Esker To Pay €0.60 Per Share as Dividend for 2021, Up 20%, Affirming Growth Momentum for 2022

Long-standing shareholders to receive a 10 percent bonus

Esker, a global cloud platform and leader in AI-driven process automation solutions for finance and customer service functions, today announced that during its annual meeting held in a closed session on June 15, 2022, at the company headquarters, Esker CEO Jean-Michel Bérard presented the company’s continued strong performance in 2021, with sales revenue and net income up 19% and 24%, respectively. These excellent results reaffirm Esker's ability to generate strong growth while delivering significant profitability through its cloud business model.

Continued growth momentum

Mr. Bérard also provided an update on the business for the current year: Q1 2022 sales revenue increased 14% based on constant exchange rates and 18% based on current exchange rates. Over the same period, bookings grew 11% over Q1 2021, which was already a strong quarter due to the recovery effect following the first COVID-19 wave.

Esker’s Q2 2022 financial results will be published on July 12. Mr. Bérard confirmed that the company is maintaining its organic growth target of around 15-16% for 2022, which does not include any positive currency effects or the recent acquisition of Market Dojo. Bookings are expected to achieve double digit growth in 2022, in line with the performance achieved in Q1. At this level of growth, profitability is expected to be at a level similar to that of previous years, and net income will once again increase significantly.

These forecasts could be affected by a sharp decline of the global economy linked to the continuing pandemic and geopolitical tensions. Nevertheless, Esker believes its business model will withstand these types of concerns and that the company will be able to achieve significant growth and profitability in 2022.

Beyond simple short-term performance, the resilience of its business model, combined with a sound financial structure, places Esker in a position of strength in its industry. A tightening economy would offer new development opportunities in the medium term, through both external growth and increased market shares.

A dividend of €0.60 per share

As a result of this confidence in both its strategy and market positioning, Esker will pay €0.60 per share as dividend to its shareholders, an increase of 20% compared to the previous year. This dividend represents 25% of the results achieved in 2021, keeping in line with Esker's previous dividend distribution policies.

The coupon detachment date was fixed on June 23, 2022, with a “record date” of June 24, 2022, with payment to be completed by June 27, 2022. In accordance with the company's Articles of Association, shareholders who have held their shares in registered or administered registered form for at least two years will receive a 10% loyalty bonus (a bonus dividend of €0.66 per share).

Supervisory Board welcomes new member

Esker is pleased to welcome Mr. Steve Vandenberg to its Supervisory Board. As a Global Black Belt with Microsoft Security Solutions Area, Mr. Vandenberg supports enterprise and government organizations in their digital transformation and assists them in facing cybersecurity, compliance and privacy challenges. His expertise in these areas will strengthen Esker in its mission to help companies achieve positive-sum growth, meaning the drive to create a better experience for the entire business ecosystem by serving all stakeholders: customers, employees, suppliers, the planet, and even the community in which the business operates.

Esker joins the new Euronext Tech Leaders segment

Esker has been selected by Euronext to join the new Euronext Tech Leaders segment. This segment, which aims to strengthen the attractiveness of the European technology sector, is composed of over 100 high-growth market-leading companies in Europe.

About Esker

Esker is a global cloud platform built to unlock strategic value for finance and customer service professionals, and strengthen collaboration between companies by automating the cash conversion cycle. Esker’s solutions incorporate technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) to drive increased productivity, enhanced visibility, reduced fraud risk, and improved collaboration with customers, suppliers and internally. Esker operates in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France, and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information on Esker and its solutions, visit www.esker.com. Follow Esker on LinkedIn and join the conversation on the Esker blog at blog.esker.com.

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