In the first semester, SES-imagotag consolidated its status as the ESL world leader with a new record-high order intake, which continues to grow at 33% yearly. The market for digitalizing physical commerce is clearly entering a new phase of globalization and accelerated adoption.
During this first semester, SES-imagotag won the lion's share of new contracts on the market, including major new roll-out projects with two of the very top food retailers in Europe. We are proud that our new VUSION solution meets the expectations of the best performing and most demanding retailers in terms of shopper experience and store efficiency. Our cooperation goes beyond simple price automation, we are partnering with them in a digital transformation journey to make physical stores a high-value digital asset.
As announced our revenues for the first half are still under pressure due to the current industrial scale-up of our new BOE factory, but the acceleration in Q2 shows the positive trend and we are confident in our annual growth target of +20%, as well as in an accelerated global growth in 2019 onwards. The retail market is evolving rapidly. Physical retail is facing increasing labor cost, velocity of price changes and the challenges of O2O (offline to online) convergence. Stores must become more automated, data-driven, connected to customers and brands, and more collaborative. Our VUSION retail IoT platform responds to these challenges. We are convinced that the adoption of our solutions will continue to accelerate and benefit from our extended global footprint.”

Q2 sales rebound thanks to the industrial ramp-up of the new VUSION line

Revenues in the second quarter of 2018 reached €53.8 million, a sequential increase of +96% from the first quarter (€27.4 million) thanks to the start of the new BOE factory. 

For the first half of 2018, revenues totaled €81 million, a decrease of -15% compared to H1 2017 and in line with our previous guidance of €70 to €80 million. As announced, deliveries in this first half were still limited by the industrialization of the VUSION line, and do not reflect the high level of order backlog.

In H1, sales in France were €26.2 million (-30%). International sales totaled €55 million (-4.8%). All regions were affected by the VUSION production delay.


Sales in € millionFranceInternationalTotal
Q1 2017 14.1 25.0 39.1
Q1 2018 12.4 15.0 27.4
% change-12.0%-40.0%-29.9%
Q2 2017 23.5 32.8 56.3
Q2 201813.840.053.8
% change-41.3%+22.0%-4.4%
H1 2017 37.6 57.8 95.4
H1 201826.255.081.2
% change-30.3%-4.8%-14.9%

Record new order entries

Thanks to the success of the new SES-imagotag VUSION hardware and software solution, total new order entries for the first half reached a historic record of €138 million, an increase of +33% over H1 2017 performance (€104 million).


Order entries in € millionQ1Q2H1
2017 40.6 63.3 103.9
201837.2100.7137.9
% change-8.4%+59.1%+32.7%

2018 is unquestionably a turning point for SES-imagotag in terms of ESL adoption with two major new wins in the European food retail sector.

Two of the largest European grocery retailers have selected SES-imagotag's VUSION solution for the accelerated deployment of a total of 1,900 stores across several countries in Europe. These two roll-outs are world premiere full-store installations (covering all product categories) of fully graphical color e-Paper smart labels. These 1,900 installations will be thoroughly completed before the end of 2019, making these projects the fastest ESL roll-out ever in history.

By digitizing the display of price and product information with specifically designed medium and large size color e-Paper labels, these food retailers, both ranking among the Global Top 100 food retailers, one of which in the top 10, will ensure perfect accuracy and responsiveness in pricing execution, better shopper information and increased store productivity.

At the same time, the consumer electronics sector also remained extremely dynamic for SES-imagotag, with the continued roll-out of hundreds of stores in Europe, Asia and North America. In Japan, SES-imagotag is finalizing its first major ESL roll-out with one of the country's top CE retailers alongside its strategic partner Panasonic. In China, SES-imagotag just completed the installation of all Xiaomi stores in Beijing. Recently, EURONICS, the 2nd largest European CE retailer with over €18 billion revenues and 8,800 stores, selected SES-imagotag for the deployment of its stores in Germany, Italy and the Middle East. Dixons Nordics, the Scandinavian leader in household appliance retail and a subsidiary of Dixons-Carphone Group decided to finalize with SES-imagotag the full roll-out of all its remaining stores, after the first phase initiated in 2017, confirming the attractive ROI of the VUSION solution. New wins to be announced soon are expected in the global electronics retail vertical. 

China was a strong focus for SES-imagotag during the first semester, following the alliance with BOE. The country is at the forefront of New Retail and O2O (offline to online) convergence. Intense development efforts have generated rapid results and enabled a strong presence in less than a year: SES-imagotag is already working with over 30 retail brands and has installed close to 100 stores in China.


Innovation-driven performance

SES-imagotag's record new orders intake is clearly driven by innovation, which was particularly active in H1. The Group accelerated the development of its software platform and the portfolio of cloud-based applications focused on store automation, shopper engagement and data analytics:

  • Product geolocation and real-time planogram management;
  • Picking and replenishment optimisation;
  • Automated shelf monitoring and stock-out detection;
  • Shopper connectivity and in-store digital services;
  • Digital advertising and promotion;
  • Pricing intelligence;
  • Shop & Go / Pay-to-Tag solutions.
    (V:Pay payment solution was launched in partnership with Wirecard, and will be deployed in H2 in a first retail chain)

On the wireless infrastructure side, SES-imagotag is currently finalizing its new VUSION IoT protocol with spectacular performances in terms of speed, throughput and power consumption.

Another major project of these first months of 2018 is the accelerating migration of SES-imagotag's 160 million ESL installed base to the VUSION IoT Cloud, to make them connected and accessible to the new cloud-based functionalities of the platform. In partnership with Microsoft Azure, SES-imagotag is currently ramping-up the largest retail IoT deployment worldwide, with already over 25 million cloud-connected ESLs (15% of the total installed base to date). This number of connected labels should reach 50 million at the end of the year and over 500 million in 5 years.


Outlook

Thanks to the increased production capacity in the second half of the year, the goal is an organic growth of +20% for the full fiscal year. 

During the second half of the year, growth of new order entries is expected to continue at a significant pace, creating the foundation and visibility for continued high growth in 2019 and onwards, in line with our VUSION 2022 strategic plan.


Next financial press release: 2018 H1 results, on Tuesday September 18, 2018, after market.


About SES-imagotag

For 25 years, SES-imagotag has been the trusted partner of retailers for in-store digital technology. SES-imagotag, the worldwide leader in smart digital labels and pricing automation, has developed a comprehensive IoT and digital platform that delivers a complete set of services to retailers. The SES-imagotag solution enables retailers to connect and digitally transform their physical stores; automate low-value-added processes; improve operational efficiency; inform and serve customers; ensure information integrity to continuously optimize on-hand inventory; prevent stock-outs and waste and create an omni-channel service platform that builds loyalty and meets evolving consumer expectations.

www.ses-imagotag.com

SES-imagotag is listed in compartment B of the Euronext™ Paris

Ticker: SESL – ISIN code: FR0010282822 – Reuters: SESL.PA – Bloomberg: SESL

Contact

NewCap – Investor Relations & Financial Communications

Marc Willaume / Tristan Roquet Montégon: Tel: +33 (0)1 44 71 00 13 / ses@newcap.eu


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