Appier reports accelerated operating profit growth and record-high revenue in Q2

Operating profit increased by 4.4 times year-on-year and by 6.4 times on an FX-neutral basis, demonstrating strong revenue outperformance in key regions

TOKYO, Aug. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- 

Highlights and achievements of Q2 FY24

Achieved a record-high revenue of JPY 8.2 billion, with a 32% YoY growth, driven by strong outperformance in key regions. NEA grew by 35%, while the US & EMEA grew by 65%, exceeding projections. Profitability surpasses plan. Operating profit surged 4.4 times YoY (6.4 times YoY on an FX-neutral basis), elevating the operating margin to 4.3% (6.7% on an FX-neutral basis). Initiated the first shareholder return through a share buyback, driven by the positive outlook for the second half of the year with improved profitability.

Profitability exceeded projections with the first-time shareholder return

Appier Group Inc (TSE: 4180), henceforth referred to as Appier, today announced its earnings results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2024. This quarter, Appier achieved a record-high revenue of JPY 8.2 billion, which grew 32% YoY, and a record-high gross profit of JPY 4.2 billion. Strong outperformance in NEA and US & EMEA highlights robust business momentum across key regions and verticals as the company heads into the second half of the year. Operating profit surpassed projections and quadrupled to JPY 351 million, with an operating margin of 4.3%. (6.4 times operating profit growth with an operating margin of 6.7% on an FX-neutral basis), reflecting Appier's ongoing strong operating leverage, productivity improvements, and disciplined cost management.

Driven by a positive outlook in the second half of 2024, Appier has initiated its first-ever share buyback, demonstrating its commitment to shareholder returns while maintaining a solid foundation for future growth.

Strong outperformance in key regions, NEA and US & EMEA

NEA's growth accelerated to 35% YoY, which was attributed to the expansion of existing key accounts in E-commerce through focused upsell strategies and new accounts from diversified verticals. US & EMEA achieved a high growth rate of 65% YoY on top of last year's high growth, driven by the robust expansion of large enterprise customers in Digital Content and Other Internet Services. Appier continues its positive growth across the E-commerce and Digital Content sectors and expects continued business momentum in the second half of the year due to the higher seasonality[1] in these verticals. This positions the company on the right track for further profitable growth due to increased revenue scale, improved productivity, and continuous, disciplined expense control towards the end of the year.

Driving growth and profitability through strategic R&D and GenAI investment

Appier's strategic investments in return-oriented R&D, including advancements in AI technology such as new Generative AI modules, enhance operating leverage in S&M and G&A, improve customers' ROI, and drive sustainable business expansion. Generative AI has begun to deliver tangible business value. These early successes underscore its potential to drive long-lasting growth and solidify Appier's competitive advantage.

Appier continuously expands its customer base with its historically lowest churn rate of 0.574%, demonstrating strong customer traction and stickiness to Appier's solutions, ensuring robust and highly sustainable growth. Quarterly gross profit per headcount hit a record high of 5.82M with 23% YoY growth, further enhancing its productivity gains.

"Appier is a technology-focused company at the forefront of AI innovation, where relentless advancement in AI technology enables us to deliver ROI-driven solutions that generate better returns for customers. As a result, our business performance exceeded projections this quarter, showcasing the strength of our operating leverage as we scale effectively," said Dr. Chih-han Yu, Appier's CEO and Co-Founder.

A true AI organization: driving innovation, maximizing ROI, and leading the industry 

Appier is uniquely positioned in the AI stack's application layer, with its key strengths lying in a robust data moat, differentiated algorithm, and deep domain knowledge. Appier has innovated its products with GenAI capabilities across various directions to empower business growth, such as leveraging AI as an ROI driver, facilitating interaction by utilizing AI as the new UI, and boosting productivity through no-code, AI-enabled software. Internally, Appier strives to become a true AI-driven organization by integrating AI as a key driver in product development, improving customer management, and streamlining the operation process by standardizing workflows.

Appier continually invests in generative AI and has made technological breakthroughs with its pioneering work, such as inventing a framework for multiple Large Language Model (LLM) collaboration, incorporating real-time feedback data training to streamline processing capabilities and shorten the learning cycle, featuring self-reflection capabilities to seek human clarification and ensure more accurate answers. These strategic innovations not only reinforce Appier's leadership in AI but also solidify its position as a frontrunner in the AI industry.

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's mission is turning AI into ROI by making software intelligent. Appier 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.