Xref achieves sales, usage and client acquisition records
Released
Released
Announcement PDF
Monday 30th April 2018
Xref achieves sales, usage and client acquisition records in Q3
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Record Q3 sales of $1.8 million, up 80% on Q3 FY2017
Record sales and usage for March 2018 - sales up 142% and usage up 105% on March 2017
Record client acquisition, with 102 organisations welcomed across Australia, New Zealand, North
America, Europe and the UAE
Xref Limited (ASX:XF1), the human resources technology company, today reports record year on year
growth for Q3 FY2018. Credit sales for the quarter reached a record $1.8 million, up 80% on the previous
corresponding quarter. Usage of credits sold, which is recognised as revenue, reached $1.1 million, up
90% compared to $0.6 million in Q3 FY2017.
The Company was encouraged to see 29% of total credit sales coming from new clients, with the remaining
71% generated through account top-ups made by existing clients. Australian credit sales constituted 84% of
the total, while the remaining 16% came from international markets, including 10% from sales to North
American organisations.
Key performance metrics for the month of March 2018 all exceeded the previous corresponding period by
more than 100%. Credit sales reached $0.97 million, up 142% on March 2017. Credit usage hit $0.45
million, up 105%, and cash receipts were $0.84 million, up 133%.
Sales revenue history
Credit sales and credit usage history
Business model
Under Xref’s business model, when clients purchase credits (credit sales) to use the candidate referencing
platform, the value of their purchases is recognised as unearned income. When they pay for the credits, the
cash is recognised as cash receipts. Once the credits are used by the client (usage), Xref recognises the
value of the credits used as revenue (recognised revenue).
Large addressable market
Xref provides the first automated solution for the candidate referencing process, and is capitalising on its
first-mover opportunity by investing in international growth. Xref’s global addressable market includes more
than 180 million employees in North America, 120 million employees in Europe, and 15 million employees
in Australia and New Zealand.
Client acquisition continues to increase
Xref acquired 102 new clients in Q3, including 60 in Australia and New Zealand, 26 in North America, 11 in
the UK and UAE, and five in the Nordics region. This brings the total number of organisations using Xref
directly to more than 700 (excluding organisations that use Xref’s platform through recruitment processing
outsourcing organisations and integration partners).
In Australia and New Zealand, new clients acquired included Cement Australia, Global Medics, Incitec
Pivot, Melbourne IT, NRMA, RACQ, Randstad Australia, Reliance HR Company and The Nielsen Company
in Australia; and Christchurch City Council, Coca Cola Amatil NZ and Genesis Energy in New Zealand.
Prominent new North American clients included Fusion Medical Staffing, Hays Canada, SCM Insurance,
Spin Master, The Fairmont (Fairmont Hotels and Resorts) and The Ian Martin Group.
UK and UAE clients acquired included Unilad, UBM Plc and Darkmatter LLC and, in the Nordics region,
Xref welcomed Magseis ASA, Azets People and Clas Ohlson.
More information about some of these companies has been included as an Appendix to this
announcement.
Client Acquisition Growth
*Excludes non-direct clients using Xref via RPOs and Channel Partners
Latent revenue opportunities from new clients
The 102 new clients acquired during Q3 employ a combined total of approximately 47,000 employees per
year. Of these hires, 76.6% (36,000) will be made in Australian and New Zealand, and 23.4% (11,000) will
be hired in North America and Europe. Xref’s client base now collectively hires approximately 488,000
employees per year.
Number of available hires to reference
Initial adoption by new clients increases
Historical client adoption trends have seen new Xref clients use the platform for approximately 25% of total
annual hires in the first year, rising to around 95% by the fourth year. Initial adoption rates across new
clients acquired in Q3 reached 33.4%, demonstrating the increased effectiveness of the Company’s sales
process and new client confidence in the platform.
Growing Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA)
The increased adoption rates of Xref clients over time also leads to an increase in Average Revenue Per
Account (ARPA). Clients that have joined Xref during FY18, contributed an average of $7,000 in sales
revenue during Q3. Clients that joined Xref before FY18 contributed an average of $14,800 in sales
revenue for Q3 - a further indication of growth in adoption and its impact on ARPA. Combined, the average
sales revenue from all clients during FY18 was $10,000, an increase of 7.5% since ARPA was last
announced in January 2018.
Sales through integrations ramping up
During the quarter, Xref announced integrations with Lever, a leading San Francisco-based applicant
tracking system used by more than 1,500 companies in 40 countries, and fit2work, an arm of the online
workforce management software provider, Mercury Group, which was recently acquired by Equifax. Xref’s
integration partners support more than 20,000 organisations worldwide, providing a conduit for Xref to
rapidly increase sales cost-effectively. The Company continues to add new partners to its integration
channel.
Credits used through integrations in Q3 represented 6% of total usage, up from 4% in Q2. This reflects the
impact of the growing number of organisations using Xref through integrations, which has increased from
54 during Q2 to 74 during Q3.
Expenditure and outlook
Expenses were $3.5 million for the quarter, in line with management expectations.
Xref maintains a positive growth trajectory and anticipates continued revenue growth in Q4. The Company
continues to invest in global growth and scale, and Q4 expenditure is estimated to remain constant at $3.5
million to provide continued support for revenue growth. At 31 March 2018 the Company held $5.9 million
cash.
The Company’s fully automated platform offers human resources and recruitment professionals a
significantly more efficient and effective method for collecting references, when compared to traditional
telephone-based reference checking, reducing the time and resources required, and protecting users from
the threats of candidate fraud, security breaches and discrimination risks.
Executive director / CEO Lee-Martin Seymour said: “This was a strong quarter - we have achieved
significant client growth and made great progress on increasing average revenue per account (ARPA). As
reported in our February 2018 presentation, increasing ARPA is a top priority for us in terms of building
scale and profitability, and we are committed to the ongoing improvement of this key growth metric.”
Executive director / CTO Tim Griffiths said: “We maintain our focus on improving and evolving the
platform, to offer additional value and meet the needs of both existing and newly acquired clients. This
quarter, our integrations program continued to contribute to our global growth success with access to Xref
made available via two important new channel partners. We also launched a new public API in response to
growing demand for solution connectivity from other, smart HR platforms, thus allowing third-party
organisations to integrate more easily with other software platforms, and enabling developers to ‘self
service’ their system’s exchange of data with our solution.”
Chairman / Brad Rosser said: “The team’s focus on improving the sales cycle, dedicated account
management and tight spending controls has contributed to strong growth and a successful quarter, with a
stable expense line. We are encouraged by the increase in channel sales and the continued expansion of
overseas operations.”
Investor and media enquiries:
Ashley Rambukwella, FCR
Tel: +61 (0)2 8264 1004 / +61 (0)407 231 282
a.rambukwella@fcr.com.au
Appendix – New clients
Australia
Cement Australia - the nation’s leading supplier of cement products and services, Cement
Australia employs more than 1,100 people across three locations: Brisbane and Gladstone in
Queensland and Railton in Tasmania.
Incitec Pivot - is an ASX-listed Australian multinational corporation that manufactures fertiliser and
explosive chemicals. It employs approximately 4,400 staff globally.
Melbourne IT – ASX-listed Melbourne IT helps organisations of all sizes to successfully do
business online. It employs approximately 400 staff in offices across Australia and New Zealand.
NRMA - is Australia’s largest member organisation, providing a diverse range of motoring, travel
and lifestyle benefits. The NRMA has more than 2.6 million members in NSW and the ACT.
RACQ - One of the largest mutuals in Australia, RACQ provides motoring, insurance, lifestyle,
banking and advocacy services. It has 1.7 million members across Queensland.
Randstad - Randstad Australia is part of a multinational human resource consulting firm,
headquartered in Diemen, the Netherlands. It employs around 29,000 staff across over 4,500
branches.
North America
Fusion Medical Staffing - is a healthcare professional staffing company. Founded in 2009, it has
appeared on the Inc 5,000 fastest growing private companies list three times.
Hays Canada - Hays Specialist Recruitment Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hays plc,
which has been at the forefront of the global recruitment industry for over 35 years. It has annual
revenues of more than £2.1 billion, and employs more than 10,000 staff in 250 offices across 33
countries.
SCM Insurance - offers a suite of comprehensive insurance solutions to help mitigate threats to
people, reduce risk to physical assets and protect brand reputation.
Spin Master - is a leading global children's entertainment company that creates, designs,
manufactures, licenses and markets a diversified portfolio of innovative toys, games, products and
entertainment properties.
Fairmont Hotels and Resorts – operates more than 70 hotels and resorts globally, including The
Fairmont Banff Springs, The Savoy in London and Quebec City’s Fairmont Le Château Frontenac.
The Ian Martin Group – is one of North America’s most progressive recruitment and project-staffing
firms, specialising in engineering and IT recruiting to help organisations of all sizes hire better.
United Kingdom
Unilad
Unilad provides news and entertainment with a social-first approach, and has UK-based offices in
London and Manchester.
UBM Plc
UBM plc is a global business-to-business event organiser headquartered in London. It is listed on
the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Darkmatter LLC – is a cybersecurity firm headquartered in the UAE.
Norway
Magseis ASA - is a Norwegian geophysical company founded in 2009 and specialising in Ocean
Bottom Seismic Acquisition.
Azets People - is the leading provider of technology and services within accounting, payroll, HR
and advisory in the Nordics.
Clas Ohlson - is a Swedish hardware store chain and mail-order firm that specialises in hardware,
home, leisure, electrical and multimedia products. It is one of the biggest of its type in Scandinavia,
with more than 200 stores.
New Zealand
Christchurch City Council - is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is
a territorial authority elected to represent the 381,500 people of Christchurch.
Coca Cola Amatil NZ - the licensed bottler of The Coca-Cola Company in New Zealand has been
in operation since the early 1900s. It has five production facilities with 13 bottling lines and three
warehouses.
Genesis Energy NZ- is the largest electricity and natural gas retailer in New Zealand, with 26% and
39% market share respectively in the 2015–2016 financial year.
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