MuM announced a “pleasing start” to 2021

Get ready — PLMish earnings really crank up this week. We’re off to a good start, with MuM announcing last week that sales aren’t yet at pre-pandemic levels but were, even so, good.

MuM, more formally Mensch und Maschine Software, (MuM) a CAD/CAM specialist company, said that total revenue was €72.3 million, down 8% as reported. Revenue from MuM’s own software brands was €22 million, up 8% while revenue from the (mostly Autodesk) VAR business was €50.3 million, down 14%.

How should we think about the decline in Autodesk-related sales? A couple of possible factors: First, MuM’s Q1 overlaps Autodesk’s Q4 by one month (January), meaning that it’s volatile because of whatever year-end promotions Autodesk may be running. Yes, MuM’s Q1 2021 is down with respect to Q1 2020, but it is still up over Q1 2019.Q1 2021 is also up sequentially, so it’s not as though the demand for Autodesk products has dropped off a cliff–it appears to be down year/year because of a strong Q1 2020. Second, at least when looked at from here in the US, it appears as though MuM’s main geographic markets (the German-speaking countries of Europe) are still open/closed/open/closed, which may make it hard to close deals. MuM didn’t say, but I would imagine that at least some of its optimism is related to an eventual smoothing out of local restrictions.

About that optimism: MuM CEO Adi Drotleff said, “After the pleasing start we expect continued margin strength on a moderate cost base in the further course of the year which should lead to significant growth compared to the quarters Q2-Q4 in the previous year which had been retarded by Corona effects.” Mr. Drotleff told investors that he sees “growth from Q2 onwards, regarded by Corona effects”, nonetheless leading to “gross profit to grow by +5-8% to EUR 135-138 mln in the full year 2021.”

So, as has been the case with MuM for a while, cost controls balanced by strong own-software sales and a likely uptick in the Autodesk VAR business. While there aren’t insanely-huge-gangbusters results, we’re off to a decent start.

This week, we’ll hear from Cadence (which has been snapping up CAE assets), Schneider Electric (which may comment on AVEVA), Dassault Systemes, Aspen Tech, PTC, Hexagon, Nemetschek, and ESI. Phew.