MuM reports rebound in Autodesk sales

We are nearing the end of earnings season, but still have a few biggies to go. One of those is Autodesk, and we use its largest European reseller, Mensch und Maschine (MuM) as a preview since MuM reports preliminary results a couple of weeks before Autodesk. Like today.

MuM announced that it hit all of its targets for 2018, driven by its demand for its proprietary software brands and a “strong rebound” in its Autodesk VAR business.

Total revenue was €185 million, up 15%. The Software segment reported revenue of €56 million, up 10%, while the VAR Business saw revenue up 17% to €130 million. The preliminary material didn’t say how large the contribution was from SOFiSTiK in 2018, though it’s likely minimal as the majority stake was only announced late in the yer. (You might recall that MuM has held a small stake since 1999; it grew that to 51% in December. SOFiSTiK makes structural analysis software that’s intended to fit into BIM workflows for buildings, bridges and other structures.)

According to the press release, CEO Adi Drotleff is “entirely happy with the 2018 achievements and stays optimistic for 2019, [saying] ‘We see further healthy organic growth and are getting additional push by the majority takeover in SOFiSTiK AG, so we expect sales to grow 15-20% to €215-220 million.”

What does this mean for Autodesk? Only good things. Since MuM’s VAR business grew 17% (what we used to call end-user revenue when I was at Daratech), it’s reasonable to presume that Autodesk’s European revenue grew at a similar rate, though slightly lower to account for MuM’s margin.

Autodesk reports results for fiscal 2019 (ended January 31) on February 28. MuM releases final figures for 2018 on March 11, 2019. Tune back in then!