The UK based group Hybrid Software has enjoyed what CEO Mike Rottenborn calls “a remarkable year”. During 2021 the company, then operating as Global Graphics, acquired Hybrid Software, changed its name in October and a month later acquired ColorLogic, a German colour management specialist.
This came, says Rottenborn in the company’s annual report, despite the challenges thrown up by Covid and is reflected in the results. Revenue leapt from €22.5 million in 2020 to €48.6 million with pretax profit coming in at €4.57 million (€1.69 million). The contribution from the acquisition of the former Hybrid Software, now the Enterprise Software operation, amounted to €20.7 million.
There was underlying organic growth despite the acquisitions. And they will continue to be part of the growth strategy. Already this year Hybrid Software has acquired the assets of iC3D, proofing and visualisation software for packaging.
The acquisition of Hybrid Software is significant for other reasons. Rottenborn explains that it has introduced an end user element to the sales focus. Other parts of the business, Global Graphics and Xitron Rips, Meteor Electronics focus on OEM business without a direct relationship to converters and printers.
This has rubbed off on Global Graphics which shifted in Q3 to a customer centric model where integration of the technology is made easier. This helped lift revenues for Global Graphics which have otherwise suffered from the cancellation of Drupa and therefore from the limited wave of product announcements and slow OEM sales during pandemic.
Meteor’s sales were propelled during 2021 by strong demand from ceramic producers in China. This is changing: the ceramics market in China has slowed and Meteor is hit too by supply side problems in obtaining electronic components.
Company chairman Guido Van der Schueren says that a key target for the current financial year is to “increase the liquidity of our shares to make it easier to buy and sell shares on the open market”.
Setting out reasons to invest in the company, the annual report outlines the growing adoption of inkjet technologies, the acceleration in conversion from analogue to digital ways of working and that Hybrid Software is the only full stack provider in its field and that it holds a technology leadership position.
He adds: “We have many plans for 2022 and beyond to leverage the power of the full group and combine our OEM products with our end user products and sales channels to achieve further growth. With these results, we remain firmly on track to achieve our target of €100 million revenue and €35 million Ebitda in 2026.”
Like any other quoted company, Hybrid Software publishes its carbon impacts in the annual report with comparisons against previous years. It is working with Ecologi to offset residual carbon and did so for almost 900 tonnes CO2e during 2021.
