Overview
It has been a pleasure working in Visma these years, and to see the company develop into one of the leading software companies in Europe. In 2019 the revenue was NOK 15 028m and this was a growth of 32 % over 2018.
In the late nineties the largest part of Visma was a global software business serving the international shipping industry. In 2000 this business, comprising close to 80 % of Visma, was divested. Remaining was a small Nordic ERP software business with a little over 100 employees and around EUR 10m in revenues. The present-day Visma has been developed from this, both through organic growth and not least through about 200 acquisitions. The strategy has been to expand within software that is mandatory, necessary and regulated by local/national laws and regulation. Visma wants to be the #1 software company in the markets we engage in, and we have gradually expanded in Northern and Eastern Europe. Now at the start of the new decade, Visma has more than 11 000 employees, we are about to exceed 1 million customers and we serve well over 10 million users.
The last decade has been both challenging and rewarding as a software company. The major challenge has been to convert our business and technology from Windows-based, on-premise client server technology to true cloud computing with Software as a Service rather than license-based. The transition has been painful, but now as 75 % of Visma’s revenue is pure cloud, we see the benefit as accelerating organic growth and expanding margins. Within the next 5 years Visma will achieve 100 % cloud computing revenue. The transformation to cloud computing has been achieved partly through organic development and partly through acquisition of innovative and leading cloud companies. Without the acquisitions of new companies with new competence, the transition to cloud would have been far slower and less successful.
In 2019 Visma continued the fast growth in the Dutch market that was kicked off from the summer of 2018. The Team Jumbo-Visma sponsorship was very successful at making Visma one of the best known software brands in the Netherlands. We are continuing the growth and towards the end of 2020 the Dutch market will most likely be the largest for Visma.
Overall, the economies in Visma’s core markets are performing well despite a turbulent global political climate. As this text is being written, the Corona virus makes the future more uncertain, but the business of Visma seems to be fairly well insulated against negative effects. Overall, the Nordic economies are stable with above average growth rates compared to the rest of Europe and we remain positive about the macro-economic situation, although 2020 seems more uncertain than recent years.
Strong growth across all segments
Visma experienced good revenue growth across all segments. The strongest growth was in the Custom Solutions segment, which grew 57,8 % year on year. Revenues in Visma’s largest segment, SMB, grew by 17,4 %. Enterprise grew by 39,5 % and Commerce Solutions grew by 20,7 %. Visma is combining its organic revenue growth with an active acquisition program. During 2019 Visma acquired 17 companies, with an additional 3 companies signed making it a total of 20 companies signed and closed, most of them fast growing cloud computing companies.
Cloud computing continues to be a key driver for growth
With more businesses seeing the benefits of SaaS software, demand for cloud computing and mobile solutions keeps growing. Visma has invested heavily in its SaaS products since 2010, and we are now reaping the rewards from our demanding transition to becoming a cloud company. Revenues from Cloud Computing grew to NOK 10 854m and were 72 % of total revenue.
The cloud champions of Visma Tripletex, Poweroffice, Visma eAccounting, Visma Netvisor, Visma e-conomic and Dinero all had between 20 and 40 % growth. They continue to take considerable market share and we expect the growth to continue in 2020 at the same pace.
