Essensys, a proptech firm that sells software to flexible office companies, has “all to play for” in its US expansion, its founder says, as revenue from its North American operation comes within a whisker of matching that from the UK.
Chief executive Mark Furness said the US is “a massive opportunity” for the London-listed company. Revenue over the six months to 31 January from the US rose by 8.3% year-on-year to £5.2m, according to half-year results published today. Revenue from the UK, meanwhile, dropped by 18% to £5.4m. That left group revenue down 7%.
Essensys, which listed in May 2019, said in its results presentation that the US commercial real estate industry is “further ahead in [its] digital transformation journey”, with a much higher proportion of businesses saying they have a “defined digital transformation roadmap” than in the UK or Europe. Last year the company hired Jeremy Bernard, formerly the global head of real estate for flexible office company Knotel, as its US chief executive
“The ambition for us is to make much more of that US opportunity and their appreciation of what we do,” Furness told EG. “The UK has suffered from a number of challenges in the last couple of years. It’s a more mature market, and the adoption curve is slightly slower in terms of the wider flex model.”
Analysts covering the company’s stock at N+1 Singer said the performance of the US business was “exceptional” and added that the UK looked “well set to recover”.
Furness described the results as “proof of the resilience and strength of the underlying business that we traded through the period”, adding that he now sees a “protracted recovery”.
He added: “Headwinds now are undoubtedly beginning to turn into significant tailwinds. A lot of structural changes are really starting to take hold as landlords and operators start to figure out how they deliver the product that occupiers are now demanding on the other side of this.”
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