SD Worx continues growth strategy and reports good results for 2022

SD Worx continued its growth strategy in 2022, once again achieving double-digit growth figures. This growth came both organically and through acquisitions. In 2022, SD Worx acquired the Croatian HR & payroll software provider HRPRO and entered the Central and South-Eastern Europe markets. With the acquisitions of Integhro and Intelligo, it strengthened its positioning in Spain and Ireland respectively. Through these three acquisitions, SD Worx further expanded its portfolio of proprietary payroll & HR software and reinforced its international position. SD Worx also took an 80% stake in huapii last year, strengthening its talent management offering. It continued to build its international offering on workforce management, core HR, HR analytics and, via SD Worx Academy, a broad range of trainings. SD Worx also refined the mysdworx app, which allows employers and employees to take the hassle out of everyday HR processes. With all this, SD Worx offers its customers, from smaller local companies to large multinationals, solutions that allow them to manage all of their human resources processes. Customers can choose to outsource part or all of the management to SD Worx.

"We look back on 2022 with satisfaction. Our core business is doing very well: payroll and reward revenue increased 19% in 2022. The revenue of our offerings around workforce management grew by almost 16%. However, the expected growth in the flexible labour market, which is generally under pressure, did not materialise. For our business around flexible labour, we report a slight loss of revenue. Generally it remains challenging times, with the war in Ukraine, high energy prices and inflation. The war for talent also continues to play a role, although we welcomed 1,500 new colleagues last year. By doing so, we continue to invest in our sustainable growth," says Filip Dierckx, chairman of the Board of Directors.

"SD Worx has grown rapidly in recent years to become a European HR player, enabling us to offer our customers even more and better local and international solutions. SD Worx has achieved a unique position, with local presence in 26 countries and the associated knowledge of local legislation on payroll and HR. It is thanks to our engaged colleagues and our loyal customers that we have achieved this. I would like to express my thanks to them. In 2023 and the following years, we will continue to invest heavily to further unburden our customers, local and international, from small to large, with digital solutions, complemented by a personal service that creates added value. Our customer focus and local presence, combined with the international offering, is how we make the difference," says Kobe Verdonck, CEO of SD Worx.

Restructuring cost and integration costs amount to EUR 7.3 million and have increased by EUR 1.9 million compared to 31 December 2021, mainly as a consequence of the integration and rebranding of Aditro, Launch!, GlobePayroll and Adessa into SD Worx.

Acquisition and transactions costs decrease by EUR 0.7 million and are mainly related to advisory costs incurred during the acquisition processes of HRPRO, Intelligo and Integhro and earn-out remeasurements.

The cost of non-committed share plans for the group management is spread evenly over a vesting period of three years. The increase of EUR 4.1 million compared to last year is mainly due to (i) the new plan of the financial year 2022 for group management and (ii) due to the launch of an exceptional and one-off employee share purchase plan. In 2022, SD Worx has granted all of its employees the opportunity to become a shareholder of the group, offering them the possibility to subscribe to group shares with a limited discount to their fair market value. Almost 25% of all employees have subscribed. The cost of the employee share purchase plan has been recognized in full in the profit & loss statement, as there is no service requirement for the employees over the lock-up period of 3 years.

The profit from business and asset disposal mainly results from the sales of the shares of SD Worx Real Estate NV to WorxInvest, SD Worx’ majority shareholder. SD Worx Real Estate NV is the owner of office spaces in Belgium used by the group and third parties. SD Worx subsequently entered into a leaseback agreement for most of the transferred office spaces.

It should also be mentioned that the international celebrations of the 75-year anniversary of SD Worx (EUR 0.8 million) have been normalized as other non-operating expenses.

Depreciations and amortizations on tangible and intangible assets of EUR 55.8 million have been recorded per 31 December 2022 and are mainly related to the group's important and continuing investments in digital solutions and the refurbishment of office spaces (EUR 25.8 million), the depreciation of leased right-of-use assets such as rented buildings and company cars (EUR 24.3 million) and the amortization of intangible assets acquired in business combinations (EUR 5.8 million). The increase in depreciations and amortizations are largely a consequence of increased investments in digital solutions, the leaseback agreement with SD Worx Real Estate and the amortization of acquired intangible assets from business combinations, such as brand names and customer relationships.

The financial result per 31 December 2022 amounts to EUR -6.2 million, mainly due to the interest costs of the subordinated EUR 80 million bond issued in June 2019, the committed EUR 250.0 million revolving credit facility, financial charges on lease liabilities and the interest accruing on the unpaid portion of the dividend, sharebuyback and capital decrease debt towards SD Worx’ majority shareholder WorxInvest.

The financial result remains largely in line with last year despite an increased leverage, mainly as a result of positive non-operational foreign exchange differences.

Tax charges decreased by EUR 1.8 million from EUR 2.7 million to EUR 0.9 million. The strongly  decreased effective tax rate is mainly a consequence of the tax exempted capital gain realized on the sale of the shares of SD Worx Real Estate to WorxInvest and deferred tax assets recognized on fiscal losses carried forward in view of the positive results of the group.

The net result amounts to EUR 81.0 million, which is a record high for SD Worx and an increase by EUR 34.2 million or 73.1% compared to the financial year 2021. The main drivers to mention behind these strong results are the solid and continued growth in operational performance, normalized EBITDA increases by 18.3%, and the gain realized on the sale of the shares of SD Worx Real Estate NV to WorxInvest.