Managing to cash flow break-even with cash on hand

Trillion dollars of transactions recorded on Xero platform in last 12 months

Xero Limited (NZX: XRO, ASX: XRO) today reported full-year earnings to 31 March 2016, posting operating revenues of $207.1 million, a 67% year-on-year increase. Global subscriber numbers reached 717,000 paying subscribers, a 242,000 increase on 31 March 2015.

Following strong subscriber growth over the past 12 months, Xero is the market-leading small business cloud accounting software in the UK, Australia, New Zealand based on number of subscriptions. We have also made good progress in the competitive United States market where the accounting industry is early in its migration to cloud technologies. Our global experience and platform investment positions us well as the transition to cloud-based business software continues its momentum.

Xero at a glance

• Xero is the number one cloud accounting product for business across Australia, UK and New Zealand. We now have more than 717,000 paying subscribers in 180 countries around the world
• Xero has shown strong international growth with the UK growing to over 130,000 subscribers
• Xero is used by millions of business around the world and over the past 12 months, recorded $1 trillion across more than 450 million incoming and outgoing transactions
• We have more than 1,450 employees across 20 offices around the world
• We released more than 1,200 customer-facing features and updates, including Xero TaxTouch in the United States, which was recently won Barlow Research’s 2016 Monarch Innovation Award, and Xero Tax in Australia which has been used by more than 1,400 firms to submit over 1.4 million lodgements to the Australian Taxation Office
• Xero works with 80 financial institutions around the world as part of the emerging concept of the financial web, including National Australia Bank, HSBC and ASB

Strong global revenue and subscriber growth

• Paid subscribers hit 717,000 globally, with 242,000 subscribers added in the 12 months to 31 March 2016
• Annualised committed monthly revenue of $257.9 million, a year-on-year increase of 62%
• Operating revenues of $207.1 million, an increase of 67% on FY15
• Global year-on-year revenue growth of 95% in international markets, and 57% in Australia and New Zealand

Improvement in operating metrics

• Gross margin increased by 6 points year-on-year to 76%
• Net loss of $82.5 million for the year, an increase of $12.9 million over the previous year, as Xero continues to invest in scaling its global business
• Net loss of $38.1 million for H2 FY16 moderated from the net loss in H2 FY15 by $6.9m
• EBITDA margin in H2 FY16 improved to -23% from -36% in H1 FY16 and -53% in H2 FY15
• EBITDA margin (excluding share-based compensation) in H2 FY16 improved to -15% from -30% in H1 FY16 and -43% in H2 FY15

Product innovation highlights include:

• Migration of Xero’s cloud platform to Amazon Web Services which is now at the deployment stage – a move that will unlock a new platform for innovation
• Implementation of more than 1,200 customer-facing product improvements and features over the past 12 months
• Release of TaxTouch, a cloud-based tax solution for freelancers and the self employed in the United States
• The release of Xero Tax, a cloud-based tax solution for the Australian market that has been used for more than 1.4 million tax lodgements
• Release of two-step authentication for Xero customers to provide an additional layer of security for all Xero user accounts
• Expansion of the ecosystem which connects Xero with more than 500+ solution partners to extend functionality for small businesses
• Significant strategic partnerships and integrations with top technology companies who are shaping the future of cloud