MuM reports H1 up 15%, VAR up 10% or so ex-fx

German reseller and software developer Mensch und Maschine (MuM) releases its earnings shortly before other PLM companies and often signals whether the market is doing well — if the company’s Q2 report is anything to go by, it should be a decent earnings season. MuM said that sales for the first half of 2015 are up 15% as reported to €81.4 million, with it software business reporting H1 revenue of  €20.6 million, up 9%. But the standout was its VAR business, with revenue of  €60.8 million jumping 18% year/year (y/y). The company said that currency effects, specifically strengthening of the Swiss Franc versus the Euro, caused roughly half of the growth of the VAR business for the year to date — but that still means 10% or so organic growth as reported. What can we learn about Q2?

• Q2 revenue was €38.6 million, up 17% y/y but down sequentially by €4 million or so. For comparison, Q1 revenue was up 14% y/y
• In Q2, MuM Software revenue was €10.3 million, up 12% y/y and flat sequentially. As a reminder, MuM makes solutions such as the Open Mind CAM suite and GaLa gardening and landscaping software
• Revenue from the VAR business was €28.3 million, up 19% but down €4 million from Q1. MuM resells Autodesk software so often reports lumpy revenue because of the timing of promotions, suites releases and other specific offerings timed to suit Autodesk’s timetable, which has quarters closing one month after MuM. On a constant currency basis, MuM would appear to have had growth in the VAR business of around 10%
• Given what MuM said in its prepared remarks, it would appear that the sequential declines are due to currency effects –MuM doesn’t give total revenue or category information on a constant currency basis for the quarter.

In all, the strong H1 and Q2 led MuM CEO Adi Drotleff to reiterate the company’s targets for 2015 of total revenue over €150 million (that would be growth of at least 7%). In the company presentation to investors, Mr. Drotleff said that he sees mid-term growth of 10% on an organic basis, so my interpretation is that he sees things slowing in the second half of 2015 due to a combination of currency and market effects, but picking up in 2016 — after all, the company still thinks it will revenue of €200 million by 2018. The rest of the PLMish universe starts reporting tomorrow, when Dassault Systèmes releases results. PTC has already warned that it’s going to report revenue of approximately $303 million, down 10% y/y on lighter than expected license and subscriptions solutions revenue. We’ve got MuM reporting up, PTC reporting down … currency is clearly involved in these reports, but so is a bit of buyer uncertainty given all of the ways one can now buy and use software. Let’s see what DS has to say.