ASX Tech Stocks: Embattled Nuix to buy out Canadian partner Rampiva in $6 million deal

Nuix to buy workflow automation and job scheduling software partner Rampiva in $6 million deal
Appen has announced its accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer and placement to raise ~$60 million.
Technology One announces 14th year of record first half profit, with profit after tax of $41.3 million.

Nuix (ASX:NXL)

Embattled NXL is up 2.50% today after announcing it will acquire all the shares in Rampiva, a workflow automation and job scheduling software provider with the initial cost of ~US$2 million in cash ($3 million) and US$2 million in NXL newly issued shares.

Up to a further US$3 million in NXL shares will be issued if Rampiva achieves ACV growth and cost management milestones in the three years post acquisition.

Rampiva is a long-term NXL technology partner founded in 2016. NXL said it will embed the Rampiva team and its tech into its global business.

The company said the Rampiva technology capabilities will become available to both existing and new customers.

“This will create a broad range of cross-sell and growth opportunities across Nuix and Rampiva customers, strengthening Nuix on-premise revenue, accelerating near-term solution campaigns and creating opportunities to better monetise legal technology data flows,” NXL said in an announcement.

Last week NXL said it had been informed that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) was conducting an investigation into the acquisition of NXL shares by CEO Jonathan Rubinsztein in early September 2022 and the company’s response to an ASX enquiry, relating to those circumstances, released on September 14, 2022.

“The CEO’s acquisition of Nuix shares took place with prior approval and during an approved trading window,” NXL said.

“Nuix will fully co-operate with ASIC’s investigation.”

Appen (ASX:APX)

The artificial intelligence (AI) training data services has announced the opening of its retail entitlement offer, part of a fully underwritten ~$60 million capital raise to support the business in its effort to return to profitability.

APX’s entitlement offer is expected to close at 5pm (AEST) on June 6, 2023. The equity raise is comprised of a ~$38 million 1 for 6 pro rata accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer and a ~$21 million institutional placement.

Earlier this month APX said there had been little reprieve from challenging external operating and macroeconomic conditions noted in its FY22 result and they have persisted into FY23.

For the four months ending April 30, the company reported revenue of $95.7m, down 21.4% on the same period last year. Gross profit was down 24.7% to $35.8m and APX reported an underlying EBITDA loss of $12.4m.

In an announcement last week APX said equity from the capital raise will be used to support the company’s strategic refresh and return to profitability.

“Proceeds will be used to fund one-off costs associated with Appen’s previously announced cost reduction program, provide balance sheet flexibility and general working capital to support Appen’s return to profitability, and transaction costs,” the company said.

Financial results – Technology One (ASX:TNE)

The enterprise Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider today has seen its share price rise 3.33% after announcing its 14th year of record first half profit, with profit after tax of $41.3 million, up 24% on pcp.

Interim dividend was 4.62cps, up 10% on pcp. TNE’s SaaS annual recurring revenue (ARR) rose 40%, as the company increased the number of large-scale enterprise SaaS customers by 27% to 903.

The company has forecasted strong growth for the full year FY23, and sees significant growth opportunities in the coming years.

“We have a clear and consistent strategy, and our team are executing very well, delivering significant value for our customers,” CEO Edward Chung said.

“We saw an acceleration of customers move to our global SaaS ERP solution, with more than 189 large enterprise customers committing to make the shift in the last 12 months, the highest number to date for any comparable period.”

“These are strong half year results for TechnologyOne and validate the strength of our SaaS strategy, which continues our strong growth trajectory in both Australia and the UK.”

Catapult Group (ASX:CAT)

Sport analytics player CAT’s share price soared ~7% today after announcing its its financial results for the year ended March 31, 2023 (FY23) including returning the company to EBITDA positive. In H2 EBITDA was US$2.2 million, a US$15.4 million improvement from H1.

H2 gross margin rebounded to 81% from 71%, while cost to operate the business dropped US$11.9 million in H2 from H1. Operating cashflow was up 40% YoY to US$3.7 million, while SaaS revenue grew 21.8% YoY constant currency (CC), contributing to a total revenue of US$84.4 million.

CAT also achieved record H2 sales with FY23 annualised contract value (ACV) up 20.2% YoY to US$76.8m (CC).

ACV churn was at record low rates of 3.8% with Performance & Health Vertical (P&H) ACV growing 28% YoY (CC).

“Catapult achieved great results during the second half of FY23,” CAT CEO Will Lopes said,

“We returned the business to EBITDA positive, an improvement of more than US$15m.”

Lopes said he is confident that margins will continue to improve, and the company will return to generating positive free cash flow in FY24.

He also said progress had been made in CAT’s video platform for the coming sales season in the US and Europe.

“We added several features that will positively impact our customers’ workflows, saving them time while giving them new insights,” he said.

“The early sales success in the EMEA and APAC regions, where we don’t have a well-established subscription base for video solutions, is very encouraging for FY24.”