Significant growth, profitability and international expansion to underscore Appier’s focus in second half of 2022

Highlights and achievements for the second quarter of fiscal year 2022

• Revenue increased to 4.4 billion yen with the highest YoY growth rate of 56% over the last three years
• Gross profit grew 57% YoY
• Revenue from the US and EMEA markets increased over 9 times YoY and represented 12% of total revenue
• Achieved EBITDA margin of 5% with EBITDA profit of 213 million yen
• Operating margin improved by 7 percentage points YoY and EBITDA margin improved by 6 percentage points YoY
• Achieved 30% YoY growth in customer numbers with a record high last twelve months net revenue retention of 127.3% and lowest ever customer churn rate of 0.62%
• Upward revision of full year forecast from 17.8 billion yen to 18.5 billion yen, with YoY revenue growth rate further accelerated to 46% from 41%

Appier’s second quarter performance summary

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Media OutReach – 12 August 2022 – Appier Group Inc (TSE: 4180), henceforth referred to as Appier, today announced its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2022. Appier’s robust growth in the second quarter was attributed to three key factors. Firstly, AI-powered solutions continue to deliver measurable returns for clients, prompting them to continue or expand their partnerships with Appier; secondly, Appier has achieved continued success in the US and EMEA given their large digital economies; and finally, substantial growth and expansion into other verticals in AsiaPacific has further deepened Appier’s market presence.

Appier’s continuing improved sales productivity and increasing usage from existing customers drove its revenue to 4.4 billion yen, with a historic high growth rate of 56% year-on-year (YoY), and gross profit grew by 57% YoY. Sustaining the momentum from its first quarter, Appier’s revenue from US and EMEA increased over 9 times YoY and represented 12% of its total revenue, a reflection of the company’s expectations for robust demand and profitable growth in light of international expansion.

Appier’s AI technologies and product differentiations are crucial in defining and setting the pace of business growth. As more enterprises seek measurable profit returns, turning marketing spending into predictable returns solidified Appier clients’ digital deployment in the industry race to adapt smarter and more effective solutions. The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) saw a 6 percentage points YoY improvement, while operating margin improved by 7 percentage points YoY.

Robust demand from customers across different regions

The growth in the number of customers adopting more than two Appier solutions, along with considerable new customer wins, demonstrates Appier’s strong business resilience. Appier’s recurring revenue currently constitutes over 95% of its total revenue, which drove Appier’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) to 16.6 billion yen with a YoY growth rate of 53%. Emerging growth drivers across different regions will continue to fuel this momentum with more predictable business opportunities.

Appier’s AI technology plays an increasingly important role in privacy-focused and ROI-oriented markets. Appier’s last twelve months (LTM) net revenue retention (NRR) grew to a historic high of 127.3%, with its number of customers increasing to 1,228 with a 30% YoY growth. Customer churn rate also decreased to 0.62%, the lowest in Appier history.

New customers were mainly from the e-commerce and entertainment industries (34% and 25% of total new customers, respectively), driven by post-COVID demand for digital transformation and changing consumption patterns.

Customers in Northeast Asia continued to account for the largest share of global revenue at 62%, followed by Greater China (19%), US and EMEA (12%) and Southeast Asia (7%). Appier’s ongoing successful international expansion played an instrumental role in its growth this quarter. This remarkable growth can be attributed to the US and EMEA’s position as the world’s largest digital economies, along with increased product offerings and a bigger total addressable market (TAM). Further expansion to top-tier customers in other verticals also deepened Appier’s market presence.

Profitable growth in the second half of 2022

Appier revised up its guidance for the fiscal year to reflect its outperformance in the second quarter, forecasting 18.5 billion yen total revenue for the year, with YoY revenue growth rate further accelerated to 46% from 41%. A profitable second half of the year is expected given stronger revenue growth and better operating leverage. Appier’s recession-proof offerings, higher business resilience and larger TAM are key drivers for this guidance revision for 2022.

Guidance in gross profit has outpaced top-line growth to 9.6 billion yen with 54% YoY growth rate. Operating loss has been revised to 84 million yen, with significant improvements compared to Appier’s original guidance and getting closer to breaking even, while full-year positive EBITDA profit has been revised to 1.07 billion yen with a 2,423% YoY growth rate.

Appier provides predictable returns on customers’ marketing spending, with its solutions offering direct revenue or profit impact in over 80% of customers. Furthermore, large enterprise customers with more than 10 billion yen annual revenue currently constitute over 90% of Appier revenues, underlining higher business resilience to overall macroeconomic conditions. Appier continues to maintain a market-leading presence in Asia Pacific, alongside further expansion to other verticals and geographies.

“Our strong momentum over the past two quarters underscores Appier’s significant growth alongside our customers. In particular, we achieved our highest year-on-year growth rate in the past three years. Our international expansion strategy continues to bear fruit for us, as the US and EMEA grew to form 12% of our total revenues at Appier,” said Dr. Chih-Han Yu, CEO and co-founder of Appier. “We are confident our solid business metrics will continue to see us through the second half of the year. Turning AI into ROI by making software intelligent will enable us to have a better chance at winning customers and transforming their budgets and investments into visible, high returns, helping them to better cope with market uncertainties and potential risks through Appier’s AI technologies and product differentiations.”

ROI-driven intelligent AI solutions empower product synergies

Appier’s solutions maximize customers’ product synergies and bring about lasting effects throughout the customer journey. Customers can now turn AI into ROI and exploit their full-funnel data with higher efficiency across all stages. Appier believes that AI is the key component in the 1st party data world and offers businesses cutting-edge software that enables real-time and precise prediction and advertising through three innovative approaches:

• Synergic AIXON and AIXPERT bundled solutions: Businesses can benefit from inferred insights generated from 1st party data, allowing them to further optimize their marketing spending through higher AI accuracy and timely user insights. Applying these insights to auto-adjusting budget and bidding strategies will enable businesses to make smarter campaign decisions and seize potential business opportunities.
• Combined AIQUA and BotBonnie solutions: With a single unified interface, businesses can now form an omnichannel customer journey map across multiple conversational channels (LINE, Messenger, WhatsApp, etc.) and owned channels (website, app) and gain a deeper understanding into user profiles. Businesses can then leverage these behavioral insights to take immediate action with tailored, real-time and personalized notifications triggered by user behavior along the journey.
• AiDeal’s smart promotion: Businesses can now use the power of Machine Learning and Deep Learning to predict and update hesitation scores along the user journey and dynamically generate the most optimal offering to individuals based on their purchase hesitancy. Through this, businesses can maximize the ROI uplift of campaigns without sacrificing profitability.

With these, Appier is uniquely positioned to help its customers tackle the entire customer journey across all aspects of the funnel. Appier’s solutions are designed to help customer-centric companies build brand loyalty with their customers by arming them with a 360° view of the customer, using AI to deliver any actionable insights and turn a visitor into a customer, and a customer into a loyal one.

Appier continues to focus on market-driven transformation and these cross-product synergies are a result of Appier’s ethos towards innovation. This is further underpinned by Appier’s customers’ growth and demand for digitalization as Appier remains committed to helping customers with their digital transformation journey and helping them deliver the best customer experience.

Hashtag: #Appier

About Appier

Appier (TSE: 4180) is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that uses artificial intelligence to power business decision-making. Founded in 2012 with a vision of democratizing AI, Appier now has 17 offices across APAC, Europe and US, and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Visit www.appier.com for more company information and visit ir.appier.com/en/ for more IR information.

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 12 August 2022 – To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Highways Department (HyD) is holding “Building and Maintaining Highway Infrastructure through Innovation in Highways Department” exhibition from today (August 12) to August 21. Members of the public are invited to visit.

Tata Consultancy Services Partner with Jaguar to Amplify the Importance of Electrification through Famous E-Prix Race Circuits around the World

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA & SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 12 August 2022 – Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), title sponsor of Jaguar TCS Racing, announced that the team is coming to Seoul this weekend. Watch the team live in action as the 2022 Hana Bank Seoul E-Prix reaches South Korea for the first time this Saturday, August 13, beginning at 11:40 KST.

www.tcs.com

Who will you blame if you wake up one day without a job and with no money on your bank card? Yourself. That is if you don’t follow internet security tips. The global broker OctaFX outlines the main do’s and dont’s of staying safe online.

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach – 12 August 2022 – With fraudsters gaining internet ground every year and their schemes becoming more sophisticated, it is not always easy to avoid getting hacked or scammed. However, the global broker OctaFX knows how to protect your sensitive information against theft. It will gladly share some of the most important internet security tips. But first, a little story.

OctaFX is a global broker providing online trading services worldwide since 2011. It offers everything one needs to reach their investment goals, providing top-notch conditions utilised already by clients from over 150 countries worldwide.

The company is involved in a comprehensive network of charity and humanitarian initiatives, including improvement of educational infrastructure, short-notice relief projects, supporting local communities and small to medium enterprises.

On a side note, OctaFX has also won more than 45 awards since its foundation, including the 2021 ‘Best Forex Broker Asia’ award from Global Banking & Finance Review and 2021 ‘Best ECN Broker’ award by World Finance.

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 12 August 2022 – aPetMart, the trusted online pet store in Singapore, has announced the expansion of its product offerings. With this new development, niche pet lovers can now find a variety of products handpicked by the team in the store’s latest Small Animals, Birds and Aquarium categories.

Founded in 2018 by animal lovers from a humble shophouse along Petain Road, aPetMart has established itself as a one-stop online pet shop for discerning pet parents in Singapore. With a curated selection of quality pet supplies from more than a hundred of renowned brands, such as Stella and Chewy’s, Wellness, Absolute Bites, Taste of the Wild, and Auskie, aPetMart has made premium pet products more affordable and accessible to pet lovers globally.

aPetMart is a platform run by pet lovers, for pet lovers. As pointed out by Lyn Feng, Managing Director of aPetMart LP, who adopted her tabby cat Woomau five years ago from a local neighbourhood, “Getting a pet is not a one-off decision. It is a lifestyle choice which entails caring for a friend of another species as an equal and integrating him/her into the family.” With a love for nature and strong knowledge in technology and finance, Feng, an ex-consultant and ex-banker, created aPetMart to make quality pet supplies more accessible to pets globally.

As international order fulfilment was largely disrupted by the arrival of COVID-19, the team at aPetMart used the time to reflect on how to serve the local pet community better. With the firm belief that “No Life Matters Less,” aPetMart has decided to expand its product offerings into niche pet markets to cater to a wider pet community.

For bird keepers who are looking for high-quality bird food or healthcare products, a range of items from well-known brands, such as Vitakraft and Versele Laga, is now available at the aPetMart online pet store.

aPetMart also introduced a range of well-crafted aquariums and a wide variety of aquarium accessories for all one’s fish-related needs. The inclusion of big-name brands like GEX and Tetra further solidifies aPetMart’s position as a one-stop pet supply platform.

Finally, for small animals like hamsters, rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, and more, aPetMart provides everything one would need, from food to accessories. Brands like Oxbow, Momi, Burgess, Kaytee, Bunny Nature, and Nature’s Eco have been stocked to ensure that you will always have access to first-rate pet products for your small animals’ needs.

The value-added service offered by aPetMart is unparalleled, with speedy, around-the-clock, island-wide delivery by professionally trained delivery fleet personnel. With the product category expansion, caretakers of niche pets will no longer have to search far and wide to pamper their pets.

While home pets are usually well cared for, the team at aPetMart has not forgotten the less-privileged community of stray animals in Singapore. If you are a community pet feeder with a proven record of supporting stray animals, feel free to contact aPetMart to join their Community Feeder Support Program for a special discount on pet supplies.

To raise awareness on animal welfare protection and to fight animal cruelty in Singapore. aPetMart has recently launched the #BeKindToAnimals campaign. Share the belief of “No Life Matters Less”? Contact aPetMart to collect a free #BeKindToAnimals car sticker. Paste it on your car to take a pledge!

For more information on aPetMart, visit https://apetmart.com/.

Hashtag: #aPetMart

HA NOI, VIETNAM – Media OutReach – 12 August 2022 – The Moscow City Court (Russia) officially issued the definition on termination of proceedings in civil case No. 3-473/2022 according to the claim of Entertainment One UK Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as EO) against Sconnect Vietnam Investment Technology and Services Company Limited (referred to as Sconnect) on the protection of exclusive rights to the characters of the animated work “Svinka Peppa” (“Peppa Pig”). From this definition, it can be concluded no breach of intellectual property rights has been linked to Sconnect’s Wolfoo set of characters against EO’s Peppa Pig set of characters; while affirming that under the Russian law, EO is unable to file a claim with the same demand against Sconnect in the future.

During the proceedings, Sconnect presented legal evidence and documents to prove their lawful ownership of intellectual property rights of the Wolfoo characters set and other cartoons products and deny the false accusations from EO in the case file No. 3-473/2022, which is summarized as follows:

• Wolfoo set of characters includes Wolfoo; Miss Wolfoo (Wolfoo’s mother); Mister Wolfoo (Wolfoo’s father) and Lucy (Wolfoo’s sister) are reworked characters of the Peppa Pig characters including: Mummy Pig (Mother Peppa Pig); Daddy Pig (Father Peppa Pig) and George Pig as part of audiovisual works posted on Youtube channel.

In addition, EO actively provided unconfirmed information to Sconnect’s partners, causing serious damage on the reputation, honor, property, and business activities of Sconnect in the content creation industry.

With these above losses, Sconnect is proceeding to file a lawsuit against EO to the Moscow City Court to request EO for compensation for all losses and expenses Sconnect paid during the civil litigation case No. 3-473/2022.

The result of the case has, on the other hand, contributed to promoting the movement of creative decentralization, anti-monopoly in creativity, and anti-creativity activities in emerging regions of the world with the aim of promoting innovation, creativity, and protecting individuals, organizations, and businesses in the creative field against unfair competition.

Building on the creative and innovative potential of young individuals in Vietnam and around the world combined with an optimized and professional production and business process, Sconnect adheres to the business principles of respect for intellectual property rights and creative equality culture, committing to fully and strictly comply with local law and regulations.

“WOA is a business ecosystem owned by Sconnect with over 10,000 videos produced and more than 130 million followers on Youtube and other social networking sites. Fully aware of our role and responsibility in the content creation industry, Sconnect has committed to creating real values, and bringing educational and entertainment videos to millions of families around the world.We always uphold the creative capacity of each individual, organization, and nation; and we call on businesses, organizations, and individuals in this field to join hands in nurturing a creative environment with healthy, fair, and positive competition.”, a representative of Sconnect shared.

Hashtag: #Sconnect

About Sconnect:

Sconnect is a leading producer of creative content in Vietnam. The company is taking the lead in producing educational and entertainment videos distributed across diverse platforms worldwide such as Youtube, Facebook, TikTok, Television, etc.

With high quality products in the WOA ecosystem, Sconnect has been awarded three Youtube Diamond buttons and more than 100 gold and silver buttons.

Sconnect’s vision is to bring its products to movie theaters and television internationally.

With the collective power of its young, dynamic, and vibrant people sharing one mission – foster connections for values across the world, Sconnect is committed to developing a sustainable business system and delivering real value for customers.