Nemetschek gets AEC earnings off to a strong start

Nemetschek reported last week that its Q4 and fiscal 2021 results exceeded the guidance it gave for 2021 — which had already been raised in July after a boffo first half. Final results for 2021 will be announced on March 22, but here’s what we know and can guess right now:

For fiscal 2021, total revenue was up 14% (up 16% in constant currencies, cc) to €682 million, about 2% ahead of plan. Q4 revenue was up 17% (up 15% cc) to €187.9 million.

Axel Kaufmann, Spokesman and CFOO of the Nemetschek Group said that “in 2021, Nemetschek has once again demonstrated its operational strength, continued its profitable growth course, and achieved new records in revenue and operating results. We also optimistically look forward to 2022 and see ourselves very well positioned to continue our sustainable and profitable growth in the future.”

It’s a pretty terse statement — we can’t infer from this what led to these somewhat unanticipated results. But we can look backward for patterns: in October when Nemetschek announced Q3 and year-to-date results, it said that had seen an almost 50% cc jump in subscription revenue for the year-to-date, with especially strong demand in the Design segment — Nemetschek’s historic hot spot, which still accounts for half of total revenue. Bluebeam, in the Build segment, continued to grow internationally, leading to 17% growth in that segment. The Manage segment also grew even in an uncertain environment (after all, empty office buildings don’t lead to new investments in IT to improve efficient usage of those spaces), and Media grew via acquisition. To sum up: in Q3, all segments reported growth — which is likely to also be the case in Q4.

We’ll find out more on March 22 from Nemetschek — and from Trimble, Procore, Bentley, and Autodesk before then.